Broccoli-potato soup

Soup, prepared with min effort and great taste.

Ingredients:
1 med potato
1/2 onion
2 cups broccoli
1/2 celery stick
1/2 cube veggie or chicken bullion( this can be skipped)
Salt
nutmeg
3 cups water

Method
Wash and cut all veggies. Cook together with water and  bullion until soft. Cool down and blend to a smooth puree. Add salt and a pinch of nutmeg.

If the soup is too tick, add some milk or plain water as per your taste.
Cream can be used right before serving to add flavor and color.

Black pepper, paprika or cumin powder can be added alone or combined if desires.
Enjoy!

Leftovers

So many times we have leftovers we wonder what to do with..
Here, I will post ideas what we can do with some of them:

Plain Rice
Rice can be frozen in small portions and added to soups, sauces, or cooked with other ingredients to a delicious meal.

If you are making a puree soup, or you want to thicken the consistency of the soup just add the defrosted rice to the blender and here it is!
You can also add the defrosted rice to chicken, meatball, or potato soup at the end.

Bread

Air dry the bread, cut into pieces and blend it to a fine bread crumbs.
Here you can make Italian bread crumbs, by adding Parmesan cheese, dry basil, thyme or oregano.
Another type bread crumbs: mix in dry garlic powder and black paper;
or cumin, coriander, chili powders;
or paprika, dry parsley and black paper;

The bread can be cut into cubes. Mix oil and any of the above mention combination. Mix both and bake to dry on med temperature for 1 or 1.30. Cool down and use in salads and soups.

Bulgarian Banitsa

In general banitsa is a salty snack or breakfast, made from filo sheets and  filling with  eggs and feta cheese. Over the years I've seen and tasted variations with rice and cinnamon, onions, spinach, even with salami and any yellow cheese.. I'm sure people with make even more modifications with this recipe in the future, but I doubt the original one will ever be replaced, it's just so simple to make and yummy for kids and adults!
It is so easy to carry  with you on a car trip, easy to eat at school or work, and its filling :)
Hope you enjoy it!!

Ingredients:

15 -20 filo sheets ( I use Athens brand and for one banitsa I use one of the packages in the box)
4 eggs
1 and 1/2 cup feta (greek) cheese, or you can get bulgarian feta in a russian, east european store
2 table spoons yogurt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt ( i love extra salt in my food, you can skip this easily, the feta is salty itself)
1/2 cup oil or butter , plus 2 tablespoons at the end
2 table spoon milk
Method:

Grease a baking dish with oil. Preheat oven to 375F.

Filling:
Beat 3 eggs well. Add cheese, yogurt, baking soda and salt if using. Mix well.

Assembling:
Open the package with filo sheets and roll them on a flat surface next to your working place..
We will work on the long side;
Move one sheet in front of you and spread around table spoon over it. No need to be even, we need the oil to make the banitsa softer and to prevent the layers/sheets to blend in.

!!!!!Do not spread the oil and filling on top of the filo sheet stack as it will result in all sheets getting wet, soggy and they may tear easy when you try to move them or roll!!!!
Place the second sheet on top of the first and spread from one end to the other on the long side in a line aprox 2 tablespoons of the filling. Do not place the filling at the end of the sheet, leave around an inch.
                                    
Now, we need to roll up the sheets, as you start from the filling side. We left 1 inch before the egg filling, start from there, cover the filling and just roll the until the end. Make sure you close the ends at the end whit wet finger and then press down firmly , or you can fold the edges of the roll.
                                     
The first long rolled piece will be folded from one side to the other until it forms circle and place it in the middle of the baking pan.

Roll the second piece and place it around the first circle in the baking pan. continue until all filo sheets are finished.

If you have some filling left over, no worries we can use it at the end  to cover the banitsa.
Beat the fourth egg, add the milk and some oil, around 2-3 table spoons in the bowl you made the filling ,  here use any remaining filling, if you have.
Pour slowly all over the baking pan and place it in the preheated oven.
Bake for about 30-35 mins.
The top will appear light brown and sides will be visibly crispy and pulled apart from the baking dish.
Take out of the oven. Cover with a towel to preserve the moisture. Once cooled down it's ready to eat!!
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TIPS:
If you have leftover sheets, roll them and pack well before frizzing again.
Open the filo sheets right before using them. If they are frozen, you will need to live them for about 2 hours on a room temperature to thaw.
The more oil the oilier and heavy the banitsa will be. I like mine dry, many people like it with more oil.
You can try using 3-4 table spoons at the end and see how you prefer it.
You can use a table spoon or 2 of sugar in the filling. It will make it little sweet.
I know many of our grandmothers used to do this :). I personally don't like this dish sweet, so I never use sugar in it.
Its up to you :)
Enjoy!!

Cumin Rice with veggies

This dish is perfect if you have leftover plain rice and need to fix a meal quickly.
I added  peanuts to add more flavor and nutrients to the dish, they can be skipped or replaced with cashew nuts.

3 cups boiled rice ( any type of rice can be used)
1/2 sliced onion
1 table spoon ginger-garlic paste
1/2 table spoon cumin
1/2 cup row peanuts
1 medium red bell pepper( green or yellow will work also)
1/2 cup frozen green peas
3 mushrooms
1 carrot
olive oil
salt
optional : chili powder

Saute onion, bell pepper, carrot and mushroom separately.
Heat 2 table spoons oil  in a pan. Add peanuts and cook for 5 mins on medium flame. Stir few times to avoid the peanuts to burn on one side. Add cumin seeds. They will start to pop once are cooked so be careful not to burn yourself. Reduce to low flame and add the ginger and garlic paste. Cook for 2-3 mins and mix in well the cooked rice and salt. If you are using chili powder add it here. Add all veggies , incl the defrosted green peas. Cook for 5 mins and check salt.

  Serve with chopped cilantro and fresh lemon juice.

Adding shredded coconut to this dish just before serving makes it even better :)

Enjoy! 

Sweet bread "Sun"

This is a sweet version of the previous bread I posted.
Its worth trying both of them!!

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup and 1 table spoon sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 table spoon lemon juice
1 tea spoons salt
1 table spoon yeast ( 2 pk)
1 table spoon melted butter


Method:

All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Mix a table spoon of each-salt, sugar, flour. Add the yeast and 2 table spoons of the milk.
Milk can be warm for faster raising of the yeast, but not hot! Keep in a warm and dark place, I use the microwave or oven, for 5-10 mins until you see the mixture forming bubbles on top and its raising.
Beat the eggs, sugar and the milk in separate bowl. Add vanilla and lemon juice.
Combine the eggs, yeast and 2 and 1/2 cup flour and knit until all comes together in a ball.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and start knitting for 10 mins while using the rest of the flour as needed.
Divide the dough to 3 pieces.
Roll each piece into a circle  and brush 2 of them with butter.
Place each layer on top of the other, the last layer is the one without the butter.
Place a cup in the middle of the top circle and press down. With a knife start making cuts from the cup to the end of the layers. Continue until all of the bred is cut. I made 9 pieces. You can make from 6 big to 12 small. Depends how many you need.

You can also cut 4 pieces,  each one of them to 3 smaller.
Lift each piece with a knife and and twist 1 or 2 times. Press the ends down to the baking dish.


Cover with cloth and let stay in warm and dark place for 1 -2 h. The bread will raise faster if you preheat the oven little bit, for 2 mins on 350. We are not baking the bread at this stage. Just letting it rest and raise.

Next, brush some butter or oil on top of the bread and sugar.
Bake in preheated oven to 350F for 30mins.

Bread ''Sun"

Filled with feta cheese and cut like a sun this bread can be part of any meal for guests and family.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 table spoon sugar
2 table spoons salt
1 table spoon yeast ( 2 pk)
1 table spoon melted butter
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Method:

All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Mix a table spoon of each-salt, sugar, flour. Add the yeast and 2 table spoons of the milk.
Milk can be warm for faster raising of the yeast, but not hot! Keep in a warm and dark place, I use the microwave or oven, for 5-10 mins until you see the mixture forming bubbles on top and its raising.
Combine the salt and 2 and 2/1 cup  flour.
Beat the eggs and the milk in separate bowl.

Add the eggs and yeast to the flour and knit until all comes together in a ball.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and start knitting for 10 mins while using rest of the flour as needed..
Divide the dough to 3 pieces.
Roll each piece into a circle  and brush 2 of them with butter.

Here, have the first layer placed in the baking pan and spread half of the cheese on it.
Place the second layer brushed with butter and cover with rest of the cheese. Cover with the third layer.
Place a cup in the middle of the top circle and press down. With a knife start making cuts from the cup to the end of the layers. Continue until all of the bred is cut. I made 9 pieces. You can make from 6 big to 12 small. Depends how many you need.

You can also cut 4 pieces, each one of them to 3 smaller.
Lift each piece with a knife and and twist 1 or 2 times. Press the ends down to the baking dish.

Cover with cloth and let stay in warm and dark place for 1 -2 h. The bread will raise faster if you preheat the oven little bit, for 2 mins on 350. We are not baking the bread at this stage. Just letting it rest and raise.

Next, brush some butter or oil on top of the bread and if you like use sesame seeds and , or sea salt to cover it before baking.  I use both sesame seeds and sea salt .

Bake in preheated oven to 350F for 30mins.









I think I forgot the cheese here:( !!!!