I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
Spring is most definitely here. All of my winter birds are disappearing and my spring birds are coming back. I saw my first Egret of the season, and he was proudly posing in a tree, allowing me to click away to capture him in all his glory.
There is magic in the air and all around. Take it all in. Have a great day. 🙂
The timing of Easter coincides with pagan springtime festivals, and lamb has become associated with rebirth and a fresh new season. Lamb forms the centerpiece of Easter celebrations in many Mediterranean and European countries. This paschal lamb evokes the lamb served at Passover. The iconography of the early Christian church is rich with lamb symbols, from the biblical references to Jesus Christ as “the lamb of God” and “shepherd to his flock” to the depiction of lamb in ecclesiastical paintings and sculptures. Lamb decorates altarpieces, stained-glass windows and carvings in Christian churches worldwide.
Lamb or sheep were among the first domesticated animals, dating back to 10,000+ years, originating in Mesopotamia. They were also among the first livestock to be kept for their meat. Because they could thrive on pasture as well as on rocky terrain, sheep were prized animals. Early civilizations used every part of the animal—the skin for parchment, the fat or tallow for candle wax and even the rams’ horns as musical instruments. From Mesopotamia, lamb and sheep then spread to Central Asia and then out to the rest of the world from there.
Lamb is among the most common livestock consumed throughout the world, linked to feasts and religious observances. Christians, Jews and Muslims celebrate with lamb, an essential part of the cuisine on Easter, Passover and Ramadan. Lamb is symbolic of spring, sacrifice and fertility and it unites people around a table of delicious food. For centuries, in humble homes, on the street and in the finest restaurants, this versatile meat has been grilled, seared, braised, roasted, stewed and served everywhere. From earliest antiquity, sheep and lambs were sacrificed to the gods and acquired the symbolic value of an innocent victim. Since then, lamb meat has often been a delicacy served as an expression of welcome. It has been featured in banquets and celebrations and on special occasions in people’s lives, such as births, circumcisions and weddings for millenia.
Lamb is the preferred meat and protein source in the Mediterranean countries. Lamb is very nutritious and is a very good source of iron. It contains more iron than chicken or fish. Greeks have the highest per-capita consumption of lamb in the European Union. It is also a very popular meat source in both Australia and New Zealand.
“Traditional meat dishes from the Mediterranean regions are made with almost more vegetables than meat and are intended to be served like a sauce, with a complex carbohydrate, whether pasta, rice, potatoes, or polenta”. (p. 312 The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, Nancy Harmon Jenkins).
As you all know, I love to recreate from my leftovers. I used my leftover Easter lamb and recreated it to make a traditional Greek lamb and artichoke stew. Of course, I mixed and matched and made it it my own, but I also kept it within the traditions and spirit of the Mediterranean cultures. Would you expect anything any different from me? 🙂
I served my lamb stew over the tri-colored pearl couscous with my leftover herbed popovers. Because it was lamb, which is a red meat, I served it with a fruit forward, medium-full bodied pinot noir.
My lamb was already cooked, which obviously reduces the cooking time, but I will give you the recipe for uncooked lamb.
Greek Lamb and Artichoke Stew
1-1 1/2 lbs lamb, cubed
3 TBSP olive oil for cooking
1-2 TBSP lemon olive oil, optional
1 onion, diced
1 TBSP garlic
2 carrots, diced
3-4 tomatoes, diced
1 cup sliced olives, I like to used mixed olives
1 can artichokes, drained
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup dry white wine
1 TBSP flour mixed with 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste
fresh cilantro and parsley, chopped for topping
Heat the oil(s) in a large skillet and then add the meat. Brown the meat thoroughly, then remove and set aside.
Add the onions, garlic and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and the carrots are tender.
Add the tomatoes, artichokes, beans and olives and mix together well. Then add the wine, flour and water mixture and seasonings.
Re-add the lamb. I cut my lamb into thin strips. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and continue to cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the lemon juice and adjust the seasonings as needed at the last couple of minutes of the cooking process. Then serve over rice, pasta, potatoes or couscous and top with the cilantro and parsley.
Delicious! This is the type of dish you will find all throughout the Greek Isles, as well as any other Mediterranean country. It is filled with all kinds of vegetables and proteins and goodness.
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
You know spring has sprung in my neck of the woods when the weather gets warmer and my turtles start coming out to sun themselves. I have seen a few turtles already, but they have been camera shy. Today, however, I had a fairly large snapping turtle just enjoying himself and soaking up the sun.
These snapping turtles always look like they are still part of the dinosaur age.
Be like Mr. Snappy here, and just chill and enjoy. Have a great day and make everyday great. 🙂
When Larry smoked the brisket on Easter Sunday, that was just the beginning. But it was not quite done. The flavor was delicious, however, it was still tough and needed more cooking. So I cooked it in the slow cooker with beef broth for about 5 hours. Then it was ready. It came out so juicy and tender. It just melted in our mouths.
Every Monday evening, I attend my Bible study group which is a potluck. It was my turn to bring a main meal. Wendy, Lauren and I all attend the same group, so we all decided we would bring our Easter leftovers to share with everyone. You all know how I always love to recreate from my leftovers.
This time, I turned my brisket into sliders. But my sliders needed a sauce to go with them, so I made a sun-dried tomato aioli that complimented the beef brisket perfectly. I also brought along some Havarti cheese to top the sliders for all the cheese lovers. Not being a cheese eater, I stopped at the cheese section of my local grocery store and told the cheese expert what I was making and asked what the best type of cheese would be to go with my sliders. She is the one who graciously explained the different properties of the cheeses she thought would go best with my sliders and we decided on the Havarti.
Lauren brought her leftover ham, which we also turned into sliders. I made some honey mustard to go with that. I also brought along some caramelized onion jam to use as a topper as well.
The sun-dried tomato aioli was super easy to make and very tasty. I just put all the ingredients into the food processor and mixed it all up until it was smooth and creamy.
Sun-Dried Tomato Aioli
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4-1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
1 TBSP lemon balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
fresh ground black pepper to taste
The honey mustard was just a combination of Dijon mustard and honey.
The sliders were, easy-peasy and delicious and were a big hit. Making sliders is yet another quick and easy way to re-use and repurpose your leftovers and they are always a popular choice, especially if you are taking them on-the-go.
Things don’t always have to be complicated. Sometimes the best things are the simple things. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
Saturday our church held yet another very successful Easter Egg Hunt. Our numbers were almost doubled to what they were last year. We had about 139 children from the community participate in this annual event. All the kids had so much fun.
I was one of the church photographers once again (one of my favorite jobs), and once again, I took a ton of pictures. I won’t share them all with you, but I will share enough to show how much fun the kids were having.
We had a puppet show.
We had Easter eggs filled with candy.
We even had some special Easter eggs with tickets for a free bike.
We had baby bunnies and ducklings. Kids of all ages were loving the bunnies and the ducklings.
Even Pastor Matthew was getting some bunny love.
We had horses too.
And at the end of the day, we had empty Easter eggs.
Another successful Easter egg hunt on the books. We all have a little respite with some time to rest before our next event.
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, Happy Easter Sunday Lauren, Wendy and I all made parts of our delicious Easter feast, and what a feast we had too. Lauren and Wendy both brought the sides and desserts. I prepared the meats, except for the ham which Lauren brought, along with some, deviled eggs, asparagus and herbed popover rolls. Because all three of us – Wendy, who is one of the Sunday School teachers, Lauren, who is part of the worship team, and me, who runs the coffee cart, had double duty at church, we combined our efforts and made a joint meal that was shared and enjoyed by all. It worked perfectly for all of us, and none of us was too stressed.
We had vegetarians and carnivores alike, and we had plenty of food for everyone, with plenty more left over. Everything was delicious!
I made garlic, rosemary and thyme lamb
and prime rib.
I also made some deviled eggs, or as Wendy called them, angel eggs. 🙂
We let the meats marinate overnight, and then Larry smoked them along with a brisket and some beef ribs, filling up the smoker. He did a great job. They came out so good and so tender. They were cooked to perfection.
After the festive feast, we all played games and laughed the night away. It was a great way to celebrate and we all had a very fun evening. 🙂
I have said this many times – good food, good fun and especially great friends make many, many good times. And that is what life is all about. 🙂
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
Today has been and continues to be a very busy day. Our church had two services this morning and I just got home a little over an hour ago. But my day is nowhere being done yet. We are hosting Easter dinner. Lauren and Wendy and I are all cooking and contributing to the dinner, which makes it good. No one person is doing all the cooking. Lauren and Wendy both had double services today too. Bu we will all get together and enjoy the meal and the friendships and we will all have a lovely evening.
I just wanted to send a quick little message saying Happy Easter to everyone. I hope it is filled will being around those that you love, good food and good friendships like mine will be.
Happy Easter Everyone
One of the presents I got for our friends Mike and Lauren for Christmas was a little cat puzzle. It turned into a project we did together, which was a lot of fun. At first we thought OMG! This is going to be a nightmare, but it really wasn’t. It actually didn’t take us too long to finish the puzzle, even though all the pieces were confusing at first. We finished in two sessions of about 1 1/2-2 hours each. After finishing it, we all decided we needed a good way to showcase our masterpiece, or in this case, our catserpiece. 🙂 So I put on my creative thinking cap to figure out the best way to display our beautiful catserpiece.
Lauren had brought over a piece of wood to mount the puzzle, but then I added more special touches to it. We are all very pleased with how it turned out. In fact, so much so, that I am already planning on doing this again.
This is a wooden puzzle and many of the pieces were cut into cat shapes. This is the back side of the completed puzzle before I added the glue.
After assembly.
We were so pleased with ourselves and our accomplishment that we had to capture the moment. 🙂 Yes, those are still Christmas decorations in the background. We forgot to put them away when we took down all our Christmas decorations, and it has kind of become a running joke at this point.
After the puzzle was completed, I placed pins all around to hold it in place. Then I spread wood glue over the entire puzzle. When the wood glue dried, I added a coat of MOD glue as well. When the glue was dried on the front, I added another coating of wood glue on to the back so I could mount it on the wood. But before mounting it, I added a colorful edging around the wood, again tacking it down with more wood glue.
All that was needed to finish off our fun little project was to add a hanging wire on the back. It is all done now. Lauren said she had the perfect place on her wall for our fun little project and memory maker. We already know there will be more of these in our future. It was just another good way to spend time with our good friends. 🙂
Be as creative as you like and make the world more fun. Have a great day Everyone. Stay safe, stay well and most importantly, have fun! 🙂 ‘Til next time.
It is once again Easter. I hope everyone has a great Easter spent with loved ones.
The fun meaning of Easter.
The true meaning of Easter.
If you celebrate Passover instead of Easter, may you and your family have a good Passover celebration.
And if Ramadan is what you celebrate, I hope that is a good one spend with loved ones as well.
This is definitely a Holy season for most people around the world. Whatever way you celebrate the season, I hope it is spent with loved ones and is a good day or season for all. May you all have a blessed Holy season and Holidays.
I can see clearly now that the fog is gone. This morning I had my second cataract removed. I am very please already. Believe it or not, I can actually see the computer and am writing this without my glasses. WHOOOO HOOOO!!!!! Everything is so bright and clear now! I had no idea my eyes were as bad as they were. But NOT ANYMORE!!!!!
All About Cataracts
In healthy eyes, light is able to pass through the lens back to the retina, allowing us to see detail. A cataract creates a cloud on that normally transparent lens, blurring vision and eventually leading to blindness.
Most cataracts are related to aging, and are very common in older people. Essentially, the lens of the eye accumulates proteins and sugars throughout one’s life and, ultimately, this accumulation leads to the clouding of the lens and vision trouble.
Someone with cataracts might not have any symptoms at first, when cataracts are mild. But as cataracts grow, they can cause changes in vision. For example, a person with cataracts may notice that:
I suffered from all of these symptoms.
Approximately 65.2 million people suffer from cataracts world wide, and that can cause moderate to severe vision loss in over 80% of the cases. As populations age and average life expectancy continues to increase worldwide, the number of people with cataracts will continue to grow.
Cataracts are relatively simple to treat and remove surgically, but access to eye care and the appropriate resources is extremely limited in underserved communities. Unfortunately, 99% of people with cataracts live in these underserved areas.
You may be at risk for cataracts if you:
There is no way to completely prevent cataracts, however, there are a few steps you can take to lower your risk of cataracts, such as:
I have two post-op follow-ups, one tomorrow and one next week, but I am expecting nothing but positive results from the doctors. At one of my last post-ops, I learned about pressures in both eyes, and they were afraid of them being the starting phases of glaucoma. But they put me on steroid drops, and after my last post-op exam, those pressures had dropped significantly because of the drops. So yes, it is still something we need to be aware of from this point on, but at the moment, I should be in the all clear. It’s so nice to be able to see again! Just thought you would all appreciate my latest update. 🙂
Have a great week this Holy week, whether you celebrate Easter, Passover or Ramadan. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 