Garlic Butter Shrimp

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you are enjoying The Most Wonderful Time of the year. Late December is for sure my favorite time of the year. I love seeing the Christmas lights and the trees everywhere. Even though many people here do not celebrate Christmas, we still decorate the tree for the New Years Eve. 

I decorated our tree a little bit late this year. With projects, exams and many other stuff, I was able to put up our tree in mid December, which is pretty late because I usually have the tree ready and decorated in the first week of December. However late is better than never.

This year here in Istanbul, the weather is extremely unusual, it is warm and therefore no snow :( It seems like we won't have a white New Year's Eve this year. But still, I am looking forward to our annual family dinner. 

Oatmeal Cookies

Taking a bite from a spicy and cinnamon flavoured cookie in the chilly winter days is definitely the cure as a mood booster. I have been extremely stressful with all the school work and testa. I find it almost impossible to cook. But I also believe that cooking and especially baking are stress relieving activities. Winter is the most wonderful time of the year to bake. That is why I have been baking recently rather than cooking. 

As a person who does not love sweet things very much, I do have some sweet cravings from time to time. One of my favorite sweet foods to snack on are cookies. My ultimate favorite is the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe which has become a family classic nowadays. After baking the chocolate chip recipe for many years, I was eventually bored after a certain time. When I was going through my recipe book in order to find something new and different to bake, I bumped into a recipe from 4-5 years ago. 

This recipe is from my 6th grande English teacher. She is an amazing person and she was an inspiration to me. I was interested cooking before 6th grade but I started the real deal that year. Our English teacher used to bring cookies to our class that were very different from the cookies that my mom used to bake. They were soft and chewy and I fell in love with them since most of the cookies that my mom baked were crunchy and hard.

I waited to get a bite from my English teacher's various types of cookies every time she walked into the class with a large box. And every single one of those cookies were beyond amazing. They were not traditional cookies that we have here in Turkey and that is why I found them very interesting and unique. I had those types of cookies in Starbucks and in some cafés but being able to cook them at my own oven was fantastic. 

This oatmeal cookie recipe is delicious and has a very important significance to me. Every time I bake these cookies, I remember 6th grade and our English lessons with cookies. That is why I want to thank my English teacher for the recipes and for being an inspiration to me that made me start cooking and baking for real. 
Here is the recipe for the Oatmeal Cookies, I hope you'll enjoy:

Spinach and Cheese Muffins

I bought this amazing cookbook a couple of weeks ago: The Hummingbird Bakery Cookcook. I have never been to the famous bakery in itself however the baked goods in the book look absolutely stunning. There are both savoury and sweet recipes in the book: cupcakes, muffins, pies, brownies, cookies, etc. 

As you know, I am not a person who has sweet teeth. I usually prefer savory things. Even though the sweet treats looked delicious, I wanted to bake something more unusual so I went for  the Spinach and Cheese muffins as my first recipe from the cookbook. 
The outcome was perfect. The consistency of the batter is a little bit thick but the texture of the finished warm muffin is soft and fluffy. 

Since winter is upon our door, spinach is a great vegetable to use in your kitchen. If you want to spice up your daily diet with a little bit more veggies and if you want to try some unusual things, these muffins are perfect for you. Here is the recipe for Spinach and cheese muffins, I hope you'll like them. 

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Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Chips

A couple of years ago, I hated pumpkin from the bottom of my heart. My aunt and my grandmother used to cook pumpkin dessert with walnuts for our holidays. But I wasn't just into it. 

But one day, my parent and I went to Sapanca, a town in here in Turkey. Sapanca is one of my favorite places to go in autumn because the lake and the trees there are amazing during fall season. Here are some photos from Sapanca. 

Potato Pancakes

Living in a city with 14.2 millions of people comes with some extreme challenges. Many people have to wake up before sunset and start driving if they do not want to spend their entire mornings in the  traffic rush. This year, I have to wake up at 6 o'clock to go to school but I am used to it because since 1st grade I have been getting up very early in the morning. That is why it is not a big deal for me to skip breakfast. 

I know that skipping the most important meal of the day is extremely unhealthy. But I do not have enough time. However just because I am not having breakfast at home doesn't mean that I do not have breakfast at all. When I arrive to school I pick up a grilled cheese or a yoghurt and have my breakfast when I arrive to school. 

Weekends therefore are really important for me because weekend is the only time where I can properly have a breakfast with my family. But I am very picky when it comes to breakfast. For example, I do not like the classic white bread, I prefer whole-wheat. Also, I do not like scrambled eggs, I prefer omelettes. 

In a classic Turkish breakfast, you can find tomatoes, green peppers, olives, feta cheese, eggs, sucuk (a spicy Turkish sausage), a variety of savoy baked goods like poğaça or börek, honey, jam and the classic Turkish tea, which I also do not like. So, I prefer to prepare some things that will fit my taste palette and will be a healthy option in the morning. 

Today I am going to share a recipe that is a great alternative if you have some leftover mashed potatoes. I did not have any leftovers but come on, boiling some potatoes is never that difficult. I woke up this morning craving some pancakes, but then I realised that I actually wasn't in the mood for a sweet pancake. So, I decided to go with this version. I was very amazed with the outcome so, I hope you'll like time. They might not look like a perfect pancake, but I assure you that they taste amazing. These pancakes will be a great option for your Sunday Brunch. So, here is the recipe;

Lemon Cake

I am not a person who loves sour and fruity flavours. I have a more intense palette. But this lemon recipe proves me wrong every single time. It is my aunt's recipe and everyone who has a bite from these cakes begs her for the recipe. So, today I am going to share her most famous recipe: Lemon Cake. 

I baked this cake for a bake sale at our school so I used cupcake liners instead of a big cake pan. 

Gnocchi with Basil

I am a person who loves to cook and especially with fresh ingredients. But I am going to be honest. Not everyone has the time to make a dough, roll it then cut it, let it rest and then finally boil the pasta. I know that the taste of homemade pasta is much more delicious than the store-bought version. But who am I kidding. Sometimes you just have to prepare a dinner in 10 minutes. 

So, that is how I had my first gnocchi, it was store bought. 

Normally when I go to an Italian restaurant, I either order pizza or risotto. And if I like what I had, I try more interesting things when I go there the second time. But I've never had gnocchi in a restaurant. To be honest, I was not sure what it was. When I learned that gnocchi was a potato dumpling, it was unusual for me. I found potatoes and pasta dough a little bit odd because why add more carbs if you have enough in a bowl of pasta? 

But after a while I decided to cook myself some gnocchi. I was extremely curious. Even though the gnocchi was from a supermarket, they were amazing. When I took a bite, I was sure that it wasn't just a dumpling. The gnocchi was fluffy, smooth, creamy and delicious. And now gnocchi is one of my favorite Italian food. So, I decided to cook the homemade version for you. Hope you'll enjoy :)

Vanilla Pudding with Crispy Kadayıf

During summer, one of my go to desserts is a basic pudding. It is fresh, refreshing and a good alternative for ice cream. But it is highly possible of us to get bored if we cook the same pudding over and over again. So, I go this recipe from my aunt. It is a vanilla pudding. But it is a little bit fancier because it is topped with kadayıf. 

Kadayıf is actually a Turkish dessert but it is also the name of the main ingredient in the dish is also called "Kadayıf". Kadayıf is basically a kind of shredded dough. Here in Turkey it is normally served with pistachios and a syrup. But I believe that a syrup-based dessert is kind of heavy for summer. So, I do not cook the classic "Kadayıf" during summer.

One thing to keep in mind: You can keep this recipe for 3-4 days but the kadayıf will get softer and softer each day. So, it is better to eat it on the first day. And believe me it probably will be finished on the first day.

This recipe is also like a cheesecake but without the cream cheese and double crusted. So, we can also call this one a fake-cheesecake :). 

Summer Update and Apologies

As many of you might have noticed I am not very good at updating you guys. I have been on my summer break since the last week of June and I have to admit that I haven't been writing to you and I am very very sorry about that. I will try to write more and share more recipes with you. However today I am going to tell you about what I have been up to in these 2 months, so no recipes for today and I am sorry about that. 

I have been travelling both nationally and internationally. I've been to Chicago, Bozcaada and did some touristy things here in Istanbul. Both Chicago and Bozcaada was very nice and I did all these "must do things" there and something hit me: I live in a city that I do not know of. I felt like many visitors from all around the world actually might know a lot more of Istanbul than I do. And that kind of made me feel embarrassed and sad at the same time. So, when my cousins came to pay us a visit from Germany, I decided to "explore" Istanbul with them. We went to the Prince's Islands, strolled around Kadıköy and tasted some of the Turkish Classics from Turkish delight to köfte. 

a Traditional Ferry

Celery Root Coleslaw and Veggie Rice

When it comes to side dishes I am very picky. I am not a fan of just serving everything with fried or mashed potatoes. When I serve a protein based dish I feel like I need to have two side dishes to accompany that: one salad and one starch. 

My favourite starch-based side dish is rice. But this is a more yummy and a colourful rice because it has carrots and peas in it. When I was a kid I also used to eat this as a meal with some yoghurt on the side. We Turkish people love to eat food with yoghurt, because our yoghurt is a little bit different than the yoghurt you eat for breakfast. It is similar to the Greek yoghurt but not exactly the same. So you can use Greek yoghurt for our fake coleslaw recipe. 

When I was a kid my mother used to cook the celery root with potatoes and tried to show the dish as a boiled potato dish. But I was smart enough to understand that there were not only boiled potatoes. And to be honest, I hated the feeling of having a bite thinking that it is potato but tasting something completely different. But as I grew up I got used to the bitter taste of the celery root and it is one of my favourite dishes as a salad, I still don't like the version with potatoes because of the bad memories. But the salad version is actually super healthy and delicious. 

So, here is the recipe for two of my favourite side dishes: veggie rice and celery root coleslaw. You can serve these with steak, chicken or with anything that you think will go great with. 

Eggplant Parmesan

When I think of summer I think of the warm sunshine, the clear sea and new friendships. Italian cuisine seems to be my new best friend. Maybe because the cuisine is similar to ours or maybe because I just enjoy cooking and eating Italian dishes. I just like everything that is Mediterranean and fresh during summer. I have been cooking risottos, pastas and many others but Eggplant Parmesan seems to be one of my favorites so far. It is also a great vegetarian recipe that both carnivores and your vegetarian friends will enjoy. 

I will be going to Çanakkale which is in the region of Turkey close to the Mediterranean. It is actually in the Aegean region, where lots and lots of vegetables and olive oil is consumed. Çanakkale is where our summer house is and where my grandparent are spending their summer. When I visit there we will probably have some barbecues as a family tradition. But what I am looking forward the most is learning new family recipes from my grandmother. She is the best cook I know. I mean this lady can cook everything delicious. And she has tiny handy secrets when things go wrong in the kitchen. So I will be sharing my "cooking vacation experiences" when I go there. I think it is also the time for you to get to know "mantı" which is my favourite dish in this planet. Not because I have been to other planets but because it is soooo delicious. More details on that later. 

So, if we come to Eggplant Parmesan, You know that I absolutely love eggplant, in every form. And one day I saw this  dish on the menu of an Italian restaurant. However it wasn't like I expected. The eggplants were dry and cold plus the tomato sauce was very greasy. So I said, why not try this at home. Here is the recipe for a delicious Eggplant Parmesan: 

Asparagus Risotto

Asparagus is probably my favorite vegetable. If it is not my favorite it is probably sharing the first place with eggplant. Eggplant is pretty awesome as well but all of the flash lights are facing towards asparagus today. I just love the creamy and the fibrous texture of a vivid and fresh asparagus. The only sad thing is that you can only eat them in April or May. I am not talking about the canned version here. You know, the ones that swim in salty water, the ones that probably look like asparagus but is completely different as taste from the fresh asparagus. 

The first time I had asparagus was when my mom cooked it after she came from a trip to Germany in spring. I didn't know that it was very popular in Germany. I also didn't know that kind of a vegetable existed. She just boiled them and then gave it a toss with butter and some lemon juice in a pan. It was yummy. So you can also cook the asparagus this way. 

Weird fact: In Turkish asparagus literally means "birds don't land". It means that birds do not land on this vegetable. Maybe it is too spiky for birds to land on. Or maybe because of something that we have no idea about. 

I always cook the asparagus like my mom does. But I was bored and bored of the same style and I was craving for a creamy risotto. So I thought why not? I had absolutely no idea about the outcome of the dish but it turned out to be pretty amazing. So here is the recipe for a creamy asparagus risotto. 

Beer-Battered Fish and Chips

Hello everybody! (insert British Accent here). 

Today I am going to share one of my favourite fish dish. Guess what? It is..... "Fish and Chips". The first time I had fish and chips was many years ago, in a restaurant called Kitchenette in Istanbul. The fish was yummy and crispy. And you know that I have a thing for crispy stuff. 


However the best fish and chips I had was when I was in London last summer in a famous restaurant called Garfunkel's. Funny story, I saw the ad of the restaurant on the wall of a subway station. Then I got lost, which is pretty normal if you are not a local, and then I looked up. I was standing in front of this amazing restaurant: Garfunkel's.

So when I got home, I said, "Why not try to cook it by myself". It's been a while since I came home from London, about 5-6 months, just a little bit of time I know. What can I say? I am a little bit lazy. I thought that this was a very challenging recipe. But, it wasn't hard, however it needs time. About 1-1.5 hour. But it is definitely worth it. So, here is the recipe for  crispy beer-battered Fish and Chips. Hope you'll like it. 

Un Helvası - A Turkish Classic

I know it has been a while since my last post, but I just wanted to let you know that I am alive and I have been cooking. I didn't write much because I had tons and tons of schoolwork to do. I am sorry. 
Today I am going to share a very typical Turkish dessert with you. It is the most famous "un helvası".

There are 3 types of halva in Turkey; semolina, tahini and flour. Un Helvası is a flour-based halva, a kind of dessert. It is really hard to get the exact consistency of this recipe that's why some people avoid cooking this. However it is actually very easy. 

Helva is usually cooked for funerals here in Turkey but I don't only cook this for funerals. This should be a happy family recipe instead of something that you eat when you are in grief. It is so yummy that I believe it should be cooked more often. For example last week was our neighbor's birthday. I knew that he loves this so I prepared him a plateful of un helvası and he was thrilled. I mean you don't have to cook this only for funerals. Do not force yourselves to follow every single tradition. Just create your own way of things. 

You should be prepared to get tired while cooking this one because it needs a lot of patience and some arm strength. It is a nice way to work those arms out with this recipe because you will need to stir consistently to get the perfect color and taste from the recipe. It is also perfect for midnight sweet tooth cravings. 

When I was cooking with my grandmother, the person who thought me how to cook the flour halva and many other things, she gave me the measurements however some of them were like "just enough until it covers the flour".  I mean what language is this? A tablespoon is enough for me but for someone else a little bit more is better. So here is the official recipe with exact measurements for everyone out there in the world. 

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spoiler alert!: This post does not contain April Fools Jokes. Sorry. 

Sometimes in the middle of the night you crave for something chewy, something sweet and rich. Or maybe you just want to have something to eat while you are enjoying your ice-cold milk before you go to sleep. Or maybe you want to prepare something for Santa. I can count all the options but this would take a while. 

The first time I tasted these cookies was when I was in middle school. Our English teacher would bake cookies for us. She was American and she always surprised us with amazing tasting cookies. So one day I went to her and asked her to give me the recipe. That day, I was brightened with the name of "Nestlé Toll House". 

I like these cookies as a gift and they are also good if you are baking for friends. You get approximately 60 cookies. Which is a lot. So, if you are not baking for a crowd then you should use the half of the ingredients. I am not saying that you should though. Every single person who tasted these begged for another one, so I recommend that you go for the full batch. These cookies are definitely worth sharing. 

A Super Easy Dinner

In our family every one loves to eat steak. But we are picky with it when we are cooking for friends. My mother always serves it with salad and baked potatoes. My aunt serves it with rice. However I like to serve it with some mashed potato and rice with peas. 
It is super easy because you can work on several things at a time. 

I started with marinating the steak and then boiled the potatoes. While they were boiling I cooked the rice. And then I mashed the potatoes. 

I recommend you wait for your guests to arrive before you start cooking the steaks because when they become cold and when you heat them again, they become as hard as a rock. I don't think anyone would appreciate that. 

Also for the mashed potatoes I used milk instead of heavy cream so that the dish is lighter and healthier. 

Homemade Flaky Biscuits

The first time I tasted a biscuit was in a KFC restaurant when I was a kid. I normally do not eat bread with food like the other Turkish people. But I really liked the taste of this flaky biscuit because it was not like a normal bread. It is soft in the inside and crispy on the outside. 

I always waited to go to a KFC restaurant to eat that delicious biscuit but now I don't have wait to go there. To be honest I am not a huge fan of their chicken. I prefer to cook my own fried chicken at home which is definitely more healthier for sure. I can bake these biscuits at home anytime since I am pretty satisfied with the outcome of the homemade version of biscuits.  

The recipe requires a pastry cutter however I don't have that so I used a whisk and some knives instead. The recipe is also the recipe for a basic biscuit. But I think that you can add various cheeses or any other ingredient to add to it's taste. I know I will add some cheese the next time I bake them. 

Fried Chicken, Potato Salad and Vienna

I am really sorry because as you've noticed I haven't been writing that much. To be more specific, I haven't been working on my blog posts for about 1 month, which is a very looong time. What did I do during this long time? Well, a lot of things happened; I went to Austria, the second semester of the school year started and many other stuff. 

So, as I've said before I just got back from Vienna, Austria and it was one of the unplanned Gourmet Tours. Of course we had our plans before we arrived in Vienna. I mean normal people would look for museums and touristic places to see. However I booked a table from the famous restaurant before we arrived. That's my perspective because as you know I love new tastes and this trip was full of them.

H is for Homemade Pasta

I love pasta. It is one of my favorite dishes in this world.  I can eat it every single day. Not kidding, every single day. I think a good pasta is a little bit tender however soft enough so that you can enjoy that yummy bite. 

Even though the packed dry pasta is an easy choice you can also challenge yourself with this amazing  recipe for a homemade pasta. Believe me you will be satisfied by the result. It is definitely different than those in paper boxes. And I love the taste of a creamy homemade pasta. Plus it is definitely much more healthier than the ready pasta. 

Every summer we go to Çanakkale, where our summer house is, and we start cooking things for the winter. First we start of with tomato sauce and then we cook some jam and we finish off with some noodles or pasta. This year we prepared some noodles. As you can imagine they were gone by the beginning of December. So, I wanted to buy my own pasta machine because if I had one I could still have that amazing homemade pasta for lunch or dinner. 

I was walking in Kadıköy a while ago and I discovered a small shop. There were millions of stuff related with cooking there, anything you could imagine of; cookie cutters, rolling pins, whisks and many more. I was looking for a piping bag and I saw this amazing pasta machine. I was also searching for the prices for a pasta machine for a while, they were around 200-300 TL. But this one was just for 65 TL. I was shocked. I couldn't believe and since I wanted to buy it for a while I decided to buy. 

The first time I used the machine the result was okay. It was yummy but the dough that I used was very soft and it was hard to cut the pasta. That's why I changed the recipe and this was the result. I hope you'll like it. 

P.S.: If you do not have a pasta machine you can just use a rolling pin and a knife. 

Chewy Chocolate Brownies

Brownies. They are one of all time favorite desserts or snacks, whatever you like to call them. I like to call them small cake bars. Everyone likes these fudgy, intense and the moistest chewy brownies. If you serve it while they are still warm with a scoop of ice cream on top, you will double that amazing taste. 

I love baking chocolate involved recipes and brownies are the one of the easiest recipes. This recipe is also very a "dishwashing friendly" one because it only involves 1 big mixing bowl. Yes you've heard it right: only 1 bowl. If there is anything I hate the most in this world; it is definitely washing the dishes. I just hate them. I don't like to deal with those filthy stuff. I only like the clean and the fun part; which is the cooking or baking involved. Since this recipe does not involve many dirty bowls at the end and also very yummy; I bake these a lot. 

I bought a new mixing bowl. Mason Cash. Yes you've heard it right. From now on I have a Mason Cash. I looooove those bowls. I first saw these bowls on the "Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking" show. There are million options for these bowls. Any they are very cute. They come in classic patterns or they come in fruit patterns. I was in love with the green one with apples on sides. And then I learned that there was a discount. Wow, time out here. I had got to buy that. Anyways, just because I really wanted to use my brand new bowl, I used two different mixing bowls in this recipe. So don't be shocked if you see two bowls in the picture. I used a stainless steel bowl for melting the chocolate and I used my new bowl for mixing all the ingredients. Yes, I know I am guilty. 

Nom Nom Nom, My Guilty Pleasure: Mac n Cheese

Mac N' Cheese. 

Does it really need any more explanation? It is an all-time favorite. Cheese, Pasta and Deliciousness packed all together in one bowl. (Wow that sounded like a commercial)  I am obsessed with this meal as you can understand from my effort in describing which sounds like an advertisement. Whenever I want something creamy and whenever I want to have it for a meal, I cannot think anything rather than a plate of creamy Mac N' Cheese.

Mac N' Cheese is a classic American comfort food. To be honest Mac N' Cheese is not popular in Turkey. As you know we Turkish people love to eat meat. And we are not a fan of the Cheddar cheese. We like "white cheese" which is salted and kind of like feta. But the closest cheese to cheddar cheese is "kaşar (kashar) cheese". But no we don't use it in pasta. We eat cheese for breakfast not with pasta. Usually. That's why cheese and pasta are not very compatible in our culture. However I love it. 

As much as I love the easy Mac N' Cheese (you know the ones in the box), I prefer to cook my own. Not because it is very hard to find them here in Turkey (just kidding it is also a reason) but because it is much healthier to cook my own. I know that 5 minute pasta sounds tempting however when you cook your own it is definitely more fun than just stirring a mixture in a box or a can. I never ever buy things that I can cook myself at home. For example; chicken broth or soup or even frozen pizza. That's not my thing. I am the type that always prefers the homemade. Maybe that’s why I love cooking so much.

A Grandma Proved Recipe- Poğaça

French have croissants. We have poğaça (poh-ah-cha). 

Poğaça is a savoury baked good kind of like a biscuit or a bread roll. Normally we eat the famous poğaça for breakfast. The freshly baked, warm and yummy poğaça is a sunday breakfast favourite or an easy "to go breakfast" if you trying to get to work in the Istanbul traffic.

My grandmother is the queen of baked goods. She is good at every single one. And I wanted to share this family recipe with you. It is one of our family classics. 

There are many variations for poğaça. It can be plain or it can be more sophisticated: stuffed. There are many variations for the stuffing; cheese, olives, potato, spiced ground beef etc. However some people prefer to add some herbs to the dough as well like dill, oregano or any other fresh or dried herbs. 

I like mine with potatoes. I know it sounds strange; potatoes in a bread. Doubled the carbs.  But it is like eating a mashed potato in a bread roll. If I don't bake the potato one, I prefer with cheese or olives. Olive ones are also really yummy if you like a little bit of sour taste. If you are one of the people who try tasting new stuff, go ahead and create your own stuffing. This recipe can be adapted in to millions of versions. If you are one of the people you like the classics better, go enjoy the plain one. It is also very yummy. 

So here is the recipe for a perfect poğaça:

New Year, New Beginnings and some Onion Rings

Happy New Year everyone.

Don't worry I am not going to be talking about my new year's resolution, or how I started my new year. 

Before I was in this new year madness, I was enjoying my Christmas Break. I woke up every single day saying to myself that I was going to study for the finals. But I wasn't "in the mood". I just wanted to relax, have fun and most importantly seize the day. And that's what I did. 

Since last time I went to a cooking course; which was about 2-3 years ago by the way, I wanted to attend another one. But I never got the time or I was not impressed with the content of the workshop etc. However this time since I was in a break and I actually was very excited about the menu of the workshop, I decided to attend. 

So I did. On the 23rd of December I attended a Burgers and Fries Workshop in Maslak with a friend. It was amazing. But also a little bit disastrous. It was my first time cooking with someone else rather than my mother. 

I had fun. However, some of our styles were not really compatible with each other. That's why the french fries look like this, some short, some long, some thin, some thick. Probably all kinds of fries exist here. No offense but this do not look appetising. But don't let the look change your mind about the dish, it was delicious. 

If we come to the things that I've learned: