A Mother’s Day Menu, Lebanese-Style
May 08, 2015, Updated Apr 17, 2024
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Back along my first book promo trail, someone said to me that it’s as though I’ve given birth to my own baby, my book.
It’s kind of embarrassing to say it does feel a little that way. A little, it does.
I suppose this is true of artists and their creative endeavors. We gestate, we make it, we give it to the world. We love what we have made, and we consider it beautiful. When others also consider it beautiful, that’s a special something, and pride-of-parenting starts to get all puffed up.
This must be similar, a little, to the sense you parents have. My mother, for example, always espoused sizeable pride for her five children, but hers was paired with endearing humility. She didn’t realize that this remarkable balance was perhaps the greatest gift she could have given us: it’s good to love what you have created, and also good to keep your pride in check.
Mom always softened the missing element in my life (… of no children…) with a you’re-just-fine attitude, even while she considered her own motherhood the most essential and important thing she could do with her life, as mothers do.
I have always loved celebrating Mother’s Day with and for my mom, my aunts, my mother-friends—all strong women doing good, challenging work and reaping the joyful bounty of that work. The Mother’s Day table is filled with flowers, with delicious Lebanese dishes, with a celebration of what it means to have special ones you’ve given to the world and loved, heart and soul. I’ll share in the mother-joy as a grateful daughter/Aunt Maureen/Step-mom too, but now also, even just a little, as author of another special one—a cookbook!—I love, heart and soul.
Soft Glazed Cinnamon Rolls
For feasts of every sort, I turn to my fluffy, soft cinnamon roll recipe. The glaze is simply divine, with the gentle flavor of rose and orange blossom (or sub vanilla!). The recipe is so do-able, in a quantity that’s manageable and expandable.
Pomegranate Yogurt Smoothie
This fruity blend is enhanced by raw honey, pomegranate juice, and chia seeds. Strawberries or raspberries get the deep pink color going and they play so well with pomegranate.
Salted Tahini Avocado Toast
Salted Tahini Avocado Toast is among my favorite ways to a hearty, healthy, delicious toast. There are few ingredients in
Baked Eggs with Spinach, Labneh and Za’atar
Baked eggs with labneh and za'atar, and a little spinach forgreen!, are one of the simplest and most delicious ways to make eggs. Once you start making eggs this way you’ll beexploring all kinds of ingredients to include.
Chickpea Feta Salad
This easy Chickpea Salad recipe is healthy, vibrant and delicious! Use chickpeas, lots of chopped vegetables, and a zesty Mediterranean vinaigrette. Great as a side, or a protein and fiber-packed snack or lunch. Your line-up of vegetables can include anything you like. A mix of colors and a lot of crunch is the goal.
Strawberry Cream Cake
Strawberry Cream Cake is a love song to fresh strawberries, just-picked! So fragrant and light, similar to strawberry shortcake, this
Just love your blog. I am on the hunt for a tahini sauce/dressing that I have with my falafel salad at a local restaurant. Have not been able to successfully make it. Any ideas? Thanks……
Hi! My guess is the dressing is a combo of tahini, lemon, yogurt, garlic! Let me know if that combo is it!
Maureen, thank you for this delicious Mother’s Day menu. Surely every woman who offers her gifts as you do to so many, to provide delicious food for their families, is a mother, as much as any woman who biologically carries a specific child is a mother. I am afraid you probably have many many children!, from your sweat and your joy, and your labors of love. And yes, my own aunt loved me more than anyone in the world, and I, her. An aunt can change a life, give us strength and a wild hope….my own precious aunt, who always said I must have come from her womb, surely did. Blessings and congratulations on the fruit of your worthy efforts! V.
How special Victoria. Bless you and thank you so much for your words!
Every kid needs a childless Aunt that can be a friend and not have the responsibilities of a parent or the age of a grandparent yet have the knowledge of the traditions and norms of the family. Mine was Aunt Sadie, my Dad’s older sister. She was such a wonderful asset to all of my 20+ cousins. All of us saw her as something more and different than any other relative. I am at a loss for words to describe the feeling. So wonderful. Even if you have no children that doesn’t mean you are childless. You have all of the nieces and nephews that depend on and lean on you in a way they can’t depend on or lean on anyone else. Just be there for them in a way their parents cannot.
Roger, this is beautiful. Thank you so much for this and for your wonderful review of my book on Amazon!
These are exactly the things I would want to eat on Mother’s Day (especially the crustless quiche and those grapefruit mimosas!). Thank you for sharing!
I just ordered your book because I love your blog and Lebanese food in general. I just had to say that I TOTALLY share your “giving birth” sentiment. I don’t have kids, but since I recently finished writing my own cookbook, people have been making that gestational analogy. I do feel a tad embarrassed to make the comparison myself, but it really does feel that way sometimes! Glad to hear I have a kindred author. Thanks for your beautiful work!
Just ordered your book. It will take a place next to my aunt’s church cookbook with her notes on each recipe. Congratulations to you!
This menu looks so delicious that I want to take off work for the day, run to the kitchen and start cooking. Congratulations on your “baby”. I can’t wait to pick up a copy.
Maureen: I gave my two daughters, Rita and Renee, copies of your new “baby” for Mother’s Day!! They loved them!! Rita, right away, wanted to make the vegetarian kibbee. From what I have read so far, it is top-notch and thanks for enlightening those of us less fortunate with family and friends.