Eclcetic Food

I have stumbled upon an assortment of delightful cooking blogs lately, and tried out several palatable recipes this week.

Sauteed Vegetable Gyros came from Eclectic Recipes, a food and cooking blog.  The filling is nothing more than an assortment of sauteed vegetables seasoned with thyme, salt and pepper, along with Feta Cheese.  A Tzatziki Sauce  enhances the flavors and adds a bit of character.  The meld of mellow flavors was perfect!

I have to admit that I was less than enthusiastic about making this White Bean and Cabbage recipe to go with the Orange Ginger Flank Steak.  In reality, it was quite tasty!  I think the added surprise of potatoes in the mix put it over the top for me. I love potatoes.  I will make it again, for sure!  The steak was tender and tasty, and the cabbage dish was an excellent accompaniment for it.  These two recipes come from The Steamy Kitchen blog.

Polish Craze

Hand painted Polish pottery seems to be everywhere these days!  I absolutely love the beautiful colors and patterns, and there are plenty of styles, shapes and color variations to choose from!   Above you see the one bowl that graces my kitchen, from the pattern Blue Butterfly.  If you want to wile away some time browsing patterns, check out this website!

Darrell's Chicken Enchiladas

Boil 2 chicken breasts in water with crushed garlic added until tender. 

Sauté 3 garlic cloves and 1/2 finely chopped onion in olive oil.  Add chopped sweet peppers (any color desired) and 2 diced carrots.  Cook until tender. Add cooked, chopped chicken breasts.

Add one cup tomatillo sauce to skillet and stir.

Put 1/2 cup tomatillo sauce in bottom of a 9x13 baking pan.

Take a 8" flour tortilla and put about 1/4 cup filling down center.  Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese and roll.  Place in baking pan, edge side down.  Repeat with other tortillas until pan is full, about 8 total.

Pour the remainder tomatillo sauce over all (about 1 1/2 cups).  Scatter grated cheddar cheese over all.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, uncovered if you prefer crisper enchiladas; covered if you prefer them soft.

Garnish with sour cream and/or cilantro if desired. 

Serve with rice and beans.

It made for one delicious dinner al la Darrell :o}

Janie's Pasta Salad

Janie and I fiddled around with her Silhouette craft cutter last week, figuring out the ins and outs of it.  Afterwards, she served two wonderful salads with crescent rolls for lunch.  Both were delicious, but I am only going to talk about the pasta one here.

You can use a variety of salad pastas....... your choices!  Prepare the pastas as per package directions.

Add whatever fresh ingredients you desire: cheese, carrots, celery, salami, artichoke hearts, chicken, etc.  The options are limitless!

Add the dressing:
1:1 ratio of white vinegar to rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbs honey
1/2 tsp dill weed - or more if using fresh
1 tsp basil - or more if using fresh
garlic to taste

Stir all together and let refrigerate for 2 hours or more to let flavors meld.  Eat :o}

Sweet-N-Sour Pork Chops

On my niece Lela's recommendation a few years ago, I bought Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals cookbook.  It has many meals that are not only a snap and quick to fix, but they are delicious and not your every day dishes. 

The ingredients for Sweet-N-Sour Pork Chops are:

1 Tbs toasted sesame oil 

4 boneless pork loin chops

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup apricot preserves

2 Tbs reduced sodium soy sauce

1 tsp freshly minced ginger

1/2 cup chopped scallions

Salt and pepper both sides of the chops 

Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat and cook pork chops until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.

Stir in the apricot preserves, soy sauce and ginger and simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in scallions.

Serve!

Rosemary Potato Frittata

Friends 6 a.m. breakfast this Wednesday:

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large garlic clove, crushed

4 medium potatoes

1 small onion

4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

Salt to taste

Pepper, freshly ground

12 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

 Heat the olive oil on medium low heat in an oven-proof skillet and add the garlic to let it infuse the oil. Remove garlic when browned.

 Thinly slice potatoes and onion and add to skillet along with the salt, pepper and rosemary.  Raise heat to medium and let potato mixture cook until softened and slightly browned, stirring occasionally.

Whisk eggs and milk together in a large bowl.  You may use cream or half and half instead of milk for a richer (and more caloric) flavor.  Pour into the skillet and lift potato mixture up a few places to let the eggs settle underneath.  Transfer the skillet to a 400 degree F. oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until set.

Sprinkle the cheese atop the cooked frittata and place back in oven for 2 minutes.  Serve and enjoy :o}

M*A*S*H

This winter my husband and I watched all 11 seasons of this popular TV series that began in 1973.  Though watching it was hit and miss throughout its run, it was one of my favorite TV shows.  It was a treat to see every episode during the cold, dreary months of this winter/spring.  I found myself laughing out loud one minute, only to be teary-eyed the next.  When the cast all packed up and went home on the grand finale, I was left with a huge hole in my heart.  I will miss them.  Did you realize that the final 2 hour episode, aired in 1984, had the largest audience ever tuned into a program, and held that record until one of the Superbowl games in the early 2000's?  Amazing!

~Photo courtesy of Dercum Over

This Guatemalan cowboy reminds me of Colonel Potter and his beloved horse, Sophie from the series.  What a cool older man, with his lovely peacock feather-bedecked horse!

Orange Braid

Orange Braid with Poppy Seed Filling

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup orange juice

1 egg

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

4 cups bread flour

2 tsp orange zest

1 1/4 tsp yeast

Place the above ingredients into your bread machine in the order per your manufacturer and set it on the DOUGH setting.

While the dough is being worked over, prepare the filling:

 Poppy Seed Filling

3/4 cup ground poppy seeds

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp almond extract

1 egg white, slightly beaten

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 tsp lemon zest

In saucepan over low heat, combine poppy seeds, sugar and milk.  Cook, stirring, for about 15 minutes, until thick.  Cool slightly.  Add almond extract and egg white.

Stir in raisins, pecans and lemon zest.  Set aside and cool completely. 

When dough is finished, remove to a lightly floured board or counter.  Cover with a bowl and let rest 10 to 15 minutes.

Divide dough into thirds.  Roll each third into an 18 x 3 inch rectangle.  Spread 1/3 of the filling on each rectangle, to within 1/2 inch of edge.  Pinch dough together and roll into a smooth rope.

Place the three rolls parallel to each other on a lightly greased baking sheet.

 Braid the ropes loosely.

Cover and let rise in a warm place 30-45 minutes until doubled.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until braid sounds hollow when tapped.   If braid is getting too brown, cover loosely with foil the last 10-15 minutes.

While the braid is baking, prepare orange glaze: 

Orange Glaze

1 tbsp butter

1-2 cups powdered sugar

1 orange

zest of one orange

Put above ingredients into a small saucepan and warm over low heat until butter and sugar are melted.  Amount of sugar will vary with how much juice you have in the orange. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth.  As it cools it will thicken.

Brush glaze over cooled orange braid. 

ENJOY!

I made this last night for a 6 am breakfast here today with two friends.  After it finished baking I got called into work for today, but went in 2 hours late, after breakfast!  No way was I going through all of this work to cancel this breakfast!

Kites, Colors and Crispy Critters

Bethany blogged about the Sumpango Kite Festival, a day when folks commemorate their loved ones that have passed on.  To read more about it and see more awesome photos that she took click (here).  Here are a few more from Derc's photos:

Love all the festive colors!



Splaying and roasting an entire pig in the public squares and markets was a spectacle to witness!  I was never able to photograph one while there due to safety concerns, but here is one photo, and Bethany has one on her blog of the entire pig.  True delicacy :o}

Overcomers

The rainy season of 2010 in Guatemala came in with a ferocious roar on June 1 with Tropical Storm/Hurricane Agatha, and proceeded to be the wettest, stormiest season on record for the country.  It was extremely wet and muddy during my visit.  The hardships all this caused for the weary people cannot be adequately expressed.  I do not know which storm these photos represent, but it gives you an idea what the aftermath looks like, and the struggles they have to overcome.

~Photos courtesy of Dercum Over

Don't pray for rain if you are going to complain about the mud.

~Proverb

Chimaltenango Circus

Making my way to Antigua on my final bus ride out of Bethany's PC site, we passed several vintage circus truck/trailers on their way to Chimaltenango.  One was filled with monkeys hanging from the cage bars that engulfed the trailer, and I swear I saw one daring little guy swinging on the outside of those bars as they bumped and jostled their way along the muddy, uneven roads in the traffic.  Another trailer held many majestic tigers.  Bethany and Derc were able to attend one of the apparently quite fascinating shows a few days later!

~Photo courtesy of  Dercum Over

Worth a Thousand Words

As you recall, I was unable to take good  photos when I visited my daughter in Guatemala last Fall, as  I was not known and trusted. Therefore it was not wise for me to have my camera out of my pocket very often, and when I did the picture needed to be snapped quickly,so no time for much if any thought regarding the composition of the shot.   Bethany had a few different fellow PC volunteers come and go from the same aldea where she lived, and one of them has a good eye and camera for great photography shots.  Being known and more trusted, he has had some opportunities for some spectacular photographs, and was kind enough to pass them on to Bethany before she left.  Some speak such volumes, so I would like, with his permission via Bethany, to post a few here and there.  So courtesy of Dercum Over here are the first on that list.  I took the liberty to add borders to them, but otherwise the credit goes to him!

A man's age is something impressive, it sums up his life: maturity reached slowly and against many obstacles, illnesses cured, griefs and despairs overcome, and unconscious risks taken; maturity formed through so many desires, hopes, regrets, forgotten things, loves. A man's age represents a fine cargo of experiences and memories. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry