Macedonian Feast (AKA Best Meal EVER!!!!!!)

Right now, I am very excited.  I have a meal that I have been dying to share with you, and I finally have a chance to sit down and type this out.  Here's what you need to know about this meal.

1.  It is hands-down the single-most delicious homemade meal I have ever eaten.
2.  I didn't cook it.
3.  My friend that did cook it calls garlic, "Macedonian Perfume."

Kofte (Macedonian Kebobs)

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 chopped onion
• 1/2 garlic head (or more)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/c up bread crumbs (may need more for better consistency)
• 1 egg
• vegetable oil for frying

1.  Mix meat, onion, garlic, salt and pepper.

2.  Remove crusts from bread slices and moisten in wine or water.

3.  Add bread and egg to meat. Knead mixture.

4.  Shape into 1-inch kabobs, and sauté in  oil. 

5.  When meatballs are cooked and browned on all sides, place immediately in covered casserole and keep warm until ready to serve.

Lebanese Spinach with Rice and Pine Nuts 2 cup uncooked rice (I use Trader Joe's organic brown rice) 3 tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup pine nuts 1/2 large white onion, finely chopped 3 cup fresh spinach, finely chopped 1 tsp dijon mustard (or more) 1/4 tsp black peper 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 1.  Simmer the rice in 4 cups of water until the water has been absorbed and rice is tender. 2.  In a medium pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil, and saute the pine nuts over medium heat until golden.  Set aside. 3.  In a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and saute the chopped onion for 4 minutes.  Add the spinach, mustard, pepper and salt.  Saute over medium heat for 12 minutes.   4.  In a large bowl, mix the rice, pine nuts, and the spinach mixture.  Sprinkle with the fresh lemon juice and serve hot. Shopska Salad Ingredients: 4 tomatoes, chopped 1 large cucumer, unpeeled and chopped 4 green or red peppers, roasted or raw, chopped (Optional) 1 large yellow onion, chopped, or 6 green onions, sliced (Optional) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I always add way more - I LOVE parsley) 1/2 cup sunflower oil (or light tasting oil) 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar Salt and black pepper 1/2 cup Bulgarian or feta cheese, shred the block of feta with a cheese grater (don't crumble it) 1.  Place tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, onion and parsley in a large bowl and toss. 2.  Place oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste in a screw-top jar. Cover and shake until well blended. 3.  Toss dressing with vegetables, turn into a serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with crumbled cheese and portion on chilled plates. My amazing-beautiful-garlic-loving friend also brought a cheese zelnik with ajvar.  I'm not going to share the ajvar recipe because I think it's a Macedonian family secret.  But you can google it and find your own recipe. Here is the shopska salad.  I could have licked the bowl, it was so good.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I licked the bowl. My minis loved the Lebanese rice. Here's the kofte with the rice.  They were equally delish served cold the next day.  (For breakfast, I confess). Like I said....hands down, the best homemade meal I have ever had.  I am hoping to recreate it myself very soon.  And you should too.  And after you eat it, you should go breath on your spouse and find out how much they really do love you. Speaking of love, I thought I'd share this photo of my 3 loves.  You may notice something different about my oldest mini.  He got a haircut :)

Award Winning Pasta

Like everyone else in America, I am devastated.  heartbroken.  grieving.  

In the past few days, I have sat here and typed out several blog posts.  I've deleted them all.  I've decided that people read my blog for the goofy, silly anecdotes of the McGhee family and for the unprocessed recipes of Heids McGhee.  Although I am the person behind Heids McGhee, Heids McGhee is really a small part of who I am......and I will keep this blog solely the thoughts and words of Heids McGhee.  

So all Heids McGhee has to offer right now is saddness and prayer for the families involved in the Newtown shooting.  Like everyone else in America, when I heard the account of what happened last Friday, I had an overwhelming sense to grab my family and hold on tight.  Nothing else seems important any more.  And, in honor of those beautiful children and adults, I will do my best to continue live my life in this way.

My Mr. and minis are awesome.  And according to them, I'm awesome too.  In fact, the other night I earned  the "best mommy in the whole entire universe and beyond because you know mom, there may be life on other planets" award.

And I'm going to share with you how I did it.  And you're going to be really happy when you read how I did it because it's very simple and fool-proof.  Unless, of course, you can't boil water.  Then you're in trouble.

Creamy Garlic Pasta.  What's not to love.  Garlic.  Pasta.  And Cream.  I found the recipe here.

Creamy Garlic Pasta

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp butter
• ¼  tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 3 cups chicken stock
• ½ lb spaghetti or angel hair pasta
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• ¾ cup heavy cream (I used whole milk)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1.  In a pot, bring the olive oil to medium-low heat. Add the garlic and stir, allowing it to cook for 1-2 minutes. 

2.  Mix in the butter until melted. Add the salt, pepper and chicken stock. Raise the heat to high and let it come to a boil. 

3.  Once it is at a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook for as long as the box’s directions indicate. 

4.  Reduce the stove to medium heat and mix in the parmesan until completely melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream and parsley.

This is so easy.....dare I say, even the Mr. could make it!  

Olive oil, garlic, and butter.  

Add your spices and chicken stock.

Boil those noodles.

Add your cheese and milk.

Stir, add parsley, and serve.  We ate our pasta with meatballs.

I had to capture this moment.  Clean plate!!!!!

I told my minis that moms that receive the "best mommy in the whole entire universe and beyond because you know mom, there may be life on other planets" award, don't do dishes.  So I layed on the couch while my minis cleaned up and then went upstairs to bathe and tuck each other into bed.  True story.

Bad *** pasta

Do you have an inner bad-ass that is just dying to be let out?  You know, that little voice inside your head that says things like, "daaaaayum, you GO girl".  See, I may be a crunchy, granola, Mother-Earth kind of girl, but don't be fooled.  I've got some serious inner bad-ass.

So the other day I was getting my first opportunity of the day to sit down and relax.  As I happily reached for my iPad to log into Pinterest, I realized it was 5:30 and I had 3 minis staring at me, expecting me to feed them.  Being the loving mom that I am, I set aside my iPad (telling myself that I was getting these 3 minis into bed ASAP because my Pinterest account was screaming my name) and went to work in the kitchen.  And that's when my inner bad-ass told me to crank up the Flo-Rida and start cooking.

So I started by roasting some bell peppers that I had harvested from the garden that morning.  

As soon as I saw my peppers blackening under that open flame I knew that I was a force to be reckoned with that night in the kitchen.  So I chopped up some garlic and onion and sauteed them in some olive oil.

At this point, Flo-Rida was singing Wild One, and I was inspired to tap into my inner wild side, so I reached for a package of chicken sausage.  And, guess what?  My inner wild side doesn't care that this chicken sausage has more than 5 ingredients, so it got chopped and sauteed as well.

At this point, I was on a roll, so I threw in some sundried tomatoes as well.

I tossed it all together with some whole wheat pasta noodles, and topped with fresh shredded parmesan.

Delish.  Seriously.  Flo-Rida would be proud to know that he inspired such bad-ass pasta.

I loved this pasta.  Mr. McGhee loved this pasta.  My minis loved this pasta.  My sweet snuggly middle mini LOVED this pasta.  And, now I am a little concerned that he has a screamin' inner bad-ass as well.

Heids McGhee's bad-ass pasta

• bell peppers (I used red, orange, and yellow)
• diced onion 
• diced garlic (2-10 cloves, depends on how bad you really want to be!)
• olive oil
• chicken sausage, sliced
• sun-dried tomato packed in oil (sliced)
• whole wheat pasta
• fresh shredded parmesan cheese

1.  Roast bell peppers.

2.  Saute garlic and onion in olive oil for a couple of minutes.  Add chicken sausage and saute until browned.

3.  Add sun-dried tomato and saute an additional minute or two.

4.  Toss chicken mixture with roasted peppers and pasta.  Top with cheese.

Celebrate!!!!!

Years ago, Mr. McGhee and I lived in the Windy City.  We had a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, zero closet apartment that was smack dab in the Little Italy neighborhood.  Mr. McGhee was a student and I was working for a large pharmaceutical company.  We call those my "real job" years.  Thank God they only lasted two and a half years before I had a baby, stopped working, and we started our "broke as hell" years. 

Anyway, we had a favorite restaurant that we could only afford to go to on very special occasions, like when Mr. McGhee had a 4-hour graduation ceremony that I spent nervously trying to soothe our screaming 3 month old and stressing because I wasn't sure if it was legal to breastfeed in public or not, all while listening to a commencement speaker talk about "be the best you that you can be".  Well, sonofa "b", the best I could be that day was a frazzled, overtired, and overwhelmed new mom that wanted two things....garlic and wine.

So, occasionally I try to recreate those celebratory meals.  Yesterday, Mr. McGhee was very stressed out from a 12 hour day at work, and I had a trip to Target with the minis and only bought what was on my shopping list.  Yeah!  Two reasons to celebrate (in all honesty, I did buy 7 things that weren't on my shopping list, but they were from the dollar spot, and everyone knows that purchases from the dollar spot really don't count as purchases, they're principle buys!)  And we weren't celebrating Mr. McGhee's day, rather than celebrating that he made it home in time to eat and help put the minis to bed. 

The first course for dinner was garlic and bread.  I made my own bread following a recipe that came with my bread machine.  If you don't want to make your own, buy a loaf that's nice and crusty. 

Classic French Bread

• 1 cup + 1 tbsp warm water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 1/4 cups bread flour (*gasp*  I used white flour.  Hey, it's Saturday night and we're celebrating)
• 1 tsp bread machine yeast

1.  Add ingredients according to your bread machine's instructions.
2.  Bake. 

In my opinion, this is not the best bread I have ever had, but that doesn't matter.  Wait until you see what goes on top of the bread.

Roasted Garlic

• whole garlic bulb
• olive oil

1.  Cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the top of a whole garlic bulb.
2.  Place bulb cut side up in a custard cup or other oven-safe dish and drizzle with olive oil.
3.  Cover with foil and bake at 400F for 25 minutes.
4.  Cool and gently squeeze the base of the bulb to push out the roasted cloves.
5.  Mash on a plate.  You can add additional olive oil and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  Just don't lick the plate.  That is frowned on in most households.  In our house, you can lick the plate.  We don't judge. 

Cut the top of the garlic out.  Pick out any brownish-looking garlic cloves.

Here is the roasted garlic.  At this point, your house should smell ah-may-zing.

Squeeze the cloves onto the plate.....

.....mash and add olive oil and grated Parmesan, if you prefer.  I did one with, one without.  Both got devoured.

Are you thinking, "Oh. My. Heids McGhee, you have outdone yourself?"  I am sure you are because last night I was thinking the same thing.  But, guess what?  I've got more.

Tomato Bruschetta

• 6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1.  Add all ingredients in order listed.

2.  Enjoy with bread.  Tell yourself you are awesome.  Because you really are.  I am too.

The bread, garlic, bruschetta combo is an amazing start to dinner.  But, I don't like to stop at amazing.  I prefer to aim for incredible.  Plus, I had leftover basil and I wanted to see if it was physically possible to make dinner for 5 using 3 whole bulbs of garlic.  So I made my personal favorite appetizer, stuffed mini sweet peppers.

Stuffed mini sweet peppers

• 15-20 mini sweet peppers
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1/4 cup goat cheese (you can substitute mozzarella, but I don't know why you would want to)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 2 tbsp diced sun dried tomatoes
• salt and pepper

1. Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the seeds.
2. In a bowl, mix cream cheese and goat cheese.
3. Add garlic, basil, sun dried tomatoes, salt and pepper.
4. Using a small spoon, fill the mini pepper with the mixture.
5. OPTIONAL: brush peppers with olive oil and bake/broil for 5-10 minutes until pepper is soft. 

Do yourself a favor and make lots of these.  Stick the leftovers in the fridge and cut them up to put in scrambled eggs. 

The main course of dinner last night was sauteed mushrooms.  Oh wait, I think there was a steak under those mushrooms, but the mushrooms were definitely the star.

Sauteed Mushrooms

3 Tablespoons Butter (or olive oil)
16 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Sliced
1/3 cup Sherry Or Wine
Kosher Salt And Pepper To Taste

 
1.   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet and add sliced mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2.  Saute over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, then pour in sherry. Add salt and pepper.
3.  Continue cooking for 6 to 8 minutes, or until all liquid is evaporated.

The key to these mushrooms is the sherry.  I will never eat mushrooms that are not sauteed in sherry again.  In fact, I bought a bottle of sherry to keep in my purse for when I eat out.  If I know you in real life and walk up to you and hand you a bottle of sherry,that means, "I love you and I don't want you eating crappy mushrooms."

We had our mushrooms over a grass-fed NY strip steak, but to be honest, I would have devoured these mushrooms if they had been on an over-processed slice of bologna.

And there you go, next time you have something to celebrate in life, you've got your menu already planned!  My wish for you is that you can find something in each day to celebrate.