I'm exhausted right now. Want to know why? Here's a partial list: Doughless potato knishes, cabbage kugel, chocolate chip cookies, crispy shallot breaded chicken, marinated almond crusted chicken, butternut squash kugel, and of course, apple kugel. All for passover. All made after I got home from work the last two nights. I am a little breathless thinking about the multitudes of food I still need to cook, but I had to stop and post my apple kugel recipe. I searched and searched every corner of the internet for a proper Apple Crumb Kugel for Passover, and came up empty. I am sure one exists, but I couldn't find it. And so I set out to make up my own recipe. I am not simply happy with this … [Read more...]
Chocolate Chip Pancake Cookies
It's the (not so) wonderful time of year again. All around me, observant Jewish housewives are desperately cleaning out their pantries, trying to use up any chometz ingredients (leavened grain products, forbidden on Passover). I did an inventory of my pantry recently, and was kind of horrified at the amount of stuff I have to use up before Passover comes in a couple of weeks. I think the most surprising thing I found was a box of pancake mix. Not to knock those who love pre-made mixes, but I am dead against them. A recipe calling for cake mix is an insult to my abilities as a baker. I periodically make pancakes- from scratch. I don't know how this box came to exist in my pantry, but I did a … [Read more...]
Zucchini and Broccoli Soup
I think that every time I post a soup recipe, I precede it with a long introduction about my love of soups. Are you tired of the introduction yet? Because if not, I can totally talk about it again. Or I can steer you to the other soup recipes on this blog. And in place of an introduction, I can go on a little rant about the New iPod. Don't get me wrong. I'm typing this on my iPhone, and really love all things apple. But! Here's what I don't get- why the lines outside electronics retailers on Release Day? Let's say you have the 500+ bucks to drop on a new iPad, and have been waiting excitedly for the new release. Would it kill you to wait until the next day, or even a week? Or sell your … [Read more...]
Sweet and Salty Roasted Pecans
Today on my blog I will introduce you to a different side of my cooking. This isn't my usual decadent and totally fattening dessert who's description, however vivid, is written solely based on the reviews and word of others. Nor is this a healthful recipe that I eat when trying to lose weight. No, this is my guilty little pleasure. My latest addiction, in the interest of full honesty. You may have noticed based on the number of peanut butter based treats on this blog that I adore the combination of sweet and salty. True, those treats are made so I can live vicariously (or simply fatteningly) through others, but still, I make what I want to eat. Not these. I made a batch of these and … [Read more...]
Spinach Stuffed Roasted Chicken
Let's talk for a couple of minutes about memory. No, not memories, as in I spent quality time with my family and formed lovely memories. I mean digital memory. I know I'm quite young, but no topic in the world does more to make me feel like an old grandma than this one. Let's go back and talk about my first encounter with digital media. It was seven years ago when I first purchased a digital camera. By today's standards it was a piece of junk, but in those days it was a top of the line camera. It had 5 megapixels and came with a 32 megabyte card. After spending a bundle on a camera, I didn't want to drop the additional cash on a larger card. I opted instead to use my 32 MB … [Read more...]
Spicy Baked Zucchini Sticks
Spicy Baked Zucchini Sticks are bursting with flavor and so easy to make! ***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.*** Last week I discussed how a certain food has come to be associated with a memory. Little did I imagine that just a couple of days later, I would accidentally stumble on to another food with deep memories attached. It started when I saw zucchini on sale at my local grocery store. I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I bought a big bag and decided that I would figure it out. I started to cut them into wedges, probably out of laziness, … [Read more...]
Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cookies
I spent my first year after high school in a fairly well supervised school dorm. Lunch was provided to us at school, and suppers were served in a large lunch room in the second floor of the school building. Breakfast was where we had a little leeway. Each Sunday we had to give in a grocery list of items we wanted for the week's breakfast. The list was typically comprised of bread, fruit, oatmeal and cereal. Snacks, however, weren't provided by the school. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. And as poor students, there was certainly a necessity for free snacks. So we got creative. We improvised. We discovered that the folks in charge of our grocery order didn't differentiate … [Read more...]
Spiced Corn Fritters
I know it's just the beginning of February, but one can hardly blame me for making summer food. Last week, I went out for my daily lunch-break walk (hey, it's better than nothing!) with no coat. In February. In New York City. It was surreal, but absolutely amazing. And now, I can't get this out of my head. It's practically spring, which means it's basically summer. Which means it's time for frozen concoctions, grilled recipes, and corn. So what if I am totally jumping the gun here? These fritters are made with a bag of frozen corn. (Shh. Don't tell anyone.) And they're super easy to make. Forget our friend the groundhog and his little prediction of doom. And don't worry about summer being … [Read more...]
Broccoli Kugel Muffins
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...]
Chocolate Covered Oatmeal Bars
I have a confession to make. I am terrible at reading and following directions. Take instruction manuals, for example. It isn't uncommon to find the instruction manual to an electronic device I bought a year ago sitting in a drawer, still sealed in it's plastic wrap. Instruction manuals, I reason, are for people of lesser intelligence. It may sound like I am bragging mightily here, so I will make a confession too, to even things out, y'know. I don't know that I can sit and read a manual. I don't have the attention span. Or the patience. And yet I have both the attention span and the patience to apply sprinkles to a chocolate covered pretzel with a pair of tweezers, to make sure it looks … [Read more...]