Kid stuff!

Since I've been off on maternity leave, I've been trying to get my 2 year old involved in some activities every day to keep her occupied and continue her learning! We signed up for art class and music class at our local Gymboree (she LOVES art class there) and every Friday we try to attend the toddler story time at the South Madarin library. The teacher reads a story, teaches a letter, sings songs, and does a craft with the kiddos - all for free! Afterwards we like to go into the kids library area and play with some of the toys they have there and, of course, get new books. Deena really loves this week's book choices which include 2 favorites that my husband and I have had to read over and over again - "Big Girl Panties" (we're potty trained, but still working out some kinks!!!!) and "May I Please Have a Cookie?". This book is about a kid that tries all of these different ways to get a cookie that his mom is baking and the mom keeps telling him no and to think of a better way. He finally learns that he has to say PLEASE in order to get one! So of course, at 7pm after reading the book for the 3rd time, Deena says "mommy can I have a cookie PLEASE", so who am I to deny her?  We got up and baked some cookies.

A few years ago I got the Tates cook book and it has a bunch of dessert recipes in it. If you've never tried Tates cookies, you must! For my New Yorkers, it's the thin, crispy cookie sold in Le Pain Quotidien and originally created in Long Island.


So here's the recipe and some pics of our cookie making! Just FYI - I didn't have macadamia nuts, so I just followed the recipe without them :)

Weekend cross-cultural inspiration

The hubby has been craving some saltfish and cabbage and decided to make it this weekend.  It was AMAZING, but we still had leftovers the next day and decided to make it into a sandwich.  We had some great, fresh buns from Publix, and just put two great things together :)

My dad was also visiting for a few days and cut up the turnip and beets to make what we call in Egypt "lift", which is basically pickled turnips and beets.  He also cut up a meditteranean salad and I found this great Greek salad dressing recipe on pinterest and put that over the salad with a side of lift.

My husband also gets a craving for fresh lime juice on occasion, so we also made some of that.  We topped the sandwich off with some special hot sauce brought straight from Barbados for us from his Uncle!

It all made for a great meal!  My 2 year old also ate the saltfish and cabbage and loved it!  I made some white rice on the side and just mixed the saltfish right into it :)

Here's the pinterest recipe I used for the salad dressing:
http://www.littlebroken.com/2015/02/28/greek-vinaigrette/

The meal after it all came together!

Fresh Garden Herbs!

So I was watching today's episode of "The Chew" and was inspired by a dish being made using lots of fresh herbs.  It was a grilled chicken with a cilantro/mint marinade! Luckily, the herbs in our garden are growing fabulously and so I decided to get up and make it!  The marinade has lots of asian flavors in it, which our family loves.  It includes fresh cilantro, mint, lemongrass, and chives from our garden along with some red onion, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh ginger.

Here's the link to Clinton's recipe on "The Chew" today that inspired my dinner:
http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/grilled-chicken-lettuce-cups-with-fresh-herbs-chiles-clinton-kelly


While I was cutting up all of these herbs, I decided to also make some spring rolls at the same time!  I used all of the same ingredients but also threw in some cabbage, sprouts, and shredded carrots!  Our eldest daughter, Deena, is a huge fan of spring rolls!  It took me MANY years to even try Asian flavors, but thanks to the hubby, I started getting used to eating it when we went out, and now I love it and love cooking it.

Here are some pics of what today's dinner will look like:

This is the mix I made to put into the spring rolls

This is the fresh herb marinade to put over the grilled chicken

Chicken grilled on the stove top using my cast iron pan

Chicken after its been shredded

I added salt, pepper, olive oil, and some vegetable grilling seasoning to the veggies going into the spring rolls

So you basically fill the egg roll dough with the veggie mix (and for those Egyptians)...roll it like mahshee waraa 3nab or grape leaf rolls!  See picture below!

Wrapped spring rolls ready to be pan fried (do this like you would dumplings)

Seafood paella!!!

Last night I decided I wanted to try out a new Pinterest recipe. I've made paella once or twice before using the first Pinterest recipe below and it turned out good! But my husband requested some mussels, so I found several Pinterest paella recipes and sort of combined them and did my own thing - and it turned out great!!!

It was super easy to make and took less than an hour from start to finish (actually eating). I also just used a cast iron dish that I already had and didn't have to use a special paella dish.

Here are the two main Pinterest recipes I used, combined, and added to:

http://www.themediterraneandish.com/easy-seafood-paella-recipe/
This is the recipe I used a few times already - it was super quick and easy!

http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/skillet-grilled-seafood-and-chorizo-paella/
I picked a few things from this recipe to add to the other one!

Some changes I made:

Now, I don't eat pork, so I took out the chorizo... but I did use the idea of pouring the lobster water over the rice. I also decided to add a little Adobo seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder. I went to Trader Joe's a few days ago and got some fresh English green peas so I decided to use those instead of the green beans.  I added some chopped red pepper and used shadow benny instead of the parsley/cilantro because I just didn't have any. Shadow Benny is used in the Caribbean and is in the same family as parsley and cilantro. Shadow Benny has a bit of a stronger taste like cilantro does.
My husband went to the weekend flea/farmer's market on Beach Blvd. and found the Shadow Benny there (for those of you interested in finding some fresh Caribbean/Asian/Hispanic fruits and veggies!).



I also chose to quickly marinate my seafood before adding it to the paella with some salt, pepper, and old bay seasoning which didn't seem to be a part of either of the recipes above.

And that's it! It was fabulous and I strongly recommend making it as a quick family meal!  Also, as a side note, I try to make a point of making sure my 2 year old eats whatever it is I cook for the day and try my best not to make something different just for her.  She loved the paella and I just cut the shrimp into little pieces and put them over the rice for her!

Paella before adding the seafood to it

After arranging the seafood and gently pressing it into the rice.  Cover it and allow the seafood to steam until the shrimp turns pink.

This is what the Beach Blvd. Flea Market looks like!

Introduction...

I started this blog MANY years ago while living in nyc! It was originally created as a place to send all of my out of town guests for recommendations of my absolute favorite places to eat, visit, and shop while in nyc.  If you're headed to nyc, the blog still exists, and they're still most of my favorite places!  You may want to check their websites before heading there in case anything's changed since I left nyc!  Here's the link to check it out: www.dahliasnyc.blogspot.com


After getting married, moving to Jacksonville, Florida, and now having 2 kids, I've decided to have this page evolve to reflect my life these days! I have become a Pinterest queen and LOVE to cook something new from it almost daily! I also have a two year old and 8 week old that I'm home with and use Pinterest to come up with activities and ideas of things to do with them! I still consider myself a foodie and occasionally when I find a place I love here in Jacksonville, I'll post about that!

So here goes....to my new endeavour as a stay at home mom blog beginning!
(If you click on the title New Endeavours at the top, it will take you to all my blog postings)