Tonight while eating a bowl of leftover lentil soup, I decided next up moussaka. We have moussaka at school at least once a week. Usually it's too salty and the serving size is too big. So, moussaka is not my go to dish at school. I usually end up eating it when there's nothing else on the menu that I want or I get to lunch late and the other good dishes have all been snapped up.

The thing is, I like the idea of moussaka--I just don't love our school's cafeteria moussaka. It's the salt and the fact that I hate throwing away part of my lunch. It makes me feel wasteful.

However I like potatoes. <em>And</em> I like cheese. So I decided what the heck, I am going to try to make my own moussaka. But I will not be making the 9x13 size. That's way more than one girl can eat.

I looked up some recipes in English. Everything seems pretty straightforward. Except for this: I came away with the distinct impression that this is a, <em>gasp</em>, Greek dish.

Then I looked up some recipes in my Bulgarian cook books. Man there are a lot of Bulgarian versions of moussaka or if I am spelling it the Bulgarian way musaka. Musaka from eggplant. Musaka from cabbage. Musaka from potatoes and spinach. Musaka from fresh beans.  Musaka from mushrooms. Musaka from ham and cauliflower. Musaka from okra. And the list it turns out goes on and on. <!--more-->And for the record, I've never even seen okra here in Bulgaria. Also for the record, when I was looking in the index for musaka I knew every other word in the musaka + another vegetable combination but I didn't know бамя. Turns out that's okra. That's right I am <em>learning things</em>.

So I think that I'll be making either the potato and spinach musaka or the the mushroom musaka.

Mushroom Musaka: 400g mushrooms, 500 g potatoes, 80g butter (margarine), 250 g yogurt, 3 eggs, black pepper and salt.

Here's my translation. You do somethings to the above ingredients. You cut the potatoes. You steam/saute the mushrooms in the butter.  Then you add some pepper and salt. Not sure how much but I think the recipe is using the verb to salt (осолете). Then you do something else with the mushrooms and potatoes. Then you do something with the eggs and yogurt. I'd mix them together and pour over the mushrooms and potatoes which I'd have in a pan. Then you put the whole thing in a hot oven(гореща фурна). How hot? Doesn't say. How long should it bake? Doesn't say.

Potato and Spinach Musaka: 500 g potatoes, 500 g spinach, 250 g yogurt, 50 ml oil, 80-100 g kashkaval cheese, 3 eggs, 1-2 heads of an onion, 1-2 spoons of галета (bread crumbs), 1 връзка (link of)parsley, black pepper, salt.

Here's my translation. You do somethings to the above ingredients. You saute the onion in oil.  Then you do some other things. What happens in the following steps is not so clear. So I am going to check in with a Bulgarian speaker for some help with the rest of the directions.

So if you want to cook along with me, pick a recipe, stock up on the ingredients and check back in tomorrow for the full directions. Okay? Okay, great.