Moroccan Grilled Chicken

Hello all! I hope you had a fantastic weekend, and are ready for another long week ahead of us! (:  I was looking through the pictures from my France/Spain/Morocco trip earlier this morning, (because I DIDN’T HAVE AP WORLD HOMEWORK. OH YEAH! ;D), and I saw the beautiful door that I published above. We were walking through the small Moroccan village, and I just had to stop. The colours were so incredibly vibrant, just like everything else, and it was breathtaking. I hope someday you get to see Morocco, and all of it’s glory.

Well, after I took this picture of a beautiful door, we went to this little restaurant with a fire dancer and a band, and it was so awesome, but we had a fantastic meal, and I experienced Moroccan food for the first time. Now I cannot get enough of it. It is spicy, but so savory, and just overall delicious, and I wanted to share this AMAZING recipe with you today! (:

Grilled Moroccan Chicken

With Zucchini Ribbons

Ingredients:

·        1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (really high quality makes it so much better)

·        ¼ cup of scallions, but only the white parts

·        ¼ cup chopped parsley

·        ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

·        1 tablespoon minced garlic

·        2 teaspoons paprika

·        3 teaspoons ground cumin

·        ¼ teaspoon turmeric

·        ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

·        4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

·        Salt and pepper to taste

·        4 medium sized zucchini

·        1 tablespoon of butter, cut into small pieces

·        2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

·        2 tablespoons basil

·        A few pinches of red pepper flakes

Method:

For the chicken:

·        Combine ½ cup of olive oil, scallions, parsley, cilantro, garlic, paprika, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, turmeric,  cayenne, salt and pepper into a food processor/blender and swirl until it is smooth.

·        Coat the mixture on both sides of the freshly cleaned and washed chicken breasts, and let sit for at least 30 minutes, (upwards of 2+ hours gives the marinade a lot more time to set in and taste so much better)

·        Preheat the grill on medium high heat

·        Cook on both sides until completely white all the way through

For the zucchini:

·        Bring a pot of water to a boil

·        While it is coming to a boil- slice zucchini into ribbon like pieces (longways and thin), add to the water, and cook until tender which should only take 30-60 seconds

·        Drain and transfer to a serving bowl

·        Combine the oil, butter, basil, parmesan cheese, cumin, and red pepper flakes into the bowl with the zucchini, and let the butter melt, stir it all together.

·        Serve and enjoy! J

To add to the Moroccan feel, you can use the

couscous recipe that I posted on here earlier as a full meal! J



Cucumber Feta Rolls

Isn't that just absolutely lovely? I was looking on pinterest today after school and looking at all of the places that I am dreaming of going one day, and I stumbled upon thousands of pictures of Greece, like this beautiful photo from National Geographic, and I couldn't help but admire the beautiful architecture, and culture, and I remembered why I actually began this project in the first place. Here in America, you don't see this culture, like this beautiful peacock blue domed roof, and bell towers. Hmm...one day, I promise you, I will see this roof in person and tell you how it really looks! :) Hopefully you get to see this domed roof as well!

Anyway, Hi everyone! :) Winter is slowly dwindling down, and I find myself wanting refreshing, summer-like dishes more and more here lately. Well while I was searching on my pinterest account, like I was talking about above and which I will leave a link for later, I found a recipe for Cucumber Feta Rolls. At first I was just like..."OH MY...", :) , but, as I got to thinking about it, I really think that it fits in with the theme of this blog, and to be honest, it sounded REALLY good when I read the recipe. So I have not tried that recipe yet, but I have tried something EXTREMELY similar before, and I will be posting that for you today, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did! (:

Hmm....lets use green today.. ;)

Cucumber Feta Rolls

Ingredients:

·       2 Garden Cucumbers (or English—depends on what you like)

·       6 ounces of crumbled feta

·       2 ½ - 3 ½ tablespoons finely diced sundried tomatoes

·       3 tablespoons of Greek Yogurt (I use Chobani)

·       1 tablespoon roughly chopped oregano

·      

·       1 tablespoon toasted fennel seed

·       2 teaspoons-a whole lemon of lemon juice J

·       Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

·       Thinly slice the cucumbers longways, about 2 mm thick. (when I slice vegetables I use a monkey peeler, it’s like this orange peeler in the shape of a monkey, kinda awesome, but you can use a mandoline, just set it to a 2 mm setting).

·       Add the feta and yogurt to a medium sized bowl, and combine using a fork. Add the sundried tomatoes, oregano, dill, and fennel seeds, lemon juice, salt and pepper into the bowl, and mash together.

·       Place 1-2 teaspoons of mixture at the end of a strip of cucumber, and roll up. Secure the cucumber/feta mixture with a toothpick. Repeat with all of the cucumber slices, and serve immediately or chill until ready to serve

·       ENJOY! :)

I am really excited to try this one :)

I hope you enjoy

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS BELOW! :)

MWAH <3