• Mix semolina and flour in a big bowl. Add all the oil to the mix and set aside to rest (about 1 hour). You need the semolina to absorb all the oil.
• Meanwhile prepare the syrup by adding water to the sugar in a medium saucepan and mix it well with spatula. Heat the mix until it boils. Once it boils add the lemon drops and set aside to cool down.
• In another saucepan add the 2 cups of water to the fenugreek seeds and boil it on a low heat for about 20 minutes until the seeds are big and soft. The water will decrease to about 1 cup.
• Drain the seeds and add them to the semolina mix. Keep the seeds water to add them to the mix later. Add the yeast, baking powder, and salt. Then add the water gradually while making the dough. You might not need the whole cup of water.
• Lightly grease a 9x12 baking dish with tahini sauce. Pour the dough in the baking dish and smooth with hand. Cut it into diamond shapes with a butter knife. You can decorate by placing an almond in the center of each diamond.
  
• Cover the baking dish and set it aside to rest for about an hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 F (200 degrees). Bake on the lower rack for about 40 minutes until it is gold. Remove from oven and immediately add the warm syrup to it.
• Leave aside until it cools down and then cut and serve.
  

Today I'm posting a recipe for the apple tart I baked last Saturday. I wanted to post this recipe few days ago but I was just not in the mood. I have been feeling up and down recently! Mood swing is not fun at all.

Back to the tart, it was really yummy! The sweet pastry crust gives the crust a rich cookie like flavor. You can by the way use this crust to make any fruit dessert.

• Mix flour and salt and set aside.
  
• Beat the butter with your mixer until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  
• Gradually add the beaten egg, and beat until incorporated.
  
• Add the flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a dough (you can use your hands to form it).
• Cover the dough with plastic wrap
  
  , and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.
• On a floured surface, roll out the sweet pastry to the tart pan size (12 in).
• Lay in pan, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan.
  
• Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill tart pan with beans, making sure the beans are distributed over the entire surface.
  
• Bake crust for 20 to 25 minutes until crust is dry and lightly golden brown.
  
• Remove beans and cool crust before filling.

• Peel, core, and slice the apples.
• In a large skillet melt the butter and stir in the sugar, and the cinnamon.
  
• Add the apples and saute over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until the apples are soft.
  
• Gently mash the apples with the spoon and stir the mixture until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Spoon the applesauce mixture into the cooled pre-baked tart shell.
  
• Cover the edges of tart with foil and bake it a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until the apples are nicely browned and soft.
  
• Remove from oven and sprinkle the tart with confectioners' sugar, and broil it under a preheated broiler until the edges of the apples are golden brown and crisp.
  
• Serve the tart warm or at room temperature with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

I baked this cake last Saturday. We had some friends over and since my Saturdays are always crazy busy, I wanted to bake something that is easy and fast. And so this cake came to my mind. I always order it whenever we're at a coffee shop. I find it irresistible :) Later in this post, you will find the recipe I used for my coffee cake. I hope you try it and enjoy as much as we did!

It's Monday, typical Monday! Woke up early, fixed breakfast, packed lunch, and then said goodbye to Sinan and Lina. I then fixed my morning Nescafe, checked my email, Facebook, blog list, and news before updating my to-do-list for today.

Every Monday, I have the cleaner over. I finally found a good cleaner. I'm so happy because having a big house is not always a plus especially when there is no one to help you cleaning it. I'm one of those nut people who like to see the house clean and neat all the times, but with this big house and all the responsibilities I have, I really needed a cleaner to keep up with this.

It's raining today. I believe it was raining when I last posted too. It's Spring, and Spring is the most rainy season here. I have no problem with the rain as long as it's warm. And it's warm, actually it was really hot yesterday. In such hot days I thank Allah all the time for having a central AC at home, I can't survive without it!

Now check the recipe below. Thank you all for reading :)

Hello everyone,

I'm back! I couldn't post last week because I was really busy. I'm trying to keep up with my blog but sometimes I really can't. I got too many things going on.

Anyway, I'm back today with an easy recipe. Very easy and delicious! Couple of weeks ago I posted the Barazek recipe, and as you all know (or at least some of you), Barazek always come with Ghraybeh. They are both butter-based cookies, very light, and really good.

• Beat butter and sugar with a mixer. You can just mix them with your hand since the butter is soft. Add flour gradually and work out to form smooth dough.
• Put the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Form small sized balls from the dough and place them on a baking sheet (leaving space between them).
• Press one pistachio in the middle of each ball forming a small cookie. Be careful, you don't need to press them too much. You can also make any shape you want, like S-shape, ... .
  
• Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. You don't want them to turn gold, you want them to keep their white color.
  

Barazek are middle eastern pistachios sesame cookies. They are popular in some Arabic countries like Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.They are usually served with hot tea or coffee.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• On a baking sheet, spread out the sesame seeds and toast them until they are golden brown
• Mix honey with the 1/2 tablespoon of water and moisten the sesame seeds with the mixture
• In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and sugar.
• Add the butter and the 1/3 cup of water and work out to form smooth dough
• Put the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes
• Form small sized balls from the dough
• Touch one side of each ball into the pistachios, and then press it between the palm of your hands into a cookie shape
• Dip the other side into sesame seeds mixture and try to richly coat it
• Place the cookies on a baking sheet with the sesame side up.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until they turn golden brown

Last week, my daughter asked me to bake her gingerbread cookies. They were talking about them at school and she wanted to try them. I never made these cookies before so I had to do my research on them :)

3

cups all purpose flour

• Prepare okra by cutting the tops off. Rinse well and set aside. 
• Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan (if you have an oven/stove top pan that will better) over medium high heat. Add chopped onions and saute for few minutes until they are gold. 
• Add meat to the pan and brown them, turning constantly, until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. You do not need to cook it thoroughly because it will cook further in the oven. Transfer the meat to a baking pot. 
• In the same saucepan that contains the remaining onions and fat from meat, add okra and saute for few minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
• Add chopped tomatoes and stir well. Add water, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Let it boil for few minutes. Add to the meat in the baking dish.
• Add 2 tablespoon to a small frying pan and heat over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until they are gold. Add immediately to the okra and cover the baking pot right away so the mix absorbs all the garlic smell and put the pot in the oven.
• Bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, until meat is fully cooked.
• Serve with rice.

• Heat the oil in a big frying pan and then fry the eggplants until they are evenly browned on both sides and cooked through. Transfer the cooked eggplant slices to paper towels to drain.
• In another frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil and then add chopped onions and fry until they are gold. Add ground meat and cook until well browned. Add tomatoes, water, and tomato paste and cover the pan over a medium heat until the tomatoes are cooked. And then add spices and salt and stir well.
• Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
  
• Arrange half of the eggplants in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
• Spread the meat sauce over the eggplants, and then arrange the second half of the eggplant over the sauce.
• Spread the mozzarella cheese on the top until it covers the whole pan.
• Bake it for 20-30 minutes uncovered in the oven.
• Serve with pita bread or rice.

I cooked this dish last Friday. It was really good! I'm sure there are many other ways to make the Sayadeyeh, but I always try to make the dish appeal to me better. And as always I'll be glad to hear from you. Enjoy :)

Ingredients:

2 pounds fish fillets (I used haddock fish)
2 cups rice (I used Basmati rice)
5 medium onion, sliced
1 cup flour
vegetable oil
salt and pepper
all fish spices
water (about 4 cups, note that this amount depends on the rice you're using)
2 fresh lemons

Cooking instructions:

• Soak rice in warm water for 30 minute.
• Wash the fish and dry it good
• heat 1 inch of oil in a skillet
• Dip fish fillets into flour mixture.
• Fry fish for about 3 minutes on each side; remove to a platter.
• In another skillet heat one tablespoon of oil and fry sliced onions until they are brown.
• In a deep pot arrange fried fish in the bottom and then add the fried onions until it makes a a layer over the fish.
• Wash the rice and rinse it, then add it to the pot over the fried onions.
• Add water, 2 tablespoon of the oil you used to fry fish, salt and pepper, and all spices. Bring it to boil and then cook the rice on low heat as you usually cook your rice.
• When the rice is ready flip the pot in a serving plate (so the fish will be on the top).
• Serve with sliced lemon

Yesterday I cooked kofta with tahini sauce. This dish is popular in Sham countries (Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria). In my recipe below, I do it differently than the traditional recipe, which I will summarize at the end.

Ingredients:

Kofta:
2 lb lean beef meat, minced
2 big onions, minced
1 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon all spice
salt and black pepper

Tahini sauce:
1 cup tahini paste
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt salt
3 cups water

Optional:
Two large potatoes, sliced


Directions:

• Mix meat, parsley and onions in a big bowl. Add spices and salt and mix them all well using your hands
• Mold the meat mix into finger shapes and place into a large pan
  
• Bake them in a preheated oven (350 degrees) until it's brown (I do this step to get rid of all the fat)
• Mix tahini, yogurt, salt, and lemon juice together well until it forms a smooth paste.
• Slowly add the water while stirring to keep the mixture smooth.
• Pour sauce in a cooking pan and put it on the stove at medium heat until it boils
• Add meat fingers to the sauce and let cook at low heat for about 30 minutes
• Pour in a serving plate
  
• Serve with white rice
  Optional:
• Slice potatoes and fry until lightly golden on each side
• Add them to the sauce when you add the meat
  

I have been lately craving for Atlanta Bread Company's chunky potato soup. The last time I ate this soup was about two years ago when I was still in AR. We don't have any Atlanta Bread Company restaurants here in our area, and most of the other restaurants cook this soup with bacon, so I thought about making it myself! I looked online for the recipe, and then made my own recipe from four different sources in attempt to conjure my potato soup. My ingredients were as follows:

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoon heavy cream mixed with 1 cup of water
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
1/2 tablespoon all purpose flour
salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 pinch of cumin
1 pinch of chili powder
Sliced green onion

Directions:

• In saucepan, combine the potatoes, onion, and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Then lightly mash.
• Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, add olive oil or butter, stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in cream. Bring to a boil. Stir into potato mixture. Cook and stir until thickened. Add salt and pepper, and some sliced onions. Remove from the heat, and stir in cheese until melted.
• Serve the soup garnished with cumin, chili powder, and sliced green onion.

Kabseh is a dish from The Arabian Gulf. It's so popular in Saudi Arabia. My Saudi friends told me that people in Saudi Arabia cook Kabseh in many different ways. For example, Southern Kabseh is different than the Middle or Northern ones. My friends used to cook a white Kabseh. The recipe here is for a red Kabseh. This is the one that is popular in Jordan. I hope you all like it.

You will need:

2 lb lamb meat (or you can use 1 whole chicken cut in 4 pieces)
3 cups Basmati rice
3 chopped fresh tomatoes
1 finely chopped big onion
6 garlic cloves, minced
Spices (ground coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, turmeric powder)
salt
2 tablespoon tomato paste
olive oil (about 3 tablespoons)
4 black dried lime
pine nuts and/or almonds (I used cashews as well)

Directions:

• Add enough water to the pot so that it covers the meat, bring to a boil then cook gently over medium heat for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until tender. Reserve stock & set meat aside.
• Soak rice for 15 minutes. Drain, rinse, and then drain well.
• Add olive oil to a large stock pot or casserole, fry garlic and onion until gold. Add tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes. Add salt, spices, and dried limes. Add some stock (about 2 cups). Add tomato paste and let it boil for few minutes. Add the meat and let it boil for another few minutes until the meat takes all the sauce taste. Set the meat aside.
• Add rice to the pot. Add more meat stock until stock covers rice (approx 1.5″ above rice). Cover pot. Let it boils and then lower the heat and cook on low heat for about 30 minutes.
• Broil the meat in the oven until it has a pleasant brown color.
  
• Serve the rice in a large dish. Place the rice first, top with meat and garnish with pine nuts.