Greek Out!

Nothing like a little al fresco dining, Greek style.  Michael and I love Mediterranean cuisine.  We consider it our go-to cuisine when we want to eat healthy and fresh in the summer.  And really, who doesn't want that?

Pictured here is a quickly assembled bulgur wheat salad, tossed with 'campari' tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, mint, parsley, and chick peas.  The whole thing is lightly dressed with a lemon-olive oil dressing and topped with spicy toasted almond slivers and perhaps just a very moderate dusting of crumbled feta cheese.  Michael insisted on a little yogurt dressing on the side and we threw on some kalamata and Cerignola olives for good measure.  I was quite glad he chose to include the yogurt dressing because it really is lovely no matter what you serve it with.

Mike's Yogurt Dressing
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise
2-3 finely minced cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp dill
1/4 tsp oregano
1 small handful of chopped fresh mint
1 small handful of chopped fresh parsley
1/8 tsp kosher salt
a few grinds fresh black pepper

Add all ingredients to medium sized bowl, stir it up, serve with your favorite Greek dishes.  Use as a dip for veggies.

Abbey's Spicy Almond Slivers
(makes just enough for a couple big salads)
1/4 cup almond slivers
drizzle of olive oil
pinch of kosher salt
pinch each of the following spices:  paprika, ground cumin, cayenne pepper.

Combine all ingredients in a saute pan on medium heat.  Toss the nuts around until well coated with spices and oil.  Continue tossing for 3-5 mins until nuts are looking toasty.  Remove to a dry clean plate to cool.  Sprinkle on salads, savory dishes, or just snack on them!

Hey Man, I Just Want Some Muesli...

Another first for me.  Seems I'm exercising all of my 1970's health food craze muscles.  Muesli was big back in the day.  And these days, maybe only if you're in a kiwi novelty band do you think regularly of muesli as a viable breakfast option.

As my man is currently into his superfoods, I decided to make a muesli that combined as many as I could.  This meant dried blackberries, strawberries, pumpkin seeds, almonds, and maybe a bit of flax seed for good measure.  Here's the recipe:

Berry Muesli

5 cups rolled oats
1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup wheat bran flakes
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp flax
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
3/4 cup of honey
4 tbsp canola oil

Preheat the oven to 300F degrees.

Put rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, wheat bran flakes, shredded coconut, sesame seeds, flax, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a large bowl. Stir to combine.

Heat up the honey and canola oil in a small sauce pan over low heat.  Pour the warm honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until your arm is about to fall off.

Spread the mixture on two large rimmed baking sheets and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  (Depending on the size of your baking sheets, you may need to do more than one round of muesli-toasting.)

Add 1/2 cup sliced dried strawberries and 1/2 cup dried blackberries. Stir to distribute the berries throughout and store in one of those plastic cereal storage boxes.

When you're ready to serve the muesli, you have a few options.  The easiest way to enjoy muesli is with a bowl, a spoon, and cold milk, just like regular breakfast cereal.  You could also heat a bowl of muesli and milk up in the microwave for a hot breakfast.  Finally, you could do what we did, and have your muesli Swiss-style.  We put the muesli in a sealed container with some kefir and let it soak in the fridge overnight.  I think the traditional thing is actually yogurt, but since we had a surplus of kefir, that's what we used.  Honestly, I think I would have preferred just plain old milk and muesli when all was said and done.  The kefir was so tangy and strong that it overwhelmed the light sweetness of the muesli.  Next time, we're gonna try it as a hot cereal with just plain old milk.