Warm Cranberry Refresher/ Juice

Ingredients:

4 cups water
1 cup (4 ounces) frozen or fresh cranberries
4 tablespoons sugar
1 cinnamon stick
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. zest of lemon
1 cup of pomegranate juice, or orange juice

Directions:

Add water, cranberries, sugar, and one cinnamon stick to a medium pot. Place it on the medium-high heat, cover, and bring it to a boil. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat and keep the pot for 10 more minutes until all the cranberries have popped.



After that, use a fine-mesh sieve to discard the solids and keep the cranberry juice.
Add the fresh lemon juice, zest of lemon, and one cup of pomegranate or orange juice with the cranberry juice and Stir well.
The cranberry juice is ready, serve it warm!!

My Notes:

• I didn't make this warm cranberry drink very sweet. If you like to have a very sweet cranberry drink, add more sugar.

• This juice is a perfect choice for big gatherings during the cold seasons. It is very easy to be made and also it is very refreshing.

Rice with Green beans

(Original recipe makes 4-5 servings)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups basmati rice
250 g ground beef
4 tbsp. olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and black pepper
300 g green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
3 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. saffron (optional)
3 tbsp. lemon juice
½ cup water

ِDirections:

In a big saucepan, saute the chopped onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until tender. Add ground turmeric and stir well. Add the ground beef and cook until it turns browned. Add the green beans, garlic, tomato paste, cinnamon, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and ½ cup water to the meat, and stir well. Let the water come to a boil, reduce the heat, cover the saucepan and let the mixture cook on the stove for 10-12 minutes. After 10 minutes, adjust the seasoning and turn it off.

Cook the rice, drain, and put aside. Click here to see the instructions.

Place a medium non-stick pot over a medium high heat, pour 2 tablespoons olive oil to the bottom of the pot. Add 1/3 of rice to the pot, then, pour ½ of the mixture on the top of the rice. Cover the mixture with the second portion of the rice, layer the second half of mixture of beans and meat, and finish the last layer with the rice. Wrap the lid of the pot with a clean dishcloth and cover the pot completely (It helps to capture the stream that rises up from the rice and doesn’t let it go back into the rice). Reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and let the rice cook for 40 minutes, or until it’s cooked.
Serve the rice in a serving dish and pour saffron (optional) on top.
Serve the dish with your favorite salad or other your favorite side dishes.

My Notes:

• You can also make this delicious rice mixture without adding the meat.