Category: Dairy

Dairy Made Easy Cookbook Review & Giveaway

Leah Schapira & Victoria Dwek turn out new cookbooks faster than I develop recipes. Their latest addition to the Made Easy series is a fantastic collection of dairy recipes, just in time for Shavuot!

Like Starters & Sides Made Easy, Passover Made Easy, and Kids Cooking Made Easy, the Dairy edition is layed out in the same attractive, easy-to-read style. Even their cookbook-making skills seem made easy. They’ve mastered a template that provides a small soft-cover book that’s beautifully styled, easy to flip through, and filled with tips and tidbits, all without seeming overwhelming. The beautiful pictures draw you in and the down-to-earth recipes make you want to open your pantry right then-and-there to whip up one of their quick and easy dishes.

Besides for 60 easy-to-make recipes, you’ll also find a comprehensive cheese guide, a Make It Light section, a Make it Pareve Guide, and bonus serving ideas. Leah and Victoria fill each page with great tips, like how to measure frozen fruit, how to soften butter quickly or how to bake pizza without a pizza stone. They also share their thought processes and family anecdotes in a fun and friendly way.

What do I not want to make from this cookbook? It’s filled with mouthwatering recipes for breakfast, great starters & sides, soups, salads & sandwiches, and of course pizza, pasta and dessert (hello 180 calorie cheesecake!).

Some of the recipes I look forward to trying are the granola thins, arancini, sweet chili home fries, stuffed sole, French mushroom soup, hasselback baguette, honey pomodoro pizza, cajun creamy penne, cheese buns, peanut butter creme brulee and strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

In honor of the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, I’m giving away a free copy of the Dairy Made Easy cookbook! To enter, simply leave a comment below with your favorite Shavuot dish. You can also follow Busy In Brooklyn via any of the channels below for an extra entry. Just be sure to leave a note in the comment letting me know where you follow.

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Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be chosen at random at 10:00 AM EST on Monday, May 26th, 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baked Roasted Veggie Pasta

from Dairy Made Easy by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek
Reprinted with permission from the copyright holders: ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications
http://www.artscroll.com/Products/DMEP.html

8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 lb fusilli or penne pasta
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
2 red onions, cut into wedges
1 zucchini, cut into half moons
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp garlic powder
kosher salt, to taste
coarse black pepper, to taste
6 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1 Tbsp chopped fresh or frozen basil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F. In a 9 x 13-inch pan, combine cherry tomatoes, red onions, and zucchini. Toss with olive oil and garlic powder. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add pasta to vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Preheat oven to broil and broil for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.
5. Add feta cheese and basil; stir to combine (the heat will melt the cheese). Serve hot or at room temperature.

Tips:

-You can add more veggies to the mix. We also love this pasta with red peppers instead of tomatoes.
-We made the pasta in this photo using broken lasagna sheets.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

from Dairy Made Easy by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek
Reprinted with permission from the copyright holders: ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications
http://www.artscroll.com/Products/DMEP.html

12 servings

Batter:

1 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Chocolate Nut Mixture:

1 (10­oz) bag chocolate chips
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10­inch tube pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and baking soda.
Sour cream should bubble and expand. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar.
Beat until light and creamy. Add eggs and extracts.
4. Add half the flour and baking powder. Add sour cream mixture,
then remaining flour. Beat until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips, walnuts,
cinnamon, and sugar. Sprinkle some of the chocolate nut mixture into the  pan. Add half the batter over it, then half of the remaining chocolate ­nut mixture. Add remaining batter and top cake with remaining chocolate­ nut mixture. Bake for 50­-60 minutes, until top is firm and crispy. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

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Zucchini Fries (Gluten Free)

We’re closing in on our series of pesto recipes with these crunchy gluten free zucchini fries! I love using zucchini because they are so low in calories and totally guilt free. To keep them diet friendly and gluten free, I used a chopped nut coating instead of breadcrumbs, and garbanzo bean flour instead of all purpose flour. But what really makes these zucchini fries different is the pesto. I could have went with eggwash to “glue” the crunchy nut coating onto the zucchini sticks, but with extra pesto in the fridge, I decided to give it a try. The results were so flavorful, I can’t imagine making it any other way!

There’s just something about fries that makes eating any vegetable fun, am I right? Good old russet potato fries used to be the only fries  on the brain but sweet potato fries have made it up there too. Personally, I’m a big fan of butternut squash fries,  and just recently, parsnips fries have topped my list of favorites as well. I must blog about those soon.

If you’re dieting and craving some crunch, these oven-fried zucchini fries are sure to hit the spot. Feel free to adapt the recipe to your specific diet! To make them dairy-free, just omit the parmesan and use more nuts instead. I like to use the same nuts as the ones in the pesto (I used Marcona almonds here), but you can experiement with pecans and walnuts too.

Zucchini Fries

2 zucchini, cut into sticks
1/4 cup flour (I used garbanzo flour)
1/2 cup pesto
2-4 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup chopped nuts
1/3 cup grated parmesan
marinara sauce, for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix the pesto with olive oil to thin it out. Add additional olive oil, if needed, depending on the thickness of the pesto.

Set up a dredging station with bowls of flour, pesto and ground nuts mixed with parmesan.

Dip the zucchini in flour, shake off excess and dip into pesto. Press the zucchini sticks into ground nuts/parmesan. Place on a greased cookie sheet and spray with oil (I use a Misto olive oil sprayer but you can use cooking spray). Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned and crispy.

Don’t like pesto? dip the zucchini in eggs seasoned with salt and pepper insead.

VARIATION: To make these nondairy, replace the parmesan with additional chopped nuts.

NOTE: for crisper fries, you can bake them on a rack set of a baking sheet.

Related Recipes:

zucchini parmesan chips
pesto pinwheels

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Pesto Baked Salmon

Of all the recipe requests I receive, it seems like salmon is that one dish that people get bored of rather quickly – me included. I’ve had my fill of honey mustard salmon, I’d rather not look at another piece of teriyaki salmon, and I’m all magic-salmoned-out. The good news is, I’ve got an endless variety of salmon ideas, so I can always pick something from under my chef’s hat (figuratively speaking, of course).

Truth be told, I’m really not the biggest fish person altogether. I won’t touch tilapia (bottom feeders freak me out), I don’t like sole, and I usually stay away from gefilte (is that even considered fish?). I tend to lean towards salmon, flounder, red snapper or seabass, when available. I’ve always wanted to try different types of fish, but they’re not readily available where I live. I’ve had whole bronzino in restaurants and halibut at my mom’s (she loves it!), but I’ve never tried grouper or mahimahi. Arctic Char is one of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever tried – I would love to find a place that carries it!

I’ve always wanted to bake my own whole fish stuffed with lemon and herbs – better yet, catch and fillet it myself. It’s just another one of those things on my bucket list – and I hope to do it one day. I’ve heard that the taste of freshly caught fish doesn’t compare to what we buy at the fishmonger. I can just imagine it smelling of the ocean istead of, well, fish. Don’t you just hate it when you open up a package and a fishy stench just hits you like a fishing rod!?

Back to the salmon – since it’s one of the few types of fish that I eat, I’m always coming up with new ways to eat it. This pesto-smothered-recipe came to me when I was on the South Beach diet and I needed to stay away from sweet sauces and sugar. For added crunch (without the panko carbs), I grind up some nuts (whichever nuts are in the pesto) and sprinkle it over the top. It adds great texture to the salmon!

Pesto Baked Salmon

salmon fillets
your favorite homemade or store-bought pesto
roughly chopped nuts (I like to use the same nuts that are in the pesto, to complement it)
grated parmesan cheese, optional
olive oil
lemon slices, for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Spread pesto over the salmon slices and sprinkle with chopped nuts and parmesan (if using). Drizzle olive oil over the fish and bake for 15-20 minutes, until salmon is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

PAREVE VARIATION: to make this dish nondairy – use a pareve pesto and omit parmesan cheese.

Related recipes:

spinach, walnut and cheddar pesto
marcona almond & basil pesto
salmon pasta salad
salmon cakes with yogurt sauce

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Marcona Almond Pesto

You gotta love the way our bodies work. We are born with more than 10,000 taste buds that are housed inside papillae — those bumps you see at the back of your tongue. Inside those buds are tons of taste cells that detect what you’re eating and send that information to your brain. As we age, our taste buds become less sensitive, so the foods that we once found unappealing, don’t send as many strong signals to our brains. That’s why, as we get older, our palates change and we discover a newfound love for foods we may have hated during our childhood.

Over the last few years, I’ve taken a “leap of food” and dived right into the foods that I used to stay away from. I discovered a taste for fresh ginger, creamy mayonaisse, artichokes, and pesto. Of course there are still foods that I won’t touch with a 10-foot-pole like liver (or any offal), cilantro, fennel, and pattypan squash, but I’m coming around.

Once I really began to appreciate pesto, I went all out with different flavor combinations. I’ve tried spinach, walnut & cheddar, garlic scape, parsley pistachio (hope to blog that one soon!) and of course the classic basil & pine nut. But marcona almond pesto is by far my favorite. If you’ve never heard of Marcona almonds, they are native to Spain and are rounder and more plump than traditional California almonds that we’re used to. Their higher fat content gives them an unsurpassed taste and texture. In pesto, they add an amazing butteriness that is unmatched by any ingredient.

With the holiday of Shavuos coming up in a few weeks, I’ll be making the most of dairy recipes! Stay tuned for fun ways to use pesto as well as other fabulous milky creations!

Marcona Almond Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
½ cup marcona almonds
½ cup grated Natural & Kosher parmesan
2 garlic cloves, peeled
juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2-3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Place everything besides the olive oil in a food processor or blender and blend until roughly chopped. While the machine is running, slowly add the olive oil until the mixture turns into a creamy spread. Add more olive oil if you plan to use it as a sauce, and less olive oil if you plan to use it as a dip/spread.

TIP: Marcona almonds can be found at gourmet markets, including Costco (their Kirkland almonds can also be found on Amazon). If you can’t source them, you can use blanched toasted almonds instead.


This post was sponsored by Natural & Kosher Cheese. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, or via their Blog

Related Recipes:

spinach, walnut & cheddar pesto
pesto pinwheels
pesto & goat cheese crostini

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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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