Fancy Baked Mac & Feta Cheese (Fırında Peynirli Makarna)

This recipe is a result of having no velveeta and yet being too lazy to go to the store.

2 cups macaroni
2 eggs
Milk, a little less than 1 cup
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup sliced black olives (Jen wasn't home for dinner)
1 1/2 tbsp butter or 1/4 cup oil
1/2 bunch parsley or dill
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1 cup or more grated cheese (cheddar, Swiss, etc.)

-Cook macaroni for 15-20 minutes and rinse
-Mix eggs and milk in a bowl and add feta, olives, oil, parsley, thyme, and pepper
-Add macaroni to this mix and put them in a casserole
-Put the grated cheese on top
-Bake macaroni in preheated oven (375°F) until top is crisp and golden, and cheese melts


I cannot believe I'm saying this but it's true: It's so much better than mac & cheese. Also Aaron thinks mushrooms would be great in this.

Experimental Soybean #1 (Soya Fasülyesi)

This was the first time I cooked soybeans. I wasn't sure how they tasted, and so didn't know how to cook them. I liked the result of this experiment, but after I tasted them I kind of think that soybeans would be better in a salad with fresh greens, green onions, herbes, sumack, and vinegar.

2 cups of dry soy beans (soaked or cooked until soft)
1/2 cup olive oile
1 big onion, chopped finely
2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 green peppers, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dry or fresh mint
salt
2/3 cup hot water
dill

-Cook onions and garlic with olive oil in a pot for a couple of minutes
-Add peppers, black pepper (or/and crushed pepper), turmneric, and cumin, and stir until peppers are cooked
-Add soybeans and stir fow 2-3 minutes
-Add salt, sugar, and water
-Cook on low-medium heat for 30 minutes.
-Garnish with dill

If we had green onions at home, I would definitely add half bunch chopped green onions to regular ones.

Garbanzo Beans (Nohut)

1 can of garbanzo beans. (I prefer using organic dry garbanzo beans; they absolutely taste better than canned ones. I cook them for 40 minutes in my smart pressure cooker. You can also soak them in water overnight and then boil for an hour or two before you start cooking)
1 onion, diced
2 green peppers, chopped
1 can of diced tomato or
2 grated fresh tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste (or 1/2 tbsp pepper + 1/2 tbsp tomato)
2 tbsp oil (olive, corn, butter)
salt & black pepper
any other spice you want--to spice up garbanzos: crushed peppers, green or red chili powder, etc.

optional:
1 carrot, chopped in half rounds or diced
stew beef

-Heat the oil in a pot and then add first onions, then green peppers (if you want carrots, add them with peppers). Stir on medium heat for 4-5 minutes
-Add the paste. After two minutes of stirring, add tomatoes and cook for 4-5 minutes
-Now it's time for garbanzo beans, salt & pepper, other spices, and hot water (enough to cover)
-Cook for 20-25 minutes on low heat. If you're using a pressure cooker, cook for 10 minutes.
-Serve with rice.

If you want to try this recipe with stew beef or lamb, add the meat in between onions and peppers and cook until the meat changes its color; it would be probably between 5-7 minutes.

Turkish Style Navy Beans

This is one of my exprerimental recipes inspired by a national Turkish dish "Kuru Fasulye" (White Beans)

1 can of navy beans
1 can of diced tomato or 3 tomatoes, grated
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
3 banana peppers, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp tomato or pepper paste
salt & black pepper
1 tsp dried mint (or fresh)

-Stir onions and garlic with oil for a couple of minutes
-Add green peppers and keep stirring for 2-3 minutes
-Then add tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes
-Once both peppers and the paste are cooked, add the diced tomato or grated fresh tomatoes, and bring to a boil on medium heat.
-Let it boil for 5 minutes and add navy beans, salt, black pepper, and mint (if you don't like mint, you can replace mint with parsley).
-Add 1/3 cup of hot water and cook for 20 minutes.

Rice à la Turque with Vermicelli (Tel Şehriyeli Pilav)

2 tbsp Olive/ sun flower/ corn oil, or butter (rice is best with butter)
Use a 2 to 1 ratio of water to rice. Although this works for almost any kind of rice (white, basmati, jasmine, brown), use only white rice with vermicelli.
1/2 cup vermicelli
hot water
salt

-Heat oil in pot and add vermicelli noodles. Stir until noodles are light brown. Try not to burn the noodles.
-Add rice, and keep stirring for a couple of minutes.
-Add hot water and salt. Bring to boil.
-Put the lid on and cook until rice soaks the water on very low heat.
-Do not stir the rice while it's cooking; that will break the rice.
-Wait at least 5 minutes to serve.

Green Split Pea Soup

This is one of my almost Turkish recipes. It was inspired by Turkish lentil soup (Mercimek Corbasi).

1 cup green split peas
1/4 cup white rice
1 onion
1 bell pepper or banana pepper
1 potato
1 carrot
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp mint (fresh or dried)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil or butter
salt
7-8 cups of water

optional:
curry
gren chili
turmeric
parsley
dill

You can replace green split peas with yellow split peas or yellow lentils.

There are different ways to make this soup. You can use a pressure cooker or a regular pot, and you can use a food processor/a hand blender or grate / chop finely all the ingredients.

1-If you have a pressure cooker and a blender, put everything in the pressure cooker and cook first on high and then low heat for 20 minutes. Then use the blender to smoothen the soup.
If you won't use a blender, then grate or chop finely everything before you cook them.

2-If you want to use a regular pot, put everything in the pot and cook until the peas are soft. Again you can either smoothen the soup with a blender after it's cooked or grate or chop everything beforehand.

Squeeze a little bit of lemon or lime juice before you eat.

Green Peas (Bezelye)

1 pound of frozen or fresh green peas
2 tomatoes, diced / grated or 1 can of diced tomato
2 carrots, chopped in half-rounds
1/2 belle pepper or two banana peppers, chopped
1 medium size potato, diced
1/4 cup oil (olive, corn, vegetable, or butter)
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups of hot water
salt
dill or parsley

-For this recipe you don't have to cook anything beforehand. Put the onions, green peppers, carrots, potatoes, green peas, and tomatoes on top of each other in a pan in this order.
-Stir the tomato/pepper paste in hot water, and pour it on to vegetables.
-Add oil, salt, and pepper.
-Cover and cook on low heat for half an hour.
-Garnish with dill or parsley.

Nolan's Famous Hot Fudge Recipe

Original:

¾ cup sugar
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
¼ cup butter
¼ cup milk

Modified:

½ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup butter
¼ cup milk

Add cognac, Gran Marinier, coffee liquor, espresso powder or bourbon for more deliciousness.

-Heat the ingredients on low, stirring constantly.

Nolan

Turkish Green Beans (Zeytinyağlı Taze Fasulye)

1 pound of fresh grean beans or
1 pack of frozen green beans (either french style, my favorite, or italian cut)
1 big onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, sliced or chopped
2 big fresh tomatoes, finely chopped, grated, or blended or 1 can of petite diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup hot water
salt

optional
1/8 tsp ground cumin
pepper/ crushed pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste

-If you're using fresh green beans clean and trim them to 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces.
-Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the chopped onions and garlic until lightly brown.
-If you want tu use tomato paste add it at this point and stir for a min.
-Add the beans and stir them until they slightly change color (app. 6-8 mins).
-Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 mins and then add sugar (cumin and pepper), water, and salt. -Cover the pan and cook with low heat until the beans are soft (30 mins with frozen beans - 45 mins with fresh ones).

If you have a pressure cooker, after adding everything cook it for 15 minutes on mediumm.

This is traditionally served cold, but it's good when it's warm too.