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If you want easy baklava is not the way to go, working with phyllo is very tedious and time consuming and can be very frustrating. There are some great cookies (almond cookies for instance) that are easy and DELICIOUS. I also love the sausages (which are actually more like meatb___s). I'll pull my recipes and get them to you. I haven't touched them since on bedrest!!! But since doc said ok to get up I might as well dust em off anyway. Are you greek?

Okay great. I'm teaching summer school to 4th graders and we are studying ancient Greece....so whatever the recipe it doesn't have to be fancy. thanks in advance

Ok here goes one - ground meat sausages (soutzoukakia smyrneika) 4 tbspns melted b___ter, 1 lb canned peeled tomatoes, 1 tsn granulated sugar, salt & pepper to taste, 3 crushed garlic cloves, 1/4 dry white wine (cooking wine ok) 1 small bay leaf, 1 lb lean ground beef, 2 slices bread (no crusts) soaked in water and squeezed dry, 1 tspn ground c_min, 1 slightly beaten egg, 2 tspns chopped parsley, vegetable oil for frying. Combine melted b___ter, tomatoes, sugar, salt & pepper, 1 clove garlic, wine and bayleaf in a sauce pan, simmer for 30 minutes and then strain through a sieve or food mill. Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl and knead till thoroughly combined. Pinch off pieces a little larger than a walnut and shape into eggshapes. Heat oil in a pan and then fry on all sides until browned evenly. Drain on paper towels and then drop into sauce and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Goes well with rice or other grains.

Next desert - greek Rice Pudding (Rizogalo) -8 cups milk, 1 cup raw long grain white rice, 3/4 cup sugar, 4 tblspns b___ter, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 whole cloves, 1 tspn vanilla, 2 slightly beaten eggs, Ground cinnamon. Pour cold milk into a heavy saucepan, add rice, sugar and b___ter. Cook over low heat, stir frequently until thickened, about 1 hour add cinnamon stick nd cloves in the last 15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, remove cinnamon stic and cloves. Beat the eggs llightly in a bowl and then add one tablespoon of the hot pudding to the eggs. stir and repeat twice more then ad the egg mixture to the pudding until mixed thoroughlyl. Pour into a large serving bowl spriinkle w/ ground cinnamon and cool. Serve cold.

Omigod ladies you are making my mouth water!!! I AM GREEK and I miss eating Greek food. Most of the pure blood Greek's in my family are either now in Greece or have died :( But omigod!! BTW lawlady, where do you live? If you live somewhere they have a daphne's (a greek restuarant about as greek as taco bell is Mexican..LOL) but they DO have baklava!!! MMMMM... home made is much better though but as lawlady said the phyllo dough sucks to work with. I tried to make it once and it just kept breaking. Anyway I don't have any recipes to share but being 8 wks pregnant and coming on the sharing recipes board is obviously not ideal for me as putting ideas in my head will make me go out and buy EVERYTHING... So now I am gonna have to head into Portland, Oregon and get some good baklava!!! Gosh darn it! LOL

oops I meant BWIND, where do YOU live??? Sorry lawlady.

It's true, phyllo can be very hard to work with, yet it makes any greek pastry. Here is an easier recipe, and yes, I am greek and have made this. Try it out and let me know how it goes: Baklava Rolls- ingredients- 1/2 lb walnuts (finely chopped, or I use my food processer), 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 lb phyllo dough (can be found at many grocery stores in frozen section), 3 /4 lb melted unsalted b___ter. For syrup (used at end)- 1 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1/2 cup honey. Directions- Heat oven to 350. Mix walnuts, 2 1/2 tbs sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Combine syrup ingredients and heat in saucepan until it becomes syrupy texture. set aside. Cut phyllo sheets crosswise, into thirds. Here is my trick (cover phyllo not being used with a barely damp towel to keep it moist). Using two pieces of phyllo and keeping narrow ends towards you, brush with melted b___ter. take 1 1/2 teaspoons of walnut mixture and place on dough while leaving 1/4 inch of room on all sides. roll up the dough with the filling inside and seal ends. Place on cookie sheet and brush liberally with melted b___ter. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Bake 25 mins. Then dip the rolls while they are hot into the syrup, or drizzle syrup on the hot rolls. Cool and serve. Good luck!

I usually make traditional baklava (sheets in diamond shapes) and galatouboureko (custard pastry) for holiday oh yeah and kourambiedes (sp?). I made for my dd's ethnic night at school spinache pie and irish soda bread that was an interesting aroma mix at home!!!!

Oh and the damp cloth thing is absolutely required when working wth phyllo!!!! Otherwise it dries up and it's useless.

oh krissy I know what you mean about buying everything!!! I cook anything and everything. I will tackle any nationality and was going to be a chef but didn't want to turn something I loved into a job!!! So if I hear or see on tv something that looks good I'll run out and get all the ingredients and start cooking (case in point - I bought everything to bake a blueberrry pie this morning because my dd said something about blueberry pie!) LOL pregnancy is a great excuse for eating really good food without feeling bad!!!