This month’s linkup is all about drinks! Cocktails (and mocktails) to serve at your next party. Well, I’m all about my Vitamix these days, and while I could easily whip up a frozen margarita, I am more into making healthy smoothies and drinks. You can add vodka to this if you like, or really anything to make it more of a cocktail. It’s a wonderful drink that quenches thirst and fights cancer! That is, as long as you can crack open that young coconut.
For some reason, our family always made the traditional Green Bean Casserole with broccoli. I really can’t tell you why, but that’s how we had broccoli. So, when my husband requested this for dinner one night, I accepted the challenge. Instead of using canned soup and canned onions, though, I knew I had to make the whole dish from scratch. Of course, Alton Brown came to the rescue this time, and while reading his rendition of the American classic, I decided it’s easy to make this dish in three steps. And I did. Continue reading
Growing up, we always ate spaghetti and meatballs on Monday nights. It’s not like we had a weekly dinner rotation or anything, that was just Monday night dinner. And we loved it. That was before “Meatless Monday” was a thing, anyway. Being kosher, we had a lot of meatless dinners throughout the week, so I don’t even feel the least bit guilty that most of my life was spent eating meat on Monday nights. Continue reading
If you follow us on Instagram, you probably know that I’m pretty much obsessed with my new Vitamix. No, they are not paying me to promote their product. I am just in love with it. I have a lot of kitchen gadgets, but none that I use as often as this one (because, let’s face it, while I’m in love with my Bosch Universal Plus, I can’t bake 5 pound batches of bread every day). I use my Vitamix at least once a day, and sometimes more. I make smoothies, juices, shakes, soups, and more in it. Recently, I found this muffin recipe that’s so easy, I just have to share it with you. Of course, you don’t need a super high speed awesome Vitamix blender for it, and any immersion blender will do, but hey, if you have one, why not use it? Continue reading
Every year I make a big deal out of choosing and baking a special birthday cake. And for a good reason. Every year on December 17th we celebrate two special birthdays, so of course the cake has to be extra amazing! I don’t only do this for my birthday, though. I like baking for everyone’s birthdays! My specialty is delicious layer cakes, not decorated cake mixes or sheet cakes with too much icing. Last year, we had a maple crunch layer cake, which we made by hand and was a hit at our birthday party. This year, though, I thought just baking one cake would be a little boring. So I racked my brain until I figured out what the perfect birthday dessert would be, and settled on these ice cream sandwiches. Chocolate, ice cream, and cookies all in one! What could go wrong?
I love baking challah. When I taught 3-year-olds, I baked it with them every week. That made me an expert on kneading the dough by hand and knowing what it should feel like before setting it aside to rise. I still occasionally baked challah, in big batches and small ones, and always by hand.
Last year I got one of the greatest presents ever for my birthday: a Bosch Universal Plus mixer! It is THE ultimate kitchen toy for bread making. Just throw the wet ingredients in the bowl, top with flour, and mix. There was a bit of a learning curve using a machine vs. my hands to make the dough. I never knew how long to mix and stopped the mixer every few seconds till I thought it felt right. I actually still do that sometimes, since bread baking is different based on the weather, your mood, and just about anything. Continue reading
Happy September! This month, the Kosher Connection is spreading the joy the best way we know how to; with food! I”m excited to see what everyone comes up with this month, since it’s not much of a foodie theme. We are spreading the joy with freezer food for a mom-to-be; Jessica! She’s due on Friday and has been stocking her freezer with healthy goodies so she won’t have to cook for a long time, so I made this green mac & cheese for both of us. I split it in two, put half in my freezer and half in hers.
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I know we just shared a swiss chard recipe, but being that Rosh HaShanah is right around the corner, I also have to share the traditional seder swiss chard recipe.
It’s pretty easy to make, though washing and chopping all the swiss chard takes some time. Unless you let the supermarket do that for you… Continue reading
Sometimes, the idea of cooking a big shabbat dinner can be pretty daunting. I mean, meat, roasts, sides, veggies, but then you come across super simple recipes for the main dish that taste so great and are pretty impressive, and you think to yourself, “hey, I can do this every week!” Continue reading
I love baking babka. And I don’t use my challah dough when baking a giant batch. Nope, instead I make a buttery (or fake buttery) dough that’s soft, fluffy, and all around delicious, ready for the filling of chocolate, cinnamon, or in this case cheese! Continue reading