Recipes for Jewish New Year–Rosh Hashana

Posted on September 22, 2016 | Leave a comment
Finished Product Apple Cake

Finished Product Apple Cake

photo 1 (3)

Un-Stuffed Cabbage

DSCN2648DSCN4230DSCN2642DSCN4225DSCN4234photo (2)DSCN4230Summer is the most easy-going time of the year and then along comes the Jewish holidays right on the heels of Labor Day and just like that it is over. Kids are back to school and we’re cooking dinner again and preparing meals. Before you know it,  it’s Thanksgiving! Oh well here we go again, for those of you who have been reading my blog you may have made a lot of these recipes and welcome aboard to the new readers.  I am sort of a traditionalist when it comes to holidays and my family always looks forward to the same things. If I introduce a new recipe it’s always hold your breath time and what was wrong with the old one looks on everyone’s face.  Final decisions haven’t been made but I know that there are some things I’d never leave out. Here is a list of suggestions and by all means cruise through my blog and see if there is anything else to your liking. These are just a list of suggestions. I will be posting a few new ones this week, so be on the lookout. Rosh Hashana recipes are tagged Rosh Hashana if you are trying to look them up on my blog. I may sneak in a recipe or two this week if I can get in the time. So sad summer is over but it’s time to move on .

For those who celebrate have a very Happy Healthy New Year! Shanah Tovah!!

Homemade Chicken Soup with not so Homemade Matzo Balls ( even though this is for Passover we eat it a lot on Rosh Hashana)

Happy New Year Brisket

Unstuffed Cabbage–a great alternative to meatballs

Chicken Marbella

Honey Roasted Chicken

Old School Meatballs

A Noodle Pudding from Ellen

Another Noodle Pudding from Marcy *kosher non dairy

Noodle Pudding with Apricot Nectar–probably one of the all time best kugels ever

Noodle Pudding from Julie

Mushroom Barley

Kasha Varnishkes

Grandma Millie’s Cauliflower

Applesauce and Raisin Cake

Don’t let the Apples go Bad Cake

Julie’s Honey Cake

Plum Torte

My farewell to Norah Ephron- her Tzimmes

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Un-Stuffed Cabbage

Posted on September 16, 2016 | 3 comments

photo 3 (4)photo 2 (2)photo 3 (4)photo 3 (5)photo 4 (3)photo 2I love stuffed cabbage and my Grandmother made the most amazing stuffed cabbage ever . I love stuffed cabbage but do not feel like dealing with the actual stuffing of the cabbage, it is way too labor intensive for me.  I have made several variations of this and found this one to my liking the best. You can play with the ingredients which is what I did . Original recipe is from Kosher by Design and it is perfect for Passover by just leaving out the rice and substituting matzoh meal in its place. Basically this is meatballs in a sweet and sour sauce with cabbage . I doubt very much that Joel would ever eat real “stuffed cabbage” but he liked this. The cabbage cooks down so much that you don’t even realize you’re eating cabbage. I also used 1/2 chicken ground meat and 1/2 beef ground meat , this is entirely up to you. I wouldn’t do all chicken because it might be a bit dry, you can definitely make this with turkey but use dark meat turkey or the balls will also be very dry. You can also make this ahead for the holidays which is always a very good thing and feel free to freeze it.  This is the original recipe , adjust amounts for how much you’re making. I made 2 lbs. of meat but made full sauce as I was testing it out. You’ll want to use a large pot for this recipe. Enjoy!

This will be on our Rosh Hashana menu this year with raisins and meat , sweet and sour, oh so perfect!

Ingredients:

Meat

3 lbs. ground meat– I used chicken and beef (dark meat turkey is best here) white meat turkey tends to be very dry. Mixed with beef it’s fine but if using alone you’ll need to use dark meat ground turkey.

2 large eggs, lightly beaten. Use room temperature eggs they work best.*see my post about eggs–a little note on my blog.

3/4 cup uncooked long grain white rice, for Passover use matzoh meal and omit the rice

1/4 cup water

1 onion finely chopped

Kosher Salt to taste–app. 1/2 to 1 tablespoon

Pepper to taste–app. 10 grinds on a pepper mill, or app. 1/4 of a tablespoon

*garlic powder if you like

Sauce:

2 packages of shredded cabbage, probably about 1 head of cabbage finely shredded, no need to do it when you can buy it pre-shredded (not red cabbage)

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

Kosher Salt to taste ( app. 1/2 tablespoon)

1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

1 1/2 cups tomato juice

4 8 ounce cans tomato sauce ( or 32 ounces)

1/2 cup brown sugar ( use whichever brown sugar you have in house , it won’t make a difference. Light or Dark, I actually used dark.

1 cup sugar

3 lemons squeezed , I got about 1/2 cup , they were smallish lemons

1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl combine the meat, eggs, water, rice and onions. Season with Salt and Pepper , and if you like garlic powder. Gently mix by hand, and I do mean gently, if you over do it the meat will be like concrete. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the shredded cabbage and about 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomato juice, tomato sauce, brown sugar, sugar, lemon juice and the raisins. Stir till well combined and continue cooking sauce at simmer setting.

Gently form meatballs out of the meat mixture, I made a rather nice size meatball, not too large and not too small. Make whatever size you’d like. Just do not over-handle the meat because it will cause meat to toughen. Add to cabbage mixture, just drop into the hot sauce and do not stir, you can pile them on top of one another because they will cook down.

I left it to simmer for about 1 1/2 hours . I didn’t touch the meat balls for at least the first 1/2 hour, you’ll want them to cook through and form into nice balls before you stir, so just leave them to cook. After the first 1/2 hour or so you can gently stir and move the meatballs around. They don’t require a lot of stirring around .

This dish brought back memories of my childhood and was a most satisfying main dish.

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Plum Torte

Posted on September 14, 2016 | 1 comment

photoDSCN4225 DSCN4214 DSCN4216My friend Ellen sent me this recipe in the spring of last year and I couldn’t find these plums anywhere. She re-sent it to me and I think it’s a most perfect dessert, and I was thinking it would be so perfect for Jewish Holidays but the plums will no longer be available soon.  You can make two and freeze one or freeze both of them for the holidays.  Ellen is an awesome cook so I totally trust her on this.  So here you go. It’s best made with the small italian plums that are out end of August and early September and you know how much I love using seasonal fruits and veggies. Thanks Ellen.

These plums can be called Italian Prunes as well, and try and use them because they are beyond delish!

Perfect for freezing.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sweet butter softened (room temp. or I soften for a few seconds in microwave , but don’t melt)

1 cup flour, sifted

1 tsp. baking powder

pinch salt

2 eggs ( always bake with room temp. eggs unless otherwise stated)

12  pitted purple italian plums, halved*  ( often called Italian Prunes) If you can’t find the Italian Prune type you can use regular plums, but try and make this now while they are in the store and freeze this.

lemon juice and sugar for topping

Directions:

cream sugar and butter, add flour , baking powder, salt and eggs, beat well. Cut a round piece of parchment paper and line a 9 inch springform pan. Spoon the batter into pan ( it will be thick so you’ll need to spread it a bit). Place plum halves skin side up. Sprinkle plums lightly with lemon juice and then sprinkle sugar all over. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool, invert and gently peel off paper then invert again – plum side up.

This is a keeper.

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Plum torte | Search Results | Cooking with Candi

Posted on September 14, 2016 | Leave a comment

https://cookingwithcandi.com/?s=Plum+torte&submit=Search

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Don’t Let the Apples Go Bad Cake

Posted on September 9, 2016 | 1 comment

Apples are the kind of fruit we eat all year round. They are always in the fridge and if they don’t get eaten, I  feel guilty that they’re just sitting there and going to go bad.  I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and decided to make it.  I would make it and freeze it, so if you’re interested in doing so this cake freezes well. You’ll need a tube pan. You don’t need an electric mixer, so it’s pretty easy on the special equipment. Use those leftover apples–don’t let them go bad. No butter in this recipe, lots of sugar though.  My house smelled divine.

I also love this recipe for the Jewish Holidays which are just around the corner…..just saying.

*you can see in photos that I use a melon baller to get the pits out of the middle of the apple. I prefer this technique over the corer thing which never really works for me.  The melon baller works perfectly: first cut apple in half, then scoop out just the pits.

Thanks to Smitten Kitchen again for a wonderful recipe.

www.smittenkitchen

Ingredients:

6 apples (I used what I had in the house: a combo of Granny Smith and Honey Crisp. Good old Macintosh will work, too.)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup orange juice (try to use fresh but if not, Tropicana will do)

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup walnuts, chopped (this is optional; I didn’t use them this time out)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core, and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside (I sprayed with a baking spray. There’s no need to add any butter here.)

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. This mixture will be rather thick.  Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to make sure all ingredients are incorporated. Use a rubber spatula to get it all out of the bowl.

Pour 1/2 the batter into prepared tube pan. Spread 1/2 the apples over this. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Use your eye to halve  batter and apples (don’t worry if it’s not perfectly halved.) Bake for about 90 minutes, or until a cake tester (or toothpick) comes out clean. I would check cake after 1 hour 20 minutes. I baked for the full 90 minutes; it’s a rather thick cake.

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BBQ Baked Beans

Posted on September 5, 2016 | 2 comments

Perfect for a side dish for BBQ or indoor dining! I made these baked beans for a dinner party this summer and completely forgot to post the recipe . It’s not vegetarian friendly since I did use bacon and am afraid if you leave it out you would be leaving out an integral layer of flavor. These are sweet and delicious and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry. I love a well stocked pantry and always have canned beans, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, mustard, dark and light brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. I used dark brown sugar but if you have light you can use. You’ll need thick-cut bacon and a medium yellow onion. I love when I use ingredients that I have in my house.

I saw this recipe on Valerie’s Home Cooking on The Food Network.

www.foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

4 slices thick-cut bacon, roughly chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 15 ounce cans Cannellini or Great Northern white beans

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

Kosher Salt and Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the bacon in a large cold skillet and cook over medium heat until the fat renders and the bacon is almost cooked to a crisp. About 10 minutes.

Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally , until the onion is softened, another 10 minutes or so. Add 1 can of the beans with their liquid. Drain and rinse the second can of beans, then add them to the skillet.

Add the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of the pepper mill. You’ll taste for salt and pepper again at the end of cooking.

Bring to a low simmer, then transfer to a small baking dish. Bake uncovered until thick and bubbly, about an hour.Taste for salt and pepper.

I cooked in my small Le Creuset from start to finish and served in my pot right to the table. Either way is fine.

Serve Warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chopped Vegetable Salad

Posted on September 4, 2016 | 3 comments

FullSizeRender (2)FullSizeRenderI was having a dinner party and thought this would be a perfect addition to my menu. It contained fresh  vegetables and a salad all in one! Perfect side dish served right along with dinner. Of course you can add a protein and make this the meal which would be ever so perfect. Perfection in a bowl. This is what I did and what veggies I used, feel free to use the vegetables you would love. These were the quantities that worked perfectly though. I won’t lie it took some prep for this and a good idea would be to chop a lot of the veggies ahead of time and have them ready. Avocado and lettuce must be added right before serving though. Dressing and veggies can be made ahead of time .

*I served as a side dish and it was generous for about 6 -8 servings , if you’re using for a main probably 4-6.

*Original Recipe from O Magazine–I made a few changes

Ingredients:

Dressing:

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard

1 garlic clove–minced

1/2 tsp. kosher salt plus a little more to taste at the end

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste at the end

1/4 cup good extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:

1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and cut into small pieces — about 1/2″

2 medium carrots, cut into small pieces

3 ears of corn, cut kernels off cobs

1/2 pint small cherry or grape tomatoes cut in 1/2

2 ribs celery, cut into small pieces , about 1/2″ pieces

1 red bell pepper, cored and cut into small pieces , also about 1/2″ size

1/3 cup finely chopped red onion

1 head romaine , chopped

1 large ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and diced

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Meanwhile in a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, garlic, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Lastly, whisk in the oil slowly. Set aside.

When water comes to a boil, add cut up green beans and carrots to boiling water and cook until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Add corn and cook a couple of minutes more. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water, let veggies completely cool down. I let them sit till they were completely cool. Give vinaigrette a quick whisk, and add veggies to the bowl. Add in the tomatoes, celery , bell pepper and onion and toss well. Set aside and let marinate for at least 1/2 hour. I probably let it sit in marinade for about an hour.

Right before serving, add chopped romaine, avocado and parmesan . Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed. Toss gently to combine.

Serve immediately.

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Posted in corn, Salad, salad dressing, tomatoes, vegetables, vegetarian

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Yellow Tomato Gazpacho

Posted on August 30, 2016 | 1 comment

photo 4 (3)photo 4 (2)I had purchased the most beautiful yellow  tomatoes and figured I would make gazpacho. Gazpacho is by far one of my most favorite summer time soups.  This one is fairly smooth.  Before serving I added  avocado and served with tortilla chips for a wonderful most satisfying meal. This is also super easy and you’ll look like a pro if you just follow these easy directions. You’ll need a decent blender and a few easy to obtain ingredients and you have a wonderful additional to any meal or a nice light lunch. This time I used beautiful yellow tomatoes, you can use any color you’d like and you can use any kind of tomato from the small grape or cherry tomatoes to the larger ones.  The yellow tomatoes with the flecks of jalapeno made a strikingly beautiful soup.photo 2 (3) photo 2I have another recipe titled “Farm to Table Gazpacho” it’s more of a traditional gazpacho! I am going to re-post it as well.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. yellow tomatoes, I used regular sized tomatoes. You can use yellow or orange cherry tomatoes and get the same effect. I washed and dried tomatoes and cut into quarters or halves for easier blending. Heirlooms are amazingly delicious when in season which they are right now! My sister makes this recipe by parboiling the tomatoes, removing the skin and cutting core out of tomatoes. This is an other option. I opted for the easier method but both are delicious and work well.

1 garlic clove (average sized)–you can use 2 cloves if you like a bit more bite of garlic

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced ( be careful handling jalapenos always, I use rubber gloves and be very careful not to get seeds on my hands) wash carefully after cutting up jalapenos, seriously. If you like more kick keep a few seeds from jalapenos. You can use Serrano Chiles also but I still think Jalapenos have the most bang for the buck.

app. 1 tsp. kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste , you may need to add salt and pepper at the end

Diced avocado and tortilla chips for serving.

Directions:

In a blender, puree the halved tomatoes and garlic with 1/4 cup of water. While the machine is on I gradually add the olive oil until fully incorporated. Transfer to a bowl then stir in the jalapeno and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until chilled, at least an hour or so, better overnight.

When you’re ready to serve ladle the gazpacho into bowls and top with diced avocado. Serve with tortilla chips. If you leftover shrimp it is also delicious to add and makes it more of a meal!

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Eggplant and Tomato with or without Pasta

Posted on August 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

photo 5 (11) photo 5 (12) photo 4 (12) photo 3 (16) photo 5 (13)Another wonderful inspiration from Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook “The Can’t Cookbook”,  even though I can cook there are so many great and easy recipes in this book. This was certainly one of them. I served over pasta (see photos) and it is so easy! Everyone gets nervous about cooking eggplant and I really am not sure why that is, well this will cure you of that fear if you have it. You can just make this as a side dish without the pasta but any reason to eat pasta in this house is a good one.

Eggplants should be smooth-skinned, evenly firm and without soft spots. I bought organic ,  when  I’m eating the peel or the skin I  try to buy organic, same goes for tomatoes.

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant or 2 small ones

4 cloves garlic

1 pint cherry or grape type tomatoes

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1/3 cup olive oil

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

*1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper ( optional )

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the eggplant and the tomatoes. Cut off and discard the stem. Cut the eggplant into 1 inch thick round pieces. Stack 2 rounds, then slice  rounds 2 x and 2x across to make 1″ cubes. ( see photos). Smash the 4 garlic cloves with the back of large knife. Prepare baking dish by spraying lightly with Pam spray.

Place the eggplant , garlic, tomatoes, and thyme in baking dish.  Sprinkle salt , pepper and crushed red pepper if you’re using it. With clean hands toss together until the eggplant is coated with olive oil and don’t worry if it’s over-crowded. It will break down and there will be plenty of room.

Roast until the eggplant is really soft and tender. I roasted for an hour and gave it a stir and was good to go.

I served over pasta but you certainly don’t have to have pasta,  you can eat this just as is. If you’re serving over pasta you may want to drizzle a little more olive oil into the eggplant and tomato mixture–just for a little more saucier consistency.

Thanks again Jessica .

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Lime Shrimp with Corn and Avocado

Posted on August 22, 2016 | 4 comments

IMG_8249 (2) IMG_8233 IMG_8228 (2)All I can say is Wow!!!!  I cooked about a lb.of beautiful shrimp and I wanted to use it in a delicious light salad incorporating some fresh corn and avocados. This salad has some of most favorite ingredients in it.  I used fresh corn, fresh tomatoes, jalapeno, red onion, and shrimp! Limes are the secret ingredient here because they add all the flavor to this super light dressing.  This has got to be one of the healthiest most delicious salads.  Totally not fattening but filling because of the shrimp , corn and avocados. If you don’t like the ingredients you can Pasadena on this recipe because it’s definitely not for you. For those of you into it this is a must go to for summer entertaining. Light and Fresh , low in calories and so so easy to make. Perfect for weekend guests for lunch or as an appetizer with chips!

If you like cilantro I would chop some up and add it, but a lot of people hate it so much I chose to not add. I removed all the seeds from the jalapeno and probably used 3/4 of a large one. One small seeded jalapeno is perfect and not hot at all. Be careful handling the peppers and the seeds,  I’ve taken to wearing surgical gloves to cut up the peppers.

This is a perfect summer salad, just don’t add avocados till you’re ready to serve,  everything else can be assembled ahead of time. I put together in the morning of the day I was serving and then added my avocados right before I served. This is what I did.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. cooked shrimp (after cooking it should be 1 lb.) I then cut it up into smaller pieces. I probably cut each shrimp into 4 pieces. Remember I used under 10’s. So that’s 10 shrimp to a pound. You want the shrimp pieces to be bite size but not too small.

1/4 cup chopped red onion

3 cobs of fresh cooked corn ( just put cobs in boiling salted water, bring to a second boil and remove and plunge into an ice bath) let corn cool and remove kernels from cobs.

2 limes-juiced , I use my juicer to juice because it’s tough with limes and you need as much lime juice as possible from 2 limes. I squeezed a third lime over at the end, but it’s probably not necessary. The citrus helps keep avocado from turning brown as well.

1 Teaspoon Olive Oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

a few grinds on the pepper mill–to taste

I put in about 1/2 pint of small grape tomatoes, but you can eyeball if using larger tomatoes, I didn’t want tomatoes to over power the other outstanding flavors

2 avocados–sliced and cut into cubes

1 small-medium jalapeno–seeded and minced

*a handful of chopped fresh cilantro if you love it

Directions:

Cook shrimp- peel and de-vein or buy it cleaned and de-veined whichever works best for you. I like cooking my own shrimp but you can certainly use a “cooked shrimp” readily available in most markets.

Cook corn and allow to cool down. When corn is cooled completely down I cut kernels off.

In a separate small bowl, place chopped red onion, lime juice, olive oil and salt and a little black pepper. Whisk together .

I placed Shrimp, Corn, Jalapeno and Tomatoes into a large bowl. About an hour prior to serving I poured the lime juice combination over the bowl of Shrimp.

Mix well and allow to sit and marinade. You’ll want to mix a few times before adding avocados to circulate the marinade.

Taste for Salt and Pepper but it should be good.

I added the 2 Avocados right before serving and squeezed a little more lime over it, probably not necessary but I did. If you’re adding the cilantro go ahead and add it now.

That’s it–perfect summer salad.

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