Recipe time...

What do I eat every day in Ukraine?  This is a question I find that I am asked a lot more since I've become a vegetarian here in Ukraine.  However, I feel like I have plenty of options.  Maybe that's because I don't mind eating the same thing over {and over} again.  I did this in the states too...eating a sandwich (with chips on it!) for at least one meal a day probably since I was 6 years old.  Since sandwiches in Ukraine are not the same as the ones in the states, that idea has kinda gone out the window, especially because a veggie sandwich is a bit hard in the dead of winter here.  

My favorite go-to meal this winter has been veggie chili and homemade cornbread.  I usually cook on the weekend (normally on Sunday evening) so that I have whatever food prepared to last me throughout the week.  One of my fellow PCV friends Kristen (link to her funny blog here) told me that she looked for my recipe for veggie chili.  I kind of posted it here, but I'll do a quick run through now because I really don't follow that recipe at all.  

Lydia's Homemade Veggie Chili {adapted from this recipe}:

1 medium onion (chopped as fine as you can get it)

2 small carrots or 1 large carrot (cut however you want them...I do mine in quarters--aka bite size)

1 can of kidney beans

1 can of pinto beans

1 can of diced tomatoes

1/2 can of corn

1/2 packet of Williams Chili seasoning (from America...thanks mom and pops!)

the canned ingredients...I use half the can of corn pictured

I let the onion and carrot sizzle in the skillet for a while (10 minutes) with a little oil.  Then, I add everything else.  I usually end up adding about 1 cup of water...just depends on how soupy I want it.  I usually taste the mixture after it's been brewing for a while, adding salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste. OH, and a little bit of hot sauce.  The carrots take the longest to cook--probably an hour.  Once the chili is going, I get the cornbread started.  My fave homemade cornbread recipe is this one from allrecipes.com here.  

it's sweet cornbread, just the way I like it!

Voila.  

The cornbread and chili last me a week...probably 5-7 meals, depending on how I ration it.  I usually eat it once a day.  My other go-to meals for variety {aka when I get sick of my meal of the week} include pasta of some kind and pizza.  Last night, I decided to try a new recipe for homemade pizza crust.  I was feeling spontaneous {aka bored} and decided to make a calzone instead of a regular pizza.  

I've been using this recipe for pizza crust.  It's good, reliable, and pretty easy.  But, you do have to wait for the dough to rise.  So, when I saw this recipe on pinterest, I thought I'd give it a whirl.  It is for thin crust pizza, and I think I can understand why.  It's pretty dense...but very easy to work with.  I'll try it for a thin crust pizza soon.  

Thin Crust Pizza {recipe here}:

3/4 cups (6 ounces) of hot water (not boiling)
1/2 teaspoon of dry yeast
2 cups (10 ounces) flour
1/2 tsp salt

The instructions, I adjusted to Ukraine :) and for my calzone! 

Preheat oven to 150 Celsius.  Spread a thin layer of olive oil on the bottom of a pan.  Combine hot water and yeast in bowl.  Yeast should dissolve and make a thin soup-like consistency.  Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.  After yeast is dissolved in hot water, combine wet and dry ingredients.  Mix with a spoon or your hands until all of the flour is thoroughly incorporated.  It will eventually form an elastic-y ball of dough (probably 3-5 minutes of kneading).  

Split dough in half (for calzone).  At this point, I got a little more olive oil on my hands so that the dough would not stick to me.  Begin spreading dough to make bottom of calzone. Add sauce and whatever toppings you want (for Lydia: green and black olives, corn, and cheese).  For top of calzone, stretch to make a similar shape (like the bottom).  I ended up doing this in the air--and this dough was great for that.  Very elastic-y and malleable.  I placed it on top of the calzone and pressed the edges together.  Brushed a little olive oil on top of the calzone (thanks for the tip, Vicki!) and sprinkled a little garlic salt on the top.  

Very first homemade calzone--ever!

It ended up being very good!  I made some marinara sauce that I dipped the crust in. The dough was dense, but good.  I had the leftovers today (leftover cold pizza is one of my favorite things ever...) and it was still tasty!  My original pizza crust recipe would definitely not work for a calzone...it's too flimsy.  Might try a different dough recipe for the next calzone I try to make, but overall this one was incredibly easy and pretty scrumptious.

Finally feeling a little bit better the past two days.  I kept myself up most of last night coughing.  But, my head hasn't felt like it was going to explode the past two days which is a plus!  May finally venture out of the house tomorrow for the first time since Sunday.  Whatever illness this was had better be about done.  I'm tired of being cooped up in the house...and I'm actually itching to go back to the gym (which I haven't been to since mid-January when my membership expired...).  Hopefully can start going again next week.  Toodles :)