When I’m looking for a quick way to cook and eat healthy, I begin thinking about what I can make in a tagine. They’re easy to make one pot meals in and because they have a conical lid, you can steam the contents either while cooking or when it’s out of the oven and resting. My latest creation was with shrimp and the Saffron Road Harissa Simmer Sauce– a great combination and only minimal ingredients are needed to add to it.
In this case, I added green peppers, garlic, onion, cilantro and parsley.
The main ingredient is large shrimp with the shells on. Boil for 5-7 minutes in water to cook them slightly.
Once cooked (they turn pink), drain the water and let them cool.
Peel the shrimp of all the shells. Place in the tagine with the cut peppers, garlic and onion.
Add a bit of ras-al-hanout, if you have it. It’s not necessary because the Harissa Simmer Sauce has spices in it already.
Just like the other Simmer Sauces that Saffron Road has in their line of sauces, they’re all natural, halal-certified and gluten-free.
Pour it over the shrimp and other ingredients. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Stir everything up before cooking then cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Once it comes out of the oven, put a lid on it and let it steam for about 5 minutes.
Serve with a side of pearl couscous or rice, if you have it.
It’s even good with just a nice big piece of rustic bread.
Making mayonnaise at home is SO super easy to do. The only trick is that you have to have all your ingredients ready to go and you have to be ready to work fast at the right time. Let me show you how.
You can basically add anything you want to mayo. This particular one looks more on the yellow side because I add ground yellow mustard seed to it. You don’t have to do that and thus your mayo may look ‘white’ the way it does at the grocery store. I also add finely minced garlic and jalapeno to the final product because when I make burgers, it’s a nice addition to all those Southwest burger-type flavors I love to have. You absolutely don’t have to do that, of course; it’s just a nice twist in my opinion.
Start first by making your own ‘double broiler’. All you need is a saucepan of boiling water and a heat-safe dish that fits on top and is deep enough for you to whisk the eggs, vinegar and water.
You have to work fast once the eggs are in because they will scramble if you don’t.
When I say ‘work fast’, I mean whisking vigorously to make sure the combine with the other ingredients to emulsify the mixture. I can talk more in depth about emuslification, but for brevity’s sake let me just say that the emulsifiers in many products is the reason you should make this at home if you can’t find a halal product. Emuslifiers are found in many things like mayonnaise and ice cream- they help not only to thicken products, but also to bring them back to shape once they’re cooled, warmed up and then cooled again.
In this case, once the eggs are added and thicken the mixture, remove the pan from heat then add in the spices, whisking away once again. In this case, if you’re adding fresh ingredients like the minced garlic and jalapeño, do so now.
Drizzle in the olive oil next, whisking at the same time.
That’s pretty much it. Can you believe how simple and fresh that is?
It’ll keep in the fridge fresh for about a week- and it’s great on burgers!
This past Ramadan I got really used to drinking smoothies at iftar and sometimes even at suhoor. Now here were are a couple of months out, and they are very much still on my radar, especially since I’ve frozen so much of the fruit that was leftover and still gets left over from weekly shopping. But what I decided to do this time around was to make packs of fruits, combining the ones I wanted to have together in a smoothie since it’s just easier to take it right out of the bag and add the things you can’t necessarily freeze so well. Here’s what I do:
Gather your favorite fruits, freshest fruits, most seasonal fruits and think about what combos you’d like to prepare in a smoothie. Then, get proper freezing bags, plus think about what liquids you’d like to add to the smoothies once they’re prepared fresh (I don’t actually advise freezing milk, yogurt, coconut water or any creams but just showed them here for visual purposes).
Mark the bags, using freezer tape and nice and bright markers like Sharpies, which don’t bleed when cold or frozen.
I personally like to combine dates with figs, dates with apricots, figs with bananas, pineapple with banana and coconut flakes.
Proportionally, I bag enough for one or two, but not more than that at a time so that they’re easy for everyone in the house to make their one when they want, especially for breakfast.
For example, I put 2 large figs (cut in half so that when they’re frozen they’re easy on the blender), 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup whole milk. Really delicious and makes about 12 ounces of a very smooth smoothie when blended until all the lumps are gone.
One last word of advice is to use whole milk products such as whole-milk yogurt so that the resulting drink isn’t too watery. Coconut water is so excellent in smoothies, too, but you almost never need as much as you think because the fruits have so much water in them, too, especially after they’ve been frozen.
My love of eating chicken wings began in college when I really got a taste of how wonderful they were- mild, hot and spicy and always with some sort of creamy dip and a side of fries. It’s the college kid ting to do, right? Well, the saucy wings weren’t the first kind I was exposed to, but the first kind I actually liked. My mom used to order the southern style fried wings that came with fries and gravy smothered on top, a sort of specialty in our small town’s tiny but popular mom and pop restaurant called Rainbow Kitchen. But as a kid, I couldn’t appreciate anything but the fries…
Looking back, it’s the stuff people crave now- totally homemade meals like mom used to make, reminiscent of the olden days when things really were farm to fork on a daily basis. It was also a time when people weren’t so wigged out by cooking with the raw product.
When you have a beautiful and clean product to work with, there should be nothing to get squirmy about, although wings should probably be cut in half (which I did not do in this recipe and wish I had) for ease of eating, having more bites available for more people and for the pure aesthetics of it, as wings look better cut in half.
I simply got carried away with this recipe and went full force preparing and photographing before even thinking about all that because it’s so easy to make, and so quick, that it’s just delightful to get right into the cooking and eating part.
All you need are a few things:
About 1 and 3/4 pounds chicken wings (that’s often how the packs come), one tablespoon of date vinegar (but you can use just about any other type of vinegar you like), one teaspoon of sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and one packet of Saffron Road’s Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce (although it’s delicious with the Moroccan Tagine Simmer Sauce, too).
Make sure to use a good sea salt (coarse or fine) and a pungent black pepper. I know the Simmer Sauce has spice in it already and if you like your wings mild, my recipe will keep it that way with the addition of a tiny kick. If you like things hotter, add some chili flakes or chili powder.
Check out that gorgeous color of the Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce, which has no artificial color, additives or preservatives. It’s also gluten-free, low in carbs (only 3 grams) and calories (only 20). To top it off, it’s ingredients are non-GMO, which is not easy for food companies to do anymore.
Next, pour on the vinegar. I like to use either apple cider vinegar or date vinegar in this recipe, but you can liven it up with other types of vinegar you have on hand, preferably something dark. The Simmer Sauce already has some vinegar in it, but since we’re either oven-roasting or grilling these wings, the additional vinegar helps give the sauce a little more cooking liquid without liquefying the dish-basically so it doesn’t become one big mess that doesn’t stick to the chicken.
Add the salt and pepper.
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Mix it all together to coat the chicken well.
Alternatively you can do this in a bag instead of a bowl: simply place everything in a bag instead of ever using a bowl and shake it up. It’s easy to marinate for a bit this way, too, although there is no need for marinating the chicken in this recipe unless you want to do that.
Now here’s another alternative: You can either opt to grill or oven-roast these wings. You can also do a little bit of both stove-top grilling then oven roasting or use the oven the whole time. I’m giving you the recipe for all three at the end of this post, but in the rest of the post I’m going to show you how to oven roast them only. If you were to use the stove top or outdoor grill, be sure to crank up the heat nice and high before adding the chicken.
Otherwise, prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. You can thank me later about how much less the cleanup is.
Add the wings. Be sure to spread them apart nicely so they can roast evenly. The oven should be preheated to 375°.
Let them roast on one side, without turning, for 20 minutes. Crank up the heat to 425° for 15 minutes, then turn each one over. Continue roasting for another 15 minutes, or until nicely browned and fully cooked on the inside. Remember, chicken should read at least 165° F on a meat thermometer, away from the bone.
Looks like they’ve been grilled outdoors, don’t they? You can also do a bit of stovetop grilling first and then move to the oven to get this effect, but oven-only grilling will do the same if you crank the heat up to broil for the last five minutes of cooking. Not necessary, but it’s a nice effect.
Plate the finished chicken however you like. In this case, I added chopped cilantro, cut radishes and lime to the top because I planned to make tasty tacos out of the wings.
I’ve sort of adopted that, too. Just add tortillas, sour cream and salsa and you’ve got it together. In this case, though, the wings are great all on their own.
Can you believe a Simmer Sauce can help you do this so easily? What other Simmer Sauces by Saffron Road would you try that you think would be great on wings?
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, however, all opinions and recipes are my own and not that of the sponsoring company.
I had no idea what a hit these pita rolls would be. They seemed so easy to make and with such a familiar taste to them, I didn’t even think they would be very interesting to other people. When I instagrammed making these several months ago, so many people were intrigued and wanted the recipe. I totally understand why now- they’re so so easy to make and don’t take too many ingredients to put them together. For people who don’t like tabbouleh or hummus (if they exist), you don’t even really have to put them in the rolls, but they definitely taste better with the two, in my opinion.
Here’s how it goes:
Start with the best quality ingredients you can find, as with all recipes.
The same goes for olive oil and vinegar (i.e. date vinegar or apple cider vinegar). Don’t skimp on the good stuff if you can afford it. There truly is no replacement for real olive oil and the flavor you get with a dark vinegar like date vinegar is unique so if you choose to de-glaze this dish with another type of vinegar (i.e white), it will vary a bit.
You may have questions on the vinegar issue as it relates to halal, I know. So, please visit the vinegar page for what I understand and go by with regards to how I select it. I know
Get a good quality tabbouleh or make it yourself, of course! Here’s a link to my Tabbouleh recipe if you decide to spend a lot of time chopping. It’s quite therapeutic, really.
If you absolutely can’t find the boneless cubes, you can also just get their boneless skinless breast tenders and cut them up, which takes all about 2 minutes for a pound of meat.
Start with a large saute pan and add salt if you’re using a non-stick or a non-cast iron pan. This helps prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan during cooking, which often happens with skinless meats. Add just enough for the recipe to avoid over-salting.
You’re welcome.
Add the oil to pan now gently heat.
When the oil is hot (not burning), add the chicken, freshly ground pepper and any additional salt you think. Cook over medium high heat.
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Let the chicken brown on one side then flip.
Flip again until they’re really nicely browned on all sides. You may need to stay right in front of the pan to do this, in order to avoid burning or pulling apart of any meat.
Now add the vinegar.
All at once. It will start to steam and evaporate just as soon as it hits the pan. Stay right in front of the pan to deglaze the oil and any scraps at the bottom of the pan with your spoon or spatula.
Keep doing this until all of the vinegar is ‘gone’- it’s really attaching itself to the meat.
It should look this beautiful by then, the deep dark color is due to the vinegar. Don’t worry if there’s a little oil left in the pan. That’s actually good because if you’re not eating this right away, you can store the chicken with this oil and re-heat in it so that it doesn’t dry out.
It’ll also give it a bit of a nice sheen.
This is not a greasy sandwich, but that extra oil is kind of nice if you want to add in the pita roll. We love it like that.
Those bite-size pieces are just wonderful, but you can always cut larger pieces if you prefer.
Here’s a video where I show how the same technique is done, although these chicken pieces are uncut (using boneless chicken tenders):
Now get out the hummus. This is a pre-made one, I know. That’s what makes it extra quick when you need things to be fast.
Take a heaping spoonful and spread it across the underside of one whole pita bread laid flat on a plate.
Now do one more heaping spoonful. It makes the sandwich more moist.
Next is the tabbouleh. Another ready-made version. I said I needed it done fast. But truth be told, I have at times made one thing homemade and store-bought the other. Whatever works for you.
Then, add as much chicken as you’ll like per sandwich. I like to divide the final mixture of chicken into fours so that I know I’ll have four evenly-made sandwiches.
Wanna roll? Or eat it open face? Well, you could do either one, really.
Let’s say we roll this time. Take one side of the bread and fold it completely over the ingredients lengthwise.
And, roll again.
Cut them in half, if you like, or just because you want to take photos. Everyone’s doing that these days….
I think we may find one day that there are more pictures of sandwiches and said pita rolls than there are of children in our families.
One last word of advice is to use whole milk products such as whole-milk 
