Pattern for Smartness (1948)

Happy Friday!!
The week-end is upon us yet again... I thought that on this sunny friday afternoon I would share another one of the educational video jems I found on you tube this week.
It honestly had me chuckling a few times.

I love these old videos and hope some of you out there enjoy them too.

So here my dears is 1948's Pattern for Smartness:

Enjoy!

Have a nice week-end !!

Moroccan Recipes...Celeri and Meat tajine

Salamwalikoum,

Today I`m sharing a recipe that my husband really enjoys. I made it on Tuesday night for dinner.
It's pretty straight forward. So let's get to it shall we?

Ingredients:
meat
1 medium potato per person
1 celery stalk per person
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 onions
1-2 cloves garlic
dash of pepper
dash turmeric
1/4 pickled lemon
olives
fresh cilantro


Direction:
I forgot to do this... Cook the celery in a bit of water to soften before adding it to the tajine.

So in the tajine or slow cooker put the chopped onions in the bottom with a bit of oil.

In a bowl add all the spices and the put the potato slices with a bit of water and mix until the potatoes are coated with the spices.

Add the potatoes to the tajine. then put the meat in the bowl and coat with the spice mix.
Add the meat to the tajine.

Add some chopped up pickled lemons, the celery and the olives.
Add 1-2 cups of water.

Heat on low to medium heat until well cooked.

So there it is, celery tajine.

Enjoy!

Till next time

Meal plans... June Week 2

Salamwalikoum,
So I am finally posting a meal plan on the right day! Woohoo for getting up at the crack of dawn to get ahead on my housewifey stuff!!

So here is what my DH will be enjoying this week:

Monday
Salade nicoise (Moroccan style)
It's a big salad that is really a meal in itself...

Tuesday
Celery and lamb tajine(no worries I will be sharing this recipe IA)
salad

Wednesday
Spaghetti with shrimp and tomato sauce
Salad

Thursday
Cauliflower au gratin
French fries
salad

Friday
As usual Couscous or some other fancy-ish dish for Jumaa.

Saturday
Gulaba ( a recipe a work colleague from Yemen gave me, it's a 1st time try for me)
It's supposed to be something like chili...
and... you guessed it! Salad

Sunday as usual too busy to make large meals so I have leftovers or sandwiches made using leftovers.


Now bear in mind that I list salad a lot. But I don't always make the same plain old salad, I usually try to make different salads with a base of greens like spinach or lettuce or even coleslaw.


So there you have it, my meal plan for the week.

I will be sharing some of the recipes this week my schedule willing....

Enjoy!

Till next time

Some recipes... Eggs Royale

Salamwalikoum,
I thought today I would share one of the recipes from last week's meal plan. The recipe I'm sharing today is called Eggs Royale. I found this recipe in an old french cook book. I inherited this book from an older lady that my mom was friends with.
This lady was originally from France but immigrated to the US as a war bride after WW2. She was a very funny lady and unfortunately didn't have any family here so my mom was about as close to family as she had.

Anyhoo the book is from 1927 and is in poor shape... but I actually found a listing for it on amazon.You can view the listing here. My copy has the exact same cover. The book has all sorts of recipes and even has a calendar at the end that gives you whats meats and produce is in season and when so you know what to shop for when stuff is least expensive.

Now given the age of this book and that its a everyday cookery book, it doesn't have any measurements at all and the instructions are minimal. I think it was written with the idea that most women using the book would have decent knowledge and cooking skills (Which nowadays isn't necessarily the case)

Ok so enough with the blabbering and on with the recipe.

Now the recipe is similar to eggs Benedict but easier on the supplies and the techniques.

Ingredients:

a few slices of stale bread - crusty french bread is awesome for this.
a few eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
salt + pepper
gruyère or Parmesan cheese
bacon or ham (optional) - I don't use this for religious reasons, but I do sometimes substitute for halal chicken bacon...

Directions:
Butter the bread slices on both sides and fry in a pan until golden an crispy. Set aside in a casserole dish
Poach the eggs and drain well then place 1 egg on each piece of bread.(on top of the cooked bacon if you are using it)
In a small saucepan melt the butter.
Once the butter is melted add the flour and make a paste.
Add the milk all at once and stir until the sauce is thick (not too thick)
Don't forget the salt and pepper.

Now on top of each egg add 1-2 tablespoonfuls of sauce. Top with the grated cheese and pop in the oven under broil until the cheese is golden.

This is pretty good anytime.
I serve this usually with some steamed asparagus or a nice salad.

It's pretty quick and super yummy.

Enjoy!

Till next time.

Good Grooming for Girls

Hello Again!

I just thought I would do a quick little post about a video I found on youtube today. It's a slightly corny little educational video from 1956 about good grooming for girls. I just thought it was awesome. A lot of good advice and for once not too bad for a 50's video.
You will find the video here:
Good Grooming for Girls(1956)

Hope you all enjoy it!

Meal plan...resumed

Salamwalikoum,

I have to admit that lately I've been neglecting blogland quite a bit... My work schedule just keeps changing on me. But now my hubby went and bought a new laptop for me to use...Isn't he just the sweetest man ever? So now with my new toy I plan on wallowing in blog land a whole bunch in the weeks to come! I've got plenty of recipe ideas I want to share and some other fun stuff that I've found on the web.

First thing I'm sharing today is my meal plan from last week... I know, I know ... but better late than never!

So here goes:
Monday:
Chicken with carrots and olives
Salad

Tuesday:
Eggs royale
home fries
steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce


Wednesday:
Lemon-basil spaghetti with vegetables
salmon cakes(like crab cakes only with salmon instead)
Caesar salad

Thursday
Kefta(a.k.a. ground beef) tajine
coleslaw

Friday
Seffa(steamed vermicelli) with chicken

Saturday
Nachos for lunch
African Peanut butter stew on white rice for supper

Sunday is leftovers and cookies day.

So there you have it, that's what we ate last week. And trust me it may look elaborate but most dishes are prepared on my 15 minute breaks from work. So they are do-able even for super busy people.

Moroccan recipes... Chicken rfissa or trid

Salamwalikoum,
It's been a really shamefully long time since I last posted anything a recipe and I thought it was about time I did another morroccan specialty. The recipe today is called Rfissa or as my husband calls it Trid. Trid  actually refers to the flat bread used as the base for rfissa.
This recipe is a bit time consuming so I honestly don't do it all that often. But last week I felt like making something a bit different for Jumaa since I'm always making the same couscous week after week.

So anyway here goes. Now for the flat bread portion ideally it should be rziza as found here on Sousou kitchen's blog... but even after 4 yrs I have yet to be able to make it anywhere near what she has made. So I keep it simple I press it flat into little sheets using a rolling pin or hands - the dough should be almost transparent- then cooked and rolled and sniped with kitchen shears. That's about as close as I will get it.(sigh).

Now for the ingredients:
Rziza or trid
basic bread dough (use very little yeast)
A LOT of vegetable oil(less if using a rolling pin)

Sauce
Chicken
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1-2 onions chopped
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp turmeric or a few sprigs of saffron
1-2 sprigs of cilantro snipped
1 c or more green lentils
Plenty of water.


For the sauce put a drop of oil in a stock pot and fry the onions for a minute or two, then add the chicken and spices  and cook for another minute. At last add the lentils and enough water to almost fill the pot. Turn the heat on medium and let cook while you prepare the rziza.

chicken in the pot looking as apetizing as usual...Usually yummier than it looks

For the rziza prepare bread dough like usual, don't let it rise after kneading.
Seperate into small balls. Grease your hands and your work surface and I mean really grease them, like oil dripping and everything... the more oil the bigger you can spread out the dough without ripping it.
Sorry about this but  I forgot to take pictures of the 1st steps... so I skipped straight to the cooking... I have yet to learn my lesson and do my recipe blogging on a day that's not quite so crazy.

it almost looks like a tortilla...

Once all the dough is cooked it looks something like this stack of goodies:

Now here comes the fun part, just take each flat bread and roll it up and snip it into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide.it should look something like this.

If you make them ahead you can just steam them before serving so they are nice and tender. This time around I just finished them in time to plop the sauce on top and ship it off to the boys as the center next door...

One more pic before the sauce goes on...

This is a decently large amount to make, it served about 6-7 grown men with very litle leftovers....

Now before serving I took the chicken out of the sauce and placed it on a cookie sheet under broil to get the skin crispy and golden.

It's all about presentation people!

So here is the lonely poulet

And now for the sauce

again tastes better than it looks...

Put it all together and what do you get?

Another 5 lbs added to my glutious maximus.... This stuff is soooooooo good.

So there you have it. Another yummy moroccan dish that is easy to make but as I said time consuming...

until next time