Author: miakouppa

Join us in taking the guesswork out of Greek Cooking

Herb baked cod with pasta and marinated artichokes

~ miakouppa ~ 2 Comments
Fresh herb baked cod with pasta and marinated artichokes is an easy and elegant meal.

Fresh herb baked cod with pasta and marinated artichokes is an easy and elegant meal.

Our dining room buffets hold all sorts of lovely dishes, teacups and platters that we have amassed over the years. Whether they were wedding gifts, the result of antique shopping, or things we inherited from our parents who are constantly trying to rid themselves of stuff, we love them all! It has taken us a while, but we finally realize that enjoying these fine things in life means actually using them.

Although we have been known to break out the fine china to serve everything from a simple chamomile tea to fried chicken, sometimes it’s fun to use elegant dinnerware to serve equally elegant meals. With the holidays approaching, we figure that everyone can use an excuse to dust off their best dishes and use them to serve a meal that is impressive in flavour, appearance, and ease! Our herb baked cod with pasta and marinated artichokes is about as simple as a meal can get, making it perfect for fancy dinner parties and also for Monday night family suppers.

We are so happy to have partnered with Montreal based Messara Foods and to have used some of their imported products to create this meal. We think it will become one of your favourites!

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Oatmeal raisin cookies

~ miakouppa ~ 2 Comments
These oatmeal raisin cookies are made with gluten-free flour and they are amazing!

These oatmeal raisin cookies are made with gluten-free flour and they are amazing!

The oatmeal raisin cookie is like the ugly cousin to the more favoured and sought after chocolate chip cookie. Never picked first, always just settled for, oatmeal raisin cookies suffer, in part, due to their very confusing nature. Are they healthy (oatmeal, raisins)? Are they a dessert (sugar, butter)? Are they always trying to trick us (from a distance those raisins can pass for chocolate chips)? A cookie should not be so complicated. Still, given the chance, we think that oatmeal raisin cookies are ultimately appreciated, because like unconventionally beauties, they have much to offer.

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Mia Kouppa Nativity Fast Meal Plan – 2021

~ miakouppa ~ 4 Comments
Mia Kouppa Nativity Fast Meal Plan 2021

A FREE downloadable meal plan, NEW lent-friendly recipes, pantry staples and substitutions

and an invitation to help support the JGH Fund for Ovarian Cancer or CarePacks MTL.

Download your FREE Meal Plan and FREE Recipe Collection and FREE pantry staples and substitutions here:

MiaKoupaNativityFastMealPlan2021-2Download
MiaKouppaNativityFastRecipes2021-1Download
MiaKouppaNavityFastStaplesandSubstitutions2021Download

Please enjoy our Free Meal Plan and Additional Lenten Recipes, and please DONATE to either :

Mustache for a Cause to help support the fight against ovarian cancer

https://jghfoundation.crowdchange.co/22181?fbclid=iwar263npnizdyqhsqz5sgo56ntdsugyhibpk0szqel35wnebnifm07sudhgc

or CarePacks MTL

https://www.facebook.com/carepacksmtl/

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Easy pumpkin soup

~ miakouppa ~ 4 Comments
An easy and creamy pumpkin soup using canned pumpkin

An easy and creamy pumpkin soup using canned pumpkin

A few years ago and a couple of days before Thanksgiving, we had an incredible urge to bake a pumpkin bread. Off to the grocery store we ran, only to find that many other people had pumpkin craving. No word of a lie, we visited at least 7 grocery stores and came up empty handed. That year we settled on apple cake; hardly a sacrifice, but not the pumpkin bread we were hoping for.

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Youvetsi with lamb

~ miakouppa ~ 4 Comments
Youvetsi with lamb is a classic Greek slow cooked meal made with lamb and orzo.

Youvetsi with lamb is a classic Greek slow cooked meal made with lamb and orzo.

Γιουβέτσι με αρνί. Several years ago one of us was gifted a cookbook called Slow Food. Like all great cookbooks it was bedtime reading for weeks. Only after every page had been turned over at least once did the book make its way into the kitchen, where a few of the recipe were tried. We still have that book, and love it. The photos are appetizing, the recipes varied and delicious, and the spirit of the book is exactly what we needed then, and now. Slow cooking (not to be confused with slow cooker cooking) is about intentionality, calm and patience. Since that book, the slow food movement has ebbed and flowed in its popularity but one thing is for sure – the Greek kitchen is full of recipes that require time, and little else.

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Prasorizo Greek leeks and rice

~ miakouppa ~ 8 Comments
Prasorizo is a classic Greek vegan meal made with leeks and rice.

Prasorizo is a classic Greek vegan meal made with leeks and rice.

Πρασόριζο. Our father was a little older than 18 when he left his village in Messinia to fulfill the obligation that all young men in Greece, to this day, must fulfill. Universal and compulsory military service for men (women can now enroll on a voluntary basis) meant that young men like our father would leave their homes for several months in order to take part in this national service. Universal conscription was introduced during the military reforms of 1909 and was seen (and is still seen by some) as a rite of passage for young men; a final stepping stone before entering the real world

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Easy pumpkin bread

~ miakouppa ~ 9 Comments
Our easy pumpkin bread is the ONLY recipe you will ever need!

Our easy pumpkin bread is the ONLY recipe you will ever need!

This easy pumpkin bread is one of those recipes that falls under the category of Our Kouppes, recipes that we (Helen & Billie) have either developed, tweaked or perfected over the years. In other words, our parents have never made pumpkin bread and we’re pretty sure they would be shocked to learn that you can buy pumpkin puree in a can. Any pumpkin they use in recipes is grown by them, grated by them, and turned into lovely Greek recipes like pumpkin pita, and an assortment of squash or pumpkin fritters, like these with cheese, and these without.

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Baked feta with honey

~ miakouppa ~ 4 Comments
Baked feta with honey is a simple and delicious meze, perfect with crackers or bread.

Baked feta with honey is a simple and delicious meze, perfect with crackers or bread.

We love feta. We always have. When we were kids, our parents would regularly host friends and family and our apartment would be busy with chatter, laughter and food. Whether it was going to be a big feast or a small and quaint buffet, one thing we always looked for was the feta. We were never disappointed.

Our parents served feta in a variety of ways. It was definitely incorporated into recipes like Greek salad or tyropitakia, and sometimes it was the star ingredient as it is in baked feta wrapped in phyllo. Feta is delicious no matter how it is served. We even loved it when feta pieces were drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a generous amount of dry oregano. Feta this way was always presented in the same.glass dish which we realized years ago was actually a banana split bowl, that never saw a banana split. Greek parents of that generation do not do banana splits. Ice cream was pretty much only Neopolitan.

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Easy apple crisp

~ miakouppa ~ 2 Comments
Learn how to make an easy apple crisp that will become everyone's favourite.

Learn how to make an easy apple crisp that will become everyone’s favourite.

You asked, and we are happy to help!! Over on our Mia Kouppa Facebook page, we asked you guys if you would prefer apple pie or apple crisp. The overwhelming majority responded with apple crisp. Of course, a few of you suggested that both would be great – and one person specifically asked for Shoofly pie. We looked that up. Shoofly pie has nothing to do with apples, but it does look delicious so thanks for that suggestion!

We’re not surprised that crisp won out over pie. The latter involves preparing pie crust; waiting while it chills, rolling it out, getting frustrated if it breaks apart. A great pie is worth all of this! But, when you want a fantastic apple dessert without much fuss, our easy apple crisp is the recipe you want to reach for. Try it once and we’re pretty sure you will make it again, and again, and again.

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Secret to making the best grilled cheese

~ miakouppa ~ 4 Comments
The secret to making the best grilled cheese sandwich includes a variety of cheeses and a few tricks

The secret to making the best grilled cheese sandwich includes a variety of cheeses and a few tricks

Now, we know that some of you are thinking….Please! A recipe for grilled cheese?! Who the heck needs a recipe that most 7 year olds know how to make? Well, if your typical grilled cheese is white bread, a slice of American cheese, and some margarine then we guess you’re right – no recipe required. But, if you want to elevate your grilled cheese game to something that is epic, we’ve got the secret to making the best grilled cheese! Also, we actually love the white bread, processed cheese, margarine version too.

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