Maszjudatha

It's pronounced "ma-jUD-thah-dah" and it's delicious.  This is a dish Todd and I had at Brad Nassif's house, our senior seminar professor for Biblical Studies.  He is a smart man that loves his Lebanese heritage.  So, I assume this recipe is Lebanese or at the very least, middle eastern.  Nassif made this for us when he invited all the senior seminar students to his house toward the end of the semester.  Earlier this year, I emailed him asking for the recipe and have now gotten around to making it.

Ingredients:
1-2 yellow onions
1/2 bag of lentils
cracked wheat

Directions:
Nassif explained it best, so I'll let his words do the directing.

Take a half bag of lentils and bring to a boil and the lentils are soft to your taste.
When the lentils are about 5 minutes from being fully cooked, add one half cup (or a full cup, as you wish) of cracked wheat (burghl) to the boiling water.  Use "fine" or "medium" cracted wheat. (By the way, you may want to first rinse the wheat with cold water in a cup before adding it)
As the lentils are cooking, cut up one or two onions (however many you like) and glaze them in Virgin Olive oil in a pan.  Use just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Don't overdo the oil.  Cook the onions until they are golden brown or even slightly blackened.
When the lentils are fully cooked with the wheat, shut off the fire and add the onions.
Salt to taste.
Enjoy!

It was so tasty!  We made it with some pan cooked chicken for dinner, but it's great for lunch all by itself.  And I know what you are thinking mom, "Erin and Lentils?  What?!"  We should all know by know that I am much more willing to try new foods.  Although, this meal was especially brown, so a bit like old white food Erin.  Anyway, it was good!  You should try it sometime.  Now, I am off to make fruit dip for our small group.

Chocolate Chip Carmel Bars

Todd and I had our friends Brian and Kelly coming over for dessert and games last Thursday.  We had only decided on the plans the day before, so I was googling as fast as I could Thursday afternoon for a quick and simple dessert to make.  When I stumbled upon this, I knew I had found a gold mine.

Ingredients:

1 box of yellow cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup mini milk chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup Skor toffee chips

32 caramels
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 stick of butter

Mix together the cake mix, vegetable oil and eggs. Then mix in different chips. In a greased 9x13 pan, press half of the mixture. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. While that is in the oven, melt in a sauce pan the caramels, sweetened condensed milk and butter. When crust is done, pour sauce over the crust. Then sprinkle in chunks the rest of the mixture. Bake for another 22-25 minutes. Let cool before serving.      

Bask in it's caramel chocolate goodness.

Like I wanted, quick and simple.  The four of us put away about two rows of bars so the plan is to bring the rest of the pan to small group tomorrow night.  However, I think I may have put away a whole row by myself since then.  I can wait to get these out of my house!  I can't even pretend a single part of them are good for you.  Also, here is the blog I got them from.  It looks like she has lots of other yummy things too!


Excuse my dessert heavy posts lately, but Emily Staples wanted it, so I'm jumping ahead in my list of things to post.  I do have some dinners coming soon, I promise!

Chocolate Covered Peppermint Cream Candies

Oh, what a very long title.


We were having a bake sale at church this past Sunday and I wanted to help out since it was benefiting our youth summer trips.  It was the perfect excuse to make these candies I saw on "Eatin' on the Cheap" blog.  Thanks Corrie for posting the link to the entire blog on her blog.  Blog, blog, blog!


Peppermint Creams
makes about 9 dozen

1 - 7oz jar of Marshmallow Cream
2/3 c. softened butter
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 t. peppermint extract
6 cups sifted Confectioners sugar
1/2 cup peppermint candies or candy canes
Dipping Chocolate ( at least a couple of bags, maybe more)


1. Beat cream, butter, and extracts well.
2. Gradually add in sugar until well mixed.
3.  Pulverize candy in a plastic bag with a rolling pin.
4.  Fold candy into cream mixture.
5. Chill for a couple hours.
6.  Roll mixture into balls or shape into molds.  I cut mine into thick squares.  Line them up on a wax paper lined baking sheet.
7. Chill again for a couple hours.
8. Melt chocolate according to package instructions.  Dip candies into chocolate.
9. Place on wax paper lined baking sheets to set.
10.  Drizzle white chocolate over cooled candies.

These were pretty easy to make, just time consuming.  And, don't try to make them in the summer.  The humidity will make it a little difficult for everything to set well.  These may become a special Christmas treat because of weather and availability of candy canes.  Otherwise, people liked them.  They all sold at the bake sale and the leftovers I brought to small group were eaten up pretty quick.  I do love bringing treats to small group.  It's a good ego stroke, which I probably don't need.  Also, click on the link to "Eatin' on the Cheap" to see a good step by step photo log of how to make these.


Well, lots of things to come, so be on the lookout for lots of new recipes.  Also, what do you think of the new look?  Food blogs are so trendy right now, that one of the new templates you can pick from is this food theme.  Also loving the labels I have finally starting putting on everything.  It's a good way for me to remember what I can make when dinner planning and grocery shopping.

Redo

So, just to make sure I actually do it, be looking for a new look to the blog.  I feel like maybe if I make it look a bit more clean and organized, more people will read it.  Probably not, but any excuse to organize something.  Am I right, Corrie?

And, because it's rude to not include a photo, here is the small group Todd and I have been attending for about a month.  We really like them so far.  We spent our LOST season finale with two of the couples, and let me tell ya, it takes a lot for Todd and I to share something as important as the LOST finale with other people.  That should be a sign for how much we enjoy hanging out with them.

Gardening Process

I know it's been awhile since I first blogged about getting our garden plot, but I finally have the attention span to write about it now.


Let me start off by giving a big shout out to my wonderful Aunt Joy!  I meant to tell you when I saw you on Monday that your email was so helpful, but it slipped my mind (and so did my manners apparently).  So big thanks to all your excellent advice about starting out.


So Todd and I went over to church, paid the $6, and got ourselves a 10x12 plot in the garden behind the church.  Then, the planning started.  I was so good about it.  If I have learned one thing in my process of learning how to cook, it's that if you follow the instructions very well, you should make something good.  So I did my research.  I made a list of the plants that would hopefully produce in time, picked the ones I wanted from that list, and figured out how far apart and how deep they were supposed to be.  I then mapped it all out and off to the garden center we went.


We went to Drummer's Garden Center and they had lots of things to choose from.  Unfortunately, most of the plants were either tomatoes or would take too long to grow.  So the only plants we got were a cucumber plant, 4 red bell pepper plants, and 4 jalepeno plants.  I then bought some seeds and our co-worker Lisa brought her big box of seeds for me to pick and choose from.  A quick stop at Target to get some gloves, a watering can, and some Miracle Grow, and we were ready to go.


Todd and I headed over to church on probably the windiest day of the year.  I think I got some sun, so that's good. Anyway, we used the church's shovels and trowels to dig one hole and displace that dirt.  Then, dig another hole, filling in the previous hole with the dirt we were currently digging.  It went pretty quick because Todd did it with me.  While digging, I went to grab something and then came back and cracked my knee so badly on a post sticking up.  I took my 30 seconds to take a few deep breaths, but didn't think anything of it until the next morning when I woke up in pain.  I looked at my knee and it was a nasty yellow and purple.  

So warning, gardening can be dangerous.


After digging and filling all the holes and then raking it all together, we started planting.  In total we have
1 Cucumber plant
4 Red Bell Pepper plants
4 Jalepeno plants
1 row of Green Beans
1 row of Lettuce
1/2 row of parsley
1/2 row of dill
1/2 row of snow pea pods
And a 1/2 row of something else I can remember now.  

jalepenos

Bell Peppers

Green Bean Sprouts

We got everything planted, watered them all with some Miracle Grow for veggies, and have been good about getting water to them everyday.  We also put up our markers so we know what's planted where.  I'm quite proud of how well organized it is.  And, it's been raining about every other day, so if we forget to water them, it's no biggie.


So overall, I think it's been a good experience.  And we've had our green beans sprout up, so we must be doing something right.  In our apartment next year, we have a wide windowsill that I may be able to put a few small pots on for some herbs or something.  We'll see.  Speaking of our apartment next year, here is a floor plan I think is correct from the photos we received from North Park.  The building is not where we thought, it's closer to campus, above the Covenant offices.  I'm feeling better about it, but initially I was not thrilled at the look of it.  It should be fine.  We're happy to have a roof over our heads.

Things to come:
I know I promised spanish rice, but all you have to do is google it.  The one I made stunk, so I'm not blogging it.
Pecan Chocolate Chip bars
Cheesy crackers (Thank you Corrie for making them first so I knew to bake them longer)

Kabobs are something Todd and I have been meaning to try.  Be on the look out.
Peppermint candies.  I'm trying them tomorrow.  Maybe I will be able to add candy to my repertoire (thank you spell check.)