Benin: Couscous Azindessi

The Dish: Couscous + Chicken
The Country: This small West African nation gained independence from France in 1960.

Anyone up for a tomato, onion, and chicken broth smoothie?

Ingredients:
Chicken
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 large tomato, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
2 1/3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
a large spoonful of creamy peanut butter
1 tsp salt
1 cup of couscous
1/2 cup of roasted peanuts

mmmmm, tomato coated chicken.

Procedure:
Crush the bouillon cube, and mix with the pepper and garlic. Cover the chicken with this mixture.
Put the sliced tomato, diced onion, and a cup of chicken broth in the blender. Blend.
Use a large casserole pot, put in the vegetable oil. Heat it for about a minute on high. Then add the chicken.
Cook until brown (about 10 minutes)
Add the blended mixture of tomato, onion, and broth. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.
Heat the oven to 325°
Add the peanut butter and tomato paste, cook for 30 minutes on low heat.
Put the couscous in a baking pan, and coat it with the remaining chicken broth. Add a pinch of salt.
When the couscous is done add the peanuts. Serve with the chicken.

that's some seriously bright chicken.

Notes: YUM. I normally don't love tomatoes, but this was really yummy. Even my picky siblings liked it.... By the way, I saw Bridesmaids today- it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen!! Go see it. Right now.
Rating: 4.4

Belize: Coconut Pie

The Dish: Coconut pie
The country: Belize has the lowest population density in Central America.

eggs+ evaporated milk+ condensed milk+ nutmeg

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Half a can of condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
1 tsp nutmeg
Pie shell
1 tsp lemon juice
3 eggs

before it went in the oven it looked like baby food

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 450°
Whisk the eggs
Add the condensed milk, evaporated milk, lemon juice, and nutmeg. Stir well. Then add the coconut.
Put into the pie shell. Bake at 450°for twenty minutes.  Lower to 350° and bake until firm (about another 20 minutes.

FINAL PRODUCT- I had a bit of a burnt edge problem when some of the filling spilled over....

Notes: It was a little gooey for my taste- I tend to avoid anything slimy, so no yogurt for me. Ever. It's the only thing I'm picky about... but anyways... I think my family liked it, though I'd only advise making it if you like coconut.

Rating: 2.5 (it would have been higher if it wasn't gooey.)

Belgium: Stoemp Aux Carottes

The Dish: Mashed potatoes with carrots.
The Country: Belgium- I was in the Brussels airport about a month ago, but I've never actually been to Belgium.  I have cousins there though, HI GUYS!!!

I love carrots.

Ingredients:
About seven small potatoes
5 medium sized carrots
A pack of frozen bacon
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
A stick of butter
Skim milk

I love bacon.

Procedure
Cook the bacon however you would normally cook it.
Boil a large pot of water.
Peel the potatoes and the carrots.
Cut the potatoes in half and chop the carrots into small pieces
When the water is boiling, put the carrots and potatoes in it. Take them out when you can stick a knife all the way through the largest potato.
Mash them. Add a pinch of salt, a pinch of nutmeg, and a pinch of pepper.
Add half a stick of butter and half a cup of milk.
Mash some more.
Add the bacon.
EAT.

I know it looks like really messed up scrambled eggs, but I promise this is Stoemp Aux Carottes, and it was good.

Notes: Bacon is delicious, and I have a strange obsession with carrots (I eat them every day), so I loved this stuff. It might have been  better for breakfast because of the amount of bacon in it, but everyone in my family liked it.
Rating: 4

Italy

Sorry I haven't posted in a while- I'm on spring break and just got back from Italy!! The food was incredible!!!! Nothing beats really good pizza and gelato.
We went to a restaurant called Vitti that had the most amazing looking pastries I have ever seen, and  amazing coffee.  If you're ever in Rome, you should definitely go.

BIRTHDAY CAKE

Yesterday, I baked my mom a birthday cake, though her birthday isn't until tomorrow.  I'd been reading through the blogs and websites I check every day, and found a recipe for an amazing looking cake, so I decided to try it.  Why not?
It was a messy experience, and the frosting didn't quite work out, but it tasted and smelled delicious. I don't think I've ever made a dessert so delicious- so, of course we had to eat it at 3:00 in the afternoon instead of at night on my mom's actual birthday.

I don't have cake pans... so pie tins were my only option...

my great grandmother's mixer has a tendency to get completely filled with whatever I'm mixing

cake + frosting layer +cake = one giant oreo?

the shape was a little off, but this was AMAZING cake

Belarus: Apple Pie

The Dish: Apple Pie, just not pie shaped... See the original recipe here.
The Country: The capital is Minsk, and a popular drink in Belarus is Russian wheat vodka.

AAAAPPPLLLESSS

Ingredients:
4 apples (green or red, I used one green and three red)
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of all purpose flour
2 eggs
cinnamon

doesn't that look appetizing? ......

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350°
Cut the apples into half inch thick slices.
Mix the flour, sugar, and eggs.
Grease a 9x12 (or somewhere around that size) pan, and lay the apples evenly across the bottom.  Sprinkle them with cinnamon.
Cover the apples in the flour/sugar/ egg mixture.
Bake for 50 minutes- 1 hour, depending on your oven.

THE FINAL PRODUCT... it looks kind of messy, but I'm still learning. :D

Notes: I think I should have used more cinnamon than I did- the flavor was relatively unpronounced.  I wouldn't call it bland, but it wasn't a WOW moment.
While it was baking, my dad, mom, and I watched a history channel video about Florence's Medici family in the 1400s. I wonder what kind of food they ate.... ?
Rating:  2

Bangladesh: Begun Bhaja

The Dish: Fried eggplant. See original recipe here.
The Country: The People's Republic of Bangladesh is right next to India, so the majority of their foods are similar.

chopped eggplant

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large eggplant
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

frying eggplant

Procedure:
Wash the eggplant, then cut it into thin slices.
Heat a frying pan and add the oil.  Place the eggplant slices in the oil.
Add turmeric powder and salt.
Fry for about seven minutes, or until the pieces are light brown.
Eat.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

Notes: It was slightly gooey, and the texture was like I was eating a slug, but the flavor was fine. I added a bit too much salt, so I would advise going light on the salt, and maybe heavier on the turmeric powder.
Sorry I haven't cooked in a while, I was in my school's production of Grease and the rehearsals were quite late.
Rating: 2.25