Marianne,
  Thanks for the advice on the Sun Harvest market. I remember the wife of the guy we bought our property from saying something about that place, I'll have to check it out.
Noelalexis2000,
  Go to little fishes and check out a thread that I'm going to start that I will call " Roughing it smoothly". I will show how I have gotten land very affordably on several occaisions in five different states.
Yaman,
  Go to the same place. I will also have a discussion on Savonious and Darious rotor systems vs. "conventional" propeller type wind driven power generation systems. I will also cover solar arrays, maintaining battery storage systems, solar powered jackpumps for water delivery, building your own house, etc, etc.
lola,
  It was actually pretty conventional, Roast turkey, italian style green beans that were cooked in the water that the giblets and neck were boiled in, a gravy that used 2 cups of the water that the giblits and neck were boiled in with mushrooms added, rice, a Chardonnay wine, and pecan pie. I know, the pie is not on the diet, but on four days out of the year I go off the diet completely, and then get right back on it the next day. That does not mean that I eat like a pig, I eat no more than usual, but I have things that are not on the diet. It keeps me on the diet through the year that way. The days that I go off the diet are Thanksgiving, Christmas, Jan. 26th, (my birthday), and the fourth of july.
  I am going to start the thread this evening when I get back from finnishing up on remodeling the bathroom of the guy I bought the 40 acres from. Talk to all of you then.

Hey guys,
  If you would like the way I do my Italian style green beans that I had with my turkey in a more healthy way than sticking in a can of mushroom soup, and sprinkling on some french fried onion pieces, here goes.

                             NO BAKE ITALIAN STYLE GREEN BEANS

                               Several cans of Italian style green beans
                               One cup of beef gravy for each can of beans
                               One Pkg. of dried Shiitake Mushrooms (IF you can't eat Shiitake mushrooms, then use whatever type you can eat)
                               One Tablespoon of Garlic powder
                               One to two Teaspoons of fresh Dill Weed
                               One can of baby onions

    Take the Pkg. of mushrooms and reconstitute as directed, You may have to do this the day before.
    Open however many cans of beans it will take to feed all present, drain the beans,and place in a pot containing the hot gravy with spices wisked in.
    Add the baby onions, fold everything together, cover, and reduce to a low heat.
    Leave on the heat just long enough to heat the contents ( about two Min), serve and ENJOY!!!

  Tomorow I'll post a recipe for Dolmatikas, (Greek ground lamb wrapped in young grape leaves and covered with a white wine sauce). Talk to you then.
   

Quoted from Sabrina_Hill, posted Sunday, November 28, 2004, 11:57pm at here

  Tomorow I'll post a recipe for Dolmatikas, (Greek ground lamb wrapped in young grape leaves and covered with a white wine sauce). Talk to you then.
   

Sabrina,

If you prepare it without white wine sauce, then it will be Dolma, the Turkish version  

Anyway, Alek from Samos/Greece and I from Istanbul Turkey will be the jury to judge your recipe  

cheers,
Yaman

                                      DOLMATIKAS

                    1 Lb Ground lamb
                    1 Med. Onion
                    1/4 Cup Olive Oil
                    3/4 cup wild rice
                    1/3 Cup Pine Nuts
                    2 Tablespoons Dill Weed
                    1 Tablespoon fresh mint
                    1/4 Teaspoon Corse geound Black Pepper
                    16 Oz. Low Salt Chicken Broth
                    1 Jar Grape leaves
                    2 Lemons

  Saute onion in olive oil. Mix sauteed onions  with spices, and add a pinch of sea salt in a mixing bowl
  Boil the rice, and drain and place in the mixing bowl with onions, pine nuts, ground lamb, and spices.
  Boil grape leaves for 2 or 3 min., take out of water and drain. place a small amount of the stuffing mix on each grape leaf, fold the ends in, and roll the leaf. Place 1 layer of unstuffed Grape leaves on the bottom of a lightly olive oiled pot. and lay the stuffed leaves on top. Take one of the lemons, roll it to free the juice from the pulp, cut in half, and squeeze the juice over the leaves. cover the leaves with another layer of unstuffed leaves, pour in the chicken broth, cover with a heat proof plate or pot lid. ( put the lid right on the top row of leaves. then cover the pot, and simmer for an hour and a half.
  Drain the pot, serve the Dolmatikas  with the other lemon sliced as a garnish, and enjoy

Sabrina, sounds great. it is almost Greek dolmadakia but here we dont use meat and instead of wild rice it is white rice. everything else is same. Maybe yaman will tell us if it is Turkish. We have so many dishes similar. Will definatly try your version. Thanks.Alek

Alek we have two versions of it in Turkey. And I have to tell that I'm crazy about both:

The cold dish which is also called yalanci dolma, and you are right it is the same as your dolmadakia.

The warm dish is prepared with meat, except pine nuts, dill weed and fresh mint, which are put in the cold one. Instead of chicken broth, we cook the dolmas on lamb bones placed at the bottom of the pan.

Sabrina's recipe actually seems to bring the two recipes together, so I think we have to try not only for its taste (which I am sure will be delicious) but also for it symbolizes the Greek-Turkish friendship

Sabrina thank you for all those great recipes. I am saving all of them.

cheers,
Yaman

                                              PROGRESS NOTES

  I promised all of you a white wine gravy for the Dolmatikas, and there was not one included in the recipe. That is because the gravy recipe that I used to use had wheat flour in it. I am experimenting with using rice flour this weekend, if I like the results, I will load up the ammended recipe Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Yaman, Alek, can you guys even GET rice flour in your part of the world? By the way Alek, I used to be stationed at the NATO Air Base on Kreta. I used to LOVE to walk along the water in Xania and pick my octopus off one of the wires that were used to hang them for display along the road by the fishermen's boats. Now that I'm on BTD, there went all my octopus recipies.
  I will also experiment with the spices that I add to my vinegar marinade so that the substitution of cider vinegar does not make the Saurbraten too sweet. When I have the spice balance worked out, I'll post my Saurbraten recipe as well.

Sabrina,

I can find rice flour, as well as rye, oat and even millet flour. It's just that white wine is an avoid, and even before my BTD'ing, I couldn't have it, gave me severe headaches. Would you think I can replace it with the red?

cheers,
Yaman

Yaman,
  I'll give it a shot, and see what I can come up with. Give me a week, and I'll play with a few recipes to see if I can make them "O" compliant, AND taste fantastic at the same time.

Yaman,
how about 'sherry'?
it is less fruity then white wine and doesn t give me the headaches white does.......

I wonder what your opinion is Sabrina?

Lola,

Sherry is not readily available here And the imported brands are rather expensive, so I'll just wait for Sabrina's trials, I'm sure she can come up with a solution.

cheers,
Yaman

lola,
 Sherry is a bit too sweet
Yaman,
  Can you get merlot in Turkey?

Yes, we have Merlot here Sabrina,

cheers,
Yaman

Greek brandy is a nice and cheap substitute for sherry...there is a brand called something like ixtapa, but I don't have the correct Greek characters here.

jj, Greek brandy is called Metaxa, and is very good replacement for sherry.

Alek,
  Yaman told me he can get Merlot in Turkey, if you can get it in Greece, then I'll try to make the sauce for my version of the Dolmatikas with it. Please let me know if you can get a Merlot in Greece.

Sabrina, yes we make Merlot in this country. Also I get hold of rice flower from Athens and when I run out I ground my own. it is not as fine as flower but it still works as thickener. Coursly ground like that it also works as bread crumps. I always use basmati love the taste. Tommorow I am making your type of dolmes but On top as a sauce I shall make melted ghee with lot of sweet paprika mixed together and brought to boiling point, served on the plate on top of dolmes just before serving. It is my favorite. There is another sauce that we make in Greece and is called avgolemono and is egg&lemon sauce specially for dolmes. If your Merlot sauce comes before my lunch time I would love to try something different. Regards Alek

Could you post your avgolemono recipe?

Sabrina,
the sherry I m talking about is very dry........it s spanish, called 'jerez' 'tio Pepe' is the brand.......it has nothing sweet to it.......

jj,
'ixtapa' , now that s a very 'aztec' word!!!  lol
is there such a word in greek?
giasou!

Yeah I was guessing from memory and I live in Texas.

"melted ghee with lot of sweet paprika mixed together and brought to boiling point"

Alek, I just love this sauce. I prepare it for spinach, hard boiled eggs, rice pasta, soups, you name it. It's really delicious

cheers,
Yaman

avgolemono sauce
1 egg, half lemon, 1 cup vegetable clear broth or meat broth
beat whole egg with bit of salt and half lemon very well
add very slowly hot broth while beating egg and lemon all the time until all broth spend
pour over dolmes and let boil few seconds. you can put more lemon if you like it more sour. it is also wonderful with lamb stew, in which case you use liquid from the stew to put into egg mixture. cheers Alek

Alek,
  THANKS for the sauce recipe. It's been a while since I posted a recipe on the board, Today after helping a friend of mine with his plumbing, Tee and I went to a Chineese "super" buffet where they have among other things, ALL YOU CAN EAT BBQ LAMB RIBS and RAW OYSTERS on the half shell. BOY DO I LOVE BEING A TYPE "O" !!!!!
  Anyway, LATE this evening, or VERY early tomorow morning, I'll load up another of my favorite recipes. Talk to you fine folks then. Nitey-Nite.

Come on, Sabrina....!!!

purty please tell me WHERE the said Lamb Rib serving Chinese Super Buffet is located?    Thanks

Marianne,
  The place is the Bejing Lilli. on the north side of I-10, just west of Yarbrough. Just take I-10 east through most of El Paso, get off at the Yarbrough exit, go to Yarbrough and make the U-Turn. As soon as you start heading west on the service road get over to the right lane, and take the first right into the shopping center. On the south east end of the parking lot is a stand alone structure which is the resturant of which I speak. ENJOY!!!  

  P.S., Tell me when you are coming, and I'll meet you there.