Greek Easter Clove Cookies Kourabiethes

With Easter approaching, this is a good cookie to post!  I first had these cookies at my friend Roseanna's. And oh my UMM! Seriously delicious.  The most tender butter cookie with a delicate clove scent and taste, yet not overpowering.  Especially if you pull the clove out before eating.  However, being so good.. I did forget to pull one out before it got shoved into my mouth.  And let's just say.. elevated the whole clove experience quite a bit!  

The ouzo is a Greek aperitif which is reminiscent of licorice, anise.. Similar to Pastis, which is french and Sambucca, which is Italian.  You could substitute either just fine.  The aperitif does not overpower or overtake the cookies.. it just makes this amazing flavor in the end result.  If you don't want to use, you can easily just omit.  You will still have an amazingly delicious cookie.   

I am not greek.. but this will be an Easter cookie tradition I am starting from now on. 

Kourabiethes

1lb unsalted butter, softened
2 large egg yolks
1/2 c organic confectioner’s sugar, plus more for dusting
2 T. ouzo (or sub. french Pastis or Italian Sambucca)
1/2 t. vanilla powder or 2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 c almonds, toasted, cooled and chopped very finely ( I use a coffee mill)
1lb cake flour (about 3 1/2 - 4 cups)
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda

Whole cloves for decoration

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add egg yolks and confectioner’s sugar. Mix well. Add the ouzo, vanilla, and the toasted chopped almonds.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together. With the mixer on low, add the flour to the butter mixture and mix until just incorporated. You don’t want to over mix the dough because that will toughen the cookies.

Chilling the dough for about half an hour makes it easier to handle and roll.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To shape:  take a piece of dough about the size of a walnut. Roll it into a log and then curl the ends in and pinch slightly to make a half-moon or crescent shape.

Stud each cookie in the center with a whole clove and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

When the cookies are still very warm, dredge in confectioner’s sugar.  The sugar layer will almost melt and coat the cookies.  After the cookies cool a bit, add another dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

You can remove the clove before serving or just warn guest not to consume.  Unless they like that sort of thing!

Healthy Flavorful Chicken & Noodles Soup

This recipe was always my go to when someone I knew was sick or when I am having a "spa" mood.  That interpreted means.. I am being really healthy and eating light, usually a week after a cleanse, this is a meal I make.  
I'd like to call it the clean and fresh updated version of Chicken Noodle Soup.  I first made this around '97 and this was before I ever had Pho.  It probably was a Martha Stewart recipe, not sure.  Now and especially living in Seattle, there is a lot of Pho around and I would say this soup is similar to a thai noodle soup.  What I love about this soup is the freshness of it all.  I also love how it's served.  The hot broth infused with a thai sauce, which is tasty and delicious but not overpowering, is poured over a bed of cellophane noodles topped with red onion, scallions and the pulled chicken which produced the lovely broth..  that then is ladled into individual bowls and you then garnish with fresh, cold veggies. So when you eat the soup you have the hot broth, fresh herb brightness and the crunch of a cucumber, pepper and bean sprouts.  All which impart an incredible fresh deliciousness.  If you are gluten-free.. this is a great meal for you.  Hello, noodles!  

Super easy to make, the only thing that takes time is chopping and assembling all the accompaniment ingredients.  I love this for entertaining at lunch or light dinner.  This soup will easily serve 10 -12 people.

Flavorful Thai Chicken & Noodle Soup

1 Organic whole Chicken (often called broiler chickens) 

Sauce:

1 c Nam pla (fish sauce) 

3 Garlic cloves; crushed 

2 T Peeled fresh ginger; grated using a rasp or fine minced

3 T Freshly squeezed lime juice 

2 T Dark brown sugar 

1 t Red-pepper flakes

1/4 water

1/2 lb Cellophane noodles

Accompaniments: 

1 sm Red Onion.. halved and sliced lengthwise

1 bunch of Scallions.. trimmed and sliced

Fresh Mint.. pull leaves from stem .. (3-4 leaves per person)

Fresh Cilantro.. tough ends trimmed (1 tender stem with leaves per person)

2 c Mung Bean Sprouts

1 long English Cucumber.. peeled & halved lengthwise & cut on the diagonal 1/2" slices

2 Orange Yellow or Red bell peppers.. halved and sliced lengthwise in julienne 

2 Limes.. cut into wedges (1 wedge per person) 

Chicken:

Place chicken in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Simmer uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on size of chicken. 

Remove chicken, and discard the skin and bones (I freeze bones for future bone broths), reserve broth. Cut chicken into large pieces, set aside in fridge til ready to use.

While Chicken is cooking prepare...

    Sauce:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the fish sauce, crushed garlic, ginger, lime juice, brown sugar, red pepper flakes and water. Set aside.  

    Accompaniments:

Prepare all as above and place in individual bowls (except onion and scallions) for garnish.  Set aside.

    Noodles:

Soak noodles in warm water for 15 minutes and drain well. (do this 15 min or right before serving) 

Bring chicken broth (reserved in pot) to a simmer. Stir fish sauce mixture into simmering broth.  

Assembly....

Place noodles in the bottom of a large serving bowl, arrange chicken on top, then add the sliced onion and scallions. 

Ladle hot chicken broth mixture over chicken and noodles. 

Serve immediately.  Garnish with cold vegetables and limes. 

Why I wear ashes on my forehead

Today is Ash Wednesday.  This year it means a lot more to me than usual.  It is a day that begins the season of Lent leading up to Holy week and Easter Sunday.  A day that signifies inner repentance and also your witness to others that we all need a Savior to pay the price for our sins.  What a somber day.  And "somber" would be the word for me this week.  2 days ago we left a weekend retreat titled "Defiant Beauty" with Andrea Conner that was heavy and powerful, altering any disillusionment of the gospel and what we are exactly called for here on earth.  It was a good, good weekend, but my heart and mood has been somber ever since.  I believe that God has called us to holiness and what that exactly looks like is very sobering.  There is a true realization that we are not home yet.   What I like to call the "cinderella gospel" came crashing down.  You know, the I've been saved/rescued and now it's happily ever after.  

I find it so fitting that we end a retreat which dashed our Christian disillusions and here we arrive immediately upon Ash Wednesday.  A somber day symbolic of inner repentance, with a marking of Christ and a witness to all of this torturous device placed on our foreheads in ash that not only was used to save us but that we are to "pick up our cross and follow Him." 

"For dust you are to dust you shall return."  Genesis 3:19 Is what the pastor or priest says as they make the sign of the cross in ash on your forehead.  These words were spoken by God (Yahweh Elihu) to our 1st parents, Adam and Eve, after they had eaten the forbidden fruit and fallen into sin, more specifically death.  The ashes on ash wednesday reminds us of this... our sinfulness and our mortality, our need for a Savior, repentance and a right place before God.  
Nowhere in the Bible is Ash Wednesday mentioned or required.  We never practiced it in our protestant home growing up.  It was viewed as very Catholic.  But I would challenge you today to let those borders drop, as I have and see the beauty in the ashes.
  
The mention of the pouring of ashes on oneself occurs many times in the scriptures, as an outer manifestation of inward repentance or mourning.  I believe this is an ancient practice, often involving sackcloth.  
The earliest occurrence is found at the end of the book of Job.  "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes" Job 42:6    And Jesus mentions repentance with ashes and sackcloth in Matthew.  "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!  If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Matthew 11:21
Sackcloth is a very rough material, worn it would cause great discomfort with any movement.  Another physical thing to bring to remembrance our need to repent. I believe we need physical things like this.. especially in this day and age when we live in such comfort and shrink away from any discomfort or suffering.  I know I do. 

At the retreat we were challenged to look at the cross.  Not just the cross, but a crucifix.  God the Son on the cross. Suffering laid out and visible right there.  Again, not something we had in our protestant home.  We had beautiful crosses but empty without Christ.  And I get that, too.  Our Christ did rise again and He is not on the cross any longer and for that I am grateful.  But we lose sight of a God who suffers for us when we remove that completely.  We lose sight that we are called to suffer along with him.  He didn't call us to pick up your Bible and follow me.  He challenges us to pick up your cross.. one of the cruelest forms of a torture device.  Pick that up and follow Him.  (Matthew 16:24)

Like I said, a heavy week.  But a freedom in that disillusionment being gone.  No longer are the questions there of WHY GOD?  when a broken world is more and more evident all around us.  Children and an estimated 27 million taken as slaves right now.  Wars and rumors of wars.  The Ukraine right now and the missing tortured protestors fighting for the freedoms.  It's a hard world to look at with a loving God. But when you look at that cross and the suffering and that this world is operating under the evil one's reign.. it changes that cinderella mentality.  We are here to do His work, be His hands and feet and be His love.. all pointing to the cross.  

May God bless your Ash Wednesday and His work in your heart as you seek to pick up your cross and follow Him. 


If your church doesn't participate in ash Wednesday, it's easy to find one that does.  Just google in your area and most likely they will list 2 or 3 times a day when ashes are being administered.  

Italian Sausage & Peppers

Happy fat tuesday!  It seems fitting enough to share this recipe with you on this day.  It's not one of my healthier fares, but it sure is one of my favorite!  Italian Sausage and Peppers.. Mmmmm.   Takes me to a good place.  This is Italian street fair food at it's best.  Right up there with zeppolis, calzone, broccoli rabe, cannolis and really good pizza.. this is it for me.  My recipe came from Michael and Sharon Coyne, a couple in our church that were amazing cooks.  And it taste exactly like what I would buy every September at the feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy.  September is one of my favorite months for this reason. Well, this and fashion week! Oh, and no tax week. September is just a wonderful time to be in NYC.  Autumn in New York one of the best things in life. 

Back to the recipe.  This is comfort food at it's best. Serve it on good french bread.  I think it needs the crust, otherwise it gets too soggy from the juice.  The delicious juice you will want to sop up.  I have friends that are happy to eat it alone or with rice or even pasta.  That is all good, but the best way for me is on a bread like a sub.  Yes, east coast, more specifically South Jersey.. it's called a sub. 

Recipe Notes...  

Sausage:  It must be Italian sausage.  I prefer Hot.  It's never really that hot, just has nice spice.  Especially here in Seattle.  I buy Iserno's which has no nitrates and is very tasty.  The "hot" is not hot.  In Jersey or NY, the "hot" is nice and spicy hot!  You can use sweet or mild, if you truly are chicken and have to. I kid, I kid.  Speaking of chicken, you can use any variety.. I just don't guarantee the results to be AS good.  I am sure it will be good, though.  It can't be bad! 

Peppers:  normally I do not care for green peppers.  But in this recipe, I love them. Actually, demand them.  I do a mix of red and green.. whatever you have.. it will be delish.  

I forgot to take the end result photo while making this time!  I probably was diving in head first and once you try this, you will see why it was easy to forget the final photo!  But don't worry.. I require this at least once a month, so I will take one and add it next time. (photo is added directly below)

This recipe is perfect for parties.  I love to make it in an old square electric skillet.. my mom had an avocado green one we used growing up.  It works perfectly.  Plus, it can be turned to warm and dished out of for a large group.  It is "guy" food.. they will go nuts for it!  If I had a restaurant, this would be on the menu.  It's classic, delicious and you will keep going back for more. 

Italian Sausage And Peppers (NYC Street food style)

1lb. Hot Italian Sausage

2 T. Olive Oil 

1 very large Onion, cut in half and sliced

2 large Peppers (1 green and 1 red or orange or yellow), seeded and cut into strips (about the same size as the onion slices)

1 c. Chicken Broth

ground Black Pepper

Brown sausage whole according to package directions.  (Isernos is to place sausage in pan with enough water to cover bottom of pan and boil for however many minutes.. remove water and let sausage brown on 2 sides.)

Once sausage is brown, remove from pan and set aside in a bowl or plate.  Add Olive oil and onions and saute 3 minutes over med-high heat.  Add peppers and saute 2 more minutes.  

Slice the sausage on the diagonal.. this is preference.  (At the street fairs they are usually sliced straight into 2" pieces.. I like them a little smaller, see photo below.)

Add the sausage back to the pan with the onions and peppers.  Add any juice from plate or bowl. 

Turn the heat down to simmer, add the chicken broth and lots of pepper.  (When I say lots of pepper, I mean lots of pepper.  When you have shaken what you feel is too much.. shake it about 5 more times!  Seriously.  This makes it.  It simmers into the broth.) 

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, til juices are reduced by half and thickened a bit.  (You might have to go up to 10 minutes longer) 

Right before serving drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Serve warm on sliced rolls.   

Sausage browning.

Onions, sliced and cooking.  I often use a mix of red and white.

Red seems to hold it's shape better in the end. 

Added peppers, a healthy boost! Don't overcook, 

as they will cook more with the sausage.

I like to slice it on the diagonal about an inch

Add a lot of black pepper. Now add some more.  

More than you think.. it will all work out, trust me.

Ready for the lid.  It will now cook down and become one.