Strawberry & Banana Crunchy Muffins

This is a very light snack with virtually no fat at all. So it's ideal for all those ladies who are watching their figures.

Ingredients: 300g flour / 1 packet baking powder / pinch of salt / 125g sugar / 1 egg / 4 tbsp oil / 280ml milk / 100g strawberries (or any red fruit) / 2 ripe bananas (mashed) / 2 weetabix biscuits / a handfull of choc chips (opt)

Seive the flour and backing powder in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and stir.
In another mixing bowl add the wet ingredients and wisk. Pour into the flour and stir.

Add the fruits, weetabix and choc chips.

Put into 12 muffin tins and bake for 20-25 mins in 200C pre-heated oven.

muffins, muffins and mo muffins

After my little accident last week, spending the whole week in bed, I was excited to be able to get up and make my next batch of goodies. I want to thank my dear friend who kindly brought back muffin cases and food colouring from the UK as I never seem to be able to find them here in the local supermarkets. Yes, you know who you are; thank you again and again. I hope you liked the muffins.

My brother and the children made these muffins for the whole family last summer. Not only did they look good, but tasted really light and fluffy. He was kind enough to give me the recipe. Thanks A.
He is always introducing us to world cuisine. the great thing is that even though his food is delicious, he has never made the same thing twice for me, so each time I get to try another one of his tasty dishes. Again, I thank you.


Today is my first try for these muffins........

Moon Rocks

This is one of the recipe's I use when giving children cooking lessons. They are very easy and quick to prepare/make.

They are also ideal for unexpected guests:

Like Mum Used To Make

Kofte served on pitta bread, served with home made tomato salsa and topped with yoghurt. This one's for you mum :))

L'ush Hash

The inspiration of this muffin came to me from 2 things; the first one was a coffee shop which used to sell lemon and poppy seed muffin, and the other one was a lemon drizzle cake mum used to make a few years back.

Combining the two just increased the pleasure of eating this delight......

Roasted Red Peppers and Tuna Chunks Salad

Ok I know I have got slightly carried away with the choux pastry over the past few weeks, so I wanted to add something on the healthier side. What more healthier than a nice bowl of SALAD.....

Roasted Red Peppers and Tuna Chunks Salad
Roast the peppers under a hot grill. Once blackened, put in a bag and leave to cool. Peel the skin and slice into edible pieces.
In a salad bowl add lettuice, peppers, tuna chunks, spring onions and black peppers. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.....

Choux Bun.... Part II

The first time I made these little beauties, they didn't rise as well as I wanted them to. So I wanted to give them another go....

As the choux pastry is slightly bigger than a profiterol, the trick was to put a little hole in them after baking for 25 mins and put them back in the oven for an extra 5 mins.

Once cooled, you can add your vanilla filling and chocolate ganache.

When sprinkled with icing sugar, the end result looks too tasty to eat.....

Love is in the air.....

Here is something to remind you that Valentine's Day is on the way, pretty soon it'll be spring again, and the flowers will bloom and most important of all; love will be all around

* this was made by my student, who by the way confided in me that he couldn't even make a sandwich :))  just goes to show how easy cooking can be

Strawberry & Vanilla Custard Swiss Roll

Like I told you, this is the year that I try new things and succeed....

Chocolate Swiss Roll

I always wanted to try making this, but was always reluctant that it wouldn't turn out the way it was meant to. This year is the year I try new things and succeed!!

The hardest part (which was not very hard at all) was mixing the eggs and sugar until it became thick and creamy. That's how easy this cake was.

Directions: Mix 3 eggs with 90g sugar until think and creamy. Mix 30g flour and 2 tablespoons of cocoa. Spread on to baking try and bake in pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 10-12 minutes until the cake is set.

Take out and roll. Once cooled add the creamy mixture and roll again. sprinkle with icing sugar before serving


Need I say more........
just enjoy it :)))



Chard and Onion Borek

Spending most of my time making muffins and cakes, I have become really lazy when it comes to home cooking. This weekend I opted for making a savory borek dish, which is very easy to make and goes down well with a lovely cup of tea.

Brush fillo pastry with eggs & oil, between the sheets add the pre-cooked chard and onions.

Bake at 180 degrees until brown.


Served with salad

Choux Bun....

Istanbul doesn't have a wide range of international desserts, I decided that I would like to try making home made Choux Buns and introducing them here.......

Choux buns are made with choux pastry, filled with homemade custard cream, topped with chocolate ganache and icing sugar

Not bad for a first try