Author: chanie

S’mores Oatmeal

I don’t know if I’ve ever walked you through the BIB process before, but I think it’s about time. Let me start by telling you that my posts don’t happen in realtime. If you want to follow what I’m cooking/eating now, check out my Instagram feed or follow me on Facebook. As for the blog, the stuff you see here may or may not have been cooked weeks, or even months, ago. Case in point: I did not make this decadent s’mores oatmeal for breakfast today (I am currently on the Whole30 diet cleanse!). I didn’t make it yesterday, or even last week. I made it back on December 24th – last year! Even I can’t believe it’s been that long! Why has it taken me so long to post? Read on.

As you might imagine, blogging takes up lots of time. From testing the recipes to photographing them – there are hours of work involved. Hours, that I don’t usually have with 4 kids in tow. So instead of cooking and photographing every day, I usually reserve a day for a full-fledged cookingfest. I’ll make and photograph 3 or 4 recipes at a time and save them on my computer to post at a later date. I usually invite over some family or friends to share the bounty!

When I have a handful of recipes saved, plus some ideas for future ones, I set up a blogging calendar that I fill up between holidays. Sometimes, recipes get lost in the shuffle, especially when I have to squeeze in holiday-related posts some 2 weeks before it begins. This is one such recipe, and I’m sorry it’s taken so long. I guarantee it was worth waiting for!

Breakfast could not get any better than rich and creamy chocolate oatmeal topped with toasted marshmallows and crushed grahams. The best part is, you get to make it from scratch, so it’s not full of ingredients you can’t pronounce, like all those funky flavors in the store. I love that you get to deguiltify the whole smores-for-breakfast thing by incorporating into a healthy dish like oatmeal. After all, who said oatmeal has to be boring?

S’mores Oatmeal

1 cup quick cooking oats (see note)
1 3/4 c milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp sugar or sweetener of choice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 handful mini marshmallows
2 tbsp chocolate syrup
1 graham cracker, crushed
warm milk, for serving

Method:

Bring milk to simmer , stir in oats and salt and cook for 1 minute. Stir in cocoa, sugar and vanilla and stir to combine. Divide oatmeal between 2 ramekins and top with marshmallows. Broil for 1 minute, until marshmallows are toasted. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and top with crushed graham crackers. Serve with warm milk.

NOTE: You can adapt the recipe to use old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal. Just prepare according to package directions (adjust milk amount, as needed) and proceed as above.

TIP: To avoid the cocoa from clumping inside the oatmeal, whisk it with the sugar to break up the lumps before adding, or, dissolve it in a bit of water.

Related Posts:

baked pumpkin oatmeal
oatmeal cookies
pear, ginger & oat smoothie
banana oat muffins

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Peanut Butter Bars

Ah, chometzfest! That day or two after Passover when we stuff our faces with all the delicious foods we’ve missed for 8 days.

Yes – just 8 days! What is it about Pesach that leaves us craving chometz (leaven food that’s prohibited during Passover) so much? It’s just over a week and we can barely hold out for our pizza. Is it just a case of wanting what you can’t have?

I can still remember the lines around the block of the pizza store a mere hour or two after Pesach ends. Who’s not guilty of standing on those endless lines for a fresh hot slice of cheesy heaven?

Now that I have my own kids, I’m not about to waste my time waiting for pizza. Instead, we break out a couple of boxes of fun sugary cereal for a Cereal Chometz Party. My kids can’t get enough, and the pizza can wait for another day.

The next morning, I whip out some fresh, hot pancakes or cake, to enjoy the crumby deliciousness with a cup of hot coffee.  Now, that is what I miss over Passover. And peanut butter, of course!

Read on for some more chometz recipes in the Kosher Connection Linkup below!

Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
peanut butter crumb topping (recipe follows)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Crumb Topping

1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8″x8″ baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, and egg and stir until creamy. Add the milk and vanilla and stir until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and set aside.

Add all the topping ingredients to the bowl you used to mix the dry ingredients. Mix until crumbly.

Spread the crumbs over the cake batter and top with chocolate chips. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until slightly puffy and very lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: approximately 16 squares.

Other peanut butter recipes:

peanut butter mousse
peanut butter fudge ice cream pie
peanut chicken curry
peanut butter corn flake crunch ice cream

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Scrambled Hard-Boiled Eggs

They say necessity is the mother of invention and I guess that’s how this recipe came to be. I mean, you can’t say you’ve really tried every type of egg dish over Passover until you’ve tried scrambled hard-boiled eggs, right?

My mother has been making these on Passover for as long as I can remember. She learned to make them from my grandmother, who learned to make them from her mother. I’m not sure if this is a traditional Hungarian dish, or if my great-grandmother invented it. I imagine there wasn’t much else to eat back in Europe besides for eggs and potatoes, with a little chicken or meat on the side, if they were lucky. So creativity with eggs and potatoes was a must. How else can you explain adding hard boiled eggs to runny scrambled ones?

Eggs on eggs might sound kind of weird. Ok, it does sound really weird, but trust me when I tell you that these scrambled hard-boiled eggs are incredibly delicous. Adding hard-boiled eggs to the scrambled ones make this dish substantial enough to serve for lunch, with a side of salad or matza and cheese.

Scrambled hard-boiled eggs is just one of the interesting recipes my family whips up with eggs over Pesach. There’s also our sweet nut omelette that we’d whip up for breakfast and the mock chopped liver that begins with some deeply caramelized onions.

Aside from eggs and potatoes, sauteed onions are the other quintessential Passover ingredient. Since we don’t use spices or processed ingredients over the holiday, sauteed onions are a crucial base for adding flavor to every dish. These scrambled hard-boiled eggs are no exception.

Scrambled Hard-Boiled Eggs

2 tbsp oil or shmaltz
1 small onion, thinly sliced into half rings
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and mashed
4 raw eggs
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Saute the onions in oil until deeply golden and caramelized. Add the mashed eggs and saute for 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. whisk the raw eggs and season with salt and pepper, Pour over the cooked eggs mixture and stir until scrambled but still slightly wet (but not runny). Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 -5 servings

 

Related Recipes:

how to make perect hard-boiled eggs
Passover sweet nut omelette
Passover baked portobello shakshuka

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Sugared Almonds

Growing up, one of our family’s Passover customs was to use liquid sugar, or simple syrup, in place of regular sugar in our recipes. It was a stringency brought back from Europe by our great-grandparents, and we continue to keep it, year after year.

The night before Passover, my mother boils up a vat of water and sugar until thickened and pours it through layers of cheesecloth into mason jars. Not being able to use regular sugar on Pesach has it’s challenges. Like when you want to bake cookies, or cake. But it sure has it’s advantages too. Like when we want to make easy sorbet, quick lemonade, or a mix up a pitcher of sangria. These classic sugared almonds are another advantage.

Sugared nuts are different from candied or glazed nuts, which are oftened tossed with egg white and butter for a sticky coating. Simple 2-ingrediented sugar coated nuts are cooked down until the sugar crystallizes and forms a crunchy crust on the nuts. You may have seen (or smelled) them on the streets of New York, in those  Nuts 4 Nuts street carts.

The great part about making sugared nuts is that they’re a blank canvas for all flavors and combos. You can toss in some cinnamon (my favorite!) add a hint of sea salt (‘cuz I love sweet and salty!) or throw in a pinch of  cayenne for a little kick.

My favorite part about this kosher for Passover recipe is the great feeling I get from making them entirely from scratch. Cracking the nuts brings me back to the days of old, imagining what Pesach was like for my ancestors, as they prepared simple foods made from scratch, a custom we we have carried on for generations.

Sugared Almonds

2 cups raw almonds (or nuts of choice)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
optional add-ins: vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, sea salt or cayenne

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine the sugar and water in a pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Add the almonds and continue to cook, stirring constantly as the sugar thickens. After about 4 minutes, the water will evaporate and the sugar with crystalize on the nuts. Continue to stir until the sugar begins to turn light brown and caramelize. Watch the nuts carefully because they can quickly start to burn at this point. Pour onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and stir in  any spices of your choice. Bake for approximately 10 minutes until toasted and fragrant. (You can skip this step but I find that when starting with raw nuts, they need that extra bit of roasting for added crunch).  Set the nuts aside, they will get crunchier as they cool.

VARIATION: Try adding almond, coconut or vanilla extract to the sugar syrup or toss with the spices of your choice.

NOTE: If you want even more of a sugar coating, double the sugar syrup recipe and continue as above (the evaporation process will take longer).

 

Other Passover recipes:

chicken pot pie Passover croquettes
rainbow pommes anna
mock chopped liver

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Passover Stuffed Cabbage

Stuffed cabbage is just one of those foods that is synonymous with tradition. The smell and taste of the meaty cabbage rolls in a sweet tomato broth evoke a feeling of nostalgia and memories of Bubby’s kitchen. Well, at least my Bubby’s kitchen.

Bubby always made the best stuffed cabbage, and still does. When I want a taste of bubby’s holipches, I whip up a batch of her cabbage soup with flanken. It’s got all the flavor of stuffed cabbage, without the stuffing.

Although if you want to go ahead with the stuffing, I’ve got you covered. Once you’ve stuffed your cabbage rolls with meaty filling, you’ve got to simmer it in a sweet tomato sauce with a few of Bubby’s secret ingredients. Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in later.

Now when people think of Kosher for Passover stuffed cabbage, they assume it’s a dish eaten by Sephardim because it contains rice. No Siree! I’ve adapted my grandmother’s recipe so that Ashkenazim everywhere can enjoy the sweet taste of stuffed cabbage without the rice!

The secret to my Kosher for Passover stuffed cabbage is mashed potatoes. We always have leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge over Pesach, and what better way to use them than to bind and soften the meat mixture for the stuffed cabbage filling!

Truth be told, my favorite part of holipches is the cabbage. In fact, when my mom’s stuffed cabbage rolls would fall apart in the pot (don’ t worry, I’ll teach you how to avoid that!), I’d fish out all the cabbage and leave the meatballs for everyone else!

Well, now that I’ve teased you with all this has going, head on over to my guest post on The Nosher for the recipe! 

Related Posts:

How to stuff cabbage video tutorial
How to stuff cabbage
Bubby’s cabbage soup with flanken

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