The Art of Greek Cooking

ipad2 Apps and the Palmetto Trail Challenge

2012-02-23T20:44:00.001-05:00

I realize that I have not posted anything here for a very long time. Time flew by and I have not tried many Greek recipes since I posted last, but I am eating primarily healthy food and lots of Greek style yogurt - love that! Like many people, after the holidays came diet time for me. We got the wonderful gift of an ipad2 for Christmas and I found an app called Lose it which has been helpful in tracking what I eat and my exercise. I must admit though that with all the entries you have to make and look up the calories that go with the quantity consumed, I don't log every day. One interesting feature is that you can scan the bar code and the ipad2 will list the product and the calories. That works for my container of yogurt, but I don't eat many things that are straight out of a container so more often than not I am looking up and entering calorie amounts.
The other thing that has just started for me on Monday is that I signed up to walk and bicycle the distance of the Palmetto Trail during the Palmetto Trail Challenge. You can sign up for this with a partner regardless of where you live, so if you are interested in having an excuse to exercise more, take a look at: http://www.palmettoconservation.org/PTChallenge.asp My walking team is "Two Left Feet, Two Right Feet" and my bicycle team is "Wheels Around the Block." Talk about not needing to be in South Carolina in order to participate - my walking partner is in California and my bicycling partner is in Alabama! Wish us luck.

Wonderful Food and Upcoming Plant Sale

2011-10-12T10:09:00.000-04:00

What you are looking at is one of the signs one of our quilters made for the dining tables while we were on our quilting retreat this past weekend. This one is "Runs with Scissors." We also had signs labeled WiiQuilt, Piecemakers, and Dances with Wools. She was just as creative with the other ones that she made.

The quilting retreat is in North Carolina. The camp supplies the food for us and it is absolutely wonderful. We talk about the food almost as much as we do about the quilting! They cook using fresh vegetables, have lots of fresh fruit available, and bake the most wonderful bread. Many of the vegetables were oven roasted - as is shown in Greek style cookbooks. Here at home, now that we are starting to experience some fall weather, I will be more interested in using my oven. It does not get a lot of use here in the summer!

As for the upcoming plant sale, I am a Master Gardener here in Lexington, South Carolina. On Saturday we will have our annual plant sale. If you are in this area, please stop by to check out the plants. I may buy a few myself because my garden certainly had a rough year with all the heat and drought that we experienced. Fall is a wonderful time to garden!

Columbia Cooks - Greek Revival Style!

2011-09-29T11:23:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was my first time attending a class by Columbia Cooks. This is a program through the University of South Carolina Cancer Prevention and Control Program. The class was Healthy Mediterranean Cooking and was taught by the "first lady" of the University of South Carolina, Patricia Moore-Pastides. The Greek Revival Style in my heading relates to her cookbook Greek Revival Cooking for Life.

The class was a great learning experience and lots of fun! There was even a lovely "floral arrangement" in the room with all sorts of vegetables and herbs included. It made the room smell so good As we went around the room and introduced ourselves it was apparent most of us did not fit the mold of being a "chef." Some were learning to cook and some simply hoped to learn how to cook in a healthier way. .

We prepared:

Sauteed Dates with Almonds
Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad
Spinach and Dill Pie
Braised Cauliflower with Slowly Sauteed Onions
Black-Eyed Peas and Swiss Chard
Seared Shrimp with Red Pepper Flakes and Basil
Spiced Walnut Cake

and I'm sure a few more recipes that I don't recall. My friend and I prepared the Braised Cauliflower with Slowly Sauteed Onions. It includes oregano and sage so the flavor was as delightful as the aroma. At the end of the class we enjoyed all the dishes and our plates were heaped with delicious food. Everyone certainly put their best efforts into cooking. You would have thought each of us was a professional chef!

The program is also very conscious of environmental and health issues. The food was locally grown and healthy, we did not use any disposable dinnerware, we used cloth towels, and we had a compost bin for waste as we chopped and peeled our vegetables.

I'll be checking out more of the classes that they have on their list once my schedule looks a little bit lighter.

Greek Festival Failure

2011-09-23T20:14:00.000-04:00

I'm sure the Greek Festival was a big success, but I wasn't there. I fell on Saturday and broke my pelvis so very little happened over the weekend other than my visit to the emergency room. However, today I found out that my friend and I will be in the Mediterranean Cooking Class that is being held next week. This should be so much fun! I already warned the coordinator that if they normally stand throughout the 2 hour class I won't be able to do that and will need to sit part of the time. Here I am planning on taking a class and I haven't been farther than across the street to the mailbox all week, but I think I can, I think I can, actually I'm sure I can!

Greek Festival - Maybe; Recycling - Yes

2011-09-16T10:21:00.000-04:00

The Greek Festival is going on in Columbia, SC, this weekend and I had really hoped to attend. I'm not too certain we will get there because our dog has been very sick. Maybe we will make it though...

Because this blog is not only about Greek food but also about healthy eating and gardening, I will mention to you about a new group we are starting up on GardenWeb under the Exchange Forum - Round Robin groups. It is called Friends of the Earth: Simple Swaps. Part of the emphasis about this group is recycling (especially as it relates to gardens) so as we come up with ideas and swap creatively, I will pass along some of the ideas. Obviously with some of the swaps, we will swap seeds. It's unfortunate so few people save seeds from their plants to use the next year. In fact, many seeds are hardy enough to survive for several years. If you don't know what part of the flower head or fruit is the actual seed, you can find information online about how to identify, save, and store seeds.
The gardener in all of us says that if this year was not a good year for gardening, we look forward to next year!

Greek Cooking Class May Be on My Schedule

2011-09-10T22:06:00.000-04:00

I am trying to register for a Greek Cooking Class and hope that my checks gets there quickly enough. There are only 10 spaces in the class. Anyway, if I do get into the class I will definitely have lots of say here on my blog!
Meanwhile, my garden is definitely going into "autumn mode" - between the hot summer and the drought, not much is happening out there. I would like to dig out, augment, and rearrange many of the beds over the next 6 weeks or so - just hoping for some rain and a little cooler temperatures before I begin.
I will be giving a talk about herbs on Monday. When it comes to herbs, most of them cope well with hot, dry weather. The other great things are that they smell so good and they make food taste delicious!

Liberte Mediterranean Yogurt

2011-09-02T00:39:00.000-04:00

It has been some time since I posted and I will try not to take this long again. I was in California for two weeks visiting my older daughter, son-in-law and triplet grandsons. The grandsons are only 6 months old so it was a busy time but lots of fun, too!
There is only one store in our area where I can find what is now my favorite brand of Mediterranean yogurt (the Greek style) - Liberte Yogurt which is made in Canada. Anyway, if you are interested in reading about them, their web site is http://liberteyogourt.com/. If you go to their site, you can go from there to your Facebook page and click on the "Like" button and get a $1.00 off coupon. I will certainly be using my coupon the next time I go to the store! I much prefer Greek style yogurt because it tastes more like what I remember yogurt tasting like when I first ate it - about 45 years ago. It has that creamy texture and the natural fruit included It has a thicker consistency and contains more protein than what I call "regular" yogurt.. With Liberte having flavors like Date and Fig, Apple Crumble, Peach and Passion Fruit, Wild Blackberry, and Coconut, I look forward to my next grocery shopping trip!

Blue Potatoes

2011-08-08T21:49:00.000-04:00

This year I planted Adirondack Blue potatoes - a first for me! Anyway, they have been harvested and here is what they look like sliced and cooked

and here they are mashed and on the dinner plate.

Before you peel them, they are a very deep bluish-purple, almost black. I thought they just tasted like "potatoes" but the color is definitely interesting. We had corn, applesauce, and pork prepared with rosemary, garlic, ginger, turmeric, salt and pepper along with our interesting potatoes!

Greek or Mediterranean Cookbooks

2011-08-07T18:01:00.000-04:00

Does anyone have a favorite Greek or Mediterranean cookbook?
I borrowed Vefa's Kitchern from the local library and it is a "significant" (or maybe I should say "weighty") Greek cookbook! Grip it firmly when you remove it from the shelf! I don't know whether it is still in print or not. One problem is that I know many of the ingredients used in Greek cooking cannot be bought locally. I may need to adapt my recipes a bit. At least I love to eat lamb and lamb seems to be a favorite in Greek cooking.

Can you say "Truffles" in Greek?

2011-07-22T14:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I am not really looking for a Greek version of truffles. That's because they are as good as they can get. My younger daughter and I got together recently and she taught me how to make truffles! I keep saying I need to take more pictures of the foods that I make so here goes - mouth watering chocolate raspberry truffles:

What's in them? - raspberry flavored cream, chocolate, and butter. Nothing artificial here - real raspberries get heated up in natural cream to create the flavor. Yum! When it gets cooler I will have to attempt this recipe all on my own.

Are You Ever Too Hot to Cook?

2011-07-15T14:02:00.000-04:00

We had been having our typical July weather, "way too hot to cook" kind of weather! Luckily we have a break in the high temperatures right now and it feels so good.
I hope you don't mind seeing some little crawly things... here is a little fellow who was also enjoying the nicer weather when I went outside today...

Okay now back to Greek food -
When I went to the grocery store yesterday I was so surpised to see a frozen "Greek Style" pizza. It was pretty good, but as I said earlier - I was so not in the mood to cook! Anyway, if it happens to be in your grocery store you can look for it. It is Palermo's Greek Pizza and the toppings include creamy garlic sauce, mozerella and feta cheese, diced tomatoes, green and kalamata olives, diced onions and artichokes, oregano, and Pamesan, Romano, and Asiago cheeses. My older son-in-law makes fantastic pizza from scratch, but I don't quite have "the hang of it." Maybe I will try making this from scratch in the fall.

I pulled out an old favorite recipe for lunch today that is a yummy chicken cooked with Granny Smith apples and mushrooms. You serve it over lettuce and top with pecans. I added a few fresh blueberries as a topping as well. (Yes, I picked those this morning while I was enjoying the nice weather.) I found this huge Greek cookbook when I was in the local library yesterday. It's called Vefa's Kitchen. I plan to make a chicken and Greek potato recipe from it for dinner. (Sure hope it is good.) The hot weather slowed me down on developing more Greek cooking skills so maybe I can attempt a few of these recipes before the hot weather comes back!

I've leaving you with a final picture of the day. Someone gave me some Blue Jade Corn seeds in a swap last year (I do lots of garden swaps) and this is one of the few - or only type of - corn plant that will grow in a container. I have four plants growing here. It is so pretty and all of my plants have tassels (flowers) so maybe I will get to save some seed from it. I am very curious to try it out!

Are there any bloggers reading this who are also learning more about Greek cooking? If so, I would love to have you comment. I'll see you when I post again.

Buffal-oh-no!

2011-06-29T17:01:00.000-04:00

This has nothing to do with Greek cooking, but relates to my attempts at healthy eating. I have seen several comparisons saying that buffalo meat is healthier for you than beef. I had never seen buffalo in our grocery store before, but there it was today so I decided "Let's give it a try!" It was ground buffalo meat, so I was going to use it like a hamburger patty. When I opened the package, it did not smell good. I am usually the one who is very sensitive about bad smells, but even my husband thought it did not smell good. He wouldn't eat any of it. I decided it was just the "smell of buffalo" and cooked it with some onions and ate it. It didn't taste as bad as the pre-cooked smell led me to believe so I hoped all was fine. Then I decided to look on the internet to see if buffalo was reported as having a bad smell. I didn't find a lot of information about that, but there were some comments about it having a "different" smell. Still worried, I called the grocery store and spoke with the manager of the meat department. He admitted he had never eaten or smelled buffalo meat so he went to get some from the meat case. He agreed that it smelled bad and said I could return it and get my money back. Well, by now I was too worried to eat any more of it, so that's what I did.
You know what is going on now... I am waiting to see if I get sick from spoiled meat! Why was I so trusting that was just the smell that went with buffalo?
At least in relating this to traditional Greek cooking --- if I had stuck with traditional Greek cooking, the rule is to eat very little meat. I should have followed that rule today - or have been a vegetarian for the day. I am saying to myself, "Just stay well. Just stay well."
Hopefully my food choices after this one will be less "adventurous" . New is okay. Spoiled is not!
Healthy eating, everyone!

First Potato Harvest 2011

2011-06-18T13:57:00.000-04:00

When I watered the garden earlier today I found some Yukon Gold potatoes that could be harvested and cooked. Talk about fresh - I washed them off and immediately cooked them! Absolutely delicious! After I boiled them I added a little butter, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper. I guess Greek cooking would have used olive oil instead of butter, but I stuck with butter for this freshly picked harvest.
These potatoes are actually the first of anything that I have harvested from my garden this year. I planted both Yukon Gold and Adirondack Blue. I'll be sure to post a picture of the Adirondack Blue potatoes when they are ready.

Hopefully the blueberries will be ready in a week or two. Usually we can start picking them late in June. I anticipate more potatoes over the next few weeks. The hot, dry weather seems to have delayed my green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I just hope the plants can survive the weather long enough to produce something.

Adjusting What I Eat

2011-06-16T09:56:00.000-04:00

I have not made any fancy recipes for the past few days. However, that doesn't mean I won't head in that direction soon. I really like Greek salads so I have been eating those for lunch quite a bit. I also love Greek style yogurt, so that has been my snack of choice. Just by semi-following the Greek diet for less than a week now, I have lost a little weight and feel good.

Here are some of the basic things that I am trying to do:

Consume more olive oil
Consume more legumes and fresh fruits and vegetables
Replace white bread, highly processed cereals, and white rice with whole grains
Increase consumption of fish
Reduce consumption of meat and meat products
Consume dairy products in a moderate amount, especially focusing on Mediterranean cheeses and Greek style yogurt
Have a glass or red wine now and then with dinner.

I am not much of a wine drinker, but when I looked at wine in the store a week or two ago, I found a red wine labeled "Cupcake." Yes, I had Cupcake wine with my dinner once or twice this week. Most reading this will be glad to know I am not writing about "The Art of Drinking Wine!"

Flag Day

2011-06-14T13:43:00.000-04:00

It's Flag Day! A beautiful day to have the U.S. flag on display.

Here's mine!

Have a wonderful day.

My Adventure into Greek Cooking

2011-06-13T13:31:00.000-04:00

I decided to give myself a healthy challenge and will be trying to learn "The Art of Greek Cooking" - the healthy and traditonal form of these foods. I have a steep learning curve because there is no one Greek in my family and I have no idea where this will lead in terms of my abilities and preferences. I have seldom even tasted any Greek food. Besides being an adventure for me, many of us have heard that the traditional Mediterranean Diet is a very healthful one so I'll be checking out that aspect as well.
So far I have made a rice dish that included things like ginger, garlic, oranges, and figs. Unfortunately, my rice did not cook completely. (I seem to have this problem and it is usually with either rice or hard boiled eggs - that gives you an idea of my lack of culinary skills.) I think this rice recipe will be very good once I master the technique. On my second attempt I made briam/briami (potatoes, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and Ricotta cheese) which I really liked. I know you add lots of olive oil to everything! Maybe I am getting the hang of this after all!
Anyway, I will share names of cookbooks and other resources that I have used and would love suggestions from any readers. If I manage to create my own version of some recipes, I will include those as well. When I can remember, I will try to photograph some of the food before I eat it!