Chili Con Carne

2 Mar

According to Wikipedia, the world has been making chili con carne for 493 years now, so I stand little chance at making you dear readers believe that I make the best chili con carne, right? But who’s judging? Are you? I know I’m not!o So let’s forget about facts and figures and let’s dive right into this hearty hot dish that will leave your taste buds asking for more and more!

Chili Con Carne

Chili Con Carne (serves 4)

Ingredients:

- 1 small red onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp oil

- 300g ground beef

- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 stick cinnamon

- 3 tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 cup tomato juice or tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- 1 can red beans

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan. Fry the onions and garlic until the onions turn translucent.

2. Add the ground beef and cook well.

3. Add the salt and the listed spices. Give everything a good stir.

4. Add the tomatoes and let everything mix well together for 5 minutes.

5. Add the tomato juice, water and tomato paste and bring to boil.

6. Add the beans (after draining and washing), lower the heat and let everything cook for 20 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and the tomatoes soften.

And your chili con carne is ready to be served! Serve with plain white rice. We had it with short grain rice with vermicelli because R. loves this rice with vermicelli and he makes it really well.

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Gifts With No Occasion

22 Feb

… are the best kind of gifts, no?! I was in Beirut last week (that’s mostly the reason behind my disappearance) and I received three unexpected gifts from my mom and sisters! I absolutely loved them. I’m not usually a materialistic person, but these cute gifts warmed my heart.

Thanks N., L. and L.! <3

Pendant of my favorite animal, the giraffe

A much needed pair of trendy brown sunglasses

An over-sized hip blue canvas bag

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Chicken and Mushrooms in Soy-Vinegar Sauce

21 Jan

A lot of my friends are on a diet these days and they won’t even taste from the food that I make even if I say that I just used one Tbsp of oil! So if you’re on a diet (seems that it’s the season!), you can easily make this recipe a diet-friendly one,  just grill the chicken strips in the oven instead of cooking them with butter and oil. But really, the way I’ve prepared this isn’t very fattening, give a try and let me know what your taste buds think ;)

Ingredients (for 2):

- 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 275g boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 250g fresh white mushrooms, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
-  1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbsp vinegar
- 2 Tbsp low salt soy sauce

Method:

1. Salt and pepper the chicken strips and then lightly dredge in flour.

2. In a wide pan, heat the butter and oil and then cook the chicken until slightly golden. Save aside.

3. In the same pan, put the minced garlic and mushrooms and cover the pan until the mushrooms let out their water and lovely aroma.

4. Pour the water and vinegar onto the mushroom mix, salt and pepper and bring to boil. Leave the mixture boiling on medium heat until the liquid evaporates to half.

5. Add in the chicken strips and give it a good stir, around 5 minutes.

6. Finally, add the soy sauce and keep everything cooking for an additional 2 minutes.

Serve hot with white rice on the side or green peas.

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Motivational Quote

12 Jan

AudreyHepburnQuote

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Best of 2011

9 Jan

What an eventful year! It started out alright. My mom visited me at the beginning of the year and we had a good two weeks together. Then, my health took a dip and I had a rough few months. But it seems that traveling was in the cards for me because I visited several new cities this year and spent vacations with my family, with R. and with my mom. Another good thing that happened this year was that I managed to lose the extra few kilos that I had put on the past two years. Not all news is good as this year I wasn’t able to see my best friend whom I normally meet up with once a year. However, the year ended on a good note and … I went for LASIK and that changed my whole outlook on life (pun intended)!

Here are a few photos highlighting the beautiful memories of 2011:

weekend mornings by the sea

family summer vacation in Spain

the BEAUTIFUL San Sebastian (Spain)

fun with R.

drinking a lot of tea in Istanbul with mom

the Bosphorus

BERLIN!

Paris with Mounir & Aida

friends

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Good Morning 2012!

2 Jan

Lebanese Coffee

I don’t know what to expect from you 2012, but I sincerely hope that you are gentler than your sister 2011.

For my part, I am going to follow my dreams and live a little. I will not let insecurity haunt me or anxiety pin me down. I am going to live and chase my future like a beautiful free-flying kite.

Happy 2012 everyone. Take it easy and don’t forget to live life the way you want to.

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The Crime of Love

2 Jan


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