Greek Salad
2 cups mixed greens
1/4 cup Feta cheese
1/2 cup garbanzo beans
1/4 cup black olives
1/4 cup sliced cucumbers
1/8 cup sliced red onions
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Serve with pita bread, bagel chips, or fresh bread.
Bek Davis is a trained chef and a work-at-home mom. You can find more recipes, cooking tips, and mom resources on her highly recommended Web site: http://www.chefbek.com .
Baklava
Momsmenu.com
Ingredients:
Filling
1 pound walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pastry
1 pound phyllo pastry (available in freezer section in your grocery store)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Syrup
8 ounces caster sugar
1 1/4 cup water
2 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons lemon juice
lemon peel
2 tablespoons honey
Procedure:
Generously butter a rectangular baking dish. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix all filling ingredients together in a bowl.
With a very sharp knife, cut phyllo pastry a little longer than the inside length of the baking dish.
Line the entire dish with five layers of phyllo, brushing each layer with melted butter before placing in dish. Sprinkle the 5th layer with a thin coating of filling all over the surface. Add three more layers of phyllo, generously brushing each layer with butter.
Sprinkle a thin coating of filling and place two more sheets of buttered phyllo on top. Sprinkle on all the remaining filling, spreading it evenly, and cover with seven to eight more layers of phyllo, again brushing each layer generously with butter.
Fold any excess pastry on either of the sides over the filling and brush it with butter. Brush the top layer generously with butter in order for it to become crisp and golden when baking. Trim excess pastry with a small sharp knife. It will shrink, so keep that in mind.
Cut the top layers of phyllo carefully, either diagonally into diamond shapes or straight, which will result in square or elongated pieces. Be careful not to cut all the way down to the base, but only the top layers. This is done in order to make cutting and lifting the pieces out, once it is cooked, much easier and efficient.
Sprinkle drops of water all over the surface and cook in preheated oven for about 15 minutes; lower the heat to 350 degrees F. and bake for 20 more minutes.
While the phyllo is cooking, prepare the syrup. Place the sugar, water, cinnamon sticks, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for six to eight minutes; add the honey and simmer for five more minutes until it thickens.
After the baklava cools, pour the hot (but not boiling) syrup (through a strainer) slowly all over the top. Let the baklava stand and absorb the syrup.
For serving, cut the pieces the rest of the way through. Use a small spatula to remove them from the pan as needed. Leave unused baklava in the dish so it will continue to absorb any remaining liquid syrup.
Permission granted to print recipes given by www.momsmenu.com, your online Web site for family cooking made easy.
