It's Your Second Chance to Enjoy Georgian Culture, Food, Music and Art.

It's Your Second Chance to Enjoy Georgian Culture, Food, Music and Art: Russian, Georgian, American Food ~ International Fall Festival hosted by Mary of Egypt Orthodox Church in Roswell, GA Saturday, September 20th 11:00-5:30p & Sunday, September 21st 11:30-5:00pm

Chicken Soup with Egg and Lemon (Chikhirtma)

Source: http://georgiantable.com/2014/06/21/chicken-soup-with-egg-and-lemon-chikhirtma/

The Georgian palate gravitates toward tart flavors in all sorts of dishes, and soups are no exception. This elegant chicken soup takes its tang from lemon juice (or, alternatively, vinegar). It appears creamy due to the addition of eggs, but it contains no dairy. The hint of cinnamon adds a touch of sweet perfume, but the flavor remains delicately savory.

I like to serve this soup as a first course before a vegetarian entrée, or as a meal in itself with a thick slice of grainy bread and a mixed green salad.

Chikhirtma
Serves 4-6

1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts at room temperature
7-8 cups water or chicken stock
2 Tbsp. butter or oil
1 large or 2 medium onions, diced
1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Juice of one lemon*
2 eggs, beaten
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Chopped fresh herbs to garnish (any mix of cilantro, flat-leaf parsley, basil, dill, mint)

*Tip: Roll the lemon around on the counter, pressing down on it hard with the palm of your hand, before slicing it in half and juicing it. This softens the membranes inside the lemon and will allow you to squeeze more juice out of it.

1. Place the chicken breasts in a pot and pour the water or stock over them. Bring the liquid to a simmer (not a boil) and maintain it there until the chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the chicken and strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve. Reserve the strained broth. Use your fingers to shred the chicken into bite-size pieces.
2. In the large pot, cook the onion in butter or oil until soft, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle the flour, salt, coriander, and cinnamon over the onions, stirring well to combine. Add the strained broth to the onions and bring to a simmer.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the beaten eggs and lemon juice with 1 cup of the warmed broth, stirring constantly to prevent the eggs from clumping. Add the egg mixture to the soup, stirring as you pour. Add the chicken pieces back to the soup and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
4. To serve, ladle the soup into shallow bowls, grind a bit of black pepper over each and top with chopped herbs.

Serving suggestion: if you like a garlicky soup or are trying to ward off a cold, add 3-5 cloves of minced garlic to the soup when you add the chicken pieces back in towards the end.

Celebrating Bulgaria Adoptive Families Reunion 2014

Source: http://bulgarianadopteesreunion.blogspot.com/2014/06/bulgarian-recipes-from-2014-potuck.html

Bulgarian Recipes from the 2014 Potluck

Our reunion potluck is always made extra special by the dishes contributed by our native Bulgarian friends.  One of my favorite parts of the reunion each year is hearing some of our older Bulgarian kiddos get really excited about eating food they used to enjoy in their birth country.  If you want to make these treats for your family throughout the year, here are the recipes shared by Dani G. and Anna G.

Cucumber soup ("Tarator") - serves 8-12 (unless born in Bulgaria, then fewer :)

1 big container of yoghurt (organic varieties & Greek Gods taste more like yoghurt in Bulgaria)

1 long/European cucumber (diced or grated)

1-2 tbs olive or sunflower oil

1-2 cloves garlic, minced (may substitute with garlic powder)

12 oz water (add more if you prefer rarer soup)

1-2 tbs dill (fresh is better)

1 tbs grated walnuts or pecans

salt to taste

Serve chilled.
There is a salad version of the soup with the same ingredients as above minus water, however, the yoghurt is strained in a cheesecloth for a few hours and the cucumber may be substituted for diced pickle ("Snejanka").
Pastry ("Banitsa") - recipe from Anna

1 pack FILO dough 

4 eggs  + 1 1/2 cups of milk mixed

Feta cheese

Layer 2-3 sheets of FILO, sprinkle w crumbled cheese, fold into a roll and place in a pan, then repeat with more FILO, more cheese until FILO is over. Cut in small squares, spill over the milk and eggs mix, bake at 425 for 45min. Alternative fillings are a mix of cheese and spinach/diced leeks or grated pumpkin mixed with sugar. Old Bulgarian women do not use Filo dough but spread the dough, which is made of water, salt and flour with a rolling pin until almost transparent (idea for next year's activities!)

Peppers Burek ("Chushki Byurek")

4 big red peppers grilled well from all sides and peeled

2 cups Bulgarian feta cheese

2 tbs unsalted butter (optional)

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 tbs dill

1/4 ts or less black pepper

other spices if desired

3 eggs & 

5 tbs flour 

Mix the cheese, butter, garlic, dill and black pepper. Fill the red peppers with the mix. Cover with the eggs & flour and fry. 

Lazy casserole version (adjust quantities to fit pan) - instead of baking fresh peppers, buy fire Roasted Yellow & Red Baked from Trader Joe's (or another brand that does nor contain vinegar). Layer of eggs/flour, layer of peppers, layer of cheese mix, another layer of peppers and top with eggs/flour. Bake until there is a nice golden crust on top.

Baklava

1 pack FILLO dough

1 cup melted unsalted butter (or coconut/olive/etc oil)

9 oz walnuts

1 tbs cinnamon

1 1/2 lbs sugar/brown sugar

1 lemon

20 fl oz water

Coat a pan with the butter. Two layout options: 1) layer 2/3 of the FILLO dough in the pan, cover with the walnuts and cinnamon and put the rest of the FILLO dough on top, then cut into 2x2" squares; 2) take several sheets of fillo dough, spread some of the walnuts and cinnamon on top and fold the FILLO dough into a roll, then repeat with the remaining ingredients until the pan is full. Bake on medium heat until golden. Boil the sugar and water for 2 minutes, then add the juice of the lemon. Cover the baked fillo with the sugar syrup. Leave in the fridge for a night.

Thanks Brenda Smith!!!!

Khachapuri: The Butter Topped, Cheese-Stuffed Bread Vessel Of Your Dreams

Source: http://gothamist.com/2014/04/29/khachapuri.php?utm_source=Gothamist+Daily

Khachapuri is pronounced like this, but let's just call it by its other, perfectly Americanized name: butter pizza. This is what a writer at WaPo recently dubbed it after trying it at a new spot in D.C. And just look at it, who could disagree with that assessment?

Read More.

Food Issues with Adopted Children

Photo credit: blasorchester-stuecken.de

All For You!!

If you are a Hopscotch Family, we have something great to share with you - for FREE! As a proud sponsor of Creating A Family website, our client families are provided FREE access to their vast library of radio podcasts. The library covers a vast range of adoption related topics that you will not find anywhere else. As a bonus, you can opt to receive educational credit hours and a certificate with a password issued to each of our clients - again, free to Hopscotch client families.

To access the adoption learning center on the Creating a Family website:

Hopscotch clients can access the adoption education courses by going to the learning center at http://www.creatingafamily.org/learning-center.html

Each individual will need to create an account with a username and password (see the blue link in the upper right hand corner of the webpage for creating a new account)

Once you have logged in with you individual username and password you'll have access to listen to all the courses - for FREE!

As a sponsoring agency, our clients have access to the quiz/certificate option for each course.   You'll just need to click on the quiz icon next to a particular course listing.  You'll then be prompted for a course password that is unique to Hopscotch clients. You'll need to contact Megan for your password to receive your certificate after completion of each podcast and quiz. Be sure to print your certificate after each podcast quiz.

Here's a podcast sample:

Food Issues with Adopted Children

Join our guest Dr. Katja Rowell, The Feeding Doctor, and author of the new book "Love Me, Feed Me" to talk about some of the common food issues adoptive parents face: hoarding, gorging, pickiness, not eating, etc. Highlights from this show.