The Levantess

Cooking, Shopping, Writing & Styling

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Meatless Monday – Oatmeal Helba – Vegan Oatmeal Fenugreek Cake Bars

This is a reworked dessert/sweet recipe. It is made with fenugreek seeds.  It is usually made with mostly semolina. I wanted to make these bars, but noted that I only had about half the required semolina. I had a hunch that oatmeal would taste great in this, and I was right. From the original posted recipe Helba is a traditional sweet, dense cake … [Read more…]

evian® Spray Giveaway – Enter now!

The Wilkes Group, distributor of evian® in the United States, is giving away 20 two 5 oz Evian Facial Sprays. Winners will be chosen at random. Readers of The Levantess are invited to enter this giveaway. Listed in CNN’s list of 8 products to bring your skin back to life, it is a hydrating spray that would also be useful to help with parched … [Read more…]

Meatless Monday – what’s on your menu?

On this Meatless Monday, what is on your menu? Today’s lunch was a saute of spinach, mushrooms, onions, topped with an egg. This evening, we plan on having Reshta/Rashta – Stewed Lentils and Noodles with Tangy Caramelized Onions (funny how I posted the Reshta recipe almost exactly a year ago) … [Read more…]

Kofta Kabob Under the Broiler

This is your basic kofta recipe, shaped into kabobs, and broiled. Once you do this, you can either serve with rice, or wrapped in flat bread or pita. Let me tell you, this recipe takes ground beef (or lamb) and elevates it way, way up. A little secret – My husband asked for this exact meal two days in a row. Shhhh. Broiled Kofta Kabob 1 1/2 … [Read more…]

Matcha Green Tea Sahlab (Drinkable Green Tea Pudding)

Sahlab (salep) is a wonderful drink when it is bitterly cold outside. It is warming and thick and comforting. It has a consistency of a thin pudding. In the original sahlab, the thickening and flavoring ingredient was the tuber of orchids. This orchid, likely due to the deliciousness of drinks and desserts that can be made from its tuber, is … [Read more…]

Kofta and Cabbage

I have not been posting lately due to holiday and travel. I have a few blog posts in the wings, so hopefully will post those soon. Here is something I made to use some leftover kofta and extra cabbage, inspired by this post at Mark’s Daily Apple. ½ recipe kofta (baked, but without adding sauce) 2 cups cabbage, shredded 1 small carrot, grated or … [Read more…]

Beef and Green Bean Curry

This is a curry made up of beef and some flat Italian green beans that I froze at the end of summer.  I had been feeling too unwell to go to the supermarket, so this had to be a pantry meal day. You could use regular frozen green beans, or fresh, blanched green beans for this.Peas would also work well. 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil 1 pound beef … [Read more…]

My Beautiful Home

For Throwback Thursday, I am throwing back to my days in the USVI. Lovely place, lovely people, great food. If you are looking for a wonderful vacation spot – look no further. Also, make sure to explore this Virgin Islander’s blog that I linked to. Enjoy 🙂 … [Read more…]

Deconstructed Levantine Cabbage Rolls (Lazy Malfouf)

I felt like eating stuffed cabbage, but didn’t have time to separate and boil the leaves, then stuff them one by one, so I decided to make it lazy-style. It’s not as pretty, but tastes very good on those days you just don’t have the time for rolling them. To be clear – It isn’t a replacement for the original – and certainly not something you’d … [Read more…]