Χριστος Ανεστη! Καλω Πασχα!

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope that you had a wonderful Easter and Holy Week.  I felt so blessed during Lent and we had such a happy Pascha celebration.  It was truly a beautiful season.  I'm so thankful for all of the lovely emails and comments on the blog and am so happy that it was useful to those of you who needed "fresh" ideas for a Lenten meal!

I'll now have to think of another reason to keep this blog going!  Until then, continue your journey with Christ...for He has RISEN!  Χριστος Ανεστη!

In Christ,

Elizabeth

Καλω Αναστασι! Happy Palm Sunday!

We had a wonderful Palm Sunday service at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral this morning.  It was beautiful.  Friday night, after Greek school, we gathered with the rest of the Church to make palms for today.  It was so much fun chatting with everyone and catching up.  Today was even better because we got to sit down to a lovely fish luncheon in the dining hall after Church..and I didn't have to cook! ;)-

I hope you all had a blessed morning service and continue on as we begin Holy Week.  I will not be blogging this week as I'm devoting my time to the Church and to those in need.  I hope that this Lenten blog has helped you during your fast and I pray that God keep you as we draw nearer to celebrating His resurrection.

Καλω Αναστασι!

-Ελισαβετ

Busy Day? Try Thai Food Tonight!

I have a full day of coaching soccer.  I'll be having lots of fruit and water while I'm out (I also brewed some of my favorite tea to tote around today) in the soccer field.  I'm going to need something light but spicy for dinner tonight.  I can't think of anything better than a bit of Red Curry with Shrimp and vegetables.  What do you think?

I'm not sure about your local grocery store but ours has a red curry sauce that doesn't have milk...it has coconut milk (which isn't dairy..it's just the juice from inside of the coconut).  So, I'm going to cheat with this tonight rather than mixing up my own sauce.  (Sorry!  I am super busy today with birthday party drop-offs and coaching soccer!  No time to be Queen of the Kitchen!)


Here's What Ya Need:
Shrimp * Red Curry Sauce * Bamboo Shoots
Peas (fresh!) * Green Beans (fresh) * Steamed Rice

Here's What Ya Do:
1.  Cook shrimp, bamboo shoots, peas and green beans
     in a saute pan with red curry sauce.
2.  Steam white rice.
3.  Place in dishes.
4.  Place sauce mixture over rice! Enjoy!

I know, too simple for words, right?  I'm going to make a side salad with peanut or ginger-dressing to go with this dish.  I may even make a mango juice!  Enjoy this quick meal for dinner and be sure to give your thanks to God (and the cook!). ;)-

Friday Night = Greek School Night!

It's Friday night and that means Greek school and "date night".  Diego gets to go to Greek school for 2 1/2 hours and John and I get a little bit of time to try a new restaurant.  One dish that I love to make and that I never see out and about (even at Greek restaurants) is made with eggplant.  As usual, it's an easy dish to make and very tasty.  I think you'll also like that it's a very colorful meal!

Here's What Ya Need:
Eggplant (sliced) * Mushrooms (diced) * Onions (diced)
Bell Pepper (diced) * Garlic x's 2 (diced) * Greek Oregano (diced)
Wild Rice * Tomatoes (stewed) * Cinnamon * Basil (chopped)
Pepper * Salt (Optional) * Olive Oil

Here's What Ya Do:
Sauce:
1.  Take 1/2 of stewed tomatoes and place in blender.
2.   Add cinnamon, basil, garlic, pepper and salt (optional).
3.  Blend.
4.  Add the other 1/2 of stewed tomatoes to make sauce chunky.

Filling:
1.  Take mushrooms, onions, bell pepper, garlic, Greek oregano
      and place inside of a saute pan.
2.  Saute until tender.

Eggplant Dish:  (get deep dish pan and oil)
1.  Spread olive oil on eggplant.
2.  Take filling and place inside of eggplant and roll.
3.  Place the eggplant face down in the pan so the filling doesn't roll out.
4.  Once the pan is completely filled with eggplant rolls...pour the sauce on top.
5.  Heat in oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven).

Serve this dish over wild rice and a side salad.  This is also a great dish to have with figs and nuts.  We'll be making crosses from palm fronds at Church this evening after Greek school.  See you there!

Gnocchi and Broccoli in Mushroom Sauce

I am trying to get rid of some items that may go bad before my other vegetables today.  So, I'm going to make a mushroom sauce with my leftover mushrooms from yesterday to go over my already-made gnocchi that I have in the freezer (from the other day).  I also need to rid myself of a crown of broccoli that may not be good in a few days.  I want to use everything while it's still fresh and at it's best...which means I must use them all today!!  What better than a gnocchi and broccoli pasta with mushroom sauce?  I'm very excited to see how it turns out.

Here's What Ya Need:
Mushrooms * Butter (2 tbsp.) * carrots (sliced) * Onions (sliced)
Celery (sliced) * Thyme (1 tsp.) * Chicken Stock (1/2 Cup)
Pepper * Salt * Flour * Broccoli * Gnocchi (cooked)

Here's What Ya Do:
Mushroom Sauce:

• 1. Melt the butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Add carrots, onions, leeks, and celery. Cook and stir until tender, but not browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in thyme and mushrooms, and continue cooking until mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes.
  2. Pour chicken stock into the pot, and season with salt and pepper. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Add Flour Slowly to pot until desired thickness.
  3. Take a ladle and pour over gnocchi and broccoli and stir.
  4. Serve!!
  
  
  Have a great evening.  I'm going to rest my little tsoureki making fingers for the night!
• 
  

Spring ripened stuffed tomatoes over brown rice, baby!

Whew!  Today is another busy day and I barely have time to whip out this blog.  Sometimes it seems like back-to-back-to-back is a never ending cycle lately.  My after Lent and soccer season goal is to be under-commited!  Speaking of soccer, my boys won Saturday's game 7-0! Awesome!  Monday I got Mike Chabala (defender from the Houston Dynamo's) to come and train my team.  So, today we're going to put some of his training into practice.  This means I'm going to have one hungry little boy when we get home.  So, I'm going to make a simple but filling meal tonight.


Here's What Ya Need:
Super Large Under-ripe Tomatoes (I'm making 6, 2 for each person)
Mushrooms (diced), Onion (diced), Cilantro (chopped)
Yellow/Green Bell Pepper (diced), Olive Oil, Pepper,
Arugula (chopped), Salt (optional), Garlic (diced), Brown Rice

Here's What Ya Do:
Stuffed Tomatoes:
1.  Take the tomatoes and slice the very tip off (where the vine comes out).
2.  Scoop out all of the inside to turn it into a cup!
3.  Heat your oven to 325 degrees.
4.  Drizzle olive oil and garlic in saute pan.
5.  Add all veggies inside of the pan and cook until al dente.
6.  Scoop out spoonfuls and place inside of the tomato cups.
7.  Place into oven for 15 minutes until tomatoes are warmed.

Note:  I never like to cook my tomatoes all the way until they get mushy.  I like the inside to be hot from the saute pan and the tomatoes to just be slightly warmed on the outside!

I'm cheating tonight by getting my frozen organic brown rice from Whole Foods and placing inside of microwave for 3 minutes and it's done! Woo hoo!

This is the perfect dish for tonight as it's a bit warm out...it will fill our tummies without making us feel yucky.  I also made red velvet cupcakes last night so they'll be our dessert tonight!

Have a great night you guys and enjoy!

I'm Making A SOUPER Meal Today!

Today I have to be really quick with dinner.  I have a crazy schedule this week and I'm not going to have time to make complicated meals.  So, I'm going to grab a ton of ripened tomatoes from the garden, stew them, and then turn them into a sweet tomato soup this evening.

Here's What Ya Need:
Stewed Tomatoes * Fresh Basil * Sugar (YES, SUGAR!)
Pepper * Garlic * Onions (optional) * Croutons

Here's What Ya Do:
1.  Take the garlic, onions, basil, and stewed tomatoes and put into a blender.
2. Liquify all.
3.  Add pepper.
4.  Add sugar to taste.
5.  Drop a few croutons on top for decoration when you serve!

As usual, I'll serve this with a vegetable salad!  I'm also going to peel some apples, put them in my small saute pan, add some honey and sugar and have that for dessert!  Super fast, super easy, and dinner is served!

[To stew your tomatoes: boil in water, remove peeling when able, and add a dash of white vinegar! Continue to boil until done!  Also, please note that the stewed tomatoes should be so hot when you take them out of the water and liquify them that you don't need to heat this meal up in a pan.]