Ramadan Kareem.

Hello everybody.

Two days passed, I can say they were easy and smooth.
First day ritual dish was stuffed vine leaves and courgettes, mushroom soup and fatoush. Typically dessert was qatayef filled with cheese and walnuts.

Second day’s dish was okra in the oven and Iranian rice, as for dessert I tried a new recipe that I sorted out by mixing many similar ones of the same ingredients.

Pistachio rose water dessert, base was crumbled biscuits and butter,topping was a mix of whipping cream, heavy cream, yogurt, pistachios, rose water, pinch of saffron. All beaten till creamy then onto biscuits, cooled then garnished with pistachios.
Simple elegant dessert with Ramadan spirit in it.

Delicious Family Lunch.

Hello everybody.

Hosted my dear cousin for lunch today, as I always say when you cook with love for special people everything will taste amazing.

Made fresh green stuffed vine leaves and courgettes, fava beans fatteh, rocca and cucumber yogurt salads.

fava beans fatteh.

New dish was the squid ink pasta I got as a present from Maysas Pasta yesterday

though it’s usually done with fish or shrimps but unfortunately I didn’t have the time to buy some so I made it with garlic, pesto, sun dried tomatoes and lemon zest.So yummy and fresh.

Eggplant Appetizer.

Hello everybody.

Got some fresh vine leaves yesterday so better to cook them immediately, hate freezing fresh stuff feels like a waste of something valuable.

So I stuffed some courgettes with them, best dish ever. Plus I made this appetizer that my Italian cousin posted yesterday.

You simply grill your sliced eggplants after salting them then add sliced tomatoes, minced garlic, chopped parsley, lemon, salt and oil on top before serving, I even added some olives turned out absolutely delicious.

Happy day with good food and best friend coming for a short visit.

yummy easy dish.

fresh vine leaves,courgettes and cucumber yogurt salad.

Noodles Soup and Pastries.

Hello everybody.

Another big gathering at Mom’s today, she made mixed salad with oranges, grape leaves,oregano ,cheese and meat pastries plus karaway again and finally we opened the baby’s cake.

Back home with some kishek and oregano pies cause I had no time to cook and did some noodle’s soup cause it seems we’re catching a flu so better start precautions.

beautiful flowers gift.

yummiest cake !

Stuffed Vine Leaves and Nutella Cinnamon Rolls.

Hello everybody.

Well all locked up waiting foe the storm, though it was sunny this morning but as expected snow started this afternoon, I’m sure many will turn to the kitchen to make sweets and hot drinks to warm up.

Lunch today was stuffed vine leaves and courgettes,a favorite to most people here in Jordan specially when leaves are fresh green, though not the season but I did find some really good silky ones that’s why I was encouraged.Thank you dear cousin for coming by to help me,this dish needs a helping hand cause it’s a bit tiring and boring to make it on your own.

a royal dish don’t you think?

Dessert was Nutella cinnamon rolls,recipe from www.littlesunnykitchen.com. the blogger posted this recipe on my page last week, they’re really soft and taste is divine. I made half with Nutella and the other with pecan cinnamon mixture, all yummy. Thank you dear Diana for the awesome recipe.

all done and glazed.

pecan cinnamon filling.

Roya TV Interview.

Hello everybody.

BIG day yesterday,I think I’ll mark it as a turning point or new start for something different,not sure what it’ll be but I was really happy and very emotional from the huge amount of loving and cheering comments specially from my family and friends, my dearest friends took me out to celebrate my, as everybody assured me, first TV interview.

I was interviewed on Donya Ya donya morning show/ Roya TV ,talked about my blog, how it started and grew and about my future plans. Had to admit I was very nervous at first but it all went smoothly and the beautiful anchor was very nice and natural.

Thank you again to all family members,friends,followers and members of group banancooking for your support.

Well all this doesn’t mean I didn’t cook,my son just arrived from Berlin after a month absence and of course cooked his most favorite dish stuffed courgettes,made some stuffed vine leaves and string beans in olive oil .

here’s the link of yesterday’s interview:

today’s lunch.

new additions to my fridge magnets !

Ramadan Kareem.

Hello everybody.

Ramadan Kareem family and friends,though this holy month must be spiritual,full of prayers and good will,but as usual all housewives face a big dilemma each day,what to cook? who to please? is it enough? need more kinds? who to invite? make qatayef or no? each member will start asking for certain dishes and cravings.

Best thing to do in Ramadan though hard to apply is to decrease quantity you usually cook so as not to have many leftovers,plus try to make all your grocery shopping once a week to minimize the effort and time. Well as I said this might not work out everyday but worth trying.

I will post what I cooked everyday after Maghreb to give you ideas about what to make the next day,hope you all go through this month with good health and less tiring work in the kitchen,I think moms or whoever is the one responsible for feeding the family specially at this time of the year,deserves a prize cause each year everybody I know starts with a decision not to cook a lot and eat less cause of the heat and high prices but you’ll always find full tables and full lines in supermarkets and exhausted moms ,God bless you all moms and dads in the Muslim world.

As for today,a tradition since long time ago,first day begins with stuffed vine leaves and courgettes with yogurt and cucumber salad,fatoush ,lentil soup,some sambousek and a must to my son mushroom soup . though many families believe specially in my family that you must cook something white the first day like mansaf,or anything cook in yogurt but it’s not a must,well I made cucumber with yogurt,guess this is white enough 🙂

Dessert is QATAYEF stuffed with walnuts and cheese,I usually bring the small ones that’re supposed to be stuffed with cream and put each pair together,they look cute and small in size. I dip each one in vegetable oil then bake them in the oven then add syrup on top,yummy yummy!!

Yalanji ( vegetarian stuffed vine leaves)

Hello everybody.

Though I’m suffering from a bad back pain,but I bought fresh vine leaves and tiny courgettes Saturday to make yalanji and It’s a shame to leave them uncooked or freeze them,so I prepared stuffing and God bless my Mom came by to help,actually stuffed them all . Thank you precious Um Khaled <3<3.

This dish is famous in Eastern Mediterranean countries,Turkey, Greece and Cyprus,usually as appetizer or side dish with Lebanese mezzeh ,today I cooked it as main dish for lunch,kids asked for it so yalanji it is. I also made baba ghanouj with it ( roasted eggplant with veggies).

Ingredients and method:(

* Hollowed courgettes ( scoop out pulp with special knife,كوسا محفور ).you can stuff small eggplants also.

* fresh vine leaves.

* 2 ripe tomatoes,peeled and finely chopped.

* bunch of parsley and mint leaves.

* 1 small onion finely chopped.

* salt, pepper and 1 tsp coffee ( don’t know why coffee is added but many people use it ,they say it gives a nice taste,no harm to add it anyway).

* 1/2 cup lemon juice.

* olive oil.

* some sliced potatoes sliced ,placed at bottom of pan.

* prepare stuffing by mixing washed rise,chopped tomatoes,onion,parsley and mint.

* add salt,pepper,coffee,lemon juice and oil.

* soak vine leaves in boiling water and cover till color changes then drain all water.

* stuff courgettes and vine leaves.

* line potatoes and sliced tomatoes in the bottom of pan or pressure cooker.

* arrange courgettes and vine leaves then cover with a plate covered in foil paper so as to stay compressed.

* add lemon juice,salt,olive oil and enough water to cover all by one inch.

* cook on high heat till water is bubbling for 10 minutes then lower heat to minimum and leave to cook for an hour and half or till done ( time depends on quantity you did)

* leave to cool completely then arrange in a large dish and serve.

Baba Ghanouj :

* roast eggplant on stove or in the oven, when done cut half way, remove pulp and chop.

* chop tomato,onion,pepper,parsley . p.s. you can add 1 clove garlic if you like

* add lemon juice,salt then mix all together.

* drizzle olive oil on top.

Note: I apologize for not posting exact quantities cause it all depends on how many leaves and courgettes you’re stuffing.

Unfortunately seems I either added too much water or overcooked it, first time this happens with me ,leaves turned out sloppy (بالعربي فرط اليلنجي 🙁 ) I tried to save few good looking pieces to show you !!! we ate the courgettes and baba ghanouj .