Weekend Dinner Menu – Middle Eastern

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Guys it’s finally Friday.

I have my final yoga test this afternoon but then tomorrow my sister and I are going to a yard sale and a farmers market so….just gotta get through today?Plate with hummus

Anyway.

Food. 

I made this meal last weekend, and it was super easy-peasy, and REALLY delicious.  Lots of the components can be made ahead or aren’t even really recipes so…let’s get to it!

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Lamb Meatballs

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So, our friends Wes and Sangeeta have a house in the mountains, kind of near where we’re getting married. 

It’s close to where we live, but 10 degrees cooler, totally isolated, and totally mountainous.  Duh.Meatballs and pita

We went there last weekend!

I made dinner one night, and part of the dinner was these meatballs.  They’re lamb.  They taste like a gyro.  Or the middle east. Or something slightly foreign but SO flavorful and delicious and you want to eat 1,000 of them.

You know foods like that, right?

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Wednesday Night Dinner

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Let’s have Japanese food tonight, ok?

Do you want to?

I want to. 

Full Japanese dinner

It’s easy, I promise!  Today starts 10 full weeks of summer school insanity so….get ready for ALL THE EASY RECIPES to come spewing out of me.  Seriously – there’s no other way to get through this together.

So, today.  Easy-peasy-Japanesy, even though I hate that expression and this is kind of Asian fusion food….ok?  Make sense?

I knew you’d understand. 

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This Man

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 I have told you that my beloved recently took a new job – correct?

It’s a great new job.  He’s getting really good at it, but there’s definitely a learning curve, as exists with tons of new jobs.  He’s been away for work 2/4 of the last weeks, so I’m GLAD to have him home.  
 
One challenge we’ve found with Jay working at home that when 1. I walk in, 2. the dogs breathe, 3. someone knocks on the door, he’s interrupted.  He does a ton of conference calling, and needed a good, albeit dorky, headset to block out some of the regular house noise.
 
So I bought him one.
 
And then we had the following conversation:

Zucchini Pomodoro Sauce

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I need to tell you something. 

I’m not sure what zucchini pomodoro is. Bowl of sauce

The interwebz has a few theories, and my naming of this sauce comes from exactly one thing.  This place in Greenville that we like, Adam’s, has a side dish that is called zucchini pomodoro and it’s squash in what tastes like creamy tomato sauce so….

I made zucchini with creamy tomato sauce. 

Makes sense, right?  My bff Heather and I get it as a side with our meal every time we go there even though we always say we’re going to try something new.

Women, amirite?

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Barley and Brown Rice Pilaf

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For our Monday, I’m making you a really bland and colorless side dish.

YAY!  Bowl of pilaf

Just kidding.  Colorless, yes, but this is very easy and packed with flavor so….maybe perfect for a Monday?

I made this yesterday for my mama for Mother’s day.  What’d you do for your mom?  My sister Emily got her a waffle iron and my other two sisters got her some sweet pottery so….my “gift” of dinner was lame, but still kind of delicious.

We hope she had a good time with all of her peeps. 

This side dish, though.  It’s good.  Really good.  I’m writing the printable just as I did it, but you could substitute any grains or rice-like things you like:  quinoa, orzo, regular rice….anything!  Just cook whatever you use separately since the cooking times will be all different, then mix ‘em together at the end. 

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Vegan Asparagus Pistachio Pesto

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It’s Friday!

It’s also 3 months before I get married. Serve with extra lemon wedges

It’s also the day Jay comes back from a week away for work.  We’re meeting in the mountains with our BFFs and are going to galavant all weekend. 

I’m making lamb.

Before that, though, we need to indulge in our most recent vegan recipe, dontcha think? 

This one was GOOD, guys.  Incredibly easy because it’s raw (duh, it’s pesto), and FULL of flavor.  I love the flavor of raw asparagus, and find it widely underused.  

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Braised Bok Choy with Fried Tofu

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It’s been a while since we’ve had some Japanese food, hasn’t it?

This is kind of weird – it’s totally delicious, but not something you see in the US so….sorry about that.  Branch out.  It’s song-of-my-people type of stuff, because I like to think that I’m Japanese, so you just have to deal with it. Greens with hashi and rice

Also, it’s healthy and yummy so…you can be Japanese too!

My mom used to make this all the time when we lived in Tokyo, and it was a nice kid dish – salty and included fried tofu but made with a whole head of greens.  I loved it, and I still do.  If you leave out the dashi this is vegan, too – otherwise it’s a lovely vegetarian dish that kind of can be a meal.

Oh, and.  5 ingredients.  Massive flavor. 

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Restaurant Review – Mari Luna Bistro

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 Oh, this place. 

 Jay and I ate here when we were in Baltimore a few months ago for work, and we met my college roommate, Jenny here.  Hi Jenny!  This place came to us as a recommendation from another work friend, who, to be fair, had never been there.Chips

First, our experience was decent because we were with an old friend and drinking margaritas.

If those two things had not been in place, though….meh, at best.  The interwebz seems to agree with me – this isn’t the worst place on earth, but I definitely didn’t feel great the morning after eating here.  Yuck. 

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