How to Make Fattoush Salad

Hello everyone,

I love Middle Eastern cuisine. Baba ghanoush, falafel, tabouli, you name it— it’s some of my favorite food. I was craving a feel good meal this weekend, so I decided to try my hand at a classic, fattoush salad.

Fattoush (فتوش) is a levantine bread salad which originated in Lebanon, but is also common in Syria and other Middle Eastern counties. Fattoush includes toasted or fried pieces of pita bread mixed with greens and fresh vegetables. It generally also includes cucumber, tomato, and other ingredients depending on season, location, taste, etc.

The dressing is slightly sour and acidic, using a healthy serving of lemon juice and sumac. Since I didn’t have sumac, I used zatar seasoning to give the salad a full flavor. I also used store bought pita chips to save time, but I’m sure this recipe would be even better if you used homemade pita bread for the crunch. This is a deceptively easy salad to make considering the robust flavor combinations. Why not give it a try?

What’s your favorite Middle Eastern recipe?

Cheers,

Jocelyn

* Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own! Continue reading “How to Make Fattoush Salad”

Recipe: Potato Gnocchi

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Hello everyone!

I’ve always loved Italian food. The smell of sauce cooking, the warm, filling qualities of the meals. ahhh… Pasta! Plus, I’m Italian, and I grew up eating pasta in all its forms. Since the fall, I’ve been trying to make various pastas from scratch, but one I was avoiding was gnocchi.

Why avoid gnocchi? Well, it’s hand down my favorite pasta and always has been. And I simply did not want to mess it up, or let myself down. Luckily, gnocchi is—dare I say—easy to make! And easy to make vegan!

Making gnocchi for the first time took me less than two hours, and it was absolutely scrumptious. It was probably the best gnocchi I’ve ever had. It was that good! The dough was pillowy, yet still dense enough to be chewy. The fork ‘rolling’ technique did the trick, and the pasta sauce stuck on the gnocchi in the best way.

I know spending a few hours making pasta isn’t feasible most nights of the week, but for that special occasion or on the weekend it’s well worth the effort! Give this simple three ingredient gnocchi recipe a try!

Mangia! Mangia!

Jocelyn

* Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own!

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Vegan in Vienna

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Hello fellow travelers,

In December, I was lucky enough to head to Vienna, Austria for a few days. I was so excited to see the beautiful, old architecture and landscapes. But what about vegan food? After all, Vienna is the land of the sachertorte cake and schnitzel. I was pleasantly surprised by a wealth of vegan options almost everywhere I went and  a solid number of vegetarian/ vegan-specific restaurants. Below is my brief round up of the fantastic vegan food I tasted during my trip and some mouth watering photos, too!

Enjoy, fellow vegan travelers!

Jocelyn

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New Daiya & Hampton Creek Products Hitting Shelves!

Hello everyone,

Let’s talk about the vegan food market. For years, there were very few vegan cheeses. Then there were tasteless, rubbery vegan cheeses. Then we had some “okay” cheese alternatives. And now we have an amazing array of vegan cheese from Kitehill to Daiya.

One gap in the vegan market that I think many of us have been painfully aware of is a lack of vegan salad dressings! I mean, yes, we can goto almost any store and find a vegan Italian dressing, but blue cheese, ranch, french? Not a chance! Continue reading “New Daiya & Hampton Creek Products Hitting Shelves!”

Recipe: Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Spread

Hello everyone,

This weekend I did a little spring cleaning in my kitchen. I found a rather large jar of sunFullSizeRender_2 dried tomatoes, and I knew I had to use them soon. What could I do? Obviously, I could make penne pasta with sun dried tomatoes and olive oil, or I could toss them in a salad, on a sandwich, etc. I decided I wanted to make something a little more original.

My AeroGarden has been going gangbusters lately. I have so much basil, parsley, mint, cilantro, and dill, I just don’t know what to do with it. A light bulb went off, and I decided that I would make a sun dried tomato pesto. That would use the sun dried tomatoes, basil, and parsley. Perfect!