Homemade Pita Bread

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bread, ethnic cooking, ethnic cuisine, ethnic dish, Ethnic Food, flat bread, Greek, mediterranean, pita

The other day I sent Hubster and my father on a wild goose chase for pita bread. Apparently in my small-town, U.S.A., the grocery stores no longer sell pita bread. I was disappointed and excited at the same time. I just got some last week, but now I get to make homemade pita bread. Yum!!!!

Fresh Baked Pita Bread

I found this recipe and decided to give it a go…

I divided the dough into 6 balls and baked them at 450°F for 7 minutes. My baking stone is broken, so I took the advice to use an upside-down baking tray.

Perfect Pita Puff

Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome. Ready to for some tzatziki or hummus now.

After a long sleepless night, at least my pita bread turned out

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St. Patrick’s Day – Boiled Cabbage, Neeps & Tatties

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boiled cabbage, carrots, dinner, ethnic cuisine, Ethnic Food, neeps and tatties, potatoes, recipe, Scottish recipe, stemmed vegetables, supper, tradition, turnips

St. Patrick’s day is the one day when I’m continually asked if I’m Irish; acquaintances, co-workers, even strangers. This must be the one day a year everyone notices my fair skin, freckles, green eyes and the reddish tint in my hair. I smile and inform them my family is Scottish… The most common responses I get? “Same thing,” “Close enough,” or “Oh…” followed by a blank stare. So even though it’s an Irish holiday, I’m making a Scottish dinner. Afterall, same thing? Close enough? Who can tell the difference?

St. Patrick's Day

Tonight’s Dinner:
Boiled cabbage
Stemmed neeps, tatties and carrots
Baked ham (I couldn’t find a turkey ham, so I baked a regular ham for Hubster)

Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage, 6 red potatoes, 3 turnips, 4 carrots, 1 small onion, 2 Tbs. mustard seeds, butter, fresh chopped parsley, water, salt, ham

Directions:
Cut cabbage into 6 wedges, cube potatoes and turnips, slice carrots and mince onion. Bring 1 qt. of water, mustard seeds and onion to a boil. Add cabbage. Place steamer right above cabbage parsnips, potatoes and carrots. Boil and stem veggies until tender. Drain cabbage from the water. Toss neeps, tatties and carrots with a dab of butter and fresh parsley. Serve veggies with a hot baked ham (just kept it simple, rubbed it with salt and baked it).

*Try adding two slices of bacon or a small chuck of the ham to the water while boiling the cabbage. I sometimes will add a strip of turkey bacon, if there are no vegetarians partaking in the feast.

*Vegetarians should add a tsp. smoke flavoring to the water.

What’s your favorite St. Patrick’s Day tradition?

Spanakopita Triangles

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appetizer, comfort food, dinner, ethnic cooking, ethnic cuisine, Ethnic Food, Greek, Greek dishes, Greek food, party appetizer, recipe, snack, snack recipe

It have been very busy with work, the HS musical and Leo Club; several nights a week I’m still at school at 10 pm. I actually had to buy lunch this week, not just once, but three times! I’ve deprived Hubster of hearty home cooked meals. Don’t worry, he’s not widdling away. Finally Friday, and I am going to indulge in some hot and savory Spanakopita. It may sounds like a strange craving to have, but this Greek dish is a comfort food for me.

Spanakopita

Ingredients:
1 pk frozen* spinach (thawed), 8 oz. crumbled Feta cheese, 1 small onion (minced), 1 Tbs. parsley, olive oil, about 10 Phyllo sheets, 2 eggs, 3 Tbs. flour

Directions:
Sauté onions in olive oil until opaque, drain excess oil and transfer to mixing bowl. Toss in spinach, Feta, eggs, flour and parsley. Taking one Phyllo sheet at a time, fold in half lengthwise and brush with olive oil. Place a portion of spinach mixture at bottom corner. Slowly fold Phyllo into a triangle (like a paper football). Repeat with remaining mixture. Brush the outside of the triangles with olive oil. Bake on an oiled tray at 350°F for 15-20 minutes.

Spanakopta Triangles

Remember, the spanakopita triangles will swell and puff a bit.

*Yes, I actually prefer frozen spinach for this recipe. However, if you use fresh spinach make sure it’s washed, dried and de-stemmed before you sauté it.

Some people substitute ricotta cheese for half of the Feta cheese. I do not prefer this method, but you may.

What is your unusual comfort food?

Chinese New Year

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appetizers, cheese wonton, chicken stir fry, Chinese food, Chinese New Year, ethnic cooking, ethnic cuisine, Ethnic Food, fortune cookie, hot tea, main dish, recipe, shrimp rolls, spring rolls, steamed rice, stir fry

This year, Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day. Enter the year of the tiger. Dressed in red, a bowl of tangerines in hand, and chopsticks next to the place setting our festivities were just beginning.

On the Eve of Chinese New Year, while Hubster took a nap, Pumpkin and I set up the festivities and prepared the food. My bamboo was intended for our centerpiece, but then I decided to proudly display the flower my Pumpkin bought me. On the menu? Cheese wontons, spring rolls, stir fry, steamed rice, hot white tea and pomegranate juice. We nibbled on chinese noodles with duck sauce and wasabi rice crackers while prepping the meal.

We planned to use my fortune cookie recipe and add sweet messages to show Hubster/Dad how much he means to me, but time was a little short. The store was of mung beans, Bok choy and snow peas, but our feast turned out just as nice. I cannot believe how much my 8y.o. actually did, I love having a sous-chef!

Cheese Wontons
Pumpkin lined my mini muffin pans with mini wonton wrappers. Then mixed together cream cheese with chopped green onions. He spooned the mixture into the muffin cups and folded the wrapper over. All I did was talk him through it and bake the wontons at 350°F for 20 minutes.

Cheese Wontons

Spring Rolls
I prepped the veggies, pumpkin rolled them and I fried them! We stuffed the spring roll wrappers with shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, shredded celery and alfalfa sprouts (they were out of mung beans). He whisked a few eggs and drizzled over the veggies, and rolled the wrappers and sealed shut with the egg. I fried them vegetable oil until they were golden brown.

Spring Rolls

Chicken Stir Fry/ Fried Rice
I poured the remaining egg mixture into my sauté pan to cook. I then removed the egg from the hot pan. I cooked thin chunks (I didn’t have the time to cut thin slices) chicken breast in the pan with stir fry sauce until done. I added baby corn, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, the remaining cabbage, carrots, celery and alfalfa sprouts to the sauté pan. I tossed the cooked egg back into the pan and sprinkled with sesame seeds and fresh grated ginger. Pumpkin decided he wanted the steamed brown rice thrown in with the stir fry, so it turned out somewhere between stir fry and fried rice.

Stir Fry/ Fried Rice

Although we didn’t have a festival of lanterns, the dragon or fireworks, our festivities brought good luck and fortune into our home.

Chinese New Year