Tag Archives: cooking

banana cake


banana cakeI am sure if you have kids, means you always have a lot of bananas at home!

Bananas get ripe quickly especially in Doha it’s too hot! Whenever I see some getting too ripe I use them for cake. I tried too many recipes and this one came out the best. Why? because it’s not too sweet, it allows me to use chocolate. I love to pair bananas with chocolate! This cake is a pleasure to make!

Ingredients:

  • 200g flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 100g toasted walnut
  • 5-6 bananas (500g)
  • 125g butter
  • 125g brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • a pinch of salt

Toast the walnut in the oven for 5 mins and keep aside to cool while preparing the batter.

Cream the butter and the sugar in a processor or by hand then add the eggs one by one. Chop the walnut medium size and add it with the mashed bananas to the batter, usually I mash them with a fork when too ripe.

Mix well and start to sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix everything together until you have a nice smooth batter.

Preheat the oven to 170°C and bake for almost an hour in the middle shelf. Test the cake by poking a skewer into the middle, if the skewer comes out clean, it means your cake is ready.

It’s up to you if you want to add chocolate syrup. I melt 200 g of dark chocolate with 1 tsp of vanilla in a bowl and that’s it.

Now the fun part for my baby is when i prepare for him the banana skewers to eat with the cake. it’s a nice way to decorate the cake and please your kids.

I am sure you will get a lot of smiles and mmmm and yumms when you serve this cake

orzo, spinach and chicken salad


orzo, chicken and spinach saladCraving a dinner that is delicious, nutritious, and simple to make?

This salad is a full meal. It contains all the nutrients you need at one time.

The first time i tried this salad was in an italian restaurant. I loved it and decided to do it at home, and the result came tastier!

Ingredients (for 4 people)

  • orzo pasta 500g
  • grilled chicken breast 400g
  • fresh spinach 350g (chopped)
  • feta cheese 80g (cut in small cubes)
  • 2 medium tomatoes (cut in medium cubes)
  • olives 50g
  • roasted pine seeds (a handful)

Dressing: lemon and olive oil

Why lemon? because there’s a compound in spinach called oxalic acid, which blocks the absorption of calcium and iron. An easy way to solve this problem is to pair spinach with a food high in vitamin C.

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beetroot and goat cheese salad


beetroot and goat cheese saladWant to beat a hangover? Try this salad with beetroot.

Beetroots are known to be a hangover cure due to Beta cyanin, the pigment that gives its colour.

Beta cyanin is an antioxidant that speeds up detoxification in your liver, which enables your body to turn the alcohol into a less harmful substance that can be excreted quicker than normal.

This without forgetting that rocket is a detoxifying and pine seeds are an excellent source of energy. I would call this, a power salad!

Ingredients:

  • rocket leaves
  • goat cheese
  • beetroot
  • pine seeds

You can have it with either balsamic sauce or lemon mayo.

I wish you a life full of energy!

roast hamour fish


roast hamourCooking becomes different when you have a baby. He becomes the priority and your life is all about him. It’s friday (the weekend in Doha) the day we eat lunch as a family. I woke up thinking what to cook something healthy, fast and my boys like it. Plus it’s the lent and we don’t eat meat on fridays. So i decided to make roast fish with vegetables, lemon and walnut.

Ingredients:

  • A whole fish, i chose hamour about 1kg
  • 3 medium potatoes
  • 4 carrots
  • 3 big garlic cloves
  • walnuts (as much as you like)
  • 200g  coriander
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • 2 lemons

Chop the walnuts, garlic and coriander for the stuffing.

2

Make diagonal cuts on both sides to put inside from the stuffing to give it a richer aroma.

1

Stuff the fish and insert lemon slices.

Cut the carrots and potatoes and put them on the sides.

sprinkle the salt and olive oil and it’s ready to be baked for 25 mns.

3Try it and give me your opinion 🙂

halloumi aubergine salad


401269_10152288738955463_450930106_nTo begin, eggplants are not vegetables but fruits and to take it one step further, a berry to be exact.

I love aubergine especially when they are combined with halloumi. This salad is very simple and yummy.

Mix greens, grilled halloumi and grilled aubergine, 3 ingredients salad. Easy and fast to prepare it for a healthy dinner.

I like it with lemon and olive oil dressing. For a tastier lemon dressing add a pinch of brown sugar. It makes a difference.