Lightened Up Cappuccino Cheese Muffins are a great treat for people watching their weight! I know, I know. The last couple of weeks of this blog have been filled with one decadent treat after another. Each one has been a diet killer in its own right. "So what about the dieters?", you ask. "What's a poor soul to do if s/he isn't eating cheesecake, ice cream trifle, cheesecake mousse, delicious cookies, and all those other treats? Good news friend's. I feel for you. No really, I might be cooking, baking and photographing all sorts of fattening treats, but I've been dieting hard. Really hard. Like, one bite to make sure the cheesecake is good. We're in this together. And that's why I made … [Read more...]
Chocolate and Caramel Ice Cream Parfait
Chocolate and Caramel Ice Cream Parfaits are the perfect summer dessert! As good as they look...they taste better! Raise your hand if you're bored of cheesecake discussion? Nooo! I don't know if we can be friends if you ever get bored of cheesecake! Sorry folks, that was a trick question. When my good friends at Kleins Ice Cream asked me to come up with a great recipe showcasing their delicious products, I immediately thought of an ice cream parfait. You might remember the Fried Ice Cream recipe that I created for Kleins around Chanukah time. That recipe was awesome, but it had to be fried and eaten within seconds of eachother. Well guys, this recipe is the exact opposite. You can … [Read more...]
Sweet Potato Pasta and a Review + Giveaway of Dairy Made Easy!
Sweet Potato Pasta has a unique and exciting flavor, making it a great change from the usual. Recipe part of a review of Dairy Made Easy. The dynamic duo of cookbook writers, Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek are back again with the fourth book in their Made Easy cookbook series, Dairy Made Easy. As I mentioned in previous reviews (See my reviews of Passover Made Easy, Starters and Sides Made Easy, and Kids Cooking Made Easy), the authors are good friends and colleagues of mine, and I am in total admiration of their knowledge of food, their creativity passion for food, and above all, their ability to put forth a creative and exciting cookbook. I'm so excited to have the opportunity … [Read more...]
No-Bake Coffee Cheesecake Mousse Trifles
Coffee Cheesecake Mousse Trifles are a delicious and no-bake dessert that looks beautiful and comes together in minutes. Y'know what's super hard? Being on a diet. Y'know what's harder? Being on a diet and making delicious dairy treats for shavuos that you can't eat. But you know what's even harder than that? Being on a diet, making delicious treats, and tasting just one bite to make sure it's amazing enough for your magazine column...but stopping there. Taking one bite and no more is seriously the biggest test to a dieter's willpower in the history of dieting. Especially when you're making treats as exciting, delightful and enticing as the ones I'll be sharing in my magazine column (in … [Read more...]
Peanut Butter Caramel Truffles
Peanut Butter Caramel Truffles are a little taste of heaven! Every now and then, I make something that's so delightful, words fail to describe it. These truffles are a perfect example. I originally made these truffles for a Tzedaka (charity) party. I probably dreamed up this crazy combination at the height of a chocolate craving, but whatever made me do it, they were a smashing success. Just as the party was starting, before much food was even touched, these truffles were gone. That's right, completely gone. All the poor souls who hadn't gotten there fast enough to try one were pretty sad. Needless to day, I needed to share this recipe with you folks. They're a little time consuming … [Read more...]
Skinny Mocha Frappe
Trying to lose weight? This Skinny Mocha Frappe recipe will help you stick to your resolutions! So 2014 is here, and lots of us are probably trying to eat healthy, lose weight, yada yada yada. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I'm in the middle of week 4 of my new diet. It's been great so far, and I am definitely adjusting to the whole "eat healthier" thing, but everyone needs a treat now and then, right? Well, my diet might be structured, but I had to come up with a way to treat myself within my diet plan. So I came up with this drink. You know the one you spend $5.95 on at a cafe or restaurant? Yep, same thing. Except it costs pennies in ingredients, … [Read more...]
Baked Mini Cookies and Cream Donuts
***Before we start – have you signed up for my email newsletters? You’ll get new recipes, cooking tips, menu suggestions, kitchen deals – and more! Click here to signup.*** I have to admit, my feelings about baked donuts used to be very mixed. If you look doughnut up in the dictionary (and I sure did) you'll see that the definition reads: dough·nut noun -(ˌ)nət : a piece of sweet fried dough that is often shaped like a ring Notice the part where it says...fried? And notice how it totally doesn't say "baked"? Yeah, me too. And being a bit of a stickler for things like this, I really didn't like the idea of calling a baked dessert a donut. Or a doughnut. Then I went and did … [Read more...]
9 Meatless Meal Ideas
If you're an observant Jew, you are probably very well aware that "the 9 days" are coming. For those who aren't familiar, the 9 days of mourning are a period of time in the summer when Jews mourn the destruction of the temple in various ways - one of which is not eating meat. I personally have a really difficult time of it, as chicken is my supper pretty much every night. I don't touch fish, and diets and pasta don't go well together. So I figured I would gather together a few of the recipes I will be making for the 9 days. If I need them, I am sure some of you do as well! So whether you are a Jew looking for "9 days" ideas, or you're simply looking to cut down on your meat consumption, … [Read more...]
Neapolitan Zebra Cheesecake
Every now and then, a person is lucky enough to come up with an idea that's pure genius. I consider myself endlessly lucky to have a platform, both here on the blog and in my magazine column, where I can share my occasional stroke of brilliance with a couple of folks. Well this one was one of my most incredible strokes of genius. Ages ago, I posted this Zebra Cake. Then I took it a step further with this ever popular Zebra Bundt Cake. And ever since then, the concept of zebra cakes and such have been in my head constantly. I wanted to create a zebra cheesecake, but plain chocolate and vanilla has been done so many times, and I wanted to do something a little more extraordinary. That's … [Read more...]
No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake Mousse Cups
***Before we start – have you signed up for my email newsletters? You’ll get new recipes, cooking tips, menu suggestions, kitchen deals – and more! Click here to signup.*** People often ask me where my recipe ideas come from. And I never know what to answer- no, I really can't answer. Because I simply don't know. Okay, sometimes I know. I mean, the Butterscotch Bundt Cake that I published in my column in Ami magazine was a dream I had during my commute home from work one day. Okay, so I can't exactly tell you where the dream came from, but it's something. And some recipes are carefully researched and created to fit a theme, holiday or inspiration. But this recipe came to my head, … [Read more...]