Ahhh…I hate wireless internet connections.  I had everything typed out and now I have start all over again! I must learn to save!  So, where was I???

Sunday after I spent practically 4 hours in the kitchen cooking and baking.  4 hours I know right,  honestly I really did not realize how much time had passed, till I saw the sun shine around 5-6 in the afternoon.  It had been raining the whole day.  I tested out a few dishes and baked with a few different ingredients, I will share I promise.

I’ve been meaning to bake something for my co-workers in the office, they have been so kind to me lately.  I wanted to show them how much I appreciate their kindness.  I searched the web for a nice lemon cupcake recipe found a few but nothing hit the spot.  So, I took the matter into my own hands and created a simple, quick recipe that turned out great.  I hope my co-workers enjoy it as much as we did.  A little kindness, goes a long way!

LEMON CUPCAKES
                     (Recipe adapted from combination of several recipes)

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Duncan Heins yellow cake mix
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons of corn starch
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
• 3 lemons zested
• 3 oz of cream cheese – cut in squars

Preparation:

1. Preheat your own to 350 degrees. Aling 2 muffin pans (12 cups) with cupcake paper liner and set a side.
2. For the cake: in a medium sized mixing bowl, add in sour cream, eggs, corn starch, sugar, water, vegetable oil and mix with a hand held blender or in a stand mixer.
3. Once all the wet ingredients are mixed well, add in the yellow cake mix at a low speed first then at medium speed. Make sure the cake mix is incorporated in with the wet ingredients throughly.
4. Using a zester, zest the lemons directly into the batter and fold in with a spatula.
5. Spoon the cupcake batter into paper liners until 2/3 full.  (I used my 1/4 cup metal measuring spoon to spoon the batter into the paper liners.) Makes 24 cups.
6. Dice the cream cheese into 24 bite sizes pieces and place them on top of each of the cupcake batters.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Cool 5 minutes in pans then remove and place on wire racks to cool completely.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I opted out of frosting the cupcakes because not everyone enjoys a frosted upcake.  Also, wanted the mess of frosting while carrying the cupcakes into the office. Who would want to eat a de-frosted cupcake now?

Saturday started early for me, especially when my cheesecake batter decided to go sour on me late Friday evening.  I never imagined I would be up till 1:30 am on a Saturday morning waiting for the cheesecake to set.  What is worth it, let me tell you it really was worth the wait.  Especially when my husband looked at early morning, his eyes sparking and a big “Thank you, Honey.”

Aside from the cheesecake, the patoto salad pictured above is a recipe from Cenk’s Cafe Fernando and it was a HUGE hit at the breakfast table!  My cousin Duriye said it very well, this is “intoxicating.”  She text-ed me later in the day, asking me when I was going to post the recipe, and that she wanted more.  So, Cenk thank you for a wonderful recipe, it turned out awesome. 

Crispy Pastirma Potato Salad
              Recipe adapted from Cenk’s Cafe Fernando

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of potatoes
• 1/4 of pastirma ( 20 thin slices)
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic (he used 3 cloves for me thats a bit to strong) 
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons of Labne cheese (or yogurt) 
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons of grape vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar since that’s what I had)
• 2 tablespoon full of chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (regular salt is okay)
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

Preparation:

1. Wash the potatoes, into a large cooking pot of water add the potatoes and bring to a boil.  Make sure not to over cook the potatoes, using a knife insert into a potato and if the knife inserts in easily, this means the potatoes are cooked and done.  Cooking time approx 40 minutes.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, start the broiler of your oven. A line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper and line the slices of pastirma on top of the parchment paper.  Place the sheet pan into the oven and cook for 2-3 minutes. Until the slices of pastirma are cooked, this happens very quickly so be careful.  I burned my first batch because I did not think they would cook so quickly.
   Cenk - pan fried the pastirmas with a tablespoon of olive oil, this is another option as well.    
3. Once the pastirmas are cooked set a side and let them cool.  They will harden making them crispy.
4. Into a medium sized mixing bowl, grate the clove of garlic and using the thinnest side of a grater. Since I used only one I grated just one, use as many cloves as you wish. 
5. Into the same bowl, add in your salt, Dijon mustard, vinegar and mix until the mustard is completely dissolved.  Continue to add in the rest of the ingredients, the mayonnaise, labne cheese and olive oil and black pepper and mix well. 
6. Dice the cooled pastirmas using a knife or if you can break them into pieces with your hands.
7. By this time, the potatoes should have cooked. Drain the access water and wash under cold water or place them into a cold iced bath.  Once the potatoes have cooled, peal off the skin. 
8. Dice the potatoes into large bite size pieces and place the diced potatoes into a large mixing bowl.  At this point add in your prepared sauce, along with the chopped parsley and half of the diced pastirma (other half will be used as garnish on top) and toss well.  Making sure the potatoes are coated nicely and evenly.
9. Transfer into a serving bowl, coat the top with the remaining of the pastirma.
10. Serve warm or cold.  Served warm tastes much better.  Enjoy!!!

Note: I boiled the potatoes the night before and drained the water left to cool down on the counter top. This allowed me the serve the dish at room temperature. 

A traditional Turkish breakfast is not complete without an egg dish, at least that’s what my mom used to say and always prepared something with egg for our weekend breakfasts.  I still follow her teaching in my kitchen every Saturday & Sunday morning. 

Two of the most well known and often prepared breakfast dishes are eggs with pastirma & eggs with sucuk.  If you missed my posting about PASTIRMA, click to read.

Here is simple and quick recipe for a perfect weekend breakfast.

Scrambled eggs with Pastirma

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 7 slices of pastirma (less if you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• salt for taste

Preparation

1. Into a mixing bowl crack the eggs and whisk.
2. Stack the pastirma on top of each other and cut into 3 sections. (3×7=21 small pieces) This makes for small pieces.
3. Add in the pastirma into whisked eggs – as picture above. Add in salt and mix.
4. Over a medium heat up your cooking pan (teflon works best) - heat up the olive oil and pour in your mixture.
5. With a wooden spoon stir the mixture in the pan, as if you are making scrambled eggs. Cook for a couple of minutes about 2 min until eggs are cooked and the pastirma will cook with the heat of the pan and eggs.
   Note: You can fully cook the eggs all the way through OR leave it a bit runny
6. Serve with toasted bread & enjoy!

Lately during the week – I’m tired from work to cook.  I usually cook twice or three times during the week for dinner.  Which is works out great,  but lately working a lot and doing to many other things.  I’ve been skipping on cooking a meal and instead just prepare a simple breakfast meal for myself.  At the times when I get home late and do not want to eat anything heavy and often I will have a bowl of cereal for dinner.  Which work out great because I eat something light and nothing to heave to digest.

The last two weeks, I’ve been making a simple breakfast things for dinner.  Like a panini with plain whole wheat bread with some pastirma and some mozzarella and monster cheese.

Another great breakfast for dinner is some traditional Turkish breakfast items, such as olives, feta cheese, pastirma, eggs, tomatoes and some dried fruit for some sweetness.  I drink my coffee and tea without sugar so many times my sugar substitutes are dried fruits and some jams/preserves.