Cabbage and Meatballs

Every year around Succot I make a giant pot of my mother’s stuffed cabbage recipe (with some small tweaks) and distribute it to my in laws and parents.It disappears off plates faster than I can blink. However the rolling and stuffing make this a one time a year deal. The At Home Gourmet, as well as several other cookbooks, tried to solve this dilemma by creating the same flavorful dish WITHOUT the need to neatly package the meat inside the cabbage.

This cabbage and meatballs recipe was trotted out recently on a WEEKDAY night much to the shock and awe of my family. Not only was it not Succot it wasn’t even Shabbos! That’s how easy this recipe looked – I didn’t wait for a special occasion.

Ingredients: ground beef, matzo meal, egg, salt, pepper, garlic powder, shredded cabbage, ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, water

The Process: I mixed the beef, matzoh, egg and spices in a bowl. The rest of the ingredients were dumped into a pot over a low flame. When the sauce and cabbage began to boil I formed the meatballs and dropped them in. Everything cooked for 1.5 hours while I went about my business as usual.

For a cheaper but more work version you can slice your own cabbage instead of buying the pre-shredded bag.

The Results: This too disappeared before I could blink. Bowls of meatballs and cabbage were being fought over by family members. A huge hit and very easy to make. However you cannot scrimp on the cooking time – your cabbage will be raw!

I still like to make the pretty cabbage rolls for Succot (this recipe looks like it is depicted – a stew like mix). If time was short though, this would be a pretty good substitute.

Granola Bars

The At Home Gourmet is full of foods that I would typically purchase and eat, in more wholesome versions. This granola recipe is a prime example. Chockfull of fruit and nuts it really packs in the flavor. I was eager to try it as I currently purchase a ridiculous amount of expensive granola ( Love Crunch Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter is my favorite but it can get pricey).

Ingredients: Old fashioned oats, almonds, pecans, shredded coconut, butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, pitted dates, dried figs, dried apricots, craisins, raisins

To save on costs, I bought most of this in the bulk food section of my grocery.

 

The Process: First I preheated the oven and prepped a baking sheet with a silicone liner. Then I mixed the oats, almonds, pecans and coconuts together and spread the mixture in an even layer on the baking sheet. This toasted in the oven for ten minutes. 

 

While that was going on, I melted the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla and salt over a low flame and brought the whole thing to a boil. The oat mixture was then ready to be transferred to a mixing bowl. The boiling honey was poured over it and the dried fruit quickly added in. Everything got pressed onto the prepared pan and made a return trip into the oven for 30 minutes. I then let everything cool before attempting to slice it.

The Results: This oatmeal was crumblier than I anticipated based on the photo of a neat square in the cookbook. I had quite a bit of trouble cutting a neat square, even with appropriate cooling of the granola. The photo below is the only square I managed to cut. The rest was eaten in pieces. However this was very tasty and great for sprinkling into yogurt or munching dry.

I was sadly unable to share the granola with one of my children as she is pecan allergic. Therefore this was an adult only food in my house, but I would bet that older children would enjoy it. Obviously this granola is not for the toddler set as it contains some choking hazards.

White Chocolate Chip & Dried Apricot Cookies

I love cookies but I have never appreciated oatmeal raisin cookies. That’s why I was delighted to see The Silver Platter cookbook agreed with me and placed white chocolate chips and apricots in these oatmeal cookies instead. I made these to bring to work on my birthday, together with the Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Cookies on the next page.

Ingredients: vegetable oil, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, rolled oats, baking soda, salt, dried apricot, white chocolate chips

The Process: I preheated the oven to 350 and lined some baking sheets with silicone baking mats. The recipe suggests parchment paper but I find I get better results with the silicone mats and they are reusable and therefore better for the planet. I then mixed the oil, sugars, egg and vanilla until blended. I then took the dry ingredients and mixed them into the wet ones until combined into a ball. The apricots and chips were folded in.

I used a cookie scoop to place golf sized balls onto the baking trays and pressed each to slightly flatten it. They were then baked for 12-15 minutes.

Results: Delicious! They flew off the plate. I brought some to work and they too flew off the plate. Apricot is definitely a much pairing with oatmeal than raising for me. The only mildly time consuming part was cutting the dried apricots and even that took only 2-3 minutes.

Mommy’s Asian Chicken and Spaghetti

Who doesn’t love spaghetti? What kid won’t eat chicken? Put the two together and you have a staple food in our house: chicken and spaghetti. However this recipe from The At Home Gourmet is not the traditional Sephardic chicken and spaghetti we are used to. It uses soy sauce for a more Asian taste and looked like it would take significantly less time to create.

Ingredients; spaghetti, chicken cutlets cut into strips, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, ground ginger

The Process: First things first, you have to boil the spaghetti according to package directions and drain it. Nothing surprising about that.

While the spaghetti was cooking I sautéed the garlic in the olive oil and then added the chickens trips to the hot pan and cooked them for about one minute. Then I added soy sauce, sugar and ginger. The chicken was coated in the resulting sauce, and cooked for another 4-5 minutes. I found stirring and having a non stick pan important to prevent the chicken from burning. I tossed this into the spaghetti, a

nd voila dinner as served.

The Results: For the amount of effort needed (minimal) this turned out pretty well. We still prefer the taste of Chicken and Spaghetti from the Aroma’s of Aleppo cookbook but that recipe takes a significant investment of time and labor. I also didn’t love how much sugar was in the recipe. I will still make this again as a quick and easy dinner but it is not on the all time favorite list.

Asian Steak Salad

Steak Salad is one of my favorite foods. When the steak is marinated properly it becomes a juicy and filling addition to your salad.

This Asian steak salad recipe really looked like a flavorful twist on an old favorite. I typically like to use a thick juicy piece of meat, like London Broil, for steak salad but this recipe from Kosher by Design called for a thinner skirt steak which cut down on cooking/prep time.

Ingredients: olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, peanut or olive oil, red onion, skirt steak cut in thin strips,

yellow pepper, red pepper, mixed greens, sesame seeds

Substitutions: I have used peanut oil but have also substituted with olive oil when peanut allergies became an issue

The Process: First I browned the ginger and garlic in olive oil. The soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, vinegar and mustard where pulsed in the food processor and then mixed with the ginger and garlic to form the dressing.

I then heated the peanut oil and cooked the steak in it for ten minutes. When it was done I removed it from the skillet with a slatted spatula and set it aside. I placed the red onion and bell peppers in the pan to saute. When they were almost done I added 2-3 tablespoons of dressing cooking and removed it from the heat. The dressing is then added to the green and the peppers and steak are placed on top with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

 

The Results: This salad is amazing. It tastes wonderful and is a big hit with company. It is not quite as colorful as the one in the photo unless you under cook the peppers – which tastes the change of the salad and I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

 

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies

When looking for rainy day activities baking and decorating sugar cookies is definitely a no brainer. This classic dough from The Complete Cookie looked fun to try, simple and sweet.

Ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, butter, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla

Substitutions: I didn’t have cookie cutters so we used my daughters shape sorters to cut different shapes. This was great as she had to properly name the shape in order to get a cookie!

The Process: First I combined all the dry ingredients. I then pulsed the butter into the sugar using a food processor. Slowly I added the eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. I then added the flour (I mixed it in by hand instead of pulsing in the food processor). I felt I needed  few extra tablespoons of flour as the dough was way too sticky to be formed into a ball. Then I placed it in the fridge to cool. My children were very impatient to continue so I took a portion of dough out after 1 hour. This definitely was not a good move as the dough was difficult to roll. The dough that sat and chilled for the entire 3 hours, as advised, was much easier to manipulate.

I used my french style rolling pin to roll neat sheets of dough while the kids used mini 

rolling pins to roll out small patches of dough. We cut the cookies easily  and the refrigerated dough did not stick to the cutters. I placed them on silicone baking mats and used a variety of colored sugars to decorate. Everything was placed in a preheated oven at 350 degrees and baked them for 10 minutes. Do not over bake!

 

The Results: I definitely felt the recipe needed 1/3 c to 1/4 c more flour. The rolling process on the chilled dough was excellent. It did not stick to the rolling pin or the cookie cutters. There is no picture to compare to but these did retain their shape beautifully and did not spread on the sheet.

Carrot Souffle

Boiling Carrots

This recipe is not unique to The Bais Yaakov Cookbook. I have seen similar carrot kugels and carrot souffles’ in almost every Kosher cookbook, with small variations. For instance I have crushed everything from Chex to Cheerios while making the crispy topping. Most of these recipes, however, use baby food carrots. This recipe asks the industrious cook to boil and mash their own carrots. Is it worth the effort?

 

Ingredients: carrots, eggs, oil, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla, cornflake crumbs, brown sugar, margarine, chopped nuts, cinnamon

Carrot Mash    

Substitutions: I use Earth Balance instead of margarine. For chopped nuts I used almonds because that is the only nut nobody in my home is allergic to. I suspect pecans and walnuts may have worked better.

The Process: You start by boiling the carrots so that they can be easily mashed. I found I needed longer than the suggested 15 minutes. I had to boil the carrots for a full 30 minutes before I could easily mash them. While I used a fork you might get a smoother mash with a food processor (this is not suggested in the recipe).

I then preheated the oven and started adding ingredients to the carrot mash. All of this was poured into an oven to table baking dish. The recipe allows for either one large dish or a few small ramekins. While the ramekins might be prettier the one large dish was easier to handle and serve.

I mixed the cornflakes, sugar, Earth Balance and nuts to make a topping. This crumble was spread over the top and the entire thing was baked for 40 minutes.

The Results: It tasted like most other carrot kugels I have tried, except slightly sweeter and slightly more gritty since I hand mashed the carrots. My kids seemed to love it, with one notable exception – they asked me to remove the sugary cereal topping! Is it worth the extra time to mash the carrots? Probably not. It turned a 15 minute process into a 45 minute affair.

                                Carrot Souffle

Quick Teriyaki Chicken Stir-Fry

I grew up on pasta, my husband grew up one rice. Rice and meatballs, rice and beans, rice on Passover. While I definitely enjoy the liberalized Passover diet, I still haven’t quite gotten used to the substitution of rice for pasta. Therefore when I saw this Stir Fry recipe in the Bais Yaakov Cookbook call for rice OR orzo I immediately whipped out a box of orzo and got cooking.

Broccoli also happens to be one green vegetable that my kids will actually eat. Combined with the one pan, stove-top nature of this recipe I practically HAD to try it.

Ingredients: chicken breast, salt, Italian dressing, water, teriyaki sauce, garlic powder, frozen broccoli florets, uncooked rice OR orzo

Substitutions: None

The Process: The Italian dressing is used to sauté the chicken strips. I will admit the smell of heated Italian dressing is mildly revolting. Luckily it dissipates quickly. I then stirred in the water and teriyaki sauce, greatly improving the smell, and the garlic powder. Everything is brought to a boil and the broccoli and orzo are added. I placed the lid on and cooked over low heat for five minutes. That’s it. Done!

The Results: I was skeptical that everything would finish cooking in five minutes, and indeed I found I had to add a little more water water and cook for another few minutes before the orzo was done. However all in all this was a very fast one pot meal with minimal clean up. It also tasted great and was very filling. Containing a starch, protein and vegetable all in one, I found this to be the perfect meal to pack up and take to work. My kids however refused to try it. I think if they had, they would have liked it.

Personally I enjoy the smoother and less dense texture of orzo to rice. I do not know if I would like this dish as much had it been made with rice.

Quick Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry

Chocolate Pecan Pie

The first time I tried this recipe from Kosher by Design I was a spunky young newlywed preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Pecan Pie is usually too gooey for my taste, with a thin layer of pecans on top of a layer of gelatinous mush. Chocolate however, pair s very nicely with nuts so when I was planning Thanksgiving desserts, this was on obvious one to try. Of course the pressure was on. Remember that dinner I was preparing for? over 50 people were showing up!

Ingredients: margarine, semisweet chocolate morsels, unbaked frozen pie crust, eggs, brown sugar, dark corn syrup, vanilla, pecan halves

Substitutions: I used Earth Balance instead of Margarine

The Process:

First I preheated the oven to 350. Then I started melting margarine over a small flame, adding in half of the chocolate pieces. When everything was well mixed, I removed it from the heat.

To prepare the pie crust I brushed it with a little egg. Then I mixed the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and eggs into the chocolate mixture. The remaining chocolate pieces were stirred in  and the whole thing went into the pie crust. This bakes for 55 minutes.

The Results:

I love that this recipe doesn’t require a double boiler, a piece of equipment that I have always wanted but never gotten around to buying. I also loved how easy it was – when preparing a 50 person dinner the last thing you need is an hour spent on dessert. My main issue was oven time. 55 minutes is a lot more than a batch of cookies would bake.

The taste however, was excellent. The mixed in chocolate pieces changed the gelatinous mush to something more textured. I’ve tried the recipe many times since and I definitely do not recommend skimping on the corn syrup. Without it the pie is brittle and dry.

Chocolate Chip-Apricot Bars

Jam and Chocolate Spread

Bar cookies are my favorite type of cookie. More substantial than your standard round cookie, with increased fillings and topping possibilities. This Apricot Jam bar from The Spice and Spirit was therefore an easy pick for me to try.

Ingredients: margarine, sugar, egg yolks, flour, vanilla, apricot jam, chocolate chips, egg whites, salt, walnuts

Substitutions: I use Earth Balance instead of margarine

The Process: 

Raw Cookie Base

First I preheated the oven to 350 and used that Earth Balance wrapper to grease the pan. I used my hand mixer to cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks. The flour and vanilla were added in and kneaded by hand as per the instructions. This was helpful as I then had no trouble using my hands to pat the dough into the bottom of a baking pan. Then I slid it into the oven for 15 minutes until slightly browned.

When removed from the oven I spread the jam on top followed by the chocolate chips. I beat the egg whites into a white stiff foam that I used to call “snow” when I used to bake with my mother as a kid. Then I folded in some sugar that had been set aside and the nuts. This was spread over the chips and everything was slid back into the oven for 25 minutes.

Raw “Snow” on Apricot Bars

The Results:

The bars were slightly unmanageable when trying to cut them into neat squares (probably would have been easier if they were frozen). I also did not necessarily enjoy the combination of chocolate and apricot. However others did. So I’d rate this cookie as a partial success.

Chocolate Chip Apricot Bar