Beefy Greek-inspired pitas

Flavors of the Mediterranean come forward in this satisfying and versatile family supper that’s ready in about 30 minutes.

These pita sandwiches provide a taste of Greece and come together in about 30 minutes.

Do you ever stand in front of your pantry around 3 p.m. and say to yourself, “what am I going to make for dinner?” It’s coming close to a year of COVID-19 that’s changed every facet of our lives, including how we plan meals and grocery shop. Remember the early stages of the pandemic when many stores were running out of staples? More menus had to be modified.

Whether you limit trips to the grocery store (like me) or you're snowed in for a day, the big plus to this recipe is its versatility. With pantry items like olives and diced tomatoes, as well as ground beef (which is likely in your freezer), you can have dinner on the table in half an hour. Just add the pita and funky feta cheese.

This recipe starts with the ground beef and Greek seasoning. I have a large jar of Greek seasoning in my newly organized spice rack. “But I don’t have that in my pantry,” you say? I’ll bet you do; you just have to blend it together. It’s basically dried oregano, dill, basil, parsley, black pepper, onion and garlic powder (or garlic salt). If you have fresh mint to chop up or a lemon to zest, all the better.

Let’s talk canned tomatoes. If you have whole San Marzano tomatoes in the pantry, yay you! I think these have the best flavor. Plus, these contain less herbs, spices, and sugar than stewed or diced tomatoes. Tip: Keep whole tomatoes on hand and you can do whatever you want with them. And another tip: Look at the labels and avoid brands with calcium chloride, which is used to help the fruit hold its shape but can also affect taste.

Moving on to olives. Black or green (or both) can work in this recipe. I was out of black olives, so I chopped up the green variety. Should you be out of olives but have capers, these will provide the same briny tang and also are an important ingredient to many Greek dishes.

Let’s cut to cheese. Feta, of course, is usually available in any grocery store. It can only be made with sheep or goat milk. Its salty taste comes from the brine that’s used in making it, and I love it. But let’s say feta’s funk is a bit too much for you or your kids’ palette. What else can be used? For consistency and crumble, ricotta would work well, and its flavor is very mild. Otherwise, any goat cheese would be a suitable replacement; just tear or pinch it into the recipe.

A sandwich needs to be dressed, right? Go the authentic route with homemade tzatziki (of course, store-bought sauce will work, too). It’s basically yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cucumber and mint.

And like most sandwiches, the bread can make or break the deal. Now, it’s just my opinion, but grocery stores near me do not stock decent pita bread (I can sometimes find better pita at Aldi’s but it’s not a guarantee). I can make a trip to a Middle Eastern market or make my own (it’s basically flour, salt, yeast, water, and olive oil). Oh no! You don’t have yeast on hand? This quick flatbread made with self-raising flour and plain yogurt couldn’t be easier. Stop it! You only have all-purpose flour in the pantry? Just add baking powder (1/2 teaspoon per cup of flour). A flatbread won’t have the pocket, but you can wrap it around the filling “taco style” without a problem.

So, this recipe is definitely versatile, but will your family like it? What’s not to love? Soft bread, seasoned ground beef cooked in a tomato sauce topped with cheese and a cool cucumber sauce—it’s all here. Serve these pocket sandwiches with a traditional Greek (horiatiki) salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, feta cheese and olives (or capers) dressed with olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper.

Now, where did I put that honey jar and phyllo dough? I suddenly have a taste for baklava.

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A simple dessert for National Pie Day

You can bake this delicious Impossibly Easy Buttermilk Pie in less than an hour.

The crust in Impossibly Easy Pie is created as it bakes.

Pie makes everything better.

Just type “pie quotes” in a Google search and you’ll see a myriad of memes to that effect. I think pie’s ability to make us feel better could be rooted somewhere in science, probably something with sugar and seratonin. Maybe it’s as simple as a connection to a memory you have.

One of my favorite movies, Julie & Julia (2009), has a scene with Amy Adams‘ character (Julie Powell) at the stove. She’s had a lousy day at the office and she’s whipping together a chocolate cream pie. While smoothing the mixture in her pie pan, she explains to her husband that she finds comfort knowing chocolate, cream, eggs, and sugar will make something wonderful. Today, I find myself saying, “Girl, you know that’s right” as I wait for my vanilla and buttermilk custard pie to come out of the oven. Sometimes, the world just gets a little heavy and a slice of pie with a cup of coffee is in order, you know?

But for many, myself included—especially when meringue is involved—pie can scare off a home cook. There’s always the pressure of a perfectly flaky crust (or the scowl from your mother-in-law if you tell her it’s store bought) lurking just behind the flour in your pantry.

Friends, let’s look to the past for the answer to this problem. Pull out your mom’s Bisquick Impossible Pie recipe and let's get baking. It’s so easy, a child could make it, yet so completely comforting and versatile that it will satisfy just about anybody's pie craving. Stick with vanilla or add other flavors like chocolate or pumpkin. Go savory for dinner or brunch.

Curious about the history of this tasty classic, I reached out to the media office at General Mills. To my surprise, the recipe doesn’t reach as far back as I’d thought. The first Impossible Pie recipe was published in 1978, with the first Buttermilk Impossible Pie following in 1982. Bisquick users immediately loved the recipe—now referred to as Impossibly Easy Pie—and were hungry for more flavors like chocolate, pumpkin, and fruit. The appeal, for those not familiar, is these are “pies that magically bake their own crusts,” as stated in the cookbook, Betty Crocker Impossibly Easy Pies (2004).

I remember the Impossibly Easy Coconut Pie that Mom or Grandma would sometimes make, but then, Grandma always knew how to make wonderful pies. I have her pie crust recipe, but though I try, it doesn’t seem to turn out as well as she made it. I may give it another shot in honor of National Pie Day on Jan. 23. Thankfully, the American Pie Council offers these tips for making a good pie:

• Cold ingredients and utensils are essential when making the crust.

• Don’t overwork the dough.

• Bake pie in the lower third of your oven to avoid a soggy bottom crust.

Although pie making dates to ancient Romans, the first fruit pies surfaced in the 1500s in England. American Colonists used pie crusts as a vessel—called a “coffyn”—in which a savory filling was cooked. The dough wasn't meant to eat.

You know, that Impossibly Easy Pie looks better all the time. Why not make one for your family and one to take to a neighbor or a friend to brighten their day?

A friend gifted me with spiced Madagascar vanilla extract from the KC Vanilla Company so I used that in this recipe. They also have pure vanilla extract and sell vanilla beans. Check out this artisan vanilla made in Kansas City, Missouri, then cut yourself a piece of pie and put your feet up.

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Gashtel soup

This old-world recipe is filled with beefy goodness and childhood memories.

Gashtels, also called shredded noodles or tiny dumplings, are surrounded by a rich homemade beef broth.

It’s National Soup Month, and I’m tickled to share with you one of my Mom’s signature dishes: gashtel soup featuring homemade beef broth and tiny dumplings.

Americans love soup. According to Statista, 48 percent of Americans consume soup as part of their dinner. Boiling ingredients in a pot is an ancient cooking method that’s been adopted across many cultures. A contributor for ehow.com several years ago dove into the history of soup; if you’re thirsty for more, dig in.

If you simply want a wonderful, old-world recipe for a completely satisfying soup that my mother frequently made, you’ve come to the right place.

I like to think it was her Austrian-Hungarian background that inspired Mom to make us gashtel soup. What are gashtels you ask? A German-Russian dictionary defines them as tiny dumplings. Hungarians refer to them as reszelt teszta (shredded noodles). Whatever translation you choose, you won’t be able to buy them in a store, and making them is a labor of love—probably similar to Italian Nonnas making pasta by hand.

As a kid, it was an occasion when Mom made gashtel soup. Maybe somebody had a cold, and you’d hear “go ahead eat this; it’s good for what ails you.” Sometimes, I think she made it simply to say “I love you.” That’s certainly the emotions and memories that are evoked when I eat this soup. Mom’s recipe used a rich beef broth to pair with the gashtels, but I’ve also seen recipes using chicken broth. I guess either would work, but I’m sticking with our family’s tradition.

And if you make this soup, please start by making a homemade broth. It’s really not much work, and the depth of flavor in the broth is superior to anything out of a box. Remember, it’s broth and gashtels—that’s it—so use the best ingredients for great results.

Celery, onions, carrots, and soup bones are the start of a hearty homemade beef broth. While it simmers for hours, it's a snap to put together.

For a beef broth, roast the soup bones or short ribs (I used the latter) in the oven before adding to the stock pot. Then you simply hack up carrots, celery, and onions—don’t peel vegetables—before adding water and spices. Then it simmers on the stove 4 to 5 hours while you go about your business around the house. And the aroma that fills the kitchen, well, it transports me to the house I grew up in, and in my mind’s eye, I see Mom at the her avocado-green stove, apron on, stirring the soup pot.

Making the stock is the easy part to this recipe. The gashtels, I’ll be honest, are little devils. The dough has to be very stiff in order to grate by hand on a box grater. So, you may have to experiment to get the right consistency because a soft, pliable dough simply won’t grate.

Flour and eggs combine to make the stiff gashtel dough that will be grated into tiny dumplings.

Generally, the rule of thumb is an egg to a cup of flour for the dough. That’s it, although I also added a pinch of salt. If you’re using large or extra-large eggs, I’d probably start with 1 1/4 cup of flour. But as you knead the dough, keep adding a bit of flour as required to make it stiff. If you’re having trouble getting the dough to come together at all, add a few drops of water. Each time I wrestle with these stinkers, I gain new respect for Mom and the time it took to dry several towels filled with gashtels. But then, knowing her, she likely thought, "If I have to go through this (expletive), I'm making enough to use more than once!"

Use the side of the box grater with the large holes and carefully drag the dough ball along the grater. Gashtels will be in various sizes, some the size of small peas, others will be longer. All will need to dry for several hours on a clean towel before adding them to the soup.

After grating the gashtels, I'm relieved to have all fingers still attached! This was definitely a labor of love in honor of Mom.

When it’s time to bring the soup together, strain the vegetables, bones, and bay leaves from the broth. I like to put the the stock in the refrigerator overnight to make it easier to skim the fat. Bring the strained broth to a gentle boil and add the dried gashtels, cooking them for 8 minutes (until tender).

Mom was always generous with the gashtels, so of course I’d go that route as well. I used 2 large eggs and nearly 3 cups of flour, which created enough gashtels to spread out and cover the surface of a kitchen towel. I’ll likely use these with half the broth I made, freezing the rest of the stock for another soup.

I hope you’ll give this soup a try. It's definitely worth the labor! The gashtels have a satisfying chew to them, and together with the beef broth, it’s comfort and love in a bowl.

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