Monday, January 11, 2016

BULGARIAN "GUVECH"

Today I have decided to blog and share another one of my Bulgarian recipes that I love to make! In Bulgaria it's known as "guvech" which is a pot that they cook the actual dish in. Since you probably don't have one I will be showing you how to cook it in a large sauce pan (that is how I cooked mine.) It's not exactly a soup but it's a potato, vegetable, and meat dish that I promise you will enjoy! It's a bowl of true comfort food on your dinner table that will be ready in an hour or two. And even though it's a piping hot dish, you can make it all year round. I definitely prefer it during this time of year especially in front of the fire place!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Total time: 75 minutes (1 hour & 15 min)
Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients:
Chicken breast (however much you desire)
 1 Large carrot
 1 Celery stick 
 3 Tomatoes
 1 Red, green, and yellow pepper (One of each color)
 1 Zucchini
 1 Large dry onion
 4-5 Peeled potatoes
 Paprika
 Oil
 One tablespoon of flour
 Black pepper
 Mint
 Salt or vegeta (A European spice)
 Water

Directions:
1. Chop the dry onion and place in a large sauce pan then add the chicken breast and let simmer until you hear a sizzle from the oil.
2. Chop the rest of the vegetables and add them in; Add the flour while the vegetable are lightly frying up and stir. After that add all the spices.
3.  Add the water (add water until all the vegetables are covered and then stir.)
4. Let the dish stay in the sauce pan on medium-low heat until the meat is ready to eat and the vegetables are nice and tender.
5. You can eat this with any bread and it is still delicious!
6. All of the vegetables can be replaced with any other vegetable you desire like, peas, green beans, eggplant instead of zucchini, okra, etc!





          Enjoy!!

Monday, January 4, 2016

TOMATO & HERB BAKED TILAPIA

Happy Monday! Well it's a brand new week. Can't say I'm too excited. Do you ever have a really busy weekend and then finally sit down to relax on Sunday night just to realize your upcoming week is so packed with things that you can't even begin to think about it? But it's okay, because I have some great recipes you can make for your loaded weekend that you just prepare and pop it in the oven and it's ready! It's "Tomato and herb tilapia". You just have to take it out of the freezer, and get it ready for the oven.

Prep time: 10 minutes 
Cook time: 1 hr/30 min
Total time: 1hr/40 min
Serves: 6 people 

Ingredients:
 Tilapia 
 Olive oil 
 Black pepper 
 Vegetta (European spice) or salt 
 Bay leaves 
 Oregano 
 2 large dry onions 
 4 cans of tomatoes 

Directions:
1. Cut the dry onions into strips, add all the spices; salt, black pepper, oregano, and bay leaves on the onions; mix them around.
2. Add the fish into the pan, add the same spices on each sides of the fish.
3. Add all the cans of tomato on top of the fish and make sure the tomatos are evenly layored on the fish.
4. Add some olive oil on top of the tomatoes. 
5. Bake at 450* until tomatos are nice and crisp and the fish is tender.


Unfortunately I was so excited to try the fish and I'm guessing I forgot to take a picture of the fish when it's done but it's better because you can try it out and see how it turned out!! I'm telling it looked and tasted amazing! And again I apologize for not taking a picture when it was done.

     Enjoy!

Friday, January 1, 2016

NEW YEARS TEA BISCUIT CAKE

Can you believe the new year is here, well a great way to start the new year and end the old one, is to get together with your loved ones and enjoy a scrumptious moist cake that all will enjoy! It all comes together when you make some pudding, custard, or any type of pudding; pour it over tea biscuits, wait a day or two and enjoy the cake! You get a hint of tea biscuits and the slightly sweetened pudding. Its one you'll love and you'll want to make it over and over all the time! It's also a no bake recipe, you only have to bake the pudding on the stove so it is spreadable. This cake had so many pros, but one con is that you have to wait a day or two to eat it so the pudding can get in the biscuits and it's moist and soft.

Prep time: 35 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes (Arranging the biscuits and cooking the pudding)
Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients:
Pudding, custard, or any pudding
Any tea biscuits
Walnuts

Directions:
1. Make the pudding; I used a Bulgarian pudding.
2. Arrange tea biscuits on a rectangular pan, pour a good amount of the pudding on top of the biscuits and smooth all around with a spatula until all the biscuits are covered in pudding.
3. Do this process until you have three layers; the first layer should start with biscuits and the last layer should be the pudding. Also don't be afraid to put a lot of pudding because you want the cake to be moist.
4. Shred walnuts and add then on top of the cake. If you do not have a walnut shredder, put the right amount of walnuts in a plastic bag and with a rolling pin, smash the walnuts and add them to the cake.









         Enjoy!