Tag Archives: mint

A summer addiction: Watermelon and Bulgarian salad

Posted on July 18, 2016 | 1 comment

I believe that salads promoting fruits are always a hit especially for summers days. Watermelon and Bulgarian cheese is a perfect refreshing salad, celebrating summer at its best. If you wish to impress your guests, this is one incredible salad that deserves a big applause.

Everything about this salad is amazing, from the watermelon to the Bulgarian cheese, rocket leaves, fresh mint leaves and roasted almonds. And I decided to top it off with a sweet balsamic and olive oil dressing. It was the perfect finishing touch to this salad.

There is no precise amount for the ingredients, you will need pieces of watermelon cut in square shapes and slices of Bulgarian cheese, same size, to insert between. You decide how many piece you need, depending on the amount of guests you have. Top each watermelon and cheese square with rocket leaves and few fresh mint leaves. A handful roast almonds to give it some crunchiness. Drizzle a little of olive oil and sweet balsamic glaze.

Isn’t that screaming summer?! If you give it a try give me your comments. Happy Lebanese summer days 🙂

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

1 Comment

Posted in appetizers & salads

Tagged bulgarian cheese, food blogger, food porn, jaymmy, lebanon, marmite et ponpon, mint, olive oil, qatar, recipe, refreshing, roast almonds, rocket leaves, salad, summer, sweet balsamic dressing, watermelon

Minted yogurt pasta a la libanaise

Posted on March 22, 2016 | 1 comment

A very easy and quick Lebanese dish perfect for busy moms, so quick that it’s ready on your table with less than 20 mns. It tastes amazing and kids love it too, it could be served as light dinner as well.

You need (2 servings)

250g pasta could be fusili or penne
500g yogurt
2 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
1 garlic clove crushed or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried mint
salt to taste

Cook pasta as per pack directions and set aside to cool. Mix yogurt, tahini, garlic, mint and salt until creamy. Pour over the pasta and toss. Sprinkle on top more dried mint before serving.

If you hesitate which type of pasta to use, check my pasta guide for more information to help you choose the right one.

This hint of tahini gives it the deep and lebanese flavor. I love to serve it cold, so refreshing, light and suitable for people abstaining from meat.

If you like this post give it many likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

1 Comment

Posted in main dish

Tagged fusili, lebanese food, less than 20 minutes meal, marmite et ponpon, mint, pasta, recipe, tahini, yogurt

refreshing cantaloupe and watermelon in ginger sugar syrup

Posted on August 16, 2014 | 7 comments

It’s time to fly back to our nest in doha. Filling our luggage with lebanese goods and our hearts with ample dose of fun and love. It was a mahragénial* vacation!

Obviously, we can never get used to goodbyes, but we learnt to be optimistic with a “see you soon” shower of kisses.

We will miss you all so much until we meet again. Antoun, here we come for sure!

As i greeted you from lebanon with the fresh lemonade, I will leave you with a fresher cantaloupe and watermelon salad with ginger sugar sauce.

To make this delicious salad you need: (yields 4 servings)

2 cups watermelon (cut in balls shape)
2 cups cantaloupe (cut in balls shape)

If you don’t have this special utensil, you can cut in cubes or wedges.

To make the ginger syrup you need:

1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh ginger sliced and left unpeeled

Bring to boil water, sugar and ginger then simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and let it cool in the refrigerator.

Once the syrup is cold, soak in the cantaloupe and watermelon for at least an hour, keeping it in the refrigerator

Serve it cold and jazz it up with couple of mint leaves, not just for a beautiful presentation, but for the taste that it adds.

Stay tuned for more posts from doha. I won’t be late!

*mahragénial: is a composed word meaning splendid festivities, quoting Rawad Matar. I promised to use the word in my last post from lebanon.

mahragen مهرجان (arabic word) meaning festival
génial (french word) meaning brilliant

7 Comments

Posted in dessert

Tagged blog, cantaloupe, fruit salad, ginger, how to do, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, melon, mint, recipe, syrup, watermelon

quench your thirst with homemade flavored water

Posted on July 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

Ditch boring water and satisfy your thirst with healthy all natural homemade quenchers.

Water is very essential to your good health, it makes up about 60% of your body weight. Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements, but since every system in your body depends on water to function properly, you must replenish its water supply. Studies determined that your water needs depend on many factors, including your health, how active you are and where you live but roughly we can say an adequate intake for men is 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and for women 2.2 liters (about 9 cups).

It’s a huge amount of water if you think about it and you are not a water lover! That’s why here is 3 homemade recipes for naturally flavored water with added health benefits, to encourage you meet your daily needs, and stay hydrated especially it’s getting really hot outside!

citrus kiss:

Slice up one lemon, one orange and one grapefruit, add them to one liter of water. The longer the ingredients steep, the stronger the flavor will be, so mix them up a few hours ahead depending on how strong you want the taste to be.

Apple cinnamon:

Wedge up one full apple and toss in one cinnamon stick. This one has a great kick, it helps boost your metabolism.

Cucumber, mint lemon:

Slice up one or two cucumbers and soak in handful mint leaves and one sliced lemon.

You can soak in any fruit you like. Would love to have your new flavors suggestions if you already tried one!

So refreshing that I am sure I will hear lots of ahhhhhh when you try these!

homemade minted lemon popsicles (mojito on a stick) – popsicoholic part 5

Posted on May 23, 2014 | 4 comments

When life hands you lemons, you have another option now than just lemonade!

Popsicoholic part 5: minted lemon popsicles.

There is nothing more refreshing than lemon, not just to eat or drink, i also use lemon scented candles, detergents, shower gel… For me lemon aroma is the most relaxing and refreshing.

My 17 months boy loves lemon too, he eats lemon slices without even blinking his eyes… These lemon popsicles are specially done for him.

Give your lemon popsicles a cool herbal boost using fresh mint leaves. In a food processor mix juice of 2 lemons, juice of 1 lime, 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves.

Pour it in molds and put it in the freezer without inserting the sticks. You will notice that pieces of mint float on top. After one hour take it out and with a knife make up and down movement, to distribute the mint leaves properly. Insert the sticks and return to the fridge to freeze completely, for overnight.

It should make 4 popsicles, again depending on your mold size. To remove the popsicles from the molds, run under warm water until they are easily released.

If you would like to have a mojito on a stick, simply add rum to the mix before freezing and chill out!