Serves 8

12         ounces lite tofu

6           cloves garlic

1            cup chopped fresh basil

4            tablespoons olive oil

1/8       teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger

zest of one lemon

salt and pepper to taste

1           pound angel hair pasta

3          tablespoons bread crumbs

-In a food processor, puree tofu, garlic, basil, olive oil, lemon zest, ginger, salt and pepper.  Puree until you have smooth paste.  Spoon into large bowl.

-In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil.  Drop the pasta, stir and cook until al-dente.

-Drain the pasta and add to the basil paste while it is hot and mix well until the pasta is well coated.

-Spray a bundet cake pan with olive oil spray and sprinkle with the bread crumbs.  Spoon the pasta into the cake pan and press very firmly.

-Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.

-Place large flat plate over the pan and turn the pan cake up-side down.  Slice and serve with tomato salad.

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My Brother and his family are planning a trip to visit my mom sometime soon.

In previous years, this event has brought international phone calls among my mother, me, my brother and my sister in an effort to prevent a disaster.  Usually my sister-in-low, who refuses to be adventurous when it comes to food, declines to eat anything her own mother did not prepare when she was growing up.

And usually, my mother is alert to her daughter-in-law’s approval or disapproval.  If my brother’s wife so much as rolls her eyes, it will ruin my mother’s day.  As a consequence, my brother overeats to make our mother feel good about her cooking.

But my mother finally has found a way to overcome stress preparing for a dinner when she has guests-such as my sister-in-law-who are too finicky to please.  My mom becomes a “prep chef,” that is, she asks what the guest wants for dinner.  Then, she asks what the ingredients are.  She buys those ingredients requested by the guests and does the initial preparation, after which she turns the kitchen over to the guest to cook the meal.  This method, she has learned, deprives her guests of all ground for complaint.

When she turns the kitchen over to the guest, she then is able to relax physically and mentally.  She makes herself a cup of tea, sits in the kitchen and enjoys visiting with her son, his wife and her grandkids.  At first, I worried my father wouldn’t eat food cooked by someone else, but my mother reassured me he would eat any thing that has garlic, salt and pepper.

The lesson I’ve learned from my mother is to not be so rigid when preparing for a holiday meal.  I know women who refuse to go outside their traditional recipes when cooking for the holidays.  But I find it’s much better to be a little bit adventurous and relaxed. The idea is to enjoy the company of your guests without worrying about what to feed them and how to impress them with your knowledge of complicated recipes.

Filed under: General Posts, Vegetarian, cooking | No Comments »

Harak bel-usba-o or Burn Your Finger is one of my favorite dishes.  I think the name came from women burning their fingers trying to drop the dumpling into the boiling lentil stew.   This dish can be eaten hot, room tempreture or cold. My mom used to serve it cold.  She would make it a day before serving and would sprinkle  the onion just before serving the dish.

Serves 6-8

1       cup olive oil

4       medium onion, jullienne

1       pound lentils

6       cloves garlic, mashed

2       cups chopped cilantro

1/4  cup lemon juice

1/4  cup pomegranate molasses

salt and pepper to taste

1      loaf bread

1/2  cup pomegranate seeds, optional

-Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil and saute 1/4 of the onion and saute for five minutes.  Wash the lentils and add to the onions.  Add 10 cups of water, salt and pepper and bring to boil.  Cook the lentil cooked but not mushy.  Remove the lentil from the stove and set aside.

-In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and fry the onions until caramelized.  Line a tray with paper towels.  Using slotted spoon, remove the onions from the oil and place over the paper towel.  Remove the pan from the stove and allow the oil to cool.  Place the frying pan with the oil on top of the stove.  Add the garlic and the cilantro and saute for couple of minutes.  Add the garlic and cilantro mixture to the lentils.

-Place the lentils back on the stove, add the lemon juice and the pomegranate molasses.  Bring back to a boil.  Adjust the seasoning.

-By hand, cut the dough into 1/4-inch balls and drop into the boiling lentils.  Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.

-Spoon the lentils into deep serving platter.  Sprinkle with the caramelized onion and the pomegranate molasses.

Filed under: Main Dishes, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian, cooking | 2 Comments »

I was thinking about my sister, Waffa, the medical doctor.  When we were young students, she had a talent for chewing gum and making it pop to the point where I wanted to duct tape her jaws shut.  One of the results was that my mother would never allow us to chew gum in public because, she said, it made us look like camels.

She had a point.

The more I thought about, the more curious I became about the origins of chewing gum.  Do you know that people have chewed um since pre-historic times.  The first documented experience of people chewing gum came from the Greeks, who used to chew “mastic” gum, which came from the resin of a mastic tree, which is similar to a eucalyptus tree.

A Greek medical man, Dioscorides, used powdered mastic medicine in about 50 A.D., to sweeten the breath and to clean teeth.  In the spice markets of Syria and other Middle East countries, one can buy mastic in its hardened form, but when mixed with beeswax in the basis for chewing gum.

There is also another kind of gum that derives from the resin of pine trees.  When the sap is extracted from pine trees, it is mixed with beeswax and sold by the kilo (2.2 pounds) in the markets.  This gum is used  in ice cream, cheese and other products to make them more gooey.

Gum Arabic is found as an ingredient in a number of products, such as ink, soft drink products, gum, medicine, candies, whipped cream, Altoids candy, Mentos Candy, and so on.  Gum Arabic, is derived from a resin of the Acacia tree, which is a tree that is drought tolerant and is grown in Africa and India.  Arab merchants brought the resin from Africa to Europe.

The ancient Mayan tribes in Central America chewed resin from a tree, which was called, “chicle.” And we all know about “chiclets” gum, do we not?

The modern gum we know today was originated in 1850 by a New Yorker by the name of Adams along with former Mexican general Santa Anna, the Mexican who had conquered  the Alma in Texas.  Santa Anna eventually had gone into exile in New York.  Santa Anna’s idea was to mix chicle with rubber to produce cheaper carriage tires.  He presented the idea to Adams and had his friends in Mexico chip him a ton of chicle.  The experiment in making tires failed, but Adams thought that the chicle could be used to make chewing gum, as he know that it had been used as such in Latin American.

He made and packaged chewing gum from the chicle, but at first no one wanted to buy it.  So he convinced drugstores owners to place the gum on their counters, guaranteeing he would pick up the product if it didn’t sell.  The orders for more gum started coming in, which became the beginning of a prosperous industry for Adams.

The gum made by Adams was unsweetened, which prompted another inventor, a John Colgan, to make gum from the resin of a balsam tee that was flavored with powdered sugar.  He then mixed chicle with sugar and began selling what was called, “Colgan’s Taffy Tolu Chewing Gum,” which became highly successful.

An Ohio doctor, Dr. Edward E. Beeman, who was manufacturing a pepsin powder to aid in digestion, followed up on a suggestion from his bookkeeper, who urged him to put the pepsin into chewing gum and sell it.  He blended his pepsin which chicle and began successfully selling it nationwide.

A popcorn salesman from Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. William  White, discovered that when sugar was mixed with chicle it would absorb different flavors.  The result was “Yucatan’ gum, which became a hit.  White sent a box of his new gum to every member of congress as a promotion, and later ran for congress himself.

While it was considered improper for young ladies to chew gum, a Jonathan Primley made the first fruit-flavored gum and called it “kis-me.’ The promotion of the name caught on Primley’s slogan made the gum popular with “nice girls,” who had previously shunned chewing any kind of gum.

An accountant for the Fleer Gum Company, Walter Diemer, accidentally discovered bubble gum while the Fleer  brothers were attempting to make a rubber product from Chicle.  They colored it a playful pink which make it an instant success.

Chewing gum appears to have some medicinal effects on teeth and on digestion.  There are some studies that show it has a positive effect on concentration and in relieving stress.

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Garbanzo Bean Soup

serves 6-8

6     cup cooked garbanzo beans

4     tablespoons olive oil

1     medium carrot, chopped

1     medium onion, chopped

1     celery, finely chopped

2     cloves garlic, mashed

2     cups chopped  green cabbage

1     teaspoon chili paste or chili powder

1     16-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1     teaspoon sage

salt to taste

-In a heavy soup pot, heat the olive oil, and then saute the onion, the carrot and the celery for five minutes.

-Add the garlic, the sage, the chili paste and the cabbage.  Stir and cook for couple of minutes.

-Add the crushed tomatoes, the salt, half of the cooked garbanzo beans and 4 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

-In a food processor, puree the rest of the garbanzo beans with 1 cup of water.  Add this puree into the soup.  Stir, adjust the seasoning and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.  Enjoy

Chili Paste

Make 1 cup

3         cups dried red pepper

1/4     cup olive oil

1         teaspoon sea salt

-Bring 8 cups of water to a boil.  Drop the pepper in the pot, bring back to a boil. Boil for couple minutes.  Turn off the heat and allow the pepper to rest for 4 hours.

-Squeeze the water out of the pepper and place in a blender with the oil and salt.  Puree into smooth paste.  Scope into a jar, cover with little olive oil and place in the refrigerator.

Filed under: Cooking Lesson, Vegan, Vegetarian, gluten free, soups | 4 Comments »

This dish makes great side dish for Thanksgiving dinner and, I think ,great substitute for traditional bread stuffing.

Rice and Vegetable Pilaf

serves 8

1/4       cup olive oil

1            small onion, chopped

1            clove garlic, mashed

2            cups frozen sweet peas, thawed

1            cup diced carrots

1            cup dried cranberries

1            cup boiled wild rice

2            cups Basmati rice

1            teaspoon allspice

1/4        teaspoon ginger

salt and pepper to taste

1/2        cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/2        cup pine nuts, toasted

-In a large heavy pot, heat the olive oil and saute the onion over medium heat for couple of minutes.  Add the garlic, the carrots and the dried cranberries.  Stir and add four and half cups of water to the vegetables.  Add the allspice, the ginger, the salt and the pepper and bring water to boil.

-Add the sweet peas, the wild rice and the Basmati rice.  Stir and bring back to a boil.  Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat.

-Allow the rice to rest for five minutes, and then spoon into large serving platter.  Sprinkle with the toasted almonds and pine nuts.

Filed under: Food Allergies, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian, gluten free | No Comments »

Vegan and Gluten Free Mac and “Cheese”

serves 6-8

4        tablespoons olive oil

1        medium red onion, finely chopped

1        cup chopped carrot

1/2   cup chopped celery

2       cloves garlic, sliced

1/2   teaspoon chopped fresh sage

1       teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon

1/2   cup short grain rice

1/2   teaspoon turmeric

2       cups water

salt and pepper to taste

6      ounce silken tofu

1       pound gluten free short pasta

-In a heavy post, heat the olive oil and saute the onion for couple of minutes.  Add the celery and the carrots and continue to saute for five minutes.

-Add the garlic, the sage and the tarragon.  Saute for couple minutes and add the rice and the turmeric.  Stir until the rice is well coated.

-Add the water, the salt and the pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the rice is cooked and smell and taste done.  Remove from the heat.

-Place the cooked rice in a food processor with the tofu and puree until you have smooth yellow paste. THIS IS YOUR VEGAN CHEESE.

-In a pasta pot, bring salted water to boil, and drop the pasta. Stir and boil for 6 minutes or until the pasta is al-dente.  Remove from the heat and drain well.

-Place the pasta in a bowl, add the vegan cheese and toss well.  Spoon the pasta in a baking dish and bake in a 375 degree F.oven for 25 minutes.  You can sprinkle ground toasted almonds on the top if you like.

Filed under: Food Allergies, Gluten Free Series, Main Dishes, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian, gluten free, vegetable | 2 Comments »