Tunisian Turkey Stew (or Turkey Triangles)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope fun was had by all in AZ! We had a great meal with E's family in RVA. Our turkey turned out truly fantastically, but we ended up with a great big bird


(13 pounds for 4 adults). The turkey was amazing, and the Bean thought it was the best thing ever with a little bit of cranberry "jelly".

Now that we've feasted, we're trying to enjoy the rest of our turkey without eating sandwiches, because those are just boring day in and day out. We've already made stock, and we saved most of one breast in one piece for another big meal. For the rest of it, we're thinking of clever ideas. Tonight we made soup. I modified one of my favorite soup recipes by throwing in turkey and a bunch of vegetables. It was a tonic to warm the belly and cure what ails you.



Tunisian Turkey Stew
2 T butter
1 cup yellow split peas (or lentils)
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup carrot pennies
1 T curry powder
1 inch ginger, chopped coarsely
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp salt
2 dried chiles, whole
1 cinnamon stick
4 cups turkey stock
1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
4 - 6 cups cubed turkey (I just cubed a good sized mixture of dark and light)
1 cup frozen spinach
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1. In a soup pot on medium heat, saute onions and carrots with spices (save cinnamon stick) in butter for 5-8 minutes, until onions are soft.
2. In a second sauce pot, cook split peas or lentils in 2 cups of water, with the cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, and partially cover. cook at a low simmer for about 30 minutes. Lentils are very foamy, so watch out when you first reach a boil that you don't boil the pot over.
3. In the soup pot, add tomatoes, turkey broth, turkey cubes, and spinach. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Add the lentils and any remaining cooking water, and heat all together for 5 - 20 minutes more.

Ginger Drops for the Bean (how we made Lebkuchen by accident)

The Bean requested gingerbread cookies, and we've been sick for the past week, so baking cookies seemed like a nice pick-me up. H wanted to eat cookies NOW so we used a drop cookie recipe. I made all sorts of substitutions, but I think the final product might be even better than the original. The batter looked like cake batter, and the cookies are like little cakes as well, or like whoopie pie cookies, but spicy and delicious. You can't even taste the cocoa, but since we were missing Molasses, I substituted honey + 2 T cocoa powder for the rich molasses color. Once the cookies cooled all the way, the spices have really gotten more intense, and P and I realized we've made homemade Lebkuchen! H ate three or four as soon as they came out of the oven.



Beanie's Honey-Ginger Drops (Lebkuchen)
2 cups flour
2 T cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 -1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup hot water
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease three baking sheets.

Combine dry ingredients until well mixed.

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, honey, water, and egg until creamy. Add flour mixture, and stir until just blended. Let the batter stand 5 minutes before dropping by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets, spacing drops 2 inches apart (Really do, you can still fit 1 dozen on one sheet, and they are spready).

Bake for 8 - 12 minutes. Reverse baking sheets during baking. With wide turner, immediately transfer cookies to wire racks.

Rumor has it, you're supposed to store them in covered container, separated by wax paper. We'll see if mine are a giant cookie mass tomorrow.

Simple September Suppers

This September is really and truly devilishly busy. H started preschool, and E has two major deadlines in September, an out of state conference, plus a test and a batch of papers to grade. So September has been all about easy meals here. We did manage to make 8 pints of canned tomatoes at the very beginning of the month that we've stashed for the depths of winter when we'd love the taste of a good tomato.

Tonight we had one of the easiest dinners we know: Pasta Puttanesca with salad with herbs, cucumbers, beats, and radishes.

Rotini alla Puttanesca
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
3 T olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, sliced and halved
1 small bell pepper, diced
3 T parsley leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 anchovy fillets, or a hearty T of anchovy paste
3 T strong black olives, halved and pitted
1 T capers
salt to taste
1 lb rotini

Combine oil, garlic, bell pepper, parsley, oregano and saute until peppers are soft. Add anchovies and stir. Add chopped tomatoes and olives, red pepper flakes, and capers. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt to taste.
Cook the pasta. When it's done, transfer still dripping into serving bowl and toss with puttanesca sauce.

No pictures of the pasta, but here are a couple of jars of the tomatoes we canned at the beginning of the month.


And, in case you wondered what on earth anchovy paste might be, here's a handy-dandy illustration. It comes in an awesome tube like old-fashioned toothpaste, and you can find it by the tuna, sardines, and other fishy things in the grocery store.

Pressure Cookers and Polenta

Mom has been encouraging me to get a pressure cooker for quite a while. I had an irrational dislike for pots that you have to lock shut and then you don't know when it's safe to open and the consequences for opening too soon are that boiling hot food is sprayed all over the kitchen. Theresa sent me a link to an electric pressure cooker where there are built in safety interlocks so you CAN'T open it when it would spray boiling hot food all over the kitchen so I got one. The children were very pleased with the box that my new purchase arrived in.

It only lasted for about 3 days as a toy before it got destroyed.

This is what the pressure cooker looks like:



My first attempt was to make some creamy polenta which I quite like but it's a pain because you have to sit there and stir and stir if you don't want lumps.
Theresa had sent me a recipe that she got from a friend and I modified it slightly.

Turkey sausage
Onions
Corn (had some left over ears so I cut the kernels off but you could use frozen or canned too)
1 1/2 c polenta
6 c of chicken broth (I used 3 cans plus water to make up the difference)

Saute the onions and sausage in the pressure cooker (there is a couple of settings that allow for browning things in the pot, I used the wrong one so I didn't get good color)

Remove half the mixture to top with later (I skipped this)
Add the broth and the corn.
Bring to a boil
Add the polenta slowly while stirring
Bring back to a boil


Cook under high pressure for 7 minutes (there is a timer, you just pick the type of pressure you want and the time.
Open the fast pressure release valve.

And you have polenta!


I thought it was quite tasty, the texture was just PERFECT. No lumps at all. Patrick said it was too bland and I can understand that because I don't think the sausage and corn and onions were enough of a contrast. I'd make this again as a side dish for pasta sauce or something I think.
Alex tried it. Elizabeth declared that it looked "icky" and almost made herself throw up when we made her take the courtesy bite. (I think she gets that from the McKinney side :) )

More Dessert (this one from Erika)

There is a new website called Pintrest where you can make pin boards of things that you like. You can sign up to follow friends and then you can see what they like too. Erika pinned a super yummy looking banana cake and I had 3 bananas that weren't getting eaten on the counter. I found the recipe here: recipe

We happened to have almost everything. I won't use shortening so I used butter instead. I didn't feel like buying a whole thing of sour cream so I used a container of fat free greek yogurt and then some dregs of a low fat sour cream that we already had plus a little extra banana. I also don't like walnuts so I used pecans and just because I think they go well, I put about 1/3 to 1/2 c of mini chocolate chips.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. Add bananas and mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, stirring just until combined. Stir in walnuts. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

I made this during naptime so I had no helpers but here are some gratuitous cute pictures from today. :)

Writing a letter

Best use for an oversized shower ever!

Watching Wonder Pets!

September 18

Welcome back to the blog! We all did have a busy August, didn't we? We have gottent o the farmer's market two weekends in a row. With last weeks haul I made the corn chowder for Christmas Eve, some wonderful chicken chili and french casserole.

Eggplant Lasagne Inspired by the Farmers Market

At the Farmer's market we bought:

Wonderful fresh perfect clean Spinach (About 3/4 cup after sauteing olive oil)

Tomatoes (I used about 10 of them)

Onions ( I used 2 in the tomato sauce and about one fairly small one in the cannellini beans)

Eggplant ( I used about 1 1/2 medium large)

Basil (I used about 1/4 cup, measured after it was chopped)

We stopped at the coop on the way home and bought

Garlic (I used about 1/2 of a large head)

Cannellini Beans ( I cooked 2 cups but didn't use all of them)

I wasn't happy with the mushrooms at the coop so we stopped at Lunds and bought a couple of boxes

The Beans

I started by preparing the beans. I washed them and very slowly brought them to a boil and then let them soak for about three hours.

When I was really ready to cook, I drained the beans and sauteed an onion in the bottom of the pressure cooker. I added 3 cups of homemade chicken broth (just use water or vegetable broth if you want a real vegetarian dish.) from the freezer and the drained beans and very slowly brought the pressure up. I didn't even let it start dancing when I took it off and let it set until the pressure went down all by itself. I have about a cup a half of beans and liquid left now that I have finished the dish. The beans and the cooking liquid are delicious. I'm not sure if we will use them for a salad or rewarm them and eat them straight up tomorrow.

The Tomato Sauce

I sauteed 2 chopped onions and 4-5 cloves of minced garlic in some lovely Greek olive oil. I blanched (dipped in boiling water for about 30 seconds) peeled, trimmed and chopped the tomatoes.and added them to the onions and garlic

I added chopped basil, a bay leaf and a teaspoon or so of thyme and about a teaspoon each of brown and white sugar and 2-3 cloves of pressed garlic. I cooked this down to about half and added 6 oz of tomato paste . This was really great all alone. I a may make more to use for spaghetti.

The Mushrooms

washed, sliced and sauteed in olive oil

The Spinach

washed, trimmed from the stems and sauteed in olive oil

Eggplant

I cut it into about 3/8 inch sliced and brushed both sides with Olive oil. It turned about that after almost an hour in the oven at 325 the eggplant still wasn't quite done. So either pre-bake the eggplant for a half hour or so or bake the whole business covered for an hour and ten minutes and then add the cheese and bake it another 20 minutes or so.

Putting it together

In a couple of Steve's square casseroles I layered things. I had about 3 layers of tomato, 2 layers each of beans and sliced eggplant and one layer each of spinach and mushrooms. The third smaller casserole was quite shallow and I was running out of stuff so there was just one layer of each thing except a couple of skimpy layers of tomato. I topped it with thinly sliced mozzarella cheese and started out by baking it at 325 for slightly under one hour. It turned about that after almost an hour in the oven at 325 the eggplant still wasn't quite done. I baked it for another half hour at 350 and then the cheese was over-baked. So either pre-bake the eggplant for a half hour or so or bake the whole business covered for an hour and ten minutes and then add the cheese and bake it another 20 minutes or so.

We all liked it! Linnea cooks tomorrow.

Two delicious ways to eat eggplant without an oven

No this isn't a fashion blog all of a sudden. When I came home from work on Monday, I discovered that H had organized half of my shoes all in a pretty row. She LOVES my shoes, and she treats them right too!


The first way to eat eggplant without turning on the oven:
This week I made one of my favorite Greek vegetable dishes, and if I do say so myself, it was truly delicious. So tasty in fact that we couldn't get any pictures of it! We bought a gigantic globe of an eggplant as well as 2 pints of green beans from our CSA, so I decided to make a Greek λαδερά (literally oily, but typically just stove-cooked vegetables) dish out of them. As long as you're willing to sit near the kitchen and stir every 15 minutes or so for an hour and a half, this dish is virtually effortless.

Eggplant and Green Bean Giahni (φασολάκια γιαχνί με μελιτζάνες)
This makes 2 quarts or so.
1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pints fresh green beans, tips trimmed and halved
1 large or two medium eggplant, cubed to 1-2 inch pieces
1 large green pepper, sliced
28 oz can diced tomatoes
3 dried hot peppers
salt and pepper to taste
water, if needed (we used 3/4 cups)

This recipe hardly needs directions, it's so straightforward. What you do need is a good large stockpot or dutch oven.

Saute onions in 1/4 oil until they turn caramel colored. Add green pepper, eggplant, and green beans. Saute for a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes and hot peppers, salt, and water to submerge the veggies if it bothers you that they aren't all in liquid at the beginning of cooking.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

This dish is perfect with crusty bread, a thick slice of feta cheese, and a glass of wine.

The Second way to eat eggplant without turning on the oven:
We love eggplant around here, so we've stocked up on not only the large globe eggplants, but also on the long and slender Chinese eggplants. Tonight I made a quick stir-fry with eggplant, edamame, tomatoes, and bok choy.

Eggplant, Bok Choy and Edamame
Serves 3-4
2 cups edamame
2 heads of bok choy, greens and white stalk separated and chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 Chinese eggplant, sliced
Olive oil or vegetable oil for stirfry
2 smallish tomatoes, quartered or smaller
soy sauce
maple syrup
Chili paste with garlic
sesame oil

Stirfry the white stalk of the bok choy until it loses its rawness. Add garlic and bok choy greens, edamame and eggplant.
Mix up the sauce, and reduce the heat on the stirfry to medium low. Add the sauce and cook for 3-5 minutes. In the last minute, toss in the tomato.
We loved this dish with brown rice.



And a bonus, the kid version, edamame, bok choy, and brown rice without the spicy sauce

yummy summer treat!

One of the blogs that I like is Weelicious. It's a mom who cares about making healthy food for her kids. Some of her recipes look fantastic!

I was feeling in the mood for some ice cream so we made this recipe.

Chocolate Ice Cream

1/3 c fat free greek yogurt (we used an entire 6 ounce container because I didn't want a partial yogurt floating around in the fridge)
2 TBSP honey
2 tsp vanilla
bbbbb njdjdfgfcg gggggggg g (this was Alex's addition to the recipe)
1 TBSP cocoa powder
2 c sliced banana (frozen)
1/4 c sliced strawberry (frozen)

Blend the first 4 ingredients. Add the fruit and blend until smooth and creamy. Serve!

Yesterday I sat down with the kids while they were having a snack and cut up some bananas and strawberries. I had to cut up an extra banana and quite a few strawberries because the slices kept getting eaten. I put those in the freezer over night and then today we made the ice cream. My numbers were very approximate. I'm pretty sure we had more than 2 cups of bananas and 1/4 cup of strawberries.

Today when Alex woke up from nap, we got out the food processor (I used that instead of the blender because our blender is wussy).

The kids were great helpers at pushing the button on the food processor.

We had to open the lid a few times to test the final product.

This took less than 15 minutes to make and that was with 2 little helpers.

We all liked it. Patrick pointed out that it was a little bit tangy from the amount of yogurt we put in it. If you used flavored yogurt, it would probably be fine or if you used the amount that the recipe suggests.


If you zoom in, Alex's head does NOT have a scratch on it. It's ice cream.

It's a really good consistency for Alex to practice feeding himself. It just gets a little messy, he got a bath after he was done eating. I want to try making this again using other fruits. I think the banana is critical for the consistency but you could easily sub in some mango and leave out the cocoa powder. Adding just a few mini chocolate chips would also be quite tasty.

Flammkuchen!

Yesterday I went to a friend's house to bake Flammkuchen, and it was surprisingly easy (There is lots of Flammkuchen in Heidelberg because we're not too far from Alsace.)! We looked up a yeast-free recipe that went like this:

For dough:
250g (ca 2 cups) Flour
2.5 Tbsp Canola Oil
150ml (ca 2/3 cup) Water
Pinch of Salt

For toppings:
250g (ca. 1 cup) Crème Frâiche
1 onion (can be red or sweet onions)
1 Tbsp Butter
125g (ca. 1/4lb) Bacon
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 clove Garlic

dried basil

Combine ingredients for crust. The dough shouldn’t be sticky. Slice onions into rings and sauté in butter until clear (don’t caramelize). Cook bacon until crisp. Finely chop garlic and add it with seasonings to the cream. Roll out the dough as thinly as possible and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. On the highest heat your oven will go (or around 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit) bake for around 10-15 minutes, or until the dough has begun to create bubbles and you see nice browning (you don’t want burnt!). Watch carefully while baking.

 We also put tomatoes on it, and it was delicious. The website also mentioned that the dough works well for pizza dough in a pinch, and I bet a whole-wheat version would work, too.

Beet, Eggplant, and Squash Curry, and our local beach

We have a whole drawer full of vegetables, including some summer squash that we don't like on their own, and some beets and potatoes that have been sitting there for a couple of weeks. So we decided it was time to whip out the curry pot!

Vegetable Curry with Coconut Milk
Serves 4

2 T Olive Oil
1 leek, sliced lengthwise and finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium beets, peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic
1-2 T curry powder (recipe follows)
1 tsp ginger
1 cinnamon stick
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 potato or 2-3 new potatoes, quartered and thinly sliced
3 summer squash, halved and sliced thinly
1 eggplant, quartered and sliced thinly
1 green pepper
fresh Basil leaves
14 oz can coconut milk
Brown Rice

1) chop the veggies up.
2) Heat some oil in a large frying pan or skillet. Add onions and leeks and saute for 10 minutes or more.
3) Toss in the beets. Because I used unroasted beets, these have the longest cooking time by far and need at least 13-15 more minutes cooking than the other vegetables.
4) When the onion has softened and browned a bit, add the curry, ginger, and cinnamon stick and let all the spices roast for 2 minutes.
5) Add the tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, squash, and potatoes. Stir well and cover the pot. Cook for 20 minutes or more until your potatoes and squash are cooked.
6) Add the coconut milk, and stir well. Cook for 5 more minutes.


Eggplants, ready to go

This picture is for Dianne, these potatoes were out of this world good. They cooked faster than the squash!

All the veg, save the leeks and onions, in various states of preparation


Sauteing the leeks and onions. To this I added the beets after about 10 minutes, and then let the beets also saute for about 10 minutes.

The curry minus the coconut milk, that goes in in the last few minutes.


Curry with brown basmati rice, on the plate

Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Powder, from World Vegetarian

Makes 6 Tablespoons
2 T coriander seeds
1 T cumin seeds
2 tsp peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
5-6 whole cloves
3 dried hot chiles, crumbled
1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Roast the whole seed spices until they smell a bit toasty. Add the turmeric and cook for 10 seconds. Transfer the spices to a clean coffee grinder and grind as finely as possible. Store out of direct sunlight and heat.

We ate our curry with brown basmati rice, and it was scrumptious!

This weekend, we finally ventured down to the James River, where we were promised a beach. I'm not sure I'd call it a beach, but it was pretty. H had a blast though, and ended up like our own little castaway. She met a little boy and together they caught a couple of tadpoles. Great fun!
Throwing rocks and pestering the water bug swarm.

High Summer CSA

The first five or six weeks of our CSA here in RVA, we were up to our ears in green food. Chard, kales, green onions, leeks, beet greens, arugula, lettuce heads, zucchini. We began to grow tired of thinking of ways to eat green food, in fact. Thankfully high summer has arrived. It's hot and muggy, but the veggies are colorful!

This week we got 4 summer squash and zucchini, a great big bag of beets w/o their tops, enormous cukes, basil that's going to seed, fresh full-sized onions still on their stalks, kale, curving purple Chinese eggplants, green peppers, early tomatoes, and cantaloupe melon!

To celebrate the return of salad days we ate: salad. Specifically Greek village salad, χωριάτικι.We've also laid in a quart of black olives and 2 lbs of Dodoni Feta to enjoy all July.

Greek village salad, χωριάτικη, is simple food, and the recipe is simple too.

Serves 2
1 green pepper, sliced
1/4 onion, sliced so that the onion falls apart
1-3 tomatoes, quartered if small or cut into eighths if larger
1 cucumber, sliced into tomato sized chunks
a handful of black or green olives
One thick slice of feta cheese on top, to be divided by the salad eaters
crumbled oregano
Olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper (optional)


Photo credit: Christos Proukakis flickr

We love this salad over here, and have some strong opinions about it. I've never been to a restaurant that actually serves Greek salad in the US.
Anything with Lettuce? Not χωριάτικη.
Crumbled up feta? Not χωριάτικη.
This salad really depends on the quality of its tomatoes, so we can only enjoy it during the summer time.
Want more protein? This isn't exactly Greek, but we often add a can of tuna. It's good, believe me! This salad makes the perfect summertime dinner with thick, crusty bread when you don't feel like cooking in the heat.

Firsts for the Bean

Okay, so this post doesn't have any recipes in it, or any cooking. I did sneak a picture of eating in though! June has rather escaped from us here in RVA, as we've all been getting used to lots of firsts. In order, H started preschool, E took her longest trip away from the family, went to her first faculty development seminar (it featured coffee and chocolate breaks you guys!), and sent out her first publication (a book review). We've also buried another first in the pictures, see if you can guess what it is!
E and H also tried the first lemon cake recipe, and it was a stinker. Peeeyouee, as H likes to say!


Off to PreSchool, all ready with her backpack, water sandals, and swimsuit on

While E was at her fancy seminar during the day, P and H had a great Father's Day at the Smithsonian Museums and Zoo.


See, I told you there would be eating!


H got to ride on the carousel and loved it.

More Fish--The Mexican Version

Fish Mexican Style

Akiko and I and I made a Mexican version of the baked fish for ourselves and for Masako. We chopped and sauteed a sweet onion and five or six garlic cloves (minced) and about a half of a red pepper(chopped). Then we added chopped tomatoes from a 14 ounce can. ( I suggest that you get your husband to drink the juice.) and sauteed the mixture some more and put in some taco seasoning, cumin and fresh chopped cilantro and a bit of lime juice.

We heated the oven to 450, added Icelandic Cod (about 1 1/2 #) and spooned some of the the onion-tomato mixture over the top. We crowded fresh asparagus from Vicki and Boyd around the edges, sprinkled some olive oil and sea salt on the asparagus. We baked it until it just barely flaked, added a bit more chopped cilantro over the top and it was wonderful.

CSA week 4 and Spanakopita

This week we made quite a haul again at our CSA. We brought home curly red-tipped kale, basil, dill, rainbow chard, 2 zucchini, a cucumber, and a daikon radish.


The highlight of out cooking this week was a truly amazing chard and spinach spanakopita. P and I loved it so much we gobbled up two fat slices each. Traditionally, this pie is made with all spinach, but I think the chard and onion variation is even better, frankly, and I've had a lot of spinach pies. It's not exactly health food, but feta is much lower fat than most cheeses, and this is the sort of pie that makes you put your fork down, close your eyes, and take a deep, contented sigh about how good life must be that it offers you this pie. P prefers to beat his elbow on the table, while I prefer to simply exclaim "this is good" so often H now does it every night at dinner.
The phyllo is a kid-pleaser even if the filling may not be.


Recipe freely adapted from Diane Kochilas, the Food and Wine of Greece
One recipe phyllo dough
Oil, for pan
1 large bunch swiss chard, stems chopped, leaves split down stem and finely sliced
2 oz frozen shredded spinach
1/4 cup olive oil
1 largish vidalia onion, finely diced
1 large bunch dill, chopped
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 lb crumbled feta cheese
1/2 - 3/ 4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp nutmeg, ground
3/4 tsp cumin, ground
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly oil a 10 1/2 inch pie plate.
2. Wash and chop chard, and drain very well. Heat 2 T (or more) oil in skillet. Saute onions and chard stems for 5-6 minutes, until beginning to brown, over medium heat. Add chard greens and continue to saute, lowering heat to low-medium, covered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 5 minutes, add the frozen spinach. If this mixture is watery once cooked, press the liquid out in a colander. Set aside and cool.
3. In a large bowl, combine cooked greens, dill. Add egg, 1/4 cup olive oil, feta, parmesan, spices, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
4. Divide phyllo dough in half. Roll out first half of dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Place in oiled pie plate. Brush with some oil. Spread spinach filling evenly over dough.
5. Roll out remaining phyllo dough into 12 inch circle. Carefully place over filling. Gently press top and bottom pastries together and cut away excess, leaving about 1/2 inch hanging over rim of pie plate. Roll top and bottom together to form your preferred crust. Make some incisions in the center of crust. If you wish, brush crust with beaten egg yolk and 1 T milk for a shiny crust. Bake for about 40 minutes.

Homemade Phyllo Dough (not nearly as hard as you'd imagine, or as layered)
2 to 2 1/2 cups flour, we use a mixture of 1 cup whole wheat, and 1 cup white bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 olive oil
3/4 cups water minus 1 T (if making ouzo variation)
1 T ouzo (if desired, it's very good with spanakopita)

Sift together 2 cups of flour, salt, and baking powder. Make a well in the center and add water and olive oil and ouzo (if using). Stir together until all ingredients are combined.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and silky to the touch, 5-7 minutes, adding remaining flour as necessary.
Refrigerate covered dough for 1 hour (up to 3 days).
Remove dough from fridge 30 minutes before use. To roll, divine into two equal balls. Keep it covered when you're not rolling it. Roll out onto lightly floured surface into circle. Brush bottom sheet with olive oil.

CSA Week 3 and Kale Chips

Memorial Day weekend our friends and their two year old daughter were visiting from Silver Spring, so P got sent to the market to pick up veg while I waited for our friends. He brought back: rainbow chard, kale, basil, broccoli, lettuce, and a bunch of beets. So far, we've made:
--braised chard (with oil and garlic) alongside Curry-Cajun Spiced Chicken breasts with orzo
--Thai Stirfried Turkey with Basil, Chiles, Garlic, and Oyster sauce. We forgot to take pictures, but it was quite like this, with ground turkey. We ate this with Broccoli stir-fried in oyster sauce and jasmine rice
--kale chips for snacking
--pesto for freezing
--Openface Tuna Melts with Pesto, Swiss and Mozzarella with beet green horta

I'm thrilled to report that H actually kinda likes Kale chips, and LOVES the stems of beet greens. She chowed a bunch of these with a yogurt dip, and my heart soars whenever she eats vegetables.

H and her friend over Memorial Day weekend.

I'm still contemplating how to deal with the beets. It has been HOT here this week, over 95 but less than 100, with high humidity. So our desire to roast the beets in the oven for 45 minutes is next to none.

Here's my pitch for kale chips. They've been all over the interwebs this past year, and making the rounds of my friends as well. You really should try them. A lot crispy, crunchy, and flaky, a little bit oily, and as salty as you wish. They're also one of the easiest ways to cook those leafy greens that tend to scare people so much.


Kale Chips.
1 bunch kale
1 tsp - 1 T (or more, olive oil is GOOD for you!) Olive oil
salt for AFTER you've baked them

Set oven to 350.
Wash Kale well, and slice leaves from stalks. Tear leaves into sections, and they don't have to be neat. H and P had a good time working together on this. Place the ripped kale leaves on cookie sheets, placing them close together, but in a single flat layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until they are deliciously crunchy. We like them so well baked they very nearly flake away as you grab one up to eat it and then they shatter in your mouth. Once they are baked, sprinkle with salt like popcorn and chow down.

RVA to PHX: Cousin Express

The RVA family took a looong-weekend trip to visit the Chandler clan, and we had an amazing time.


"Mama, are we on our way to Phoenix? On an AIRPLANE?"
She was soo excited to see cousin Elizabeth and baby Alex, and Auntie Krista and Uncle Patrick, and who could blame her?

We had a stellar time visiting, catching up, swimming in the pool, eating at gorgeous farm restaurants, grinning at how well the girls got along, and remarking on how adorable Alex is when he zooms around the kitchen with his shopping cart. Together, we were privy to the finest Costco samples ever known to man. The kids got chocolate bars and little silly toys, and all of us got Toothbrushes ( yes, I'm serious!), floss, and bleaching trays (just for the grown-ups) along with the usual assortment of food samples.


Double Trouble with Panda Hair in matching outfits from Grandma Dianne.

We took a nice walk along the Canal walk, and tried out a great neighborhood playground. Are you jealous of the double rocking plane?


The girls pretty much entertained each other.


And Alex entertained us.


We all got to read a lot of sleepytime stories together


We went to the zoo, where I failed to take any useful pictures of actual animals. But here's their swanky Cousin Express


And we got some great group shots

Happy Family Number One


Two ladies avoiding the sun


Happy Family Number Two