Meat Thukpa (Nepali Recipe)

1 lb. Tibetan noodles, similar to spaghetti, or cavatelli(I used regular spaghetti) 1/2 lb. Lamb, cut into ¼-in. slices (can be substituted with chicken or shrimps) 1/2 lb. Spinach, washed and cut into pieces 1 cup onion, chopped 1 tablespoon garlic, minced 1 tablespoon ginger, minced (I used about 1 tsp. powdered ginger) 1 teaspoon turmeric 1 teaspoon cumin powder 3 fresh chilies, julienned 1/2 teaspoon jwanu (lovage seeds)(I omitted this as I didn't have any) 1 bay leaf 1 cup tomatoes 1/2 cup yogurt 2 tablespoon soy sauce 2 cups lamb broth (I used beef broth) 2 tablespoons musturd oil (I used olive oil) Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro for garnish (optional) Cook noodles in boiling salted water until slightly undercooked. Drain and rinse. In a sauce pan heat 2 tablespoons of musturd oil. Add onions, fry till light brown. Add turmeric, garlic, ginger, cumin powder, and chilies. Stir well for 1 min. Put the pieces of lamb and brown well. To the lamb mixture add tomatoes, soy sauce, yogurt, broth, jwanu seeds, bay leaf, salt and pepper and cook until the lamb is tender. Add the noodles and stew for 5-7 more minutes. At last, add spinach and fold into the stewed noodles for a minute or so, until wilted. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with roti.

Sweet Scones

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. butter
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup currants, raisins or dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry blender, blend in the butter until crumbly. Add the milk and dried fruit. Stir with a wooden spoon. With your hands, form the dough into a ball. If it is too dry, add 1 tbsp. of milk. If it is too wet, add 1 tbsp. flour. Dust a clean table top with flour. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick with a rolling pin. Using a round cookie cutter or tho open end of a drinking glass, cut the scones into circles. I used the dough scraps to make more scones by patting the dough into a round, flat circle and cutting into four wedges. Place on cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until they start to brown. Let cool 5 minutes, then serve.

We served them the Scottish way, with jam and whipping cream spread on the insides and put together like sandwiches. We had a Scottish afternoon tea party today while studying the country of Scotland.

Finnish Meatballs

1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 yellow onion, minced
1 egg
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground allspice (I didn't have allspice so I used French Onion Dip Mix instead)
1/4 cup butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, cream, salt, and allspice in a bowl with your hands until evenly mixed. Roll the mixture into golf ball-sized spheres.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook about half the meatballs in the melted butter until evenly browned on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes; remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining meatballs, keeping the liquid in the skillet when finished.
Sift the flour into the skillet drippings; cook the flour in the skillet drippings until brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly stream the milk into the skillet while whisking vigorously; pour the cream into the mixture and stir until smooth. Add salt and pepper. If you aren't good at making gravy and end up with some lumps you can pour the gravy through a strainer. Return all the meatballs to the skillet; stir to coat with the gravy. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the meatballs are cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

Homemade Chocolate Chips

1 cup coconut oil (or any solid healthy fat)
1 cup cocoa powder
5 Tbsp sweetener (liquid or granulated work fine. Use as healthy an option as possible. If using stevia extract, substitute 3 scoops, or to taste. I used honey)
2 tsp vanilla

Melt coconut oil over a very low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in cocoa, sweetener, and vanilla. (If you heat over too high of a heat or don’t remove from the heat, the coconut oil will separate from the cocoa when cooling. You can still eat it, but it won’t be as smooth.)
Pour mixture into a pan (8×8 works well).
Place in refrigerator or freezer until solid. Remove from pan, and cut into chunks of desired size with a good, solid knife.
Store in a cool place until ready to use.
Yields approximately 3 cups of chips. Has a similar taste to dark chocolate, depends on how much sweetener you use!

* when using this for chocolate peanut butter cups (see previous post) don't freeze first, use the liquid chocolate as required for the cups and freeze and make into chips whatever is left over! *

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used homemade peanut butter made from only peanuts and nothing else)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips * see note below
2 Tablespoons shortening

Cut 15 full size foil cupcake liners to about half their height. (I used silicone baking cups and did not cut them. Once the dessert was solid I peeled the silicone cups off and stored the chocolate cups in the freezer)
In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and salt. Knead it slightly with your hands until all the sugar is moistened.
Melt the chocolate chips and shortening in the microwave according to package instructions. Or, put them in a microwave safe dish and heat on 50% power for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir, and heat in 15 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted and smooth.
Put one teaspoon chocolate in each foil liner and tilt the liner so that the chocolate covers the bottom and a little bit of the sides.
Place them on a plate or in a muffin pan and put them in the freezer for 5 minutes.
Roll 1 1/2 teaspoons of the peanut butter mixture into a ball and flatten it with your hands. Place it in the bottom of a chocolate lined cupcake liner. It should not touch the edges. Repeat with all 15 liners.
Add 2 teaspoons of chocolate on top of the peanut butter and spread it with the spoon out to the edges of the liner, letting it fill in around the peanut butter.
Store in the refrigerator. Eat cold or at room temperature.

*Instead of melting chocolate chips and shortening I made my own homemade chocolate - see next post*

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
juice and zest of one lemon (I think next time I may even do juice from 1 1/2 lemons)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Blueberries fresh or frozen

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, mix sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream mixture. Mix well. Spread in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Sprinkle blueberries on top of batter according to taste. We like lots of berries on top. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done.

I think this would also taste good with raspberries instead of blueberries!

Icelandic Baked Fish

1 tablespoon butter
6 fish fillets or 6 cod fish fillets I used both cod and Alaskan Pollock (we preferred the Pollock but both were good)
1 lemon
salt , pepper to taste
200 g emmenthaler cheese or 200 g tilsiter cheese , grated (I used emmenthaler)
1 tablespoon mustard (I used dijon mustard)
1 cup cream
½ cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven at 180° celsius. Butter a baking-dish. Put the fillets into the baking-dish. Season the fillets with salt, pepper and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Cover the fish with ground cheese. Mix mustard with cream and pour it over fish fillets. Cover with breadcrumbs. Bake the fillets for 35 minutes. Serve with rice or noodles.