I bought a big bunch of dill the other day for a salmon pasta dish I was preparing and I had a lot of left. As I love the smell and taste of dill, I wanted to use it in a soup but I had no idea what to cook. After a quick research, I discovered this recipe online. I changed a few things to match my fridge content and I have to tell you, this is one of the best discoveries in a long time.

The initial recipe suggested decorating the soup with pine nuts, which I tried but did not like so much. I would suggest serving it with a nice dollop of crème fraîche and some smoked fish, like haddock or salmon.

Level: Easy | Time: 30 minutes | serves 2-4

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped

3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 big zucchini, peeled and cut into medium-sized pieces

500ml of vegetable or chicken stock

100ml crème fraîche and some extra for serving

Salt and Pepper

2 TS of curry powder (I used “Madras hot curry”.)

Preparation

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot and fry the onion, potato and zucchini for 5 minute on a low to medium heat.
2. Add the curry powder, salt (if necessary) and a pinch of pepper and the stock and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Take the soup of the heat and blend until smooth.
4. Add the crème fraîche and blend again for 1-2 minutes until everything is nicely mixed together.
5. Add the chopped dill to your soup and stir in.
6. To serve: ladle the soup into a warm bowl and garnish with a dollop of crème fraîche and if you like some smoked fish pieces.

My simple creation after growing dill in the garden:

Ingredients
yields ~1.5 cups

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-2 tbs balsamic vinaigrette
1 tbs fresh dill chopped
pepper to taste

Prep
Mix everything in a bottle. Store in fridge. Shake well before using.

You know those foods that you never liked as a child, and then refused to eat them as you grow up, and then one day you eat them cooked differently, and you’re like “wow, I’ve missed out so much!” Well dill is one of them. I’ve always hated them whenever my mom cooked with them but last winter break, my mom added them into the dumpling filling and she insisted that I try it. I did and it was really good.

Cilantro is another one of those missed out foods. In Chinese, dill (茴香) and cilantro (香菜) both share one character and it means fragrant/scented/spiced. I can smell those two herbs miles away!! I used to runaway from that smell at home because I didn’t like it.

However, there is still one more vegetable that I still refuse to eat: bitter melon/bitter gourd/balsam pear. It is so bitter and I hate it! You can never get the taste out of your mouth! UGH!

猪肉茴香白菜饺子

[100% organic]

• 1 lb ground pork
• 3 bunches dill
• 3 green onions
• 1-inch ginger
• 0.5 lb napa cabbage
• sesame oil
• soy sauce
• salt

These are delicious and really easy to make

Salmon and Dill Cakes

1 kilo Potatoes I used Deseree

1 large Red Onion

1 clove Garlic

1/2 cup of Fresh Dill chopped roughly

1 x 375g can Salmon

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Corn Flour

salt and Pepper to taste

Step one Boil potatoes for 10-15min till really soft and cooked

Finely dice the onion and garlic then cook till softened

Add onions to Potato mixture

Add salmon, dill, salt and pepper, eggs, flour and mix thoroughly

Make into patties and fry in canola oil on a med heat

When serving, add lime wedges and a crispy salad

The life I lead is pretty simple but, everyday I stumble on great things. Luckily, I am able to sneak a little internet time in at work and I have become a blog-aholic. I love reading fashion, travel, cooking, and lifestyle blogs. They have inspired me to start a little blog about how I’m trying to get a few things in my life together while having a bit of fun and trying new things at the same time.

This will be a 4-in1 post–four recipes in one post!  I’ve never shared so much cooking fun in one day!  My Russian friend Ksenia invited me and a few friends to her host family’s house for a fabulous Russian feast.  What a terrific day for food and drink!  There were four courses to this meal, so this post may prove to be long…..But the common theme of the day is that everything we made has only a few simple ingredients with simple preparation.

From left to right, Ksenia, me, Michelle, and Sarah

I made borscht, a bright magenta soup made of beets, potato, cabbage, carrots, onion, dill, and vegetable broth, topped with plain, whole milk yogurt.  Michelle brought a simple Russian salad she ate often while she lived in Russia, and Sarah brought vodka, Kahlua, and cream to make White Russians, which is probably a very un-Russian drink.  Except that it contains vodka as a key element.  Ksenia made crepes using her grandmothers batter recipe.  So authentic!

Let’s start with the borscht.  There seem to be a million ways of making borscht–the only common element seems to be that all borschts are made with beets.  Ok, fair enough.  Borscht=soup containing beets.  I got it.  Here is the recipe for my borscht:

Ingredients

(Makes about 6 servings)

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 medium beets

3 medium carrots

1/2 large onion or 1 medium onion

1 russet potato

1 or 2 cups cabbage

8 cups of water or vegetable broth (I used a few tablespoons of Better than Bouillon organic vegetable broth paste, mixed with 8 cups of water)

3 tablespoons dill (it’s really, really hard to get too much dill)

Salt and pepper to taste

A few splashes of red wine vinegar

Preparation

Peel and chop the vegetables into roughly the same size.  Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, and stir to coat the onion in the oil.  Cook just a few minutes, then add the beets, carrots, and potato.  Stir to mix and coat in the oil.

Fill the pot with the broth or water, turn up to high, add a few teaspoons of salt, and grind some pepper into the soup.  When you soup comes to a boil, turn down to medium, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, add the cabbage and cook for 10 minutes more.  Make sure the beets are tender to test if the soup is done–they will be the last of the vegetables to finish cooking.  Once the cooking is finished, get out your blender.  Strain the vegetables using a slotted spoon (big spoon with holes in it), and add them to the blender.  Add a few ladles of broth.  Puree.  Dump your newly pureed soup into a separate large bowl and set aside.  Repeat this process until all the vegetables are pureed, and you’re left with some broth in the pot.  Only fill your blender about 2/3 full, because hot soup in a blender can be a dangerous thing.  Once all the vegetables are pureed, add them back into the pot of broth, and stir.  Taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary–you may need additional salt at this point.  Stir in the dill.  Ladle your soup into bowls, top with more dill if you want, and spoon some yogurt over the top.  Yum!

Russian Salad

Ingredients

3 medium tomatoes

2 cucumbers

1 red bell pepper

1/2 cup fresh dill

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt to taste

Chop the tomatoes and bell pepper and add them to a large bowl.  Peel the cucumbers and chop, and add to the tomatoes and peppers.  Chop the dill, and toss it with the vegetables, olive oil, and add some salt to taste.

Of course, the White Russians!  Sarah mixing some up:

Sarah’s White Russian formula for two servings:

2 shots vodka

1 shot Kahlua

4 shots half-and-half

Ice

Mix and drink.  Repeat.

Last, but certainly not least, Russian crepes!  Ksenia making the inaugural crepe of the afternoon:

Ksenia’s Russian Dessert Crepes

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

a few pinches of salt and baking soda

2 cups of flour

2 cups of water

1 cup hot milk

Butter

Preparation

Heat a crepe pan or skillet over medium heat.  When I make crepes, I just use my stainless steel skillet and coat it in butter between each crepe to keep them from sticking.  Crepe pans don’t require butter.  Heat the milk in the microwave for about a minute and a half.  Add to a mixing bowl, and beat in the 2 eggs, add the water and the rest of the ingredients.  Mix using a whisk.

Once the pan is hot, use a ladle and spoon a ladle-full of batter onto the pan.  Immediately pick up the pan and move it around to spread the batter around.  The crepes will only take a minute or two to cook, and don’t really require flipping.  They are so thin that they cook on both sides at once.

For fillings, we used apples, strawberries, ricotta cheese, honey, and sour cream….not necessarily all together!  I spread some ricotta on my crepe, added apples, and a bit of honey.

Wrap up, and enjoy!

What a fun afternoon!  Thanks ladies!

[Somehow the names of these recipes keep growing].

Today I want to let you in on the secret to hosting dinner parties and potlucks at your home, but first let me paint for you a picture. I live on a lovely hill in Jerusalem, a good forty-five-minute walk from town, barring heat, rain, and crazy drivers. Before Shabbat begins – that’s late Friday afternoon – Jerusalem’s bus system, along with the rest of the city, closes for the weekend, and up on my beautiful desert hill, I start to see the blue and yellow glow that hovers over the city and spills out of window frames as nights falls upon Jerusalem. A patchwork of white stone apartments and hotels are flung across the city’s skyline, finally fading into twinkling valleys and hills.

Forty-five minutes walking distance from the city – the city which has temporarily closed the public stage, retiring to the warmth of living rooms and kitchens – I, too, will now begin my own version of a day of rest. Rest, of course, will mean reading and running and perhaps a long walk down the hill in the morning, but more than likely I will pass a full twenty-fours hours without hearing the ring of a cash register, the hiss of an overworked espresso machine, or the opening and closing of a bus’s doors. And this is rest enough for me.

It’s also the best time to have a spontaneous dinner with a few friends and neighbors.

What’s the important thing to remember when you’re hosting dinner guests? Carbohydrates. Go for the calories, my friends, and no one will go hungry.

Pomegranate, Tomato, and Quinoa Salad with Fresh Herbs

makes a big bowl, appropriate to take to a potluck dinner for 10 people

Ingredients

-3 cups water

-1 1/2 cups quinoa

-6 green onions

-3/4 cup pomegranate seeds

-1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

-1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped

-3 cups halved cherry tomatoes

-juice of 1-2 lemons

-1 tsp. sesame oil

-salt and pepper to taste

-splash of vinegar, optional

-1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Method

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the quinoa with a few liberal shakes of salt, and boil for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and finish cooking the quinoa. This takes about 20 minutes. The quinoa is finished when it is soft, not starchy (similar to cooked rice). Remove from the heat, and drain any excess water.

Trim the ends off the green onions, and chop 4 for of them into small pieces. Saute for 5 minutes over a medium-low heat.

Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl, and stir it for a few minutes in order to let it cool. Then add the cooked onions, the remaining two raw onions (chopped), pomegranate seeds, both herbs, the tomatoes, lemon juice, sesame oil, salt, and pepper. Combine well. Now you’ll want to taste the mixture, and adjust the ingredients according to how you like it. I added both lemons, lots of salt, and lots of cilantro. I also added a generous spoonful of balsamic vinegar.

Refrigerate the salad until you are ready to serve. Just before you serve, stir in the pumpkin seeds.

Why vegetables for breakfast?

Just about everyone in the field of nutrition and cancer today agrees that the anticancer diet is composed primarily of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. Specifically, we’re told that we should have 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (and, I would add that at least five of those servings should be veggies). What I’ve found is that if I don’t have veggies at breakfast, it’s hard to have had five servings of vegetables in a day. But if I have some veggies for breakfast, it’s easy to have five or even six servings of veggies a day. And…furthermore, if veggies are good for you, it just makes sense that it’s good to give your body a veggie “infusion” all through the day – not just at dinner.

With a little pre-planning, having veggies for breakfast is easy – and delicious!

SAUTED HERB FLAVOR CUBES

I got the idea for this recipe from the Persian (Iranian) Kookoo Sabzi, a wonderful egg and herb omelet. While my recipe doesn’t contain eggs, it goes very well with eggs…and that’s the idea.

Ingredients

1 bunch green onions (scallions)

1/2  bunch fresh dill

1 bunch fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley

½ bunch fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, optional

• I have found that adding 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric (a potent anticancer spice) to this herb mixture doesn’t change the flavor, so I like to add the turmeric.

About 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste

Food prep tips for food safety

Here’s how to get rid of the visible dirt and the invisible bacteria that’s in the dirt, including E. coli:

• Use two cutting boards — one for cutting the unwashed herbs and the other for slicing and chopping the rinsed herbs.
• Use two knives (chef’s knives work best) — one for cutting the unwashed herbs and the other for slicing and cutting the rinsed herbs — or just rinse your knife after you cut the unwashed herbs.

• Green onion – steps to cleaning properly
  

1. Trim off the root end of each green onion.
2. Cut the green onion in two, separating the green and white parts.
3. Thinly slice the green part of the green onion on the diagonal so as to expose as much surface area as reasonably possible. You will see dirt you never knew was there!
4. Place the sliced green onion into a large strainer with small holes (a metal mesh one works well) and place the strainer inside the basket of a salad spinner.
5. Now you are ready to give your green onions a good rinse. Here’s how: Fill the salad spinner up with cold tap water and using your hands agitate the herbs in the water. Then lift out the mesh strainer with the herbs in it and pour the dirty water out of the salad spinner.
6. Rinse one or two more times and pour off the dirty water after each rinse.
7. Place the lid on the salad spinner and spin dry the herbs in the mesh strainer. Note: Since a metal strainer is slightly heavy, you have to be careful when you spin the salad spinner or it will go out of control. To avoid having to be careful, I simply do the spinning in the corner of the sink (using the two sides of the sink to help keep the basket in place).
8. Now you have very clean and decently dried off sliced green onions!
9. Slice the white part of the green onion thinly, but not on a diagonal; it’s not necessary. Place the sliced white part into the mesh strainer inside the basket of the salad spinner, and spin dry.

• Bunches of Herbs — dill, parsley and cilantro
  

1. With the herbs still tied together in a bunch, use your knife to cut off the thick stems — all in one cut.
2. Set the stems aside for another use such as making soup stock.
3. Untie the herbs and place them into the plastic strainer basket inside the salad spinner.  Rinse and dry the herbs as explained above.
4. Chop the clean herbs.

Directions

Thinly slice the white and green parts of the green onion, keeping the white and green parts separate; set aside.

Chop the dill, including the tender stems; set aside.

Chop the parsley, including the tender stems; set aside.

Chop the cilantro, including the tender stems; set aside

• Place the less tender stems from the dill, parsley and cilantro in a plastic bag (the kind for the freezer) and freeze. Later you can use these stems and other vegetables when making a veggie soup stock.

Use a large heavy-bottomed sauté pan and cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of olive oil. Heat the oil over medium heat (or just a little hotter) and when the oil is hot add the white parts of the green onion and sauté until softened. Then add the green parts of the green onion and sauté for 30 seconds. Add the turmeric, if using, and mix it in. Then add all of the chopped herbs and sauté for about a minute or two. When the herbs are gently wilted but still nice and green, remove the pan from the heat.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Let this herb mixture cool and then scoop it up by the spoonful (an ice cream scoop or a cookie dough scoop works well) and put it into a silicon mini muffin pan (or an ice cube tray). Note: Press down on the herb mixture to compact it.

Freeze your green muffins (flavor “cubes”) until hard.

Remove the muffin pan from the freezer and let it warm up for a minute or so at room temperature. Then just pop your Sauted Herb Flavor Cubes out of the muffin pan and place them into a plastic bag suitable for the freezer. Keep frozen until ready to use. Then just take out one, two or more cubes and heat them in the microwave until defrosted and just hot enough to serve.

Many ways to use Sauted Herb Flavor Cubes

• Spread on toasted bread, including sourdough bread;
• Serve with scrambled eggs, egg whites or sauted tofu for great flavor and color.
• Mix with Sun-Dried Tomato Flavor Cubes and spread on toast or serve with eggs as suggested above;
• Mix into hummus or any bean spread/dip;
• Mix with a little goat cheese and spread on crackers or stuff into hollowed out cherry tomatoes;
• Garnish a butternut squash soup with these sauted herbs;
• Mix with green beans or peas for a gourmet touch.

Enjoy and be healthy,

~Leni

I’ve made two more dishes from Vegan Dad’s blog recipe collection and both have been a huge hit with everybody.

In the blue corner, we have Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes teamed with Creamy Dijon Dill Potatoes. I’ve introduced the kids to dijon mustard this week, and judging by their positive reaction, it’ll be making an appearance in our meals on a regular basis. The flavours of these two dishes were wonderful.. my only complaint was with the chickpea cakes.. the recipe calls for 2 T of flour and 1 T of cornflour. While the cakes held together well and were beautifully crispy on the outside, they were a little pasty in the middle. The potatoes were spot on, crispy and brown, the sauce creamy with a slight bite.

crispy chickpea cakes with creamy dill potatoes

Recipe number two was a simple saute in the frypan and then baked in the oven dish of Lemon Dijon Tofu and Potatoes. Eldest daughter gushed over the flavours in this recipe, unsurprisingly since it was the bomb! We may get some protein into the child yet! My only change to the recipe – I have a very vigorous oven, so I had to up the liquid content a little to avoid having the dish dry out.

lemon dijon tofu and potatoes

As Simon and Garfunkel waxed so poetically about “parsley, sage rosemary and thyme”, so should you keep herbs and spices on your radar…as they are a perfect way to jazz up veggies.

Check out these recipes for Baby Carrots with Dill, Butter and Lemon, Caramelized Roasted Fennel with fennel seeds, oven roasted mushrooms with garlic and thyme, mini pumpkin sage balls and this brilliant riff on pasta, Creamy Spaghetti Squash with Asparagus and Rosemary

What’s your favorite herb/veggie combo?

I made these little tots on Sunday for our thanksgiving celebration. They were FANTASTIC.  I was surprised how creamy they came out, despite a total lack of butter. Oh, but well the fact that the main ingredient in the dressing is BACON GREASE, that probably helped round things out.

This recipe takes a cue from German potato salads that have a vinegar base, but by reducing it through the deglazing process softens the flavor to just give it a little tinge of tang.

The bowl was scraped clean by the end of our meal, if that’s any indication of how they went over.   Add this to  your Thanksgiving menu STAT.

Bacon Smashed Potatoes
Gourmet November 2009 (R.I.P)

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1/2 pound bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 to 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons chopped dill

Method

• Steam potatoes in a large steamer rack set over boiling water, covered, until very tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

peeled by HAND. if you ate these you should now appreciate them even more.

• Meanwhile, cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, reserving fat in skillet. (I did the bacon in 3 batches, wiping out the skillet each time and only reserving the fat from the final batch. no need to clog arteries completely solid)

the tower of bacon

• Add 2 tablespoons vinegar, sugar, and 3/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to hot bacon fat, scraping up brown bits.

be mindful not to directly inhale the vinegar steam. i speak from experience.

• Transfer potatoes to a large bowl, reserving 1/2 cup steaming water. Add vinegar mixture to potatoes and smash with a potato masher to desired texture, adding reserved water if desired. Stir in dill, bacon, and vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste.

Cooks’ note: Potatoes can be made 3 hours ahead and kept at room temperature. Reheat, covered, in a microwave or in a 300°F oven. (This is exactly what I did and it worked fantastic. Just stir the dill in at the very end.)

Before the new giveaway, here are the 2 winners to the Kathy’s Krackers Giveaway!!

# 15: Lo from Honey Nut Lo

#78: The Balance Broad

Congratulations ladies! I’ll be e-mailing you to get your addresses!

And Now..

It’s your chance to win some Doctor in the Kitchen Flax Crackers. Pay close attention!

First things First – a cruuucial review so you know what you’re getting yourself into!

I’ve been on a flax cracker trip lately and am just loving the flavor of the flaxseed AND the wonderful nutritional profile of flax crackers! Recently, I was sent 3 different flavors of Doctor in the Kitchen “Flackers” to sample and have to say…these crackers are DEFINITELY right up my alley!

The stats:

• These satisfying crackers come in 3 flavors: Savory, Dill, and Rosemary
• Ingredients are simple, natural, and recognizable
• Each bag contains around 16 crackers in 5oz boxes
• Each serving = 3 crackers = ~100 calories
• Texture = awesome!! All the crackers embody the very idea of a satisfying cracker that lies between hearty and light in terms of texture. They are crunchy, not crumbly and can hold up extremely well to any heavy condiments. Unlike Kathy’s Krackers, these are thinner, composed of 4-5 layers of tightly-compressed flax seeds with herbs and spices intermingled throughout.

Flavor #1: Savory

Check out the website for nutritionals stats and full list of ingredients here.

Tastiness: 8.5/10. Excellent savory onion and garlic flavor that also packs a bit of a spicy punch. This flavor has a complexity to it that I enjoy. You get the nuttiness from the flax, but the seasonings added to the cracker come through extremely well – particularly the onions and garlic. They are not overly salty and taste wonderful by itself or with a mild soup like the black bean soup I had! Needless to say, the whole package disappeared within 2 meals. Uh Oh.

Flavor #2: Rosemary

Check out the website for nutritionals stats and full list of ingredients here.

Tastiness: 6/10. I can only take 2 slices before I’m overwhelmed with the rosemary flavor. Looking closely, you see a ton of dried rosemary herbs studded evenly throughout the entire cracker. Though I do enjoy rosemary in small doses, these crackers were made for the rosemary LOVER. However, the cracker has great crunch and a hearty, nutty savory undertone that I really enjoy as long as I don’t have more than 2.

Flavor #3: Dill

Check out the website for nutritionals stats and full list of ingredients here.

Tastiness: 7.5/10. Call me biased, but I can enjoy dill in larger doses than rosemary. Thus, this dill cracker was really tasty to me. It is very much like the savory cracker, except it has a much higher concentration of dill. If you look closely, you can see all the green specks of dill baked into the crackers. There is definitely a spicy kick to the cracker and I enjoyed the presence of the herbs in conjunction with the regular flavors of the savory cracker.

Price: ~$6.60 per box at Whole Foods

My Cost: Complimentary from Dr. in the Kitchen

Your Cost: Possibly FREE if you enter the giveaway!!!!

***

Doctor in the Kitchen will give…

2 readers (double the chance of winning)

ALL 3 varieties of crackers!

Yes, that means 3 boxes of flax seed crackers!!!

To Do:

Each will count as 1 entry!

• Leave a comment stating 1 interesting thing you learned from the Doctor in the Kitchen website!
• Leave a second comment stating HOW my product reviews can be improved for your benefit!
• Follow me on Twitter @ LuckyTasteBuds! (Let me know when you do)
• Tweet this giveaway and include the link back to this post!
• Add Lucky Taste Buds to your blogroll!

Contest Ends Saturday November 21st (a special day) at 12:01am!

You don’t need a blog to enter.

Easy Veggie Pizza

2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls or crescent refrigerated seamless dough sheets

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp dried dill weed

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup small fresh broccoli florets

1/3 cup quartered cucumber slices

1 plum tomato, seeded, chopped

1/4 cup shredded carrot

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Unroll both cans of crescent rolls/sheets and place in an ungreased 15×10x1 pan pressing the dough on the bottom and up the sides to form the crust. 

Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

In small  bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, dill and garlic powder until smooth.  Spread over cooled crust.  Top with veggies.  Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.  Cut into 8 rows by 4 rows.

Recipe from Pillsbury

Hey Pesto!

Guess what, it’s spring! I only say that because of course it isn’t really. Picking broad beans is meant to be easy work, something you do on the first sunny days after what in these parts is usually a damp and cold winter, but over the last two weekends it’s been so hot that I’ve been making heavy weather of it, if you’ll forgive the pun.

But the heat has certainly got these beans going, and after completely filling the fridge with this morning’s harvest, I realised I’d have to do something with the pile of pods on the dining room table. I found a few recipes for broad bean pestos, but none of them addressed my other immediate problem: the profusion of once welcome herbs into monsterous clumps.

With the broad beans now finally all out of the ground, I thought I might as well see if I could at least begin to address the issue of the out of control mint, the rampant oregano, and the plain silly dill. With modest quantities of this terrible troika bathing in a brew of freshly picked garlic, the juice of several Meyer lemons, and some pretty basic olive oil, I boiled up as many beans as I could pod, and whizzed them into the blender with the other ingredients, and then applied the pesto to an unsuspecting bowl of penne.

Having some parmesan cheese handy in  the fridge (I completely forgot to bring any food with me this weekend) turned my morning of torment into a solo if sorrily solitary triumph. So I thought it might be a good idea to gather some photogaphic evidence, and luckily the industrial quantities I’ve managed to conjure from our productive patch means that this pesto is set to star in an assortment of scratch meals in the coming week.

Aside from my culinary cunning, however, I’m not sure what I’ve really achieved today. A few hours and several glasses of Italian plonk after the heat of the day has subsided, I’m watering the garden, including the patch where the broad beans stood so tall this morning, and I could swear that those herbs have already found a new haven.

This mint took just hours to grow

My walk this afternoon was great. It was still really cold out there along the water, but it was nice to be out in the fresh air. And apparently I wasn’t the only one with the same thoughts today – there were tons of people on the trail, walking their dogs and kids

After my brisk walk, I came home in need of some lunch.

Since I was chilly, I needed something to warm me up. Bring on the soup!

There was a serving of avgolemono soup and a wee bit of orzo left, so I made the same combo as yesterday. Still tasty!

Dad had bought this monster sub from Safeway, and saved me a chunk.

It’s pretty much all meat and cheese, but there is a single layer of lettuce, and some tomatoes on there. I, of course, picked off those tomatoes.

Mmmm, lunch.

As I was chowing on lunch, I enjoyed some figure skating on TV with my sister. It was only an hour of coverage though. I swear, the TV coverage of skating just keeps getting smaller and smaller each year. I want to see whole events over multiple days people! Good thing I discovered Skatebuzz, a site run by Skate Canada, where they have live coverage of the entire event. In fact, I’m sitting here right now, watching some live coverage.

Not sure what’s happening here this evening dinnerwise – both my sister and mom will be out, so it’s just me and dad. I have a feeling take out might be on the menu, but you never know. Now back to the skating!

Ensamma hemma i helgen är E och jag… DÅ ska vi äta allt som vi gillar och lite till, inte tänka på nån annans viljor!
Räkmacka gillar vi båda lite extra mycket! Mamma med ett glas vittvin och Emmis med ett glas mjölk!

Vad vill ni ha på era räkmackor?!

Idag använde jag:

Räkor
Polarkakor
Salladsblad
Ost
Kokt ägg
Majonäs
Mimosa sallad
Dill
Apelsin

Men när har det nånsin räckt med 1 macka…

Every year about this time, the flu comes around and does its damage. Consequently, there’s a lot of sniffling, coughing, sweating, and pill-popping happening. This year we got the swine variety, and everyone and their mothers lost their minds, following shameless media propaganda. I almost got worried for a second myself, but thank god, Jason grabbed my shoulder just in time, span me around, shook me up with his manly might, and spoke to my senses.

“Woman, where’s your reason? Every year the flu takes down a few thousands of people. Those usually are the folks of older age, and with pre-existing illnesses. For those poor souls any kind of flu, some times even a cold could be deadly.”

Thus the man convinced the woman, and the sun shone again, and the birds chirped lightheartedly at the sight at dawn.

I’m not trying to dismiss the lethal potential of the flu. I’m not a doctor, so my opinion is rather vulnerable. However, I don’t think there’s a reason to panic. Several of my friends fell victim of the virus. They felt like shit for about a week, with fever of 103 degrees, and violent vomiting tormenting their bodies. Not fun. Still, doctors let them go home with no medication prescribed, as those were in short supplies and thus reserved for pregnant women, children and others with life-threatening symptoms. None of the people I know, that have gone through the piggy flu, had had any complications. They simply did what one does with a regular flu – let it wear itself out, while drinking lots of fluids, resting and watching Oprah.

My own weapon against the virus is my will power. At the slightest scratch in the back of my throat I simply say “Naha! It ain’t happening. I am HEALTHY and FLU-FREE”. (Say it fast five times in a row.) I block the concept of getting sick out of my consciousness. I’m not even kidding you, twenty-four hours later I barely remember I was coughing the day before. Works like magic every time. You should try it, too.

On most days I have an appetite of a small horse, which once again proves I’m a picture of health. I made a pot of BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO, for instance, and we destroyed it with Jason in two days over 3 meals. Part of the “problem” was Risotto itself – its symphony of flavors, the sweet juxtaposed against the savory, the heat, the comfort, the rainbow across the sky, the BUTTERflies…

Before I move on, I want to test if you’ve been paying attention. Does the post read a little funny today? Does my English “sound” Polish all of a sudden? Wonder why? I haven’t gone mad, and yes, I’ve been taking all my vitamins. I simply needed to let my editor (Jason) off the hook for a few days or so, as his work turned into a circus on wheels. Jason has been putting in 16-20 hr days. Yes, you’ve heard me – twenty hours just yesterday. He’s already doing more than an average person is capable of, so understandably I am on my own for now, and you just have to deal with my accent.

If you’re feeling a little under the weather these days, BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO is an ideal meal to quickly boost your energy levels. Chicken soup is so last season. What you need to know about Risotto is that the dish requires some loving, as you can’t really dump the rice and veggies into a pot and walk away. You need to tend to it, gently stir the rice around, sprinkle with spice, love, and fairy dust, and whisper sweet things into the pot’s ear. Know it will all come back to you in a bowl – the food made of love. What BETTER nourishment than that?

Let’s get the ingredients ready:

-       Butternut Squash

-       6 cups of chicken broth (1.5 carton)

-       4 oz diced pancetta

-       1 onion

-       6 cloves of garlic, minced

-       3 tbsp BUTTER

-       1.5 cups Arborio rice

-       0.5 cups of white wine (the kind you’d enjoy drinking)

-       big pinch of saffron

-       1 tbsp dry marjoram

-       1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese (grated)

-       1 cup fresh dill, roughly chopped

-       salt + black pepper to taste

-       1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat an oven to 400˚. Cut the squash in cubes. Spread them in one layer on a sheet pan, sprinkle with olive oil, salt, black pepper, and some dry herbs (whatever you’ve got – marjoram, Herbes de Provence, oregano…). Shove the pan into the oven for about 25 minutes or until soft.

Heat the chicken broth in a pot and keep it on over a very low heat. Throw pancetta into a separate pot, let the fat render, and then add the BUTTER. When it melts, toss the onion into that pool of yummy fat. Sprinkle all with salt and pepper, add the marjoram, and mix them together. Let the onions sweat for a minute or two to release their sweetness and fuse in with the herbs. Your minced garlic is next in line – into the pot it goes. Stir once more.

Here comes the rice. Chuck it into the same pot with the onions and cracklings, incorporate with all the flavors, and cook for a moment letting the rice kernels toast. Now pour in the wine and let it grab all the bits of flavor off the bottom of your pot. Reduce the heat to low.

The fun part begins with the first 2 ladles of the heated chicken stock you’ll add to the rice. You need to stir it almost non-stop as the liquid gets absorbed. With your free hand, season the dish with salt and pepper as you go. Every few minutes you’ll add another 2 ladles of the broth, and continue to stir. Keep going until all stock is gone, and the risotto is cooked.

Before you turn off the heat completely, add the roasted squash, your grated cheese, and fresh dill. Now, kill the fire. Give it two or three more stirs until the cheese melts and binds the dish together for the rest of its days. Your BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO is ready to serve. And it should be… served immediately.

In the end, your throat is warmly coated, your belly is fed and comforted, and your right bicep is twice the size of your left gun. It’s a win-win every way you slice it. And really, what’s BETTER than BUTTER? Particularly when it’s sweet and savory, not BITTER.

I’ll go take my vitamins now.

Milton Quadrangle.  1.5 miles West of Milton on the south side of Jefferson Pike 
Photographed by Archie and Patsy Paterson

2pats2cats@comcast.net

Samuel Vaught

Ages 87 years

14 Aug 1893

Rosa daughter of Sam and Malinda Vaught

10 Mar 1863

26 May 1889

Rosa daughter of Sam and Malinda Vaught

10 Mar 1863

26 May 1889

Mary Vaught

20 Feb 1826

26 Feb 1903

James Vaught

19 Apr 1822

07 Sep 1879

I. N. Vaught

son of George Vaught-info by Foster Vaught 1975

05 Jul 1836

27 Oct 1911

Sarah Berry

wife of I. N. Vaught

15 Mar 1842

I. N. Vaught

son of George Vaught-info by Foster Vaught 1975

05 Jul 1836

27 Oct 1911

Willie Virginia Vaught

25 Aug 1865

24 Oct 1895

James Monroe Vaught

30 Jul 1864

03 Jan 1933

Sarah Novella Vaught

27 Feb 1872

06 May 1933

S. D. Vaught

10 Aug 1829

14 Nov 1868

This must be a new stone. The cemeteries book mentions a stone leaning against a tree with dates:

James Dill

20 Jan 1837

04 Jun 1881

This would be up to the researcher to verify.

Martha A. Frasure

11 Dec 1822

30 Jul 1880

Joe Dill

Age 8 Years

Harriet Dill

Age 57 Years

——————————————————

James Dill

Age 57 years

Thomas M. Vaught

son of T. B. and Mary J. Vaught

24 Aug 1857

21 Aug 1856

Infant son of T. B. and Mary Vaught

No dates

Nancy Virginia Sharber Gavin

1858

1919

James Vaught

son of T. B. and Mary J. Vaught

Patsy thinks it says

18 Jan 1852

Jun 1853

This would be up to the researcher to verify.

Mary J. Vaught

wife of T. B. Vaught

12 Feb 1828

20 Jun 1866

Mary Vaught

wife of T. B. Vaught

11 Dec 1826

26 Jun 1873

Thomas B. Vaught

28 Aug 1818

17 Feb 1883

Infant son of T. B and Mary J. Vaught

No Dates

At lunch today, my mom came out to the garden and helped me pick green beans. Here is today’s harvest-some for her, some for my aunt (her neighbor), and some for me, the wife, and our kids.

Here are some previous harvests.

but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been in my kitchen lately!  I’ve been busy making some goodies, in between a quick trip to Canada to visit my new nephew, a home party, baby names, baby furniture, baby appointments and taking it easy to watch The Curious Case of Bennjamin Button (the first movie my husband and I have watched in a l-o-n-g time, and I would recommend it, good movie! — yes, I did fall asleep three-forths the way through, but I did finish watching it!)

Back to the goodies, most likely what you came for… 

Recipes to come soon!

About 10 years ago I had the good fortune to join my friend on a trip to Greece, where her father is from, to meet her family and to see the town where her father had grown up. We spent a few days in Athens with her uncle and his family and then flew to Alexandroupoli with her cousin to meet her father’s sisters in Pallouri, a tiny town in the Northeastern tip of the country. Her family embraced me with the same warmth that they embraced their niece, who they had only met as a baby, and made sure that we were both very well fed. And well fed we were.

We made visits to aunts, cousins, old friends, and at everyone’s home we were offered something delicious to eat. Not wanting to offend her family, we couldn’t refuse a bite, not to mention the fact that everything that we were offered was out of this world. I wish that I had been the foodie (I hate that word) that I am today and would have followed her Thea Anastasia and Thea Thespina around their kitchens taking notes. They are probably much like my mother-in-law and prepare everything at odd hours when everyone is sleeping, making the task of shadowing them in the kitchen very difficult.

My most delicious memory was a three hour lunch at her Thea Anastasia’s house, where you could see Bulgaria from one side of the balcony and Turkey from the other, her aunt pulled out a spanakopita from a small wood fired oven, which was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted in my entire life. We had sampled spanakopita in different places around Athens and in her father’s town, but I had never had it homemade. I can only imagine that she made the phyllo herself, or at least bought it from a local baker and not the freezer aisle in the grocery store. The taste is still singing in my mouth with the lovely burn of Retisna washing it down.

This recipe from Joy of Cooking is delicious, though I will never be able to match the heaven that her aunt made for us, it is much better than a lot of the spanakopita that you can get at greek and middle eastern restaurants.

Spanakopita from the Joy of Cooking

Stem, wash well, and coarsely chop:

• 2 lbs (or three 10-ounce bags) spinach

Heat in a large skillet over medium heat:

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Add and cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes:

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 4 scallions, finely chopped

Add the chopped spinach a handful at a time. Cook until the spinach is wilted and the liquid is released, 5 minutes. Increase the heat to high and cook, stirring often, until the liquid is evaporated and the spinach is dry, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in:

• ¼ cup snipped fresh dill or chopped fresh parsley

Let stand until cool enough to handle, then squeeze to remove the excess liquid. In a medium bowl, lightly beat:

• 4 large eggs

Add the cooked spinach mixture along with:

• 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 tbsp grated kefalotiri or Parmesan cheese
• ½ tsp salt
• Several grinds of black pepper
• Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

Lightly oil a 13 X 9-inch baking pan. Melt:

• 8 tbsp (1 stick) butter

Unroll on a dry work surface:

• 1 lb phyllo dough, thawed if frozen (following the recipe, I only ended up using half of the 1 lb Athens Fillo Dough package)

Trim 1 inch from the edges of the phyllo dough. Cover with a dry towel and cover the dry towel with a damp towel. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo in and up the sides of the prepared pan and brush lightly with melted butter. Top with 7 more phyllo sheets, brushing each one lightly with butter. Spread the spinach mixture over the layered phyllo. Top with 8 more sheets, brushing each one with butter, including the top sheet. Roll the overhanging phyllo from the sides to form a border all the way around. With a this, sharp knife, cut the pie into squares or diamonds, but do not cut through the bottom or the filling will leak onto the pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the spinach pie until crisp and golden, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes. Cut the squares or diamonds right through to the bottom and serve.

One Year Ago: Fruit Tart with Crema Pasticcera and Shortbread Cookies, Farfalle alla Nerano, Renella, Pizza, Zucchine alla Scapece, Linguine with Artichokes, Cicoria Saltata in Padella, Lunch in Anzio

Jag är hemma redan kl halv 3 på eftermiddagarna vilket ger mig en stor möjlighet att lägga ner tid på det jag äter. Exempel på det här är dagens mellanmål som bestod av följande: Kokt potatis, sej(fisken)gryta med purjo, massvis med dill, räkor, brysselkål. Jag höll på att svimma av trötthet (var uppe i ottan) och hunger så jag åt fjuttärtorna frysta.

Problemet var brysselkålen som trots blivit kokta i saltvatten och många skvättar smör helt enkelt vägrade gå ner. Brysselkål är nog inte min grej.

I had a couple of friends over on the weekend so I planned a mediterranean ‘tapas’ evening. Handy because you can prepare most of it in advance so you can enjoy the company rather than spending the whole evening in the kitchen! On the menu I had spanish tortilla, tzatziki, chorizo & garlic prawns, crusty bread, cheeses, olives, and dolmades. And I thought i’d put the recipe for the dolmades up, as they were my first attempt, and they proved to be a popular nibble! I didn’t have a chance to take any proper photos, but I took a few briskly in a badly lit kitchen.

D O L M A D E S

1 packet vine leaves in brine

extra virgin olive oil

1 cup long grain rice

2 red onions, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 lemon sliced

the juice of 1 lemon

3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted lightly

2 tbsp sultanas

handful of dill, chopped

handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped

maldon salt & black pepper

To prepare the V I N E  L E A V E S remove them from the packaging, and blanch them in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Drain, and run under cold water to prevent them from cooking further. Try not to tear them when doing this, you want the leaves in tact as much a possible, so the dolmades hold their shape and don’t lose their stuffing!

To make the S T U F F I N G heat a few tbsp of olive oil in a 20cm diameter heavy based pan (about 7-8cm deep). Gently fry the onions for about 7 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and stir through over low heat for 1 minute. Then add the rice, and turn through well, coating in the oil. We only want to partially cook the  rice during this stage. The rice will finish cooking once wrapped inside the vine leaves. So now gradually add about 1 cup of warm water to the pan and stir it into the rice mixture, allowing it to be absorbed fully, this should take no more than 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and remove the pan from the heat, transfer to a large mixing bowl and allow to cool for 5 or so minutes. Then add the pine-nuts, sultanas, parsley, dill, a dash of olive oil, and a bit more seasoning if needed.

To make the D O L M A D E S firstly prepare the pan. Using the same heavy based pan (but cleaned!), pour about 1-2 tbsp olive oil in the base. Then line the base with about 5 vine leaves, overlapping them so the base is completely covered. I try and use the torn/poorly shaped leaves for this bit, and save the good leaves for the dolmades! Now on a clean surface, lay out several vine leaves with the veiny side facing up, stem side closest to you, leaf tip furthest away. You then put about 1-2 heaped tsp of the filling into the centre of each leaf. Now imagine the leaf is a compass. To roll them up, fold the East and West sides over the filling, bring the base (South) of the leaf up over the filling, and roll away from you, tapering the section of the leaf that you are rolling towards so that each dolmade has a neat, tapered seam (when i make these again, i’ll take some more photos!). It’s important not to roll them TOO tightly. The rice will expand a bit when it cooks completely, so you don’t want them to burst! Put them into the pan as you go, fitting them in snugly, seam side down, until you’ve filled the base of the pan with them.

To C O O K the dolmades, place about 7 lemon slices over them in the pan, and then pour the juice of 1 lemon (about 2 Tbsp lemon juice) over them. Then pour enough water over them until it reaches about 2/3 of the way up the dolmades. I find this usually requires about 1 cup of water. Pour a dash of olive oil over them. Finally, place a circle of greaseproof paper over the dolmades, and then sit a small plate upside down, on-top of the paper. This will keep them snugly in place! Put the lid on, and place on the hob on a low heat, for about 35 minutes. Turn off the heat, and leave them in the pan with the lid on for another 30 minutes, to continue soaking up all the juices.

You can S E R V E  them warm, straight out of the pan… or alternatively leave them to cool or chill them in the fridge until you need to serve them. I prefer them cold with a bit of tzatziki to dip them in!

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