All posts tagged: yogurt

spinach meatball

Spinach Kale Cheese Balls with Quick Harissa

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What I love about my new neighborhood, which is one of the best areas as far as the livability goes, there is a huge park where you can jog or play tennis or all sorts of activities happen all the time. I watched a classical concert and Eurasia dance show all by chance. On top of that, you can eat a big open-buffet breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning. Every Monday a big, I mean a HUGE farmer’s market (you can check go on to Son Mastori and click on the link) and there is also an organic market every Wednesday. If not at those farmers’ markets, there is still a small indoor traditional market where I usually shop for my everyday needs. “Let’s support small grocers!” I never buy groceries at supermarkets. No matter how cheaper things are in supermarkets and no matter how many ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Free‘ deals there are to tempt me. I love the interactions with people. I don’t get ripped off in this neighborhood as I used to. …

Zucchini series #3 – Candy Festival and Buckwheat Zucchini Fritters

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How lucky am I to have all the lovely people around who make a little mouse “me” – feel cared for and happy. On the day of Candy Feast or Şeker Bayram in Turkish, this holy gracious amaretto liqueur was served to us by Mr.O’s parents, along with the best almonds and almond paste. Surprised by this unexpected treat, I bugged Mr.O again with questions related to this Turkish amaretto. Perhaps, the reason Mr.O is losing weight despite all the food he eats with me is to be interrogated about food and food history. Anyway, what a treat it was! This is  one of the reason I love Mr.O’s dad so much; he reads my culinary mind perfectly. And we left with more zucchini….and you know what will happen, right? This series will never have an ending. Kids, whether they are 10 year olds or 30 year olds, are equally treated with sweet things during this festival. After a lovely meal, we made a visit to the oldest in the family, Mr.O’s aunt. We tend …

Bread Butter Pudding with Plums and Yogurt

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Now that Ramadan is over, it’s easier to get my regular sourdough bread, yippee! One day when Mr.O failed his morning mission of getting bread and came home with normal bread, I couldn’t eat more than one slice and left the rest on the kitchen top to go stale on purpose. It sometimes amazes how cooks’ mind scans the foods in the fridge and pantry mentally and synchronize their actions according to what they are going to make without hard thinking. Upon seeing a leftover loaf and pide bread sitting around, Mr.O bugged me to throw them away and he did the pide bread secretly. I even save the whey liquid after yogurt has been eaten, and he doesn’t understand why I keep all that little things. Everything comes in handy for cooks, and that’s why! Two bags of damson plums picked from Mr.O’s parents’ garden were clogging up the fridge because Mr.O doesn’t like plums. He prefers peaches, which have started to come out, giving these plums no chance to be eaten as we …

Ricotta Yogurt Salep Cheesecake

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I’m tackling the Turkish cuisine today. I love discovering unusual and native ingredients and incorporating them into cooking. I was given this strange looking fruit preserve, turunç, whose identity was revealed through the google search as bitter orange or Seville orange. Of course, I knew  Seville orange but not in this look, which reminded me of animal intestines or something. So when Mr.O’s mum, with a suggestive look, held one piece up to my curious face, I was a bit scared.  But after knowing what it was, I was amused by the discovery because we have similar fruit called Yuja, which is unedible sour citrus, therfore made into marmalade or tea. My mum uses the marmalade when cooking for its aroma and effect of getting rid of odors in fish or meat. Anyway, it was very sweet and apparently according to the Ottoman customs, was offered as a spoon sweet (Aegean Eating) to show the host’s hospitality. Another recipe for Bitter Orange Jam is found on Give Recipe. Compared to the look of Yuja, this jam …

banana yogurt bread

Wholewheat Yogurt Banana Bread

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Today is a crucial moment in the life of Mr.O. Today is the day he has  Two weeks ago he decided to become a baker and baked his first sweet goodness, Banana Bread, which I thought would be the easiest and useful, and yes, delicious. I almost gave up teaching him when he started to put all the ingredients I laid down on the kitchen bench into the mixing bowl without thinking. Oh, dear…trying to be calm and patient, I gave him a quick run-down on the basic rules of baking: creaming, sifting, measurement, etc. “Geez, it’s a lot more complicated than I thought.” said he. I said to myself, “So, think of the hard work that goes into the goodness next week you bite into it, let alone the amount of sugar!”.