Welcome to #FriendFriday where each week I’ll be sharing a delicious recipe from one of my Instagram friends! I find so much inspiration and friendship in the Instagram community so I’m looking forward to sharing some of that here with you. I’m excited for you to get to know some of my friends, I know you will find them as motivational as I do! Be sure to find them on Instagram so you can follow their journey and find more of their delicious meal ideas!
Today you are meeting my friend, Alaa, from @lala.eats.drinks.studies. I love following Alaa for her grocery hauls and meal prep – she’s a PhD student and has lots of great ideas for busy weeks. I also love when she shares lightened up versions of some of my favorite Middle Eastern dishes and occasionally she does recipe tutorials that you can find in her Instagram stories highlights. 
Hi, Alaa, tell us about yourself!
Hi there! My name is Alaa and I’m @lala.eats.drinks.studies on Instagram! I started WW in March 2016 after reaching my all time highest weight a few months earlier. I realized it was time for me to finally take my own life and health into my hands and make changes. I saw an article about how easy it was to use the WW plan and signed up the next week! In that time, I have lost 40+ pounds and gained my life back! I learned about the difference between motivation and dedication, the benefit of trusting the process, and gained faith in myself and perseverance!
What are your favorite foods to cook?
Because I’m a PhD student, I don’t always have time to make big elaborate meals. But I do have time to meal prep easy, yummy options that I can take with me to school and work and keep me on track. When I do have more time to make more intricate meals, I love trying to lighten up traditional Middle Eastern meals that I grew up on! I get all my spices and recipes from my mom, then tweak them to make them more WW friendly!
What is one piece of advice you’d give someone just starting out on a health journey?
I have several! One — take pictures! Collect pics from friends, family, everyone. It’s amazing how much doing transformation pics is motivating! That being said, also take measurements! Progress can come in so many ways, so when the scale stalls, having pictures and measurements to compare are so helpful. Finally, make it easy and fun! Find lightened up recipes of your favorite foods, make life easy for you, buy the prepped foods if that helps, and try not to force it! The more you make it easier on yourself, the more likely you are to stick with it.
Tell us about the recipe you are sharing today!
So this recipe is called Hashwah rice. In Arabic, Hashwah literally means stuffing. The rice mixture is traditionally used to stuff a variety of foods, such as stuffed grape leaves, squash, eggplant, and one of my favorites, stuffed Cornish game hens! My favorite part of these dishes was always the stuffing itself, so I asked my mom how to make it on its own Although there aren’t many ingredients in this recipe, the combination of spices really make the ingredients shine! It’s traditionally made with a lot of olive oil and a fattier ground beef, but I made adjustments to reduce the points. Also, traditionally this is made with basmati rice, if you choose to use a different rice, just double check the points since I know basmati rice actually has fewer points than most other rices! You can also reduce the points by using lean ground turkey or even using mushrooms in place of the meat if you want, but I like to keep it as close to traditional as possible.
I like to serve the rice with a simple salad and/or toasted pin nuts if I have the points!
Alaa’s Hashwah Rice makes 6 servings (1 cup per serving) at 5 WW SmartPoints each on both the Blue and Green WW plans. Keep up with Alaa on Instagram at @lala.eats.drinks.studies! Enjoy!
- 1 cup basmati rice
- Few spritzes of oil spray
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2.5 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1.5 teaspoons ground allspice
- 0.5 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 lb extra lean (96/4) ground beef
- In a bowl, soak basmati rice in hot water while you start the rest of the recipe.
- In a large pot, heat a few spritzes of oil spray over medium high heat. Once hot, add onion and sauté for 5 min (or until translucent). Add minced garlic and continue sautéing for 2 minutes.
- Add ground beef to pot, breaking up into small pieces as it cooks and browns.
- Once the beef has cooked and is beginning to brown, add all spices and stir to combine.
- Drain water off soaked rice and add rice to pot. Stir to combine and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add 3 cups of water to pot and allow to come to a hard boil. Then immediately reduce heat to low, cover pot, and let cook, untouched, until the water has been absorbed by the rice.
- Fluff rice mixture with a fork, serve, and enjoy!
Serving Suggestion: Serve with a simple salad and top with toasted pine nuts, options (will add additional points).
Nutritional information is calculated with MyFitnessPal and may vary based on brands used. Smart Points information is calculated with the Weight Watchers app and may also vary based on brands used.
