Roast Beef the Old Fashioned Way

These are the last of my summer flowers.........Begonia's and Dusty Millers, soon my husband will be yanking them out and putting in Mums. Here are some Scarlett Red Begonia's and the Dusty Millers.

Beautiful pink and red Begonia's.

Dusty Miller..........I have some that have grown quite tall, that is if Alvin the Chipmunk doesn't trample on them in the pots or the Racoon in the flower beds.

Roast Beef with Cabbage........The way my Mom and Grandma use to make.

I don't have a set recipe for this because I usually just wing it as I'm cooking. My Grandma [Baba] made it like this in the old days...........and I'm still using her old roasting pan.

I take a roast and carmelize it to seal in the flavour..........and then put into a roaster.

Secondly I chop up 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs and 2 garlic cloves and saute til carmelized in olive oil or canola I use sometimes. Add to pan where the roast is and sprinkle all over.

Then I take a 1 small cabbage and cut it inot wedges and put around the roast beef..........

Lastly........... I roughly take 1 or 2 cups of beef broth and pour over roast beef and cabbage wedges. Then my Mom use to take Lipton's Onion Soup dry mix and sprinkle over everything in the roasting pan...........you may need more seasoning depending on your taste buds and salt in/take.

I like to chop up some flat leaf parsley and add to that also along with a couple of bay leaves.

Then I let it roast at 350 deg. F. til done and nicely browned and carmelized. We like ours well done and melting in your mouth as husband will not eat anything that is rare.

Ready to go into the oven...........

Roasted and ready to be eaten and carved.

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!!!!!

Olive Salad

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I haven't been blogging to much lately because plain old life just got in the way and I have this horrible cold that has been lingering on for 2 weeks almost. Just can't shake it.........I have been cooking but got lazy pulling out the camera.........I always put each camera in a different place and then can't find it. Same old story with me.

I'm not sure where I got this recipe but I've had it for years.........if my memory serves me correct I think one of my husband's friend's wife gave it to me. I collect lots of recipe and forget to write where it was adapted it from. But lately I've been good and jot down the source.

This is one of my daughter's fave side salads...........she can inhale the whole bowl herself and that will be her dinner. I come from an Eastern Europe background so when I was growing up we only had olives my Mom would buy when guests would come over...........and those were for 'Martini's'. I don't remember seeing any at my friend's home either. But when I got married to a Turk 25 years ago, he was eating them for breakfast. They were those huge black Kalamata olives, for the first year I couldn't swallow an Olive early in the morning, too salty and well it wasn't breakfast food for me. Now with a piece of bread and cheese I can down a couple of Olives. Quite frankly I've begun to really love Olives now, I guess I got use to the tasteand we always have a variety in the fridge, because in the old days I only thought they had those stuffed green olives. Couldn't figure out if they grew like that or someone stuffed them and thought 'man they sure would take a long time to stuff each one'. Hey.......I was a lil' kid then.

OLIVE SALAD~

1 cup green pimento stuffed olives, chopped

2 small Roma tomatoes, peeled, sliced and diced

2 green onion, chopped

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

Olive Oil

Lemon Juice

Fresh Black Pepper

Firstly I put the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute, then took out and put into ice water for a minute or so and then the skins come off very easly.


In a medium bowl add the chopped olives, diced tomatoes and chopped green onions along with the chopped parsley.


Mix olive oil and lemon in a small bowl and pour over the olive mixture............*I like to use Canola Oil as it has a milder taste with the olives...... but it is what you prefer.

*****This is also yummy as a topper for hamburgers off the grill.


Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!!!!!!

I Love Lucy

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I Love Lucy...........and I mean I really loved that TV show. I think through the years I've seen each episode about 20 times. I still watch it whenever they show them.......still can't believe that those two Lucy and Ethel get into trouble daily.

I'm showing the BLUES on Lucy's hat and gloves.......and on the other side of this Lunch Box Ethel's dress or frock.

I must explain this is a Lunch Box that I picked up at some lil' gift store. I don't use it but couldn't hold myself from buying it because of Lucy and Ethel being on it. So now it just sits on a shelf in front of my cookbooks.

Front of the Lunch Box.

Back of the Lunch Box.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Happy Blue Monday!

Blueberry Pie

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Today I'm showing my Blueberry Pie that my Mom use to make I remember. When she crossed over I inherited her cookbooks and scribbled lil' papers. One day when I have time I'm going to copy some of her treasured recipes and hand them down to my daughter and two of my nieces who I know will appreciate them.
In those days you didn't see so many blueberries all year round like we do now. Whenever we went to Quebec in late summer to visit relatives we would bring back these gorgeous berries........in lots of baskets. So we would have pies........and most of my favourite blueberry foodie things was "Blueberry Varenyky" [Perogies'].
Yes..........since we have a Ukrainian background we fill those Varenyky [perogies]with all sorts of fruits and not just potatoes. I remember trying to make those varenyky and trying to seal them up, but I think that more rolled off my hand then went into the varenyky [perogies].

I cheated and used a store bought pastry, life is short and i love this pastry by Pillsbury. Isn't the Dough Boy cute?
Blueberry Pie

Source unknown as it came from my Mom's old recipe files.

4 cups fresh blueberries or frozen

4 Tbsp. flour

3/4 cups sugar

2 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon zest

sugar [for decorating]

pastry for double crust

Preheat oven to 425 F. degrees.

Line a 8" or 9" pie plate with pie crust, your own recipe or store bought.

Mix together blueberries, flour and sugar till combined and add melted butter.
Pour the whole blueberry mixture into pie crust.

Cover with pastry and cut some slashes on top.

Seal edges well and then do flutes all around.

I brush mine with water or you can use milk or beaten egg and then sprinkle with large sugar grains.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 425 F. degrees.Then reduce the temperature to 350 F. degrees and bake for about 40 minutes or longer ot til' crust is nice and golden.

****If fluted edges are getting browner faster I just put aluminum foil around the edges.
My Mom use to do a lattice top, but due to a time factor I just did a whole pastry cover with some slashes.

Blueberries oozing out........AND READY TO EAT.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great "Foodie Friday"!!!!

Turkey

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These 'blues' are pictures from Izmir, Turkey........

This is a shopping mall in Izmir called The Agora...... this area during ancient times was a bustling bazaar. The name 'agora' in Greek means a place of assembly. This plaza has all the same stores like in North America. For example The Gap, The Body Shop, Sephora, Starbucks only to name a few. I feel like I never left Toronto.

The entrance to the Shopping Mall. The blue sky reflects on the glass front.

Beautiful blue skies............this is a square in front of the mall with those palm trees.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the other participants on Blue Monday!

Cheese Borek

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This is my families favourite meals..........it is also good as an appy. But before I bake it I cut it into smaller pieces. It looks complicated but really once you get the hang of it it goes fast. I know some people are afraid of phyllo (filo) pastry but it's not that difficult.
I was too tired and was runing out of time so I photographed my recipe........just click on the picture to view larger.

It comes from my favourite Turkish cookbook by Ayla Esen Algar..........it has all simple ingredients I can find in this country and not have to scout around the city for some specialty stores. Probably because this Cookbook author lives in California, and she adapted these recipes to this country.......for ingredients.

I also included a recipe for spinach..........which is really good also.......I get requests all the time. It's very similar to a Greek Spanakopita, if not the same.

Ready to take a bite........

Phyllo pastry on the bottom and the layer of cheese.

Topped with the rest of the phyllo pastry.

Baked.........

Some pieces are missing.

In Turkey they usually eat this with a cup of tea........and sometimes a dollop of plain yogurt.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Foodie Friday!!!!!!!

Zucchini Cake

Have you ever had a ton of zucchini and you don't know what to do with it?????

Last week I was at the veggie store and they had zucchini on for 6 for a buck.......so I bought some. Then a couple of days ago I was at the same store and the zucchini were the same price. Me being always in a rush and hurry.....who knows why???? Totally forgot that I had buried someplace in my refrigerature those darn zucchini's from last week. Also we went south over the border to Buffalo shopping for a few days..........so I guess over the excitement I forgot I had bought the first bunch :-(

So what to do with all those zucchini's...........then I came across this recipe that I had copied off a Foodie Board that I'm on from a fellow foodie going by the name of 'Chefbear'. She states that it is plain but goooood! She's right it is moist and delicious.

As you can see I have no picture of a whole cake because as soon as it cooled down and I wasn't home my husband and daughter had dug right into it.

Can you see the green flecks of zucchini in the cake.

Zucchini Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3 eggs, beaten

2 cups sugar

1 cup veggie oil

1 Tbsp. vanilla

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

2 cups zucchini, grated, unpeeled

1 cup chopped walnuts, (optional)

1 cup raisins, (optional)

Combine all ingredients together in the order listed with the zucchini last. (Then add walnuts and raisins if using.)

The batter will be dry...............until the zucchini is added.

Pour into greased and floured pans and bake 50 - 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (I use a wooden kabob stick, I find it reaches the bottom better).

*****I didn't add any nuts or raisins because I didn't have any at the moment and didn't want to venture out to the store due to the extreme heat and hunidity out of my 'cold' house.

but............I did sprinkle some cofectioners sugar (icing sugar in Canada).

*****Makes 1 large loaf OR 4 smaller loaves OR 1 bundt pan

Stil have more zucchini's left so today I'm making Zucchini Pancakes, Turkish style which they call Mucver.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!!!!!!

Blue Skies

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Be sure and visit the other participants.

This past week we decided to take a break and go over the border to Niagara Falls on the NY side. The reason we go there is for some shopping..........the prices are far better then ours on the Canadian side. Plus me being a foodie I love to pick up some ingredients at Wegmans. The best part is that I'm only a bit over an hours drive so it's a breeze to get there. Sometimes in Toronto during rush hour it takes longer then an hour to get to where I want to go to everyday. :-(



Lovely blue sky overlooking the hotels on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

The Falls and on the left the US side......with the blue skies.

It just had rained for a minute or so but was pretty hot and muggy and after the rain this rainbow came out............I took this picture as I came out of Marshall's at the Fashion Outlet.

My husband wanted to take a short 5 minute nap...........so I tagged along back with him to the car and couldn't sleep like him and got bored so I snapped this picture of the flags in the parking lot. The Blue, red and white flag against the blue sky.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!!!!!!