Peanut Butter Power Smoothie

This summer began my quest, not only to get in shape, but to make the perfect smoothie (which is a lot harder than it seems, especially if you have my terrible blender).

Thankfully - I have achieved the latter of these goals. I have made an amazing smoothie. And to top it off, it is packed with vitamins and protein!

Ingredients to gather: 

1 banana [about 90 calories]

3-5 strawberries (frozen is fine) [10 - 20 calories)

4-6 slices of peach (frozen is fine) [about 20 calories]

2 tablespoons peanut butter (be as generous as you feel) [200 calories]

1 tablespoon fat free cool whip [8 calories]

1 cup Bolthouse Perfectly Protein [180 calories]

In a blender: 

Blend the banana and Bolthouse until smooth. Then add peanut butter and cool whip. Blend again! Now, add the frozen fruit and blend until desired consistency is reached!

Yields about 2 servings @ approx. 250 calories each! Enjoy!

Garbanzo-Tuna Salad

Lately, I've been trying to be more conscious of what I'm eating. So a lot of the staple recipes I go to have had to be revisited. However, I am VERY picky when it comes to foods I know.

For example, I remember going to my grandparents' pizzeria when I was a little girl and eating the tuna salad. That same recipe is now used in my parents' pizzeria and I still it. What I don't love is mayonnaise... and like many tuna salads, my family recipe calls for quite a bit of it.

So I decided to make my own version.

In the past, I've tried making it with just EVOO but the texture just isn't creamy enough for me... but thankfully I've found my secret ingredient - lovely garbanzo beans (AKA chickpeas).

This is what you do:

In a mortar - combine 3 tbsp EVOO with approx. 5 oz of garbanzo beans - grind until fine and creamy.

In a small mixing bowl - combine one lightly drained can of tuna, 1/4 cup of panko bread crumbs, and the ground garbanzos - and mix, mix, mix.

Then add your favorite seasonings. I use garlic powder, salt, paprika, and parsley. Mix again.

And voilà! A tuna salad that is light, creamy and not terrible for you!

Ingredient list:
3 tbsp EVOO
5 oz garbanzo beans
1 can tuna
1/4 c panko breadcrumbs
your choice of seasonings (garlic powder, salt, parsley, paprika)

Raw Fresh Tomato Sauce (and a tasty dip!)

I love pasta and all sorts of sauces. Sometimes, however, I really just crave raw, fresh tomatoes. These recipes are great for those moods!

Tomato Mozzarella Dip
In a food processor - add one tomato, about half an 8 oz ball of mozzarella, fresh basil (or lime-basil if you want to be really exotic), eyeball in some EVOO, salt, and garlic powder - blend or chop until semi-smooth. Serve immediately or chilled with fresh bread!

Sugo di pomodori freschi - Raw, Fresh Tomato Sauce
Boil pasta - for this recipe I like to use pasta rigati because the little ridges hold this sauce really well. As always, al dente per favore!

In a food processor - add two tomatoes, a handful of fresh basil, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1/4 cup EVOO, dash of salt, red pepper, and parmesan cheese.

Blend until there are no big chunks (little ones are okay though!). Then mix with pasta and serve immediately (or chilled) topped with fresh asiago cheese.

Delizioso! Delicious!

Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe is being posted here specifically for my friend Kevin. When he and another friend came over for dinner one night, I wanted to make something tasty yet simple... so here's the recipe for Kevin and any other hungry people out there!

Here's your shopping list:
-1 box pasta (any kind will work but I like to use rigatoni even though bowties are featured in the photos)
-approximately 8 oz. of mild or medium cheddar cheese
-1 container frozen butternut squash (fresh works too... but this is easier)
-1 tbsp butter
-splash of EVOO (optional)
-1/4 cup milk

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees
heat butter, milk, and EVOO over medium heat, crumble cheddar in and mix until melted, add in squash and mix until creamy, add any herbs you'd like (I use a dash of salt, red pepper, parsley, sage, and a bit of garlic).

Meanwhile... boil pasta until al dente... or have a handsome assistant do it for you :]

When boiled and strained, spoon pasta into cheese mixture a little at a time until all pasta is coated. Then pour pasta into a baking dish (I didn't have one so I used a glass pie dish). Top with panko bread crumbs and asiago cheese.

Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes or until top gets lightly browned. Take it out and let it cool for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Fancy Eggs in a Basket

My boyfriend, Nick, and I love breakfast. Although during the week, it can often be rushed whenever we can we make some sort of morning delicacy.

A few years back, one of my best friends, Scotti, introduced me to the "eggs-in-a-basket" phenomenon. Now, being a Greek child my eggs consisted of spinach and feta omelettes and I HATE feta... so to me, eggs in a basket sounded like something chocolatey that children got from a bunny on normal Easter. And since my Easters involved real eggs... and lamb on a spit.... I was lost.

But NO. Eggs-in-basket = egg + bread (two of my favorite foods in the world). EGG IN BREAD. Cooked together simply and deliciously. So now, I make this whenever I can...

However, Nick and I don't always have sliced bread around... so one morning (or afternoon. I'm a college student, don't judge) when it was my turn to be fancy... I decided to try something a little different.

We had leftover dinner rolls.... so I cut large holes in the tops of each like so:

Then I squirted in a bit of EVOO, cracked an egg in each, and topped them with provençal herbs and fresh asiago cheese.

I popped these bad boys into an oven pre-heated to 375 degrees and cooked them about 20-25 minutes (until the eggs were no longer runny). I meant to take a picture when I took them out of the oven but Nick and I were so hungry and they smelled so delicious that I forgot until it was almost too late!

These were so good and so simple to make! And they can be topped with all sorts of deliciousness... brie, tomato, fresh basil... honestly the list is endless. 

giant crocheted frog

Here is a giant (about 2 feet tall) crocheted frog (named Nick V) I made for Nick last Christmas! Just thought I'd share a picture (or two if I can find more) because I am very proud of him!

spanakopita, dolmades, and baklava! oh my!

Because I like to keep to my heritage (and because my boyfriend, Nick and I like to cook together), I decided to heck with college food!! Tonight we dine like Greeks!
And no. Not in Hell like 300 would have you believe...
Unfortunately (for Nicholas) I am a vegetarian (or pescatarian, rather as I will very occasionally eat fish) and despite popular Greek belief, lamb is NOT a vegetable.

Thanks to Dad, we had some taramosalata in the fridge. For those of you who think I just sneezed, let me explain (and be prepared for more tongue-twisters). It's pronounced exactly as the spelling would have you think. As with any foreign word, be confident and it will probably come out sounding better. Taramosalata is basically the Greek equivalent of caviar. You take olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, potato, and fish roe - mix 'em up and dip other Greek things in it.

If there is one thing my Yiayia (grandmother) has taught me, it's always to more than enough food... Like enough to feed all the orcs in Mordor. So I decided to make it a meze (basically appetizers) night.

spanakopita, dolmades, and tzatziki for dinner
and a rather untraditional baklava for dessert

Spanakopita:
- preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- boil 3-4 bags of spinach
- drain and mix with 1/2 cup ricotta, 3 cloves garlic (minced), 1/4 cup EVOO, salt/pepper/herbs
- line oiled pie pan (or a springform pan) with puff pastry
- spread spinach mix into pan
- cover with more puff pastry
- use an egg (beat it), olive oil, or butter to wash the top
- cut a few openings for ventilation...
- cook for 25 - 30 minutes or until top is golden brown and fork comes out clean

Dolmades:

Honestly I got this recipe from a video of my grandmother... I'll have to get her to help me write down a more thorough instructional. BUT the video is ADORABLE and EDUCATIONAL... so watch it :]
Yiayia's Dolmades 1, Yiayia's Dolmades 2
I would like to take a moment to thank my wonderful boyfriend for learning to roll dolmades just to help me! He did a fantastic job!

Tzatziki (cucumber, yogurt dip):
Unfortunately, I do not have a photograph of my delicious tzatziki sauce but here's the recipe:
- 500g whole milk GREEK yogurt (others will be more watery)
- 1 cucumber (not a huge one though...)
- 1-3 gloves minced garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
- 1 tsp dried dill
- 1/2 tsp dried mint
- 1/4 cup EVOO
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
- dash of salt and dried basil


place yogurt in mixing bowl and grate the whole cucumber on top, mix in everything but EVOO - save that for last! When everything (including EVOO) is mixed together, serve immediately or chill for later.

Baklava:

preheat oven to 350 degrees F
put the following in a blender/food processor:
- 1 cup pistachios
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon


when blended, drizzle with honey until mixture is slightly sticky but not goopy...

spoon into phyllo shells (freezer section of any grocery store), drizzle each with more honey and a bit of lemon juice.

bake for 20 minutes or until phyllo is golden-brown and serve hot or chilled!

(the triangular ones below were made from leftover puff-pastry from the spanakopita)

At the end of the evening, Nick and I were stuffed... and we had food for the next week. But our endeavors prevailed and I got to be stereotypically Greek :D

Can I get a bravo?

LOTR-ish Doormat

After giving it weeks of thought and preparation... I decided to just sit down and make freaking stencils to make a doormat.

It took me like three hours to cut them out... I was going to take a picture pre-paint but I just wanted so badly to finish.

So I attempted to tape it to the mat and I started spraying... and some of the small pieces flew away -___-

I guess my Os aren't gonna have holes after all!

Update soon.

Red Velvet S**t-erdoodle

Last night, Ariana (my sister) was craving Snickerdoodle cookies. So we decided to make some. We didn't have a car so we could only pray we had the right ingredients...

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees? - Check!

In a mixing bowl, sift together:

2 3/4 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour? - Check!
2 tsp baking powder? - Check!
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt? - We had table salt and sea salt... Ariana tried to stop me, but in went the sea salt!

Meanwhile in another bowl:

1 1/2 cups sugar? - Check! (We used natural sugar but I don't particularly think that matters.)
1 cup butter? - Che... oh wait, we only have 1/2 cup. And we don't have vegetable oil... Let's use olive oil! (And I mean like dark green, off-the-boat, zorba-freaking-Greek olive oil)
Ariana tried to physically stop me this time but in went:
1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup olive oil
mix, mix, mix.
Add 2 large eggs? - Check!

At this point our second mixture was bright green and did not smell like cookies... so I took matters into my own hands. Soon after Ariana followed suit. We just poured in whatever we could find that sounded tasty. No particular order here...

1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (melted, please!)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 - 1/2 cup of melted cream cheese
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 small tbsp vanilla extract (not the expensive stuff)
1 tbsp dried valencia orange peel
1 tbsp red food coloring (optional, to offset the nasty-ass coloring)
2 flat tsp Maxwell House Toasted Hazelnut instant coffee
1/4 - 1/3 cup of Irish Cream coffee creamer

mix, mix, mix. pour into flour mixture then MIX, MIX, MIX until even.

At this point, we were terrified to taste it... and we had fully realized that no matter how disgusting this cake (yeah, we gave up on the cookie part somewhere around the instant coffee...) was, Mother was going to force us to eat it. We don't waste food at our house.

So we split the very oily batter into two buttered pans so that the mixture was about 1 inch high in both, and we shoved 'em in the oven.

For how long? Well, we're not entirely certain.

It was around 20 - 25 minutes... or until the fork came out clean.

Then we were going to let them cool, and make a nice layered cake... But not two minutes later, Mother calls to tell us she would be home in five. She didn't know about the cake... and would murder our happy asses if she walked in to the mess of a kitchen. At this point, it became Dinner: Impossible. We had five minutes to make sure the house was presentable and the cake was done.

We iced one layer with:

2 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp butterscotch topping
1 tsp cinnamon

and tried to place the other on top, but it was still too hot and it broke... so we took our now broken layer and crumbled it over the top of our icing (scorching our fingers in the process).

(BE A MAN! SUCK IT UP!)

Just as Mother pulled into the driveway, the cake was thrown into the fridge (to hide it), the house was immaculate, and Ariana and I assumed our "natural" (albeit very guilty looking) positions.

After dinner, it was the moment of truth. Prepared to be raptorized (don't ask), I cut the cake and gave a slice to Mother. Then I hear:

"Mmm. What is this? It's good."

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh. What? Clearly she was out of her mind.

Quickly, I cut two more slices for Ariana and I... and I nervously take a nibble.

And holy cow, I mean wow. I don't know what happened in that oven... but it was FREAKING DELICIOUS.



*If you would like to make your own "Red Velvet S**t-erdoodle" the ingredients needed are in bold. But feel free to improvise! After all, that's kinda how this whole thing started :D

my kourelou

I'm moving into my new apartment in August and unlike the former, it's unfurnished! So much of my summer has been spent looking for furniture and tidbits to make it into a little home. I have found so many beautiful things, but this post isn't about that... You see, I've also been feeling extra creative this summer and I've taken to crafting a lot of things for the apartment. One of my biggest projects is what my mother and grandmother call a "kourelou." Oh, did I mention that I'm ridiculously Greek?

From what I understand, a "kourelou" is anything made from a rag (or a "kourele"). In this case, I am making a large red rug for my living room. 

I took a size Q crocheting hook and a bunch of red sheets and went at it! I rip the sheets in one continuous strip and connect with them a slipknot. 

As for a "pattern," I just did as follows: I crocheted a magic adjustable ring (with 10 dc), then for the next couple rounds increased by one dc in each. After a while, I went back to just one dc. 

I'm just crocheting in one continuous round so it's mostly done by feel... I increase crochets when the edges seem to curl inward and I decrease when the edges begin to ruffle. 

The Progression of the Kourelou: