for the breakfast we had crepes on 24th!! its easy and nice!!
compine a cup of all-purpose flour, 2 eggs ,1/2 cup cold milk ,1/2 cup cold water, 1/4 teaspoon salt,some paprica sweet pepper, 2 tablespoons butter, melted or canola oil if you really take care of your cholesterol. the taste doesnt change much!
use a hlf cup of that mixure for each crepe on a hot frying pan! dont forget to use the cooking spray ..the crepe is ready after two minutes about when the bottom is golden brown .
I had ready the mix of ham and cheese-bacon and a spoon of cream, pepper and salt, fresh spring onions.You can compine anything you want in a pan to fill up your crepes.
Next use a baking pan. Easily roll them and placed them in a bake pan and cook them till the cheese on the top is melted! Its great to put some fresh bell peppers as well in the filling and mushrooms.
Feta cheese-tomatoes- olives-oregano -its my favorite!!!
enjoy!!! I did already!!!!

Very- very beautiful and creamy chicken ...

hey!!!
i hope that you had the same great Christmas as I did!!
I was in Idyllwild fom the Christmas and was a great time sharing up there! everything covered under snow and cold!!
And that cold gave us the reason of spending much time in front of the fire place and cooking of course plenty of different things to make us warm and our stomach happy!!!
The first day we arrived i made delicious chicken with cream sauce...
here is how:

 Cut the chicken ( 2 breast fillet) in small pieces and marinate them with soy sauce for a while..
add some canola oil in a hot pan stirring them occasionally ,season with garlic powder, pepper(no salt because the soy sauce its very salty),
add the fresh heavy cream and grated cheese,- asiago grated cheese its best, or Parmesan( 1/2 -1 cup combined + 1 1/2 cup of the cream).
 when its thick enough add some nutgmet...
add some bacon as well for extra flavor but in that case you have  bake the bacon first and then you continue with the chicken.. (use the bacon fat for cooking if you add the bacon and not canola oil!)
meanwhile take a different pan and add olive oil, a spoon of butter and 2 cups of basmati rice. I prefer basmati or Thai rice.
 Brown the rice in the oil-butter mix and then add hot water,salt and pepper, some lemon drops (will be delightful)! cook the rice slow in low heat covered with the lid, when its done drain away the extra water and let it be for 5 minutes at least,in the covered pot.

you can add fresh mushrooms if you wish..
its not a very Greek recipe but its so tasty... i like some times to add some mushrooms also .. i love mushrooms.. but not everybody i suppose..

Onion soup and croutons. Also for vegetarians!

Good morning San Diego! I love your sun!!
it is 08.20 and the sun woke me up one more time!!! anyway, sun is health and life! isn't it?today  I am in the mood for painting.but I want to tell you about the onion soup I did yesterday .. its a kind of french onion soup with many Greek details that make the difference!

I chopped well the onions(4) and then I combined some butter about 2+1/2 tablespoons with 3 tablespoons olive oil and I brown the onions about 45 minutes in low fire till they get gold brownish color. That is making them so sweet and full of taste. Then  i add some red dry wine about an espresso cup with a tsp of black sugar, I stir them for 2-3 minutes , beef broth and hot water,sea salt and pepper . I boiled it around 10-12 minutes on the low fire.

Meanwhile I baked  croutons in a high temperature  to crisp .( cut some sour dough bread slices in small tiny pieces ,season them with olive oil and oregano ) . My guests they really enjoy that soup !    One of my guests he was vegetarian so I made a different onion soup for him using the mixed veggies broth ( onion cauliflower, broccoli,carrots,potatoes).

I used the veggies that left from the broth to made an open pie! I used multi grain flour and 2 eggs , olive oil,salt and nutmeg powder and half+half for the dough. Then I press the dough into a small baking dish, filled the inside with the veggies and asiago grated cheese, pepper, garlic powder,salt and pepper,and on the top I pured a mix of 2 eggs, milk, corn flour(1 tablespoon) i seasoned that with cheese and honey and baked it to brown!!! Great!
A soup its really what you need in those "cold" nights! And that soup was out starter! We had the stuffed vegetables as well, those that I described yesterday. Its always good to combine your dinner with a glass of wine. A good red wine, some times dry or even semi-sec .Let it be for a while in a carafe to get some "air" then you can taste the full flavor of it..
Lets see what is for today! maybe some home made pita bread sandwiches with home made gyros!I have to go for groceries !

Its about time to make some Christmas food. My first Christmas in USA and I will enjoy it! but meanwhile in my head there is not Christmas without the familiar flavors..
in the Greek culture was a pork recipe for the Christmas supper. That habit is coming from the roman years as my granny use to tell me ,that they were sacrifice a pig to Goddess Demetra ,so the ground is profitable.some places they do turkey or rooster, stuffed with chestnuts and pine tree nuts, rice etc but we talk about later on..maybe Christmas eve!.
we make a homemade bread with decorations and many sweet cookies with honey .
this is what i really enjoy to make with granny! the cookies. actually it taste like cupcakes, but having thick honey syrup, and walnuts. many spices.. lets say spiced cake!! anyway my English are not the best and i hope you are getting the meaning at least.
my grand mother on 15th of December early at the morning, she started making those cookies!! i try to do it as she does! they are great! my friends here really enjoyed them!!
we need:
1 litre of olive oil and sunflower oil ( half and half),i teaspoon cinnamon powder,i teaspoon gloves powder, 1/2 cup Cognac or brandy,1 cup hot/warm water.1 cup of sugar,2 tspns baking soda ,1tspn orange skin (grated),1 cup +1/2 semolina flour and then white all purpose flour as much it takes.. we combine all the above till we have a soft to hard paste and not sticky on the fingers.
Shape them round or long pressed, prick them with a fork and bake them in hot oven around 400-450F for 30-40 minutes,have on mind to keep the distance between them cause they are getting wide one! and not shape them to big!!. meanwhile we make the syrup with 3 cups of sugar ,about 2 cups of honey and we add some fresh lemon skin just a bit, few lemon drops, cinnamon,and 2 whole gloves.3 cups of water we bring to boil for 10 minutes and let it to cool down ..
when the cookies are ready with soak them in the cold syrup for 2-3 minutes,place them on the plate and powder with cinnamon and walnuts .we add some extra honey on them on the top! oh!!! yam! they taste so nice . we call them "melomakarona " or "makarounes" and we use to give them to the carolers on the Christmas eve ,when they knock our doors to sing for us the Christ Birth!
enjoy
! they are Delicious even there is not butter! and much more healthier! believe me!! almost i ate them all!
see ya

Emmanuel

am cooking everyday , for the people that i love. i love cooking. We do not remember days; we remember moments, and the moments i remember are great! moments of joy and love, moments of happiness and sadness sometimes. My cooking moments are so great! sometimes are bad, specially when you dont have somebody to cook for.. it is not great tomake food for your self.. its nice to share. food is for sharing, like kisses, the only differense is that cooking last longer than kisses..hah!
my grand mother she was going everyday to the farmers market. it was a small market in the island, sometimes were just 3-4 villagers there with their products.But believe me, were so tasty eveytime on the season! you couldnt find any tomatoes during the winter..anyway tomatoes on the winter taste nothing. but now adays you can have tomatoes, and alla summer vegetables on the table!
it is a great vegetables recipe the stuffed tomatoes and bell peppers, even eggplants, or zucchinis! or all together!
me and granny were going to the market, to choose tomatoes, red and not hard. long zucchinies or round, belle peppers that could stand in the pan...
then we placed the vegetables in pan,tomatoes upside down so the stalk is on the botttom. we open the top of the tomatoesin a thin slice. empty them with a teaspoon. we do the same to the peppers( get rid of the seeds) and then we mix tomato stuff with a pepper blended well , 1+1/2 table spoon of white long grain rice for each veggy , italian parsley 2 tblspoons well chopped, some dry peppermint, and basil, salt and pepper, olive oil . then we fill the empty veggies, not to the top but a finger below, we close them with the top slices and we seasoned with bread crumbs so the top are not bearned , salt and pepper. slice some potatoes and place them between the stuffed veggies so they dont move and put water in the pan to reach the 1/4 of the veggies.. some olive oil and bake at 400F hot oven till the rice is done! in the pan you put as well the reat of the filling stuff.. and dont forget to check all the time,if there is water enough! if its more than it should be take it off!!
this is what i will make today .. maybe not with summer tomatoes, but its a great veggie plate! together with cheese some yellow hard cheese is the best cause it contains much more vitamins than white one! like parmesan f.e

emmanuel

12/15/2009

hey !
someone said that " you don't mind the rain if you haven't see the sunshine" and i do mind! i grew up in the sunshine in Greece! Thank God San Diego is blessed with the sun!
So, today its a nice sun on the sky, and makes me think of my grand mother and our time together! Was a wise woman  and a great cook! I decided to share that Greek way of cooking, 22 years after she went to meet the angels..
Who said that guys cannot cook?I will try to make the Greek recipes like she did, and I hope that she will help me and will be proud of me..
Lets start with the the salads!
A Greek salad has to be with fresh tomatoes,cucumbers, onions ,green bell peppers, capers, olives,feta cheese and seasoned with salt and oregano! don't forget the olive oil! this is the real Greek salad. mix all the ingredients and add at the end the olive oil, and if you like some wine vinegar. you can serve the salad for lunch or for dinner starter. Usually I serve it with some crispy toasted bread with oil, garlic, oregano and salt. Delicious!
  I  am already  sick of "Greek"restaurants here with no real Greek Food. Humus, falaffel ,kempab, etc are not Greek but Arabic

(Its best to use the full taste oil and not the mild ones. so try the extra virgin. Good olive oil seems to be a matter of taste! Smooth and full flavor, not bitter. Olive oil is very well tolerated by the stomach. In fact, olive oil's protective function has a beneficial effect on ulcers and gastritis. Olive oil activates the secretion of bile and pancreatic hormones much more naturally than prescribed drugs Consequently, it lowers the incidence of gallstone formation.)
There are many health benefits of eating tomatoes. Tomatoes contain compounds that have been proven to help prevent cancer, heart disease cataracts and many others. the same for cucumbers and peppers and onions!
OK we are done with the salad.. and as my grand mother use to say , "salad is the secret of youth and the good time in the toilet!"