African Peanut Soup

Growing up in Lebanon I had an aunt whose family frequently traveled to, and for a while lived, in Ghana. She brought this dish back with her and we all knew it as FuFu. She and her sister (my mom Jamal) made it ever since, and continued to make it until my sweet Tante Nohad passed away in the early 90s. But every time my mom made it, we thought fondly of our Tante Nohad. 

Potluck time!

Whether you are the host or the guest, potlucks are becoming increasingly popular as more people find themselves too busy, or frankly, more interested in relaxed entertaining than cooking an entire meal, from appetizers to dessert.

I read this a long while ago on one of my favorite sites, Cookstr, and as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve bear down on us, I couldn't wait to share it with you. Enjoy!

Chicken Parmesan Roll-Ups

If it has the word "parmesan" -- or for the purists, "parmigiana" -- then I am all for it. There is something so comforting about marinara sauce, cheese and some sort of pasta and protein all baked together into a gooey delicious heaven... but really, how often do we indulge?

This reicpe skips the pasta and makes the dish a bit less sinful but if I've said once, I've said it a hundred times: it's so much better to eat real food, not low-fat or non-fat food that even a dish like this, with a tiny bit of carbohydrates sacrificed, will still really satisfy and scratch that parmigiana itch. Make this; it's truly wonderful. See??

Mustard-Onion Pork Cutlets

[I found this "draft" blog when I was transitioning from a PC to a Mac. I was so confused it looks like I abandoned ship! Here's the original, from, like, December 2009!]

I am finally up and running on this new Mac and feeling a little more like I know what I'm doing. The transition from PC wasn't so bad but it does takes a little while to get comfortable doing the same thing in a completely different way. I have been cooking and baking and taking lots of pictures; now I just have to put everything up! I'm hoping in my absence Blogger has made some progress in making things easier for users. Here we go...

[Yes, Hiba, they've made Blogger a LOT easier. Wow. This is great!]

Tonight [remember, this was some night in December 2009] we bring you dinner from a few nights ago. This recipe was in a recent issue of Cook's Country and it caught my eye because it fits in my lifestyle these days: fast, reasonably healthy, and no "deal breakers"...you know, those pesky steps or pieces of equipment that just make you say, "no way"...

Chicken Tikka Masala

You know that neon-glow chicken that is passed as Tikka Masala and that you see at pretty much every mall food court? Yeah... this is not it. This is as close to authentic as you can get. This recipe is courtesy of Cook's Illustrated. You need to be a member to access any recipe on the site but I figure as long as I give them credit for the recipe and link to the paid Web site, I am safe... That is a form of payment, right, like...free advertising, right??

This recipe seems long but don't let the list of ingredients scare you. It's quite easy albeit may take a while to finish. And not all of your time spent is on labor. Quite a few minutes (maybe even an hour) are unattended time. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as my husband and our guests do. For a spicier dish, do not remove the seeds or the pith of the Serrano chile; and contrary to popular belief, the heat is mostly in the pith and not so much in the seeds. 

अपने भोजन का आनंद लें

(Bon Appétit! Thank you Google Translate!)

Lemon Zest

Another tip that my mother, the Original Diva, taught me was to always pity the lemon about to be squeezed for Tabbouleh, Lemon Bars, or Lemon-Lentil Soup and then unceremoniously discarded. She suggests I take a few moments to quickly rasp the lemon(s) I will be using on a MicroPlane and stash the bounty in a Ziploc in the freezer. And so that's what I do.

The four lemons above were about to be squeezed for Tabbouleh. How could I let them go to waste??Of course if you do it every time, you risk a glut of lemons. So only replenish your supply as your stash gets low. There is nothing better than reading a recipe that requires lemon zest and knowing all you have to do is reach into your freezer and snap a bit off the frozen pile.

Chipotle Chicken Skewers with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce

The older I get, the leaner and leaner I find I have to make my meals. I've got my advancing age and my parents to thank for my abysmal metabolic rate (the ONLY bad thing they passed on to me, those amazing, loving people!). The other day I had an epiphany of sorts. If I eat appetizers at restaurants as my main meal, then why not do so at home?