Party Food - Balls!

I had a party recently and after a bit of contemplation, rather than order pizza, I decided on this strategy: Finger foods, one nice cocktail and a killer dessert. Everything came out great, and quite easy. Here are the recipes I used:

Cocktail - Whiskey Slush

I found this drink online.  All the recipes I found called for concentrated frozen orange juice and lemonade, but since I couldn't find those here, I adjusted it and came up with this.

2 cups whiskey (I used Jack)
3 cups Orange Juice
2-3 lemons (I would put in more next time, I like it tart)
4 cups sweetened, chilled black tea (I saw some recipes which used green tea)

Blend the ingredients, pour into a tray and slide into your freezer - I have a tiny freezer but I somehow managed it. Chill overnight if possible. Once it's set, scrape and scoop into a glass and top it off with a little ginger ale or other soda, lemon slice and a cherry. This makes plenty of drink to go around for a party of 6-10+ depending on how much of a lush your guests are. It comes out like a fancy, boozy slushy, so yummy!

Cheese Spread
I also had some blue cheese I wanted to use.  Toasted, chopped walnuts, blue cheese and cream cheese, mixed together and severed with sliced baguette and crackers. I should have thrown in some dried cranberries - I had those too!


Meatballs
Inspired by the 'Throwdown with Bobby Flay' episode, I made these Grandma Maroni's Meatballs.  They are divine. I had them in the freezer, already cooked, so just had to throw them in the oven for 20 minutes to heat through.


Broccoli Balls

I had a bunch of broccoli in my fridge and freezer that I wanted to use, so after some research I merged a few recipes and made this.

2 cups chopped steamed broccoli
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup grated cheese (your choice)
1/4 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
1 t oregano
1 t basil
S & P
4-5 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)

Sauté onions and garlic. Mix with all the other ingredients in a bowl. Roll the mixture into 2-3 inch balls (you can coat them again in some bread crumbs if you like), mine were about golf ball size. Bake on an oiled baking sheet at 175 C (350 F) for 30-40 minutes. Flip over half-way to brown both sides.

This recipe was fantastic. I am definitely going to be making this again, and experimenting with more ingredients because my kid liked it too. I may add some mashed beans in next time...

Dipping Sauces
And of course, you gotta dip those balls! So I made several dipping sauces. One was just a simple marinara, from a jar. Another was greek yogurt seasoned with chopped mint, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper. And finally a spinach-yogurt dip (I always make this - it's just steamed spinach, chilled and mixed with yogurt, salt and pepper), which was also nice with just bread or crackers.

Dessert - Rum Raisin Chocolate Cake:
I had made some rum raisins earlier, thinking to add them to ice cream, but the ice cream we had sucked so I searched for another recipe. I came across this one and couldn't resist. It was so worth it.

And that's it - The balls were a big hit. Gotta try cake balls next time and make a theme out of it!

Lemon Pepper

You can use this marinade/rub  on anything from chicken to veggies or fish.  It's easy and much healthier than using the store bought pre-made lemon pepper seasoning which is full of extra salt and who knows what else.  And it tastes better.  It's amazing how much flavor the lemon zest has, and how little we utilize it.  This recipe is simple but has such a bold taste.

Ingredients:
Zest of one lemon - this is the yellow part of the skin, not the white part which is bitter
Salt
Pepper
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
Olive Oil

Using either a grater or lemon zester (The one I have, in the picture below, is the easiest I have used because you can really get all the zest in just a few swipes), take the zest of one lemon.  Chop in sea salt, freshly ground pepper and garlic until you get a fine, even consistency (doesn't have to be perfect).  You can also drizzle in some nice olive oil for a moister rub.  Add this seasoning to your meat of veggie before cooking, and give it a good rub.  The best methods of cooking are grilling or baking.  Using the lemon zest is also a good alternative to using the juice of the lemon, because it keeps the meat drier, thus allowing for a nicer sear.  Plus the zest has all the flavor!

You can also add a couple spoons of honey to the marinade for a slightly sweeter flavor and crispy glazed crust.

Care for a Bit of Breath?

When we think of things that are nourishing for our bodies, we tend to focus on our diet-what we should or should not be ingesting. A simple online search on healthy living will reveal endless information on how to eat and drink ourselves to a more balanced life. For the past four months I have been participating in a Vinyasa yoga teacher training. When signing up for the training I imagined myself conquering my practice with proper alignment and balance. I was prepared and even looking forward to learning the convoluted Sanskrit names of asanas, soaking up yoga philosophy and immersing myself in teaching principles. The breath and breathing throughout the yoga practice simply just slipped my mind. This of course proved to be short -term neglect. It was not long into my teachers training course when I fully realized the importance of breathing. Of course having practiced yoga for some time I had always been aware that asanas and breath go hand in hand. A typical yoga class will rarely take place without friendly encouragement from a teacher to breath deeply throughout the practice, using the breath to stay strong and focused. I was unaware, however of the exact dynamics of inhalation and exhalation and the function (other than keeping us alive) that the breath serves in our daily life.

Focusing on the breath comes easier ever since I am more aware of the dynamics of inhaling and exhaling. Most of us (including myself) don’t optimize on our full breathing capacity. My husband for example, tends to have short inhalations and exhalations, filling only his upper chest and depriving his body and mind of vital oxygen. This results from time to time to him gasping -with his chest caved in and his shoulders up towards his ears- for dear life. I recently discovered through assigned reading for my teacher training that breathing involves a clear physical process. Doug Keller, a yoga teacher well versed on the dynamics of breathing, describes this as diaphragmatic breathing. The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle that extends along the bottom of the ribcage, radiating from the central tendon just below the heart and attaching to the bottom tip of the breast bone, then to the lower ribs and all the way down to the first of the four lumber vertebrae (lower back). Diaphragmatic breathing relaxes our muscles, massages our internal organs, and allows more oxygen to flow through our body. In short, when you inhale into your diaphragm your chest expands, your belly slightly lifts and your lower ribs expand towards your spine. On an exhalation your chest and lower ribs relax. I realized this when one of our head teachers at the teacher training caught me instructing my group to fill their bellies on an inhalation. She promptly scolded me and instructed me to hold either side of my lower ribs with my hands and feel my ribs spreading and expanding back towards my spine with an inhalation. “This is proper breathing”, she said, enlightening us on the obvious. Needless to say I will never mention filled bellies and breathing again in the same sentence.

Posture also plays an important role in how we breathe. Ideally, we should all be walking around with our navel pulled in, our chests forward and shoulders back. This allows the breath to flow smoothly in on an inhalation and evenly out on an exhalation. A caved in chest and hunched shoulders restrict the flow of the breath through our body. It’s like blowing through a straight hollow straw versus one that is bent. With the former, the air flows effortlessly in at one end and out the other. Of course, for the majority of us lifestyle demands have forced us to go about our days in all sorts of breath unfriendly postures. The invention of the computer for one has taken its toll on our shoulders, necks and backs. Drawing your attention to your posture throughout the day and checking for a proper position can make a world of difference in how you breathe.

Our state of mind tends to determine our pattern of breathing. When we are relaxed and happy, our inhalations and exhalations are similarly smooth and easy. When we are anxious or angry, our inhalations and exhalations are short and rough. What if how we breathe were to determine our state of mind? Well in the past few months I have tried to give this a go. Throughout the day I draw my attention to my breath. As my mind runs wild with thoughts, I focus on my inhalation and exhalation. This I find forces me to be present in the moment rather than thinking the usual wants and “should have, could have, would have” thoughts of the day. Being focused in the moment is surprisingly enjoyable and relaxing. It allows me to be more aware of my day and how I choose to pass my time. It also results in continuous deep and easy breathing.

I practiced Ashtanga yoga with a friend yesterday morning at my apartment. We followed a DVD by Richard Freeman. At one point he said something about how the breath is the heart of a posture, which resonates well with me especially with my newfound appreciation for breathing.

Feel like nourishing your mind, body and soul? Try focusing on your breath in your yoga practice or just throughout your day. Enjoy a mindful inhalation and exhalation. A bit, or preferably more, of proper breath can do wonders in the long run.

Yogurt

Yogurt is one of the greatest foods out there in my opinion - and I'm not talking about the fruity stuff you get in those little 6-packs (which has tons of unnecessary added sugar). Not only is plain yogurt delicious, with an endless variety of uses, it has come to be known as super healthy too with lots of 'pro-biotics' that are hard to find in other parts of our diet. Sometimes referred to as an elixir, there are even legends that it has cured people when they were poisoned.

Growing up with my Iranian family, plain yogurt was a key staple on our menu and I loved it alongside or mushed into nearly every dish. My favorite was simple white basmati rice with yogurt, which I would carefully mold into a cake and nibble at it princess-like, as though it was a rare caviar. Curious to me, most of my friends (I was in Texas at the time) didn't even know what plain yogurt was! More recently however its popularity has grown, along with the greater knowledge of foods in general.

Living now in the Middle East, everyone knows what plain yogurt is, and there is never a lack of great quality plain yogurt. The varieties are endless - from the more liquidy to the thick almost cream cheese consistency. In the Balkans where my husband is from, they drink yogurt by the glass full with many meals (this is a thinner yogurt, but tastes just like your average plain yogurt). I have gotten used to this method although my favorite still has to be the rich and creamy, 'greek style' as some know it, slightly sour plain yogurt. Another variation is the sour yogurt drink found in this region and beyond, in Iran it's called doogh, in Turkey it's Ayran - tangy and fizzy sometimes with various spices/herbs mixed in, it's definitely not for everyone's taste.

My most used yogurt recipe (because it's too simple) is what we call "borani" in Persian. It is basically yogurt mixed with another main vegetable ingredient, the most common being spinach. It can also be done with egg plant, beets, carrots, etc. Basically, you:

Steam or saute the vegetable you want to use - for example: steam/saute some spinach, let it cool, and chop it up (draining off excess water). Then you mix it with yogurt to the ratio that you like. Season with salt, pepper, mashed garlic if you are feeling adventurous, or just a sprinkle of garlic powder. And that's it. It makes a lovely, and healthy, dipping sauce or side dish.

Another classic is yogurt with cucumber, a great summer refreshment:

 Peel and chop up cucumbers into fine cubes. Mix with yogurt and season with salt, pepper and dried mint leaves. To make it more exotic, throw in some dark raisins and toasted nuts.

For a guilt-free post-lunch sweet fix, my grandmother always takes a couple bites of yogurt mingled with a mashed date, or you could try a squirt of date syrup (amazing stuff, which I have discovered here in Dubai). Dates are full of nutrients and amino acids which aid in digestion, therefore make a great substitution for sugar - they are also super sweet!

Bananas and yogurt not only make great smoothie ingredients, but they also enhance each other's nutritional benefits. You can also use it as a dessert topping - just mix in a bit of honey and there's a perfect substitute for whipped cream.

The possibilities are endless...get creative!

And enjoy!