Sunday 28 June 2009

A Turkish night

Hello everyone,

I usually cook a very nice dinner when Peter is returning from a business trip.Last time I had cooked an English meal as sausage and mash potatoes and this time I have decided to cook Turkish as a starter and main meal.But at the end it must have been a very nice desert like my favorite one chocolate souffle.mmmmm.

My menu

Rice and youghurt soup(yayla corbasi)

Turkish meat balls with fresh salad(Kofte)

Chocolate souffle


Ingredients for soup;

1 lt water
1/2 cup of rice
1 egg
3 tbsp of greek yoghurt
2 tbsp of flour
salt
4 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tbsp of dried mint
1 pinch of ground red pepper


















Put 1 lt water into the pot.Add 1/2 cup of rice to the pot.Boil rice until it is soft. Reduce the heat and beat egg,yoghurt and flour well until it is smooth and slowly add to the pot and mix consistently until it is starting to boil.Add salt .

Put oil in the pan and add dried mint and pepper and mix them until gives their colour to the oil.Add the sauce to the soup and serve it.


Ingredients for meat ball (Kofte):

500 gr mixed minced meat well grounded (lamb and beef)

One small size onion grated

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 egg

2 slices white bread( preferably two handful of bread crumbs)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

Parsley finely chopped(one handful)





















Take a one deep bowl and put the mixed mince meat first and add grated onion,black pepper,egg,oil,salt, bread crumbs and parsley.Mixed all ingredients together by using hand.It takes 5 mins to do it.They must be stick together like a dough. Take a small piece from meat dough and make a kofte.When you finish all meat dough to make koftes,take a fry pan add some frying oil to fry koftes until they are well cooked.Serve with a fresh salad like tomotoes,lettuce and spring onion(you can use lemon and olive oil salad dressing on the salad).

In the summer time, you can grill koftes on the barbeque instead of frying.Enjoy it.


Ingredients for chocolate souffle:

100 gr dark chocolate bar ,melted

4 eggs seperated

100 gr caster sugar

50 gr cocoa powder

300 ml milk

50 gr plain flour

icing sugar to dust

Butter

















When I have decided to make it ,I have checked the plenty of recipes, books and videos.The result was surprising.There were many different recipes to make it.Most of people are thinking that it is not easy to make a chocolate souffle.This recipe I followed will not let you down if you want to make a surprise to someone or special occasions.

Preheat the oven to 200 C.
Brush ramekins with soft or melted butter and sprinkle some sugar to coat them with sugar.Put them in the fridge while you are preparing souffle.

Mix the egg yolks with half the sugar and then stir in the flour and cocoa powder.
Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring the milk to the boil. Gradually pour half the milk onto the egg mixture and whisk. Return the milk and egg mixture to the saucepan and reduce the heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens and no longer tastes floury.

Remove from the heat and pour the custard into a clean bowl, cover with a disc of greased greaseproof paper.

Whisk the egg whites and add the remaining sugar. Mix the melted chocolate into the custard. Fold half the egg whites into the chocolate custard using a metal spoon and then fold in the remaining whites.

Spoon the mixture into the ramekins and level the top with a palette knife.
Place the ramekins into the preheated oven. Bake for 8-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and dust with icing sugar.

Serve the soufflé with chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Serve immediately and enjoy.


Our night started with soup ,kofte and after chocolate souffle.We were enjoying with pleasure.In my culture we say" the way which is going to men's heart is via stomach".
It is working on my boy friend.You can try too.:-)

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Thursday 25 June 2009

Yummy mummy muffins!

















As you see, some muffins have gone before taking part in the car boot sale. Luckly,one Japanese lady came and bought all to bring them to her friends in Japan.Lucky muffins!
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We are making Blueberry muffins




















Hi again,

Today, I would like to tell you our car boot sale adventure.There was a car boot sale in my sons school and we have decided to take part and at least it could be a good opportunity to reduce the number of toys at home.My son and me have checked which toys could be sold.After all checking, I got only a few toys to be sold.Suddenly, all toys became very precious.
My boy friend suggested to bake Blueberry muffins to sell in car boot sale.It was a good idea.But he must have gone to buy some blueberries.He came back with two boxes of blueberry and we started to eat them instead of using them in the muffin.I stopped Peter to eat all and rescued some to be used in the muffin.:=)

Peter and Umut used the ingredients to make a muffin as follows:


125 gr plain flour
110 gr butter
65 gr caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
125 gr blueberries

Beat butter and sugar together and slowly add the eggs.Add the flour,baking powder,salt and milk, mix them and refrigerate for an hour.Put a spoonful of muffin mixture into each muffin case,filling each to just half.Add two or three blueberries on the each muffin or you can add blueberries to the mixture after refrigerated.

Bake in a oven at 200 C for 20 mins. or until golden on the top.Take them out and leave them cool.Serve with a cup of tea.Enjoy it!



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Tuesday 23 June 2009

Healthy breakfast




A friend of mine ,Kadriye, complained about delicious cake recipes and she wanted me to post some healthy recipes.She is right.
I care about having good breakfast in the morning and helps me to make a good healthy diet.
My secret to have a nice body is to eat everything but in good proportion.For example,don't eat potato and rice at the same time because both of them are carbohyrates and don't eat huge amount.
Tips for healthy living:





Your daily diet should be a balance of carbohydrate and protein. As a guide, your plate should contain twice as many carbs as protein.
Base each of your meals on a complex carbohydrate such as potato, wholemeal bread or brown rice, and include vegetables. Finish the meal with fruit, and this should ensure you get a balance of complex and simple carbohydrates.
Use high fibre wholegrain cereals as part of your breakfast, and use wholemeal bread for your toast.
For lunch, choose lean protein such as fish or chicken with only a small amount of carbohydrate to get you through the afternoon.
Large carbohydrate meals will make you slow and sleepy so save your big pasta meal for the evening.
Cut down on the amount of refined white flour products in your diet such as white bread, pizza and white pasta and rice. The refining process produces simple carbohydrates and many vitamins and minerals are lost.
Fruit is naturally high in sugar, which means so are fruit juices and smoothies. In liquid form these sugars can damage your teeth, but these drinks count towards your five a day and contain fibre, vitamins and minerals. To avoid tooth decay, it's best to drink them with a meal.(www.netdoctor.co.uk/focus/nutrition/.../carbohydrates.htm )


Here are my healthy breakfast suggestions.Enjoy it!


sliced tomatoes


Mozzarella cheese


olive oil


scramble egg


one glass of juice


I love breakfast and it is my favorite time to have a nice food and chat with my family and talked about everything.
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Carrot cake




















Hi all,
I would like to tell you my first carrot cake experience.Peter was always talking about carrot cake and it seemed nice to bake it .
I have baked it one day and made him surprised.Umut and Peter loved it again.My son said this is a 5 star cake!.He usually doesnt say this kind of words.I am happy with the result.Hope you will enjoy it too.


150 gr.sugar
4 eggs
150 ml. sunflower or vegetable oil
150 gr.grated carrots
55 gr.walnuts chopped
175 gr.flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
icing sugar for dusting




Preheat the oven 180 C and grease a 23 cm springform cake tin.Place the sugar,eggs,sunflower oil,carrots and walnuts in the bowl and mix them.Add flour,salt,baking powder and beat the mixture until smooth.
Turn the mixture into tin and bake it until golden brown and check centre with a knife comes out clean.Leave in the tin for 10 mins and transfer to the wire rack to cool completely.
Dust some icing sugar on the top and serve with cream or yoghurt.

There is a summer fair in my son school this weekend.I am planning to bake it for fair.If you want to taste it ,see you there!

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The delicious image of sponge cake


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sponge cake experience

I love sponge cake and my boy friend bought a sponge cake for our monthly anniversary.It was delicious and we loved it!.So I wanted to bake it myself.I have searched many web sites, recipes and I have decided to use my own recipe.Here it is:

175 gr. soft butter
175 gr. self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
175 gr. caster sugar
3 eggs

For filling

8 tbsp strawberry jam
300 ml.double cream
icing sugar for dusting



Preheat oven to 180 C and grease the cake tin.I have used 23 cm cake tin but you can use 20 cm cake tin too.I mixed butter, sugar and eggs first and add flour and baking powder.Then beat well all until smooth.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 mins until well risen or golden brown.Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins and transfer it to the wire racks to cool completely.Seperate it into two pieces by using a knife.Spread jam and whipped double cream on the one piece to cover it completely.Sandwich the two pieces together.Sprinkle icing sugar on top and serve.

Tips:If you leave it on the fridge over night,the taste will be more delicious.Yummy!:-)
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