HoneyBears & SydneyBeans: Thanks for sharing the Holiday spirit, psycho.

I have a confession. I have worked at a few Greek restaurants, they were good. I know what I taste and know hey, that’s good stuff. I just don’t care for Greek food. I think I could or should but there are a few things in Greek food that I just don’t really like. Such as lemons, dill, olives, lamb, cucumbers, grape leaves, fennel, mint, and sundried tomatoes.

I like cheese though. Feta, Saganaki (Kefalotiri), Mascarpone, pretty much all cheese.

The biggest thing though is I am allergic to balsamic vinegar. It makes my tongue swell. L For someone who loves cooking, I feel ripped off. So many recipes have balsamic. I switch up to red wine vinegar, but don’t get to experience those reductions people rave about. PLUS Greek food uses a lot of balsamic vinegar!

To be honest I have my ups and downs with Greek period. LOL As a kid some of my best friends were Greek. My 1^st major in University was Greek archeology. I have always been attracted to Greek mythology. My email has Pandora in it. I worked at 2 Greek restaurants while going to University. I worked a Greek restaurant here in Penticton. And when I was 25 I found out I was adopted and my Bio Dad is Greek.

Yeah, it was very weird actually. One night we were all out having drinks at Boston Pizza and a friend of mine said, “Hey I heard your Dad isn’t really your Dad.” I laughed it off. My Besty said, oh that has been a rumor for years, don’t pay any attention to it. I was all like, WHAT? I had never heard that.

All of a sudden little clips of conversations went through my head in like a blur. I went to the bathroom to think. When I got home I opened my babybook. It didn’t list Dad at my birth??? But it did list him at my 1^st birthday Dad (Ron). Hmmmm?

I kept digging and then a few days later I called my Mom.

“Mom, is Dad really my Dad?”

“Why are you 2 fighting again?”

“I am serious Mom.”

“Do you really want to talk about this over the phone?”

I was dumbfounded. I felt so stupid. My Mom had gone to the same schools as I did. My friend’s parents went to school with her. EVERYONE knew. Everyone BUT me. I am still shaking my head at this actually. LOL

So yeah, I have my ups and downs with Greek. PERIOD.

Now, I totally understand why my Mom kept it from me. Maybe someday we will revisit this topic… maybe I will even tell you about the f***ed up way I met him LOL But suffice to say, I rarely ever think about it and thank whoever is up there that my Dad adopted me and took care of me and was a REAL father to me… and believe there were times growing up I gave him every reason to say “I wash my hands of her, she’s yours!” But he didn’t. THAT’s a Dad.

But anyways… Greek food J

I don’t know why but I am going to try my hand at Greek tonight. But I am going to make it my way lol. I am going to make pork chops instead of skewers, have lettuce in my salad, red wine vinegar in my dressing, barely any lemon in my rice and cilantro in my tzatziki.

Blasphemy!

I know.

Anyways, let’s give it a whirl…

Souvlaki Pork Chops

Adapted from Counting up with P10

4 pork chops

1 lemon, washed

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons oregano

In your Ultimate Chopper, chop up the garlic, oil, water, salt, pepper and sugar.

Pour it all into a zip lock bag. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bag as well and squish the bag around to mix the marinade. Then throw in the lemon halves, for good measure J

Add the pork chops to the bag, shake to coat and marinate overnight in the fridge.

The next morning pour the entire bagful into the slow cooker, add oregano, cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

“Greek” Salad

Adapted from $5 Dinners

2/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 clove, crushed garlic

1 teaspoon oregano

1 head green leaf lettuce, washed and chopped into bite sized pieces

1 ½ Roma tomatoes, diced

2 green onions, sliced

½ small red onion, diced

½ red pepper, diced

¼ cucumber, sliced

4oz crumbled feta cheese

Put all salad dressing ingredients into the ultimate chopper and grind well.

Assemble all the salad and veggies.

Pour the tangy Greek dressing over the assembled salad. Add cheese on top J

Tzatziki

Adapted from Beard & Bonnet

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely minced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, minced

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl.

Cover and refrigerate.

Greek Rice Pilaf
Adapted from The Skimpy Pantry

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup rice

2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon margarine
½ cup peas
4 ounces feta, crumbled

* Personally I have never seen peas in Greek food. But, that might be the only part my family likes about this meal so I am going with it lol *

Cook rice. The easiest way is to put rice, chicken stock a bit of margarine, a squeeze of lemon, and a dash of salt in a pot. (I even used sundried tomato salt to make it even more Greek lol)

Bring to a boil, stir and cover. Turn down to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Take off heat and let sit for 15 minutes.

In a large pan, sauté the onion in oil on medium heat until they soften and become translucent.

Add the garlic, oregano, dill, and pepper and sauté until fragrant.

Stir in the lemon juice, cooked rice and peas. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When rice is hot, top with feta and serve.

I was so wrong... everyone but SBean LOVED this meal. It was all good! It could all be prepared ahaed of time and was silly how easy it was. It tasted great! SBean only liked the peas though... called it! LOL

BTW... I think I have Christmas’d HBear out.

Seriously?

I had so much Holiday cheer, I used to write musicals for Christmas Eve entertainment.

With costumes.

And props.

And I CANNOT sing.

And I MADE my brother and sister “preform” with me.

Believe me it wasn’t pretty.

We still have 8 more CRAAAAZY nights… or at least 8 more days of Christmas music, baking, eating, making cards and gifts, wrapping, ribboning, bowing, tagging, the Fireplace channel, saying thank you a lot (even though it seems to a 5 year old like a million times, it is important that when someone does something nice for you or says something nice or gives you something we say thank you), Christmas oranges, eggnog, and last minute small stuff shopping (which always seems to cost the most.) WTF?

So I say this because she doesn’t want to make anymore Christmas cards. Or Christmas coloring/activity books. She is still reading Christmas books but afterschool at the table yesterday was Barbie coloring. “No Christmas” LOL

So, today we went to visit Mom instead of doing Christmas crafts after school :)