Valentine's day and surprise snow

Dear Blog, It feels so good to be back writing again. During these past years I have come back to this blog to look at old pictures and remind myself of the sweet memories. This week I don't remember the reason why I came to the blog but I felt that I needed to start writing again. So I will start by sharing a special occasion from last weekend

Valentine's day came with a surprise snow! What a special day for all of us here in Albania. The last snow we had here was in 2017 I believe and it lasted only a few hours on the ground. This time it snowed all night. Actually I was so excited I couldn't sleep at night. I woke up and checked the snow out of my window several times. I couldn't wait for morning to come and I was also afraid that it might melt before we got to go outside. 😀

We woke up and had a good breakfast (Saturday and Sunday we indulged in good food). We tried to prepare the food with lots of LOVE. The table cloth after breakfast looks like a battle field where there is blood shed. 😋 I guess it means the food was good.

After food was snow time. Since it doesn't snow almost ever here we don't actually own any snow attire. So we had to come back home change and go out again with dry clothes. The kids had tons of fun; they made an upside down snowman. I had seen these on the internet but I didn't really think I would get the opportunity to actually make one myself. It turned out so cute. Miss P loved it so much she even asked to write about it in her journal. They played snowball fight, made snow angels, jumped in snow, and even crawled in snow. 😁

During the week we made some Valentine's Day themed crafts . I am including pictures below so I remember what we have done. 

See how I haven't mentioned gifts at all? There was so much that we did together as a family, Valentine's day was truly a gift this year. (Although Miri did get all of us our favorite treat.) I feel very blessed and grateful to my Father in Heaven because He has shown so much love to us. His name is LOVE. I thank Him for the beautiful gift of creativity. Like Him we can all be creative and should spend time creating and expressing our talents. I am also very grateful to my God for the beautiful snow. Just with one ingredient, snow, the kids had  plenty of hours of pure fun. What a blessing!! I hope you all felt loved on Valentine's day this year!

Warmly,

Juliana

Enchiladas made healthier

For those of you who are really into Mexican food , and for those of you who aren't into it, you will want to try this recipe. BECAUSE it is so good that even my 17 months old baby girl loved it. I am trying to get rid of most of the carbs in my diet, and since most enchilada recipes are made with tortillas, we haven't had enchiladas very often until this moment. This recipe uses zucchini boats instead of tortillas. How cool is that??!! Also, you can make this recipe meatless if you want and be creative with it by adding beans, corn etc. I love food that I can indulge in (a little bit) and don't regret it later.


Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini Boats
To view the full recipe click here.

This is going in the oven.

This is coming out of the oven. I loved the juice in the bottom! Yum!

We ate them with homemade refried beans.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think!

Warmly,

Juliana

Vegetarian for a week!

Last week, I wanted to cook vegetarian. I don't know if that was because we were short in meat :) or because vegetarian recipes always sounded so delicious to me! So, I decided to try some meatless recipes. One of the food items that I never figured out a way to cook and to make more tasteful, is tofu. Finally I found two recipes that tasted absolutely worth eating tofu. I hope you enjoy them! Please follow the next post to check out the rest of the recipes from our meatless week!!

Sweet and Sour Tofu

INGREDIENTS

• 1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks or tidbits, packed in juice
• 3 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 14-ounce package extra-firm water-packed tofu, drained, rinsed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-by-2-inch strips
• 1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1/2-by-2-inch strips

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pREPARATION

1. Drain and set aside pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Whisk the reserved pineapple juice, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce and sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Place tofu in a large bowl; toss with 3 tablespoons of the sauce. Let marinate for at least 5 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, add cornstarch to the remaining sauce and whisk until smooth.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Transfer the tofu to the pan using a slotted spoon; whisk any remaining marinade into the bowl of reserved sauce. Cook the tofu, stirring every 1 to 2 minutes, until golden brown, 7 to 9 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.
4. Add the remaining oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add red and green peppers and cook, stirring often, until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the reserved sauce and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 30 seconds. Add the tofu and pineapple and cook, stirring gently, until heated through, about 2 minutes more.

Tofu Kale with Spaghetti

INGREDIENTS

1 container of firm tofu

kale, as little or as much as you want, rough chopped. i usually use the entire bunch of kale

2 cloves of garlic, minced finely

2 shallots or a small onion, diced

very generous sprinkling of salt/pepper for taste

red pepper flakes

handful bread or panko crumbs

olive oil to quick fry the balls and cook up the vegetables

PREPARATION

1. Prepare the spaghetti according to package instructions

2. For the Tofu, squeeze as much water out of it as possible. I wrapped the block in a kitchen towel and press heavy pan on it for about an hour or so.

3. Meanwhile, in a pan, heat up some olive oil. When hot add in the onions/shallots and garlic. saute until fragrant and translucent, anywhere from 3-8 minutes. Add in kale (or whatever greens) and ensure the oily mixture coats the bunch thoroughly. Season generously. Set aside to cool.

4. In a mixing bowl crumble the tofu. add in the sauteed veggies, mix well. If it cool enough, use your hands. At your discretion add in the crumbs, a little at a time until you're able to shape the mixture into balls. Fry them up in a bit of oil until you get a nice browning on the edges.

5. In the same saute pan toss the pasta in warmed olive oil + minced garlic. when you plate the pasta, add in the tofu balls.

ENJOY THE RECIPES!

Warmly,

Juliana Kostandini