Ikarian Longevity Stew from Blue Zone Solution

Recently, I read a book called Blue Zone Solution. This book is about going to many places in the world where many people live over 100. Then, they look at the similarities and try to implement the concept to some cities in the United States. What I like about it is that they know it is very difficult to leave it to individual choices especially in the United States where our life style is very different from those Blue Zones. In order to make it a successful project and outcome, they try to change the whole community so it is easier for individuals to make right and healthy choices.

Anyways, they have Okinawa (an island in Japan) as one of Blue Zone and it made me happy to see my country as one of healthy area but I think it is also completely different story when you look at Tokyo. The lifestyle has changed so much and people are busier and it is sometimes difficult to make right choices.

If you are interested in this book, here is the link for Amazon.



This book have many recipes from those Blue Zones and I tried a few of them. One of them which I tried was Longevity Stew from an island called Ikaria in Greece.

Here is the recipe from Blue Zone website. Click here for the recipe. 

This soup has many vegetables and it is easy to make. It has black-eyed peas and it is yummy and satisfying.

The book said you can freeze this so I made a big batch and froze half of it. It will be a great lunch or dinner when I don't have time to cook.

When you look at those people who live long life in those area, some of the similarity they have is they eat lots of vegetables, they move a lot, they have a close community and friends they can rely on and they have some type of religious believes.

My husband's grandmother is like 95 years old and she is very fit and strong. When I think of her, many things are similar to what the book said. She has a garden and she works on her garden everyday. She is constantly moving. She is eating a lot of vegetables from her own garden. Everyone in her village know her and she is always going to different parties and gatherings.

Eating healthy is not easy sometimes but I want to incorporate more vegetables into my cooking. I will still eat meat and fish but I will also have vegetable days few days a week or I will use some meat or fish but make a meal which include more vegetables in it than the meat and fish.

This soup is a great soup. I will be making this soup again. I used to hate beans and peas but lately I am forcing myself to eat more beans and I am starting to like it more and more. I am excited to find more beans and peas recipes in the future!

So NY is finally getting warm. Actually somedays are like summer already. I love summer so I am happy that it is warm but I have one complaint this spring.

It is the pollen! It seems like the pollen has been going crazy this year. I normally don't have it this bad but my eyes have been so itchy this year. I heard because it was a long winter and now everything is blossoming at the same time. Hopefully, it will go away quickly so I can enjoy this beautiful weather!

Ludi's Chicken from Tessa Kiros

I made this chicken before (click here for 2011 June post) and I think this is one of the best roasted chicken I made. When I made this last time, I said I am making this again for sure but for some reason I didn't make roasted chicken for more than a year. Mainly because I can but pretty good roasted chicken for $4.99 from Costco and also we had pretty good Peruvian restaurant which sells delicious roasted chicken with reasonable price.

Anyways, enough of my excuses. The other day, I went to a Korean supermarket called "H Mart". Close to the are we moved in, there is this one area where there are so many Korean and Chinese stores/restaurants. So I decided to go to this Korean supermarket and found lots of ingredients which I use for Japanese cooking. Also, vegetables are much cheaper than normal supermarket. And I found this whole chicken for $4.99. I decided to make this roasted chicken again.

I found this recipe in a book called "Falling Cloudberries" by Tessa Kiros. I have one of her other book which my mother in-law gave me but I borrowed this "Falling Cloudberries" from a library in 2011. Since I don't have the book anymore, I searched in on the internet and I found the recipe.

This roast chicken use lots of lemon, grainy mustard and some white wine. I love the combination of those flavors.

I baked for two hours.

 I love making roast chicken because it is cheap, looks great and you can make chicken stock after we eat chicken. (Click here for how I make my chicken stock at home)

The chicken was great and the sauce is lemony and perfect. I started to think again that maybe I should buy this book.

I remember I also made this fabulous Finnish meatball from this book in 2011. (Click here for the post about Danish meatball dish)

I remember that I made these meatballs while I was pregnant and I was feeling morning sickness. After I made these meatballs for the party, I couldn't even think about meatballs anymore. Just hearing a word "meatball" made me feel sick. But now I have a wonderful healthy boy (thank god) and I don't feel sick anymore when I think about meatballs so maybe it is time to make these delicious Finnish meatballs again!!! Those meatballs are perfect for pot luck party.

Anyways, my son is almost 2. It is amazing how he grow and how much he learns everyday. I am very thankful that I have him and he came to me. When I think about those meatballs I get nostalgic since that was when I had my baby in my belly and I was so anxious to meet him. Well, maybe it is time for him to ear those meatballs. I will tell him this story when he eat this meatballs :-)

Greek Stuffed Vegetables

I have made another wonderful dish from this wonderful cook book which I borrowed from the library.
Click here for Finnish Meatball and Roasted Chicken which I made from this book previously.


This time I tried "Stuffed Vegetables" (P115) from the Greek section of the book.

It uses Red Bell pepper, Tomato and zucchini as a container for this ground meat and rice mixture and baked in the oven for 1-hour and half.









First, make a container out of those vegetables. I thought it will be difficult but it was not too bad and it cake out pretty good!

Make the mixture with ground pork and beef, uncooked rice, vegetables, spices and such.

Then, fill the vegetables with these mixture.

Put the lid on, add some potatoes and pour some liquid then into the oven.

After one hour and half in the oven, this is how it look.

It was really good! I loved the juicy vegetables and the color is wonderful on a plate.

I really love this book. Since I renewed this item, I can borrow this until the end of July. I hope I can make some more dishes from this book before I return it. Maybe I should purchase this book. There are so many great recipes in this book.

Last night, we had a city's fireworks. Our friend invited us for a potluck party for fireworks viewing. The apartment was right in front of the fireworks and it had a big rooftop so it was perfect! I made finnish meatballs which is also from this book and brought it to the party. It seemed like everyone liked it! I am happy.