Weekend Meze.

It rained last night and the forecast had predicted rain today but it has yet to come. I took advantage of the current blue skies and sun with slight breeze to lunch al fresco once again. I'm really getting used to this! It makes me look forward to the weekend. Come summer, this is will be a regular thing. Can't wait.


Another meze lunch with lots of things to nibble on and again with the mediterranean theme. I just got a new cookbook, "The Greek Vegetarian" and I wanted to use it today. I made from it Eggplant Puree with Walnuts and Fava Bean Stew with Mint. I also made hummus and a greek salad.


Hummus on the left and Eggplant Puree with walnuts (Makedonitiki Melitzanosalata) on the right. The eggplant puree was delicious and garlicky. The walnuts are first ground to a paste and then processed with roasted eggplant pulp.


Fava bean stew with mint (Koukia Stifado me Dyosmo). Delicious and filling tender fava beans with a base of tomatoes, red onions, garlic, mint and dill. I added dill because I'm crazy about it and a lot of greek dishes have fresh dill so it seemed rather fitting.


Greek salad with cucumbers, olives, red onions and "Betta Feta", a tofu based faux feta from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. Drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.


First of the jasmine blooms I've seen this year.


Buster eating pita.


Dessert is banana bread that I made with the biggest ripest bananas that I found in our fruit bowl. The cake sunk in the middle a bit because of my impatience. I peeked in the oven way too many times!

Lunch on the Patio.

This was a valentine's gift to myself: a relaxing, leisurely lunch on the patio with the sun blazing overhead and me shaded underneath an umbrella reading a good book. I can't ask for anything better to do on this gorgeous Sunday. We're lucky to get this kind of weather here while snow storms ravage the majority of the country. I will enjoy it while we have it. So, on to my lunch. I had a platter of dips (hummus and baba ganouj) with pita bread and cucumbers, a Lebanese eggplant and chickpea stew, sweet little clementines and a beer and tomato juice. Yes you heard that right! I used to love Clamato y cerveza when I was omni and the only way I can kind of duplicate that is to use tomato juice instead of Clamato. Tastes great and works for me!


The two dips in the front are hummus and baba ganouj that was leftover from my lunch yesterday at Gaby's Mediterranean cafe. I also had a big thing of hummus that I made last week so I added some of that to my plate as well. Drizzled with olive oil and flanked by cucumbers, this was heaven.


The star of the meal. Mnazalet Al-Batinjan or Eggplant and Chickpea stew from "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook. Easiest recipe ever. It's beautifully fragrant with cumin and mint leaves. The eggplant is so tender, it melts in your mouth. I love this dish.


Scoop some on bread and eat!


Dessert was the chocolate beer waffles from Vegan Brunch cookbook. Yummy! I served them with blueberry/maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar.

VeganMoFo: Mini Meze

Meze = a selection of small dishes

My husband and I like to do this every so often for dinner. It's fun to just have an assortment of things to dip bread and vegetables into. Don't have to slave over a stove or put anything in the oven. I whipped up some hummus yesterday so all I had to do today was prepare za'atar in olive oil and make a second dip. Since I used my new favorite book yesterday, I didn't want to miss another chance to use it again. I looked in the "Appetizers" section and found an eggplant dip that looked good. This eggplant dip is called Bathinjan Mfasakh in arabic and the recipe originates from Syria and Lebanon. It was very easy to prepare. I just needed to salt the eggplant and drain it for a while and then quickly saute in olive oil until browned. Then I mashed it all up and added vegan yogurt, garlic, dried mint, salt and pepper. YUM-MEE. We used whole wheat pita and fresh cucumber for dipping. For drinks we shared a Gingerberry kombucha.


Closeup of the eggplant dip.

Meze Supper.

Tonight husband and I wanted to dine on an assortment of appetizers or "meze". I was happy to make a dip of chickpeas and fava beans (not quite hummus because I only had about 1/2 cup of chickpeas), za'atar in olive oil with fresh tomato and onion as well as a light eggplant dish, Misaqua'at Betinjan bil Laban or 'Browned Eggplant with Yogurt'. I used plain unsweetened soy yogurt* and added about a tablespoon of vegan mayo for more creaminess. Try as they might, soy yogurts just do not have the same texture nor flavor as regular dairy yogurt. The vegan mayo added to it made it much creamier and it was simply flavored with salt, garlic, cumin and coriander. This recipe is from a Iraqi cookbook I have called "Delights from the Garden of Eden". The recipe is also online here. The eggplant was really good (well, anything that is fried is good!) and the salty olives and pita were yummy accompaniments.


Chickpea & Fava Bean Dip with Za'atar topped with fresh tomato and onions.


Yummy fried eggplants with garlicky soy yogurt!


All together...

*Note: The best plain unsweetened soy yogurt is Wildwood Organics. The other brands plain are just way too sweet.

Meze: Hummus, Bazargan and Za'atar in olive oil

This is the perfect kind of meal for a hot (not quite summer) night. No need for turning on the stove. I prepared the hummus and bazargan (Syrian bulgur relish) this morning so they were ready to eat when I came home from work. I topped the relish and za'atar dip with fresh tomato and onions. I had whole wheat pita and sesame crackers for dipping. The bazargan is a recipe from 'Olive Trees and Honey'. It is a bulgur relish that is flavored with olive oil, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, cumin, tomato and cayenne. There are chopped walnuts in it and fresh cilantro (didn't have parsley) as well.


My salad from lunch. Just green leaf, red peppers, walnuts with an olive oil/lemon juice dressing

VeganMoFo: Mini Meze

It's been so hot the past couple days I've been feeling reluctant to cook. I just want to chill out with an iced tea and nosh on little nibbles. A meze is a small snack or appetizer assortment that can be consumed as a starter course or as an entire meal. Tonight's supper will consist of a mini meze spread with three delightful dips/spreads that go well with pita and crackers. Also we'll be enjoying something new that is here to stay: garlicky edamame.

Our spread:

Hummus: A creamy Middle Eastern dip made of chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon juice that is drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sumac. (Recipe from Tables of Lebanon cookbook)

Bazargan: A tart and fruity Syrian bulgur relish which contains bulgur, walnuts, lemon juice, olive oil and pomegranate syrup. (Recipe from: Olive Trees and Honey cookbook)

Za'atar: A Middle Eastern spice mixture of thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, salt and sumac which is mixed with olive oil for dipping. My favorite Lebanese restaurant provides this at every table with chopped onions and tomato so I copied them. You can find prepared za'atar spice mix at a middle eastern grocery or ethnic market.

Garlicky Edamame (recipe at the end of this post)

Pita Bread and Sesame Crackers
Iced tea, Beer, Water


A little mountain of bazargan surrounded by creamy hummus and za'atar in olive oil.




Garlicky Edamame. Wow, this is really good. I got the idea for this from a PPK'er who made a breaded garlic parmesan edamame but unfortunately used non-vegan parmesan. I wanted to try something similar and came up with this. I used 'Parmezano Sprinkles' (which is always available in my fridge!) which gave them a beautiful nutty bite.

Garlicky Edamame

2-3 TB olive oil
2 cups steamed edamame
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 TB Parmezano Sprinkles (you can get this recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook...or you can email me!)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium high heat. Add edamame and stir fry for a minute or so to coat them with the oil. Add the garlic and toss a few times. Turn off heat and sprinkle with Parmezano Sprinkles, salt and pepper. That's it! They are so garlicky and salty and addicting! Be careful!