Coconut squares

Here is one more recipe for very easy and great tasting sweet desert.

Coconut squares

Cake:
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sauce:
1 stick butter
3/4 cup water
2 cups sugar
4 table spoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon rum essence

3/4 cup coconut flakes for dipping the squares in at the end

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Beat the soften butter with the sugar until creamy and light in color. Add the eggs and beat for a few mins.
Mix the flour and the baking powder. Add 1/2 cup at the time to the eggs mixture. At the end add the vanilla and beat for a min or so. Bake in oiled baking dish for about 30 -35 mins.
To make the sauce boil the water with the sugar for 5-6 mins Add the butter and mix well. Cool down for about 30 mins and add the cocoa powder and rum essence.Mix well and use to tip the squares.
Cut the cake into squares when is still hot. Once cooled down deep each piece in the sauce and then in the coconut. Keep aside for the sauce to cool down.
You can also just melt some chocolate and use it to dip the pieces if easier for you.
Enjoy!

Medenki - Honey cookies

Here is a very easy recipe for cookies made with honey. I have it with me from the time I was little kid and I used to make this cookies with my mom. They are very tasty and everybody loves them. I gave the recipe to many people and every time somebody makes them they turn out just great!!!

Honey Cookies

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 table spoon cinnamon
4 cups all purpose flour

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Spread some oil on foil or anything you are planning to bake the cookies on.
Beat well oil and sugar. Add one egg at a time and blend with sugar and oil mixture. Pour in the honey, add the cinnamon and beat for a few mins. Mix the flour with the baking soda and start adding it to the egg mixture half cup at a time.  The dough may seem sticky, but with it's ok. You can rub your hands with flour as needed and make balls size of walnut and place them inch apart on foil or baking dish.
Bake for about 12-15 mins. Second batch cookies will be ready in less time, so be careful.
Cool down before storing in air tide container.
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Tips:
You can use 3 cups whole whet flour and 1 all purpose if you want to make them healthier.
You can use brown sugar as well.
Before baking you can place piece of walnut on top of the cookie and just press little down to make sure it doesn't fell off.
Or, you can dip half cookies, after baking and cooling down, in a melted chocolate and then dip same side in crushed nuts your choice.
Enjoy!

Home made yogurt

Here is how my grandmother thought me to make yogurt :

1/2 gallon whole milk
1/2 cup whole fat plain yogurt room temperature (greek, dannon or any other available in your area)
It is very important to use good yogurt for your first try!!!

Boil the milk on a slow flame and let it cool down to a stage where you slowly dip your small finger into the milk and you can keep it in for a few sec. Now this is old method i learned from my grand mother, I 'm sure now days you can use thermometer, I just never got one of them for cooking and always check the temperature this way. You will need an hour before checking the milk as it takes time for it to cool down. If you live in a very cold area start checking 40 mins after the boil. The more often you make yogurt, the sooner you will learn how long it takes and you will reach to a stage you wont even check the temperature.

If the milk cool down too much worm it on the stove for little bit or in the microwave for 30 sec.
Beat the yogurt with a spoon to make it smooth for easy mixing with the milk.
Once the milk is right temperature move it to a plastic or glass container, add the yogurt, and stir 3-4 times.
Cover the container with its lead or cap and move it to a warm and dark place, where it will stay overnight or approx half day. I usually keep it in the oven.
Do not open the place where the yogurt is until some time have passed, it needs to rest. Do not move the container or shake it.
I live in FL and overnight works great for me. If you live in a cold place you need to wrap the container with towel or something warm before living it to rest. The yogurt needs warm place to get ready.

If you use low fat milk the yogurt will be watery. To avoid that cook the milk on low flame for about an hour and a half or 2 before letting it to cool down. This will help to evaporate the water. The yogurt will be less quantity.

Once the yogurt is ready place it in the fridge to firm. It may be little sour as it stays out in the heat for longer time. Half day should be good for warm clime and 16-18 h for colder.
Enjoy!!

Can we substitute products in cooking and baking?

Absolutely!!
I do it all the time and planing to keep adding to this post as I experiment more things ;)
Have you ever been in a situation where you start cooking or baking and you realized you are out of something the recipe calls for or just want to reduce the butter in it? It happens to me all the times.
I've been cooking and baking over 10 years now and I can say I had my proud moments and my failures. The failures made me try even harder to master a recipe as per my taste and desire. The success gave me the determination to experiment more and more.
I am lucky enough to have a husband who eat everything I cook, even if it's not his favorite, and kids who are asking me all the time to make home made version of things they like. And yes, I make many things at home- yogurt, cheese, jams, ice cream, bread, pretzels, buns and so on...

Now back to the topic of substitution in the kitchen  (that what this post is about, right):

• Eggs- approx amount of sparkling drink(soda). Now. if the cake is on egg base and requires 5,6 or more eggs, I wont suggest trying this substitution. The result wont be very pleasant. If you need 1 or 2 eggs, go ahead use soda, no problems at all, or you are short on 1 egg and need 5 or 6 altogether, yes you can substitute it. 
• Butter or oil- same quantity apple sauce (AP) or canned pumpkin (CP). Again, if you are making coffee cake that needs crumbles from the butter, apple sauce wont have same result, but you can use 1/2 butter and 1/2 AS or CP. I assume this will work on shortening also, but I never tried so far.
• All purpose flour- whole wheat flour 3/4 from the required amount and 1/4 all purpose or wheat germ.
• Buttermilk-a)1 cup milk and 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice.mix well and let stand for 5 mins. Now you can use as much as your recipe needs. b) Pour cream in a clean and dry jar. Close the lid tight and start shaking the jar until the cream turn yellowish and a water separate from the cream 10-15 mins. Use the liquid as a buttermilk and rest as a butter. Make sure to knead the butter under cold water to make sure all buttermilk is removed. The butter now can be refrigerated. c) 3/4 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup milk. Mix both and use as much as you need.
• Cream for cooking- softened cream cheese. I do this in pasta sauces, soups, or gravies. I use fat free cream cheese instead of the cream just to reduce the calories. Use approx 3/4 of the amount needed mixed with a spoon or 2 of milk (we use 2%) to beat the cheese easier before adding to the cooking meal. Add it at the very end mix well and turn the heat off. The heat from the food in the pan will help the cream cheese melt and spread all over the pan.

• Sugar in sweets - I use sometime sweetener just to reduce the calories. If you are making cake or something sweet, using sweetener may lead to a different taste and be aware sometimes kind of bitter. I suggest you try before making something for friends and family and see how you like it.
• Rum or other alcohol in cakes- use essence with same flavor if you want to keep the flavor as per the recipe. I do this as I serve cakes to kids.
• Coffee in tiramisu for kids- I make small cake for them with cocoa instead coffee and they love it!
• Baking powder- If you are out of baking powder you can use double the amount baking soda and omit the salt in the recipe. It may have slightly different taste, but nothing too bad. IN case you have cream of tartar and baking soda, you can make your own baking powder: 1 part baking soda, 2 parts cream of tarter and use the quantity needed as per the recipe. Exmpl: mix 1 table spoon soda and 2 table spoons cream of tartar (this will make 3 table spoons baking powder). The recipe needs 1 table spoon baking powder. Take 1 tablespoon from the mixed soda and cream of tartar.
• Cram of tartar - This needs different ways of substitution in baking and cooking. If you are using in sweets and the recipes needs only cream of tartar ( in comparing with cream of tartar and baking soda in one recipe) you can replace it with lemon juice. The ratio is 3 times lemon juice to 1 cream of tartar. In baking many times it is combined with baking soda, for this I will update later as I haven't tried it yet and wont recommend anything until I try it myself. I made Turkish delight and replaced 1 teaspoon cream of tartar with 3 teaspoons lemon juice. It was great! 

Irish Soda bread

This is recipe was given to me long time back and it's very easy to make and everybody loves it!!




Irish Soda bread


Ingredients:
4 Cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 tablespoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, sugar , caraway seeds, raisins and keep aside.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs and keep around table spoon aside.

Add the buttermilk to the eggs and mix. Cut the butter to a small pieces and add to the flour mix. with hand mix well until it forms coarse crumbs. At this point fold in the eggs  mix and start making the dough. At first it will be sticky, but as you need on a floored surface it will come together. 

Grease a 9'' pan. Shape bread into a ball  and cut  an 'X' on top of it. Brush the top with the eggs and bake for around 1h and 15 mins or until ready. Cool the bread before removing from pan.

Enjoy!

Grilled veggie salad with goat cheese

Grilled veggie salad with goat cheese
This will make 2 portions and we usually eat this as a main dish with
Ingredients:

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 onion
1/2 eggplant
1 zucchini
1/3 cup goat cheese

Dressing:
parsley
salt
1Tbs olive oil
lemon


Wash all veggies. Grill the whole peppers, cut into circles eggplant, zucchini and sliced onion.
Once the pepper is grilled well ceep them in a zip bag or in a cover plastic container for 10 mins. This will make it easier to pill the skin off the grilled peppers. Cut into big pieces. Combine all and add dressing.
To make the dressing mix well salt, olive oil, lemon juice, chopped parsley. The amount of fresh lemon juice is as per taste. I like my salads with more lemon and I use half of it. Add the cheese. The warmth of the grilled veggies will make the cheese melt little and makes the salad even more delicious ;).
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TIPS:
If you like your salads sweet, you can add 1/3 cup of cranberries or raisins along the dressing.
Enjoy!

Corn and Soy soup

This soup is for all who love soy milk like me :)

Corn and Soy soup

Ingredients:

1 onion
1cup chopped celery
2 cups frozen or canned corn
1/2 cup soy milk
4 cups of water
1/2 cube veggie bullion
chives
salt, paper

Chop the onion and celery. Boil 4 cups of water and add the bullion to it, onions, celery and corn.
Once the veggies are cooked add salt and paper. Mix well and let cool down little bit to blend it to a puree.
Return the puree back to the pot, add the soy milk and some more water if needed to a consistency of your choice. ( I like my soups little thicker). Check the salt and add some chives.
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TIPS:
Instead of soy milk, you can use tofu ( around  1/4 of  the  package).
Of course you may try with milk or some cream cheese if you don't like soy products and  do please share the result.
Enjoy!!!

Sauted veggies with sausage and feta

One more of my own recipes
It makes 2 adult portions and taste well with toasted bread or pita with home made garlic olive oil (will post it in a new post)

Veggies with sausage and feta

Ingredients:
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Onion
2 green pepper
2 med. tomatoes
2 eggs
2 sausages
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
parsley
salt and black paper

Saute the sliced onion to golden. Remove from pan and keep aside. In same pan saute the pepper slices.
Keep them with onions and cook the sliced sausage. At the end combine all cooked ingredients in the pan, add the tomatoes cut in 4 pieces and season with salt and paper. Cook for about 5-6 mins and brake both eggs side to side on top of the cooked veggies and sausage.

Cover with lid and cook on low heat until eggs are cooked ( they will be like sunny side up eggs). On top of the eggs put feta cheese and the chopped parsley.

Enjoy!!

You may notice zucchini in the plate, but not on the recipe ;) well, I was short on pepper and I found 1 small zucchini left in my fridge... The taste was even better !!

Pasta sauce with mushrooms and grilled peper

This is another sauce I made based on leftover veggies in my fridge :)

Pasta sauce with mushrooms and grilled pepper

Ingredients:
3 cups of canned tomatoes or  jar of tomato based pasta sauce
5-6 big garlic gloves chopped
1 onion copped
1 red, yellow or just green bell pepper -grilled and pilled
4 mushrooms- sliced
1Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
pinch of sugar
1 Tbsp dry basil
1Tsp dry thyme
salt and black paper

Cut the pepper into big pieces and set aside. Saute the garlic in oil. Add the onions and cook for some time.
Add the mushroom and saute with onions. Once they are ready add tomatoes, peeper, basil, thyme, salt and little crushed black paper as per your taste. Cook for about 5-6 mins and add the vinegar and sugar.
Taste and adjust salt if needed.
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TIPS:
You can use fresh tomatoes also. In that case you need to cook them little longer.
In case you don't have balsamic vinegar, don't substitute with any other vinegar and don't need to add sugar.
If the bell pepper is too small you can use 2. If you mix yellow and red the sauce turns even more appealing.
If you like your sauce to be more tomatoes, reduce the amount of veggies ;).
You can always use fresh herbs, remember to use more of them if they are fresh!!
Enjoy!

Pasta sauce with olives and spinach

This is a recipe I made up based on the available things in my fridge a while ago and we all loved it, especially my kids, who love olives !! When I cook, I don't have a habit to  measure and everything is "on eye" basis.So, here is aprox measurements of everything, just to make it easy for all of you there willing to try my recipes :)

Pasta sauce with olives and spinach

Ingredients:

1 med size onion
5 big garlic gloves chopped fine
3Tbsp olive oil
6 crapes
3 cup canned tomatoes or a tomato based pasta sauce
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup black olives cut in half
1/3 cup milk ( you can use non fat or 2% as per your taste)
1Tbsp oregano
1/2 Tbsp basil
salt

 Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and onion. Cook on a med flame for about 4-5 mins. Next add crapes, tomatoes and spinach.Cook until it starts to boil and add the herbs and salt. Pour the milk and mix well. Cook again for about 5 mins, add the olives and turn the heat off.  Check the seasoning. As per your taste you can add more oregano or basil.
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TIPS:
In case you are not found of garlic reduce it to 2 gloves.
You can try making the sauce with 2 tbsp non fat or reduced fat cream cheese and skip the milk. Beat the cream cheese with fork  and mix well with little ( aprox 1/2 cup ) of the sauce that is cooking on the stove. .Add it to the pot and cook for some time.

Enjoy!

Almond Biscotti

Here is the real version of this biscotti( with egss and diary product)


1/2 cup oil or butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour ( you can use all purpose flour if you wish, no problem with it.)
1/4 cup ground almonds ( if you want you can use same amount cocoa powder and you will have chocolate biscotti ;))
1table spoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon almond extract or as per the direction on the bottle you are using ( if using cocoa , you can use coconut extract or vanilla)


Optional: ( If you like spices)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cloves 
few pinches of nutmeg
omit the almond extract.
use around 1/2 cup pistachios


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Prepare and grease cookie sheet or foil.
In a bowl mix flour, almonds, baking powder and keep aside.
In a different bowl beat to smooth  oil and sugar. Add sprite and mix again.
Combine both flour and oil mixture. the dough should be thick. If needed you can add litle more flour to make it easy to work with it.
Here you can add a handful of chocolate chip, raisins, pistachios, pecans, or anythingelse you can think of.
Divide into 2 pieces and make roll out of each. Once you place the roll on the baking sheet press the roll down to flatten it to aprox half inch.
Bake for 25 min. Take out of the oven and let it cool dawn.
Start slicing diagonally to a half inch biscotti .
Return back with the sides up to the oven to bake (dry) the biscotti for around 5 min each side and let them stay in the oven until cool down.

The picture above shows biscotti with added chocolate chip to this recipe. Big hit with kids!

 Frosting (optional)

1 cup sugar
2 tsp  regular milk
almond extract
Mix all well and spread over the biscotti.
Let it cool down

OR  you can dip one side of the biscotti in a melted white or brown chocolate and  decorate with the frosting once the chocolate is firm.

As you see this is a basic recipe and you can adjust as per your taste..
Hope you like it!

Bicsotti - egg less and diary free

Today I made biscotti free off eggs, butter and milk to fit my fasting for Easter.
I know I may end up eating some of them while my little girl eat some and feed me as well:)
So here is the recipe:

Almond egg less, dairy free Biscotti

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (here you can use 1/2 cup apple sauce if you want to reduce the calories, I do this most of the time )
1 cup sugar ( I used half cup brown sugar, half sweetener, you can use any type of sugar)
1/2 cup sprite, or anything else you have like sprite ( this replace the eggs and helps the dough to rise better)
3 cups whole wheat flour ( you can use all purpose flour if you wish, no problem with it.)
1/4 cup ground almonds ( if you want you can use same amount cocoa pwdr and you will have chocolate biscotti ;))
1table spoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon almond extract or as per the direction on the bottle you are using ( if using cocoa , you can use coconut extract or vanilla)

Optional: ( If you like spices)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cloves 
few pinches of nutmeg
omit the almond extract.
use around 1/2 cup pistachios


Method:
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Prepare and grease cookie sheet or foil.
In a bowl mix flour, almonds, baking powder and keep aside.
In a different bowl beat to smooth  oil and sugar. Add sprite and mix again.
Combine both flour and oil mixture. the dough should be thick. If needed you can add litle more flour to make it easy to work with it.
Here you can add a handful of chocolate chip, raisins, pistachios, pecans, or anythingelse you can think of.
Divide into 2 pieces and make roll out of each. Once you place the roll on the baking sheet press the roll down to flatten it to aprox half inch.
Bake for 25 min. Take out of the oven and let it cool dawn.
Start slicing diagonally to a half inch biscotti .
Return back with the sides up to the oven to bake (dry) the biscotti for around 5 min each side and let them stay in the oven until cool down.

Frosting (optional)

1 cup sugar
2 tsp soy milk or regular milk
almond extract
Mix all well and spread over the biscotti.
Let it cool down
Enjoy!

Hope you like it and to hear from you