Lola’s Tips:
1. Always wash your vegetables well.
2. Do not wear mascara during the grating process.
3. Vegetable oil is a must for this recipe.
4.  Find the smallest sweet peppers you can. Stay away from gargantuan grocery store peppers with a diameter of a small country. Farmer’s Market, or Whole Foods are potential places to look. Peppers in the photos are about 1-2 inches in diameter, and about 4-7 inches long.

Stuffed Peppers Version 1

Prep Time: 20-30 min
Baking Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

10-15  Small Sweet Peppers
1  Red Onion
2  lbs of Potatoes
2-3  Pinches of Ground Black Pepper
2-3  Pinches of Salt
Vegetable Oil
1  Sour Cream
1  French Baguette

Cut the pepper stems, & clean out the seeds (Photo 1).  After peeling the potatoes and onion, grate them into a pot half filled with water. After grating, squeeze the grated onion & potatoes to get the starch out, and place into an empty bowl. Add salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of vegetable oil and mix it in (Photo 2).  Put a tiny bit on a teaspoon and lick to see whether it is salty/peppery enough for your taste. Stuff the peppers with the mixture (Photo 3).  Stuff only 75% of each pepper as the stuffing expands when baked. Place in a generously pre-oiled baking pan (Photo 4).

Preheat oven to 400F degrees and put the peppers in. Lower to 350F after 10 minutes when the peppers start to blush. The peppers will be done quickly; while the stuffing takes longer so lowering the heat gives stuffing time to be done.  Keep checking your peppers.  You will know they are done when they are soft, and the stuffing is coming out a little bit.  This happens approximately after 25-35 minutes of baking.

Take the peppers out and let cool for a few minutes.  Serve them with sour cream. Cut up the baguette and dip in the remaining oil in the pan. Serve with peppers. Voila!

You don’t have to eat 9. I was really hungry that day.

<3, Lola.

What better way to start off a morning than with a smooth and strong cup of coffee? I drink the Bosnian kind. Same or very similar way of preparing coffee can be attributed to other Mediterranean countries and beyond.

You will need:
Ground Coffee (2 tsp of coffee per 1 cup of water);
A Coffee Pot;
Espresso Coffee Cups;
Water;
Sugar, milk or cream at your preference.

Where to get it?
Coffee – supermarkets in most places in Europe will have ground coffee already bagged. In other countries most international food stores carry ground coffee as well. If one is not near, you can go to any grocery store and find the coffee aisle. Once there, pick your choice of coffee, (or even mix it up), and grind it until it is sugar-like in density.
Coffee pot – preferably you already have something of the sort, (something like here or here). If not, you can prepare it in a small pot. (If you are to become a regular drinker of this type of coffee, I highly recommend getting a coffee pot. Something in its architecture produces delicious taste over, and over again.)
Espresso cups – this coffee is strong, and one to two espresso cups will be enough to satisfy even the most dedicated of java-heads. I promise. Some affordable cups may be found here . World market also has a great selection, here.

Preparation:
-Bring water to boil in the coffee pot on the stovetop.
-Stir the coffee as you put it, (again, this is 1.5 tsp of coffee per 1 mug of water).
-Stir some more and remove from the stove for about 10-15 seconds.
-Put it back on the hot stovetop for another 10-15 seconds and let the coffee rise. It will make a thick coating that will subside once you remove it from the stove.
-Serve hot in espresso cups, (add sugar, milk or cream at your preference).

Ready to go pro? May I also suggest adding rahat lokum (aka Turkish Delight), to be eaten slowly while sipping the coffee.

Enjoy!

Lola