Borscht and Stuffed Olives

I have had such a busy weekend! On Friday, I visited Kate from Pink Pancakes. She was visiting from Austin, TX and brought me the most adorable Mexican dish. I'm working on a Mexican inspired kitchen, so it matches perfectly. I was able to meet her fiance and celebrate her son's birthday with several familiar faces! :) Did I mention that I am now the proud owner of an adorable Mexican dish?! As expected, I am using it for one of the recipes below. Also, on a serious note, Casondra from Mother of a Miracle Baby just underwent surgery so keep her in your thoughts!

Beautiful!

Now for some food! For some unknown reason, I wanted to put stuffed olives on my new dish. I found a recipe that called for goat cheese, basil and I cannot even remember what else. It sounded delicious, but I didn't have all of the ingredients. Instead, I went with my own version but next time I will add fresh basil. It tasted good, but I would rather have cooked olives. The recipe starts with roasting garlic...

Cut off the tops

Let cool and then squeeze garlic out of the skins

Roasted Garlic Recipe

• 1 large head of garlic, the tops trimmed off
• 1/8 cup of oil or less
• Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.


Place garlic in a bowl, pour on the oil. Go a little heavy with the oil, but not too much. Toss to coat, place garlic cut side up. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 1 hour. The garlic should be tender and easy to squeeze out of the skins.

Refrigerate until ready to serve

Roasted Garlic/Cream Cheese Stuffed Olives Recipe

• 1 can jumbo black olives
• 1/2 package of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese
• 2 bulbs of roasted garlic
• Pepper

Place everything except the olives into a blender until just combined. Place mixture into a zip lock and cut off the tip. Using the bag, fill the olives with the cheese mixture.

I have tried several stuffed olive recipes, but I'm still searching for the perfect one. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know! :)

I also made borscht for the first time. Since I've never had it before I have no idea how it should taste. I tried to research several recipes, but they are all so different. I finally settled on a recipe that didn't look too complicated, but I made a few changes. The soup turned out very mild and I do like it, but I would prefer more flavor, so next time I will add meat.

Saute the veggies

Beautiful red color

Borscht Recipe

• 1 carton of beef broth (add veggie broth to make vegetarian)
• 1 large turnip, cubed
• 1 medium to small onion, diced
• 1 potato, cubed
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 medium beets, cut into matchsticks
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1/2 head of cabbage or less, thinly sliced
• 1 can of whole tomatoes, crushed, or 1 teaspoon of tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 small bay leaf
• S/P
• 1/4 cup of chopped parsley
• Butter/Oil
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

Wash the beets and wrap them in aluminum foil and bake at 400F for an hour until tender. Remove, peel and cut into matchsticks. Saute the onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon of butter with a touch of oil for a few minutes, then add the turnip and carrots for another few minutes. Pour in the broth and add the rest of the ingredients except the lemon juice. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 10 minutes or until the veggies are tender. Just before serving, add the lemon juice and stir.

If anyone has a different borscht or stuffed olive recipe, let me know!