Saturday, November 05, 2016

Elie's Lamb Dish ~ a welcome meal on a busy (and at times stressful) day






Busy day.
Quilt guild.
Lunch. Nap. Cleaning up. 
More Cleaning up.  The kitcthen had gotten quickly
a bit out of contorl with mess because I was trying so hard to get other parts of hte house
clean... including the kitchen floor.
I just vacuumed YESTERDAY and there is already DUST on the kitchen floor.
We hope to get a HVAC guy in soon to clean our vents...
Realized that we are just too tired to go out
to vespers, exceptionally stayed in and prayed vespers at home.
And we were waiting for our new air purifier, it was out for delivery since
10 AM, finally came at 7 PM....

***

I made Elie's lamb dish.
I knew her in my undergrad days; she grew up in Isreal and was a really good friend of mine...
I do have to see if I still have her email, as I was thinking of her so much,
making this dish... 
It is so good. 
The lamb meat was not very lean, so the only thing I did
that was different than the recipe is that there was a lot of extra fat/grease
when it was all done and in the serving bowl; so I drained a bunch of that out;
or maybe I drained it out in the bowl, but before I added the lentils, I think that is right...
we were glad that we had the fat for the cooking of it, as fat = flavour,
but we really needed it drained so that it was not greasy / over fat for eating.
It drained well and easily.  
And it was just as good as I remember it!!
See recipe above!
Oh, and I did not have beef bullion so used 2 cups beef stock and 1/2 cup water.

***

Folks, we are a bit worried about Husband's breathing.
It's gotten worse this week, not better. ... And it was already bad at the
beginning of the week... 
He's on meds... for it... plus his continued insomnia, it's getting difficult for us. 
We will be following up with doctors and are doing everything
we possibly can.
I am worried; my beloved is too tired and too pale, like when he was 
sick/exhausted after getting that terrible flu back in the Spring...
I've been sleeping on the couch since Tuesday because my 
down feather duvet (I get really cold at night) is not up to code.
We ordered a new one, it's coming + a special dust mite cover for it. 
Thankfully the air purifier did come and is working great in the bedroom.
This is what it looks like:


It as red when we first turned it on, which means poor air quality.
It's not red anymore, but it's not always staying at 'blue' which means 'good' either.
Anyway, it's been a bit of a challenging day, 
just in terms of feeling like we are not making a lot of headway on 
getting the house in order and Husband feeling better.
Please pray for us. 
I am so thankful for my Husband and love him so much.... 

10 comments:

Zena said...

Oh dearest Elizabeth! I am so sorry your husband is having such a hard time with it. I suffer from asthma and especially bad this year with my health issues and it gives me such anxiety. You may need a few more weeks to see a difference in your husbands health. Hang in there and I will be praying for you both. xx

Pom Pom said...

Praying for your husband, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

Praying for your dear husband and for you, my very dear friend. God bless you both xxx

Nancy said...

Keeping you and him in my prayers.

E Helena E said...

Praying also for both of you. You are so often in my thoughts, even when I don't write.

Mary said...

Prayers for you both. You probably know Elizabeth but there are some great house plants that trap and out allergens from the air. Check google but one that comes to mind is a Boston fern.But there are more. You.re a good wife.God bless you both.

Mary said...

"Filter out allergens..."

elizabeth said...

Thanks Mary! I let my Husband know about this!

Unknown said...

I'm enjoying reading your writing, and am sorry your husband is not feeling well. Some of my family members have asthma, and it isn't easy. I also wanted to let you know that Mujaddarah is traditionally a vegan dish. I grew up in Palestine, and I've never heard of it served with lamb. Christian Arabs often serve it during Lent, so I was very surprised to see your recipe!

elizabeth said...

Hi Jane, thanks! Glad you are enjoying my writing! Yes, not easy, but we hope it will improve!

Mujaddarah, yes, I gathered it can be vegan indeed. I was excited to realize this, it will be GREAT for Lent!!! That makes sense, esp. for Orthodox Christian Arabs who would be fasting during Lent.

Maybe my friend's Mom created this dish this way? They were not Orthodox and her parents were protestant Christians who did not grow up in Israel... So maybe they did things a bit differently, not being from there originally...

It does seem that at least that some people serve it along side lamb: http://orangette.net/2007/03/into-the-pantry/
http://laurustina.com/mujadara/
http://foodmomiac.typepad.com/foodmomiac/2011/10/the-monday-night-dinner-that-garnered-a-standing-ovation-lamb-meatballs-and-mujadara.html
https://myprimrosehillkitchen.com/2016/10/16/mujaddara/

and this website gives history of the dish and that in the 10th century the rich had it with meat while the poor did not: http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/recipes/main-dish/arabic-lentils-rice-mujaddara/

here's a spin off that is similar but with ground lamb https://food52.com/recipes/20912-crispy-lentils-with-ground-lamb

but you are totally right, I see NO recipes for Mujaddarah *with* ground lamb in it. I wonder if that is why my friend put (lamb) in () as she did.

Remember, she was teaching me this recipe, I a white girl American living in Canada who knew very little of other countries foods. So she taught me how to make it, but I can't remember if she explained that normally this food would be vegan, the lamb separate.

I must say though, the way she taught me is really tasty! But I look forward to making it lenten as well!!! It's delicious!

Thanks so much for letting me know (I would not of known for who knows how long!) and found this little research I did to be so interesting!!! Thanks again so much for your comment!