Ingredient: Black Pepper

Chicken Shawarma

A recipe Adrian discovered and adapted. Great on salad or with flat bread and shredded vegetables.

Cajun Okra Rice

Recently we started helping at a farm share, we enjoy bringing home fresh, organic veggies! The first basket we received had many things in it, including okra, peppers, onions, celery leaves, and tomatoes.

We had never cooked with okra before, and so we were not sure what to do with it. We found several recipes on how to cook it, but we didn’t know what to pair it with. Adrian stayed home one morning when the rest of us went out and he surprised us with this mash-up of recipes he had found online. It is not spicy, but you can add more Cajun seasoning if you like the heat.

Artichoke Spinach Cheese Dip

We found this recipe after we tried some very expensive appetizers at a restaurant. It is simple to make and you can personalize it by adding more or less spinach, sauteed onions or chives. This is our favorite way to have it.

The recipe calls for fat free ingredients, feel free to substitute low fat or full fat if desired. They are all very good.

Pekoura

Many years ago, we had a friend visit.  Morsal taught Mark how to make Pekoura.  These coated potato slices are wonderful.  You can serve as is, but they are best with plain yogurt or yogurt with cilantro added to it.  

Twice Baked Potato Salad

Allan bought some potato salad at the market one day and we really liked it. We bought it a few times before we realized it would be a lot cheaper to make it ourselves. While it is not exactly the same, we like it and make this recipe often.

Wonton Soup

Once upon a time, before internet and being able to find restaurants easily on a phone, a small family was traveling late at night through a strange city. A pregnant wife told her husband that she REALLY wanted wonton soup.

Sweet husband found hungry wife a Chinese restaurant and came back with a huge container of soup. Wife happily ate most of the soup, remembering to share a little.

Wonton soup has always been a favorite comfort food. I suspect it probably was because my dad would often take us for Chinese food for super special occasions.

Venison Stew

I asked Mark what he wanted for dinner when he was home for Spring break.  He really wanted a good stew.  He gets it at school, but it is often salty and served with noodles.

Stew is a very flexible meal.  Add more or less vegetables or add other favorites.  Serve with a lettuce salad and maybe some bread, and you have an easy meal.

If you have frozen stew meat, you can still cook it in the crock pot. Skip browning the meat.  Start cooking the stew on high in the morning and cook for 8 hours.  We prefer to cook the frozen meat for 3 or 4 hours with pepper, garlic and onions, then add the remaining vegetables and spices for the last few hours of cooking.