MEATBALLS WITH POTATOS (PATATESLI SULU KOFTE)

This recipe is a cross between a soup and a stew. Great for dipping bread into the juice.  I usually add both potatos and carrots but I skipped the carrots this time only because I forgot to buy them this week. "What do you serve with?" you ask. Bread of course for dipping in the juice; and either spaghetti or cooked rice with a side order of salad or cacik (yogurt and cucumber mix).

1/2 kilogram lean ground beef

1/3 cup rice

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2 onions

2-3 potatos

2 carrots

1 egg

salt, blackpepper

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons cooking oil

3 tablespoons flour

water

• First get your vegetables ready. Peel and cut carrots and potatos and set aside.
• Then make your meatballs by mixing together ground beef, 1 chopped onion, parsley, egg, rice, salt and pepper. If you like, you can let it sit in the fridge half an hour so it is easier to handle when making the meatballs.
• Take small pieces from the ground and make into small balls.
• Put flour on a plate and roll the meatballs in flour. You don't need to do this individually.  Just spread the flour on a plate, put all the meatballs on the flour and shake the plate a little.  Meatballs will roll around on their own but make sure they are all covered lightly.
• In a medium sized pan, put olive oil the second chopped onion and the meatballs and fry the meatballs without breaking them. You can use a wooden spoon to turn them over.
• Mix 1 cup of water with tomato paste and bring to boil. Add in vegetables. Reduce heat and cook until vegetables are soft
• You may need to add more water. This dish should be a bit watery.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

The specialty of this muffin is the strudel topping.  It reminds me of store bought muffins.  A couple of key points to remember when making this recipe is not to mix the flour too much to make sure it rises when cooking.  I used regular sized muffin cups to get 12 muffins.  I am thinking that mini muffins with these measurements would give a higher "rise" look.  Although this is really not necessary.  The top of the muffing with the strudel topping was a favorite at my house.  Even though we are trying to watch our weight, we couldn't help ourselves and finished all the muffins in one night.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Line muffin cups with muffin liners.
• First make the strudel topping by Mix ing all the topping ingredients together with a fork.  Set aside
• Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder.
• Mix together the vegetable oil, the egg and the milk
• Add the flour mixture and using a wooden spoon mix through.
• Fold in blueberries.
• Fill 3/4 of the muffin cups and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Makes 12 muffins

ORANGE DREAMSICKLE COOKIES

This cookie recipe is from my sister in law.  They were so good that it did not last too long in my house.  Try them for valentines day!

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 firmly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 egg

1 cup white chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
• In large bowl, cream butter, sugars and zest with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
• Add egg, mix well.
• Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mix well. Stir in white chocolate chips. Drop on a cookie sheet using a tablespoonfuls or cookie scoop.
• Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on pan; remove and cool completely on cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.