Wood-Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Freekeh and Lentils

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Remember when we were a republic with no president?

Not anymore. Orange is literally the new black. After more than two years with no president finally the Lebanese parties (most of them at least, the ones who got a share of the cake) have agreed to vote for a candidate. Two hours of labor in the parliament proved that we still have a wicked sense of humor despite all, and that keeping the child in you alive is super important even if you’re a member of the parliament. Nothing feels good like re-living classroom fights between the bullies in the back, the nerds in the front, the teacher on the platform by the blackboard, and the supervisor pretending to be monitoring that everything is going as planned. All on live TV

Politics aside, it is purely coincidental that I am posting an orange pumpkin on such a day. This recipe was supposed to go last week as part of Pumpkin Week with the EatTheLebaneseSeason squad, our initiative to give recipes on how to cook and use local seasonal produce. But here it is: a super flavorful salad that can sub for a main meal with all the goodness it is packed with.

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Rose Geranium and Apple Syrup

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In the previous apple post, I asked you to save apple cores for a following recipe. This is it!

On my front porch, I have taken the time in the past few month to grow a small garden formed of small plastic pots. Basil has been growing here for a long time, with seeds going into the ground to fuel the coming year’s plants. The cactus are old, a hearbreak old, the flowering succulent is another. The rest are either bought or planted from seed.

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Sugar-free Roasted Apple Butter and EatTheLebaneseSeason

You know when you haven’t talked to someone for a while? They haven’t talked back either and you have no idea how to start a conversation again? I am having this with my baby blog. It’s been a while. It feels so wrong having all these recipes and gorgeous photos I took stored in folders as time passes. But here I am again, publishing a post after a week of behind the scene conversation to prepare for something fun. A fellow cook (@thekitchenbabe) and I decided to gather a few cooks on instagram and start posting recipes we cook and photograph according to what’s in season.

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#EatTheLebaneseSeason is the account and hashtag we decided to use to archive the recipes. This is our first week and things look very promising! We are now 9 passionate cooks willing to take the challenge and play with the seasonal produce! Care to join? Post your recipes on your blog and instagram account with the hashtag #EatTheLebaneseSeason and we’ll regram the best recipes. We’ll be posting the coming week’s ingredient early in the week to give you enough time to prepare and shoot your recipes.

This week’s challenge is, *drumrolls* APPLES! Continue reading