Poaca

These are just plain delicious. They are great straight out of the oven or for a few days afterwards as a healthy snack.

Dough:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup olive oil
teaspoon salt
1 package of baking powder (5 teaspoons)
3 cups flour

Filling & finishing:
1 egg
1 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup crumbled cheese (I usually use feta-type cheese, but be creative. Would also be good with grated mozzarella, parmesan, or perhaps even blue cheese)
a sprinkle of dry dill or a few tablespoons of fresh chopped dill
a sprinkle of black pepper
a sprinkle of ground cayenne
sesame seeds
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For the dough, mix all ingredients together and knead well for a few minutes. Set aside and let rise 30 minutes or more (up to a few hours is fine)

Prepare the filling:
Mix together parsley, cheese, dill, egg white (save the yolk), black pepper and cayenne.

Break off walnut-size pieces of the dough and form into a ball. Squash each ball in the palm of your hand to form a round of dough. Put in a small amount of filling (a teaspoon at most) and fold over, then seal closed by pressing the edges of the half-moon together. Place pastries onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. They can be relatively close together, as they won't expand much.

When you've filled all the rounds, brush each one with egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake at 175 Celcius (around 350 F) until golden - make sure the bottoms of the poaca are also golden in color. If they are still white, they are not done yet.

These look like they are a lot of work, but they are not - that being said, they take much longer to make than they do to eat!

Bulgur Pilav

This dish may seem to have a lot of ingredients for an everyday side dish, but it's actually very simple and quick to make. Everyone I have made it for likes it, even my dad... and even though he eats everything, he doesn't always like it! My son likes it, too... definitely worth a try.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups onion, diced medium
4 tablespoons olive oil
2.5-3 cups fresh diced tomatoes OR 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes (with no added salt or flavorings) plus 1/2 cup water. Do not use canned diced tomatoes.
1 tablespoon dried mint OR 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon dried dill OR handful of fresh chopped dill
1 tablespoon dried parsley OR 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1.5 cups large grain bulgur

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In a skillet or pot with a tightly-fitting lid (without vent hole), saute onions in oil over medium heat until transparent but not browned. Add herbs and stir. Add tomatoes, salt, sugar, and stir. Cover and cook for four or five minutes. Add the bulgur, stir, and cover. Turn off the heat immediately if you have electric burners. If you have gas burners, cook on the lowest flame for five minutes, then turn off heat. The bulgur will absorb the liquid from the tomatoes in about half an hour, and then this dish is ready to eat.

I highly recommend that you use fresh tomatoes for this one, even if they are flavorless winter ones...

Vera's Ukranian Borscht (almost)

I will admit it - I am not a fan of beets. Until one of my former students made this for me, I would probably have avoided the things my whole life. They are very easy to avoid, but they are extremely good for you. They help protect against colon cancer, heart disease, and are also high in folate, making them especially important for pregnant women. For more information about how incredibly good-for-you beets are, click here. This recipe also contains a pretty potent quantity of garlic, so if the beets don't convince you, click here to learn about the health benefits of garlic.

Even without the health benefits of this soup, it is worth making because it truly is delicious and easy.

Ingredients:
3 medium sized beets, peeled, quartered, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and sliced thin
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons fresh chopped flat leaf parsley for each serving
1 crushed or minced garlic clove for each serving
salt to taste
one large potato, in 1 inch cubes, if a heartier soup is desired (I usually omit it)

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Conventional instructions:

In a large soup pot, place sliced beets (and potatoes, if desired) and about 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and then cook until beets are soft, which will take around half an hour (maybe more - you'll have to taste one). When beets are almost done, in a separate pan, saute onions in olive oil until transparent. Add tomato paste and stir, then cook for one more minute. Take a ladle of liquid from the soup and add it to the tomato paste-onion mixture, then pour it all into the large pot. Add salt, to taste (it will need at least a tablespoon. Alternately, you could add vegetable or chicken bouillon, but this will change the taste).

Put parsley and garlic into serving bowls, and pour the soup over. Serve.

This soup will taste better the second day, but will lose its flavor the third, so if you're not going to eat this all the first or second day, you can freeze some of it.

Pressure Cooker Instructions:

Put beets, a teaspoon of oil (to discourage foaming) and water (and potato, if desired) into your pressure cooker (making sure not to fill it more than 2/3 full). Follow your pressure cooker's instructions for closing and sealing. Bring to high pressure, then cook for five minutes. Remove pressure cooker from heat and use the natural pressure release method.

Saute onions in olive oil until transparent. Add tomato paste and stir, then cook for one more minute. Take a ladle of liquid from the soup and add it to the tomato paste-onion mixture, then pour it all into the large pot. Add salt, to taste (it will need at least a tablespoon. Alternately, you could add vegetable or chicken bouillon, but this will change the taste).

Put parsley and garlic into serving bowls, and pour the soup over. Serve.

This soup will taste better the second day, but will lose its flavor the third, so if you're not going to eat this all the first or second day, you can freeze some of it.