Man, I am getting in a lot of blog posts this week! I guess there is just so much good stuff going on in the food blogoshpere that I want to support and be a part of. Sometimes, I get so backed up with other food related posts that I wait until the last minute to get my entry in for a Foodie Event. I wish I had time to do them all! I just love the creativity in this community! Food Bloggers ROCK!

Which leads me exactly to this post and this Foodie Event which is called Eat To The Beat and is the brainchild of my friend
Elly from Elly Says Opa! Elly says she was inspired to create this event because her love of music is about as big as her love for food! I completely concur. I have always believed that my life would be so much better if it had a soundtrack. So since I have started working from home, I can listen to music all day long and it just makes my life so complete. I can’t imagine cooking without music, dinner parties or meals without some kind of music playing the the background. So in a way, I have created a soundtrack for myself!

Press Play:

As you all who are regular readers of this blog know, I do bellydancing and I love it. Due to this fact, much of my music collection is what we call in this house “bellydancing music”. If the music hails from the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey or any of the places in between it is referred to as such.

And as all of you know who read this blog, I love all the foods from those regions as well…coincidence? Most likely not.

So this gets me to the meat of this post. We were having friends over for dinner last week, and I wanted to create a fun atmosphere – so we did small plates-  meze, antipasti, tapas, whatever you want to call it. I was really getting into all the dolmas or stuffed grape leaves people were making in the weeks leading up to it.  So I decided to combine Peter’s from Kalofagas and Mag’s from Hommus w/ Tabbouli to make my own version. I also made the Labneh from Mag’s blog as well, which is a soft Lebanese yogurt cheese, plus I re-created the Middle Eastern Meatballs with Orzo I had made last year. However, this time I made my own meatballs with the leftover ground meat from the gyros the week before. I just added and egg and some bread crumbs and baked the meatballs in the oven at 400 F for about 25 minutes. The meal was a huge hit and we had a great evening.

I chose this song, Desert Rose, click here to see the original video, the partnership of Sting and Cheb Mami, who is one of my most favorite artists and who is a very big star in his native Algeria and much of the “bellydancing music” world. His voice is unique and beautifully haunting. I also love Sting and give him major props for introducing Cheb’s beautiful voice to the western world through this song.

For more by Cheb Mami, click here.
To hear more of his music, click below.

Now for the recipes:
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Okay guys, I am giving away secrets here. I use yogurt in a lot of my cooking. It is one of my culinary secrets. When a dish needs a little extra tang or some creaminess, I dig out the ubiquitous carton of plain yogurt in my fridge. I prefer the Greek style yogurt, as many of you know, but sometimes it is not available, so I just go for the all natural, organic plain stuff. No one can ever guess that it is in there, but it really adds a wonderful element to some of the best dishes I have made.

My Dad and Step mom were here this weekend visiting us. I wanted them to see the things about St. Augustine that we love so much, so on Saturday AM, bright and early we took a trip to the Farmer’s Market. We picked up some beautiful fresh local shrimp. We got some more of those huge Meyer lemons. I had pasta at home already and standing there at the market with fresh shrimp, lemons and beautiful green spring onions a plan began to form. This is the kind of cooking I love – being inspired by the best products you can find. The recipe is almost secondary.

After the market we took them to the the beach where we are going to get married in April. As you can see it was REALLY cold here this weekend. I am so glad I brought my parka with me from New England! We had a really great time. Roberto was the best sous chef ever and we had a great time cooking together in the kitchen while Dad and Kayzie relaxed in the living room with a glass of wine (did I mention that Kayzie is a wine distributor and they brought their own wine on their trip?! – lucky us!) The pasta was delicious by the way…
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It is not very often that I feature recipes of celebrity chefs on this blog. Of course, I watch cooking shows, frequently and I have my favorites, but mostly they give me ideas and inspiration for creating my own recipes. I will learn a new technique and I will want to try it out – not necessarily in the same way as it was laid out on TV. However, it just so happened that I fell in love with two recipes done by everyone’s favorite Italian chef – Giada De Laurentiis ( I will post the second recipe at a later date). This dish, is a pasta dish where the sauce is made from squash. I love squash and I am always looking for new and interesting ways to cook this, and I was just enamored by this dish. So for once, I followed a recipe exactly how it was written. There are of course a few changes I would make in the future, which I will note at the end of this post, but all in all it was a delicious and unique dish! It is perfect to stock away for the fall season when many of you will have gardens or farm shares overflowing with squash. You will appreciate this recipe then!
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This is a wonderful and easy dish to prepare. It can be served hot as a main dish or you can chill it and serve it as a salad. It is a wonderful and refreshing dish that is easy to make variations of depending on what you have on hand and is the perfect dish to make with leftover shrimp!

Enjoy!
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Roberto and I had a date at home this past week. We didn’t feel like going out, but it was date night, so we planned a nice dinner at home. You can create a wonderful atmosphere at home, especially during the summer when you can dine al fresco! When dining al fresco you usually want to eat something fresh as well!

I have really been craving summer tomato sauce. Not that wonderful hearty, deep slow-cooked for 3 days and it still takes a few days in the fridge until it is at its peak kind sauce, but a quick, light summer tomato sauce that is fresh rather than complex. This is what we prepared together for our romantic at home date. This is a marinara recipe that you will keep forever as it is simple and so easy to make; you barely even have to be in the kitchen with it until the very end. This is the ultimate Summer Marinara and it is also my entry for Ruth’s
Presto Pasta Nights over at Once Upon a Feast.
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I am pulling this out of the archives for Ruth’s Presto Pasta Night Foodie Event!

Here is a recipe you can make with the Versatile Pasta Sauce Recipe or any homemade pasta sauce you like. If you don’t have spinach, you can use any vegetables you want – eggplant is delicious as are roasted peppers, or you can skip that step, altogether. You can also experiment with the cheeses – use some feta or goat cheese to make it tangy.

Below is the classic recipe, but as always feel free to modify and make it yours!
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Here is my recipe for this months Heart of the Matter for which the theme this month is pasta! You can find out about The Heart of the Matter here, or visit Ilva over at Lucullian Delights for more information! Be healthy not just for your heart but for your whole well-being. Eating does not have to be bad for you!

I love using leftover vegetables and sauces to make delicious healthy pasta dishes. This one is one of my favorites. It is rich in flavor and color, and is perfect to celebrate the coming of spring! You can use any seasonal vegetables or frozen vegetables you have and if you don’t want to use basil pesto, you can use sundried tomatoes and olive oil for a twist!

Enjoy with a nice glass of wine and crusty bread for dinner. Or bring it to your next picnic served cold. Either way, your family and friends will love it! Read the rest of this entry »

Growing up in an Italian household has made it second nature for me to make a delicious, easy tomato sauce for a variety of different pastas. The secret to Italian cooking is SIMPLICITY! You can easily change an ingredient here or there to make it the perfect for many different classic Italian dishes! Read the rest of this entry »