If you’ve ever come across a baked feta pasta recipe on social media, there’s a good chance it’s by Michigan native Yamuna Jawad.
Three years ago, Jawad posted a recipe on Instagram inspired by a Finnish blogger, and it went viral.
The Grand Rapids social media superstar, wife, mother of two, entrepreneur and founder of the Feel Good Foodie brand has amassed more than 1 million followers for her posts. obtained.
Fast forward to today, Jawad currently has over 4 million followers on Instagram, over 2 million followers on TikTok, and shares “healthy” recipes, cooking tips, and advice on Facebook and her Feel Good Foodie web site. Shared on the site. Jawad, a University of Michigan Business School graduate, is also the founder of Oath, a line of packaged overnight oats.
On Tuesday, the first cookbook based on Jawad’s brand, “Feel Good Foodie Cookbook: 125 Recipes Enhanced with Mediterranean Flavors” (Penguin Random House, $32.50), will be released. This cookbook features 125 simple, healthy recipes that combine Middle Eastern and Midwest flavors. There are sections for appetizers, entrees, sandwiches, soups, vegetarian entrees, snacks, desserts, and drinks.
Jawad’s recipes are inspired by eight Mediterranean staples: dates, labneh, pomegranate, molasses, rosewater, seven spice, sumac, and tahini.
These are classic ingredients that Jawad also calls “heroes of the kitchen.” The ingredients are meant to give a “surprise twist” to the dish.
The recipes in the cookbook are not very complicated, but they will save you time. With the exception of the falafel recipe, the recipes are made so that a busy cook or tout can put them together in under 30 minutes. The recipe must also have 10 or fewer ingredients.
“This book is about making you feel good about yourself and those around you, whether it’s because you’re cooking and eating home-cooked food or because you’re finally feeling confident in the kitchen. Even if it’s because we cook food that people love,” Jawad said. release.
Jawad, who grew up in a Lebanese community in Sierra Leone and then Dearborn, remembers watching her mother, Amal, cook from scratch.
“When I was growing up in Africa, I actually hated cooking,” Jawad says. “I would watch her mother spend hours in the kitchen at the stove, making yogurt from scratch or tomato paste from scratch, and I wanted to step away from that. is.”
But it was the aroma of her mother’s cooking that stuck with Jawad, she said.
“The smell of freshly chopped parsley, garlic and coriander sizzling on the stove, and fresh rosewater,” she says.
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Jawad was 11 years old when his family immigrated to the United States. That’s when her mother learned she could prepare her meals much faster with convenient staples available in the United States, such as yogurt and tomato paste, she said.
“So she ended up finding a shortcut to creating simple everyday meals with Mediterranean flair,” she said.
When Jawad got married, she wanted to make something similar, but it took less than 30 minutes to prepare dinner.
“I started calling my mom, and she was literally teaching me how to cook over the phone one pot at a time,” Jawad said.
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Jawad said her mother gave her tips and tricks to “liven up[her cooking],” and she began experimenting on her own.
From there, her culinary repertoire grew and Jawad started her blog, Feel Good Foodie, in 2013.
“To hold myself accountable, I thought why not create an Instagram page and start publicly learning all the things my mom is teaching me and all the things I’m learning online. I thought about it,” Jawad said.
So in 2013, Jawad founded Feed Good Foodie, a name coined by her husband Wasim.
Since starting her blog, she has amassed a huge social media following with millions of followers. Williams-Sonoma has selected Jawad and her cooking for the kitchen store retailer’s first Ramadan feature. Jawad will be on a book tour with Williams-Sonoma in several markets, including Detroit.
An easy recipe for baked feta pasta starts by roasting a block of feta cheese with cherry or grape tomatoes and olive oil. Once baked, add the cooked pasta and seasonings to the melted cheese and tomatoes to create a creamy sauce. You can find the recipe on Jawad’s Instagram and website.
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Williams-Sonoma has selected Jawad and her dishes for the kitchenware retailer’s first Ramadan feature. Jawad will be on a book tour with Williams-Sonoma in several markets, including Detroit. Click here for information on upcoming autograph sessions.
grand rapids: Tuesdays 6-8 p.m., Schuler Books, 2660 28th St. SE.
troy: May 9, 6 p.m., Williams Sonoma, Somerset Collection, Troy.
baked feta pasta
service: 6/ Preparation time: 15 minutes / total time: 40 minutes
8 ounces cavatappi pasta or your favorite pasta
2 pints cherry tomatoes
8 ounces block feta cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves of minced garlic
Stuff 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil and add more for garnishing.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cherry tomatoes in an oven-safe baking dish. Pour olive oil over it and season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
Place the feta cheese block in the center of the baking dish surrounded by the cherry tomatoes, turning the block a few times to coat it with olive oil and seasoning.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, until the cherry tomatoes have burst and the feta has melted. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a salted pot until al dente, following package directions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup in case you want to add cooking liquid.
Immediately add the garlic and basil leaves to the cooked tomatoes and feta and mix everything together. Transfer the cooked pasta to a baking dish and mix. Add the reserved pasta cooking liquid as needed for a more flavorful consistency. Garnish with fresh basil and serve hot.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to selasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to free press.
