Eleni Kedros

Recipe and cooking for the family: So we have made the decision to go vegan for the foreseeable future. We typically do not eat that much meat, but I have become more conscious of the environmental implications with dairy too. It is important to me that we are using this time to learn and to grow and the best changes for ourselves. Right now going vegan seems like something small we can do, and an easy change we can make. One of our first recipes during our foray into veganism is fajitas!

Vegan Fajitas/Tacos - Mexican rice - black beans (all together, having different things on the go - but in total only takes about 35 minutes)

Ingredients
- 2 whole onions (1 thinly sliced & 1 finely diced)
- 4 bell peppers (thinly sliced)
- 1 can black beans
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 3 tsp cumin
- 3 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cayenne
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- Flour tortillas or Corn tortillas
- 2 limes (opt)
- 3 tbsp Tomato paste
- Avocado (opt)
- Salsa (opt)
Beans
- Heat a saucepan with avocado oil.
- Take one onion and dice it finely and do the same to the three cloves of garlic.
- Put onions and garlic into a pan. Cook them gently for about 5-8 minuets until they soften (taking care not to brown the onions or burn the garlic).
- Once softened take a can of beans and drain them into a colander - give them a gentle rinse
- add beans to the onion mixture and use the can they came in to measure out 1 can of water. Add the can of water to the saucepan with the beans.
- Once beans are in with the water bring to a simmer and add the bay leaf, 2 tsp cumin and 2 tsp of salt.
- Let it simmer for about 20 minutes
Onion and Pepper
- Take one onion and slice it thinly, then slice all the bell peppers thinly and put in a bowl.
- Heat some avocado oil in a large frying pan
- Add as much of the onions and peppers as comfortably fit into the pan - you may have to repeat this step until the onions and peppers are finished
- Fry on high heat, adding the paprika, cayenne and cumin
- Once they are caramelized but not mushy remove from heat
Rice
- Rinse 1 cup of rice well
- in a saucepan put 1 1/2 cups of water, tomato paste, 1 bay leaf, 1tsp cumin, 1tsp paprika.
- Heat a separate saucepan with a drop of oil
- Put the rice into the pan with the oil so that it toasts very lightly - stir continuously
- Once the rice is toasted add the water and tomato mixture to the rice and bring to a boil - once it begins to boil turn it down immediately, cover, and cook for 18 minutes.
- Once the 18 minutes is up, turn of the heat - do not take the lid of the pan and wait for 15 minutes
Assembly
- Heat flour tortillas in a pan or strait over a gas flame
- Cut lime into wedges and avocado into strips
- Bring to the table and assemble as you would like using salsa as garnish

2. Middle Eastern Chicken w/ Roast Potatoes
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 2 sprigs rosemary/thyme
- 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Chicken + Potatoes
- 1 whole free-range (farmers market if possible) organic chicken
- 1 lb small new potatoes
- 1 tbsp dry thyme
- salt + pepper
- 1 onion cut into 4/6 pieces
Prep (Night before)
- Take chicken and pat it dry very well with a paper towel
- Sprinkle with salt all over, even in the cavity (make sure to take out any bag of giblets that may be inside)
- Refrigerate overnight uncovered - helps to achieve crispness
Prep (Morning of)
- Mix marinade ingredients in a large bowl
- If the mixture is very thick you can use water to thin it out
- Take the chicken and place on a baking sheet
- Spatchcock the chicken (take out the backbone) very easy to do! Look up instructions if necessary
- Then place the chicken into bowl with marinade and mix and cover all of chicken with marinade
- Cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours - but really only 3 are necessary
Cooking
- Preheat oven to 375
- Take potatoes and cut them in half (putting them into a bowl of water to prevent browning)
- To make potatoes the most crispy - boil them in lightly salted water until they are almost fork tender - drain the water from the pot and bash the potatoes harshly (this will make the potatoes have a fluffy outside which will make for extra crispiness
- Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and pat off any extra posture from the yogurt marinade
- Put potatoes and onion onto a baking tray - and on top put a roasting tray - place chicken onto the roasting tray
- Put into the oven for 45 minutes (checking for excessive browning)

Making dinner for my family. I have become the resident cook in my house, which was an overwhelming undertaking but no one else "has time" however I think I have come into my role and I have started to get creative with recipes and I have discovered this method of marinading things in yogurt which yeilds wonderful results. I have applied this method to chicken and it has been so successful!

Recipe:
2. Middle Eastern Chicken w/ Roast Potatoes
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 2 sprigs rosemary/thyme
- 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Chicken + Potatoes
- 1 whole free range (farmers market if possible) organic chicken
- 1 lb small new potatoes
- 1 tbsp dry thyme
- salt + pepper
- 1 onion cut into 4/6 pieces
Prep (Night before)
- Take chicken and pat it dry very well with a paper towel
- Sprinkle with salt all over, even in the cavity (make sure to take out any bag of giblets that may be inside)
- Refrigerate overnight uncovered - helps to achieve crispness
Prep (Morning of)
- Mix marinade ingredients in a large bowl
- If the mixture is very thick you can use water to thin it out
- Take the chicken and place on a backing sheet
- Spatchcock the chicken (take out the backbone) very easy to do! Look up instructions if necessary
- Then place the chicken into bowl with marinade and mix and cover all of chicken with marinade
- Cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours - but really only 3 are necessary
Cooking
- Preheat oven to 375
- Take potatoes and cut them in half (putting them into a bowl of water to prevent browning)
- To make potatoes the most crispy - boil them in lightly salted water until they are almost fork tender - drain the water from the pot and bash the potatoes harshly (this will make the potatoes have a fluffy outside which will make for extra crispiness
- Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and pat off any extra posture from the yogurt marinade
- Put potatoes and onion onto a backing tray - and on top put a roasting tray - place chicken onto the roasting tray
- Put into the oven for 45 minutes (checking for excessive browning)

Blood Donation:
At this difficult time, there has been a significant reduction in blood donations. As a previous donor, giving blood seemed like the least I could do to play a small part in helping those in need. It was a very easy process and I will continue to give blood provided I am in good health. It was a very rewarding experience and I have recommended it to all my friends. My cousins who are currently staying with us also joined in on the fun!

My youngest sister is special needs! I spend every afternoon helping her complete her homework and other tasks! We have such a great time together and it is nice to be able to give my mom a break from this! I specifically help with English and history homework, while my brother helps with math! I even helped with her biology class were we had to do an experiment of getting the DNA of a strawberry!

Exercise: I have used this time in isolation to grow as an individual. One of the things I have included in my personal growth curriculum has been to start running. I have started running towards a goal - I am aiming to run a marathon in November of 2020. I have included my training chart and where I have gotten this far, as well as a picture of me that my mom was trying to take!

The swap was quieter today but we still had a good turn out. It was great to talk to people about our project and to promote our next swap happening in April. We also collected a good amount of data about the clothes that were being swapped and donated.

This was our first clothing swap, I was really impressed with the turn-out and the clothing people brought. I am very optimistic about our future swaps.

Meeting with the textile museum to organize our final clothing swap. It was a great way to introduce our project to their team, and also gave us a great idea of what we need to do in order to prepare ourselves for the event.

I designed and created our customer feedback survey, that is designed to illustrate how people choose to shop and what their preferences are in terms of sustainability when it comes to clothing, as well as their awareness of the issues fast fashion poses on our environment.