I recently posed the question on twitter: "how does one describe broccoli kugel to non-Kosher eating folks?" For someone like me, who grew up eating kosher, Jewish style foods, kugel is a no-brainer. But when you stop and think about it, try to determine how one can define kugel, it gets infinitely complicated. Is it a side dish? Maybe. Is it savory? Occasionally. A sweet dish? Can be. Something eaten on Shabbos (sabbath)? Often times. Is there one blanket definition of kugel? Sadly not. So while my Jewish readers will probably know exactly what a broccoli kugel is, it may be perplexing to my non-Jewish readers. What exactly is a broccoli kugel, you may be asking yourself. Well, … [Read more...]
Roasted Red Pepper Soup
I am a recovering soup-aholic. Don't get me wrong. I still love soup, enjoy soup, even crave soup. But there was a point in my life when all I wanted every day, all day, was soup. This was in the days before I spent quite so much time in the kitchen, so most of the soup I consumed during that period of my life was bought. Here's the funny thing about store bought soup, though. You can order something very benign sounding, such as "vegetable soup" or "broccoli soup" and instead of a healthy dish, you just inadvertently consumed half of your daily allotment of calories. If I had tasted this soup in a restaurant or any other food establishment, I would have been wracked with guilt, convinced … [Read more...]
Healthy (Mock) Breaded Cauliflower
Healthy Mock Breaded Cauliflower is crispy and delicious, without all that fat! It's Chanukah now, which means that most of my readers, particularly the Jewish ones, will be expecting all kinds of deep fried delicacies to appear on the front page of this blog. After all, what kind of good Jewish girl isn't making latkes and donuts now? Okay, so I won't go so far as to say that I am not making any fried goodies this week. In fact, I have a whole bunch of deliciousness up my sleeve, (or in my frying pan, as the case may be). Hopefully, those will be here soon. But in the meantime, I figured I would preempt the unhealthy treats with my latest veggie creation. I think obsessed is a … [Read more...]
Garlic and Shallot Topped Smashed Potatoes
If the name of these potatoes seems complicated and difficult for you to pronounce, you can call them by their other name: Good Sister Potatoes. Why, one might ask, would these potatoes catapult me into the realm of a good sister? Well, that is a very good question, my friend. Y'see, I made these only because my sister asked me to come up with some new side dish ideas for her. And because I had some baby potatoes to cook. And these are delicious. But let's not discuss that now, shall we? In case you haven't noticed, I love making desserts. You haven't? This must be your first time here. Sure, a gal's gotta eat, and I really do enjoy cooking, baking and desserts will always have a soft spot … [Read more...]
Roasted Vegetable Chickpea Salad
***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.*** This salad has a long history. Very long. It started about three (maybe four?) years ago when I ate dinner with an excellent cook named Batya. She made a salad with some roasted vegetables and chickpeas, and I absolutely loved it. I went home and copied it, and served it to my sister. My sister loved it, and made it again, for me, when I visited her. Then I forgot about this salad, and I thought my sister did too. Fast forward a couple of years, when I spent the weekend at my sister's house. As I have mentioned … [Read more...]
Baked Butternut Squash Fries
While the majority of my job involves sales, I work on sales on a corporate level, so it's also a matter of building relationships with people, keeping customers happy, and other aspects of customer care. And while my company has a very loyal base of happy and completely satisfied customers, we are human, and like every company there's glitches that pop up and issues that happen and customers that get upset. And it's my job to deal with those unhappy people. And if an unhappy customer who spent a hundred dollars is a problem, you can imagine that an unhappy customer who spent a hundred thousand dollars is about a thousand times more of a problem. But it happens. And we deal with it. And … [Read more...]
Barbecue Flavored Roasted Corn Kernels: a Healthy Snack
I've been real quiet lately, I know. But I have a good excuse. No, a great excuse. Lets start with the month of Jewish Holidays, in which I cooked and fed a monstrous amount of food. No time for pictures, no time for writing up posts. No time to breath, really. All the while, I thought to myself "well, as soon as the holidays are over (they are now) I will be cooking up a storm, photographing everything I make...after all, I will have so much time." I must have forgotten ab0ut *work* when I formulated those thoughts. My company closed for the entire week of Succos, which is very nice on Succos. Then we all came back, and the reality hits. It's not like one person going on vacation, when … [Read more...]
Homemade Potato Knishes
Are you one of those people who thinks making homemade potato knishes from scratch is difficult? I used to think so. Then I made them. And I realized it's a lot easier than I imagined. I guest posted the recipe and some instructional photos on The Spiffy Cookie. Check it out here. Click here for the recipe. Enjoy! … [Read more...]
Apple Cherry Layered Crumb Cake (Kugel)
Remember the Kugel Quandary I had recently? Well, in case you were not yet confused about kugel, here we go. Honestly, I am highly uncertain about posting this recipe as a kugel. It's a cake, really. But when it comes down to it, a sweet kugel (such as this one) is really nothing but a great excuse to eat dessert halfway through your meal. And how can anyone not like that? To avoid confusion, I am going to call this a cake, going forward. Call it a sailboat if you want. The important thing is that you make it and thoroughly enjoy it. Now, a little bit of background on this cake. A number of years ago, just before a holiday, my father came down with a nasty infection and had to be … [Read more...]
Mini Shepherd’s Pies
What a week. I don't even know where to start. I guess with Sunday, when I worked a full day to make up for the days we were closed last week. Then came Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all of which felt like a day later than they actually were. I got home on average 7:30 each night, and got straight to work in the kitchen. I went to bed after 2 am every night. Now it's Thursday, well after 2 and I am not nearly done in the kitchen. Did I mention that my company will be closed next week, so it's about doubly busy this week? Yeah, I did drink loads of coffee. Why do you ask? Enough complaining about me. Let's talk global issues. I honestly couldn't believe how saddened I was at the … [Read more...]