HOMEMADE IN LA

When it comes to breakfast, I am an egg girl all the way. However, on rare occasions, I do have a hankering to start my mornings off with something sugary, and nothing does the trick like a few fluffy pancakes. They always satisfy my sweet tooth, but the figurative icing on the cake is how incredibly easy they are to make. A lot of pancake recipes call for oil, melted butter, and sugar which I personally find unnecessary. My go-to batter has only 6 ingredients, takes just minutes to prepare, tastes delicious, and always yields perfectly, pillowy flapjacks.

If you’re a fan of my blog, you already know that Middle Eastern food was a huge part of my childhood because my mom attended university in Lebanon before moving to the states. And since I grew up in LA, my parents also had access to the best Middle Eastern restaurants, markets, and butcher shops on days they wanted kebabs but didn’t feel like cooking from scratch. I love all types of meat on a stick, but minced meat kebabs [aka: lula, lule, or luleh] are my absolute favorite! I hope you enjoy my quick and simple recipe as much as my family does.

I started making spicy tuna rice bowls at home a few months ago. The very first time I made these bowls for dinner, I found some wrinkling cucumbers in my fridge and decided to give them a quick Japanese-inspired pickle to put alongside the spicy tuna. I hadn’t pickled anything in ages but grabbed a few ingredients, threw them into a bowl, and had a tasty topper for my rice bowls in less than thirty minutes. Since that evening last September, I’ve been whipping up these quick pickles about once a month. The recipe couldn’t be simpler. Enjoy!

I make this dish at least twice a month, sometimes more. The salad pairs wonderfully with a variety of meals but also tastes great by itself. It’s a favorite of my boyfriend and goes well with my hummus recipe. Overall, I would categorize my mediterranean salad as a happy hybrid of a Greek Salad and a Shirazi Salad. This recipe takes no time at all and just requires a bit of chopping. Enjoy!

On Friday night I dove into one of my favorite holiday tasks – wrapping Christmas presents! Since my mind was focused on pretty paper and sparkly ribbon instead of preparing dinner, I needed to make a quick, simple meal with minimal mess. So this is what I did: I turned on the oven, took a peek into the the fridge, threw a bunch of stuff in a pan, slid that pan into the oven, and enjoyed a delicious dinner that was ready in less than 45 minutes. The cherry on top was of course having very few dirty dishes to wash afterward! Keep reading to find out exactly what I whipped up.