Stress and Anxiety

Stress and Anxiety
That simply explains our household lately. The onset of puberty is major contributing factor, the moderation of MYP and DP a minor contributing factor. I read an article off the Yahoo site regarding foods to help deal with stress and anxiety, the following help alleviate some of this:
Dark chocolate- that would be for the mom
Skim milk- does whole milk count a little?
Oatmeal- we can find oatmeal bars as a snack
Salmon for its omega 3, I hope tuna is a reasonable substitute
Walnuts- no problem
Sunflower seeds- they are abundant here but they’re not the same (can’t easily get the skin off), but this just might require more experimentation.
Spinach- got it in abundance
Blueberries- when are they in season? Haven’t seen them yet in Turkey

Tonight K-dog wanted pasta with red sauce- no problem.
I made a sauce with:

Part 1:
2 cups spinach
¼ cup walnuts
4 tomatoes
½ cup tomato sauce (I thought it was puree but it was too runny)
4 cloves garlic
I put all of this in the food processor and ground it up.

Part 2:
1 ½ cups of the marinated eggplant
2 tablespoons capers (green blueberries con salt?)
Slowly heat up part 2 in a large-ish pan, when warm and a little bubbly add part one.

Part 3:
Boiled noodles- your choice, lots of stores have the “fresh” ravioli or just bowties or elbows

Once the noodles are ready, add a little oil to a wok, start frying the noodles and add the mixture of 1 and 2. I like to add a little cheese, that is optional. Mix it all up and enjoy!

I have noticed that after dinner my little darling is feeling much better about herself. And if I give her an oatmeal bar after school she is less dramatic and emotional. Or maybe the idea just works well with me?

Pizza

The recipe for basic bread dough is what I use for my pizza dough. I cut the recipe in half. To the flour mixture I add various things depending on my mood- cumin, chili powder, dill seeds, garlic salt, curry powder- about a table spoon of the mood for the day.

As I did not have any red sauce left I made a quick tomato and spinache sauce (below) which was good with the crust (I had added chili powder). K-dog loves Hawaiian pizza, so she had a green Hawaiian.

The carmelized onions make their own sauce. And the fun new pizza was with the tomato sauce, pickled jalapenos, and capers- salty and spicy.

BASIC BREAD DOUGH

Ingredients:(for pizza I cut the recipe in half)

1.5 kg flour
30 g fresh yeast or tbsp dried yeast
1 tbsp salt
900 ml tepid water

Procedure:

Sift the salt and flour into a bowl. For pizza dough add about 4 tablespoons olive oil and the extra dry spices (curry powder, corriander seeds, etc. and mix- should be dry). Mix the yeast with the water; if you are using dried yeast, leave it to soften in the water for about 15 min. pour the yeast mixture into the flour. Mix the flour and liquid together into stiff, sticky dough. Put the dough on to a floured board and knead it thoroughly, until it is elastic and glossy-about 10 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl- I put a couple tablespoons of oil in the bottom of the bowl and roll the dough around. Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave the dough to rise until doubled in bulk-1.5 and 2.5 hours, depending on temperature and humidity. (For pizza I ususally only wait an hour, unless I am a day ahead- then I just let it sit in the fridge).The dough is ready when a finger pressed into it leaves a dent that does not immediately smooth itself out.

For pizza: After the dough has risen, divide it up into 4-8 balls depending on the size of your pizzas. If you are not making pizza till much later, place balls in a strong container and place into the refridgerator until you are ready to use them. Other wise you can begin rolling them out and letting them start rising on the pan as you put all the stuff on top.

For bread: Put the dough on a working surface and divide it in half. Knead each half into a ball, cover it with a cloth, and leave it to rest for 10 to 14 minutes. Reshape the dough into two balls. Lay the loaves on a board sprinkled with coarse semolina and cover them with a cloth. Leave them to prove until doubled in bulk again, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. With a razor blade or sharp knife, cut a cross about 1 cm. Deep in each loaf.

Preheat the oven to 230degrees C (450 deg F)HA! I have yet to get my oven to do that 180 is okay (350 just cooks longer and finishes rising). The rest of this paragraph is for bread, not pizza-Put an ungreased baking sheet in the centre of the oven. Lay a wide dish on the oven floor and pour hot water into it so that steam is released into the oven as the water heats. Slide the loaves off the board and on to the baking sheet. Using a plant sprayer, spray water all over the inside of the oven. Bake the loaves for about 45 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the wide dish containing water. Bake for a further 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200deg C (400 deg F)for the rest of the baking time. The loaf is baked if it sounds hollow when rapped on the bottom with the knuckles.
Cool the loaves on wire racks. Do not slice them until they are cold, preferably the next day.

Optional: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil when mixing the liquid with the flour and salt.

You can use this dough for pizzas! I add about 4 tablespoons of olive oil and I try to use at least ½ the weight in whole wheat flour (that was before Turkey-I think my flour here is already mixed).

Quick Tomato Sauce for Pizza

I was rushed to make a quick sauce- and it was tasty and fairly healthy too.
I took:
5 smallish ripe tomatoes
5 gloves of garlic
2 cups of spinach (whatever fits into the food processor)

Put it all in the food processor (some tomatoes should also be on the bottom to provide liquid) and mix until saucy.

Lamb Ribs

Some Saturdays I don’t feel like making the 25 minute uphill walk to the market, but am always happy we did it. This time, besides the usual greens we bought some pink grapefruit (K-dog’s favorite with honey) and leeks so I guess I’ll be making some soup. We also bought 7 colorful U C Bennetton t-shirts for 50 TL.
I had bought some lamb ribs. K-dog loves baby back pork ribs which are extremely difficult to find and certainly not within walking distance. The lamb ribs look similar to the pork ones, just not as meaty. I was afraid that our dinner would have to be thrown into a pot to make brown sauce, but it worked out.
I put a 9 by 13 pan in the oven (the usual temp) with a couple of tablespoons of butter in the bottom. Once the butter had melted I put chopped leek and onion on the bottom, then the lamb ribs (which I salted with garlic salt and peppered) on top and cooked for 10 minutes. I flipped the ribs over and covered with chopped tomatoes (which I had stirred a tablespoon of curry powder into) and cooked for 20 more minutes. I did not separate the ribs until after they were cooked. I served it on top of Basmati rice. It reminded me of the trip to Xin Jiang province about 11 years ago. It was good, but I should have trimmed some of the fat before cooking, next time.

Cooking With K-dog Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie
K-dog has been asking for a lemon meringue pie- my mom usually makes them for her. I remember that when I started baking I was about her age and it was lemon meringue pies- so I figured it was time for her to get started.

For the crust she did not want your typical pie crust, but the one on oowie gooey butter cake.

PIE CRUST

Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F.

1 small package biscuits (the Peruvian Margaritas are perfect for this)
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
Put the biscuits in a food processor and turn into crumbs. Put in a bowl add egg and melted butter to mix. Then press into the pie pan. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.


THE LEMON CUSTARD

Sift these into a saucepan
1 ½ cups sugar
6 tablespoons corn starch
¼ teaspoon salt

Slowly blend in:
½ cup cold water
½ cup fresh lemon juice

Add, blending well:
3 well beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter

Stirring continuously (so as not to make scrambled eggs in your custard) slowly add:
1 ½ cups boiling water

Bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring gently. (K-dog did not know what a boil looked like). As it thickens reduce the heat and allow to simmer slowly for 1 minute. Take off the heat and add
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Pour into the backed pie shell.

The Meringue- we do not have cream of tartar so I used a splash of white vinegar

Whip until frothy:
3 egg whites

Add a splash of vinegar or ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Whip the whites until they are stiff. Beat in 1 tablespoon at a time:
4 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar (icing sugar).

Beat in
½ teaspoon vanilla.

Spread on pie and bake 10 to 15 minutes at 180 C or 350 F.

Lasagna- Part 4 Putting it all together

Putting it all together-Well here is where I am a real novice. I did not try making lasagna until about 3-4 years ago in Peru. You will have to use your expertise/intuition in some spots here.

450 grams (1 lb) lean ground beef- of course you are welcome to substitute
1 ½ cups marinated eggplant- drain off the oil
1 ½ cups (?) red sauce

Béchamel and JH sauce combo

Lasagna noodles- I like the no-cook ones (I don’t know what they are called; they soften while cooking with everything else.)

Cheese- I mix a mozzarella type cheese with a crumbly salty goat cheese type (feta?)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (350ish F)-actually that seems to be the most consistent temperature these overseas ovens can maintain.

I use a pan that is a little bigger than a 9 X 13 pan, and rub some butter in the bottom of the pan

Fry the beef, add the eggplant and red sauce. Taste test (I do not like to do that, spoils the surprise at the end) or smell test if you want to make sure it is flavorful enough. The carrots in the red sauce should have acted as enough sugar for the sauce.

Assemble the lasagna-
1. Green sauce on bottom of pan
2. Noodles
3. Red sauce
4. Cheese
5. Green –noodle-red finish it-cheese
6. Noodle-finish green-cheese

Cover with foil, bake 20 minutes. Take off the foil; bake another 20 minutes until it is bubbling. Cool for 15 minutes before cutting up.
Enjoy!

Lasagna for Lucy- Part 3 JH and Bechamel sauces

Spinach Pesto aka Jeff H
When I go to the vegetable market here in Bacesehire, I buy spinach and lettuce and a number of great vegetables from a particular vendor. It has taken me 6 months to learn the word for half (yarum), thus when I have tried to buy half a kilo of spinach I have ended up with 2 kilos (maybe one but it looks like a lot). So I have been experimenting with the abundance of spinach.
A spinach pesto is perfect to add to a béchamel sauce, which is then used for lasagna, or a pasta sauce. I name it in honor of my math friend, Jeff H. who once dared me to drink a dipping sauce at the “Elephant” restaurant in Beijing which was as nuclear looking as this pesto.

Jeff H
½ kilo spinach (okay a pound or little more will do)
About 5 or 9+ cloves of garlic
Olive oil to smooth things out
Optional- some sort of nut (pine nut, walnut, pecan) about ½ cup

Clean the spinach well and take off the stems. Dry it. Put the spinach, nuts and garlic in a food processor.
Start the processor, if it doesn’t like all of the dry ingredients you might have to add some olive oil to get it moving. Process until you have a nice nuclear looking sauce/paste.

I also like to add some parmesan or hard cheese, grated after all is complete (about half cup)



“Béchamel Sauce”

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
Salt
2 cups milk- heated in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes

Melt the butter. Add the flour and salt and mix until it starts turning golden. Add the warm milk, continue cooking and stirring with the wire whisk until it gets thick.

Add about 1 cup of the JH pesto to the Béchamel Sauce and mix.

Part 2- Marianted Eggplant

Italian Marinated Eggplant
Adapted from: Gourmet Magazine, August 2002

I use the marinated eggplant in many dishes- on top of salad, in the spaghetti sauce, in the fired rice, on top of a tortilla then cheese and in the oven to melt the cheese, and in lasagna when all the other vegetables were used in the red sauce or spinach pesto.

Makes about 4 cups.
Active time: 30 minutes plus a little more
Start to finish: 1 day

3 lb eggplant, peeled and cut into ¼ inch sticks
1 white or brown onion, chopped
A red or yellow bell pepper (optional but adds nice colour), chopped
3 tablespoons salt
4 cups wine vinegar –use a strong vinegar or mix in some strong with mild
4 cups water
4 garlic cloves (I use more)
4 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or ¼ teaspoon crumbled dried (I use a little more)
½ teaspoon black pepper

Toss eggplant, onion, and pepper with salt and drain in a colander set over a bowl, covered, at room temperature 4 hours. (Eggplant may turn brown.) Discard liquid in bowl.

Bring vinegar and water to boil in a 3- to 4- quart nonreactive saucepan. Add eggplant and boil stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes (I think it takes me ten minutes or more). Drain in colander, then set colander over a bowl and continue to drain eggplant, cover and chilled 2 hours more. Discard liquid in bowl.

Stir together eggplant, garlic, oregano, pepper and 1 cup of the olive oil in a bowl-I do this ahead of time so it can rest. Transfer to a 2-quart jar with a tight fitting lid and add enough olive oil to just cover the eggplant. Marinate the eggplant, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Scoop eggplant out of jar with a fork to drain excess oil.

Marinated eggplant keeps up to one month.

Additions:
When I tried to grow tomatillos I ended up with peppers. I used this recipe with the peppers and onions (no eggplant) and it worked very nicely.
Beans (fresh) might work as well.

You can half the recipe if you want.

Lasagna For Lucy- Part 1 Red Sauce

I have broken this up into pieces. Today is the red sauce. Please be patient as I’ve not blogged before. This was the best lasagna I have had in a longtime. The vegetable market on Saturday was fantastic.

Red Sauce
• Two carrots- cleaned and peeled, cut in half length wise
• About a pound of beautiful tomatoes-the ones that have their vines attached, cut in half
• 2 brown or yellow onions
• Red bell pepper- cut in half and seeds cleaned out
• Yellow bell pepper- cut in half and seeds cleaned out
• 5 cloves garlic- peeled
• A pepper-they have green jalapeño looking ones here, but they are not spicy
• Olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C or 350 F. (Normally recipes ask you to broil the vegetables, I cannot remember the last time I have lived in a place that has a working broiler. I have found that this method is tasty too).
Pour enough olive oil in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch pan to generously coat the bottom. Place the vegetables all in the pan and salt and pepper them before placing in the oven.
Cook for 30 minutes, check to make sure everything looks okay and stir if you feel like it. Then cook for another 20 – 30 minutes. The vegetables should be a bit brown and the tomatoes very juicy and falling apart. Cool, then puree in the blender.