Birthday Fare

One of my birthday treats to myself this year was making a favorite Turkish meal of mine (thanks to my sister-in-law keeping an eye on the kids!): red lentil soup, pogaca (with a literal twist!), and a nice salad of mixed greens, cucumber and green onions.

lentil soup (this needs its own post sometime)

& the pogaca with a twist

You may or may not remember a post I did back in December on these little cheese-filled Turkish pastries (complete with a pronunciation guide, by the way).  What often keeps me from making them is that it just takes so much time to prepare all the little individual pastries, especially when I have two kids who always seem to need/want a lot of attention between 4 & 5 o'clock.  I just cannot focus with a baby crying and clinging to my legs!  

Anyhow, as you can tell from the picture, I decided to simplify the process and hopefully get the same flavor by rolling the dough out as for cinnamon rolls, sprinkling with the feta cheese and parsley and baking it as a loaf.  Viola!  The texture and taste were spot on, and it took oh-so-much less time!  See the original "Pogaca" post for a link to the recipe I use.  And happy (birthday) cooking!

A year ago, today

A year ago to the day, I was photographing and eating this:

An attempt at a brownie dessert that would taste like the Almond Joy candy bars my mom loves.  It was the day after her birthday, and I'd probably spent a week conceptualizing, looking up recipes, and finally executing the dish.  It was good, in an okay-sort of way I'm sad to say.  The whole thing had various issues, most of which I can no longer remember (which is why I wrote them down then) and which are pretty much entirely beside the point now anyway since I've given up after-dinner desserts for the season of Lent this year.

It's just kind of ironic that I had to find this in the archives now of all times.

Even if it wasn't that good in reality, I can still remember the idea I had of how it should taste.  Yum.  Oh, yummy.  

Anyhow, Lent.

Besides giving up the after-dinner desserts I also decided to attempt another culinary discipline (there were those breads two years ago).  This year, I'm choosing and eating four diffferent "peasant foods" for ten days at a time to equal the forty days of Lent altogether.  We started with rice and beans and have moved on to cabbage rolls.  Next up will be African vegetables and porridge for ten days, and then Asian noodles (perhaps).  

Let's not quibble over the definition of "peasant food", okay?  Between living temporarily in someone else's home, re-connecting with friends I haven't seen much in the past two years, mothering two small children, getting through all the end-of-winter sickness going on around here, and buying (hopefully!) a house, I frankly don't have lots of time or energy to be really detailed and conscientious about this year's Lenten discipline.  I stand by my old 85% completion rate, and we're skipping feast days (Sundays) this year.

So here we are.  Caught up in the middle of a lot of change again.  Watching and waiting.  Cooking.  Eating.  And somehow in the middle of all this watching, waiting, cooking, and eating we remember that it is really God we are watching and waiting for, and in the way we cook and eat we humble and discipline ourselves to be attentive to what God is doing.  Something big and history-changing and at the same time very deeply personal, I bet.   

God, we rest in you, trusting that beyond our knowledge the great mystery of Who You Are is still the essence that holds this whole world together and gives us life.  Amen.

Correction

I'm making pimento cheese tonight and realized that there was an error on my recipe.  The amount of cheese should be 1/2 lb. (to make two cups shredded) instead of one pound. 

That's all.

And have a Merry Christmas!

Winter S.O.S!

Taco Soup earlier in the summer: if only we had fresh cilantro now!

Come this time of year, I seriously need some help and inspiration in the kitchen.  The only green things around are collecting ice in the freezer and the only foods I really want to make involve lots of butter, sugar, and oven time.  

A typical afternoon at 3:00 pm has me thinking:  Dinner in two hours.  What to make?  What to make?  And all I can think of are various soups.  The same ones we had last week (for four or five meals in a row).  It's the winter kitchen blues.  *sigh*

So, I'll share my list if you'll share yours.  Or I'll just share my list and hope you reciprocate.  Because it's the season for giving, right?  Both of us.  Right?

Top Go-To Meals in Clymerland
(aka: what I'm getting really bored of making right about now)

1. Chili and Cornbread (or rice)
2. Corn Chowder
3. Rice and Beans (okay, there's a non-soup!)
4. Irish Stew
5. Venison-Vegetable Soup (or just vegetable soup)
6. Sloppy Joe with Succotash
7. Peanut Stew with Rice


It's now 3:20 pm--shall it be Corn Chowder or Rice and Beans?

Egg Salad Cheat

No, this is not "mock" egg salad (I'm generally afraid of a recipe that uses that term).  It uses real eggs, but cooks them in a different way if you don't feel like hard boiling and peeling them or just don't have the time.  And no one will know the difference.  *smile* 

So what's the cheat?  Poaching.  

Simmer some water in a skillet, crack the eggs into it, cover the pan, and gently steam until you can tell (with a gentle prod) that the yolks are cooked.  This takes about five minutes.  Slip the eggs onto a plate and cool in the fridge or freezer if you want to use them immediately.  NO PEELING NECESSARY!  Just chop the eggs on a cutting board and make your salad.  Easy, wasn't it?

Peanut Butter Dip

Here's a quick, easy recipe for peanut butter dip that is not too sweet and tastes great with apples.  A great any-time-of-day snack.  I think it could also be a great spread in a sandwich--the yogurt "lightens" the peanut butter and makes it more spreadable.  I use Zimmerman's Natural peanut butter which has no sugar and just a little salt.

 Peanut Butter Dip

1/2 cup plain (or vanilla) yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 TBSP sugar (or less if using sweetened yogurt or peanut butter)
splash of vanilla
pinch cinnamon


Whip ingredients together in a bowl until incorporated and fluffy.  Dip!

Pimento Cheese

As is so typical of my food saga stories, this one began with a craving, continued months later with a disgruntled me complaining of the mass-produced, store-bought version prompting a lengthy internet search for recipes followed by lots of testing, and ending--FINALLY--with a recipe I love and can call my own.  Of course, this all happened about a year ago too.  *smile*

Pimento cheese.  I honestly didn't know it was such a nostalgic southern thing until I started reading people's stories that went along with their recipes.  Memories of their grandmothers making dainty "pimenta cheese" sandwiches on white bread with the crusts cut off.  Hey now.  We'll have none of that here.  I wanted a good, stiff pimento cheese (not the kind dripping with mayo!) that could talk back to a crust and leave you wanting more no matter what side of the Mason-Dixon line you grew up in.

And here it is folks.  Oh, just a note about the peppers.  I know this is called pimento cheese, but I kinda cheated and used plain ol' red bell pepper.  Even at $1 a piece, it beats paying for a tiny jar of pimentos, and I thought it tasted just as good.  I made this with fresh, raw peppers as well as roasted ones.  It was delicious both ways. 

Pimento Cheese (and cheese ball--read to the end!)

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (may use 1/2 Monterrey Jack) about 1 lb.  1/2 lb. total

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 TBSP minced onion
6 TBSP mayonnaise
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped (usually 1/2 a pepper)

Place everything except 1/2 of the shredded cheese and the bell pepper in a food processor and blend until smooth.  Add the remaining cheese and red bell pepper and pulse until incorporated.  (I like my pepper pieces and some of the cheese to remain intact rather than  blended into one orange mess--see picture below)  Alternatively, place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir together until they're thoroughly mixed!  Tastes better after a day or two in the fridge.  If it lasts that long.   It will stiffen up in the fridge (which makes it a great pretzel dip!) so get it out to warm a bit if you want to spread it for sandwiches.  Other ways to eat it: as a veggie dip, on a burger, in a grilled cheese sandwich, tossed with mac n' cheese, or just straight off your tasting finger!

 the texture I like

size of onion mince vs. chopped pepper

 

To make this into a cheese ball, just add less mayonnaise (I used 4 TBSP instead of 6) and form it into a ball after it has been refrigerated.  The one below I rolled in a mixture of chopped parsley and toasted sliced almonds.  Use a small knife or cheese spreader to serve this.