Year: 2011

{Leftover} Turkey Pot Pie

With the weather turning cold and rainy, pot pie is the perfect comfort food to usher in the fall. It’s also a great dish to make when you’ve got lots of leftover chicken or turkey, and other root vegetables that are on their way out. With a large chunk of turkey roast leftover from the chag, I knew I had to come up with something light and tasty to turn it from “leftovers, again!”, into something fresh and exciting.

Chock full of healthy veggies and low fat turkey, this “litened up” version of a chicken pot pie is even better than the classic. Sweet parsnips, carrots and squash are the perfect accompaniment to the turkey, while the filo dough makes for a rustic, flaky crust.

Visit my guest post on Cookkosher.com for the recipe!

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3 Layer Chocolate Cake Martini


With Simchas Torah just around the corner, I just had to include an alcoholic beverage for the ladies. I mean, why should the guys get to have all the fun! We deserve to make a l’chaim, especially after our string of 3-day cooking fests!

More importantly, we have the most special, amazing, heartwarming and miraculous reason to celebrate. The release of Gilad Shalit who has been held captive by Hamas for five long years.

Welcome Home Gilad!


I’m not the biggest drinker, so if I have a martini recipe, it’s because I tasted it somewhere, not because I decided to whip up a cocktail one night :) I recently celebrated my sister-in-law CR’s birthday with a night out on the town. We hit a fun broadway show, but before that, we made sure to stop by Clubhouse Cafe for some appetizers and drinks. With the show just 30 minutes later, we quickly sampled a few of their “snacks” at the bar including duck empanadas, chunky guacamole, grilled kebabs, sliders and chicken fingers. What’s a birthday celebration without a toast, so we ordered cocktails including their chocolate martini, mojito and fruit punch sangria. We finished off our appetizer feast with some real 3 layer chocolate cake (topped off with a candle and a song, of course!) We left Clubhouse just a tad lightheaded and giggly, the perfect starter to the perfect night.

The verdict? While we only feasted on Clubhouse’s snacks and drinks, I must say that the food was fresh, flavorful, well presented, and delicious. The drinks were great, and the chocolate cake was moist and decadent. I would definitely go back, this time however, for a full meal!

As I mentioned, I’m far from a lush, but when I got home, I couldn’t stop thinking about those chocolate martini’s. They were awesome. My sister-in-law, as thoughtful as she is, sent me over some mini bottles of the ingredients so I could create my own at home. And believe you me, I did :) When looking up the cocktail online, I discovered that the martini is actually called three layer chocolate cake. How apropo!

Happy Birthday CR!

3 Layer Chocolate Cake Martini

1.5 oz. vanilla vodka
1 oz. Binyamina chocolate liquor
1 oz. Frangelico

Shake and strain over ice.

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Pumpkin Crisp

My local supermarket has been out of canned pumpkin for months. With the arrival of fall, and pumpkin season, I was excited to finally see it on the store shelves, except, it wasn’t. When I asked the store manager about it, he told me that he hadn’t realized that canned pumpkin is only produced once a year, and he hadn’t stocked up the previous year. He was anxiously awaiting 200 cases, but they hadn’t made it on time. I knew I had to get my hands on the stuff for this easy and delicious recipe. Of course i had some fresh pumpkin waiting at home, but I had them set aside for pumpkin soup and candied pumpkin. I made my way to another supermarket and was happy to see the big orange can smiling back at me.

This recipe is pretty much a pumpkin pie, but without the crust, and with the addition of a crispy topping. I like it much better because who really eats that frozen pie crust anyway? I always find it leftover on the plate! This sweet side dish is, well, easy as pie, and perfect for the coming of fall. You can serve it buffet style, or scoop it into little glasses with a bit of whip cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon to top it off.

Tell me, what’s your favorite pumpkin recipe?

Pumpkin Crisp
adapted from a food.com recipe

29 oz. can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 cup sugar
3⁄4 cup soy milk
3 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Walnut Crisp Topping:

3⁄4 c packed brown sugar
3⁄4 c oats
3⁄4 c chopped walnuts
2 tbsp flour
1⁄4 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp melted butter/margarine or canola oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 350˚. Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, milk, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla until smooth. Spray a pie dish with cooking spray and pour mixture inside. Mix topping until incorporated and sprinkle over pie. Bake for approximately 45minutes, until topping is golden brown.

VARIATION: for a festive dish, pour filling into mini pie crusts and top with walnut crisp. Bake until pie crust is golden.

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Bubby’s Cabbage Soup with Flanken


Succos is one of my most favorite times of year. I love the smell in the air, the breeze in my hair, the fall harvest and the brilliant autumn leaves. The crisp air is the perfect backdrop for this warm, hearty soup. With cabbage, apples, tomatoes, onions and flanken in a sweet tomato broth, this bowl of goodness is sure to be a star at your Yom Tov table. The more you cook this soup, the better and thicker it becomes, so don’t mind rewarming it for several meals!

Bubby’s Cabbage Soup with Flanken

1 medium head of cabbage, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 green apples, peeled and diced or grated
2 soft tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 pieces flanken
2 marrow bones
3 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
7 canfuls of water
1/3 cup sugar, or to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon

Method:

Add all ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for a few hours, until the broth has thickened and the meat has softened.

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Honey Mustard Salmon

{A Resolution & A Recipe}

As any mother can attest, getting into the Yom Kippur spirit while we are stuck at home playing boardgames with our kids (not to mention fasting) can be extremely difficult. We are lucky if we get a chance to pick up our machzor, let alone daven, or attend shul. When I need to switch off the Mommy button and get into davening mode, there is one tefillah that will do it for me – “U’Netaneh Tokef” (translation here). The powerful words of this special prayer really help me zero in on the awesomeness of the day, as well as the most important things in life, that we hope to merit in the coming year. The words have always tugged at my soul, but when I learned the story behind the prayer, they became even more meaningful (read it here).

When I ask Hashem to grant me life vs death, to live in harmony vs being harried, to enjoy transquility vs suffering, to be enriched vs impoverished etc…to merit all the positive things vs the negative, I realize that inasmuch as I am asking Hashem for these things, I need to look inside and ask myself, am I doing the same? Am I choosing the positive over the negative?

By nature, I am more of a pessimist, and tend to see the glass half empty. Growing up, I’d wax philosophical and say, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist. This is the way the world really is.” But I’ve grown up and matured enough to realize that there is both good and bad in this world. It is up to us how we choose to see it. As it says in Koheles, “Everything has an appointed season and there is a time for every matter under the heaven…A time to kill and a time to heal… A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time of wailing and a time of dancing….”

For me, it takes an effort to see the good in things, but this year, I am renewing my commitment to look at things in a positive way. Just as I am asking Hashem to look at the good in me, and to bless me with all things good, I must look inside myself and do the same. Seeing the world in a positive light, facing challenges with a positive outlook, and choosing to see the good in people, only serves to enhance my life and the lives of those around me.

This “recipe” (if you can call it a recipe!), is one which my family enjoys each year at the seudah on Erev Yom Kippur. I realize that it, too, is comprised of sweet honey and bitter mustard. While delicious, I will also eat it with a prayer that this year, the good should overpower the bad and that we should all merit to see the “honey” in our lives, and not know of any bitter “mustard”.

Wishing all BIB followers a Gmar Chasimah Tova and an easy fast!


Honey Mustard Salmon

6 salmon fillets
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup yellow or spicy mustard
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix honey and mustard in a bowl until incorporated. Rinse fillets and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the honey mustard sauce over the salmon and bake for 15 minutes, until flesh is opaque and flakes with a fork.

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