Posted in Appetizers, Guest Post, Healthy, Salads, Seasonal, Sides, Super-Easy, Vegetables, Vegetarian on May 17, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Hey folks! My friend Samantha from Little Ferraro Kitchen is graduating, and studying for finals, and all kinds of stuff that keep her too busy for blogging. I’m so excited to step in with a guest post for her.
So head over there to see my recipe for Roasted Green Beans with Shallots and Cherry Tomatoes, and to wish Samantha a big mazel tov on her graduation.
And of course, come back soon for more yummy treats! -Miriam
Posted in Appetizers, Guest Post, Healthy, Sides, Super-Easy, Vegetables, tagged Cooking, food, garlic, ginger, Guest post, Honey, peas on December 23, 2012 | 9 Comments »
Hey everyone, remember when my blog friend Tali from More Quiche, Please guest posted for me over the summer when my sister got married? Well now I got to repay the favor!
I made my favorite vegetables in the world, and I talk all about them on Tali’s Blog. So go check out my absolutely amazing Honey Glazed Garlic and Ginger Sugar Snaps, and have a peak around her blog. Tell her I say hi!
Hope you love this awesome recipe folks! Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to enter my giveaway- a copy of Decorating Cookies by Bridget Edwards! -Miriam
Posted in Bread, Guest Post, Traditional on July 12, 2012 | 6 Comments »
The party was AMAZING and I can’t wait to show you guys pictures of it! I am as tired as I can remember being, so while I recuperate, I have one last guest poster for you. I am super excited to introduce you folks to Estee Lavitt. Estee is a working mommy who manages to find time to bake and cook delicious food, and she maintains a blog. Also, she is the nicest person on the entire twitter. No jokes.
Are you impressed yet? I know I am. Wait, there’s more! Estee bakes the best challah ever. I know so because I tasted it. That’s the awesome thing about meeting online friends in real life, you get to taste their goodies! Estee is pretty lucky too, if I do say so myself, because her husband and I work together, and occasionally he acts as a messenger, bringing her some of my goodies. Lucky lady, isn’t she?
Let’s bring in Estee and her amazing challah recipe!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Challah time!
A guest post by Estee Lavitt
I have long admired Miriam’s energy for cooking, baking, experimentation with ingredients and recipes, and love for learning key photography tips to beautifully display her food. Before a holiday or big bash, I make sure to bounce my menu ideas around and rely on Miriam’s expertise in this regard. (I hope she publishes my accolades!) [I love accolades! -M] I discuss ideas with her via Twitter or Facebook, and stay ahead of her blog posts.
I’ve taste tested several of her finished products (find my favorite here) and have made many of her tried and true recipes. I constantly refer to the site for new ideas and low fat alternatives. Okay, and desserts!
As you can imagine, I was thrilled to have Miriam test one of my personal recipes.
One night I made fresh challah rolls and convinced Miriam to taste them and share them with her family. The reviews were a success and so I am proud to share the recipe with you.
The recipe has evolved over the years since I began making it.
Some improvements were on purpose, while others were by mistake! Doubling the amount of honey by accident was one of the best things that ever happened to this challah!
The recipe can be made with all whole wheat flour, half whole wheat and half bread flour, or entirely of bread flour. I have made it by hand and in the bread machine (see details on my blog).
I prefer to use white whole wheat flour and I have recently discovered the benefits of sifting the flour! It really adds a fluffiness rarely attributed to whole wheat anything. I prefer the King James brand of whole wheat flour as it is finely ground and easy to sift.
Without further adieu, here is the recipe:
Whole Wheat Challah:
Ingredients:
3 cups warm water
2 pkgs or 4 1/2 tsp. dry yeast
1 cup honey
2/3 cup canola oil
4 eggs
1 T salt
6-7 cups white whole wheat flour sifted
6-7 cups bread flour sifted
Instructions:
Dissolve yeast in water in a large bowl. Add honey and let stand 2 minutes. Add oil, eggs and salt and mix well.
Gradually add flour, 2 cups at a time, mixing after each addition. (I use a 2 cup sifter and sift as I add each batch.) Use floured hands to knead well for approx 8 minutes. Dough should be pliable, not sticky.
Let rise in a greased bowl until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour. Punch down and separate challah without a blessing.
Shape into 4-5 small loaves or as desired. Let rise again until doubled in size.
Brush with egg and sprinkle with seeds as desired.
Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes, 35 if you like it “doughy” but not raw and 40 if you like it fully cooked through. Personally, I bake it for 38 minutes.
Remove from pans and let cool on a wire rack.
I have served this challah to countless guests and they have all complimented me on it. I’ve served it up with chocolate chips and covered in a sugar cinnamon coating. I’ve shaped it in all kinds of fun permutations. Even my children can handle the dough easily.
I have several friends who make the same challah and have also received compliments. It really enhances my Shabbos and I hope it does the same for you.
I look forward to hearing your comments and impressions after you taste it yourself.
Thank you Miriam for the opportunity to guest post on your blog. Now can you please take professional pictures of my challah?
Follow me on twitter @esteelavitt or on my blog esteelavitt.blogspot.com.
Thank you Estee! Send me some challah and I will photograph it for you! 
Thank you everyone for stopping by, and come back next week for some more of my recipes…finally!
Linking this to Twelve Breads
Posted in Cheesecake/Dairy Desserts, Chocolate, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Guest Post, No-Bake Dessert, tagged dessert, food on July 11, 2012 | 11 Comments »
Tomorrow is the big party and I am freaking out about a million details I need to deal with. Good thing you guys won’t have to miss out- I have an awesome guest post for you today!
Carla from Chocolate Moosey has become a great blogging buddy of mine, and it’s particularly fitting that she guest post here, because I met her initially through a guest post she did on another blog! Plus, Carla and I share a great love of desserts, which is pretty evident from posts of hers like these peanut butter nutella crinkles, these strawberry lemonade cupcakes and these chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bars. (Plus, you know you gotta love a blog with an entire cheesecake section!) Anyway, check out Carla’s blog, then scroll down for her awesome looking recipe!
__________________________________________________________________________
Big thank you to Miriam for asking me to guest post today! It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to make, but with this heat, ice cream was the perfect choice. I’ve been dying to make this Dark Truffle, Candied Cherry and Toasted Almond Ice Cream from David Lebovitz’ book The Perfect Scoop ever since I got it. His picture is just so inviting with those vibrant red cherries. When I went cherry picking a few weeks ago, I knew I was making this ice cream. It is toasted almond ice cream packed full of candied cherries, more toasted almonds, and dark chocolate rum truffles.
There is so much flavor in this Dark Truffle, Candied Cherry, and Toasted Almond Ice Cream that you won’t be able to contain your taste buds. The sweet candied cherries. The crunchy toasted almonds. The decadent dark chocolate rum truffles. All three flavors unite in a toasted almond ice cream base. I think I may like this combination more than chocolate ice cream.
This ice cream may seem time consuming, but you can make the components ahead of time and multi-task the steps. First, you make the ice cream base and infuse toasted almonds. While that is infusing, you cook the cherries until a syrup forms. While that is cooking, you melt chocolate into heavy cream and freeze. It sounds like a lot of work, but honestly, all you’re doing is waiting. If you don’t have time to do it all in one day, break it into parts. One night I made the candied cherries and dark truffles. A few days later, I made the ice cream base, froze it, and added my mix-ins. I was a bit impatient in letting my ice cream freeze completely, so I had a bit of a melted mess on my hands when I took the pictures.
Want to know a secret? I don’t own an ice cream maker. Humans have been making ice cream far before ice cream makers were invented. Sure, a machine speeds things up and gives you one less thing to think about, but if you don’t have the money or room for a machine, you can still make ice cream. Thanks to the ice cream genius himself, David Lebovitz wrote an article on a successful method, one that I’ve been using for years. Now you can’t use the machine as an excuse to not make it
| Dark Truffle, Candied Cherry, and Toasted Almond Ice Cream |
Source: The Perfect Scoop
Thank you Carla for giving me an ice cream craving! And thanks guys for stopping by! Come back soon, I have one more amazing guest post coming up for you, then back to our regularly scheduled eatin-er, programming. -Miriam
Posted in Chicken, Guest Post, Main Courses on July 5, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Remember when my sister got engaged and I made her a super gorgeous engagement party? Well she’s getting married tonight! I know, it’s crazy! My big sis is getting married.
Anyway, while I’m off celebrating her big day, Melinda of Kitchen-Tested agreed to step in and share an incredible looking recipe with all of you. Although everything on her blog is strictly kosher, Melinda features recipes that are so innovative, you could easily think she doesn’t have any restrictions. (Think Chicken with Red Velvet Waffles…I know, yum.) She also puts me to shame somewhat because her recipes feature step by step pictures (unlike mine!) which make it so much easier to make things like her fabulous Rainbow Layer Cake!
Melinda also has a business selling the most gorgeous chocolate caramel treats, aptly named Cara-Mels. Check it out here.
And now, for the delicious recipe:
________________________________________________________________
Is Caesar salad dressing a part of your daily conversation? Well lately, it’s been a big part of mine.Homemade or bottled? Full fat or low fat? My answer is always the same: Mauzone Lite Caesar Salad Dressing is the best thing out there! It’s a fact. A fact in my world, but still a fact. It’s the only Caesar dressing I use. So in the midst of these conversations, I began to wonder if there were any new ways I could
use the dressing besides dousing lettuce with the creamy garlicky goodness. When I think of a Caesar salad, I crave cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, croutons and I personally like to add fried pastrami over the top. With those ingredients in mind, the idea popped in to my head to wrap pastrami around chicken and bake it in the dressing. Sounds good, right? Well, it gets even better. Since most of the pastrami wrapped chicken recipes I’ve tasted are very dry, I chose to cook my chicken for 4 hours on low temperature in the oven! Dousing the chicken in Caesar dressing and smothering with herbed margarine didn’t hurt either.
Pastrami Wrapped Caesar Chicken
Ingredients:
8-10 pieces boneless chicken breast
5 Tbsp margarine, softened
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dried minced onion
1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
20 long slices pastrami
1-2 cups Caesar dressing
Instructions:
Using a sharp knife, butterfly the chicken breast to flatten it out. Place your hand on top of the breast. Carefully insert the knife into the thickest part of the breast, and draw it almost all the way through the breast. Make sure to keep the breast attached on one side. Open the chicken breast like a book. The chicken will now be easier to roll later on.
Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Mix together the margarine, garlic, onions, chives and parsley.
Spread the margarine on the inside of the chicken breast and place in a pan. Once all of the chicken breasts are rolled with the herbed margarine, wrap in two slices of pastrami.
Pour the Caesar salad dressing all over the top of the pastrami wrapped chicken.
Cover the chicken and cook for 4 hours. Raise the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for another 20 minutes.
Slice that chicken open and just for kicks, serve over a Caesar salad. Between the herbed margarine, fatty pastrami and creamy dressing, the chicken is so moist and flavorful!
Enjoy.
_____________________
Thank you Melinda, and thanks guys for stopping by! I have some more exciting guest posts from awesome blogging pals to keep y’all busy while I participate in the wedding festivities. Come back soon! -Miriam
Posted in Appetizers, Condiments/Sauces/Dips, Guest Post, Healthy, Super-Easy, Vegetarian, tagged Healthy, hummus, vegetarian on June 12, 2012 | 3 Comments »
I had some store-bought hummus earlier today, and I suddenly came to a startling realization. I have completely spoiled myself with my amazing homemade hummus, and I can’t eat the store bought stuff anymore.
Want to taste the amazing recipe for my Homemade Toasted Sesame Hummus? Check out my guest post here on my friend Jessie’s blog.
Enjoy!
Come back soon, I have a real fun treat for you guys! -Miriam
Posted in Dessert, Guest Post, Life on the side on April 27, 2012 | 7 Comments »
I’m still in the midst of my intense bake-a-thon, and more tired than I’ve ever been in my life-er, at least since my last crazy bake-a-thon.
However, I wanted to remind all of you to pick up a copy of this week’s Ami Magazine for two awesome recipes.
Cappuccino Cookie Cups
Don’t let their adorable cupcake like looks fool you. These are delicious coffee flavored cookies, topped with whipped cream. Think of it as your favorite drink at starbucks…in cookie form! (Because everything is better in cookie form!)
I also made some delicious Crackle Top Lemon Tarts, so make sure to check out this week’s Ami for the recipes! (If Ami isn’t available in print where you live, check out their E-Magazine here.)
Make sure to check out the guest posts from my friend Rachel here, and my friend Tova here.
See you next week with some recipes and possibly a recap of my baking shenanigans!
Posted in Guest Post, Healthy, Main Courses, Salads, Vegetables on April 26, 2012 | 7 Comments »
I am spending the majority of my (non-work) waking hours in the kitchen, baking up a bunch of the most amazing treats you’ve ever seen! I can’t wait to share them with you, but that requires time- something I don’t have this week. Instead, my friend Tova B. is showing you folks how to make a delicious looking Panini. I dunno about all of you, but after reading this I have been craving Panini. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
If you want to contact Tova you can email me and I will forward it on to her.
_________________________________________________________________
I love this recipe because it really is all about your own taste. The ingredients are simple, but the measurements of them are all up to you and your taste buds. I don’t think I ever make this recipe the same way each time due to the amount of people I serve it to, or if it’s just for me. The traditional Italian name of this recipe is called Caprese Salad which is basically a “sandwich” of tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese. I have adapted my own version of this and we eat it in all kinds of ways. Plain as a side salad, in pasta or in a panini, which is what I will be showing you today.
Ingredients for this recipe are 2 slices of bread, cheese, tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt and pepper to taste, and olive oil.
For the recipe below it is for about 1 serving, but that will depend on the size of your sandwich.
Ingredients:
4 small tomatoes- sliced or chunks
1.5 cloves of fresh garlic minced or chopped.(I love garlic so I like a lot, but use half a clove if its not your favorite- and finely mince it if you don’t want to bite down on a bigger piece)
pinch of pepper to taste (optional)
sprinkle of salt to taste (I used about a teaspoon of kosher salt, but again it depends on how salty you like your tomatoes)
quarter of a cup of fresh basil or a few pinches of dried basil. (Make sure to rub the dry basil in your hands before sprinkling it onto the tomatoes)
1 teaspoon of olive oil (or more depending on the size of the tomatoes) A drizzle over the bowl is enough.
Instructions:
Mix all the salad ingredients in a bowl, and let it sit for 15 minutes just so all the ingredients get to know each other. The salt will bring out the water in the tomatoes, making for a great liquid at the bottom of the bowl you can pour over chicken or your pieces of bread for your panini.
Take a slice of bread and sprinkle cheese (whatever amount you want) so that it covers the majority of the bread. The cheese serves as a “glue” for the tomatoes and bread to stick. Then put the tomato salad on top spreading it as evenly as possible and putting more cheese on top so that the top layer of the bread can stick to the rest of the sandwich.
Using a sandwich maker, panini maker or frying pan put your sandwich in until the bread is golden brown (or more if you like it well done). If you are using a frying pan flip the sandwich when it browns on the bottom.
That’s it! It is easy and simple, and you can make this recipe your own depending on your taste buds. Put the salad on pasta with melted cheese or eat it plain! It is a favorite in my family and I think it will be a favorite in yours.
Enjoy!
