Happy Halloween!

What best to have fun ending of October than celebrating Halloween ?
Cooking, activities, decoration, colors... lots of ideas in the web! Just to keep track of what is in my blog let's recapitulate...


Have fun cooking butternut soups, halloween cookies, mini apple pies or just apple pie like this one, this one or this one.

Decorate your house entrance with jack-o-lanterns, following my son's short tutorial in the numbered photos (no1 is missing as it is about choosing your pumkin's face :)


Make fake injuries with makeup and scare your friends (not my favorite though!) like this homemade one from my kids...

Whatever you prefer, just try to get with friends and/or family and have fun and enjoy life!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Milopitakia, greek mini apple pies or cookies

October, the month of apples!

That's why I decided to present you today a recipe that was missing from my blog and that I like a lot: milopitakia!

Milopitakia, in greek, means mini apple pies but they are actually more kind of apple-filled cookies to be more precise.

Whatever you call them, I am sure that you will like them once you taste them, so here it goes in order to have them for real at your place :)

They look gorgeous too, no?



Ingredients (for about 30 pieces):
Dough:
500 gr self-raising flour
1 cup of butter (cut in pieces) or softened margarine or oil (whatever you prefer or have)
1/2 cup of plain strained yogurt or white dry wine
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Filling:
4 baking/cooking apples (peeled & coarsely grated)
1 cup of walnuts (coarsely chopped)
2 spoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (as you like)
1/4 teaspoon of clove powder (optional)

Top:
Powdered sugar and cinnamon

Procedure:

Prepare the dough by kneading by hand softly the ingredients (flour, butter, salt, yogurt or wine).

Mix the filling ingredients in another bowl with a spoon.

Make 30 dough balls in the size of ping-pong balls and with your finger press in the middle to make a hole and add with a spoon some filling. Close the dough to cover the filling.

Finish in the same way all the dough.

Bake at 180 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 35 min.  Your apple pies/cookies are ready... Enjoy!

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Zucchini and feta tarte

Here's a simple, light and tasty tarte for summer dinners...


Ingredients
2 medium zucchinis grated
1 onion minced
salt, pepper
2 spoons of frying oil (e.g., sunflower oil)
3 eggs
50cl of milk
250 gr feta cheese (smashed)
100 gr hard cheese grated (here I have used italian provolone)
1 round ready-made puff pastry

Procedure

1. Peel off the zucchinis and grate them.
2. Fry slightly the grated zucchini with the onion until it is quite smooth and most of it's water is evaporated. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Beat the eggs, add all the rest of the ingredients.
4. Lay the puff pastry in an tarte recipient for the oven (butter it or use the special baking paper).
5. Empty the mix in the pastry and layer it with a spoon.
6. Bake at 180 degrees and fan for about 20min or until it gets a nice golden color.
7. Serve it with some tzatziki sauce and finish with a fresh fruits salad. Enjoy!

 

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Tyropita, the greek feta cheese pie!

Family was asking for tyropita, the Greek feta cheese pie, last week and searching to find the recipe in my blog I realized that it was missing! I had only the spanakotyropita recipe that is even better but more complicated. So, you can imagine the rest... had to take photos on top of cooking :)
I was extremely busy & tired and so was my daughter that I asked to take fast some photos, which explains the low quality of the result. But it's better than nothing,  no?
So, if you like feta cheese, try this recipe and you won't regret it :)
My only regret is that I had to leave immediately after so I tasted it much later at night when I came back... at least family was nice and had left me a few pieces !

Ingredients
250gr feta cheese (original, not imitations :)
250gr of various hard yellow cheeses that you prefer GRATED (here Gruyere and Comte)
4-5 eggs
500gr filo (special thin dough for greek pies)
200ml of milk
100ml extra virgin olive oil (of good quality)
salt, white pepper
sesame seeds (optional)


Procedure

In a bowl, smash the feta using a fork and add the other cheeses, salt and pepper and mix a bit.
In deep oven dish of 40x30cm that you buttered the bottom, add 3 layers of filo that you have sprinkled a bit of olive oil on each one before adding the net one. Then you continue to add layers of filo in the following way:

• add 2 every time in a way that each one covers half of the space in an accordion style,
• sprinkle all over some olive oil
• pour evenly all over some of the cheese mix
• add one layer of filo and sprinkle oil again on it 

Repeat the procedure until it's only left 3 layers of filo that you use to finally cover everything.

With a sharp knife then you cut in pieces 5x5cm all the surface. In a separate bowl, you stir the eggs and add the milk and stir once again. Pour the mixture evenly to the top and optionally decorate the top with sesame seeds.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 30min or until it gets a nice golden color. Enjoy!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad