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...]
Basil Potato Salad
Are you sick of hearing about Passover/Pesach yet? Well bad news folks, Passover is not for another week, so y0u've got another two weeks of hearing about my Passover cooking. On the other hand, if you think it's bad, imagine what kind of separation anxiety I am feeling for my best friend, er, I mean my Kitchen Aid. I've been searching the web for interesting Passover recipe ideas, and I definitely am not coming up short. There's a plethora of recipes out there, each one out-doing the next in terms of creativity and non-passover-like qualities. But I think the best Passover recipes are the simple things, the ones you can make by default, because they happen not to contain any grains. (Such … [Read more...]
Marinated Tri-Color Pepper Salad
I've mentioned before how that simplest things in life are often the best, right? Well, this is one of those best, simple things. Marinated Tri-Color Pepper Salad Ingredients: 1 red pepper 1 yellow pepper 1 orange pepper 2 scallions 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1 Tablespoon Vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon sugar or sweetener Pinch black pepper Instructions: Dice the peppers and place in a small bowl. Slice the scallions very thin, and add to bowl. Add the oil, vinegar, salt, sugar (if desired) and pepper. Toss to evenly coat everything. Place in fridge and leave to sit for a couple of hours or overnight. Note: you don't have to use all three … [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...]
Clown Cake Pops
Last week ushered in the Jewish month of Adar, which means Purim is right around the corner. I have some super exciting Purim treats to share. Starting with these adorable clowns. Purim is all about being happy and joyous, something clowns can totally aid in. What better way to showcase them than the ever-popular cake pop? They may look difficult, but don't be fooled. These clowns are easy, fun, and a great activity to do with your kids! Scroll down to bottom for link to full recipe and tips. See? So easy! For detailed directions, as well as my adorable Hamantashen shaped cake pops, check out my guest post on Joy of Kosher. … [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...]
Zebra Cake
I've seen this cake many times, all over the Internet. Each time, I doubted my ability to make it look as good as it did in the picture. And so this gorgeous cake sat in the back of my mental "to bake" list for months. I'm not sure what finally pushed me to go ahead and try baking a zebra cake, but I suspect it had something to do with needing something gorgeous to photograph with my amazing new camera. Turns out, I'm thrilled that I finally made this. Yeah, it was delicious. Yeah, it totally wowed everyone who saw it, but there's something else. This cake was totally easy to make. You'll have to just believe me, until you actually try it. It does take an extra couple of minutes, but … [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...]
Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies
I firmly believe that all people in this world can be divided into two categories: 1) Those who love chocolate, and, 2) Those who don't yet love chocolate. Needless to say, I fall distinctly into the first category. I also believe that we first category dwellers are happier creatures. We live secure in our knowledge that there's a magic potion called chocolate Professor Snape's big secret, promise not to tell? that can make everything better. Well, everything except broccoli. But that doesn't really count. To you second category folks, all I can say is...I hope your epiphany moment comes soon, and you join us happy people in the magical world of chocolate cravings. Until then, don't make … [Read more...]