Fattoush

The student in charge of the salad course for our Mediterranean meal was really stumped, thinking she'd never had anything like that before. I reminded her of a great restaurant in town, Bella Luna, and how much she loves that place--oh yeah!! Fattoush!

We used this recipe from all recipes, and after more than a few trips to different grocery stores, I finally found the mint we needed and we were ready to prep. (I think I should grow my own mint, right? I hear it's easy.... )

Fattoush

Ingredients:
3 pita rounds, torn into pieces
oil for frying
6 cups torn romaine lettuce
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 small cucumbers, peeled and diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 green onions, minced
15 fresh mint leaves, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon cilantro

Dressing:
1/4 cup lemon juice (I would start with 2 Tablespoons, taste the dressing, and go up to 1/4 cup as necessary--you can get too tangy here)
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 pinch celery salt
1 pinch garlic powder
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
1.Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place pita pieces into the skillet without crowding. Fry in batches until browned; then remove to paper towels.
2.Place romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell pepper, green onions, mint leaves, parsley, and cilantro into a large bowl.
3.Pour lemon juice and white wine vinegar into a small bowl. Season with salt, lemon pepper, onion flakes, celery salt, and garlic powder. Stir in olive oil.
4.Gently toss salad with fried pita pieces and dressing. Adjust seasonings to taste, and serve.

Greek Chicken Wings with cucumber sauce

I am convinced that no matter what cuisine from around the whole world you choose to base a meal around, teenagers will figure out how to work chicken wings into it, whether they're buffalo, barbecue, or, in this case, Greek!

These would be great right alongside the regular buffalo wings at a football party. We found this recipe on Taste of Home.

Greek Chicken Wings

Makes 17 servings

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 pounds frozen chicken wingettes, thawed

CUCUMBER SAUCE:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup chopped peeled cucumber
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons snipped fresh dill or 2 teaspoons dill weed
1 garlic clove, peeled
Dash salt

DIRECTIONS
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the lemon juice, oil, honey, oregano, garlic and salt. Add chicken wings; seal bag and toss to coat. Refrigerate overnight. In a blender, combine the sauce ingredients; cover and process until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl; cover and refrigerate until serving. Drain and discard marinade. Place wings on a rack in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 35-40 minutes or until juices run clear, turning once. Serve with cucumber sauce. Yield: about 3 dozen (1 cup sauce).

Mediterranean Grilled Vegetable Soup

For the final meal preparation in ProStart, the students chose to do a Mediterranean themed meal. They each chose one course to prepare and then had to find a recipe to make. The person who chose soup chose this recipe from Eating Well (another good recipe from them!). It was so easy to make, has no cooking time (although you could serve it hot), really healthy, and so fresh and good tasting! Definitely not a pretty looking dish, but really good!

Mediterranean Grilled Vegetable Soup
2 red bell peppers, cored and quartered lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, cored and quartered lengthwise
2 small zucchini, trimmed and quartered lengthwise
1 red onion, peeled and cut into ½ inch thick slices
1 t olive oil
3 large tomatoes, cored and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled
½ t oregano
¼ c basil leaves, shredded
1 T red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups water or chicken broth or vegetable broth

1/4 cup milk or cream (we added milk and broth AFTER this picture was taken, to make it creamier. Much better!)

Prepare a grill or preheat the broiler. Grill or broil bell peppers, skin side toward the flame, until the skin is blackened, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in a paper bag and set aside for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, brush zucchini and onion slices with oil and grill or broil until well browned and tender, about 5 minutes. Chop coarsely and set aside.
Peel the peppers. Coarsely chop the yellow pepper and set aside with the reserved zucchini and onions. Place the red peppers in a food processor or blender, along with tomatoes, garlic, and oregano; puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in 2 cups water or broth, milk or cream, basil, vinegar, and the reserved chopped vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. (we pureed everything together at this point). Cover and refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes. The soup can be stored and covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Per serving: (6 servings in recipe): 56 calories, 2 g protein, 1 g fat, 11 g carb, 12 mg sodium

Crowd Pleaser Cinnamon Rolls

I may have found a new favorite for my cinnamon roll recipe. Most people try a million chooclate chip recipes--I finally found one I love--but I am looking for the perfect cinnamon rolls. This recipe from Better Homes and Gardens is really great, and really easy. This picture also belongs to them--ours actually wound up looking very similar to these! Next time I make them I will be sure to take my own picture! For some reason I've been forgetting lately.

Crowd Pleaser Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 12

4 to 4 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 pkg fast rising active dry yeast
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup water
½ cup sugar
½ cup cooking oil
½ teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
¼ cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
1 t light colored corn syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla
Milk to reach drizzling consistency for icing (about 2 T)

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour and yeast. In small saucepan, combine milk, water, the ½ cup sugar, oil, and salt. Heat; stir over medium heat just until warm.
2. Add milk mixture and egg yolks to dry mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl often. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour in as you can.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that’s smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes). Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
4. Roll out dough to form a 14x12 inch rectangle. Spread with softened butter or margarine. Sprinkle with a mixture of 1/3 cup cinnamon and sugar.
5. Roll up, jelly roll style, starting from long side. Seal seam. Slice into 12 pieces. Place in greased 9x13 pan. Cover; let rise in warm place until nearly doubled (20 minutes).
6. Bake in a 375 oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly; remove from pan. Frost warm rolls with vanilla icing. Serve rolls warm or cool on a wire rack. Makes 12 rolls.
Vanilla Glaze:
In a small bowl, stir together 1 ¼ cups sifted powdered sugar, 1 t light colored corn syrup, and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Add enough milk to reach drizzling consistency.

Cheesy Lasagna Rolls

These are a variation of a recipe found here. Simple and easy to assemble within the 45 minute time constraint of our class. (I'm one of the few in the building pretty excited for block schedule next year!) This recipe makes enough for 8 hungry teenagers! We sprinkled a little extra of the shredded cheese on top, too. You could easily add meat to these--shredded chicken would be great with the white "sauce" inside.

Cheesy Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients:

16 lasagna noodles

2 cups cottage cheese

1/2 c shredded mozzarella

1/2 c shredded parmesan

1 T plus 1 t dried oregano

2 t dried thyme

Pepper to taste

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped fine

2 eggs

2 jars of pasta sauce (we used 1.5 of the "regular" sized spaghetti sauce cans)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.Cook your noodles according to directions until just slightly under cooked. They will cook more in the oven.Combine the cheese in a bowl. Measure out ¼ cup of the mixture and set aside. Mix the remaining ingredients (except for the pasta sauce), into the cheese mixture.
Remove the noodles from the water, and set on a sprayed or lined baking sheet - do not overlap or they will stick together.Prep two 8"x8" baking dishes with oil, then adding a thin layer of pasta sauce to the bottom of each.Take about 2-3 tablespoons of the cheese mixture, and spread it over a lasagna noodle. Roll the noodle and place it in the baking dish seam side down. Repeat with remaining noodles. Top the lasagna rolls with the remainder of the pasta sauce. Then sprinkle on the reserved mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Wrap the baking dish with aluminum foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook another 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and starting to turn golden.

Oriental Fried Rice

This is another one of those recipes that can be adjusted according to your preferences very easily. It's best when you make it with rice that's at least one day old! Pour your leftover rice out of the takeout box and add some fresh ingredients to it to stretch that meal one more day. No picture--hungry kids, bell about to ring. It was good stuff! You could stand to cut back on the soy sauce a touch if you want to cut the salt a little.

Oriental Fried Rice

1 ½ c rice
3 c water
1 t salt
1 T margarine

2 T oil
2 eggs
1/3 c chopped green onion
1/3 c chopped green peppers
1/3 c chopped celery
¼ c soy sauce

1 cube chicken bouillon

Combine soy sauce and bouillon in a separate bowl and let sit until dissolved.

Bring water to a boil. Add salt and margarine. Add rice and stir together. Reduce the heat to low and cover with lid. Follow package instructions for time to simmer. After cooked, remove from heat and let sit covered for 3 minutes. Remove lid and fluff with fork.

When the rice is about five minutes from being done, begin this sequence:
Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium heat.
Add eggs and quickly scramble until cooked and in small particles.
Add green onion, green peppers, and celery and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Add soy sauce/bouillon mixture to skillet.
Once everything is combined, add the hot cooked rice to the skillet. Enjoy!

Back for a moment!

I have taken the last week off not out of choice, but because of no time! See, even my dog is giving me the puppy dog eyes that tell me he hasn't seen me enough lately! :)
We successfully fed a little under 300 people at the high school's dinner theater. Many many batches of potato soup and cream cheese icing later, we were done. The meal was simple: salads, turkey and cheese sandwiches, potato soup, and devil's food cupcakes with cream cheese icing. With that and all the other things going on, I am finally back!
This week, Russ and Norris finished our countertops and backsplash and I LOVE it!! I feel like I'm in a new kitchen! These pictures don't do much, but it's great and I love it! No more yellow in the kitchen or the bathroom....woooo hooo!!! Before and after photos...I resorted to prepackages food a couple times this week....made a trip to Great Harvest and it's just as good as I remembered. Wandered around Whole Foods a few minutes and came out with these things. You should make an emergency trip to your nearest Whole Foods or other store like that and treat yourself to some. You won't be disappointed! I guess they must be really good if I felt compelled to take a picture of the actual bag. DORK!!Then we went and wandered through some Parade of Homes places. It's most fun if you go to places you couldn't ever afford. Like this--5000 square foot penthouse corner loft in the new WaterWalk development. This is the view from the bedroom floor (looks out over some of downtown) and the floor below it is living space. The master bathroom counter was so long that I could lay down between the two sinks. Of coures I didn't actually lay down, but I know it was THAT big!! Then the upper floor is your own private rooftop terrace with indoor party room attached. Sweet!! Except you don't have any sort of lawn. Not so cool. The plan for the building is to put a pool on the bottom level and have cafes and shops. Should be a pretty cool area once it's done!

Went to my grandparents' today for my pre birthday dinner, and it was great as always! They are pretty good at throwing together a great lunch considering I called at eight this morning to tell them we were coming... :) But I think grandparents always like surprise visits from their grandkids, right? Thanks again for lunch!!

And I will come to a close because I don't have anything else to say/don't want to bore anyone any more!! Soccer tomorrow night and then I'll actually cook at home a few times this week!