Kısır, The Turkish Bulgur Salad

Kısır is an all time favorite dish whether it is a leftover from your mother's tea party or a side dish for a picnic. It is a cold side dish that you can easily alter according to your own likes and dislikes. In a traditional Turkish kısır, there are plenty of cucumbers and tomatoes. But as you know I hate tomatoes and also not a big fan of cucumbers. This is why I do not like to add them but you can if you want to. Sky is the limit, you can try with whatever ingredient you want to, just be brave. 

Kısır is actually a women's favorite dish to prepare especially for tea parties. It is easy and quick to prepare, requires cheap ingredients that you always have in your pantry, is delicious and extremely healthy. I know that "quinoa" is the new trend right now but believe me bulgur is just as healthy and much more cheaper (in Turkey).  

image-facts from: google.com

My mother is known as the master of kısır by our family and friends. Every time she is invited to a party whether it is a birthday party or a tea party, her friends ask her to bring some. But like many Turkish moms, she does not have a recipe that she follows step by step, she just uses her eyes and hands to measure. With this method, the recipe might seem very hard to follow if you are not personally there watching her while she cooks. 

So, I went into the kitchen and watched her every step. I did my best to give you the exact measurements. I hope you will like the outcome, enjoy. 

Homemade Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli

Since I was a little kid I, pasta used to be my favorite dish: all different kinds; boxed pasta, tri-colored pasta, homemade pasta... I loved every kind and I still do. But my favorite is the homemade one. My grandmother used to prepare pasta in summer and dried it so that we could use it through autumn. I did not want to cook the pasta because I wanted the pasta to last forever since it was sooo delicious. 

A couple of months ago, I bought a pasta machine for a really good deal but unfortunately it doesn't work properly anymore. So, my father bought a pasta rolling set for my stand mixer which I have been loving it since the first time I used it. 

Today I am going to share a ravioli recipe that was inspired from a restaurant called "Carluccio's". Whenever I go there, I order the classic ravioli and I just love it. I wanted to try that at home for a while and this weekend was the perfect time. 

Ravioli is not hard to make but it takes some time. However as much as time and effort you put in, the dish will get more and more delicious. So, I highly recommend that you spare some time on weekend to cook some ravioli. Plus it is a great cause to get your friends and family in the kitchen and help you. They can easily cut the ravioli for you while you are working on other batches. 

I hope you'll enjoy these raviolis and I can guarantee that you will because mine were gone in 10 minutes. Here is the recipe: 

Easter Bread

This recipe was meant to go on Easter but unfortunately my computer had a problem with iMovie. I had to put a tiny video clip to go with this recipe because the kneading part is a little bit different than other recipes. In order to get the perfect airy consistency, you need to fold the dough in a particular way that the air is incorporated in the dough. This is why I couldn't post the recipe without the video and it took me a while to fix iMovie. 

If we get back to the topic, Happy late-Easter everyone, 
I do not celebrate Easter but I love to bake things for my friends who do.
In middle school, one of my best friends' mother used to bake this in easter season. We loved the soft and sweet easter bread and enjoyed every crumb. I got the recipe from her mother but I did not have the chance to bake it own my own until I started a course in MSA, the culinary arts academy, during my winter break in MSA. I learned a lot and this recipe was one of them.

This time of the year, you can easily find easter bread also known as "paskalya çöreği" on the shelves of every single bakery in town with different variations but I like mine with mahlep (mahaleb) and topped with almond flakes. I believe that mahlep gives it a unique fragrant and a sweet taste. I hope you'll like this recipe:

White Chocolate, Pecan Blondies

White chocolate blondie recipe is a great alternative for people who do not like the rich taste of normal chocolate brownies. And if you are like me and love chocolate but want to try a new recipe, this is the one for you. 

I bought "The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook" a couple of months ago and I tried a lot of recipes from the book. The lemon cake, the apple pie, traditional brownies, vanilla cupcakes and now this. I trust this book so much that

I even participated in a baking contest at our school using a recipe that I haven't tried before from this book and I have no regrets. Every single recipe is so perfect that I do not need to make a lot of alterations. The sweetness level is perfect for me. Normally when I bake, I find many desserts as "too sweet", but these are just at the perfect level. I highly recommend this book for everyone because it has great recipes. And no I do not get paid for this review :D,  I just wanted to share because I find the recipes are high quality and most importantly delicious. 

My First Culinary Experience

Every year I visit my grandmother during the winter break to learn new things about the Turkish cuisine and her secrets in the kitchen. But this year I wanted to have a more professional experience and that is why I decided to visit a culinary academy to learn from professionals who are experts in cooking.

I found a course for people that are my age called "Intro to Professional Kitchen for Adolescents". I visited the Culinary Arts Academy of Istanbul also known as MSA (Mutfak Sanatları Akademisi) and the minute I entered, I knew I was going to have a fantastic time. 


I did visit MSA before this course. My friend and I attended a workshop called "Burgers and Fries" and it was amazing. We cooked two types of burgers; beef and chicken and we also learned how to make the crispiest french fries and onion rings. Since that workshop I wanted to have a broader experience and a longer course and this break was the perfect opportunity. Spending two hours in a tiny station amazed me and I wanted to have a broader experience. Then I saw a course during my winter break. From the very first second I saw the course online, I knew that I was going to have an amazing time there.  

I can say that this winter break was the best and the most exhausting one I've ever had. Every day we had a theory lecture and an actual cooking class. In the theory part we got to learn about the history and the techniques with a demo from the chef. In the cooking part we prepared a couple of dishes and applied the techniques that we learned.