STEW WITH PORK MEAT, ZUCCHINI AND EGGPLANT

       Here, in Romania, we have a saying: the best vegetable is the meat and there is no better bird as the pork, hahahaha... So, i think you guessed already, we eat a lot of pork meat here. Almost each family has a pig for Christmas and we cook a lot of traditional food: sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls), home made sausages, piftie (meat in pork jelly) and all kind of stews and soups. We are masters of stews and soups. Today i show you one that i like a lot, because it has 2 vegetables that i adore: eggplant and zucchini.
       You need:
1 pound pork meat
2 onions
3-4 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 zucchini
1 eggplant
5-6 tablespoons olive oil
salt, pepper
oregano
fresh parsley
rice
butter
       Cutt the meat in pieces as you like, add salt and pepper and fry them a few minutes, untill they become light brown. Add the onion cut in small pieces, the zucchini and the eggplant cut in 2 inch pieces. Cook them a few more minutes, till they change colour a little bit, add the tomato sauce and cook 2-3 more minutes, stiring well, add water enough to cover everything, but not to transform it into a soup. Taste it and adjust the salt and pepper, add oregano and other herbs to your like, cover with a lead and boil it untill the meat is
soft. When is done, add fresh parsley cut small. Serve it with rice boiled with water, salt and one tablespoon of butter, or with pasta, if you like it more.

      Enjoy it!!!!!

WALNUT CARAMEL BAR COOKIES

      Lets see: what are you doing if you loooooooooovvvveeeeeeeeee caramel and nuts and this recipe makes you die for a piece of it, but don't have any pecan on hands? You become creative, no? At least so did i. This is my version of the recipe, where i replaced the pecans with walnuts and the result was more than what i expected.

The dough:
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (80 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (95 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg (i used one medium egg)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
I stired all the ingredients into a bowl, untill i got a tough dough.

I lined up a pan with baking paper and press the dough in it, using my fingers (wet your hands, if the dough stick to your fingers). I let it chill for 1/2 hour, baked it at 175C, untill the edges were golden.

I let it cool off completelly.


The topping:
3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
3 tablespoons (40 grams) unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon  salt
1 cup (114 grams) pecans, toasted cooled, and coarsely chopped (we dont have pecan trees
here, so i replaced the pecans with walnuts, the taste it is not too different, i think)
I cooked the sugar into a pan until it melted and became golden caramel. i poured in cream and cooked on low fire untill the caramel was dissolved. I removed it from head and added butter, vanilla, salt and walnuts.

I spreaded it on the top of cooked dough and baked it until it started bubbling on the edges.I let it cool completelly and cut it in bars.
       Enjoy it!!!!!

SO LONG TIME...

      ...since i didn't post anything on my blog!!!!!!!!! And so many things happened. We left from the village, returned to Bucharest and now i'm in Italy, since october last year. I'll be here for a few more months, i think. I missed my blog and posting here. I missed reading the other blogs. I just hope the things will settle a little bit and i'll have time to post again.
      For now, lets try something sweet, just to remember how to do it, so...
         YOGHURT PIE!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients:
2 pounds yoghurt
7-8 eggs
1/2 pound sugar
8 sheets of phillo pasta
vanilla, lemon zest, raisins
2 teablespoons of melted butter
Beat up the eggs with sugar untill they increase their volume 2-3 times. Add them to the yoghurt, add in the vanilla, the lemon zest and the raisins. Mix well. Grease a pan with a spoon of butter, grease 3 sheets of phillo pasta with melted butter and lay them one in top of eachother in the prepared pan, pour 1/3 of the yoghurt, lay another 2 sheets of pasta, add another 1/3 of yoghurt. Lay the last layer of 3 sheets of phillo and the rest of the yoghurt. Bake it for about 40 minutes at 350F. After you take it out of the oven let it cool
off for a few minutes and, if you want, dust it with powder sugar.

　Enjoy it!!!!!

FIRST HARVEST EVER

Yesterday i had the first harvest ever: my first zucchini!!!! 9 pieces!!! Wonderful zucchini!!! I was so happy. Today i used them and made the best zucchini soup and fried zucchini-cakes. I'll post the recipes, maybe they inspire somebody.

Zucchini soup:
1 anion
1 carrot
1 pepper
2 big zucchini
2 smaller tomatoes
2 liters water (1/2 gallon)
salt, pepper
olive oil
4 egg yolks
1/2-1 pound sour cream
dill
1/2 lemon
Cut the anion in small pieces and shred the carrot. Heat up the olive oil, add the anion and the carrot and steer for 3-4 minutes. Add the water. Cut the zucchini in 1/2-1 inch pieces, cut the pepper in strips. When the water is boiling, add the zucchini and the pepper. Boil for about 20-30 minutes and add the tomatoes, cut in small pieces. Add salt and pepper. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon. Mix the sour cream with egg yolks, add some liquid from the pot to warm it up. Add it in the soup. Remove the pot from stove, add the dill cut very fine and let it rest for a few minutes. Enjoy it!!!!

Fried zucchini-cakes:
2 zucchini
1 big potato
shredded cheese (as much as you want, i used about 1/2 cup)
3 eggs
2-3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
dill
olive oil
Shred the zucchini, salt them and let them into a strainer for 1/2 hour. Squeeze out all the liquid. Shred the potato and squeeze it out. Add it to the zucchini, add the shredded cheese too. Add eggs, breadcrumbs and chopped dill. Mix them very well. Warm up a few tablespoons of olive oil into a pan and with a spoon add the zucchini batter and form small cakes. Fry them until golden, turn them on the other side and fry again. Take them out on a paper towel. Delicious!!!!

JUST TO REMEMBER

I got another batch of chickens, 40 meaties. Now i regret i didn't order 60, but i'll buy more at the end of august, so doesn't matter too much. I think next month, july, i'll buy the turkeys and the guineas. And i'll process the first ducks (30) and the few meaties (9) i have now.
ETA: I've got my 20 more chickies. The guy that sells them is a friend of us and he brought them at home. Now i'm happy.

MORE DUCKS!!!!

First of all, hello to everybody. I didn't post for a while, i was way too busy. The work started on the fields, at home i have the chickens and the ducks and the garden, of course. I still cannot upload pictures. My daughter sent a card reader to me, but it is not working and it is brand new (i wish i had a few emoticons here to explain better how do i feel). So, i'm still not able to post pictures yet. And i have thousands of pictures. I would like to show you my garden, where i planted 177 tomato plants, 130 pepper plants, cabbage, eggplants, anion, zucchini, watermelon, melon, raspberry tree, bilberry, white gooseberry, blackberry, carrots, radishes, and other that i don't remember now. I would like to show you my chickens and my ducks, which grew up so fast!!!! Man, the ducklings are not ducklings anymore and they are not one month old yet!!!! I still love them so much. I love ducks, what can i say? Probably that's why i bought 40 more yesterday. They're adorable!!! My target for this year is 100 ducks and 200 chickens. I would love to get a few turkeys too (about 10) and some geese and some guineas. We'll see. I know they mean a lot of work and i'm exhausted already. I spent the last 2 days whit my chickens because they are sick. They've got coccidiosis and i lost about 20 of them in the last 2 days. I hope i saved the rest of them. Interesting, only the layers were affected, the meaties are fine. I'll let you know what happened farther.

FIRST DAY OUT

Today i took the babies out. Until today i kept them inside, but the chickens are growing fast and the cages are getting smaller. And the ducks? They are really crowded into a small cage where i have to put food and water too. So, even if they are so young (the chicks will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and and ducks are only 3-4 days old), i took them on the backyard and let them free. Man, they enjoyed it!!!! They were running, they were flying, they were jumping, they were dust-bathing!!!! I took a thousand pictures (Anitaaaaaa, send the card-reader!!! Hahaha, i will call her to tell her to read my blog). Now they are back inside, in our room. Geeee, when i brought them in, they just fell like the soldiers on the war: dead. They were tired (as i am). After they took a nap they ate like they never did before. And they drink a lot of water too. But i see that they are not so noisy anymore. Still tired, i guess. I'll take them out every day from now on and i bring them in at night. I hope we'll move to the new house this week and i can let the chickens into a coop at night (make room for more babies, because the store brought something different, not what i ordered and i have only 10 meaties now and i need more).

DUCKS!!!!

I just bought, 2 days ago, the first batch of ducks, 33 of yellow marvels. I understood they are Pekin ducks. I'll post pictures as soon as i get a card reader from my daughter (Anitaaaaaaaaaaa, where's the card reader?).

BREADCRUMBS SAVARINA

These are some very easy to make (and very easy to eat) cakes. You don't need flour to make them, but breadcrumbs. So, there it is:

BREADCRUMBS SAVARINA
savarina:
5 eggs
6 full tablespoons sugar
6 full tablespoons breadcrumbs
a pinch of salt

syrup:
1 cup of water
200g sugar
rhum flavor

1 1/2 cup whipping cream
Beat eggs yolks, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add the breadcrumbs. Whip egg whites. Add 2 spoons of whipped egg whites in the yolks, stir until combined, add the rest of the egg whites and fold in gently. Grease muffin tins and dust them with flour, fill them up with dough. Bake the savarinas at 380-400F. In the mean time, make the syrup: boil the water with sugar and add the rhum flavor. When the savarinas are baked, take them out from the tins, put them for a short time in syrup and place them onto a plate. Make a cut horizontally, but not all the way, lift the upper side and fill the savarinas with whipped cream. For a nicer look, you can put some red jelly in top of each savarina. Enjoy!!

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!

Hello, everybody!!!!!

I'm so glad to be back!!! I missed my blog, i missed you all and i missed reading your blogs too. My daughter came to visit for easter and she brought another computer to me. It is an older one, it doesn't have a card reader, but i hope i'll buy one soon, so i'll post pictures. Because i have pictures to post, you know? I have good news to share too. We just bought a house in the village, we are moving right now, we're very busy. And today i bought chickens!!! 60!!! OMG, i love them!!! They're so cute. I took pictures and i'll take more. I'll post them as soon as i get a card reader. I'll be back with recipes too. And with pictures from garden too. I won't plant all the seeds i bought tho, because the ex-owner planted already most of the land and i don't want to destroy her plants. So, i don't have too much land left for myself this year. No problem, i'll survive...
I'm very glad to be back at home!!!

Offline for two weeks

Hi, everyone,
My name is Ana - Jenny's daughter. My mom asked me to write to you that she has pc problems and that she will have it fixed in 2-3 weeks at most, hopefully. She says hi and can't wait to get back online.

I don't want to have this post empty so i will post a link of my own artworks for you ^_^
This is for full-size of the drawing - http://annyaonweb.deviantart.com/art/All-the-girls-want-188276091

You can see more of my work here - annyaonweb.deviantart.com   

Thank you for your patience, have a great day~!

MY SEEDS

These are the seeds that are waiting for spring as much as i do. I just hope to be able to plant at least a few this week. I'll let you know.

ZEBRA CHEC

This is a cake you can make when you don't have too many ingredients at hand, but still want something sweet. 

8 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup yoghurt
1ts vanilla
1ts baking powder
1/2cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 cups flour
Mix the flour with baking powder. Beat the eggs with sugar for about 5 minute. Add the yoghurt and vanilla stir wel with a spoon. Add 2 cups of flour in 2-3 additions. Split the batter: 1/3+2/3. In the 1/3 of batter add cocoa and mix well. In the 2/3 add coconut and the rest of the flour (1/2 cup). Line up a 9inch baking pan with parchment paper. In the middle of it pour 2 spoonful of white bater (the one with coconut). In top of it add one spoon of black batter (the one with cocoa). Continue like this until you finish both of them (pouring only one in top of each other). The batters will fall to the edges and fill up the battom of the pan eventually. Bake it at 370F until golden in top and the tester (i use a toothpick) inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

SARAMURA

This is a fish dish. If you love fish as i do, you will love this.

about 2 pounds of fish
5-6 spoons of corn flour
salt, pepper
one tomato, or 3-4 tablespoons of homemade tomato sause (or 1/2 cup canned tomato)
6-7 garlic cloves, minced
red, yellow, green pepper (whatever you have)
olive oil
parsley
mix the corn flour with salt and pepper.

Cover the fish all over with corn flour and fry it in olive oil until golden.

Take it aside. Into a pot pour a few tablespoons of olive oil and the tomato, cut in small pieces.

Cook it for a few minutes. Mince the garlic and cut the pepper into small pieces.

Pour 3-4 cups of water in the pot we have the tomato cooking with olive oil, bring it to boil and add the fried fish, the pepper and the garlic.

Boil it for 20-30 minutes, add salt to taste and before you turn the fire of, add the parsley.

Enjoy it!!!
We ate this dish with polenta. Yammy!!!

 This one was made with file, but i use fish with bones too. In fact, when cooked with bones, the fish tastes better.

APPETISER CAKE

7 eggs
3 spoonful yoghurt
4-5 spoons oil
2 cups flour
1 cup shredded hard cheese
1 cup ham, cut in very thin slices and after that cut in very small pieces
1/2 cup chopped olives
2 teaspoons baking powder
With a mixer, beat the eggs for 4-5 minutes at high speed, until light and fluffy. Add the other ingredients one at a time, stirring well with a spoon. For you to know what kind of chees and ham to use and how to shredd or cut them, i'll show you a picture from an other recipe i made using those.

The last to add is the flour mixed with baking powder. Pour the batter into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Cook at 370F, until a tester inserted in the middle if the cake come out clean.

CHICKEN MEATBALLS

1 pound ground chicken breast
2 slices of bread, only the core, soak with 2-3 spoons of milk
1 egg
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
salt, pepper
chopped fresh dill and parsley
a few quail eggs
Mix the ground chicken breast with soak core bread.

Add the egg, salt, pepper, dill and parsley and the minced garlic.

Mix well all the ingredients.

Shape into meatballs. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and brown on all sides.

Remove meatballs from skillet and set aside. If you want, hard boil a few quail eggs and place them inside of the meatballs and cook them as you do with regular meatballs.

 They look good and they are very tasty too.

COCONUT_BUTTERMILK PIE

my pie's name should be coconut-yoghurt pie, because i used yoghurt instead of buttermilk. Coconut-buttermilk pie is a recipe from myrecipes.com

1/2  (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crust
2  cups  flaked coconut
1/2  cup  butter, melted
1 1/2  cups  sugar
2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
4  eggs, well beaten
1/2  cup  buttermilk
1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
1  cup  semisweet chocolate morsels
Fit pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate according to package directions; fold edges under, and crimp. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside. Toast coconut at 350° for 5 minutes or until golden brown, stirring twice. Set aside. Beat butter, sugar, and flour at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended; add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla, beating well. Stir in toasted coconut and chocolate morsels. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes; shield edges with foil to prevent excessive browning. Bake 25 to 30 more minutes or until set.
i had no buttermilk, so i used yoghurt and i didn't read careful the recipe and i used 1 cup of yoghurt instead of 1/2 cup. the result was a pretty runny filling that separate when baked: the coconut up, the butter, eggs and sugar like a vanilla cream down and chocolate in the middle. hahaha, if i would want to get such a great thing, for sure i wouldn't succeed. i didn't shield the edges of the pie and nothing bad happened.

12 O'CLOCK CAKE

When i was teenager i was a student to a high school. Then it was when i discovered this wonderful cake. I loved it!!!! You could find it everywhere. But i finish the school and i lost the cake for over 20 years. When i found the recipe i was soo happy. I was dreaming about this cake. And it's so easy to make!!! I had to make it right away. And i make it every once in a while since. I think i'll never get enough of it.
Ingredients:
8 eggs
8 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoon flour
4 tablespoon cacao

chocolate frosting:
8oz chocolate
1 cup whipping cream

syrup:
1 cup water
8 tablespoon sugar
rum

2 cups whipping cream

Separate the eggs. Beat egg yolks and  sugar until light and creamy, about 4 minutes; set aside. Beat egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Fold egg-white mixture into egg-yolk mixture in 2 additions, then fold in flour and cocoa. Do not overmix. Line the oven baking pan with parchment paper; pour the batter in. Bake it at 350F until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake come out clean. Take it out of the pan, remove the paper and let it cool of.
While the cake is in the oven, prepare the syrup: bring to a boil the water and the sugar, boil it for about 10 minutes. Let it cool. Add 1-2 spoons of rum, for flavor. When both cake and syrup are cold, pour the syrup over the cake. Cut the cake in squares.
Warm up the whipping cream (don't boil it!!) and add the chocolate. Stir well. let it cool of for a few minutes and pour it over the cake.
Beat the whipping cream on high speed until it holds it's shape, transfer it to a pastry bag and pipe it in top of each square.
Enjoy it!!!

SUCCESSFUL DIET

A few years ago i was working very hard, about 14-16hours a day. And i had no time to eat. I was eating once a day, at night, at 11-12pm, when i got home. So, i started to have problems with my weight: i was getting fat!!! And it started to be harder to move around. Tired, hungry, dizzy, plus a few more problems i knew about - i went to a doctor. And she told me to follow a diet, to lose weight. So i did. What can i say? In 2 months i ate more than i eat in those past 2 years. And i lost about 30 pounds. I couldn't believe it. If i would hear that, i wouldn't believe it, but it happened to me. Here, i will tell you what that doctor prescribed to me:


-food that i could eat:
     -lean meat: chicken breast, white fish, lean ham or bacon, lean beef, boiled, grilled, fried, w/o adding any grease
     -liver, kidney, twice a month (if you eat that!!!)
     -3 eggs/week
     -any vegetables (they have to be at least half of what you eat for breakfast,  lunch or dinner, doesn't matter if they are row or cooked)               
     -fruits - not as a dessert, but as a snack, 2 hours after and 2 hours before you   eat your meals
     -bread - 2 slices/day, before 10am, with your breakfast
     -rice, semolina, pasta, peas, lentil, beans, corn, fava,  chick pea only for breakfast or for lunch
     -fresh milk, yoghurt,  fresh ricotta (not salted), cottage cheese, home made unsalted cheese
     -all the condiments and herbs, but salt. the salt is forbidden!!!


-forbidden food:
     -fat meat, pork, smoked meat, salami, sausages, hunted birds or animals
     -fermented cheeses: hard cheese, feta cheese, camembert, roquefort etc
     -mayonnaise
     -walnuts, hazelnut, peanuts, pistachio, sunflower seeds
     -very sweet fruits: grapes, pears, bergamots, plums
     -pastry - any kind
     -any kind of grease: oil, butter, lard, margarine, sour cream, any cream (light or heavy, doesn't matter)
     -honey
     -sugar
     -any kind of drinks like cola, pepsi and other similar drinks
     -alcohol
     -creams and sauces with butter, egg yolk, oil. 

Now, lets see how we eat daily:
-breakfast (between 8am-10am):
      -lean ham, bacon
              or
      -cheese that it is allowed
              or
      -eggs
              plus VEGETABLES
              plus 2 slices of bread in the first 6 weeks. 

-lunch (2pm):
       -rice, pasta, beans, polenta, corn, peas etc
              plus
       -meat that is allowed or cheese that is allowed or eggs
              plus VEGETABLES  (salads, pickles, tomatoes etc)
-dinner (8pm):
       -white lean meat(chicken, fish, turkey)
               or
       -cheese that is allowed
               plus VEGETABLES (cooked or row, doesn't matter)

ALWAYS, the vegetables on your plate must be at least half of your food. Between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner, you can eat fruits, never as a dessert, always as a snack, 2 hours after your meal.
You have to drink at least 1/2 gallon of liquids/day: water, coffee, tea. Don't sweeten them. Use lemon. 
I don't tell anybody to follow this diet, i just let you know about my experience. I followed many diets in my life, i lost 10 pounds and i gained 20, i didn't know what to do anymore. Until i spoke with this doctor and she explained to me how wrong i was eating. So, it is important to eat correct, not to eat less, in order to lose weight.











 

CHOCOLATE THUMBPRINTS

Again, cookies from Martha Stewart's site. Her recipe, my picture.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons coarse salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar, plus more for rolling
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Chocolate and Vanilla-Bean Ganache
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a small bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium, and add yolks, cream, and vanilla. Scrape sides of bowl. Beat in flour mixture until just combined. Roll balls using 2 teaspoons dough for each, and roll each in sugar. Place 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. With the handle of a wooden spoon, press gently in the center of each to create an indentation. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are just set, about 10 minutes. (If indentations lose definition, press centers again.) Let cool slightly on baking sheets. Transfer cookies to wire racks, and let cool. Spoon warm ganache into center of each cookie. Let stand until firm, about 15 minutes. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.

Note: the flour is different from a mill to another, so, for me, 2 cups of flour was too much. I advice to add it gradually, not all of it at one time, as i did.
Make the ganache this way: warm up 1/2 cup heavy cream (don't boil it!!) and add 4oz dark chocolate. stir until well combined.