Looleh Kabob

I have this great love for anything BBQ... unfortunately, given our weather conditions, sometimes I can not use the grill outside, but still manage to  duplicate the BBQ flavor indoors, somehow.

Today I decided to make Looleh Kabobs, ground beef with a few spices, you can either choose to have  it with rice or make small sandwiches with Pita and fill with chopped onions and parsley, grilled vegetables or some salad.

What you will need:

Ground Beef

Onion or powder

Turmeric

Salt and Pepper

Tomatoes  

Sumac (optional)

Looleh Kabob

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Lbs. ground beef

1 small onion (grated and most juice removed

or use about 3 tbsp. onion powder

1 tsp. Turmeric

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients 
• Separate into 4-5 parts
• Roll out like a cigar and cut into equal size patties 
• In a hot pan on Med. High (no oil needed) fry one side until a few minutes and turn.
• Meanwhile, cut a few tomatoes in large wedges and grill in pan with the Kabobs, I always place them on the sides of the pan, so the meat does not get soggy.

Makarone / Pasta with meat sauce

Too much to do today! Good thing I have some ground beef sauteed and ready to go...

Today I will be preparing some basic pasta and meat sauce with a twist.

Makarone

Things you will need:

Pasta 

(penne, spaghetti, elbow, shells etc.)

Ready ground beef

Tomato paste

Garlic, Turmeric or any other spices you like with your pasta (optional) 

Ingredients:  

1 LB. pasta or your choice

1 Lb. ground beef

1 small can tomato paste

1-2 cloves garlic (1/2 tsp. minced)

1/2 tsp. Turmeric or other preferred spices

Directions:

• Prepare pasta according to package directions
• If not already cooked, saute 1 chopped onion in oil till lightly golden 
• Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink
• Add some turmeric and garlic to beef
• Add tomato paste
• Once pasta is ready add to ground beef and mix until all pasta is covered with the paste and oil.
• Add a little salt and pepper to taste

Your meal is ready, one pot, under 20 minutes,  at a cost of around $5 to feed 4-6 people comfortably easy, easy, easy...

Caesar Salad and some garlic bread would make this a complete delicious meal. 

One item I truly love is Johnny's Garlic Bread and Seasoning, it is in powder form  and you can prepare garlic bread or other dips and meals in a minute, you just add it to softened butter, mayo, sour cream or breadcrumbs to give a great taste to bread, dip or fried foods.

Johnny's can be found in many Costco or Walmart  stores, but the advantage to having this on hand is that since it is a powder, it will keep for a long time, so no excuse about not having garlic bread on hand!!

I also add this to my pizza sauce,  Alfredo sauce, breaded chicken, bread sticks and so much more!!

Variations: instead of ground beef you can use sliced mushrooms, ground turkey or chicken.

Another way of saving time and money is to use the same type of meat for different dishes, one pot, one technique but many different meals.
I happen to come across some ground beef on sale but they were in large family size packages, I went ahead and made three dishes, one better and easier than the next...
What we will be doing today is browning the ground beef and making one of the dishes.
You will need about one pound for each of these so make sure to separate it three ways and either freeze the rest or make the whole dish and freeze for later use.

Today we are having a dish we call Karmir / Gharmir Pilaf, translated, it is Red Rice...

Karmir / Gharmir Pilaf, Red Rice

Things you will need

Ground Beef one pound
Onions
Rice
Tomato paste
Oil

Ingredients:

1 LB. ground beef

1 chopped onion (I use pre chopped frozen)

Oil 

3 cups rice

4oz. can tomato paste

1 tsp. turmeric (not mandatory but tastes good)

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Saute the onions until golden and add ground beef and cook until no longer pink.

** as mentioned before, go ahead and double or triple this to have ground beef ready for your other dishes, refrigerate or freeze** 

Add about 3/4 of the paste to the beef and add the turmeric and mix

Wash rice, measure out the water (usually, one cup rice to 1 1/2 cup water) and add to the beef.

I usually use Basmati rice and after adding to beef I let the rice mixture to come to a gentle boil on high 

and then reduce to low and cover and wait about 20 minutes, but do follow the directions for your particular rice.

That's it, one pan, less than half an hour and delicious!!!

We love to sprinkle some crumbled Feta cheese on the rice or eat with a side of cucumber salad...

Cucumber Yogurt Salad,

8 oz. yogurt (Greek works best)

1 cucumber (peeled and diced)

1 clove garlic (or 1/2 tsp. minced)

1 tsp. dried Dill

Salt and Pepper