Drop Biscuits from Scratch

This morning I happened to be in the baking mood and so I decided to make an old breakfast favorite of my kids, biscuits and gravy. Of course it is easier to make them from a packaged mix like Bisquick or the refrigerated dough tubes, but homemade almost always tastes better. This time was no exception. These biscuits were absolutely delicious! Try them for yourselves and taste the difference!

Scones for Tea?

My daughter came home from school on Thursday with an invitation from her teacher for full tea at high noon on Sunday. She seemed excited about the idea as you might expect most little girls would be prior to such an event. What girl doesn’t like the idea of dressing up, using dainty table settings, and practicing her outrageous British accent for an hour or so? The invitation was for seven girls in her class and at the bottom it read “You may bring food or snacks appropriate for afternoon tea,” along with an in-character reference to parents’ vehicles as carriages when announcing child pick-up times.

Knefeh Katastrophe!

The disaster that was my attempt at Knefeh….

Knefeh Surprise

Last Thursday, my nephews’ and niece’s Easter vacation started. Marc my sister’s second, decided he wanted to stay at Grandma’s till Saturday, when his family will come to pick him up and take him home.

Marc, I noticed, has taken quite an interest in cooking along the last couple of years. Whenever I am in the kitchen, he rushes in saying:”A vos ordres, Chef!”  (At your orders, Chef!). Marc also is a huge Knefeh fan. So it seemed like a great Saturday morning activity with him, to surprise his family.

A Knefeh Dessert Experience

Last weekend was the perfect opportunity for me to make the knefeh for the challenge. I wanted my family to try it since it is not something that one finds on the average menu here in the USA. So after the kids finished school for the week and the rain set in a bit, I decided I would prepare this for all the house’s cooped up occupants.

Challenge 13: Knefeh

Anyone visiting Lebanon, learns it is a must to try Knefeh: A sort of a cheese (or cream) pie, served in a special kind of bread with syrup.

Knefeh is usually eaten for breakfast, where pastry shops offer it hot on big trays from which they serve their customers.

Knefeh has another variation, made with ashta or clotted cream.

Also, this kind of sweets is pretty easy to make and people have had several versions they make at home. Today I am posting as a challenge Knefeh from scratch; even the dough of it (called Mafroukeh), that represents the crunchy part.

Banana and Strawberry Smoothie

I haven’t managed to submit a blog entry for our one year anniversary as I had computer issues. However, this is what I had done for it. Viviane and I were talking and she mentioned we had no beverages as yet on the blog. So, I decided to do one. We thought that a smoothie would be a good idea as I was on a “diet” to pick up weight. Smoothies would be a perfect healthy snack for me. I think it is a awesome snack for anyone. I had remembered that my friend Shawne had given me a recipe for a basic smoothie. I hadn’t written it down, so I had to ask him for it. A huge thank you goes to him for the recipe.

Sumac and Dried Mint Omelet – 3rd Mediterranean Cooking Event

I know I am supposed to be posting about the challenge, but a few days ago I got an invitation to join a cooking event about Lebanon: 3^rd Mediterranean cooking event. So I decided to join. I don’t know if I will post more than one recipe, but I know I have a couple in mind. Although for now, I am posting a really simple thing: an omelet.

Trick or Treat à la Libanaise*

Saint Barbara is the Lebanese Halloween counterpart, minus the spooky side. Although Halloween has been celebrated in Lebanon for a few years now, by an inspiration from the west, the “trick or treating” is still done by kids on December 4^th.

Saint Barbara is celebrated at that date, to commemorate how Barbara – a pagan noblewoman turned Christian- fled her father who was trying to kill her because she denied the gods. Barbara hid from her father by painting her face and wearing disguise. Thus the kids celebrate that by wearing disguises and singing specific songs when doors open for them. Although there is no real trick, there is always a treat for the kids: most commonly it is small money bills or coins given after the chants. There are even thank you songs that might call you cheap if the kids did not like how much you offered.

Some people do offer a pastry made for the occasion: Katayef.