Sweet and Sour Anything

The first time I ever ate this a young woman, who was a budding brilliant cook, brought this over for dinner when I had my son who is almost 17 now. It was love at first bite. She used chicken in her recipe. It's one that I for some reason forget about, you need to have canned pineapple, and that's not something I normally keep. But if I have it, I'll make this cheap and delicious meal.

Here's Christine's recipe she wrote out for me 17 years ago.

Sweet and Sour Chicken serves 4-6

Fry in frying pan with oil:
4 pieces boneless chicken breast
1 egg, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
cube chicken and mix in egg and cornstarch

Mix in a large saucepan:
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. white sugar
pineapple juice from the sm. can of pineapple chunks
Boil, then add:
pineapple chunks (what's left in the can)
2-3 Tbsp. soy sauce (to taste)

Mix in a little bowl:
1/4 c water
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
then add to the pineapple mixture

Add chicken once sauce has thickened and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve over rice. I usually double this recipe for our large family.

Vegetables:
I add peppers and onions to as much as I can now, also celery is cheap and easy to throw in too. Carrots are good as well as most "stir fry" veggies...those stir fry frozen vegetable bags would work for this. If we're fasting then I'll cook the sauce in a separate saucepan and fry up my veg in a large pan, then add the sauce on top. Don't overcook your vegetables! Only cook a short time then add your sauce, you want them still a bit firm like in a stir-fry.

For Tofu:
If I use tofu I fry that ahead of time with no egg or cornstarch in a non-stick pan. I have been using peanut oil lately for frying things and that worked nicely tonight. I use the firm tofu that come in little boxes that you have to cut open. This way they are shelf stable and don't have to refrigerate. Also, when you open them up I dab off as much water as I can. I slice the block in half and dab it more. Then cube it up and add to a hot pan with oil. I used 2 boxes tonight for my family of 8.

Shrimp:
This I'll just add to the vegetables. Shrimp cooks fast, add this last then the sauce.

Cheating recipe:
What I did tonight was instead of buying pineapple and making sauce, I actually bought two 15oz cans of Carnation sweet & sour sauce at the store. This was plenty to cover my vegetables and tofu and I got to skip making the sauce. I bought it for a night that I was tight on time and that was tonight. I prepared my tofu and vegetables and made my rice before church, then when we got home I fried the veg and tofu for about 5 minutes then let them cook in sauce for 5 min. Then served. Easy! I have a feeling that the Carnation sauce has all sorts of unhealthy things that I wouldn't have put into mine. But it was good.

Tofu, celery, onion, peppers before adding sauce.

Holy Saturday, Hot Cross Buns

We enjoyed Holy Saturday liturgy this morning. I love this liturgy, it's maybe my favorite of the year. The colors have been changed from purple to white, vestments all white, alter cloth all white, the censor with the bells is brought back, Christ is almost risen. Father throws bay leaves and rose petals instead of incense. It's beautiful. We typically have bread and fruit after liturgy with coffee and wine and a few guests. I make hot cross buns using the Artoklasia bread recipe that we use in the Latia services. It's a delicious, fasting, sweet bread and top it with frosting, can't be beat. Today we had over only clergy and their families, it was fun to hear the men banter and tease each other and compare war stories of bad services and embarrassing moments with the Bishop. The women bonded a little more and my kids had fun playing with the babies that were visiting.

Artoklosia or Hot Cross Buns
Recipe adapted from "A Lenten Cookbook" from St. Nectarios Press, WA 1982

2pkgs. Compressed or dry yeast
1/2 cup water
3/4 c sugar (or brown)
2 t salt

Dilute yeast in 1/2 cup water. Add sugar, salt and stir. After yeast proofs add:

1/4 c oil (olive, vegetable, etc)
1 1/2 c water

Then mix together:

3 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamom or some other spice combo

Add flour and the spice to the liquid. Stir until the batter is smooth. Add:

2 1/2 - 3 cups flour

Mix until the dough is soft but firm. You want a soft dough, don't add too much flour.

If making Artoklosia divide dough into 5 parts and shape into 5 round loaves. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Use scissors to cut crosses in the tops of each loaf.

Hot Cross Buns do the same thing but divide into about 24-32 individual rolls place on 2 greased cookie sheets. Use scissors to cut crosses in the top of each bun.

Rise until double.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes for the large loaf and maybe 10 for the buns. Keep an eye on them, don't do like me and try baking them, then run back to church, then come home and find them overbaked. Not a great plan.

Remove from pans and cool on racks for 10 min. For the loaves brush tops with water mixed with honey or brown sugar. For the buns make some butter cream (or in my case almond milk/margarine) frosting glaze and glaze each bun with a cross. Be generous with your frosting, your guests won't mind. This recipe typically impresses most people (not when overbaked) and they go back for more. I have always used cinnamon, but this year our priest wife makes her Artolkasia with nutmeg and it's so yummy.

The 3 remaining buns from this morning. I used 1/2 wheat flour, but I would use less next time or more sugar or more frosting. They tasted too "healthy" to me.

Almost there

Today is Lazarus Saturday and today we sing the most beautiful hymn: Rejoice O Bethany. This song talks about Christ when He came to Bethany to visit His dead friend Lazarus, how He wept for His friend, how He lamented his death and then how He rose His friend from the dead. It reminds us that Christ was human, He felt pain, not only physical but emotional pain. It's a lovely tune.

And if you'd like to sing along go here for the sheet music.

The following picture was neat. Another reason why I love my Orthodox faith. The feast of Pascha that lays ahead in less than 8 days time. The beauty. The awe. The wonderment. Pascha is amazing, but Pascha after attending most or all of the services during Holy Week is really mind blowing. It's an experience you just don't get in this life very often. If you are Orthodox and have Holy Week services every day at your parish, it is worth it (at least one year) to take the week off and go to them. Work during the daytime if you have to work, but try it. It will blow your mind.

This week...

If you are Orthodox then you know already that during lent, all sorts of "bad" things happen. Most people understand that it is because the Evil One is testing us and trying to make us go crazy, quit fasting, quit praying and just give up on it all. It helps to remember that especially during lent, especially when you are trying to fast, pray and go to church more than normal, the bad guy doesn't like this and will attempt to discourage us.

Each year at our house things break, typically appliances or car engines seize up or we get very very sick. Something new and fun to look forward to every year.

This week has been a trying week, starting on Monday when I really couldn't find my phone and finally went to see if it was in my sister's driveway...maybe it had fallen out of the car the night before. It wasn't there.

On the way home there was a strange man on our road who stopped me and asked, "Is this your dog?" holding up a small white terrier looking mongrel. I replied that it wasn't and he explained how he had found it by the mailboxes wondering around aimlessly and so he had gone to a few houses looking for the owner. He explained that he didn't live in our neighborhood and it would be best if I took the dog since I actually live here and know more people around here. Sheesh, I want another pet like a hole in the head, but what was I to do but take it home.

Later in the day I got a phone call that my brother-in-law found some phone remains in his yard, my phone case was trashed (chewed by their dogs) and my sister was looking for my phone. It's a good thing I was in such a "good place" on Monday, because it was turning into a doozy. A few minutes later he called again, they found the phone in a puddle of mud and were trying to dry it out in some rice and see if it would work. It had no bite marks, so maybe it would work?

Fast forward 2 days later...

The phone worked last night, made 2 calls and now the screen is totaly black, I'll have to buy a new one.

The dog has become dear to us, in only 2 days, he's the sweetest thing. The owner called from the pound today frantic. It was his dog, his description nailed it. "Sir, what does your dog look like?" Man: Well it's a Shih Tzu but I gave him a really terrible hair cut."

This poor man was out of his mind with angst. His 8-yr-old daughter was apparently staying the night at a friend's house in the neighborhood and when the dog ran away the daughter didn't really think she needed to go after him. He came to our neighborhood yesterday to look for him and drove past 4 of my "found dog" signs, they even had pictures...

I had to inturrupt him, "Sir, we have your dog. It's yours." I gave him directions and he came to get the pup after an hour.

The dog was taking a nap on my lap when he got here, what a sweet dog. I guess if I even need a companion dog I'll know that a Shih Tzu would be a good choice. He was great with the kids, very attentive, very quiet, playful but gentle. It was nice to give him to the little girl, he seemed so happy to see her.

Ah, this week. I'll be happy when Pascha arrives...

mangy Shih Tzu

Fresh spring rolls

I wish I was as photogenic as spring rolls are.

Thanks to my meal planning day last week I have actually had ideas for food and not only that, many ingredients that I bought to go into those foods!

Today I chose spring rolls. The kids are big enough to roll their own and the small ones don't want or appreciate them anyway. They can have the leftovers.

When I look for recipes I like to look at many different ones to get a general idea of what you can use in those foods, so I looked at about 5 today and figured out what I wanted to do. Here is what I made today, I put out all the fillers and let my family members make their own. I liked everything in mine best.

Fresh spring rolls

-Firm tofu (shrimp is another great alternative "meat" source)
-Bragg Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce
-Deli mustard
-Pepper

Slice tofu into 3 sections, press them in a towel to squeeze out water. Slice into strips and soak them in the Bragg's, mustard and some pepper for 1/2 hour. Bake on oiled (sesame oil, yum) cookie sheet for about 1/2 hour flipping them 1/2 way through.

-Package of bean or rice noodles, I had rice noodles today. Prepare as package directs. Typically only cook them for 3-5 minutes in boiling water.
-Package of spring roll skins/ rice skins/ spring roll wrappers. What ever you call them, they are round and translucent. They turn transparent when soaked for 1 minute in water.

Variety of veggies and herbs:
Mint is classic, and so is cilantro and even basil. Today we had cilantro only.
Green onions or chives. I chopped mine into bite sized pieces, works best for biting purposes.
Carrots, you can shred or chop into thin strips. Strips for me.
Avocado.
Lettuce, I had iceburg, cut into thin strips.
Cucumber, this would have been a nice addition. I didn't have it, it was good with out too.

Line up your fillings, get your sauces made or out of the pantry (like me). Set up a deep plate or bowl for your wrappers to fit into, dunk them in warm water on the plate one at a time for about one minute. Get a kitchen towel on the counter in front of your plate and put some water on it. Bring your wrapper out carefully onto the towel and fill. They wrap up nicely, takes a few to get the hang of it. Dunk in your favorite dipping sauce, that's the best part!

everything set up and my first one on the towel being filled

Update three days later: Most of the ingredients are still good and in the fridge, so we're having them again for dinner tonight. Tonight's are some fresh noodles, no avocado and plain cooked shrimp (it was purchased frozen that way). So good!

Meal Planning

Well today is Palm Sunday! Ha, psyche! I'm Orthodox...so today is actually Orthodoxy Sunday (meaning the first Sunday of lent). So we're just getting started... Our Pascha (Easter) is May 5th this year! Pretty late, but the snow might just be melted by then, yippie!

Along with Lent comes a new way of thinking and cooking. Vegan style.

My 9-year-old already makes us bread once per week now, so at least that's covered. I have refined my bread recipe a few times since I posted in 2011. Now we grind 4 kinds of wheat on Thursdays, soak the flour overnight, then on Friday she makes it into bread adding lentil, millet & brown rice flour, oats, ground flax seed, olive oil and maybe a cup or two of white flour. We like the recipe and I like knowing it is full of protein and will last longer in their tummies than regular store bought bread.

I also stay well stocked on apples and bananas. They are the most economical fruits I have found and I pretty much buy them in bulk every time I visit the store. Great snacks for any time of year. One of my favorite snacks is apple slices and dry roasted almonds.

I have found the internet so helpful and am in love with vegans because they have so many fantastic recipes!

Today I read my friend, Ser's, blog and she had posted about meal planning, inspiring me to get my rear in gear.

I spent a lot of time thinking of meal ideas, after all, each lent I have to remember how to be a vegan all over again. I make a much bigger deal over it than need be. I made a meal planning notebook and a list of food ideas. Then I can start assigning meals to each day. I decided to write about my ideas because I can never find my list each advent and lent... but I can locate a computer, the internet, and my blog so that next year I can find my list again. I used my blog today to get started, so many recipes listed are already here and I added my lentil soup today so I could be sure to find it if I need it later.

Fasting/Vegan food Ideas:

Hummus Pizza
Enchiladas
Tostadas w/ veggie "meat", avocados, caramelized onions, tomatoes, lettuce, re fried beans, salsa, fake sour cream, olives (made these earlier this year for company, sooo good!!!)
Vegan shepherds pie (can use the fake taco meat in this)
Seafood soup
3 Bean salad
Indian food! Cabbage Kofka, Aloo Mattar, Flat bread, Dal and Rice.
Pirogis, this recipe looks promising.
Dumplings and fried rice, these recipes look yummy, haven't tried them yet.
Yummy lentil soup
Chili and cornbread (have a recipe we love, will try to post sometime)
Falafels and Tabuli w/ pita (will be trying the one in the link this week, soaking chick peas now...update 3-26-13, the falafels in this recipe are fan-freaking-tastic!!!! I just put more beans to soak so we can have more tomorrow or the next day)
Hummus (have a new recipe we like better than the one linked, but have not posted it yet. This is my favorite hearty snack or lunch, especially with Kalamata olives.)
Spring rolls, so yummy.
Lentil veggie burgers (this look good! I just found this recipe)
Rib sticking pancakes
Waffles, I'm posting a successful recipe. I'd found 4 different ones then tried my own but it didn't really work.
Jambalaya (hubby's recipe with "gimmie lean sausage" fake chicken & shrimp, spendy recipe but very hearty, will try to post it sometime)
Roasted vegetables
Sushi
Sweet and sour shrimp or tofu and rice, have a great recipe for this.
Shrimp fajitas. I LOVE these so much!

One of my favorite websites is Veg Web. I love how they have their website laid out if I need ideas and the comments people add are nice. I added recipes to it a while back, not sure if they are still there. Also, Laura at Hey What's for Dinner Mom makes meatless meals at least twice per week and she's in Alaska, so she shares good ideas of local foods that we can buy, pick or grow up here.

I know I'll think of more later, but this will get me going.

Pretty vegetables. link.

Indian food

Friday afternoon I drove by the sushi restaurant in town and wished it was still the Indian place. I miss it right now.

Yesterday I did nothing; until it was dinner time and realized I had not thought of anything to make, so I hit up Manjula, my favorite internet Indian cook.

I used the "St. John Church Cookbook" and made Ser's Aloo Mattar (I'll list recipe below) and I made Manjula's Besan Puda (pancake like flat bread with veggies in them). The thing I left out were green chilies, I don't have any.

I ground the chickpea flour and rice flour for the Besan Puda in the coffee grinder and our flour mill and they were very good. I've made the Aloo Mattar before and it's good too.

Today after church I was wishing for more leftovers than we had so I decided to make a bunch more Indian food. I started with my Dal recipe that I posted about a couple weeks ago. Then I started a pot of white rice. I remembered watching the Cabbage Kofta video last night and thinking I had most of the ingredients not to mention that they looked delicious. On the dumplings I used powdered ginger, dried cilantro (not the same as fresh!) and didn't have a green chilie. In the gravy I didn't have fresh tomatoes and used sauce, didn't have hing, powdered ginger, no yogurt, and dried cilantro. The kofta's themselves were awesome, probably should have skipped the gravy but it was good for dipping the Besan Puda's. I made more today with no veggie this time.

My parents showed up right in time to have some with us, it was a great Sunday meal with lots of leftovers.

Ser's Aloo Mattar, serves 4
(means potatoes and green peas, I like Ser's version since I have all the spices on hand)

2 lg potatoes, peeled and cut into sugar cube size pieces, soak in cold water
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 c fine diced onion, saute both in
2 T oil, then add:
1 c chopped tomato (I use canned)
1 t salt
1/8 t ground cloves
1/8 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t ground cardamom
1/2 t turmeric powder
1/2 t ground coriander
pinch cayenne (opt, we don't add)
-cook 5 minutes-
-add well drained potatoes, stir for a minute, add:
1 c water
-cover, cook med heat 10 min-
1 1/2 c defrosted peas, add
-cover cook 15 min, till potatoes are soft-
-mash about 1/2 the pot-
Serve with rice and other Indian food, YUM!

I didn't take any pictures, but my Indian food is not photogenic. Manjula is a joy to watch, I bet she will inspire you too.

photogenic Indian food

Lent and bread

Clean week kicks my butt in so many different ways. It says, "Ok, Anna, we're starting Lent, so lets throw as much as possible (but only as much as you can handle) your way and see how you juggle and handle it all."

This week has been crazy to say the least. I won't go into detail because there's WAY too much. It's been a Days Of Our Lives sort of week but in a churchy, country, homeschoolish way. That should not, however, lead you to believe that any was pure or good.

One thing I do like about clean week is that whether I have been on the bread bandwagon or not I start again in clean week. The fasting rule for clean week is NO FOOD from Sunday night to Wednesday after liturgy. Of course we don't even try for that level, but I do tell my kids that that's the rule and I try to teach the kids they're lucky to get any food and it will help them get through Lent if they have a much stricter clean week. This goes for me and hubby as well, there is really a lot of good fasting food out there, so the first week is boring food at our house.

I like eating bread but I hate how it doesn't stick to my ribs, so I'm always looking for more ways to sneak in some protein. In some of my grain and bean research I've basically discovered the more variety you can pack into food the better it will fill you up and be good for you. Don't go overboard! Once I ground up 1/4 c of lentils to add to some cookies and the dough was HORRIBLE, my husband about fell over after taking a huge spoon. The baked cookies tasted much better, but after more research many un-cooked beans have a very strong flavor.

Tuesday I made what in my mind I called "Health Nut Bread" here's what I did...

Start with the basic recipe:
4c warm water + 4tsp yeast + ~1/2 c. sugar + 4tsp salt ....proof
Collect goodies to add...normally I add whole oats about 1/2-1 cup, but that day there was about 2cups of cooked oatmeal that wasn't going to be eaten so I added that. I also had 1 cup of cooked chick peas on hand so I blended them and added those too.
Keep in mind the chemistry that works in bread. I'm not an expert but I know you need extra gluten to get the non gluten ingredients to rise.
Spelt and Kamut are high in gluten and so I grabbed those and milled 1 cup of each and a 1/4 cup of millet. I even milled a 1/4 cup of brown rice.

I added a bunch of "Prairie Gold" wheat berries flour I'd ground on Monday.
I ground 1/4 c of flax seed in my coffee grinder and added that instead of oil which I would normally add in a "regular" recipe.
I ground more spelt and kamut to add later. I think I used about 1/2 wheat and 1/2 spelt/kamut. With the other flours thrown in. For some reason I always use these two grains together. They are very light in color and can substitute white flour, but cost more (at least in Alaska where we pay for shipping)...but are not refined white flour which I'm sure is not "good" for us but the way I figure it it's still better than buying only store bought bread.


Let it rise, keep an eye on it, it only took 20 minutes to get to here, but I think I added a touch extra yeast as I wanted a quick rise.

You can even skip the first rise if you're in a hurry, but I always let it rise just for a bit.
Cut up and put in pans, these loaves only rose another 20 minutes in the pan and I put them in the oven.

I didn't get a picture of them when they were done. Tastes just wonderful and the kids (and hubby) don't have a clue that there was left over oatmeal and beans it it. :)

Indian Dal

Argh, foiled by dinner again.

I don't know why, but when it hits me that I still have to think of dinner, it's like a brand new revelation EVERY DAY! Crazy...I'm just a bit crazy.

Today's another vegan day and I think I'll make rice and dal (lentils). My kids love the dal and it's pretty easy to make. I NEVER knew lentils could taste this good! I got the recipe from vegweb.com which is a great resource for vegan food recipes.


Indian Dal

I usually double or triple this recipe for our family and to have some leftovers which are good. If we're having company I may make 2 pots, one regular (spicy) and a large pot mild for the kids.

1 medium onion, chopped
1 small hot pepper, minced (I usually don’t unless I make a non-spicy pan for the kids too)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I love coconut oil for this)
1 cup small red lentils (I have 25lbs of green and I like them fine)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (not me)
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
I also add chopped spinach, beet greens, kale, or grated zucchini ½ way through.

Directions:

1. Place onion, garlic, and hot pepper in a pot, cover with oil (be generous with the oil, they should swim in it). Let all of it simmer, about 5 minutes.

2. Rinse lentils, add to pot, stir, then add spices, stir, add water to cover lentils. Cook at medium to medium high. Leave uncovered, don't walk away for too long.

3. You will have to keep checking because the water cooks down and you will have to add more to make the dal the consistency you like. Stir often because it helps the lentils cook down well.

4. After 30 minutes or so of cooking you can add fresh or frozen greens. This is not a must but it's a great way (for me) to get those frozen greens into our diet. You don't really taste them.

5. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Be aware that you don't want too much cardamom and ginger, they take control of flavors, cumin and coriander are more mild.

Serve with spinach, naan, and rice.

Serves: 3-4 maybe, Preparation time: 1 hour tops

Tips: For our family of 9 I always double this recipe. I also pre-make snack bags full of the spices that I need so I can dump them in and not measure out each time. If I'm making a pot and I'm out of spices, I'll make the dinner and the packets at the same time... This way I know that this frugal recipe is half way made for me and it will be even faster for dinner.

Rice is cooking, I'll post on family's favorite rice another day. Now off to chop onions and make a meal.



dal is not photogenic...it looks like mush but your taste buds will want to marry it