The Whole Wheat Battle

Every morning,I wage a mini battle with my kids. They run to the kitchen, hoping to get there before me, to enjoy white bread or their favorite bleached cereal. But as soon as I am in there, I try to feed them what's good for them. I try!

For Lunch, its the same thing. They come home and expect white pasta or the more traditional white rice and can't imagine themselves eating anything with a tinge of brown.



What is a career mom to do? I need to rush to the office in the morning and don't have much time to argue, so I am sad to say that they win more often than I would like. HELP




I'm supposed to raise my children on whole wheat in a white bread world!

I hate white bread, who invented it & why? who thought of bleaching nature's beautiful bounties, nature's warm colors & goodness to deliver to our tables the un-nutritional white products? They must be evil....

Seriously... white bread is bad for you

The problem in Bahrain is not all nearby grocery stores (what we call cold stores) have brown bread on their shelves. I have to go all the way to a bakery to buy brown bread which is 5 times the price of white bread and then I come home to wage the Wheat Battle with my kids! & Brown Rice is out of the question. When you go into a shop to ask for it, they don't even know what you're talking about! Even whole wheat pasta doesn't seem to be readily available...

What's a caring mama gotta do to get her little kiddies to be whole wheat kids...

Peace,
SoulSearch

Kunafeh recipe... here it comes

Quite a few peeople have been asking for the easy Kunafeh recipe, I have finally had 5 minutes of free time to post ...

This is the express Knafeh recipe, which has subtitutes to the actual ingredients but the same great taste!

So here goes:

You will need:

1 & 1/2 cup fresh milk

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbs of corn flour

1 tbs of flour (all purpose)

1 cup of fresh cream

1 cup of Mozarella cheese

1 tbs of orange blossom essence

For the Kunafeh you will need:

1 loaf of bread

1 cup of melted butter or ghee

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First you will need to combine the milk, sugar, corn flour, & the flour in a saucepan for about 5 min on medium heat. Then add the cream, the cheese, & orange blossom essence, and turn off the heat. Allow to cool.

Then you will need to toast the bread and blitz in a food processor and line a round pyrex with the bread powder. add some of the melted butter (or ghee) over the bread. Add the creamy mixture as second layer, and then add the remaining bread powder on top to seal it. pour a little more of the melted butter which should give it a golden crust.

Bake in the 170 Deg C oven for around 20 to 30 min or until golden and pour sugar syrup on top of it.

Garnish with some pistacios and wait for the praise from your family & friends...

Love it, absolutely...

Try it & let me know the reults...

Love to all...

SoulSearch

My Knefe Recipe

There's nothing like a taste of Lebanon every once in a while, and no other desert is more representative of Lebanese cuisine as Kunafeh, or Knefe as the Lebanese say it. To those who asked for my special Knefe recipe, well, here it is, I hope you enjoy it :)

Ingredients:
The Knefe dough (from supermarkets) (separated as best you can)
2 cups of sweetened milk or 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 a cup of cornflour
1 cup of room-temperature water
5 tbs of Ghee

For the sugar syrup:

2 cups of sugar
1 cup water
a squeeze of lemon
2 tsp of orange blossom water (mai zaher)

First, you will need to separate the kunafa dough and place it in pyrex pan or a non-stick pan.
Separately in a small saucepan add the milk (whichever you choose) and add the cornflour, stirring constantly, add the water and continue to stir until the mixture is firm and boiling.
This will be your cream between the two layers of the Knefe.
Then sprinkle some ghee (or butter) over the dough, spread the cream over it and add another layer of dough on top of the cream. sprinkle more ghee over your knefe and place it in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until it is slightly golden.

For the syrup:

Place the 2 cups of sugar and one cup of water in another saucepan. Bring to the boil. Allow to cool slightly then add a squeeze of lemon juice and some orange blossom water (mai zaher) and pour over the hot Knefe.

For Decoration: Sprinkle some ground pistachio in any pattern you like!

And Voila! you are almost a Lebanese chef.

If any one tries my recipe, be sure to come back and tell us about the taste ;)

Peace,
SoulSearch

Weekend Desert

Because my dad is a chef and specialized in Lebanese cuisine, I've always taken it for granted that we have tabouleh, stuffed vine leaves, chicken fata for lunch, and kunafah, baqlawa, and basboosa for desert.

However, I went into a lebanese cooking frenzy in the past few months, and decided to cook all things Lebanese, that have always been there on the table but very difficult to attempt cooking.

I made tabouleh the other day, and the last weekend I made Kunafah. My dad was all smiles, proud of his offspring, at her first attempt at real Kunafah. And it was a major hit, my husband loved it, my brothers downed it, my cousin almost finished it, and of course my dad and mom were like proud parents at their eldest child's graduation.

I'll leave you with my Kunafah!

p.s. the little bite on the side was Amoona. She couldn't resist but take a bite!! =)

Tabouleh...yummy

Just wanted to share my tabouleh with all of you, I made it over the weekend and my dad was so proud!

This delicious lebanese salad has tons of vitamins in it and I've been trying to get my kids to eat it instead of those horrid Happy Meals!!

You've got to chop, chop, and chop some more, as fine as you can, for the finer your vegetables are chopped the smoother your tabouleh is. You'll also need olive oil and lemons to make your tabouleh taste zesty!

Loved it. I also made fried fish, eggplants, and potatoes to go with it. Delicious Lunch. I love Friday family get-togethers!

yummo

Malfoof Ma7shi

Hey everyone, I just ate the most scrumptious Malfoof Ma7shi my dad has ever made. The way it melted in my mouth, with the cabbage and the rice in it, I could not help but post it to the world.

Tislam Eidak Baba.

For everyone who has never heard of it. Malfoof Ma7shi is cabbage leaves enfolding a mixture of rice and minced beef with Lebanese spices and hint of dried mint leaves, cooked for at least 4 hours on low heat, and stacked one on top of the other.

I just love it. It makes my day.

Love,

SoulSearch