Ahira's Hangar

for talking about trying or inventing new recipes.

last night I tried to make one of my younger son's all time favorite appetizers - feta bread. no recipe, so I tied out something as simple as I could think of:

boboli pre-made thin pizza crust
Tuscan dipping sauce (olive oil with Italian spices)
a bag of shredded mozarrela cheese
a tub of feta crumbles
parmesan cheese


here is what I tried:
preheated oven to 450
drizzed the pizza crust with the dipping sauce, spred it thinly around with a paper towel
spread out the bag of mozarella over the olive oil & spices
spread out the feta over that
baked for 12 minutes
sprinkled with parmesan cheese

it came out nearly perfect, other than needing a bit more garlic, so next time I will also use a bit of garlic powder

if in summer, I will also use oregano and other fresh spices from the garden

We made meatloaf the other night, and instead of using bread crumbs, we used crushed up cheddar flavored goldfish crackers. It turned out great!

ooo, yum!
What an innovative idea. Sounds great!

I came up with something the other night that I'm calling "Three Sisters". Basically, I prepared an acorn squash (well, really, a carnival squash) in the microwave. While that was cooking, I sauteed some onion and garlic in a pot, then added a can of low-sodium black beans and two cups of frozen corn kernels. Seasoned the beans with cumin, pepper and dried cilantro. Then quartered the squash and spooned some of the bean mixture over each piece of squash. It wasn't real pretty but it was very tasty.

Native Americans called corn, beans and squash the "three sisters" because they grow well together and, when eaten together, provide a good chunk of the necessary nutrients. Which y'all probably knew, but just in case you didn't.

Sounds like a marvelous autumn meal, ali!
Is that what "succotash" basically translates into? "Three Sisters?"
Or is that something else?

Succotash is corn and lima beans, I think. So no, this is something else.

I think next time I'll scoop the leftover squash out of the shell before freezing it. When I reheated it in the microwave for lunch, the shell got really soft, so it was hard to separate the squash from it without fingers getting involved. It was kinda messy.