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!
Yesterday I gave you some of our beautiful wild flowers that were growing out in the open space behind our house. Another Day, Another Flower – 6 Today, I give you some “domesticated” flowers I have in my kitchen.
I love the bold, vibrant combination of purple and yellow flowers. They just seem to beg you to take notice. Sunflowers of all variations are some of my favorite flowers and i used them a lot. I also love to mix and match them with other flowers too. This time I believe I mixed them with sweet peas, but for those of you flower aficionados, please correct me if I am wrong. All I know they are beautiful and very fragrant.
Never forget to stop and smell the flowers. It’s the little things that mean so much.
You all know how much I love recreating my foods and turning the leftovers into something completely different from my “firstovers”. Sometimes it can be challenging, but I have turned it into a fun game. This time, I reused, repurposed and recreated my Romanian garlic steak Grilled and Garlicky and turned it into a Mediterranean pita sandwich. This lunch would easily be a lunch you would find in any Mediterranean bistro, whether here in the United States, or dining al fresco with the Mediterranean Sea as your backdrop. I should have used the pocket pitas instead of the regular pitas, but it still worked out and tasted great, and that is all that really matters.
Mediterranean Beef Pita sandwich
Sliced cooked beef, sliced thin
pocket pitas, cut in half and opened
red leaf lettuce
tomatoes, sliced thin
red onion, sliced very thin
Mediterranean spread
For my Mediterranean spread, I used some of the juice from my Mediterranean salad Mediterranean Fresh mixed with some hummus. I spread that on the inside of the pita pocket. I didn’t need to do anything else for the sauce because the juice from my salad already had so much flavor.
Once I got my pockets lined, it was all just building the pitas from there. How to Build a Pita
Once our pitas were “built”, I plated everything up with some steak fries and my Mediterranean Fresh salad. This made for a very quick and easy-peasy lunch that we thoroughly enjoyed out on out beloved deck, overlooking one of our lakes.
As I keep saying, play with your foods. You never know what you can create. It doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy. You just want to make it fun and delicious. I used up two of my leftovers for this meal, and you would never know. That’s what make it all so much fun. I keep you guessing all the time. 🙂
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
I love the freshness and simplicity of Mediterranean cooking. This style of food is hands down, one of my favorite ways to eat and to cook. It is light, refreshing, and made with simple, basic ingredients. It is also one of the healthiest ways to eat as well. Plus it focuses on fresh ingredients that are found locally. This all makes it a win/win for me.
We bought some fried chicken the other day, and I needed something quick and easy to go with it. I had all the ingredients to make a fun, fresh Mediterranean salad, plus I wanted to create another fun recipe showcasing my new Lemon Balsamic Vinegar. A Cool New Summer Salad Hence, a new simple and simply delicious Mediterranean salad was created. I have already used this salad twice, with a 3rd way to serve it in the very near future. This dish is also a vegan dish, so it is friendly to everyone, regardless of their dietary restrictions.
I am so enamored with this Lemon Balsamic Vinegar, that I went out and bought a BIG bottle of it too, along with some other fun new goodies as well. I am always excited when I find new ways to create with new products. I promise you, there will be a lot more new recipes coming your way very soon with all these fun new products I have discovered. You just have to wait a bit for them. Anticipation, you know. 🙂
Mediterranean Fresh Salad
1/2 cucumber, seeded and sliced
1/4 red onion, small dice
2 tomatoes, small dice
1/2 yellow bell pepper, small dice
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
2 TBSP garlic olive oil
1/4 cup lemon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste
1-2 tsp black pepper
Toss everything together well and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours before serving. If you like feta cheese, you can also add this to your salad as well.
This simple and delicious salad goes with everything and is a perfect dish to take with you when you pack up a picnic basket or for a BBQ. It is also perfect for those hot summer days because it is so cool and refreshing. I promise, you’re going to love it no matter what you eat it with.
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
Some of the wild flowers are just as pretty as some of the flowers people have in their yards, or as I like to call them, the domesticated flowers. We took the “kids” out for a long walk the other day, out through our open space, and the wild flowers were in bloom too. A lot of wild sunflowers as well as a lot of other wild flowers. The open space was a lot more colorful than usual, especially at this time of year. These are just a sample of some of the beautiful wild flowers we saw.
You just never know where something beautiful will pop up. Keep your eyes and mind open and you will be amazed at all the beautiful things you can see.
A few weeks ago, I had approached our Pastor about teaching some cooking classes, either for kids or adults. That idea is still floating around, but nothing has come out of that as of yet. However, we came up with another idea that we officially started this morning.
Pastor Matthew and I decided a coffee cart would be a great way to welcome everyone into the church every Sunday morning. I unofficially started it last week, as a trial run, and it opened with “our soft opening” to rave reviews. Today, however, was our official kick-off. It was an instant success.
We are keeping it very simple at the moment, with just the basics, coffee, tea and water, with some small nibblies as well. I even have an Assistant Coffee Maker as well. Her name is Wendy. Wendy and I are standing in front our newest little project before everyone came in this morning. We have about 100 people who attend church every Sunday in person, with many others who are attending on line, so we are just keeping it simple, but we want enough to also say “Welcome”.
Sampling the goods before we present them to the church.
The coffee bar.
And the nibblie bar. We had 2 kinds of donut holes, mini apple and mini cherry streudels and some mini blueberry scones. Day one was a smashing success.
Enjoy the simple things in life. The mean way more than you may think.
I will keep showing you the flowers I see for as long as they are still here. Pretty soon, I will not have many flowers to show you though, since I am already beginning to see signs of fall. The brightly colored flowers won’t be around for to much longer, so I am enjoying them while I can. I hope you are enjoying them too. 🙂 But for now, everything is so brightly colored everywhere I go. Both the domestic flowers and the wild flowers are showing off their beauty and styles. Flowers just make me so happy.
Enjoy the flowers while you can. Soon, they will be going back to sleep to return again in the Spring.
The Tennyson District of Denver is yet another hip, trendy part of town where the main attraction is to live and let live. It is very colorful and full of locally owned small businesses and artists. It is a smaller version of the very colorful RiNo District of Denver, but the same ideas and concept. The RiNo Art Walk
After our healthy and delicious dinner at Vital RootThe Vital Root we decided to walk around and explore the area a bit. It was a Friday night and life was abundant everywhere we walked. Families were out and people were enjoying the cool night with lots of friends, lots of laughter and lots of good times.
The art around the area.
This is a very creative way to let you know that behind these walls lies a bookstore just waiting to be discovered, with minds and imaginations waiting to be opened through the magic and mystery of the books inside.
Creative, local businesses. Flowers on the go from the “Bloom Bar”.
A local bottle shop. I love the creative design of the wine racks.
And something just for fun.
We had a very fun and enjoyable evening with good friends, good food and good times. Yes indeed. We are living the good life. 🙂
You would think because we are such carnivores that we are completely opposed to eating anything other than meaty dishes. Not true at all. We eat a ton of vegetables, and most of my side dishes are vegetarian and many are even vegan. The difference is that to me, they are side dishes rather than our main meal. Every now and then though, we will eat vegan as our main meal.
Last night, we went out to dinner with our friends Janet and Bob. They took us to a new restaurant they discovered in the Tennyson District of Denver. The Tennyson District is very similar to the RiNo District. Dining in the RiNo, The RiNo Art Walk The restaurant is called Vital Root. ” Vital Root is committed to keeping it real. Real ingredients. Real food. Real passion. People’s food preferences have evolved. They want alternative choices. They want healthier options. They want fun, lively, flavorful ingredients. They want a mind body connection. They don’t want limits. And they want to be inspired. Vital Root is one answer to the omnivore’s dilemma.” The food was delicious and the restaurant is all about re-using, re-purposing and recycling. It a very very unique and beautiful restaurant.
Vital Root is owned and operated by the same people who own a few other similar restaurants in the Denver area too. Vital Root is part of the family that includes Root Down, Linger, Ophelia’s, and El Five. We have now been to both Vital Root and Root Down with Janet and Bob. The food is fresh and delicious at both places, with a focus on plant based vegan and vegetarian foods. The ambiance is clean, fresh and inviting.
The menu.
Like so many new and trendy restaurants today, especially those that are calling themselves “fast-slow restaurants”, you order your food at the counter and they deliver it to your table when it is ready.
The desserts.
Once we ordered, we chose to eat in the garden patio. It is an open-aired patio area that is creatively decorated with plants growing on the wall. The wall itself is made up from old serving trays. It is very original indeed. Luckily we had just finished eating when the thunder and a bit of rain showed up. Fortunately though, neither lasted very long at all.
We started off with some “vegan chicken wings” that were actually battered and fried broccoli and cauliflower florets that came with two different sauces. They were delicious.
After our starters, it was time to enjoy the main attractions of the day. Bob ordered one of the woks, which was very colorful and tasty. I think he ordered the Indian Kitchari.
Larry ordered the Korean “BBQ” dish.
Janet and I both ordered the falafal wraps. Everything was very good, but I have to say, I liked mine the best. It was all wrapped inside a deliciously thin and crisp type of crepe.
At the end, we all decided to splurge a bit and had some desserts to share. We had a vegan tiramisu and a tahini-peanut butter cookie. Again, both were quite a treat for the taste buds and were a delight.
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Whether you are a full time vegan or vegetarian or if you are just looking to try a different alternative, Vital Root is a great place to go. There is a little something for everyone. Vital Root is located at 3915 Tennyson Street, Denver, Co 80212. You can contact them either at vitalrootdenver.com or by phone at (303) 474-4131. It is some of the best “fast (SLO) food” around. While you are in the neighborhood, check out some of their other restaurants too.
I still have more flowers to share, so share I will. I don’t think we can ever have to many flowers. They brighten up our days like nothing else. Enjoy.
Usually when I cook a roast, I roast it in the oven, but when the mercury is on the rise, and the thermometer says it is 95* out, that is the last thing I want to do. Thank God for grills. They are great no matter what time of year, but especially on those super hot days.
I have made this Romanian Garlic steak before, but it has been while. It was definitely time to do it again, so here it is. Romanian Garlic Steak. In Romanian, this is known as fleica. I also threw some corn on the cob on the grill too.
There is NO such thing as too much garlic for this steak. In Romania, flank steak is usually used for this, but here in the United States, we use all kinds of cuts, especially rib-eye. It doesn’t matter if it is bone-in or bone-out. The flavor will rock you to the core no matter what type of steak you use. You can also use this same garlicky mixture on lamb too. You definitely won’t have to worry about vampires attacking you after you’ve been dining on this delicious and flavorful steak, that’s for sure.
To get the most out of this steak, particularly if you are using a more fibrous cut of meat such as a brisket, serve it in thin slices that have been cut against the grain. Cutting against the grain means to cut the meat perpendicular to the fiber. The grain is the muscle fiber found in the meat.
Romanian Garlic Steak
2 lbs steak or lamb
2 TBSP garlic, or as much or as little as you can handle
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped or dried parsley
Combine everything together well and marinade your steak in it for at least 2-3 hours before cooking. The lemon juice will act as a meat tenderizer.
When you are ready to cook it up, fire up the grill, getting it nice and hot. The time it takes to cook depends on the thickness of the steak. My roast was about 2 inches thick, so I grilled it for about 10-15 minutes per side, or about 30 minutes total for a beautiful medium rare steak. I completed the meal with a rich, full-bodied French Malbec, my spicy potatoes, Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Jalapeno Sauce tomato focaccia and grilled corn on the cob. It made for a very delicious and satisfying international meal. C’est manifique!
Bring out your boldness, live dangerously and deliciously. And never be shy with the garlic!
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 