greek night

toga party!

baklava for dessert. moussaka for the main!

“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”…but we’re not in order

Every month my girls and I like to throw little theme parties based on different cultures. Greek was this month’s theme, so we went all out and made a few Greek dishes and even our own little togas! To make it even more festive, the girls put on “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. Instead of plain white togas, we opted for darker colors and we all kind of match, don’tcha think? After a while we got really cold and changed after we ate. I felt sooo bare.

I made baklava for the first time and used a popular recipe (5 stars with 800+ reviews) from AllRecipes.com. Click for more.

Baklava:

• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9×13 inch pan.
2. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 – 8 sheets deep.
3. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
4. Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool.

Making the sauce….so yum!

the final product

sheryl & shiela’s moussaka. it’s just like lasagna but Greek!