Nana's in town!

I haven't posted in a few days because my mom's been in town and has been cooking up a storm!  Below are some of my most favorite Egyptian dishes!  My mom is an amazing cook, but doesn't use any kind of recipes or measuring.  For years, I have been sitting next to her trying to record measurements and make recipes out of the great Egyptian dishes she cooks and I've come close to getting most of them right! My 2 year old, my husband, and I have been indulging in the good cooking for the past few days :)

Kufta (ground beef mixed with herbs and spices)

Cabbage rolls stuffed with rice (mixed with herbs, spices, and tomato sauce)

This is what the rice blend looks like before being stuffed in the cabbage or grape leaves

Macarona bil bechamel (Macaroni and ground beef in a bechamel sauce)

Yogurt chicken.  It's hard to see but underneath the layer of yogurt, ground onion, parsley, and tomato paste is a layer of chicken....mmmmmmm!

First time Moussaka!

While watching The Chew this morning, I got inspired to try to cook some Greek food!  They were doing a special on My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (which is a repeat episode because that came out a while ago right???).  One of the things they prepared was a yogurt chicken kabob and the other was a Moussaka.  I just bought chicken and eggplant last night and had them both in the fridge, so I thought "why not?!?!?!".

Just as a side note, one of the reasons it's easier for me to cook with the 2 kiddos is because when I buy meat, I season it all right away and then put it in separate ziploc bags in the freezer.  In the West Indies they make something called a "Green Seasoning". Although lots of people make this fresh, many (especially those living abroad) buy it from a West Indian grocery store already made in big glass jar.  We have a decent herb garden here in Jax and so we tend to make our own!  I usually make a big batch and season all of my chicken with it at one time and then separate it into batches that I would likely cook with.  This makes cooking MUCH easier on a regular day because all I have to do is pull out a bag and thaw the meat.

So back to the Greek recipes.....I decided to not use Greek seasoning on one of my batches of chicken and instead, marinated it using the yogurt chicken recipe on The Chew today.  I decided not to cook this today and am saving it for another day, but now it's already made and all I have to do is thaw it!
 Here's the yogurt chicken recipe from The Chew today:
http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/yogurt-marinated-chicken-kebobs-daphne-oz

What I did decide to make today was the Moussaka.  I am Egyptian and we make something that we think is similar called "Macarona bil bechamel" or Macaroni in a Bechamel sauce, but I've never made Moussaka.  I did my best and tried to follow today's recipe!  My husband is on an "eat less meat" sort of thing and so I skipped adding the lamb and only made a tomato sauce to go with it. Here's the link to the recipe and some pictures of how I put it together today!

http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/moussaka-michael-symon


Here's how my Moussaka turned out:

The complete Moussaka hot out of the oven!

Moussaka before going in the oven with the Bechamel on top

Layering the Moussaka with the peppers and onion

Salting and sweating the eggplant to get rid of any bitterness

Bechamel sauce

Tomato sauce

Frying the eggplant