Flavor Of Valley

Flavor Of Valley

Brown Sugar Shortbread
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. By hand, stir in flour a little at a time. Dough will be crumbly, so dump it out onto a counter top or pastry board and work it together by hand until smooth. Pat or roll dough out into a rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into small squares, rectangles or diamonds (whichever you prefer). Arrange cookies on an ungreased baking sheet (I use parchment paper for easy cleanup) and bake 20-25 minutes in a preheated 325 degree oven until the bottom edges are just starting to brown.
Recipe notes: This recipe assumes you are using regular salted butter. If you choose to use unsalted butter, whisk 1/2 teaspoon salt (or slightly more if using kosher salt) into the flour before mixing the dough.

Best Brownies Recipe


Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.
4. To Make Frosting: Combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup confectioners' sugar. Frost brownies while they are still warm.

Lutenitsa

Lutenitsa is a sauce-like “salad” and a special spread for bread and other food that is made from tomatoes and peppers, sometimes eggplant pureed together. It looks like a thick ketchup or a thick salsa, but it tastes a little more peppery.
It is very commonly used in Balkan countries especially in Bulgaria. My recipe is for Bulgarian Lutenitsa which I’ve grown up with and still loving it!

900-1000 gr(~2 lb) roasted red pepper /red pepper paste
6 lb tomato, crushed
1 ½ lb roasted eggplant
1 cup canola oil
1 ½ cup sugar
4 Tbsp salt to taste
4 Tbsp dried summer (balkan) savory

Take tomatoes in a big pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Then, turn the heat low and cook for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

What's New and Beneficial About Raspberries

• One of the most fascinating new areas of raspberry research involves the potential for raspberries to improve management of obesity. Although this research is in its early stages, scientists now know that metabolism in our fatcells can be increased by phytonutrients found in raspberries, especially rheosmin (also called raspberry ketone). By increasing enzyme activity, oxygen consumption, and heat production in certain types of fat cells, raspberry phytonutrients like rheosmin may be able to decrease risk of obesity as well as risk of fatty liver. In addition to these benefits, rheosmin can decrease activity of a fat-digesting enzyme released by our pancreas called pancreatic lipase. This decrease in enzyme activity may result in less digestion and absorption of fat.

Turkish Panini

1 long sandwich bread
4 slices of sujuk
½ cup spinach, washed
¼ onion, julienne cut
2-3 slices of Mozzarella/Swiss Cheese (any amount)
2-3 slices of tomato
1-2 Tbps olive oil
Salt to taste

Cut the sandwich bread in half and brush both inner sides with olive oil. Stuff with Mozzarella/ Swiss cheese, onion, tomatoes, sujuk and spinach. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
Heat the gridler/Panini maker up. Then, press gently the Panini until the cheese is melted or 2-3 minutes (do not press hard).
Serve hot.
ENJOY

Possible health benefits of bananas

Bananas contain all kinds of good things – health-promoting flavonoids and poly-phenolics, such as lutein, zeaxanthin, beta and alpha carotenes, acting as free radical-gobbling antioxidants. That’s also an advantage in the high vitamin C content, most known for its infection-fighting properties.
Just one banana contains 467 mg of potassium, which is important for controlling your heart rate and blood pressure. This is interesting, since the same amount of banana has just one milligram of sodium. The vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) in bananas provides around 28% of what is needed daily to help prevent anemia and coronary artery disease.
And that’s just part of it. Fiber in abundance helps keep your digestive system regulated. Magnesium helps strengthen your bones and protects your heart. Manganese is needed to activate antioxidant enzyme. Onebanana supplies an adequate amount of copper to keep up the production of red blood cells.

Brownie
~200 gr (8 ounce) unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
4-5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla/1 pckg vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Grease a 9 x 13 inch Pyrex/pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside. With a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 8-10 minutes. Blend in chocolate mixture, flour, cocoa and salt until just mixed. Stir in the nuts. Pour into prepared Pyrex/pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes (Do not over bake). Cool and frost if desired, but that is not necessary.
ENJOY

Ranchero Breakfast Tostadas
INGREDIENTS
Black Bean Mash
2 cups cooked black beans
1/4 to 1/2 cup light sour cream
2 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 slices cooked bacon, chopped (optional)
8 small corn tortillas
Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
1 tablespoon coconut oil or unsalted butter
8 eggs
1 cup shredded white Cheddar cheese
2 avocados, peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, in wedges
Hot sauce, for serving (optional)
PREPARATION

8 Top Health Benefits of Cherries

Cherries, which are members of the same fruit family as peaches, plums, apricots, and almonds, are often regarded as a "dessert" fruit for use in pies, or perhaps as a garnish for cocktails (the maraschino cherry).
But cherries have a healthy side too, one that may actually offer therapeutic benefits to your health, as cherries are rich in antioxidants and many other health-promoting compounds.

1. Antioxidant Protection
Cherries contain powerful antioxidants like anthocyanins and cyanidin. One study found the antioxidant activity of these substances isolated fromtart cherries was superior to that of vitamin E and comparable to commercially available antioxidant products.2
Sweet cherries also contain a small amount of quercetin, which is among the most potent in terms of antioxidant activity and a wide range of other health-promoting properties.
2. Cancer-Preventive Compounds

White Beans with Meat
White Beans with Meat is a very traditional and common dish in Turkey, especially when it is served with pilaf and pickles. Turkish people just love this dish.

2 cups white/butter beans
½ lb beef/lamb meat, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 dried red pepper/green pepper, chopped
½ tsp baking soda (optional)
¼ tsp chili red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tbsp salt to taste
1 cup hot water

Wash white beans, place them in a pot and cover with water (approximately 1 inch above the beans). Leave them in water overnight or for at least 12 hours. The next day, cook them with the same water till beans get soft over low heat. You could add baking soda to have softer beans quicker. When they are soft, add ½ tbsp of salt.

Water Patty
Ingredıents:
8 water glass flour,
5 eggs,
1 tea spoons salt,
some warm water,
half a pound of cheese,
half a bunch parsley,
oil
How To Make:

Sheet Borek
1 lb(454 gr) Phyllo Pastry
3 L(13*9*2”) Pyrex casserole dish
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1/3 or ½ cup oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds(optional)

In a bowl place the eggs, oil and milk. Mix them with a whisk. You will use this mixture for every two or three layers of the pastry and on top.
Grease the Pyrex dish. Take 2-3 layers of sheets place them on the counter. Spread three tbsps of the mixture on it and put some of the filling you are using and spread it evenly. Wrap it around loosely, do not make it tight. Start whirling the wrapped pastries from the center of the Pyrex. Continue spreading 3 tbsps of mixture and filling. Then, wrap and continue whirling from the end of the last one. Repeat the same procedure till the pastry sheets finish.
Pour the remaining liquid mixture on top of the borek. Sprinkle the sesame seeds and nigella seeds (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C) and cook for about 45 minutes, until it turns golden brown.

Poached Eggs in Yogurt

1 cup plain Turkish yogurt at room temperature
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
2-3 cups water
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt to taste
For top:
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp paprika/cayenne pepper

Add garlic and half of the salt into yogurt and whisk. Take over a serving plate.
Meanwhile, take water, vinegar and the remaining salt in a small pot. Bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to medium and gently crack the eggs into water side by side. Close the lid and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Take the poached eggs out and place over the yogurt on the serving plate.
In a small frying pan, melt the butter and stir in paprika/cayenne pepper. Once it gets spitting, turn the heat off and pour all over the eggs.
Serve hot/warm.
ENJOY

Beef Shish Kabob or Kebabs Recipe
Ingredients:

1 envelope Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix
2 pounds sirloin steaks or other
tender cut of beef, cut in 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes
18 large whole mushroom caps
18 green pepper chunks
15 cherry tomatoes
12 small whole onions or onion wedges

Preparation:

Prepare dressing mix according to package directions. Add beef and coat well with mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours. Add vegetables to the beef and toss to coat. Arrange beef and vegetables on skewers. Broil or grill over hot coals to desired doneness. Serve with rice and a tossed salad.

Egg in a Basket

2 eggs
2 slices of bread, any kind
2-3 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste