I just got back from visiting the lands of one of my favorite cuisines, Morocco. I love the wealth of spices nearly every Moroccan dish contains, so of course I fell in love with my Food of Morocco cookbook long ago. I was very excited to find that the foods I ate there proved the recipes I had cooked over the years true to the cuisine. Of course, it was a bit better there (an understatement!), with the super-fresh spices abounding from shop after shop after shop.

Moroccan meatballs are something I had cooked previous to owning my cookbook, however, and have long been a favorite of mine. I’ve tried the addition of egg on occasion, and it makes for an über-rich and decadent dinner. This was hands down my favorite meal the entire time we were in Morocco. (more…)

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Appetizers, Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Moroccan, Quick and Easy, World traveller by Courtney

I’m so excited about finishing my new spice rack that I want to share it with everyone! Ninety six test tubes arranged neatly, alphabetically, in my cabinet. I detailed the process of creating the rack on Decoration Inspiration over at Madd Hatter’s Lab.

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miscellany by Courtney

A while back, I was feeling a bit sniffly and stuffy, so I spent a few days on the couch browsing the web. Apparently I was in the frame of mind to check out Ayurvedic remedies for my stuffy nose, and thus I spent a lot of time reading blogs and articles stuffed to the brim with advice and ways of life from the sub-continent.

Kitchari was apparently the new kid on the block (or, as it is, the newly discovered elder on the block). I read multiple articles about its abilities to help you cleanse, its ease on your digestive system, its nutritional values (apparently it is a complete protein, though I’m thinking that has more to do with the dal, less to do with the rice and spices). While I scoffed at the idea of eating nothing but this moong dal and rice mixture for any amount of time, my stomach started to growl and the craving had set in. I already had some leftover, new-age pakora in my fridge; this could just be a spicy rice addition with a little beans. Plus, it’s healthy, right?

So I consulted the various recipes I had found around the internets (that link being one of them), then I cracked open my favorite Indian cookbook from “the food of” series, and I started devising a recipe. (more…)

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Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Indian, Lunch, Vegan, Vegetarian, World traveller by Courtney