Author: chanie

Shalach Manos Ideas

I thought I’d post some shalach manos ideas that I’ve done in the past, in case you’re scrambling for ideas at the last minute. I usually like to give out something creative, or at least tasty. I feel like we get so overloaded with cellophane wrapped “junk” that giving just another bag of it will just add to the pile. Instead, try to come up with a dish that can be served at the meal, or incorporate servingware or a gadget that will be useful in the future. Your shalach manos will stand out, be remembered, and appreciated.

I do realize that this is not for everyone. At the end of the day, mishloach manos is a mitzvah that does not have to be elaborate or cute. It has gotten so out of hand in some neighborhoods. Everywhere you turn – every store, school, organization – is selling baskets for you to give out. Personally, I enjoy coming up with creative ideas and putting them together. But I don’t do it every year. If you are feeling overwhelmed, I definitely recommend giving a donation to an organization that is close to your heart, and sending out Purim cards (from the organization, or personal) letting people know that you’ve opted to send a donation in lieu of shalach manos. I did that last year (you can see the card in this post).

Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

For Teens:

@”Mini Me” – A diet basket for the teenager – mini carrots, mini apples, mini rice cakes, mini orange juice.
@”Lets go to the Stadium” – Popcorn, soft pretzel, can of soda, packets of mustard.
@”Breakfast on the Go” – Danish/donut and small chocolate milk or iced coffee.
@”A Girls best Friend” – Jewelry holder with hanging candy watch, ringpop, winky (or homemade cheerio) necklace etc.

Just Married:

@”Lechaim” – Martini glass with olives and a mini vodka.
@”Bakerman” – Small basket filled with a mini rolling pin, mini jelly, a hamantasch, and a recipe for hamantaschen.
@”An Apple a Day” – Candy apples in an assortment of toppings. Cover styrofoam in faux grass and stick a few candy apples in.
@”In the Kitch” – oven glove with something homemade and a mini alcohol.

For Anyone:

@”Chocolate Lovers Dream” – Mini Boston Cream Pies with chocolate dipped strawberrys and a few red torino chocolates.
@“Shushan Shushi” – Sushi salad prepared on a plate with a side of chopsticks, ginger, soy sauce and wasabi.
@“Sweet & Salty” – Chocolate dipped pretzel rods with assorted toppings.
@”Crazy for Chocolate” – Mini chocolate bundt cake with mini chocolate liquor in the center.
@”Mexican Fiesta” – 7 layer dip with a bag of tortilla chips.

For Teachers, Therapists (or anyone you need to incorporate a nice gift into the shalach manos):

@Cheese plate and spreader with crackers, cheese, jelly or chocolate spread.
@Vase filled with rock candy and real or faux flowers.
@Pie tray or pie server with homemade or store-bought pie.
@Pitcher with lemon, lemon tea and tea biscuits.
@On the go insulated coffee cup with coffee, coffee candy and mini starbucks liquor.
@Set of boxed shot glasses. Fill each glass with different candy or chocolate and wrap in gift wrap.
@Bottle of wine with a nice wine stopper. Pair with chocolate.
@Theme cookbook with a matching gadget – for ex. book on ice cream with ice cream scoop, or book on cookies with a cookie cutter.

I hope you enjoyed these shalach manos ideas! If you need a second bracha, you can always give wine, a mini alcohol, chocolates or a clear box with hamantaschen.

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Savory Hamantaschen Trio

I am SO excited to post these delicious and festive savory Hamantaschen for Purim! Honestly I was more excited about making these into triangles, then about how they would taste. But once I gave them a try, I couldn’t even pick a favorite – they were all THAT good. I’m not gonna lie, making these Hamantaschen is time-consuming. But in my humble opinion, they are well worth the effort. You can make them for your Purim Seudah or give them out for Shalach Manos. You can probably even make them in advance and freeze them. Go ahead and get creative with the fillings. You can do a deli roll one – just cut up some turkey and pastrami into strips, mix it up with some bbq sauce or honey-mustard. Or try a brocolli, cauliflower or carrot filling. Really, anything goes. If you have more of a bagels ‘n lox kind of meal, you can make very large triangles with the puff pastry, bake them (empty), and fill them with eggsalad, tuna, or any other dips (think serving bowls). Or make individual salad bowls for each place setting. The skies the limit, really! So go ahead, get out your rolling pin, and in the spirit of “Venehapoch Hu”, whisk up a batch of these “not your typical” hamantaschen!

Prepare the dough:

What you’ll need:
1-2 boxes of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets
rolling pin
flour
wide-rimmed cup or round cookie cutter

Leave puff pastry in the fridge overnight to thaw. Remove from fridge. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the pastry until it is thin. With a cup or cookie cutter, cut out circles in the pastry and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Take your leftover dough and roll it out to the same thickness. Cut more circles, until you have used up all your pastry dough. Refrigerate your circles as they will be difficult to use if they are left out.

For the Cabbage Filling:

What you’ll need:
1 bag coleslaw
1 large spanish onion
1 tsp sugar
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
oil for sauteing

Slice your onion and saute in oil until golden. Add coleslaw, salt, pepper, and sugar and continue to saute until coleslaw shrinks and softens. Stir occasionally, and add more oil if needed.

For the Spinach-Mushroom Filling:

What you’ll need:
1 bag baby spinach
1 container mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
oil for sauteeing

Saute 3 cloves of garlic in oil, until fragrant, but not browned, about 2 minutes. Clean and slic mushrooms and add to the pan. Saute for 2 more minutes. Add baby spinach, salt and pepper, and continue to saute until spinach is completely wilted.

For the Pumpkin Filling:

What you’ll need:

1 can Libby’s pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
3 tbsp flour

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until incorporated.

Assembling the Hamantaschen:

What you’ll need:
prepared puff pastry circles
prepared cabbage filling
prepared spinach filling
prepared pumpkin filling
2 eggs, whisked
cookie sheets

Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly grease your cookie sheets and set aside. Remove your pastry from the fridge and let thaw for a few minutes.  Brush the circles with egg, and fill with a spoonful of filling. Pinch the corners together to form triangles. Brush again with egg. Lay on a cookie sheet.

Bake & Serve!

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until golden.

HAPPY PURIM!

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Lemon & Garlic Whole Roasted Chickens

I like chicken. Chicken is ok. Me, and chicken, are good. Am I head over heels for chicken? not really. In fact, whenever I am pregnant, I have an aversion to it and cannot eat it. But I make it all the time because it’s a good source of protein, and my husband and kids enjoy it. This roasted chicken recipe took my taste for chicken to a whole ‘nother level. Roasting the chicken whole, stuffed with lemons, garlic and thyme, gives the chicken an incredible flavor that is not too overpowering, it’s just right. The chicken comes out so incredibly moist, you will want to eat the whole thing in one sitting!

The recipe calls for 1 5-6 lb. bird, but since my butcher only had 3-3.5 pounders, I made 2, and filled each with half a lemon and half a head of garlic. If you can get a 6 lb. chicken, go ahead and fill each cavity with a whole head of garlic (cut in half), and one whole lemon (cut in half) and of course, a bunch of thyme.

This chicken is beautiful served at the Friday night meal, with some rice and veggies on the side.

Lemon & Garlic Roasted Whole Chickens
adapted from Barefoot Contessa

2 3-3.5 lb. roasting chickens
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme
1 lemon, cut in half
1 head garlic, cut in half
2 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 425. Remove excess fat and feathers from the chickens. Clean well, rinsing inside and out. Pat dry. Season the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper and stuff it with the thyme (you can reserve a little for garnish), lemon and garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string. Roast for 1 hour.

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Mocha Bundt Cake


In my last post, I revealed that I recently turned the big three-o. It should come as no surprise then, that back in 2008, I celebrated my 10 year high school reunion. Together with my friend Dina (our self-appointed class president :)) and Raizy, we organized the reunion for several months, collecting recipes from our classmates and printing a professional cookbook from Morris Press Cookbooks. The reunion was a huge success, with most our class in attendance. We had the evening catered, but for the dessert table, we had several girls chip in and make some things. One of the most talked about cakes of the evening was this Mocha Bundt Cake. Since it was not included in the class recipe book, we emailed it to everyone the following day. The cake has lots of coffee, so I would recommend going with decaf. It’s moist and delicious, great for a party, or for Shabbos morning with a steaming cup of, you guessed it…coffee :)

Mocha Bundt Cake

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup of coffee diluted in 3/4 cup of hot water
1 cup oil
2 scoops vanilla sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa

Method:
Beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy.  Add the coffee and oil. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and Bake at 350 for (approximately) 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Glaze:
3 teaspoons coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 – 2 cups of confectioners sugar

Mix coffee, oil and 1 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar. Add more slowly, if desired, until you reach desired consistency.

Drizzle the Glaze over cooled cake.

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some pics of our 10 year high school reunion.

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Asian Chicken Salad

I love coming up with ways to repurpose my leftovers. Lets face it. Life is busy, and putting a fresh and healthy dinner on the table isn’t always possible. I’m sure you’ve had to resort to fish sticks and french fries every now and then, just as I have. Sometimes, it helps to make a double portion of chicken or pasta so you can use the leftovers the next day in a different way. When I made this dinner, my daughter came home from school with a fever, and I had to run to the doctor at the last minute. I didn’t have time to prepare dinner earlier in the day, so I was glad to have lots of leftovers from the previous night when I made teriyaki vegetable linginui with marinated chicken breast. I decided to throw together an Asian-style salad to serve alongside some of the leftover pasta. I hadn’t started with the salad yet when my husband came home saying, “I’m not in the mood for salad.” I told him to at least give it a try because he would definitely get in the mood when he tasted it! Sure enough, he loved it, and had two bowlfulls! This salad is so light and fresh-tasting. You can go ahead and add in other veggies if you’d like. I think some white cabbage or bok choy would be a great addition, I just didn’t have any.

Asian Chicken Salad

1-2 heads rommaine lettuce
2 jars mandarin oranges (reserve 1/4 cup of the juice)
1 avocado, cubed
3 scallions, sliced
1/4 c craisins
1/3 c raw cashews
Grilled or pan-fried chicken, sliced

Dressing:

1/3 c oil
1/4 c vinegar
1/4 c mandarin juice
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 heaping tbsp black sesame seeds

Method:

Strain mandarin oranges, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Slice romainne lettuce. Top with oranges, avocado, chicken, scallions, craisins and cashews. Mix dressing and pour over salad before serving. (I use about 3/4 of the dressing, you don’t need to use all of it).

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