One Skillet Spinach Shakshuka

It’s been cold, rainy and wildly windy for the past few days, so staying in my PJ’s until 12 and making a big shakshuka sounded like the best thing to do! It’s an easy one-skillet recipe that originated from northern Africa and is now served all over the Middle East. Lots of spicy flavors, sliced onions, peppers, tomato, feta cheese and eggs. I added some spinach for a fun twist. Serve with crusty bread or chapati style flat bread. Mmmmm. It’s the best – especially when you cook those eggs just right! And it makes the whole house smell wonderful!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion (thinly sliced)
1 red bell pepper (thinly sliced)
4 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 (28oz) can tomatoes with juices (chopped)
salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
3 cups fresh spinach (chopped)
½ cup feta cheese (crumbled)
6 eggs
cilantro and parsley (chopped)

In a cast iron skillet, cook onions, bell peppers and garlic in a tbsp. of olive oil until browned. Add spices and tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Turn off heat. Add feta cheese and eggs. Place in preheated 350F oven for 10 min or until egg whites are cooked and the yolks are just beginning to harden around the edges. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cilantro and parsley. Serve with crusty bread or chapati style flat bread.

This Bar Saves Lives X A Bit of Bees Knees | Giveaway

This Bar Saves Lives is making its debut in all California Starbucks! This is great guys…REALLY GREAT! These yummy bars actually do save lives. Here’s how it works. For every bar you buy, their non-profit partner makes a life-saving packet of food. Then they send that food to where it’s needed most. Boom. You helped save a child’s life. How cool is that?

This Bar Saves Lives has partnered with Edesia and Action Against Hunger to provide malnourished children with vital nutrients needed to treat and prevent stunting – a condition caused by a diet lacking in essential calories, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals – which not only affect a child’s growth, but also their lifelong health and productivity. 2.6 million children die from severe acute malnutrition each year. And “This Bar Saves Lives” has distributed 1,000,000 bars and counting! Let’s keep it up and save more lives!

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GIVEAWAY!

We’ve got a GIVEAWAY contest for you (on my instagram)! In celebration of their launch at Starbucks, This Bar Saves Lives is giving away a box of bars and a $10 Starbucks gift card to a lucky winner at random. I will notify the winner via insta message next week. Contest ends the night of November 16th! US citizens only please. By entering you are confirming that you are 13+ years of age, agree to Instagram’s terms of use and release Instagram from any and all responsibility. Here’s how you play:

#1 Follow @thisbar on Instagram
#2 Tag 2 friends (in a comment below) to help spread the word on This Bar Saves Lives and ending world hunger!

That’s it! Have fun friends! I wish you luck!

This Bar Saves Live – We eat together. A yummy snack for you and life saving meal for a child in need.

Little Saigon Night Market

Oh summer nights, how I love you. Especially Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays… because the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster CA has a summer weekend night market with the yummiest food. If I ever feel the travel bug and can’t whisk away, I’ll explore a neighborhood nearby – new faces, new food, new culture. It’s just what I love. Little Saigon in Westminster is one of my favorite places. It’s a wild night pack full strange Karaoke, adventurous eats and exciting crowds!

Nuoc Mia is my fave! Fresh sugarcane juice… It’s delicious, nutritious and alkalizing. It has unexpected health benefits – loaded with calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium and zinc. It also contains iron and vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6, along with a high concentration of antioxidants. It has a low Glycemic Index = a steady release of energy without crashing! It promotes healthy skin, hair and nails + tastes amazing! I like to blend it with green kumquats! Mmmmmmm

Grab a chair! Any chair!

Grilled prawns, squid and sweet corn!

Cuban Style Spicy Rice, Plátanos Madras and Chili Lime Tilapia

Cuban style plátanos madras – sweet fried plantains sprinkled with coconut sugar and cinnamon, spicy garlic rice with onions, tomatoes, peas and cilantro + crispy bites of chili, lime tilapia.

Plátanos Madras Recipe
1 plantain (sliced into long ovals)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
*sprinkle plantain slices with coconut sugar and cinnamon. Place on a hot skillet seasoned with sunflower oil (or any tasteless veggie oil). Fry until golden.

Tilapia Recipe
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp paprika
1 lime (juice)
1 cup panko crumbs
*mix honey, paprika and lime juice together in a small dish. Dip tilapia in the mixture and then dredge through panko crumbs. Place on a seasoned skillet and cook until the the crumbs are golden and the fish is white and flaky.

Cuban Spicy Rice
1 cup white rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup onions (chopped)
1/2 cup red bell pepper (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (pressed)
2 tomatoes (diced)
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup cilantro (minced)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt

*Partially cook rice in chicken broth and set aside. In a hot oiled skillet, cook onions, bell peppers and garlic until slightly caramelized. Add partially cooked rice, peas, cilantro, paprika and salt. Cover with lid. Simmer on low until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

Make Your Own Pizza Night

Make-you-own-pizza night! Dan and I thought it would be fun to have some friends over and make our own pizzas at home. We got all the fixings…dough, sauce, cheese, sausage, pepperoni, basil, olives, veggies etc. D snagged a few mini pizza boxes from our local Mom n Pop pizza shop around the corner and he boxed up our babies and headed to the beach to catch the sunset. It was a perfectly “cheesy” summer evening.