great grub abounds in the Ozarks and at Moonmooring!
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Why? Well it started in Guatemala last week. I was eating in the weightlifting chow hall with Donny Shankle and thinking about the food. The meal that day included a sort of salad. Tasted like it had some kale in it, had some green beans, some corn, lettuce, and bits of bacon. There were diced up potatoes, cooked with onions. Diced up carrots that most people seemed to be mixing up with the potatoes and onions.
These peperonata and goats cheese crossovers should taste of sunshine, so the brightest and freshest peppers and the best puff pastry you can find will be needed to do it justice. Sweet peppers, red onion, garlic, basil and goats cheese peek through the slits in the flaky golden pastry, enticing you to take a bite and delight in the sweet tastes of the Mediterranean that are hiding within.
The first thing to do is pour about 2 cups of chicken broth (which I made yesterday, along with the simmered chicken) in a medium saucepan. Stir in 2 Tbls. organic cornstarch and cook till thick and bubbly. Lower heat to lowest setting and set aside. I wish I had taken a photo of the sauce but didn't.
This morning I made Spanakopita, aka Spank, a Mediterranean spinach pie. I told Mom and Dad it was spinach pot pie. Mom loves all things spinach and Dad was okay with it.
If you haven’t worked with phyllo dough before read the package directions very carefully. Every detail is for a reason. This is the recipe I use to make Spanakopita.
1/2 package phyllo dough, completely thawed
olive oil to brush between layers, about 1 cup or more
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. dill weed
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp dried mint
2 – 10 ounce packages of spinach, washed and roughly chopped, leave wet
6-8 ounces feta cheese, broken into fine pieces
4 eggs
Chop then rinse the spinach and leave to drain in a colander but don’t dry it.
Heat the olive oil and saute the onions and garlic gently. Add the dill, nutmeg and mint. Add the wet spinach and cook until the spinach is well wilted. Allow to cool slightly.
Meanwhile layer about 1/2 of the phyllo dough in an 8 X 13 pan, brushing each layer with olive oil.
Beat the eggs with a fork and add the crumbled Feta cheese, salt and pepper. Add to the slightly cooled spinach and mix well. Pour the spinach / egg mixture over the prepared phyllo dough and adjust the filling so it is well spread out and flat.
Before the top layer of phyllo dough goes on.
Top with the remainder of the phyllo dough, brushing oil between each layer.
Bake in a 350 oven about 30-45 minutes until the custard is set. Remove from the oven and allow to set about 15 minutes before cutting into squares.
Enjoy with a salad and some fruit for dessert!
A favorite for many people, this recipe has smooth flavor!
Many years ago I visited a friend, Judith, and she served me a salad made of what I thought to be unusual and unexpected ingredients. It was delicious and is standard fare at Moonmooring. I call this salad and dressing my house salad.
Looking down into the blender.
Place these ingredients into a blender;
1/4 medium white onion *see below*
3/4 C. olive oil
1/4 C. cider vinegar
1/2 C. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
Blend till smooth and creamy looking. Then add;
1 tsp. Poppy seeds
Blend just enough to incorporate.
*Note* A white onion will make an off white creamy dressing
A red onion will create a pink dressing
Use garden fresh green onions for a beautiful light green dressing
Serve this dressing over the following salad ingredients;
1/4 head loose iceberg lettuce, broken into large bite size pieces
8-10 sections of ruby-red grapefruit
1/4 C. broken walnuts or pecans
1/4 avocado, sliced, optional and my own addition to this marvelous salad
Pour about 2 Tbls. of the dressing over this and serve. Yummy!!
I recently posted this soup recipe on Moonmooring, along with my days adventures.
It is light and filling. Using organic celery really is a boost to the environment and your own system.
1 head organic celery, cleaned and diced
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
olive oil for sauteing
1 – 1 pound sweet potato, light fleshed, cooked, peeled and diced
2 cans chicken broth
4 cups whole milk, or your prefered milk
1/4 cup cold water
3 Tbls. flour
Prep the celery, onions, garlic and ginger . Cut the sweet potato in chunks and simmer in water till tender, cool and peel, dice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces. Meanwhile heat enough olive oil in a soup pan to cover the bottom, add the celery and onions and cook till tender. Add the garlic and ginger stirring often. Do not burn the garlic.
Add the chicken broth, prepared sweet potato cubes and salt and pepper A dash of cayenne is nice. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree the soup for a few minutes till the ingredients are the desired consistency. Add the milk and bring to a light simmer. Mix the cold water and flour in a glass jar and quickly shake vigorously till blended. No lumps! Add the flour/water mixture slowly ( you might not want to add all of it at once, so you can adjust the thickness of the soup) while stirring continuously to prevent lumps, until the soup comes back to a boil. Lower heat and simmer lightly till the soup starts to thicken. Add more milk or more of the flour/water to suit your self. Season gently with salt and pepper.
a moonmooring orignal recipe
If you want, about 1 pound (more or less) diced, cooked chicken can be added at this point. If you like. I prefer my celery soup meatless.
Serve with good crackers, a tuna or chicken salad sandwich, a salad or some fruit for a complete meal. Even Adrian and Holly liked this soup!
Nation of Pica. If I were to write a book on the state of food that would be the title – Nation of Pica. The number of people consuming non food items is overwhelming and the dumbing down of food sophistication grows by leaps and bounds.
I can’t imagine paying hard-earned money again for what passes as good food. My example today was a meal at Ruby Tuesday’s.
When Ruby Tuesday came to town there was a lot of excited people. A nice chain where one could get nutritious home cooked down home food. I think it may have actually met that criteria at one time, but todays meal was fraught with chemically treated wilting “fresh” vegetables, prefab fish patties, high fructose corn syrup and saccharine sweet scripting designed to allow the customer only one civil response – a positive one, when in fact a strong negative was really in order.
The shrinking salad bar contained wilting and brown lettuce. The mixed greens contained decomposing slim ready for the compost pile. I picked through and found enough to make a salad. About a year ago I made my last complaint about the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday after they refused to throw away the totally rotten lettuce on the salad bar and I boycotted them for a while.
The cut ends of the broccoli was brown and the head was wilted. I picked out a few passable pieces. My dining companion bravely ordered the salmon with steamed broccoli. It was obviously a prefab frozen patty before being what looked to be deep-fried.
I don’t have to have a stellar meal every time I eat out. Please don’t charge me for a stellar meal.
I understand scripting, every industry uses it now. Scripting has its’ place but is easily overused. Over burdening the wait staff with paragraphs of verbiage does little to make up for the less than stellar food. When the statement arrived, “Isn’t everything delicious!”, one is left with two options, buy in to it and agree or tell the truth. The truth was, it was not delicious, it was passable but just barely. Hence the dumbing down. How many times does it take before it is believed? Can anyone say 1984?
High fructose corn syrup, flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, preservatives, unpronounceable chemicals whipped into a mass hysteria of pica. And scripting. Brain washed into deliciousity of non food. We live in a world where soda pop and corn chips constitute the breakfast of champions; or if one moves up the scale toward a nutritious meal, instant oatmeal (stripped of all nutrition), laced with mock apple bits and cinnamon flavor.
I don’t rant very often, but rant is where you find me tonight. And you find me eating real food. Vegetable wraps made with freshly grated cabbage, carrots and radish, seasoned with home made pepper jam and real cream cheese.
Skip the margarine, the fake cheese, the milk substitute, and artificial sweeteners. Skip the meat patty containing 100% real beef (along with 100% fillers). Skip the fruit juice drinks, the scramblers and the extruded patties.
Have a real meal, made at home (how novel!) and have it be real food. Whatever is in season will be fresh. Whatever is grown locally will be fresh. There really is no reason to eat something that has been disassembled, recombined, flash steamed, flash frozen, packaged in plastic and shipped back and forth across the country a couple times then heated in a microwave or deep fried.
S.
I LOVE tamales. In fact I don’t think I ever met one I didn’t like. I may have to include my own recipe along with the recipe for authentic red sauce, which does not contain tomatoes! Another day then.
Get Your Fruitcakes Here – Get ‘em While They’re Hot!
via Moonmooring
Looking for the perfect savory tomato soup recipe. I had one a few years ago but it wasn’t for sharing. It was thick and rich with chunks of tomato and lightly seasoned with Italian herbs. Was absolutely the best, mine on the other hand was less than perfect!
via Moonmooring
