Today I'am Guest Blogging at Musings SAHM

Good Afternoon everyone! I hope your Friday is totally awesome and full of fun.  Today I am away from Calamity Kate's Kitchen because, I am sharing the recipe for Homemade Herb Focaccia at Musings From A Stay At Home Mom! 

French Potato Salad

Welcome to the middle of the summer. My school doesn't start until the 3rd week of August and my annual vacation to Nantucket is coming up soon! One of my favorite things about summer is all of the BBQs and special summer food. Potato salad is a summer food must and this is one of my 3 favorite recipes and this recipe is one that can easily be made and enjoyed all year long. I have made/eaten this potato salad several times in the last few years, but I have only ever had it with the mayonnaise mixed into it. 

The Down Under Lemon Tart

Good Morning! I am sharing a beautiful lemon tart with you today but I wanted to take a moment to tell you all what will be happening for the next 4 weeks. For the next 4 weeks,

starting tomorrow, I have a big sale event at work. Last year was the first year we ever did this event, but it worked so well and we sold so much furniture that we are doing this event again. If you are in the area, feel free to stop by La-Z-Boy in Lafayette Indiana. While it is great, I will be very busy for the next 3-4 weeks and I won't be able to spend as much time on Calamity Kate's Facebook page or Twitter account. I have prewritten 3 blog posts, including this one, so you can all won't have to wait on some awesome recipes and stories. I will still get to see any and all of your fabulous comments as they go through my email.  I will see you next week with Fourth of July Cupcakes...until then, enjoy The Down Under Lemon Tart! 

Aunt Nancy and Bing 

While I was in Milwaukee we made this delicious tart with my Aunt Nancy, I am sure you have all heard me talk about her, she is the best. I love spending time with Aunt Nancy and Aunt Fran while in Milwaukee. We cook and bake and we eat and we talk and we laugh and we eat some more.  Aunt Nancy is a very accomplished cook and baker, but she makes pies and tarts like no one can! Aunt Nancy found this tart recipe online. We made it on the 3rd or 4th day I was in Milwaukee.  The tart dough is very solid and slightly sweet. This recipe made 2 tart shells but only one tart of filling. We froze the second tart shell and later that week we used it for a french apple tart. This tart dough is now my go to recipe for tarts!

Better Than Storebought Hummus

I love hummus and is a good thing because, my vegan/pescatarian family eats a ton of hummus. Hummus with veggies, hummus with bread, hummus with chips, and hummus instead of sauce on pizza. If you have ever watched, Don't Mess with the Zohan? We eat hummus like that...except we don't use it in our hair, or to put out fires or as toothpaste... but you get my drift.  We like hummus and what a hummus this is!

Two Bean Vegetarian Chili and a Narration

I'm so sorry that I have been M.I.A. for nearly 2 months. After moving to my new apartment I was hit with a bad case of bronchitis. Then, just one week later I got a horrible stomach bug that knocked me out so hard that my parents had to take me to their home to recuperate. So, know that I am feeling better  and moved in to my new apartment (pictures to come), I so am glad to be back to blogging! 

Made by Aunt Nancy

Sticky Linzer Bars

A delicious disaster... 

Raspberry Jam-y!

Middle Eastern Meal Main Course

This trip was so much fun! I can't believe we made this great meal with out driving to grocery stores hours away, as we do in Indiana.  Milwaukee has this awesome grocery store, not at all like Indiana. So I walked through the grocery store Sendik's with my mouth open so wide my chin rested on the floor. As a foodie, I know how limited our grocery stores are but this market had carrots as wide as the mouth of cereal bowl and a meat and seafood selection that make my local supermarket look like the fresh food section of the gas station.  I loved buying lamb, testing cheese, trying and buying raspberry and mustard pretzel dip and all the wine. Yum

Meat and Spice Mixture

I loved everything from our meal. The internet is a wonderful place to find recipes and we lucked into these middle eastern meatballs. They were a hit and the flavors were wonderful. These delightful meatballs have the most delicious spices and currents in them. The flavor was exotic with hints of sweet from the currents, nutty from the meat and the sesame seeds and just divine  I loved every bite and they were just as delicious the next day. You could serve them with kebabs and vegetables but we just served them in a large bowl with minted yogurt sauce on the side.  The most amazing thing about this dinner was that everything came out at the same time. Even though it was our first time making everything but the hummus. It was awesome and so delicious. Enjoy!

Raw Meatballs rolled in sesame seeds and waiting to be baked

Middle Eastern Sesame Lamb and Turkey Meatballs



1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried mint, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
a pinch cinnamon
1 pound ground lamb 
1 pound ground turkey
1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
1 large egg, beaten lightly
4 tablespoons dried currants
1/4 cup black sesame seeds 
1/4 cup white sesame seeds


 Form level tablespoons of lamb mixture into 1 1/4-inch meatballs, arranging on a tray as formed.
In a small non-stick skillet cook onion and garlic in oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in mint, salt, allspice, and cinnamon. Add lamb, bread crumbs, egg, and currants and combine well.

In a small bowl roll half of meatballs, 1 at a time, in black sesame seeds until coated, transferring to a rack set in a shallow baking pan. Coat remaining meatballs with white sesame seeds in same manner, transferring to rack. Meatballs may be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead and chilled, covered loosely.

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Bake meatballs in upper third of oven 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden and just cooked through. Serve with Minted Yogurt Dip.

Cooked meatballs 

Minted Yogurt Dip

2 cups plain yogurt (not Greek yogurt)1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

To make the yogurt dip:

In a fine sieve set over a bowl drain yogurt, covered and chilled, 3 hours. Discard whey in bowl and transfer yogurt cheese to bowl. Yogurt cheese may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.

Into yogurt cheese stir mint and salt. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.


Next time I will share with you the delicious Persian Saffron Rice with Toasted Almonds and Currents. Its my new favorite rice. 

Middle Eastern Meal Appitizers

Well now that I am a school girl (again), I got to enjoy a fabulous spring break. Everyone made fun of me since I was heading north to cooler weather but it turned really warm and I had a blast. I loved visiting my Aunt Nancy and Aunt Fran in Milwaukee. We all love to cook and bake so we just had the most fun in the kitchen.  Aunt N and I sat down to plan our weeks baking schedule. Unfortunately we didn't make too much of a dent in our list but it means I'll just have to go back for another week of cooking.  

We decided to make a special dinner for 8 people on the second night. Aunt Nancy and I planned a middle eastern feast for fun. It was so delicious that we were so glad that we made too much, since we almost finished it all.  We served hummus, babaganoush with homemade pita for the appetizers. Dinner was middle eastern lamb and turkey meatballs with a minted yogurt sauce and dessert was spiced figs with vanilla ice cream topped with a spiced fig sauce. It was perfect! 

I love hummus and this recipe makes a light and fresh tasting hummus with lots of lemon and parsley. We added in too much lemon juice so it was rather runny but still delicious. I have had hummus with organic chickpeas and I find that I like hummus better with regular old canned chickpeas. The texture is much smoother with non-organic chickpeas.  Enjoy!

Chickpeas

Barefoot  Hummus
Adapted from the Barefoot Contessa
4 garlic cloves

2 cups canned chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons water or liquid from the chickpeas
8 dashes hot sauce
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Hummus

Turn on the food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop the garlic down the feed tube; process until it's minced. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until the hummus is coarsely pureed. Taste, for seasoning, and serve chilled or at room temperature. This hummus is better the next day. 

I have never made babaganoush before, so I was shocked how easy and delicious it was. This babaganoush is very spicy and delicious. We served this and the homemade hummus with homemade toasted pita and it was a great way to start our Middle Eastern dinner. This recipe originally called for parsley but since we ran out of the parsley I added in the mint. It was delicious and simply perfect!

Babaganoush

Adapted from Ellie Krieger

1 large eggplant (about 1 pound) 
1 glove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint 
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons lemon juice


Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.


Prick eggplant with a fork and place on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake the eggplant until it is soft inside, about 20 minutes. Alternatively, grill the eggplant over a gas grill, rotating it around until the skin is completely charred, about 10 minutes. Let the eggplant cool. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, drain off the liquid, and scoop the pulp into a food processor. Process the eggplant until smooth and transfer to a medium bowl.


On a cutting board, work garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt together with the flat side of a knife, until it forms a paste. Add the garlic-salt mixture to the eggplant. Stir in the mint, tahini, and lemon juice. Season with more salt, to taste. Garnish with parsley.

Next week I will share with you the delicious and easy sesame lamb and turkey middle eastern meatballs with currents.