Veggie Muffins

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(Also called Toddler Muffins or Triple-Hitter Muffins)

I’m really not a fan of hiding vegetables in food. I mean, it’s just sneaky. But, there’s nothing wrong with making muffins out of a bunch of fruits and vegetables and them tasting good! who says it’s hiding? Richie loves watching me cook and bake, and it’s no different when I make these muffins. He sees the food processor shredding veggies and the Kitchen Aid mixing and it’s entertainment for an entire evening. Continue reading

Cheese Sambusak, or Mini Cheese Pies

cheese sambusak

What is sambusak, you ask? It’s like a bite-sized turnover, an empanada or a pie. The dough is a savory butter pie crust made with a mixture of semolina and all purpose flours, and the filling is a simple cheese mixture. And that’s it; we just made cheese sambusak! (Just kidding, I’ll go into more detail soon.)

These can really be filled with anything, but we eat two kinds: cheese or meat. And cheese sambusak is the best kind, especially because if you’re making the filling meat, you can’t make the dough with butter. Continue reading

Orange Chicken + a Kol Foods Giveaway!

When Kol Foods offered to send me a product of theirs to review, I was super excited. I have never eaten their food before, but have been curiously browsing the site for their organic, pastured, vegetarian-fed (and delicious) meat and poultry options. I got a whole chicken in the mail. Roasting chicken whole is probably one of my favorite ways to cook chicken. It leaves it moist and juicy, and it’s fancy enough for company.

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Kibbe!

…Finally!

Shabbat shalom! In honor of this wonderful shabbat, we’re sharing a our kibbe recipe with you, as well as what I think are pretty good directions on how to shape them. I tried taking a video, but let’s just say my phone got covered in oily meat and had to be wiped clean very carefully. Stephanie and I have been writing about kibbe for a long time now. We use it in recipes all the time. It’s a Friday night staple in the Blanco house, and it’s actually surprising if we don’t eat kibbe for Shabbat dinner.

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Well what is a kibbe, you ask? They’re really small meatballs. Meat-stuffed-meatballs. Continue reading

Rugelach

Ina Garten usually makes  roast chicken for Friday night dinner. When she decided to make a traditional Jewish meal of brisket, she made rugelach for dessert. It looked delicious. There was a small problem with the recipe, though! It was very dairy. She used two sticks of butter and a package of cream cheese to make the dough. For a Shabbat dessert, this is not okay. Luckily, Toffuti makes some pareve cream cheese that you could substitute quite easily.

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Granola

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Granola is so expensive when you buy it at the supermarket. It’s mostly oats, which are so cheap! And I get that nuts are expensive, so when I make it, I usually use whatever is hanging out in my freezer. This time, I still had lots of pepitas from my pumpkin biscotti leftover, so I used those to make this nut-free granola, but feel free to use pecans, walnuts or whatever you like. You can even add in some flax seed or wheat germ, but I think this is healthy enough as it is. And you can really use any fruit you like or have, dates and apricots are just some of my favorites. Dried cherries would work great, too. Or even raisins…you get the point. Continue reading

Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli

Happy 2013!

I finally got Ina Garten’s new cookbook! It took a while, especially because I pre-ordered it on Amazon. Turns out, shipping during Hurricane Sandy got kinda iffy, and it just never showed up. Thanks to Amazon’s amazing customer service (once I figured out where to find it), they overnighted me a new copy! Yay! After looking through the recipes, and weeding out the very unkosher ones, I decided that a one-pot pasta dish was the perfect first recipe to try. Why? Because we love pasta! Because Richie loves pasta. Because It reheats easily on a weeknight. And because sausage is something I don’t cook much, so I thought I’d give it a try.

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Kale and Quinoa Pilaf

kale and quinoa pilaf

 

Kale and quinoa? You might think this dish is too healthy to taste any good, but you’d be wrong. If you’re trying to eat, this is a good start. But even if you’re not, this is a great dinner! It’s quick to cook up, dirties exactly one pot and the serving bowl, you can make it ahead of time and it’s tasty, too! What more can you ask for in a meal? Continue reading