Stuffed Grape Leaves/ Grape Leaf Rolls/ Dolmas

When The Bread Lady asked if I was interested in learning how to make Lebanese stuffed grape leaves, I jumped at the chance. Cooking with the Bread Lady is always a fun and tasty treat.

What you need:

• 16 oz. jar of grape leaves
• 1 pound chili ground beef (course ground sirloin)
• 1 cup uncooked long grain rice, rinsed several times
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
• salt, to taste
• juice of 4 lemons 
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut up
• 1  14.5 oz can tomatoes (any kind will do)

What you do:
Wash grape leaves several times by rinsing in water. Let leaves sit in fresh water and set aside.

Combine ground beef (we ground our own), rice, butter, cinnamon, allspice, pepper and salt.

Place a tablespoon of the meat mixture on the underside of a grape leaf (the stem should be pointing at you). Roll up egg-roll style. Place stuffed leaves in the pan seam side down. How to roll grape leaves.

Place the stuffed leaves in a large pot in rows. Once the bottom of the pot is covered make another layer of stuffed leaves. We ended up making 3 layers of stuffed leaves.

Pour the lemon juice, cut up butter and can of tomatoes over the stuffed leaves. Add enough water to cover the leaves.

Place an inverted ovenproof plate over the stuffed leaves to keep them from floating.

Bring to a simmer, cover and cook on low for 1  1/2 to 2 hours.

As the stuffed leaves are cooking taste the liquid to see if salt or pepper is needed.

All Done! While making these little guys my mom commented on how similar they are to the Polish stuffed cabbage rolls our family makes. They really are similar.

Just look at all those delicious little stuffed grape leaves. I could gobble them all up! Oh yeah, I did.

 Thank you, Bread Lady, for your generosity, friendship and amazing recipes! It's such a joy to cook with you!

Pringles Can Solar Hot Dog Cooker

Trouble was recently tasked with making something having to do with solar energy. After some indepth research googling around he decided to create a solar hot dog cooker made from a Pringles can. Honestly, I think he was drawn to the idea of eating an entire can of chips and a hot dog for homework. We found some super simple directions here and got to work.

I helped cut an opening in the can making two flaps for Trouble to fold back. Trouble taped some clear plastic over the window. Next he poked a hole in both ends of the can to hold a skewer. The hot dog gets loaded on the wooden skewer and inserted into the Pringles oven. 

Trouble found a sunny spot to cook the dog and let the sun do its thing.

After about 30 minutes Trouble noticed that the inside of the can had steamed up.

He checked the hot dog to make sure it was heated to his liking.

 Apparently it was the perfect temperature, that or he was hungry. He was so very proud to have used the sun to cook his lunch!

Roasted Beets

A wonderful friend brought back fresh veggies from the Texas Valley. Lucky for me, she shared! I got some beautiful beets. I love beets and I really love them roasted! They're good hot or cold, in a salad or all alone.

What you need:

• beets, I used 3 beets for 2 people
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt, to taste
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 
•  pepper, to taste

What to do:

 Peel and cut beets into wedges.

Toss beets in olive oil and lightly salt.

Place beets on a cookie sheet or roasting pan. (You can see here that I decided to roast onion and sweet potatoes as well.)

Place beets in a 450 degree preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.  Stir beets around a bit after 15 minutes of cooking. Cooking time may vary a bit depending on the size of your beet wedges.

Immediately after taking beets out of the oven, toss them in balsamic vinegar.

Salt and pepper to taste.

I love leftover roasted beets in salads with feta! Try it. Also, don't throw those beet greens out. The greens and stems can be sauteed or roasted and are completely delicious. I made beet leaf chips by tossing the leaves in a little olive oil and salt and roasting them in the oven until they were crispy.

Jalapeno Pimento Cheese

 I recently went to a sweet little tea room with a bunch of girlfriends. I ordered a sandwich sampler plate and fell in love with their jalapeno pimento cheese. I've always loved pimento cheese and adding jalapenos made it even better. I knew I had to tackle making my own version of spicy pimento cheesiness.

What you need:

• 8 oz. shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon garlic flakes or powder
• 1 teaspoon cut chives
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 4 oz. jar diced pimentos, drained 
• salt and pepper, to taste

What you do:

Place all ingredients in a stand mixing bowl.

Mix until well combined.

 My favorite way to eat pimento cheese...in a grilled cheese! 

Sloppy Joes

Trouble LOVES sloppy joes! I guess I do too. What I don't like is the instant stuff in the can. Yuck! So instead of using that yuck stuff, I make my own. It's easy and I usually have all of the ingredients.

What you need:

• 1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained of grease
• ½ cup onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon mustard (I use Dijon)
• ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke
• sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 6 buns

What you do:

Saute ground beef with onion, celery and garlic, until onion is soft. (5-8 minutes)

Stir in ketchup, salsa, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, mustard and liquid smoke.

Bring mixture to a simmer and cook at low heat for 25 minutes.

Serve on toasted buns topped with cheese.

Confession: Whenever I say sloppy joe, in my head I'm singing the Chris Farley/Adam Sandler 'Lunch Lady Land' song. Enjoy the Sloppy Joe, Sloppy, Sloppy Joe!

Drunk Dunked Cherries

I'm always a sucker for fruit soaked in alcohol. It's fun, it's festive, it's delicious! When I saw a picture on Pinterest of soaked cherries dipped in chocolate, I knew I had to give it a try.

 What you need:

• fresh cherries
• amaretto liqueur
• almond bark, melted

What you do:
Cover cherries in amaretto. Allow them to soak for a few days. I soaked mine for 2 days.

Dry off the drunk cherries.

Dunk each cherry in melted almond bark.

Allow cherries to harden on wax paper.

 Done! Yep, it's quite easy.

Pssst- Do yourself a favor and make a drink with any leftover amaretto that the cherries didn't 'drink'. It's really good in hot chocolate.

Baklava

The wonderful Bread Lady is at it again, teaching me how to make more delicious Lebanese food. Today I'm learning how to make Lebanese baklava. Yes, there are different variations of baklava. Some have honey, some have cinnamon, some have a rose water. We'll be making baklava with an orange flower water.

What you need:

• 3 cups finely chopped pecans
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons orange blossom water
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups rendered butter
• 1 pound filo/phyllo dough (1 box)
• 1  1/2 cups water
• 3 cups sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons orange blossom water

What you do:

Combine chopped pecans, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons orange blossom water and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Set mixture aside.

Brush a layer of rendered butter in rectangular baking dish.

Lay one sheet of filo in the baking dish.

Brush rendered butter over filo sheet. Continue layering filo and brushing with butter until half of the filo dough box has been used.

Sprinkle the pecan/sugar mixture over the layers of buttered filo. Gently pat the nut mixture in the pan.

Lay one sheet of filo on top of the nut layer. Carefully brush rendered butter over the filo sheet. Continue layering filo and brushing with butter until all of the filo dough has been used.

Carefully cut the baklava into diamonds with a sharp thin knife. That's right, cut it before it goes into the oven.

Bake baklava in a 275 degree oven for about 1 hour or until lightly browned. (Bread Lady usually bakes it about 15-20 minutes longer depending on what her oven is doing. She also turns the oven down to 250 if she thinks it's browning too fast.)

While the baklava is baking, combine water and 3 cups sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil.

Add lemon juice and boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add 3 tablespoons orange blossom water. Allow syrup to cool. Pour syrup over freshly baked, pipping hot baklava.

Allow baklava to cool.

 Isn't it just beautiful?!

Thank you again, Bread Lady, for sharing your kitchen, recipes and delicious food with me!

PS- Here's a picture of the orange blossom water, if you were wondering what it looked like.