SPANICH AND CHEESE BOREK WITH PHYLLO PASTRY

This is a very easy Borek.  It can be served as an appetizer or to accompany a meal especially if you have a vegetarian guest.

1/2 package Phyllo pastry

  (8-10 sheets for the bottom, 8-10 sheets for the top)

1 package (227 gr) Spinach

200 gr. Feta cheese

salt

2 eggs

1.5 cups milk

1/2 cup cooking oil

Sesame seeds

• First get your spinach ready.  Wash them and make sure they are dry. Chop small.  No need to cook.
• Use a big (11x14) pan
• Spray the pan so it does not stick to the bottom
• Mix together eggs, milk and cooking oil to get a "sauce"
• Put 2 sheets of pastry and pour 5 tablespoons of sauce and using a brush soak the dough. If the dough is broken or too long for the pan, don't worry, just make it fit.  The key is to make sure the dough is soaked
• Continue the same way until the bottom layer is done
• "Scrunch" spinach with salt. If you are using Feta which is already salted, you will need less but if you are using unsalted cheese like Palak Paneer, then you will need less.
• If you like you can layer cheese and spinach or you can mix spinach and cheese before spreading it on the dough
• Save some of your sauce for the top layer. The very top layer will need extra and will need to be soaked completely for softness so make sure you save enough
• Pour the rest of the sauce on the spinach and cheese
• Once Spinach and cheese layer is complete start the top layer of the dough the same way as the bottom.
• Pour the remaining sauce on the very top.  Make sure the top layer is soaked.  The dough will look "wrinkled".
• Let it rest for 15 minutes.  Occasionally check to make sure the sauce is not pooling on the sides and spread a bit if needed.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds
• Cook at 350 until the top is golden brown

SUGAR COOKIES FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS

This is a simple basic sugar cookie recipe. An absolute family favorite. Good for special occasions.  A couple of weekend was my sister in law's baby shower. I made them in the shape of baby feet. You can make them at Valentines day or at Christmas or any other special occasion. The trick of this cookie is for the butter to be left in room temperature for most of the day to ensure it is very soft and once the dough is prepared, it needs to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours so you can roll it out easily.

1.5 cups soft unsalted butter

1.5 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

1 package vanilla

2.5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Approx. 5 cups flour

Decorations:

Icing sugar

Milk

Coloured candies

• Blend sugar and butter. Sugar will take the butter consistency
• Add milk and eggs and continue to mix
• Add salt, baking powder, vanilla and continue to mix
• Add in flour to get a soft dough. After 3 cups of four, add 1/2 cup at a time
• Cover and let it rest in the fridge for 2-3 hours
• Roll out the dough thin as you prefer. Thicker cookies are softer.
• Cut with cookie cutter
• Bake at 350 for 10 - 15 minutes. Once the edges look cooked, take them out.
• Let them cool
• For icing, mix icing sugar and milk. I like thicker consistency
• Cover the cookies and decorate
• Let the icing totally dry before putting the cookies away

OATMEAL AND HONEY BREAD

I bought a bread machine couple of years ago.  Never had a chance to use until today simply because I could not find the time to take it out of the box to clean and read the instructions.  Isn't it really sad that we can't find time to do the things we enjoy!  I finally used it today for this recipe.  Fluffy and mildly sweet.  Simply delicous.

I wrote the recipe both for the machine and manual versions.  Of course, this is when I realize how much time I lost making it manually all these years while the bread machine waited in a box.

Ingredients for the bread machine:

1 cup water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (you can use butter instead or both)

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 1/3 cup flour

1.5 teaspoon dry yeast

• Put all liquid ingredients in the bread machine first.
• Add rolled oats and flour last
• Make a small "pool" with your fingers for the yeast and put yeast in (making sure it does not touch the liquid)
• Select light setting on the machine
• Takes 3 hours

Without a machine:

2 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons salt

1.5 teaspoon dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

4 cups flour

• In a large mixing bowl, combine boiling water, oats, 1/2 cup honey, butter and salt. Let stand for 1 hour.
• In a small cup, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• Mix yeast and oat mixture together.  Add 2 cups of flour; mix well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. You may need all 4 cups or less.  Just keep an eye to make a soft dough that is not too sticky. 
• When the dough is ready, put it on a lightly floured board knead until smooth and elastic, about 20 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Punch down the dough.  
• Spray or grease a 2 lt pan (or use a non stick pan).  Place the dough in the pan.  If you like you can brush 1 tablespoon honey and sprinkle additional oats on top.  Cover and let it sit another 40 minutes to rise.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake until top is golden brown (about 30 minutes).  
• Remove loaves from pan and serve

BUNS WITH CHEDDAR CHEESE

These buns are great for breakfast.  The dough is nice and soft.  Perfect compliment to Cheddar cheese.  You can either make them as a bun or you can roll out the dough, put cheese in the middle in the shape of crescents or circles.  This is a lot of dough for our family.  I usually make this dough and divide in half.  Make cheese buns with half (when you do this, please remember to reduce cheddar cheese to half as well), and use the other half for other things.

1/4 cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1 cup warm milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon cooking oil

1 or 2 cups graded cheddar cheese (Depending on your preference)

5.5 cups flour

1 egg yolk for glaze

Sesame seed/blackened sesame seeds or poppy seeds for sprinkle

• Combine 1/4 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon yeast and set aside for 15 minutes
• Add yeast, remaining water, warm milk, salt, cooking oil and 5 cups of the flour and make a soft dough.  Be careful with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour.  You may not need it at all or need more.  Just add a bit at a time.  It is important to continue to knead the dough.  When it no longer sticks to your hands, it is ready.  Cover and set aside in room temperature for 1-2 hours to let the dough rise.
• If you are planning to use the shape of the buns same as mine, add shredded cheese into the dough and knead to make sure cheese spreads all through the dough.  Save a bit of the cheese for the top.  Take small pieces (about the size of a clementine) and roll out to a "stick" and tie in the shape of the bun and put on a lined cookie sheet
• My kids like the ones that are shaped like circles with cheese in the middle.  To make those, take a small piece of dough and roll it out.  Put cheese in the middle and roll into shape of sticks, making sure there is no room for cheese to come out during cooking.  Roll into a circle and put them on a lined cookie sheet.
• Glaze with egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds  
• Preheat oven 350 degrees
• Cook until golden brown (35-40 minutes)

TAHINI COOKIES (TAHINLI KURABIYE)

When I was a little girl, I did not like the taste of Tahini.  Things like Hummus didn't used to appeal to me until my teenage years when I discovered what I was missing.  I was missing a lot!  These cookies are easy to make.  They don't have a strong taste of Tahini so if you've never tried Tahini before and would like to try, these may be good to start with.  These cookies are easy to make and stay fresh for a long time if kept in a jar with closed lid.  They are normally done plain but I like the chocolate dipped for variety. 

1 cup cooking oil (I use Mazola)

1 su cup icing sugar

2/3 cup tahini

1 package vanilla sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup coarsly chopped walnuts

3.5 cup flour

Cikolata sauce (optional):

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I like dark chocolate)

3 tablespoons milk

• Mix all of the ingredients to make a hard dough.  You will find that dough crumbles a bit.  That's okay.  Just press them together
• Cover dough with Saran Wrap and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes
• Preheat oven to 350
• Cover a cookie sheet with cooking paper
• Take a full tablespoon of the dough and shape it as you like.  You can even make designs on the cookies using a fork
• Cook for 15 minutes.  Be sure not to over cook.
• Once the cookies cool down.  Make your chocolate sauce by microwaving the chocolate in milk for 1 minute.  You will find all the chips will not have melted.  Stir well to get them to melt.
• Dip part of the cookies in chocolate sauce and put them in the fridge to harden for 15 minutes
• Put on serving plate.
• Enjoy

NESTLE'S ROLO COOKIES

I published this recipe before and under the name "Marble Cookies" because of the shape I used.   This time, I combined it with Nestle's Rolo candies in the middle.  The caramel and chocolate combination of the candies gave them a very nice twist.  Perfect with coffee or tea at any time.

Makes 40 cookies

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

250 gr unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup cooking oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 package vanilla

1 egg

Flour

Nestle's Rolo candies with caramel in the middle

Powdered sugar for sprinkle

• Mix all the ingredients (except powdered sugar and Rolo) together. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. It should not stick to your hands. Let it rest for 10 minutes
• Take a small size dough (about size of a walnut) and flatten it in your palm.
• Put 1 Rolo in the middle and roll into a ball
• Put on a cookie sheet
• Repeat until all the dough is used
• Cook at 350 degree oven for 30 - 35 minutes until the top of the cookies are a bit pink
• Remove from oven and let them cool
• Sprinkle powdered sugar on top for decoration.

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP WITH TOMATOES

When you need to make something quick, this soup is a life saver.  You don't have to have chicken pieces in it for a great taste.  Chicken bouillon is sufficient enough with plain water.   I use my mom's recipe where she combined chicken stock and bouillon.  This soup always reminds me of my mom.  Whenever she had friends drop in around dinner time unexpectedly, she always insisted they stay for dinner and quickly made this soup as a starter to the meal.  The fact that everyone always liked this soup was a bonus.

4 cups water or chicken stock

2/3 cup (150 ml) noodles

1 chicken breast

1 cube chicken bouillon

3 tomatoes

1 teaspoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon butter

salt

Optional: dried mint and 1/2 lemon juice

• Boil the chicken breast in 5 cups of water and boil until chicken cooks.  Breasts with bone in work the best.  Take the chicken breast out and set aside to cool.  This gives you the chicken stock you need for this recipe.
• In a pot, put butter and crushed or grated tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are softened
• Cut or tear small pieces from the chicken breasts
• Add the chicken stock, chicken pieces and bullion bring to boil
• Add in the noodles and cook until noodles are soft (5-8 minutes)
• Add in salt, pepper and mint to your liking
• Serve with lemon juice on the side