My friend Priscilla and I have been making our caramels together for quite a few years now.   It is become our annual tradition.  Making Caramels  Our friends and family from around the world have learned of our tradition, and have sampled the goods, so every year our request list grows by leaps and bounds.  It is getting harder and harder to meat those demands, but we keep on trying.    Awwwww!  The price of fame I guess.  🙂  Yesterday was our designated caramel day.  As usual, we made two double batches each.  One is the plain caramels and the other is chocolate pecan.  It only takes about 45 minutes to actually make one batch of the caramels.  It is the cutting and wrapping them all individually that is so time consuming.  We usually stand side by side stirring our batches on the stove, talking and laughing the whole time.

Our caramels are at different stages at this point.  Priscilla’s has almost reached it’s first boiling point, and I am still melting the butter in mine.

Priscilla is on batch #2, the chocolate pecan batch.

And now, they cool.  They have to cool completely for at least about 4 hours before they are ready to cut.

The cutting and wrapping process has begun.  I just finished cutting and wrapping all the chocolate pecan caramels.  I will start the process all over again tomorrow with the plain caramels.  Every now and then, there are a couple of strays that randomly need to be tested, you know, for quality control, just to make sure we haven’t lost our touch.  This year, so far, they are even more delicious than last year, so we’re still good.

Gyros (pronounced yeer-ros) are delicious sandwiches that are made with finely sliced meat, topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, raw red onions, sliced very thin and tzatziki sauce all wrapped together in warmed pita bread.  The origins of this delicious sandwich are up for debate.  Are they Greek?  Are they Turkish, where they are known as doners? Or did they come from other parts of the Middle East, where they are known as shawarma?  Regardless of where they come from, they are all very similar and are always very tasty.  Some say they date back as far as the days of Alexander the Great.  Others say they were invented in Turkey and then migrated to other parts of the Mediterranean.  Then there are those that claim they are Greek- American and were first introduced in either the 18th or 19th century.  Bottom line, no one really knows for sure where these wonderful, meaty sandwiches come from or how long they have been around.  The only thing we can agree on is how good they taste.

The word gyro, along with the words doner and shawarma, all mean to turn or turning.  They get their names because the meat used is usually thinly sliced meat that is carved from meat that is on a rotating spit.  The meat can be lamb, beef, pork, chicken, or a combination of any of those, depending on where you find them. In Greece, gyros are served with tzatziki sauce, but in other parts of the Middle east, they are not.  Tzatziki sauce is a yogurt sauce made with garlic, cucumbers, olive oil, and lemon juice, and sometimes with dill, mint or parsley.  It is always served cold, often as an appetizer or a starter.

Most Americans think McDonald’s was the one of the originators of fast food, but the Greeks would strongly disagree.  The gyro was actually one of the first global fast foods to be found, and is believed to have been eaten by the ancient Greeks as Greek street food.

I made my gyros from my leftover lamb.  I added some of my leftover lemon sauce to my yogurt for my tzatziki sauce.  Roasted Lamb with a Mustard Herb Crust  I also combined my lentils with the spinach and mushrooms and some white rice, to serve as a side dish.  Oh, the Queen is so proud of how I am always recreating from leftovers.  🙂

Just heating up the lamb and the pitas.

All you need for a quick, simple tzatziki sauce.  My marinade that I used for my lamb already had all the other ingredients necessary for tzatziki.  It was made with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and herbs, along with Dijon mustard.  I added about 2 TBSP of my leftover sauce to the yogurt to make the perfect tzatziki sauce for my gyros.

It’s all wrapped up and ready to eat.  D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!  I LOVE gyros.  I think they are among my favorite Greek foods.

We all have heard of and most likely eaten many stir-fried meals.  We also all know, a stir-fry dish is an Asian way of cooking that was created in China, many centuries ago, and then traveled to other parts of Asia, and eventually to many other parts of the world.  Stir-frying is a method of cooking foods with a small amount of very hot oil, traditionally cooked in a wok.  You can use just about any kind of meat and/or vegetables in a stir-fry.  Stir-fry is just the name used to describe the cooking method, not necessarily the ingredients used.  The term “stir-fry”, however was never used to describe this method of cooking until 1945, when the Chinese cookbook author Buwei Yang Chao coined the term in his cookbook, How to Cook and Eat in Chinese.    There are many reasons why this is a preferred method of cooking. It preserves the nutrition and the freshness of the foods and ingredients used; it needs very little oil; it saves time; and the foods have a very nice presentation.  

A wok is a type of cooking pan that is rounded at the bottom and has high sides which allows the food to be seared at a very hot temperature while it is cooking, without using a lot of cooking oil.   Today, many people, myself included, use a skillet rather than a wok to achieve the same results.  I have a wok, but I actually prefer using my skillet.  Sometimes, using a non-stick skillet instead of a wok is actually better.  It is usually healthier because you use even less oil than you would by using a wok, by about 1/2.  A non-stick skillet can actually cook the food at a higher temperature too.  Most woks can withstand temperatures of about 400* F, whereas, the non-stick skillets can withstand temperatures of over 500* F.  Otherwise, there is not much difference between cooking your stir-fry in a wok vs. a skillet.  It all boils down to your personal preference.

Pork Stir-Fry with Vegetable

1/2 lbs pork, cut into small, thin strips

1-1 1/2 cups fresh green beans, cut into 1″ pieces

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 onion, red or yellow, sliced very thin

1/2 bell pepper, red, yellow or orange, or a combination thereof, sliced into thin strips

1/2 jalapeno, diced very fine

1 1/2 TBSP garlic

1 1/2 TBSP ginger

2 cups orange juice

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 TBSP honey

2 tsp Chinese 5 Spices

1/2 cup corn starch

2 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP peanut oil

In either a very hot wok or skillet, heat the oil and cook the vegetables, the garlic and the ginger, stirring constantly until they are cooked, but still with a bit of a snap to them.  Remove them from the pan and set aside.

While the vegetables are cooking, coat the pork strips with the cornstarch and seasonings, making sure to completely coat the meat.  Once the vegetables have been removed from the cooking pan, add the pork to the hot oil, and cook until the meat has a light crust and is completely browned.

To make the sauce, combine the orange juice, honey, soy sauce and red pepper flakes together.

Put the vegetables back into the hot skillet, and add the sauce.  Once everything is combined well, add the meat back into the mixture.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes.

Serve immediately over cooked rice.  Top with green onions, cut in Asian style or at an angle, if you choose.  I served this with some potsickers (store bought, I know) and a dry white wine.  The dry white wine will go very nicely with the spice of the dish, although it is a mild spice.

I have been trying to make my post today, but for some reason, my computer is not accepting my pictures from my camera disc today.  I have no idea what is going on, since everything was working just fine yesterday.  So I thought I would do my back-up plan, and feature a new guest chef, but I am having problems downloading her recipes and her pictures too.  Hang tight.  I will soon have all these technical difficulties worked out.  Thank you for your patience.

Back in the Renaissance period of Italy, during the 14th-16th centuries, there was a lot of wild game and a lot of hunters.  Hunting wild game was one of the main ways people ate in those times.  Cacciatore was originally known as an Italian hunters’ stew, and was most often made with rabbit or other wild game the hunters caught for the day.  The word cacciatore is Italian for hunter.   Today, cacciatore is mostly made with braised chicken instead of rabbit or wild game and it is still known as “hunters’ chicken” in some parts of Italy.  The main ingredients for the stew have not changed so much over the centuries, with the exception of chicken being the primary meat used for the stew instead of game.  The other ingredients include either tomatoes and/or a tomato sauce, vegetables and wine.  The vegetables, as with many regional dishes, vary depending on the region.  In Northern Italy, white wine is often used and in Southern Italy, red wine is usually the wine choice for the sauce.  The dish is most often served over pasta with some kind of a rustic bread, and either red or white wine depending on the wine you use for the sauce.  I made a traditional Southern Italian cacciatore with braised chicken, served in traditional style.  It was definitely delicious!

Chicken Cacciatore

1-2 lbs chicken breasts

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 zucchini, sliced

1 crookneck (yellow squash), sliced

1/2 bell pepper, any color

1 1/2 TBSP garlic

1-2 cups tomatoes, medium dice

olive oil

2 cups tomato or marinara sauce

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp each dried oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram – 2 tsp each if using fresh herbs

1 cup red or white wine

cooked pasta – fettuccine or linguine is usually best

Saute all the vegetables in hot olive oil, seasoning as needed.  Once the vegetables are cooked, remove them and set them aside.

While the vegetables are cooking, mix the flour, salt and pepper together, then dip the chicken in the mixture.  Lightly coat the chicken all around.

Pan-fry the chicken in the same olive oil as the vegetables, adding more if necessary.   Brown the chicken completely, then remove it once it is cooked.

While the pan is still hot, carefully add the wine, and scrape the skillet to make sure to get all the droppings.

After the steam has dissipated, re-add both the vegetables, the tomatoes, the sauce and the herbs.  Mix everything together well, and then add the chicken again.  Adjust the seasoning as necessary.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Once the chicken and vegetables are completely cooked spoon it over pasta sand serve it with your favorite bread and wine.  Delicisimo!

Once again, a very heartfelt thank you to all our Veterans out there.  Veterans are in every part of our lives, and do all the same things we do and enjoy.  Being a swimmer and a swim coach myself, I just had to add this tribute too.

Lamb is not for everyone.  It is definitely an acquired taste.  If you like it, you love it, but if you have not acquired a taste for lamb, you won’t like it, no matter how it is is prepared.  I love lamb.  Maybe eating lamb is just part of my Australian heritage.  For me, the best way to eat it is nice and juicy, cooked to a perfect medium rare, leaning more towards the rare side.  Lamb, like many other meats, is very versatile, and can be prepared in many, tasty and delicious ways.  Often times, you can substitute lamb for beef in a lot of recipes, which adds a bit more variety and versatility.

Here in the United States, eating lamb is not nearly as popular as it is in many other parts of the world.  We refer to all lamb meat as just “lamb”.  In other parts of the world, where lamb is a staple meat that is part of the regular diet, there is also mutton, which is meat from the older, more adult sheep, where lamb is the term used for the younger, more juvenile sheep.  Lamb meat once was a term that meant the flesh of a baby sheep that had not yet eaten grass, or that it was young enough that it was growing entirely from the ewe’s milk. Meat from such lambs are almost white when cooked. Once a lamb starts to eat grass the cooked flesh is darker and there is more flavor to the meat.  Lamb meat is often considered to be “gamey” like a lot of other meats, such as buffalo or bison, venison or elk.   The terms “gaminess” or “gamey” refer to the strong, tangy flavor and odor of some meats, particularly meats that are wild or livestock that is fed on wild grasses and foods, or animals that have abnormal dieting patterns.  Most domestic livestock, at least here in the United States, is fed a diet of predominantly hay and other dried foods, that give the meat a milder, more even taste.  Lamb, coming from the younger sheep, is a lot milder in taste than the meat that comes from mutton, which tends to be more gamey.  If the strong gamey flavors are a bit much for your palette, cooking the meat with garlic and/or lemon juice, or something else acidic, will help eliminate the gamey characteristics.  Cutting off a lot of the fat will also help eliminate the gamey qualities of meats.  Soaking the meat in yogurt will help too, due to the acidity of the yogurt.

It was another cold night last night, with a hint of snow, making it perfect weather to have the oven on to roast the lamb and the vegetables.  It was definitely good comfort food that helped warm us up, as well as the house.  This was a fairly simple recipe, made with a few basic ingredients and herbs.

Roasted Lamb with Mustard-Herb Crust

2-3 lbs of lamb roast, trim most of the excess fat off

2 TBSP Dijon mustard

3 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP lemon juice

2 tsp each, fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage, chopped fine

1 TBSP garlic

salt and pepper

3/4 cup dry bread crumbs

Pat the meat dry with a paper towel, then generously rub salt and pepper over the entire lamb and sear for about 4 minutes per side in a HOT skillet, with both butter and olive oil.  You want the meat to be completely browned all over.

Preheat the oven to 350 * F or 180* C  or 325* F if using a convection oven.

While the meat is cooking, make the mustard-herb sauce by mixing all the herbs, mustard, lemon juice and olive oil together, and combining everything together well.  Once the meat is cooked, brush the meat with the mustard sauce, applying it generously all over the lamb.  Save the left over sauce as a topping for the finished lamb.

Then coat the lamb with the breadcrumbs, making sure to gently press them into the meat.

Roast the lamb for at least 20-30 minutes if you like it rare to medium rare, or when the internal temperature reaches 125-130 degrees.   Cook for longer if you prefer the lamb to be medium rare to medium or when the internal temperature reaches 135-140 degrees.  I would not recommend cooking the lamb much beyond this temperature, at the risk of it becoming tough and dry.  Once the lamb has been removed from the oven, let it cool for about 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Since I had the oven on for the lamb, I roasted my vegetables as well.  We had roasted Brussels sprouts with pumpkin, garlic, shallots, and pecans, along with mashed sweet potatoes.  I used some of the leftover mustard-herb sauce as my topping for the lamb, and served it all with a bold, velvety red blend.  MMMMMM!  It was definitely comfort food and it was definitely delicious.

To all the Veterans who served and sacrificed, I wish you all a very heartfelt thank you.    On the 11th day of the 11th month, at the 11th hour, thanks to all the sacrifices you made, we are free.

In Belgium, the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, named after the poem and devoted to the First World War, is situated in one of Flanders’ largest tourist areas.  “In Flanders Fields” is a poem written by John McCrae during the first World War.

The poem describes poppies blooming between gravestones. Poppies are considered the battlefield flower, because they are the first to grow back after war pockmarks the landscape.  The war created prime conditions for poppies to flourish in Flanders and north-west France. Continual bombardment disturbed the soil and brought the seeds to the surface.  Its powerful use of the symbol of the poppies blooming from the churned earth led to the tradition, to this day, of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those killed in service. By 1917, “In Flanders Fields” was known throughout the English-speaking world.  Flanders Fields, the name of World War I battlefields in the medieval County of Flanders, which spans southern Belgium and north-west France. Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial, a World War I cemetery on the southeast edge of the town of Waregem, Belgium.

I painted these pictures a while ago and thought they were perfect for today.

As many of you know, my dad was originally from Melbourne, Australia.  Many of his relatives fought in WWI, and died in the fierce battles of Gallipoli.  The Gallipoli campaign, also known as the Dardanelles campaign, the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale (Turkish: Çanakkale Savaşı).  It was a campaign of the First World War that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu in modern Turkey), from 17 February 1915 to 9 January 1916.  The campaign is often considered to be the beginning of Australian and New Zealand national consciousness; 25 April, the anniversary of the landings, is known as ANZAC Day, the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in the two countries, surpassing Remembrance Day (Armistice Day).  My dad himself ran away at the age of 14, lied about his age and fought in the Australian Army in the battles of North Africa during WWII.  He was an ANZAC.  The ANZACS were members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.  One of his proudest moments, one of the last times he went back home to Australia, was to march in the ANZAC Parade.  When he emigrated to the United States, shortly after WWII, his life was in the Merchant Marines, where he also bravely fought in 2 additional wars.  He did military sea lift command for both Korea and Vietnam.  Thank you Daddy, and to all the other brave men and women who fought and served.  You will NEVER be forgotten.

As I mentioned a few days ago, life has been very hectic and chaotic lately.  Sadly, when I am running from one place to the next and back again, there is not a lot of time to cook.  Fortunately, there are always some good stand byes that are quick, easy and convenient, and relatively healthy as well, not to mention, delicious.  Costco chicken is ALWAYS a very nice alternative to me cooking when time is tight.  We can usually get at least 2-3 meals out of a Costco chicken, depending on what I do with with.

This latest leftover creation was from some of that delicious Costco rotisserie chicken, and whatever else I could think of on the fly, based on what leftovers were in my fridge.  The Queen and I were on a roll.  I was pulling out this and that to make a tasty, impromptu meal.  I cooked up some lentils, and sauteed some spinach with mushrooms, garlic, and shallots, added the chicken, and some mozzarella cheese, then topped everything with a pistachio pesto and tomatoes.  I wasn’t sure if it would all work together, but magically, it did.  Especially with a good white wine and some warm olive bread to complete the meal.

There is no real recipe for this, since it was literally a little of this and a little of that, but I can show you the process of how I put everything together.

First, I started by cooking the lentils.  Then I sauteed the spinach, garlic, shallots, and salt and pepper together in oilve oil.

Once those were cooked, I just started layering things on top of each other.  First, the lentils, then the spinach mixture.

Followed by the chicken and the cheese.  I stuck it in the microwave to melt the cheese.

Then I topped it all with the pistachio pesto and some chopped tomatoes.  The finish was a few additional chopped pistachios on top, with some warmed olive bread on the side.  Not to bad at all for some leftovers and quick, easy vegetables.  All it took was a little creativity and imagination, and VOILA!  Dinner is served.

Hello Everyone!  As you know, we are in a new month, and I am looking for November’s guest chef.  It can be any recipe, any dish.

You know the rules:

1.  Send me your favorite recipe(s), with pictures
2. At least 1 picture of you, the chef
3. Describe your recipe/dish however you like
4. First, last name and contact information and/or blog site
5. Send everything to my email address at ljbjej@q.com

I always get so excited to see the recipes and dishes that come my way.   I can’t wait to see what you are cooking.

What’s cookin’ in your kitchen?