Romanian Meatball Soup (Ciorba de Perisoare)

This is such a delicious soup I just have to share it with you.  It’s a very traditional soup, and it’s one of my favorite soups.  ”Ciorba” in romanian usually refers to sour soups with vegetables and some form of meat.  They are made sour by adding either lemon juice, “bors” which is fermented wheat bran, sauerkraut juice, or sometimes even vinegar.  Most of the time I just use lemon juice and this gives the soup a very nice sour taste.  Also Romanians differentiate between “ciorba” and soup, soup is usually clear and has no added acid.  I grew up with this soup, my mother used to make it quite often, and as I said it’s one of my favorites.  Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

For the meatballs:

• 1 lb of ground meat (you can use chicken, pork, turkey, beef, whatever you prefer, you may even combine meat, such as beef and pork)
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of long grain rice
• 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
• parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

For the soup:

• 1 onion chopped
• 2 carrots grated, or cut in very small pieces
• 2 stalks of celery cut in very small pieces
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste or 1 cup of tomato juice
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• parsley

To start this off it’s very simple.  Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs and start forming small meatballs about 1 inch in diameter, or even smaller, depends on how much patience you have.  The smaller they are the cuter they look.

In a big pot, heat the oil and then add the vegetables and fry until the onion is clear. Add about 6 to 8 cups of water, you may even add beef or chicken broth to this, depending on the meat you’re using.  Wait for the soup to start boiling, then add the meatballs one at a time.  Keep boiling, when the meatballs are done, they will rise to the top, add the the tomato juice or paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper and let the soup simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes.  When the soup is done, add the parsley. Serve this hot with a bit of sour cream.

Honey Glazed Rack of Pork Ribs

What's for dinner tonight? Well, I looked in the fridge and I noticed my husband bought a nice big rack of pork ribs, so I decided to make honey glazed rack of pork ribs with some mashed potatoes on the side.  Don't let this scare you, the glaze took me about 2 minutes to make, so the recipe is super easy and trust me it's so worth it and you'll love it.

• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• juice of a lemon
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4 cloves of garlic crushed
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 1tbsp yellow mustard
• a rack of pork ribs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Now this is super easy to do, just mix all of the ingredients, excluding the rack of pork ribs, in a large bowl  and whisk well.  Add the pork ribs and massage the glaze all over the pork ribs thoroughly.

Place the ribs in a large roaster and pour the remaining glaze over it.  Bake in the oven for about 1 hour and a half and every 20 minutes or so, baste the ribs with the drippings from the pan.

Absolutely delicious. This was definitely worth it.

Enjoy!

Tripe Soup (Ciorba de Burta)

Tripe Soup (Ciorba de Burta)

Jo’s Easy Tiramisu

Tiramisu is one of those wonderful cakes, and probably one of the most popular Italian cakes.  I used to think Tiramisu is one of those really hard to make cakes, but quite a few years ago, a friend of mine showed me how to make it really easily.  I used to make it quite often, wherever I needed to bring a dish I would always bring this Tiramisu and people just loved it.  So, it’s easy, so much fun to make, and need I say, so much fun to eat, and it’s just scrumptious. Absolutely yummy! So here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 1/4 cups of mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 24 ladyfingers
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups of brewed coffee

You know what’s so great about this cake, it does not require baking, so really how can it get any easier.  Anyway, in a mixer beat the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla extract until light, fluffy and smooth.  Fold the mascarpone cheese into the egg mixture with a spatula.  Set aside.

Dip the ladyfingers in coffee and arrange 12 of them in the bottom of an 8×8 inch dish.  You don’t have to soak them in the coffee for a long time, just briefly dip them on both sides.  Spread half of the cheese mixture over the ladyfingers and repeat with the remaining ladyfingers, then cheese mixture.  Now you need to cover this and refrigerate it for about 1 hour then sprinkle the cocoa powder just before serving.  It looks beautiful, and people will think you spent hours slaving over this in the kitchen.

Enjoy!

Cheese "Cake" (Prajitura cu branza)

So this is an interesting cake, it's called a cheesecake but it's not your traditional cheesecake with cream cheese.





This is yet another traditional Romanian recipe that I just love.  It's an easy to make cake, and the big difference between this cake and your traditional cheesecake is this is made with ricotta cheese.  This cake is light, and it's delicious. Here are the ingredients you'll need to make this cake:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup of flour
• 500g of ricotta cheese

Preheat the oven at 375 degrees.  In a mixer, add 2 of the eggs and 1/2 cup of the sugar and mix well until light and fluffy. Add the sour cream and the melted butter and mix well.  Add the flour and the baking powder, and mix well.

In another bowl mix the ricotta with the remainder of the sugar and the remaining 2 eggs and mix well.  You may also add raisins with ricotta if you wish.  Personally I like a few raisins in this cake, so now would be the time to add about 1/2 cup of raisins.

You can use a cheesecake pan, butter it well.  Pour the cake batter first, then pour the ricotta mix in the middle.  Do not mix.  Bake until golden brown.  Let cool before serving.  You may also sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of the cake.

Easy and delicious.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Salad (Salata de vinete)

Have I got a treat for you! I mentioned before, I'm not crazy about eggplants, but this dish is one of my favorites, honestly.  I would say it's more of a spread than truly a salad, but you serve this salad on some nice crusty bread with some sliced tomatoes on the side, oh man, it doesn't get better than this.  It is the simplest recipe in the world, only 3 ingredients and it's just to die for.  I have grown up eating this salad, and it's probably one of the first things I ever learned how to make. So the 3 ingredients are:

• 3 or 4 large eggplants
• 1/4 cup of sunflower oil (do not use olive oil, doesn't taste good in this sald)
• salt to taste

Now to prepare, is just as easy, you can either put these eggplants on a grill and make sure you cook them on all sides, or you can simply bake them in the oven at 375 degrees, so you could put them on a cookie sheet, poke some holes in the eggplants, this is a very important step, once I forgot to poke holes in the eggplants, and they literally exploded in my oven.  So just bake them in the oven, make sure they are baked really well, and you'll have to turn them from side to side.  Once they are done, let them cool off.

After they've cooled off, remove the peel, using a knife, if you've cooked them enough, the peel should come off easily.  You may wash them, to remove any of the dark peel, but make sure you use paper towels to soak up the excess water.  Place them in your food processor, add the salt, and turn it on, slowly adding the sunflower oil.  It should end up like a paste as you can see in the picture.  And that's it, if the salad is still a bit warm, just put it in the fridge and let it cool off, it's better cold.

You can serve them with nice crusty bread, toasted or not, and just some sliced tomatoes on the side, and you've got yourself a meal.

Now there are other variations of this salad, you could add mayo, or mustard, but I've tried it and this simple recipe is still my favorite version of it.

Enjoy!

Moussaka with Ground Beef and Potatoes

Well, what's for dinner tonight? How about this great moussaka with ground beef and potatoes.  Now I know traditionally moussaka has eggplant in it, but my version has potatoes and beef.  I'm not a big fan of eggplant, though I will share a great recipe of this eggplant salad with you.  Now I'm not sure if moussaka is traditionally Greek or Arabic, but my version, I guess you could call it a Romanian version of moussaka.  So here are the ingredients you'll need for my version of moussaka:

• 1 1/2 lb of potato
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 lb of ground beef (you may substitute pork or chicken)
• 1  1/2 cups of tomato sauce
• fresh basil
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup of yogurt
• 1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Boil the peeled potatoes until tender, but not cooked completely.  Meanwhile, in a sauce pan, melt the butter and add the chopped onion and ground meat.  Fry the meat and onion for about 5 min then add the tomato sauce and the basil.
Now, slice the potatoes about 1/2 cm wide.  Grab a 9x13 pan and coat it lightly with olive oil.  Now we start layering, start with a layer of potatoes, we can probably make 3 layers of potatoes, but at least 2 layers, so one layer of potatoes, one layer of the meat, then repeat until finished, the top layer should be potatoes.
Mix the yogurt with the beaten egg and spread over the potatoes, then sprinkle with cheddar cheese.  Now of course instead of the yogurt you could make a bechamel sauce, but this is just as delicious, and easier.
Now you may say, Jo, this isn't really easy, seems like a lot of steps, but really if you think about it, it's quite simple, meat and potatoes and you layer them.  It's a bit time consuming because you have to wait for the potatoes to boil, but come on, trust me it will be worth it in the end.
Enjoy!

Mushrooms and Chicken in White Sauce

So this is another Romanian recipe that I grew up with, in Romanian it's called ciulama cu ciuperci si pui.  It's super simple to make, and basically you could make it with or without chicken, if you're vegetarian.  This is one of those recipes that would go perfectly with polenta or mamaliga as we call it.  I just made this tonight, and I'd say it took me about 15 or 20 min to get everything going, and then you just let it simmer for about 30 minutes.  I made this for dinner tonight, along with my favorite banana nut bread.  Here are the ingredients you'll need:

• 3 cans of mushrooms
• 1 lb of chicken breast cut in small pieces
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 3 tbsp of butter
• 1 onion chopped
• fresh dill
• 2 cups of water
• salt and pepper to taste

To make this, in a deep pan, melt the butter and the chopped onion and saute for 3 minutes.  Add the chicken breast  and cook until chicken is no longer pink.  Add the mushrooms and 2 cups of water, add salt and pepper.  In a small bowl whisk the sour cream with the flour and a tbsp of water.  Add the sour cream mixture to the pan and stir well.  Make sure the heat is on low, so that it doesn't burn, let this simmer for about 30 min.  Add the fresh dill and serve warm.  Enjoy!

Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup

Here's an easy soup, that's very healthy and quick to make.  This roasted garlic and tomato soup is easy and quick to make and very healthy.  Here  are the ingredients you’ll need:

• 1 garlic bulb
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 big tomatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

First, start off with roasting the garlic bulb, if you’ve never done this before it’s quite easy, cut off the top and drizzle with some olive oil and salt.  We need to roast the garlic, the tomatoes and the onion, same with the tomatoes and onion, cut in half and drizzle with some olive oil and salt and roast in the oven.  After roasting squeeze the garlic out in a pot, add the roasted tomatoes, the onions, vegetable stock spices and thyme and puree in a food processor, or with a hand held one.  I find it a lot easier with the hand held ones.  That’s all there is to it, when you serve it, add some of the grated Parmesan cheese on top, and serve with a nice slice of toasted bread.  Nice, easy and healthy.  Enjoy!

Jo’s Chicken Pot Pie

Well my husband asks me all the time when am I going to make him some chicken pot pie and I always put it off thinking that it’s such a huge job.  Well I decided to try and see if it’s really such a big deal, so my husband went grocery shopping and bought all the ingredients I needed.  To simplify this I decided to use the regular puff pastry I always use.  It was so easy to prepare, I had no idea, so I think I will make this a lot more often now.  I must say, it turned out looking beautiful and just simply delicious.  The one I made ended up making about 6 servings, so here are the ingredients you will need:

• 1 onion chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 2 potatoes cut into small cubes
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 can of sliced mushrooms
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 lb of skinless boneless chicken thighs (you can use chicken breast)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 box of puff pastry (you’ll need two sheets)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To start off I wanted to bake my bottom pastry, just to make sure it will be cooked and it will not get soggy, so I put it in a 9×13 pan, but you can use whatever pie pan you have.  So as I said, I stretched the bottom pie sheet on the pan and baked it for about 10 min until golden brown.  Also you will want to poke some holes in it, so it won’t puff up.  Next in a deep frying pan, melt the butter and then add the onion, carrots, potatoes, chicken and mushrooms and saute for about 10 minutes.  The potatoes should be soft and the chicken cooked.  Add the frozen peas, mushroom soup, salt and pepper, and flour and cook for a few more minutes until the sauce thickens, which means the flour has cooked.  Add this mixture to your pie pastry that has been baked and cover with your second pie pastry and fix the edges.  You will also need to poke some holes here and if you wish brush it with an egg.  Bake in the oven for about 30 min until the pastry is golden brown.  Serve warm.  It’s simply delicious. Enjoy!

Crepes (Clatite)

Well this is my favorite dessert ever, probably because as a child I ate this a lot, we made them quite often when we were kids.  They are easy to make, and let's be honest, but you can fill them with anything you like.  My favorite filling is nutella, or just any plain old jam, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, apricot, whatever you have in your fridge.  I'm making them now because my husband bought this great blueberry Saskatoon jam, and it would be a waste not to make some crepes for it.  Another way these crepes are served, is with a cheese filling inside usually made from ricotta, eggs, sugar, sour cream and raisins and folded into squares then baked for a few minutes, but for today I'm sticking with the awesome Saskatoon blueberry jam. Anyway here are the ingredients you'll need for the crepes:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tbsp butter
• oil for frying

Mix all the ingredients in a mixer really well and let sit for a few minutes.  In the meantime heat a non stick frying pan with a 1/2 tsp of oil really well.  It is very important that the pan is very hot.  Pour 3/4 of a ladle of the crepe mixture into the pan and spread the mixture to cover the entire pan, by rotating the pan.  Leave about 1 to 2 min per side then flip over.  Repeat steps until you've prepared all the crepes.  When you're done use your favorite jam and spread about a tsp of jam per crepe, then roll the crepe.

These crepes are very versatile, they could even be made savory and filled with chicken, or mushrooms or anything you can imaging.  No matter which way you make them, they are simply delicious.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Rumballs

I've made these chocolate rumballs many times and people just love them.  If we have a pot luck at work, I usually make these, I make them for the holidays, I simply just make them because they are easy to make and they are absolutely delicious.  If you don't want to add real rum, you can add rum extract, but they are much better with real rum in my opinion.  I can't remember now where I got this recipe, I just know I've been making these for a few years now and they are very popular.  Anyway, here's what you'll need:

• 1 box of chocolate cake (follow instructions to bake the cake)
• 1/4 cup good cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup of good rum
• 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans
• 2 cups of powder sugar
• 2 cups of shredded coconut for rolling the rumballs in

As mentioned above, follow the instructions to bake the cake, so you will need additional ingredients for that.  I usually buy the super moist chocolate cake mix, it much better.  Anyway, after the cake has cooled, crumble it up in a big bowl, add the powder sugar, rum, cocoa powder and the chopped walnuts and mix well.  Initially you may think there's not enough moisture, but as you mix it well, it will all incorporate really well and you will be able to roll rumballs. 

So start rolling, the rumballs should be just a little over an inch in diameter.  After you rolled them between your hands, roll them in the coconut, I usually roll them in the coconut one at a time as I make them, I find that the coconut sticks better.  You can store them in an air tight container in the fridge for over a week.  They are just delicious, great for the holidays, or just because you want something chocolaty.  Enjoy.

Tuna Salad European Style (pasta de peste)

If you love tuna salad, I guarantee you'll love this tuna salad.  It's a bit different than your traditional tuna salad with mayonnaise but much better, at least I think so.  I must admit I didn't make this, my husband made this today and I made him give me the recipe, because I just couldn't stop eating it, it was that good.  And not only I loved it, my dog did, I knew cats loved tuna, but I had no idea dogs loved tuna.  Anyway here's the ingredients you'll need:

• 4 cans of tuna drained
• 250 gr of cottage cheese
• 3 tbsp of cream cheese
• 4 green onions chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• juice of half a lemon (or more)
• parsley chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and mix in a food processor.  That's all, couldn't get any easier. Best way to serve this is either in a sandwich like your typical tuna salad sandwich or serve it on toast with some lettuce.  Enjoy.

Oatmeal Raisin and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've had some leftover white chocolate from Christmas and I kept wondering what to use it in, so I decided to make some oatmeal raisin cookies with white chocolate.  They turned out absolutely delicious.  Took me about 10 min to put all the ingredients together, so easy and so good, everybody will enjoy these cookies.  Here's the ingredients you'll need:

• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 1 cup of flour
• 3 cup of old fashioned oats
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup of raisins
• 1 cup of white chocolate
• 1/2 cup of pecans optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I ended up adding some pecans because I had some left over from Christmas as well, but you don't need to use them.  Combine butter, brown sugar, sugar milk, egg and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.  In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together, excluding raisins, chocolate and pecans and add the wet ingredients.  Mix well, and add the raisins, chocolate and pecans. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet, or a sheet with a silpat on it.  Bake for 12 to 15 min or until golden around the edges.  Cool on wire racks.  Enjoy!

Jo's Favorite Meatloaf

I didn't use to be a big fan of meatloaf, but I do like this recipe I have.  This meatloaf recipe is very simple and just absolutely fabulous.  Serve it with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy and you've got yourself a wonderful meal. My husband loves this meatloaf recipe and I hope you'll enjoy it as well.  Here's what you'll need:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 green pepper finely chopped
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of barbecue sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the breadcrumbs with the milk in a big bowl.  Add the meat and the rest of the ingredients.  Only use about 3/4 cup of the barbecue sauce.  Mix the entire meat mixture really well. In a loaf pan that's oiled really well, and add the meat mixture.  Put the remainder barbecue sauce on top of the meatloaf.  Bake for about an hour or until done.  Enjoy!

Polenta (Mamaliga)

If you've never had polenta, you should try it at least once.  Polenta or mamaliga as it's called in Romania, it's traditionally a peasant food and it's a substitute for bread.  Polenta is really easy to make, only 3 ingredients, and it's traditionally made in a cast iron pot called tuci.  I learned how to make this from my mother and honestly, as a child I never thought I'd actually ever make this.  But as you know things change as you grow up and you start craving the traditional foods you've grown up with, so one day I found myself calling my mother and asked her how to make it.  Here are the 3 ingredients you'll need:

• 1 cup of yellow cornmeal
• 3 to 4 cups of water
• 1 tsp salt

If you don't have a cast iron pot you can really use any pot you have but you have to be careful as you're cooking this.  You will need a wooden spoon for this.  So put all ingredients in a pot and on medium heat start stirring the polenta.  As the cornmeal it will thicken.  You can continue stirring this until it's done with the wooden spoon, just be careful and turn down the heat otherwise it's going to splash all over.  You may also cover the pot with a lid and cook it on medium heat for about 10 minutes.  

Now as I said you can just eat it as a substitute for bread along with a nice beef stew, but one recipe that I love is with feta cheese and bacon.  Basically you have to layer to polenta while it's hot, in a bowl, so you'd take some polenta and layer it using a bit of oil, to make it easier to layer, then add some grated feta cheese, then crumbled bacon, and then repeat with polenta.  After you're done the layering, you can put it in the microwave for about 5 minutes to melt the feta cheese, and let me tell you, it's unbelievable. Simply delicious.  Enjoy!

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Lime Meltaways

I made these lime meltaways for Christmas and brought some to work, gave some to my sister and everybody really enjoyed them.  They are just delicious.  Normally I like chocolate cookies, but these are a nice change, and the lime just makes them really nice and refreshing.  You have to try them at least once, and the good thing is, this recipe will make you about 10 dozen cookies, so plenty that you can share with your friends and family.  Here's what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• zest of 2 limes
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cornstarch

In a mixer, cream the butter and 1/3 cup of sugar until fluffy.  Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla and beat until fluffy.  In a bowl, which together the flour, cornstarch and salt then add to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until combined.

Roll dough into two 1 1/4 inch diameter logs and cover with wrap and chill for at least an hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchments or use a silpat.  Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag and place 2/3 cup of sugar into the bag.  Slice the dough into 1/8 inch thick rounds.  Place cookies on baking sheets about 1 inch apart.

Bake cookies until golden, about 15 minutes then cool on a wire rack.  While still warm place the cookies in the sugar-filled bag, and toss to coat.  You can store these for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

I don't know about you but I love chocolate and these cookies have three different kinds of chocolate in one cookie!  You can't beat that.  I love cookies in general, so when they have three kinds of chocolate I love them even more.  Here's what you'll need to make these scrumptious cookies:

• 1 cup of butter softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup semisweet chopped chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate or white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add the sugar, brown sugar, and baking soda and beat till combined.  Beat in eggs, vanilla and melted chocolate.  Add the cocoa powder and as much of the flour as you can mix with the mixer.  Stir in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon and add in the white chocolate.  

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute then remove to cool on wire racks.  Enjoy these awesome, delicious and chocolaty cookies. 

Death By Chocolate Cookies

Jo's Chicken Biryani

So, I must say, this was just an experiment.  I love Indian food, but I'm always just scared to make it, just the thought of all those ingredients scare me.  When I cook, I like to do simple things, that taste delicious.  So having said all that, this dish was quite easy, even though when you see all the ingredients, it might frighten you.  But don't be scared.  This dish is about 3 steps, so pretty easy.  Anyway, here's what you'll need:

• 2 cups basmati rice or any long grain rice
• 1 lb of chicken, I used drumsticks for this dish, but you can use chicken breast if you wish
• 3 onions chopped
• 1 cup of yogurt
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 pinch of saffron
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp coriander
• salt to taste
• 3 1/2 cup of water. 
• 5 tbsp oil

Ok, so don't let it overwhelm you.  In the first step mix together the following ingredients: yogurt, ginger, garlic, cayenne, tomato paste, cumin, cardamom, coriander and salt.  Mix well and add chicken, coat well and marinate for 3 or 4 hours.  After chicken has been marinated in the fridge, step 2, in a pot add the rice, water, milk and saffron and cook the rice.  In a sautee pan, step 3, heat the oil, add the onion and fry the onion until golden.  Add the chicken mixture to the onion pan, including all the marinade.  Cook the chicken well, since I was using drumsticks, it took me a bit longer, about 30 min, I just didn't want to have raw chicken.  Plate rice first then chicken and sauce over the rice, or you can mix everything together.  Pretty easy, and absolutely delicious.  Enjoy!

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Chicken and Rice Pilaf

Chicken and Rice Pilaf is one of my favorite dishes, mostly because I really love any rice dish, but this one in particular.  Again this is a popular dish my mom made often when I was a child.  It's a quick and easy dish you could make for dinner any night of the week and everyone would enjoy it.  Here's what you'll need:

• 1 lb of chicken breast cubed, you could use drumsticks if you prefer
• 2 carrots peeled and chopped finely
• 1 onion chopped finely
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 celery stalks chopped finely
• 2 cups of long grain rice 
• 4 cups of water
• salt and pepper to taste
• chopped parsley

In a saucepan heat the oil and add the onion, chopped carrots and celery.  Sautee until tender.  Add chicken breast and keep cooking until chicken breast is no longer pink.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Feel free to add other spices as you wish.  Add the rice and water, stir and cover and simmer over medium heat until rice is cooked.  Don't keep constantly stirring in the rice.  Once cooked, fluff up with a fork.  Add parsley.  Serve warm.  Enjoy!

Chicken and Peas Stew

This is another one of those Romanian dishes, that is a staple in our house.  I learned how to make this from my mother, and this is probably one of the first dishes I made when I moved out on my own.  It is also one of my favorite dishes, because I just love peas, they're nice and sweet and just delicious, and not to mention this dish is very easy to make and you can literally do it in less than half an hour and voila, dinner is made. Here's what you'll need:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 med onion finely chopped
• 3 chicken breasts chopped
• 2 stalks of celery chopped finely
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 4 cans of peas or you can use 3 to 4 cups of frozen peas
• dill
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 cups of water
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat up the oil in a saute pan. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook until tender.  Add the chicken breast and continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink.  In a bowl mix tomato paste with water and add to pan and add paprika and mix well.  Add salt and pepper and add the peas.  Stir and continue cooking for another 20 min and add dill 2 min before done.  Nice light dinner.  Enjoy!

Calbee Snack Salad Snapea Crisps, Original Flavor, 3.3- Ounce Bags (Pack of 12)

Date Nut Pinwheel Cookies

I have a great recipe for date nut pinwheel cookies.  They are amazing, this is actually a cookie my husband was reluctant to try it and once he tried it he loved it.  It's fairly easy to make and as I said absolutely amazing.  Here's what you'll need:

For the Filling:

• 1 1/2 cup of chopped pitted dates 
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup melted chocolate
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 cup chopped walnuts of pecans

For the Dough:

• 2 cups of flour plus additional for work surface
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 2 eggs

In a saucepan over medium heat, add the chopped dates, 1/2 cup of sugar, water and melted chocolate and stir constantly until mixture is thick and bubbly.  Remove from heat and stir in chopped walnuts or pecans.  In a mixer add butter, sugar and brown sugar and mix until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.  Refrigerate for about an hour.  After an hour roll the dough on a floured surface.  Spread the date mixture evenly over the dough.  Roll the dough jelly-roll style and trim the edges off.  Brush off any excess flour.  With a knife cut into 1/4 inch rolls and place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

United With Earth Medjool Dates, 16-Ounce Containers (Pack of 4)

Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup

This is a Greek style soup and last time I had this was a couple months ago when I had lunch with my mother at a Greek restaurant and absolutely loved it.  It's such a nice and light soup, and I just love anything with lemon in it.  This is a really simple and flavorful soup, that you can whip up in a few minutes.  Here's what you'll need:

• 4 cups of chicken broth
• juice of one lemon
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of long grain rice
• 1 cooked chicken breast, cubed in small pieces
• 1/4 cup of dill 
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine broth and rice in saucepan and bring to simmer.  Cook about 15 min to 20 min until rice is done. Add chicken to saucepan.  In a bowl beat the eggs and add the juice from one lemon, mix well.  Add one cup of soup to the egg/lemon mixture then add this mixture to the soup.  Add the dill and cook for another 4 minutes.  Enjoy!

Lundberg Organic Sweet Green Tea with Lemon Rice Cakes, 9.4-Ounce Packages (Pack of 12)

The Best Cherry Cheesecake

Today I made cherry cheesecake.  I haven't made cheesecake in a long time.  But I was craving cheesecake, so I decided to make some.  Cheesecake is pretty easy to make, it just takes a while to bake and then let it cool. It is totally worth it at the end though.  Here are the ingredients you'll need:

For the crust:
3 cups of graham crackers, I didn't have them so I used special K cereal
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

For the filling:
800 gr of cream cheese
4 eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
3 tbsp flour
1/4 cup of milk
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla

For the topping use a can of cherry pie filling.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  You'll need a cheesecake pan for this.  First you need to make the crust.  In a food processor, add the crackers or cereal, melted butter and sugar and pulse until well mixed.  Take the cereal mixture and spread over the bottom of the cake pan, pressing down to cover the entire bottom of pan and a little bit up the side.  Place pan in the fridge while you're making the filling.

For the filling, add the cheese, sugar and flour and mix in a mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes until the cheese is smooth.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl, then add the remainder of the ingredients and mix again on medium for another minute or so.  Filling should be very smooth.  Place the filling in the pan and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes turn the oven down to 250 degrees and bake for another hour and a half.  Take out of the oven and let cool out for about an hour, then place in the refrigerator for a couple hours to completely cool.  When cooled add the cherry topping to the cake and enjoy.  Absolutely delicious.  One serving is just not enough. :)

Jell-O No Bake Cherry Cheesecake, 17.8-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 5)

Perfect Pulled Pork

 Boy, do I have a treat for you today!  I love pulled pork, and I can honestly say I've never had it before until a few months ago, when my husband and I were watching Diners, Drive-inns, and Dives on the food network channel and we fell in love.  We knew we had to try, we love pork, so pulled pork has got to be amazing.  So we did and, yes it was simply delicious.  Even the dog loved it!  It takes some preparation time but that's ok, all the work you put into it, is worth it.  Here's what you'll need:

For the dry rub:

• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

For the Brine Solution:

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 qts cold water
• 3 tbsp dry rub mix
• 2 bay leaves

For the meat, you'll need a 5 to 7 lb pork shoulder with bone in, and a layer of fat on the bottom. Here's how you'll do this.  The night before you want to eat the pork, prepare the dry rub mix.  In a big pot prepare the brine solution and add the pork shoulder to the brine, throw in a couple bay leaves, cover the pot and put in the fridge over night.  

Next day early in the morning, take the meat out and pat it dry.  You'll need a big deep roasting pan.  Put the meat in the pan, and start rubbing in the dry rub all over the meat.  Make sure you put plenty of rub, and massage real well.  Now, you'll need a thermometer and you need to stick it in the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone.  Place uncovered in a 225 degree oven on the middle rack.  It will take about 12 hours, but you need to be patient, the meat needs to get to 200 degrees.  Once it reaches 200 degrees, take it out of the oven and let it rest for another 1.5 to 2 hours.  

Now comes the fun part, using two large forks, begin pulling the meat apart. It will fall apart  easily and it should not take you long at all to pull apart this whole roast.  All that's left to do now is eat it, if you find you nix more flavor, you can add more of the dry mix over the pulled pork.  The meat is so tender and delicious. Enjoy!

McCormick Bbq Pulled Pork, 1.6-Ounce Units (Pack of 12)

Coconut Macadamia Cookies

I have to admit, I am more a fan of baking than cooking, so you might see more baking recipes here on my blog.  These cookies can be made with any nut if you are not a fan of macadamia, though I love macadamia nuts.  Hazelnuts, macadamia nuts and pecans are my favorite.  These cookies are great though and can be made anytime.  Here are the ingredients you'll need:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts

This makes about 72 cookies, so you could cut the recipe in half if you wish to make less.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl beat the butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar, baking soda and beat till combined.  Add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.  Add the flour and if you can't mix the entire flour in, use a wooden spoon to mix.  Stir in the coconut and macadamia nuts.

Drop dough by tsp 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

Mauna Loa Dry Roasted Macadamias With Sea Salt, 4.5-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6)

Beef Soup (Ciorba de vacuta)

Today I'm going to share with you my husband's favorite beef soup recipe.  This is a very Romanian soup and very traditional.  It's very easy to make, just time consuming because you need to boil the beef for 2 or 3 hours until tender. You could speed up the process by boiling the beef in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, just make sure you save all the beef broth and add that to your soup.  Anyway here's what you will need:

• 2 celery stalks chopped
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 carrots finely chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb lean beef cut in cubes
• 1/4 cup long grain rice
• 1 egg beaten
• 3 tbsp of tomato paste
• juice of one lemon
• parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Start boiling the beef for 2 to 3 hours, until tender.  In a sauce pan heat the olive oil and add the carrots, onion and celery and sautee until tender.  Do not burn.  After the meat has been properly boiled, add the onion and carrot mixture to the beef and broth.  Add the tomato paste, juice from one lemon, salt and pepper to taste, add the rice and let simmer for another 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes,  add the egg to the soup, it should end up looking like pasta in your soup.  Take off heat and add chopped parsley.  Serve hot with sour cream.  It's delicious on a cold winter night.  Enjoy!

Jack Link's Beef Jerky, 100 Calorie Pack, Original, 1.25-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12)

Meat Patties

Today I made these meat patties filled with ground pork.  I got the idea from this show I saw on food network, I can't remember the show's name but they looked easy to make and delicious and I've made them a couple times myself since then and my husband and I love them.  You might think that since you have to make the dough yourself it might be too hard but the dough is the easiest thing in the world to make.  Here's what you'll need:
For the dough: 

• 1 cup of cold water
• 2 cups of flour plus extra for rolling the dough
• 1/2 tsp of salt

For the filling:

• 1 lb of ground pork or whatever ground meat you prefer
• 1 onion chopped finely
• 2 tbsp of chopped parsley
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

First mix all the filling ingredients and sautee in a pan until the ground pork is cooked.  Strain and put in a bowl to cool.  Next you need to make the dough.  In a bowl add the water, and the flour and salt and with a wooden spoon mix the flour with the water until it is all incorporated.  Next on a well floured surface knead the dough for about a minute.  Cut the dough in 8 pieces and roll each piece in so that it's about 5 inches in diameter.  Fill each piece of dough with 1/8 of the meat filling.  You can use less meat, just make sure you fill them really well, you don't want to be eating dough.  You can either fry these patties or bake them if you're watching your waist.  Enjoy!
The 2009-2014 Outlook for Frozen Ground Meat Patties in the United States

Beer Cheddar Soup

I've never tried beer cheddar soup before until I saw it on the food network channel and I was intrigued and thought I would try it.  How bad could it be, it has beer and cheddar.  It has to be good.  So I decided to make it and let me tell you, I loved it.  It is delicious.  Here are the ingredients you'll need:

• 64 ounces beer
• 25 ounces chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons white pepper
• 2 pounds peeled and diced potatoes
• 2 ounces cornstarch
• 6 ounces water
• 1 pound Cheddar, shredded
• 8 ounces Cheddar cheese sauce

In a pot add the beer, chicken stock, onion powder and white pepper and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook until tender. In a small bowl mix the cornstarch and water. Add the cornstarch mixture to the soup and reduce the heat to low. Stir in the shredded Cheddar, 1 handful at a time. Turn off the heat and whisk the cheddar until smooth.  Serve hot.  Enjoy!
Cheddars of the World Assortment (2 pound)