What’s for dinner?

 The Butterfly:

I’ve used applesauce in place of the butter before with decent results. Recently I forgot to add the butter and the bread came out a little spongier and heavier but edible. :) For some reason the bread can come out more bland when using applesauce so I’ve added extra cinnamon or other spices to give it some oomph.

Applesauce ha, wouldn't that make it into a banana-apple-cake instead of just banana-cake? :D Sounds interesting. 

Though I guess I could always just use olive oil instead of butter (I know there are many people who dislike the taste/smell of olive oil in their sweets, but I'm not one of them; even in recipes that call for sunflower oil, I substitute for olive oil. Oh well, if it's virgin olive oil of 1 to 2 years max there shouldn't be any smell or excessive acidity anyway!). 

And that reminded me of my favourite apple-cake recipe (that's also vegan btw), that I'll make soon, but with pears instead of apples (because I love pears)! 

Today I had a simple but delicious oven omelette with vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, sweet red bell pepper, onion, garlic), herbs & spices, and a small amount of a local creamy white cheese (athotiro). Paired with a rocket leaves & tomato salad. 

Just the thing for the rapidly hotter-and-hotter weather!

Tonight was a weird recipe based on a dream.  Never one to turn down a dinner suggestion---

I made a sautéed sliced sweet potato, onion, mushroom, chickpea filling.  I used a little tomato paste, some Mirin, and spices to tie the filling together.  I made some rustic yeast dough open packets with the filling inside and baked them. (Similar looking to a  French rustic apple pie, only smaller individual servings)  On mine I brushed the dough with some olive oil, garlic, and herbs.   Yum!

Zucchini Noodles with Pesto (it was delicious ;))

 JoanneSmith:

Can u tell me more about that chickpea soup u made?

I recently made Greek Chickpea and Lemon Soup.  I was a little nervous about lemon in my soup but it was really good.  Mine was more of a stew consistency. I’ll let Estelll answer as to recipe because hers is authentic and I got my recipe from the internet. 

 The Butterfly:

I recently made Greek Chickpea and Lemon Soup.  I was a little nervous about lemon in my soup but it was really good.  Mine was more of a stew consistency. I’ll let Estelll answer as to recipe because hers is authentic and I got my recipe from the internet. 

It's one of the easiest & cheapest legume foods to make, because it basically requires only 5 ingredients (not counting water): 

• Chickpeas 
• Onions
• Olive oil
• Lemons 
• Flour (or corn flour)

You can add your own favourite ingredients of course, but nothing else is required. For example, I add garlic in mine, cause I love garlic. Some day I had added carrots & leaks (but that would make it a slightly different soup). And as of spices, it depends on my mood, lol, I usually add black & red pepper, some mustard (it also helps with the consistency), cumin, and nutmeg. And some rosemary for the fresh scent. 

Just remember to only add salt at the very end, 'cause it will make them harder otherwise and more difficult to cook! 

RECIPE 

(Don't take my rough ratios seriously, adjust per your own taste!) 

Ingredients:

• 500 gr dry medium chickpeas, soaked overnight into water (with 1 tsp of soda) to soften
• 2 large onions (or 3 smaller), roughly chopped
• 3 Tbsp virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1-2 lemons & zest of 1/2 (plus a bit more juice for serving - optional)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp flour (or corn flour)
• pepper, salt
• 2 tsp mustard (optional)
• 2 bay leaves (optional)
• 1 twig of rosemary (optional)
• 1/2 tsp cumin (optional)

Method: 

• Drain your chickpeas, and wash them, then add them to a heavy pot with water up up till they're covered. Bring to boil. As soon as they start to bubble heavily and froth gathers on top, drain them again. 
• Put them back into the pot (preferably a pressure cooker), along with the onions, the lemon zest, the pepper (and spices/herbs optionally), and the olive oil. Add water up until everything is covered + 1-2 cups more. Bring to boil. Let it boil for 10 minutes, giving it a stir occasionally, then cover with the lid of your pot, lessen the temperature down to a simmer, and let it cook (or lid and seal your pressure cooker and cook according to its instructions for vegetables). In any case, the chickpeas should be cooked thoroughly till they can easily melt with a fork or spoon. 
• Uncover the pot/pressure cooker.
• In a bowl, mix the lemon juice with the flour until it's incorporated, then gradually add 1-2 laddles of the hot pot liquor & whisk so it doesn't curdle. 
• Put the lemon-flour mixture into the pot, bring to a boil again, and stir thoroughly. After it thickens & takes your preferable stew consistency (some of my family prefer it more watery, while me & my mother prefer it more thick), the food is ready, and you should immediately remove it from the fire! At this point you can also add the salt!
• Optionally serve with some freshly squished lemon juice, for all that vitamin! :)
• It goes well with rustic bread or crackers to dip, and with anything salty, like feta cheese, marinated anchovy and olives.

Note: My father says that his own grandmother & occasionally his mother (my grandmother) made this food with Sour Oranges instead of lemons! I've never tried it yet that way, but feel free to do so if you can find them!

 The Butterfly:

Re: Lemon Chickpea Soup

A bunch of the recipes I saw on line called for oregano so that's the herb I used and I did use cornstarch for the thickener.  I don't have a pressure cooker so I just used a regular pot.  My husband loved this soup.  It was even better the next day!  

I love rosemary.  I'll have to use it next time.  :)

https://www.realgreekrecipes.com/greek-chickpea-soup/

• 500 grams dried chickpeas soaked in water overnight
• 1 large  onion minced
• 2 small garlic cloves minced (I used way less garlic because of you know who)
• 180 grams olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano (I didn't use this much oregano)
• 1/2 lemon juiced

I've never used oregano in chickpeas soup, nor have I heard of anyone using it (at least where I live). I think either good quality thyme, or rosemary would make a more fitting choice. 

I always put lots of garlic in mine, cause I love garlic, but it's not typical for the recipe and some people don't like it, so I didn't add it on the ingredients list above! 

Cornstarch (or corn flour, I don't know what's the difference) make for a fancier presentation, while regular flour make for a more rustic-looking dish. 

Not having a pressure cooker for this recipe makes it unfortunately much more time-consuming -- depending on the chickpeas, it may take more than 2-3 hours to cook, while with the pressure cooker, it takes half an hour tops! 

1/2 lemon juiced seems too little to me (I think at least 1 whole lemon should be used for proper lemony taste), but I guess some people may not be used to the acidity... So a better choice would be to have quarters of lemons on the table so anyone can juice some (Vit C!) directly on their plate. 

The other things, like adding lemon zest along with the juice, are some of my secrets, so trust me it's worth it! ;)

Made a wonderful cold pasta salad last night:

Used rotini pasta, zesty Italian dressing, tuna, scallions, fresh tomato, sun dried tomato, black olives, corn, carrots, Parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes. Delicious, light, and so easy to make. no fuss over a hot stove/oven. Temps here are in the 80's and humid.

Last nite i made salad tossed with grilled chicken, strawberries, chopped dates, toasted walnuts, blue cheese crumbles in an addictive maple balsamic vinaigrette. 

P.s. the chicken was marinated in that same salad dressing before grilling