Today’s dish(es): Lah. Zah. Nyaaah

Lasagna
(And my oodles of noodles on the fly bonus dish)

Skill level: medium to advanced
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 120 minutes

Ingredients

2lb ground beef
1 container of ricotta cheese
1 big onion
Salt and pepper
1tbsp minced garlic
Ground Cinnamon
1 can of diced tomato
1 can of tomato sauce
Oregano
2 tbsp Olive oil
Lemon juice
1 box of lasagna noodles (to all my Italian friends, scusa but I am not making my own noodles)
1 bag of shredded Colby and Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

Dice the onion
Heat olive oil in a saucepan on high
Add diced onion and stir for a minute
Add ground beef and stir
Add salt and pepper to liking
Stir until meat is browned
Add can of diced tomatoes
Add can of tomato sauce
Add A couple of dashes of cinnamon
Stir
Add 1 tbsp of minced garlic
Add a couple of dashes of oregano
Add a capful if lemon juice
Stir
Turn heat down to medium/medium low, cover and let cook for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally

While sauce is cooking, boil the noodles according to box directions

After sauce and noodles are ready, get an oven safe pan (I like glass ones, less sticky on the bottom)

Lay one layer of noodles at the bottom of the pan next to each other

Add a serving spoonful of ricotta cheese on top of the noodles
Add 1-2 scoops of sauce
Mix sauce and cheese and spread over noodles to cover them
(The measurements will vary based on the size of your pan)

Add second layer of noodles on top and repeat

Add third layer on top and repeat

After you mixed ricotta and sauce on top of third layer, sprinkle shredded cheese on top generously so it covers the sauce and ricotta cheese mix

Sprinkle some pepper and oregano on top if you like

Cover and bake in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes then uncover and let bake for another 10-15 minutes

Sahteen

HOLD ON!!!

I made oodles of noodles!
I don’t want to throw them away!

No worries.
Take the extra noodles and cut them sideways (on the short side-see pic)

In a wok or a pan, add a teaspoon of olive oil and then heat on high

Throw the cut noodles in
Add a can of diced tomatoes
Add salt and pepper to liking
Add a couple of dashes of oregano
Add a capful of lemon juice
Add a teaspoon of minced garlic
Add a couple of dashes of graded Parmesan cheese
Stir for 5 minutes

And viola! You’ll be eating pasta for days

Kabsa- an Arabian Gulf main dish

Skill level: medium to advanced
Prep time: 10 minutes or less (unless you have a 9 year old helping you in which case it takes about 572 hours)
Cooking time: 75 minutes

Ingredients
Chicken pieces (could be drumsticks, thighs, or breast. With bone tastes better)
4 cups Basmati rice
2 tomatoes
1 big onion
Salt and pepper
Makbos spice mix (which you can find at your nearest halal/middle eastern store- two of which are in Fort Wayne Halal Store on Hobson Rd and Almadinah on Colsieum)
Dried lime (also typically found at above mentioned stores)

Directions
Dice the tomatoes and onion
In a saucepan, add a little bit of olive oils and turn heat up to high
Add diced tomatoes and onion
Stir for a couple of minutes
Add your rinsed and cleaned chicken pieces to the pan
Add salt and pepper to liking
Stir until chicken turns slightly brown
Add enough water to fill about 3/4 of the saucepan
Add 4 tablespoons of makboos spice mix
Cover and let cook on medium high for at least 60 minutes (check on the water level occasionally and if needed add water to maintain level at at least half the saucepan)
Soak the rice in water and set aside until chicken is done cooking

After chicken is cooked, take the chicken pieces out and put them on a tray

If you’d like, you can put the tray in the oven and broil on low for a few minutes. This works well if you kept the skin on the chicken

Take out the dried lime and throw away

Rinse out the rice
Add rice to the saucepan
Turn heat to low-medium
Cover and cook the rice (15-20 minutes)

Once rice is done, put it on a tray and then put the chicken pieces on top

Aaaaand sahteen

p.s. the spice mix differs slightly based on country. The one I like and use is the Saudi mix but there Bahraini, Qatari....etc.

Burgers!

Skill level: beginner
Prep time: 5 minutes
Marinate: at least one hour

Ingredients:
Ground beef (at least 90% lean)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic poweder
Ginger powder
Onion
Balsamic vinegar

Prep:

Put 1lb of ground beef in a bowl
Add sat and pepper to liking
Grate one onion on top
Add 1 tablespoon ginger powder
Add 1 tablespoon garlic powder
Add 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Mix well and leave, cover bowl and put in fridge for at least an hour

Pull out when ready and make into patties

Grill to liking