Love,Cook and Eat

I had some ripe bananas yesterday, so I thought about making some Banana Bars. After looking at the recipe that called for 2 cups of sugar I knew that will be too much sugar for me . So I went ahead and read about baking formulas and ingredient percentage in cakes before going ahead and reducing the sugar, because I didn't want to affect the overall cake texture. So I safely removed 1/2 cup of sugar and the recipe till turned out really delicious, moist and tender.

Ingredients

makes a 10x15 baking dish

This is a traditional dish in Lebanon and also in other Arabic countries. Usually it varies from country to country in the spices used. Some also add ground beef to the rice. This is an easy dish that you have to try if you hadn't yet.


Ingredients:

Serves 6

For Chicken:

1 lb Chicken Breasts trimmed
1/2 a medium onion ( cut in half)
4 Cinnamon sticks
4 whole nutmeg
5 bay leaves
10 whole cloves
10 whole cardamon
1/2 tsp all spice
1/4 cup white vinegar

For Rice:

2 cups Basmati Rice
2 Cinnamon sticks
2 Whole cloves
2 Bay leaves
6 whole Cardamon
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/4 almonds or pine nuts or a mixture of both that is roasted in a 1 tbs of vegetable oil until golden.

Directions:

Trim Chicken Breast and cut each breast in half. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of  white vinegar and 1 tsp salt over chicken, Rub chicken well and then wash with water .
Put in a pot , cover with water and put over medium heat.
Before it comes to a boil , you should see a foam forming on the top, with a spoon collect this foam and disregard. After removing all foam put the whole spice , all spice and onion.
Cover Chicken and cook over medium heat  about 40 mins or  until chicken is tender and cooked.
Keep warm
** we will be using the water that we cooked the chicken in to cook the rice.
 
Wash the basmati rice with cold water until water that comes out is no longer foggy.
In a pot, over medium high heat, heat oil and stir in rice and saute for couple minutes. Add 4 cups of  the water we cooked the chicken in earlier, salt and the whole spices bring to boil. Cover pot cook on very low heat for about 20 minutes. Uncover and let it stand on the stove for couple minutes.

***If you don't have a pot that has a heavy lid that won't get the steam come out. Using your regular pot place a kitchen towel under the lid and securely close it. Make sure the towel doesn't touch the stove.

To assemble : Shred chicken over rice and top with the roasted nuts. Serve with salad and Greek yogurt.

Kibbeh or kibbe is an  Arabic dish made of bulgur (crushed wheat) and chopped meat. The best-known variety is a torpedo-shaped fried croquette stuffed with minced beef or lamb. Other types of kibbeh may be shaped into balls or patties, and baked or cooked in yogurt. It is widespread in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt(where it is called koubeiba) and Palestine. Usually I don't make my Baked Kibbeh this thick but  I broke the baking dish I wanted to use while I was getting it from my cabinet, so I had to use a smaller one the one I used is 11x7. So the size of baking dish you use depends on your preference of thickness.


Ingredients:

Serves 8

for the Kibbeh:

2 lbs finely ground lean beef
2 cups fine bulgur wheat
1/2 medium onion
1/2 roasted red pepper or fresh pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp  dried basil
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
*** you can use fresh herbs substitute each 1 tsp to 1 tbs of fresh herb .I prefer fresh herbs but I didn't have any :(

For Stuffing:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions.
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs pine nuts
1 1/4  tsp all spice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

To prepare stuffing

Over medium heat, heat vegetable oil in a large skillet  ,cook pine nuts until golden in color ( keep and eye on them they burn easily) take the pine nuts out from skillet and set aside.In the same skillet saute onions for 2 mins, add ground beef and spices and cook until browned. Turn Heat off, add pine nuts and combine.Set the stuffing aside


For The Kibbeh:

In food processor combine, Bulgur , spices, onions and peppers.






Mix everything is chopped and well combined. The mixture will look like red wet bulgur wheat.



Now is Stand up mixer , Mix the fine ground lean beef  with 3/4 the bulgur mixture ( I wrap the rest and put in the freezer for other recipes) until well combined , while mixing add about 4 tbs of water.



Now for the assembly:

Using a 13x9 Baking dish with result in a medium thickness baked Kibbeh.
Line the baking Dish with aluminium Foil paper and leave the sides of the foil hanging outside the baking dish.
spread half of the kibbeh mixture on the foil. Now hold the foil from the two sides and take it out and set is aside . This will be the top part. This is the easiest way in forming the top layer instead in working it in patches.


Now spray the baking dish with oil and spread the other half of the kibbeh. follow with a layer of stuffing.




Now gentley put the top layer we set aside on top. With a knife cut the Kibbeh in the shapes you like diamonds or rectangles.


Cover with Aluminium foil and bake in 450 degrees oven for 30 mins, then take the foil and broil for about 5 min or until browned. Serve with salad or  Greek yogurt.

Usually this dish is made with Manicotti or also known as cannelloni, but instead I used pasta shells. The stuffing is made from three kinds of cheese and parsley topped with homemade marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. You can make some variations to this recipe. Instead of marinara sauce use Alfredo sauce or a Bechamel and instead of parsley use spinach. Enjoy this dinner with a salad and garlic bread.


Ingredients:

Serves 3 to 4

15 Pasta Shells
3 cups Homemade Marinara Sauce
1 cup Ricotta cheese
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese divided
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese divided
1 egg
1 tbs dried Parsley or 1/4 cup fresh Parsley


Directions:

Whisk egg well until pale yellow. Add 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella Cheese , 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese ,1 cup Ricotta Cheese and parsley.



Bring a pot of salted water to boil, splash with some oil so shells do not stick together. Cook shells until al dente about 10 -12 mins.



Stuff shells with cheese Mixture.

Spread 1 cup Marinara Sauce in a baking dish. Line Shells and top with the remaining 2 cups Marinara sauce and 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese and  1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese.





Cover the baking dish with alumnium foil. Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 40-45 min or until bubbly.
Take foil and broil for 5 min until cheese melts.

This is one of my favorite desserts, and in the past I have tried different recipes that I did not really like . After reading about 10 recipes,I didn't find what I wanted completely out of one recipe. I knew I wanted to use mascarpone ( sweet Italian cream cheese) and not cream cheese , I knew that I wanted to use egg yolks because one of my favorite tiramisu is that of  Olive Garden and I know they use egg yolks in their recipe. So I ended up making my own recipe and it ended to be very delicious . You should try this one out.

Ingredients:

This yields 8x8 square pan

3 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbs milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1 tsp vanilla
30 lady fingers ( the lady fingers I used were the cake lady fingers not the cookie kind)
1 1/2 cups of cold strong brewed coffee or esspresso
cocoa powder

Directions:

In a pot filled half way with water, bring water to boil reduce heat and simmer water.
place a stainless steel bowl on top and don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.
In the bowl , whisk egg yolks, sugar and milk for about 8 mins. Mixture will be pale yellow.
*** If you are using pasteurized liquid eggs you can skip the double boiler method. This is just used to avoid consuming raw eggs).
Take eggs mixture off heat and let it cool in fridge for 10 mins.
Add Mascapone cheese to the bowl and whisk until well combined.
Combine heavy whipping cream and vanilla and whip on high speed until soft peaks forms.
Now add whipped cream to egg and cheese mixture one big spoon at a time and gently fold. keep folding until all whipped cream is added and gently folded in egg and cheese mixture.
  Let mixture cool in fridge for 30 mins.
Bew strong coffee and let it cool too.
After coffee cools and mixture has cooled in fridge for 30 mins. Start dipping your lady fingers on both sides in coffee and place in pan. Then top with a layer of  filling , then a layer of dipped lady fingers , followed by a layer of filling and then dust with cocoa powder. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.