Bulgur and Lamb Kibbe

If you're sensitive to onions and chopping them can make you tear up like I do, whirling it around in the food processor does not help!  I definitely thought to myself, the lid on this will help keep the onion fumes contained and I probably won't cry nearly as bad. Somehow the gases seeped out of the food processor and found me!  I'm seriously considering some onion goggles during my next culinary necessities purchase so I can cook without looking like I'm having an emotional breakdown.

These things are delicious, so the tears were worth it :)  Kibbe or Kibbeh (both are correct) are a baked mixture of grain and meat, in this case bulgur and lamb, blended with some onions and herbs.  It's just another country's form of meatloaf, which I'm always a fan of.  When I make them again, I may add an egg.  My mix didn't hold together very well after cooking and that would help bind it together.

I may make a dipping sauce to serve with my kibbe tomorrow, but I haven't gotten that far yet.  I put the meat on skewers, hoping to get the kids excited about food on a stick?! We'll see if they like it as much as I did!  -Vicki

Bulgur and Lamb Kibbe on a Stick!

Raspberry (Peach) Jam Cookies, pg. 284

I won't even try to beat Amy's thumbprint cookies with Homemade Jam!!...they look amazing!  It is ironic that we both picked this recipe in the same week without even knowing it. Great minds think alike ;)

Raspberry Jam was my flavor of choice for me...I have a hard time straying from suggestion?!  The ingredients as a whole are very nutritious, they're like the ultimate fiber cookie.  The kids I cook for thought they were just OK, so perhaps they're not for everyone. But, Britt, an "official tester" gave them a delicious and ate 2 or 3...that's a win for me :) 

Now, I just spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to upload more than 1 picture and how to keep the photo and next paragraph from running into one another and I can't do it.  Help?! So here the cookies are in raw form. Cookie Parade!

-Vicki ;)

My husband asked for seconds!  Yup, and the cookie didn't contain chocolate.  Lorna made these soft cookies using raspberry jam. I decided to switch the flavor and use my homemade peach preserves that I canned with the hybiscus peaches a few weeks ago.  Click on the highlighted link to view the recipe that I used: Recipe for Peach Preserves

This cookie tasted like I was eating a soft graham cracker with jam spread on top.  The dry ingredients were very unique; rolled oats + walnuts + cinnamon food processed with whole-wheat flour.   The dry ingredients combined with honey to sweeten gives this recipe a 5 grain rating!
Get excited, Vicki just got back from Spain!  I can't wait for her to post a blog or two about her travels.  -amy w.

Preserving Fresh Fruit/ Upside-Down Peach-Berry Cobbler, Pg. 291

Aren't they beautiful! The pink colored sauce is due to adding dried hibiscus. This is the second weekend in a row I've canned peaches.  Last Saturday, I decided to do a trial run to make sure everything turned out.  This past weekend, a good friend Tom from the yoga studio joined the fun. I strongly advise 2  people when canning. We canned preserves and peach halves in 3 hours.  Click on the following link to view the canning recipe -  Hybiscus Peaches

I baked Lorna's upside-down peach-berry cobbler. I had almost everything on hand except buttermilk and anise.  I made the buttermilk by adding a bit of vinegar to regular milk and I left out the anise. 

For the fruit mixture, peaches, mixed berries, peacns, brown sugar, cornstarch and freshly squeezed lemon juice were mixed together. 

The cake layer was a bit more interesting.  Whole wheat flour and cornmeal were the base mixed with the regulars.  This was a definately a new combination.  I liked the grainy stone-ground taste.  Peach season has arrived! 

-amy w.