Eastover Lamb Stew

My friend Sherri and I hosted a Passover and Greek Easter Party on sunday. We called it Eastover and we had a lot of yummy Eastover foods to eat. Tabouli salad, hummus, falafel, olives, and lamb stew. (I kinda feel bad about eating lamb. I probably wouldn't eat it if I had to kill it myself. Perhaps I'll only eat lamb at Eastover from now on)
But for now, here is my recipe for lamb stew:

3lbs lamb for stew (for 4-5 people)
1 can veggie broth
1 large can of whole tomatoes
1/2 cup of red wine
1 cup of water (or enough to cover the meat)
1 tb of red wine vinegar
2 carrots
3 celery stalks
1/2 red onion
1 leek
2 cloves of garlic
2 big sprigs of rosemary
4 sprigs of thyme
Zest from 1 lemon and juice
1/2 cup of flour
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350° F. Flour and season the lamb with salt and pepper. Place 1 tbs olive oil in cast iron pot. Brown the lamb on both sides on medium heat. Take the lamb out and place the other tbs of olive oil in pot. Add veggies and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the wine, veggie broth and 1 can of tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then add the red wine vinegar, rosemary, thyme, and lemon. Add a little more salt and pepper and place the lamb back in the pot. Put 1 cup of water in the pot or enough to cover the meat. Put the lid on and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hrs. until tender.

Koi Chair

It's almost there. Charlie and I have to paint it first, then it's done! But at least the reupholstering part is done. It was surprisingly easy. It was way harder to remove all the old layers of fabric and plastic from the wood. We're not sure what color to go for yet. Any suggestions are welcome! :D The colors on the fabric are teal, red, yellow and black.

Peeling Back Some History

And ass dust! How many dusty layer's ARE there? Sheeh! I can't breath right now. Once I got to the yellow plastic layer, what looks like circa 1970s, I HAD to take a picture. Plastic, hilarious and gross! At least I'm done and I'm left with the bare piece of wood. Now I'll cut out the foam and staple my new fabric on. Stay tuned!

Ka-POW Brownies

I originally made these suckers with only 1 tablespoon of the Korean red pepper powder and it came out only mildly spicy and didn't do much for the heat factor. I think 2 tbs might do it. I would recommend mixing another kind of pepper that has more of a kick to it to jack it up more. I mean, you know, if you swing that way.
I think I'm gonna keep this recipe as one of my favorites! And I'll definitely still call them Ka-Pow Brownies.
1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs Korean red pepper powder
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F°. Grease and flour an 8" square pan.
In a saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter. Remove from heat, and stir in 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Don't over mix. Put batter in pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

The 'Green' Pickle Spices Recipe

If anyone decided to try out the pickle recipe I used and have already eaten up every last one of their pickles in like a day. Then you noticed that all you have left is that pickled garlic and pickling season at the bottom of the jar and think you should just throw it away. Well, just wait, because I've got a recipe for you. Before you throw out that pickling stuff just drain out the liquid, take the reserved seasoning and use it for this recipe.

2 filets of talapia
pickled garlic and seasoning from your pickles jar
2 tsp olive oil
2-3 pinches of red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp of grated lemon zest
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Bake covered with tin foil for 15-20 mins until done.

It's Not Your Italian Grandmother's Sauce

That's right. It's not even sauce, it's kimchi. That pungent, potent, sweet, salty, spicy, briny, of the sea, of the earth, Korean banchan.
I made one with garlic, scallions, ginger, Korean red pepper powder, goji berries and a dash of vinegar and a second one I made with garlic, scallions, ginger, Korean red pepper powder, little brined shrimp, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. The second one I stuffed into this here Prego jar. I'll make sure I put it over rice and not pasta.

Reupholstering Project To Come

This is the Koi Scales fabric I bought off of ReproDepot.
They have amazingly fun fabrics on there. I'm excited. I'll keep you posted.
;)

Crazy Garlicky Half Sours

Here is my pickle creation. It is soooooo goooood! I basically used this recipe from Tommy J's Kitchen blog I found online at Tommy J's Kitchen. I am a garlic lover and went crazy with the garlic. The next time I do this I would probably do one garlic per cucumber but maybe those non garlic lovers can do with just 2 for about 5 cucumbers.
UPDATE: So I ate some pickles at my friend Eugene's house and as I was tasting it I noticed a familiar taste but couldn't quite place it. He had added cinnamon to his pickle recipe! It was quite good.
This is the new pickle recipe:
1 tsp. whole coriander seeds
1 tsp. brown mustard seeds
2-3 whole allspice
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. black pepper corns
1/2 tsp. dill seeds
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 – 2 Tbsp. dill weed
2 or 3 pieces broken dried bay leaf
4 – 6 cloves garlic, OR basically 1 small garlic per cucumber
¼ cup pickling salt
4 cups water
8 or 9 pickling cucumbers of any variety
(My favorite is the mediterranean cucumbers)

The Pickle Fever

It's true everyone, I've come down with it; The Pickle Fever. It came on slowly, a twitch, an urge; buying a few mason jars one day. Then it progressed to some hot flashes and palpitations; looking up some recipes. Then inevitably escalating into all out PICKLE FEVER; not only making cold fresh packed half sour pickles but ALSO vinegar brined garlic, carrots, and jalapeño pepper pickles!! Wow-zers! I can't wait to try them!