Language Journal 1, and Recipe for Stuffed Zucchini

I have new motivation for studying Macedonian.  I was recently contacted by this woman in North Carolina, who has asked me to keep a journal of my language studying.  So, since I already have a blog, I figured I will just make small posts each day on my progress.

Today, as usual, I studied 30 minutes of the Book2 English-Macedonian, which I programmed into Anki, which is a digital flashcard program.

I didn't get a chance to speak Macedonian with anyone today, but I did watch one of my favorite cooking shows.  I think that should count for something, since the entire show is in Macedonian.



I don't remember the cook's name, but she a really pretty woman with black hair.  She used to have  a cook book for sale on Amazon, but I can't find it anymore.  It doesn't matter, I only wanted to give a reference.  But today she was making stuffed zucchini.  Which looked extra amazing, and I so want to try this one, since I'm growing zucchini in the garden at the country house.  It's really easy, and if your interested here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 4 zucchini
• 3 or 4 fresh tomatoes
• 1 finely chopped onion, 
• 500 grams ground beef, 
• 1 tsp. vegeta, 
• 1 tsp. salt, 
• 1 tsp. (trienna sol???) I need to find a translation for this. But it is a salt that smells like curry,
• 1 tbs. ground red pepper,
•  pinch of black pepper,
•  handful of rice, 
•  3 or 4 cups of boiling water,
•  handful of chopped parsley,
• 2 or 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic,
• olive oil or sunflower oil,
• large frying pan,
• casserole dish

1.  Remove the center of the zucchini, but not all the way through, just enough to put the mixture in.
2.  Over medium heat, cook onion until soft, about 5 minutes, add the ground beef, cook until no longer pink, than add vegeta, salt, trienna salt, red ground pepper, black pepper, and rice. Cook for a few more minutes.
3.  Place the ground beef mixture in the zucchini.
4.  Chop up 2 or 3 tomatoes (depending on the size of casserole dish, you just want to have a even layer on the bottom), and add to casserole.  Add to the top a pinch of vegeta, salt, and olive oil or regular cooking oil.
5.  Add stuffed zucchini to casserole.  In between the zucchini, add parsley and garlic.  Add boiling water to each stuffed zucchini, and fill the casserole about half way.
6.  Then add a slice of tomato to the top of each stuffed zucchini.
7.  Bake in a preheated oven 200C or 375F for 30-45 minutes.

Serve with a vegetable salad, hot pepper, and kiselo mleko (cottage cheese, I think??)

Enjoy!!!!