Well, after the Lenten abstinence, and the fast on Good Friday, we
were ready to feast on Sunday. We had the Easter Vigil Saturday night,
and ended at around midnight.

Sunday's feast was at our house, we've been hosting the church and
family for about three years now. About four families couldn't come
this year, so we only had about 40 people over including us.


I made four legs of lamb, stuffed all over with garlic and roasted in
an herb paste
A roast turkey, roasted with rosemary, lemon, onion, salt and pepper
and gravy to go along with it
Laban bi Khiyar, which is a yogurt cucumber salad/sauce with garlic,
lemon juice and mint in it
Hummus
Three batches of pita bread, of which we have much more left over
than we thought we would
Taratoor, a tahina, garlic and lemon sauce
Harissa, a spicy red chile sauce
Falafel
A pot of waraq 'ounab, grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice and
herbs and cooked in a tomato sauce
Koubbeh, which is a shell of lamb and burghul wrapped around cooked
lamb and pine nuts, all spiced
Tabbouleh

We set out lettuce, kalamata olives, spanish olives, sweet pickles
and dill pickles, feta cheese, tomatoes, radishes. Someone brought
california olives and artichoke hearts.

Other foods brought were,

Two hams, with a glaze of orange marmalade and peach juice on them
that was very nice, but not cloyingly sweet
A green salad with glazed walnuts and pears and a champagne pear
vinaigrette
Chips
Shrimp cocktail and crackers
Devilled eggs
Pesto pasta salad
Mixed veggies
A kind of pasta risotto with lots of vegetables
A Japanese rice roll type thing



For dessert: I made a triple chocolate cheesecake, double batch in a
huge pan.

My MIL made a lemon cake filled with lemon curd and iced with a
coconut cream frosting and shredded coconut

Other people brought Easter sugar cookies, frosted and decorated
Chocolate covered nuts
Brownies with cherries in them
Chocolate cake (a belated birthday cake for our priest)
A shortbread apple tart

To drink:

Sparkling Shiraz (Lorikeet)
Vacqueyras Red Wine (Clos de Cavea)
Ginger Peach Iced Tea (made from Republic of Tea's ginger peach tea)
Lime Coke
Cherry Coke
Barq's Root Beer
Fanta
Ice Water

The lemonade never did get made, but nobody seemed to miss it.

We still have tons of food here, so anyone in the area is welcome to
come feast some more. This is a whole week of feasting for us.

Regards.
Ranee

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"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

Ranee Mueller wrote:

> I made four legs of lamb, stuffed all over with garlic and roasted in
> an herb paste
> A roast turkey, roasted with rosemary, lemon, onion, salt and pepper
> and gravy to go along with it
> Laban bi Khiyar, which is a yogurt cucumber salad/sauce with garlic,
> lemon juice and mint in it
> Hummus

Yowza, you must have been feeding an army! It all sounds great. I had
nine people for dinner and three more for dessert. Here was my final
menu:

Green salad (green leaf, romaine, watercress) with sliced strawberries
and toasted pine nuts and a balsamic vinegar and honey dressing (the
kids were fighting over the salad bowl)

Roasted cornish game hens stuffed with white and wild rice, dried
cherries and sultanas, and toasted slivered almonds

Roasted asparagus

Fresh yeast rolls

Chocolate glazed cream puffs stacked up crocombouche style with plenty
of birthday candles sticking out (my husband's birthday was
yesterday...we all sang "Happy Easter to you...") and ricotta cheese
pie

Pino grigio with dinner, coffee with dessert. No leftovers. Back to
the diet.

Sandy

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 10:47:49 -0700, Ranee Mueller
> wrote:

> Sunday's feast was at our house, we've been hosting the church and
>family for about three years now. About four families couldn't come
>this year, so we only had about 40 people over including us.

Only 40?? Wow! That's a lot of people.

> Laban bi Khiyar, which is a yogurt cucumber salad/sauce with garlic,
>lemon juice and mint in it

Is there a recipe for this, or is it a little of this, a little of
that until it looks right? Which language is the name in? For my own
illiterate purposes, I'd like to call it Elbonian Cucumber Salad. I'll
replace the Elbonian part with whatever you tell me. Boy, this sounds
good!

Carol
--

Some people are like Slinkies... they don't really have a purpose but
they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Stolen from "traid" on the IRC

In article >,
Damsel in dis Dress > wrote:

> On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 10:47:49 -0700, Ranee Mueller
> > wrote:
>
> > Sunday's feast was at our house, we've been hosting the church and
> >family for about three years now. About four families couldn't come
> >this year, so we only had about 40 people over including us.
>
> Only 40?? Wow! That's a lot of people.

That's including all kids, and we have a lot of kids, four families
didn't make it, and we host most major holidays, plus our entire church
several times a year. We're used to feeding a lot of people. The
most we've had here has been about 60, I think. Our house is a nice old
house that was designed for entertaining, or at least designed so it can
function for entertaining quite well. We have to add extra tables and
move things around, and if the weather is nice we put tables outside,
but it can be comfortably done.

> > Laban bi Khiyar, which is a yogurt cucumber salad/sauce with garlic,
> >lemon juice and mint in it
>
> Is there a recipe for this, or is it a little of this, a little of
> that until it looks right? Which language is the name in? For my own
> illiterate purposes, I'd like to call it Elbonian Cucumber Salad. I'll
> replace the Elbonian part with whatever you tell me. Boy, this sounds
> good!

It is Middle Eastern. Since my family is from Saudi Arabia, this is
the Saudi version, which as Rich has learned is the right version. He
said that he has learned that among the Arabs there is our version and
the wrong version, . So now he asks if people cook Arabic food my way
or the wrong way.

Anyway, take a quart of plain yogurt, any kind you like stir it up a
bit. Add the juice of a lemon (no seeds please), four or five crushed
garlic cloves (either through a press, or crushed and chopped up), salt
to taste, white pepper if you want to be fancy, regular pepper if you
don't mind black specks, lots of mint, finely chopped and a large
cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced, or two smaller ones. This is
a loose recipe, you can change things around a bit as you like, but
these are the basic ingredients. Laban bi Khiyar just means yogurt with
cucumber.

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:59:46 -0700, Ranee Mueller
> wrote:

>In article >,
> Damsel in dis Dress > wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 10:47:49 -0700, Ranee Mueller
>> > wrote:
>>
>> > Laban bi Khiyar, which is a yogurt cucumber salad/sauce with garlic,
>> >lemon juice and mint in it
>>
>> Is there a recipe for this, or is it a little of this, a little of
>> that until it looks right? Which language is the name in? For my own
>> illiterate purposes, I'd like to call it Elbonian Cucumber Salad. I'll
>> replace the Elbonian part with whatever you tell me. Boy, this sounds
>> good!
>
> It is Middle Eastern. Since my family is from Saudi Arabia, this is
>the Saudi version, which as Rich has learned is the right version. He
>said that he has learned that among the Arabs there is our version and
>the wrong version, . So now he asks if people cook Arabic food my way
>or the wrong way.

LOL!

> Anyway, take a quart of plain yogurt, any kind you like stir it up a
>bit. Add the juice of a lemon (no seeds please), four or five crushed
>garlic cloves (either through a press, or crushed and chopped up), salt
>to taste, white pepper if you want to be fancy, regular pepper if you
>don't mind black specks, lots of mint, finely chopped and a large
>cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced, or two smaller ones. This is
>a loose recipe, you can change things around a bit as you like, but
>these are the basic ingredients. Laban bi Khiyar just means yogurt with
>cucumber.

That sounds out of this world! I'll let you know when I've made it. I
can't wait! And "Saudi Yogurt with Cucumber" it is!

Thanks so much!
Mom
--

Some people are like Slinkies... they don't really have a purpose but
they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Stolen from "traid" on the IRC

Damsel in dis Dress wrote:
> That sounds out of this world! I'll let you know when I've made it. I
> can't wait! And "Saudi Yogurt with Cucumber" it is!
>
> Thanks so much!
> Mom

I make something similar using sour cream instead of yogurt - thicker
and less bitter/acidic. I use a quart of sour cream, a couple chopped
green onions, cukes, garlic, black pepper and salt. Served on warm
Pita with chopped tomatoes, it's my favorite sandwich.

-L.