Greek!!!!

For all you who love greek food as much as i do here it is the recipe for that sauce on Gyros that we all drool over now you can make it at home. Put it on your hamburgers, Salads or just eat it with pita bread. What ever you do with it remember to put your lips together and Say MMMMMM!

Tzatziki

1 (32 oz) Container of plain yogurt
1/2 a cucumber with peel grated (make sure to use the larger side of your grater)
1 clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped
2 TBs fresh lemon juice
2 TBs extra-virgin olive oil (or what ever kind of veg oil you can get)
2 tps grated lemon zest (use the same lemon for the juice)
3 TBs fresh dill chopped
1  tsp salt and pepper (really whatever looks good i'm not one to measure every little thing out)

Mix everything together and refrigerate for 8 hours. This means we have to think ahead people. Which is something i did not do and am now eating Canned soup for dinner tonight and waiting until tomorrow for Greek style Hamburgers.

MMMMMMMM!

All about Pie

My young women's group wants to have a pie making class in November. They wanted to learn to make pumpkin pie from a can and from an actual pumpkin. Not knowing how to make a pie from an actual pumpkin i started my quest to find out.

First for the pie crust:
Did you know that all you need to make a pie crust is four things in the right ratio. Three parts flour, two parts fat, one part liquid and a pinch of salt.

Flour: you can use flour from all purpose flour to cake flour. Sence we all have all purpose flour i think this is the thing to use. (you can do part wheat flour if you want)

Fat:  This is wear it gets interesting. the kind of fat you use will determine flavor and flakyness of your crust. Using Butter will make it very flavorful but not as flaky. Using Shortening will make your dough easier to work with but won't be as flavorfull. Lard will make the flakiest crust, But who really want to use that i can just feel my hips growing bigger. So what is the anwser... Use a combination half butter, for tast and half shortening for texture. Note: if you want your crust crispier melt your butter before using it.

Liquid: can be a number of things, Ice water, fruit juice, egg yolks, sour cream, milk or cream. The trick is that when adding liquid to the dough it sould be ice-cold this keeps the pieces of fat, we have just discussed, cool and separate. We want to leave pea sized bits of fat in our dough. Also add liquid a tablesppon at a time, so you don't add to much. if the dough gets to wet you will need more flour throwing off your ratio and resulting in tough crust.

Salt: Don't forget to add it.

Other things you could add: spices, and wheat germ (this gives your crust a nutty flavor, but i tried it and it was good.)

As for the Pumpkin part of this pie, Blake said it was great. I think Blake is full of it and has to be nice and sweat about everything. It tasted squashy and needs some revamping before i would feed it to guests.

Happy creating and i will update you on my search for actual pumpkin pie.

Thai Basil Chicken

Can you say HOT!
We had some problems with this dish but i think i got them worked out. Besides the dish being a little on the too spicy side of things the flavors are great and it's not to hard.

2 tablespoons chili oil (I have no idea where to find this i used veg oil worked great)

2 cloves garlic
3 hot chile peppers
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
5 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 cup fresh mushrooms
1 cup chopped onions
1 bunch fresh basil leaves

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the garlic and chile peppers until golden brown. Mix in chicken and sugar, and season with garlic salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is no longer pink, but not done.


Stir oyster sauce into the skillet. Mix in mushrooms and onions, and continue cooking until onions are tender and chicken juices run clear. Remove from heat, and mix in basil. Let sit 2 minutes before serving.

Notes:
The question was once asked "What makes Peppers Hot?"
Then the answer was given: The hottest part of a pepper is the placental material surrounding the seeds. The seeds themselves are not hot, although capsaicin typically gets on the surface of the seeds from contact with the surrounding tissue.
In other words if you don't want this dish to be overly spicy Remove the seeds and some of the placental material from the peppers before adding them to the dish.
(found on Hotpepper.com)

We served this over rice and drank milk with it. If you like Thai food. You will enjoy the flavors of this dish.

Chicken Parmigiana

I served this last night for dinner with friends. Everyone loved it and the funny thing is I forgot to buy the Parmesan cheese. It still worked hope you enjoy.

2 eggs Beaten
1/4lb dry bread crumbs
4(or how ever many you are making) Skinless chicken breasts
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
Mozzarella cheese to cover
Parmesan cheese to cover and Optionally add to Bread crumbs (Yumm)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Pour egg into a small shallow bowl, and bread crumbs in another bowl. Dip Chicken into egg, then into the bread crumbs. Place coated chicken on a cookie cooling rack that is set on a baking sheet (this helps the bottom of the chicken to get nice and crispy). Place in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until no longer pink and juices run clear (40 minutes was plenty for my chicken)

Pour 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce into a 7x11 inch baking dish(7x11 who has heard of that i used a 13x9 worked great) place the now lovely cooked chicken over sauce, and cover with remaining sauce. sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses on top and return to the preheated oven for 20minutes.

This dish was great. some additional ideas would be to add parmesan cheese to the bread crumbs before coating. also you don't have to pour the second half of the spaghetti over the chicken you could just have it warming on the stove to pour over your choice of noodles to go with the chicken. This would help your chicken to stay more crisp. (that's what i did but i like it crispy).

Yumm enjoy this with a green salad.

Granola

Granola is an easy way to give yourself a good start in the morning.

4 cups rolled oats (quick oats work fine too)
1 ½ c wheat germ
¾ cup slivered Almonds
¾ cup flaked coconut
¾ cup brown sugar 
¾ cup cooking oil
2 TBSP milk
2 tsp vanilla

Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl and set aside. Warm cooking oil and milk. Add sugar  Pour over other ingredients. Add vanilla. Mix well. Spread in jelly roll pan. Bake 350 degrees 20-25 minutes. Cool; Store in tightly covered container Makes about 10 cups. Add ½ c dried fruit if desired.

Wheat germ is found in the Hot cereal Isle of your grocery store and has some great health benefits. Listed here are a few.

• Lowers cholesterol
• Improves muscular energy and provides endurance
• Provides longevity and vitality
• improves reflexes
• adjust the body during stress.

I think this Breakfast cereal is something we could all use.