AmyWell it's that time of the year again kiddies! I thought that with 4th of July fastly approaching some recipes to use up any leftover watermelon would be helpful. This recipe is as easy as it gets. There's plenty of room for improvising as well. And I am unable to recall the source for this recipe. Whoever you are, I thank ye! GeorgiaThis past week found our household a little chaotic. Moving back to NM from CA, having my great nephew with us. Randy going back and forth to finish up everything at the house in CA. So I kept it pretty simple by making a watermelon green tea. I love watermelon and am so glad Amy chose it as our food challenge this week. Her salad looks yummy and the watermelon green tea was (is) very refreshing.
We are looking forward to next week when life settles down a bit. Until then, Amy, Georgia, Nikita and Jen
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JenWe’re headed to a party today and we’re bringing along this delicious side dish! The name on the recipe is a little long…so I will just call it “Couscous Salad”. :) I love cold summer dishes at a summer BBQ. I tested this recipe out at another party last year and it was fantastic. Hopefully it tastes as good as I remember! AmyI love couscous so I am all in on this food challenge. Couscous is far more versatile then people realize. This go around I decided on a sweet dish rather than savory. I've made this particular dish before. I love it best for breakfast but it can be eaten whenever you like. I changed it up a little this go round and found myself most pleased with the results. NikitaNikita and Matt are still in Russia.. thankfully sharing their fabulous pictures.. GeorgiaThis week I made a taco marinade chicken and this southwestern couscous. I won't even spend too much time on the recipe. Make your couscous per directions. Saute onions and red peppers (really any veggies you choose) add black beans and cumin (My kitchen was very limited) add couscous, I sprinkled with fresh lime juice. Enjoy Until next week,
Jen, Amy, Nikita and Georgia Georgia So this was my week to choose the food challenge and while Nikita and her husband are in Russia for the World Cup their son Christopher is hanging out with us. I thought I would do my best to make some kid friendly meals. I made this very easy and not too shabby spaghetti dish. Both the kid and the husband liked it well enough. It's called meatball spaghetti dump casserole. Make or buy your meatballs. cook whatever pasta you like. Place it all in a casserole, pour over spaghetti sauce cover with mozzarella or in my case whatever in is the fridge. Place in a 350 oven for about a half hour. Serve.. Taadaa!! JenThis is not a recipe, per se, but it is a kid friendly food idea I like to use in my house! Food…that looks like something else. Rather than buy special ingredients to make it happen, use whatever you have on hand and/or whatever is in season. My younger daughter asked for a lion, which normally would result in me making one lion, but for the sake of this blog, my older daughter and I put together a few! We could have gone on…maybe a macaroni and cheese mane as another idea, but I was too hungry to continue. :) Some look more like lions than others, but the beauty of it is that the kid(s) eating it don’t really care!! 1 – Orange, banana, pineapple, raisins 2 – Orange, Cheetos (Lol), banana, pineapple, olive 3 – Pineapple, carrot, orange, banana, olives 4 – Hummus, crackers, raisins, cheese In other news, last week I made pirozhki for the Russian food challenge, and while I was dissatisfied with the rolls, I still had leftover filling to use. I ended up mixing them both together (ground turkey, cabbage + bean), and using it in a quesadilla with mozzarella cheese. Pirozhki quesadilla. Priozhkadilla??? Lol Anyway, it was a big hit. I should have taken pictures. And I should write it down in my recipe book. DELICIOUS. :) Jen NikitaAmyIf there's one thing I hate more than kids it's kid friendly food! So that's a lie. I tolerate children and I will occasionally f up some chicken nuggets. If I've learned anything about children as picky eaters it's that we made them that way. It's our fault! Though one meal kids seem to do well with is breakfast. Even there you get the occasional kid who won't eat a fried egg if the edges are burnt. I call that child weirdo. I found a slight twist on French toast that seemed like a kid might eat it. And here it is: It's pretty obvious who has small people in their home on a regular basis. Jen's kid friendly foods are the cutest.
Until next week when it's Jen's choice Georgia, Jen, Nikita and Amy NikitaThis is Zephyr - a gourmet, fruity marshmallow dessert. The recipe below will call for blackberries, but I used raspberries instead. They have an explosion of flavor and so easy to make IF you have the appropriate tools. I say this because I've never felt the absence of a stand mixer in my kitchen until now. My handy-dandy electric mixer has worked with me throughout the years and helped me to accomplish some incredibly yummy foods. But, one of my beaters completely tore apart, so I was left with only one beater. It can be difficult to whip up egg whites into a meringue with one beater. Also, there are parts to this recipes that need to be done while you are whipping the eggs white. If you google search Zefir, the delicacies look like cute, piped roses covered in powdered sugar. I couldn't achieve the stiff peaks, so mine are not as pretty. These would be adorable at a baby shower or wedding if you can get the piping right. Zazdarovje! GeorgiaSo.. I've never made Russian food before. I'm guessing unless you are Russian most haven't. Needless to say I had to whip out ole Mrs. Pinterset (Yes she is a Mrs.). Pinterest has a great many Russian recipes, however when Russian meatballs popped up I knew I need look no further because in this house we never really need a good excuse to make them. I followed the recipe exactly as it was suggested with one exception. I coated mine in flour before browning. It makes for a crispy exterior. The meatballs were spot on.. The sauce was delish, however we both felt it was missing a little something. Like Vodka.. JenI attempted to talk with a Russian accent while making pirozhki this week, which made for a comical experience. My daughter and her friend said I was wavering between sounding Italian and then like Dracula. :) The two different fillings in this recipe were both quite good. The rolls, not so much. I substituted ground turkey for beef (cheaper, healthier), and for the veggie version, white beans instead of mushrooms (because my husband hates mushrooms). AmyPerestroika and all that. Russian cuisine in the middle of a heat wave....riiiiiiighhhttt... I googled Russian Summer recipes and this cold soup kept popping up and I had all of the ingredients on hand (Yep even the mineral water.) Healthy and refreshing. It didn't require an oven. Two things, don't be shy with the seasoning and eat it asap. So it's called Okroshka. As I said there's quite a few sites on the world wide web that have this recipe. I went with this one Schastlivaya yeda! That without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, moribund.” ― from “Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook” My prayers go out to those who are left behind to pick up all the broken pieces.
Amy Growing up in Florida in the 1970's was a foodie paradise. Citrus trees, avocados, cumquats....fresh fish...Where Gigi and I grew up we had a killer deli, a Swedish bakery, an awesome pizzeria...an ice cream stand in the form of a giant ice cream cone. The list goes on. Florida is still a culinary gold mine if you know where to look. Also, we in the South take our barbeque very seriously. While Florida may not be my favorite place on the planet, the grub is good. While my choice of food for the challenge isn't something that you'll find all over Florida it definitely has ingredients that scream Florida. My choice of food is based on the fact that it's currently damn hot here in Oklahoma. I get cranky in hot weather. And my appetite tends to go completely nil. My kitchen gets terribly hot. So I wanted something fast an easy. While this is a vegetarian meal, I do believe that it can be easily adapted for chicken and pork. Possibly fish as well. You could also got for a more authentic barbeque by skipping breading the meat and smearing it with the homemade sauce and pop those bad boys onto your grill. I made french fries that remind me of the french fries that are served at the Varsity in Atlanta, Georgia. Whilst consuming this lovely little meal I was pleasantly reminded of the ocean and little league baseball and all of the good things that made growing up in a smallish beach town in south Florida almost magical. So here's to home and the halcyon days of Summer! NikitaAlthough I was born in Florida, I was reared in Dahlonega, Georgia. Georgia will always be my hometown. Growing up, my family met our biological needs for food through basic meals that included Shake-n-bake pork chops with a box of Velveeta and some frozen corn. We also ate meals like meatloaf made from venison and mashed potatoes with corn, or even squirrel n' dumplings with....corn. Lots of corn. I don't enjoy eating corn today as a side dish unless it's on the cob. It wasn't until I met Matt's grandmother, Nell who lived in South Georgia most of her life, when I learned how to cook southern Georgia food - Georgia Popcorn (Fried Okra), Squash Casserole (Lots of Mayo), & Blueberry Cobbler. She wrote down many recipes for me to carry on her cooking traditions for Matt and our family - and I love it! BUT as we age, we cannot indulge in the calories of the South as often. I wish I had more time to share one of her recipes this week, but time just escaped me. Instead, I am sharing an easy Drop Biscuit recipe that took 10 minutes to mix and 10 minutes to bake. While indulging with warm melted butter and honey drizzled over them, I realized I will always be a Georgia girl! GeorgiaSo this week was hometown food. Fun choice that Amy made. I have been traveling this week and not in my hometown, but thought it would be fun to share one of my meals along the way. This just happened to be a yummy breakfast that was prepared for us by my cousin. His pancakes were so amazing. Sourdough (Made with his own San Fran starter) pancakes with blueberries and bananas, sausage from his hometown in GA and scrambled eggs Side note: I have not moved to VA. The photo was taken while in VA JenEach week I usually start by asking my husband if he has any requests. This week, when I asked him what food reminds him of home, he responded with, “Halibut”. Bleh. “I’m not making fish!” I replied. “I don’t eat fish.” “I’m not eating halibut from HERE anyway,” he said, with a smile. Touché. So then I had to think about what food reminds me of here, as a born and raised Phoenician. Mexican food. Definitely Mexican food. What else? And then it hit me – Indian Fry Bread. YES. I haven’t had it in years, and have never made it myself, until now. I prefer to eat mine as a sweet treat, topped with powdered sugar and honey. Eating it today reminded me of growing up and visiting the State Fair. Delicious. As we move through our lives and find new adventures, memories of home bring us back to a time of peace & happiness. Those memories stay with us forever, and sometimes it just takes a nibble of something special to remember them. "There's no place like home." - Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz.
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