Category: Diet

Bunless Fajita Dogs

What a week it’s been! I was lucky enough to attend a fabulous food photography class by Andrew Scrivani, food photographer extraordinaire and regular contributor to The New York Times. The class was hosted at the B&H Photo Event Space, which offers lots of free seminars and inspirational lectures. It was my first time going, and I’m definitely going to keep my eye out for more great workshops!

I took a lot out of the class, and I’m sharing it with you here, mostly in my pictures. Andrew spoke about many different aspects of food photography, but what really got me was how he said that our food photos should tell a story. They should evoke emotion in the reader, drawing them into the photo and the scene. I’m only fairly new to “decent” food photography, I’m slowly learning and growing with each blog post, but I really tried to incorporate that into these photos. Let me know what you think!

Now aside from the amazing food photography class, I also took part in a really fun fundraising event for the Ha’or Beacon school. I had never heard of Ha’or Beacon before, but just working with the thoughtful and caring staff on the Culinary for a Cause fundraiser, gave me a small glimpse into the type of people running the special needs school. Aside for a Chinese Auction, the entertainment for the evening was a roundup of cooking demonstrations by yours truly and a few other famous kosher foodies, including OvertimeCook, The Aussie Gourmet, Dini Delivers, Joy of Kosher Magazine Editor, Shifra Klein, and Victoria Dweck, cookbook author and editor of Ami Magazine.

Each of us was assigned a different course to demonstrate including Hors D’oeuvres, Appetizer, Entree, Side Dishes and Dessert. I made the hors d’oeuvres of mini Asian turkey sliders on a cauliflower bun with quick pickled cucumbers and spicy mayo. I really wanted to show people how easy it to make cauliflower-everything (rice, couscous, pizza crust and buns) so I decided on that dish. Needless to say, it was super fun and great to meet so many of my fans!

Now the one thing I didn’t do at the event, was eat. Yes, I tried my turkey sliders but Victoria’s braised short ribs were off limits, not to mention Dini’s quinoa-corn cakes and Miriam’s chocolate crepes. I’m going strong on The South Beach Diet, and I won’t cheat for ‘nothin!


In fact, I’ve really upped my ante by joining a fitness regimen at The Space Brooklyn. They are hosting a 60 day challenge, where they are encouraging participants to get healthy via the mind and body by doing 30 workouts in 60 days. Their amazing lineup of classes helps me mix it up, so that I’m not bored or dreading my workouts. So far I’ve done a yoga class, a circus arts class, a barre burn class, and pilates is on the schedule for tomorrow.

I’m charlie horse in muscles that I didn’t know existed, but I feel so strong and healthy! I’m looking forward to attending some of the other nutrition-based classes that they are featuring during the #30in60 campaign (one of which will include me and my spiralizer!)

So, back to the food, ‘cuz that’s what it always boils down to, right?! Today I’m sharing a favorite dish and a favorite trick. First, how on earth will I get through BBQ season on South Beach?! Well, I”ll tell you…BUNLESS HOT DOGS are the thing! Turning your hot,dog into its own bun is a diet lifesaver! You’ll be amazed at how a simple slit in your hot dog will open up when it’s heated and the filling possibilities are endless!


Fajita spiced peppers and onions are my absolute fave, and I’m sharing my own homemade spice mix below! With no carbs or MSG, it’s great on chicken or beef, perfect in tacos, and definitely over hot dogs. Finish with some sauerkraut (fermented foods are top of the food chain these days) and salsa, and you’ve got yourself a carbless meal that’s filling AND delicious!



Bunless hot dogs are best made with a nice hefty dog, so Abeles & Heymann’s knockwurst are my go-to. I love that they use natural nitrates found in celery and cherry, so there’s nothing artificial about them. In fact, ever since I went down to the factory for a tour, I don’t feel guilty about eating hot dogs at all. They start with real pieces of meat, not the fatty trimmings that I always imagined, to produce an extremely flavorful dog that is unmatched in the kosher industry. Quality and flavor? I”ll take two, please.

What’s your favorite way to top off your hot dog? Share it with me in the comments below!

Bunless Fajita Dogs

1 package Abeles & Heymann no-nitrate-added beef knockwurst
1 red pepper, sliced into strips
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
1 yellow pepper, sliced into strips
1 large Spanish onion, sliced into strips (root to tip)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 heaping tbsp fajita spice (recipe follows)
1/2 cup sauerkraut
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup salsa

Method:

Add olive oil to a heated wok and saute the onions and peppers over high heat until the onions are translucent and the peppers start to soften. Add fajita spice and continue to saute until tender. Remove the fajita peppers to a bowl and reserve.

Cut the knockwurst lengthwise, being careful not to cut all the way through. Add a bit more oil to the wok and sear the hot dog over medium heat (or on the grill). As the hot dog heats up, it will split open. Turn the hot dog over to sear the other side and repeat with remaining hot dogs. Stuff the hot dogs with fajita pepper mix, top with sauerkraut, black beans and salsa. Serve warm.

Homemade Fajita Spice

2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 tsp kosher salt

Mix to combine and store in an airtight container. Makes 5 tablespoons.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, GET 15% OFF YOUR ABELES & HEYMANN ONLINE ORDER USING COUPON CODE “BUSY”!

This post is sponsored by Abeles & Heymann. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter! 

Other Hot Dog Recipes:

hot dog eggrolls
spiralized spud dogs
kid friendly dirty rice
fire roasted tomato rice stoup

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Miso Glazed Tilapia

I hate my scale. It tells me how to feel about my body regardless of how I look in the mirror. I hate my scale. But like a magnetic force of nature, it draws me to it each morning and it dictates my day. I hate my scale. Today I weigh more, so I will feel bad about myself and I will hate how I look. Today I’ve lost a lb. so I will feel good about myself and like how I look. I hate my scale.

I want to break free of my morning ritual and throw the damned machine out the window! A number should not dictate how I feel about myself.

Rant over. (feel free to chime in).

Speaking of weighing myself, I”ve dropped a couple of digits on that godforsaken machine due to the South Beach Diet. After a Pesach filled with nonstop meals, I hopped straight onto the diet as soon as I got back from Aspen, and I’ve been sailing through due to delicious dishes such as this. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of tilapia (bottom-feeder fish that are farm-raised) so I rarely buy it, but I know that many people eat it regularly. If you don’t like tilapia, flounder makes a great substitute, so just use that instead.

Miso Glazed Tilapia

3 slices tilapia or flounder
1 heaping tbsp white miso paste
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 package baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp black sesame seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
1 scallion, chopped, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the miso with garlic and ginger and spread over the fish fillets. Drizzle soy sauce over the fish and top with sliced mushrooms. Drizzle olive oil over everything and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake, covered, for approximately 10 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes, until the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Garnish with scallions.

Related Recipes: miso glazed eggplant

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Passover Nachos with Homemade Plantain Chips

Ever since I jumped on the Paleo train, plantains have become a regular part of my diet. I frequently buy Trader Joes roasted plantain chips to eat with guacamole or even tuna salad. I eat them on taco night while my kids enjoy crunchy corn tacos, and I top ’em with nut butter for a delicious treat.


It took me a while to start making my own plantain chips, but once I did, I never turned back. Once you get past the peeling part (which is really ridiculously easy), there’s not much to it.

I prefer to use a mandoline for slicing my plantains because it ensures that all my chips are equal in size so that they cook evenly. Sadly, I don’t have a dairy one (yet!), so I just used a sharp knife. If you’re careful about keeping your chips even, they’ll all bake up nice and crisp at the time same time, and if they don’t, you can just remove the ones that are ready and let the thicker ones finish in the oven.

It’s really that easy! You can bake them savory or sweet – but chili powder and kosher salt are my fave. Of course some gooey melted cheddar doesn’t hurt either.

Can you believe these crunchy cheese smothered chips are kosher for Passover?! Forget the greasy potato chips, and the boring old Passover brownies, THIS is a snack that will make you forget you’ve gone gluten free for 8 days. Yes, it’s as good as it looks, and you know you want it. Now.

Forget Passover, these nachos are great for year-round guilt-free nacho-eating. When you’re eating low-fat oven-baked chips that are made out of a fruit and topped with vegetables, can you even call them nachos? You’re basically just doing your best to get your fill of fruits and veggies, right? RIGHT?

Welcome to my world of deguiltifying comfort food. It’s what I do best.

Now that I’ve got you covered with homemade nutella, nutella banana ice cream, pure-bliss Passover nachos and endless other out-of-the-box kosher for Passover recipes, you can say goodbye to the chicken and potatoes you’ve been making for ages and try some fun dishes instead. Although, if you like the “same old” , I’ve got you covered with that too.

Passover Nachos with Homemade Plantain Chips

2 green plantains
chili powder
kosher salt
olive or coconut oil spray
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small avocado, diced
1 plum tomato, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 cup sliced green or black olives
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the ends off each plantain, and make a few lengthwise slits through the peel (I do this at each natural bend in the plantain), be careful not to cut all the way through the flesh. Working with one strip at a time, nudge your fingers between the peel and the flesh and peel off each section of the peel. Using a mandoline or knife, cut the plantain into thin diagonal chips. If you’re using a knife, try your best to keep the chips uniform, otherwise they will bake unevenly. Spray or brush a baking sheet with coconut or olive oil and spread out the plantain chips on the tray. Try not to overcrowd the baking sheet, or the chips won’t crisp up properly. Spray or brush the tops of the chips with more coconut or olive oil and sprinkle with chili powder and kosher salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on thickness, until browned and crispy. Set aside to cool completely. The chips will crisp up more as they cool.

Spread the chips out on an oven to table dish and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted. Top with avocado, tomato, onion and olives and drizzle with Greek yogurt (you can add a bit of water to the yogurt to thin it out so you can drizzle it). Serve immediately.

VARIATIONS: If you eat kitniyot on Passover, feel free to add corn or black beans. For spicy nachos, add thinly sliced jalapenos. You can also mix in your favorite cheese such as mozzarella, muenster, pepperjack, provolone or others.

Related Recipes: cauliflower nachos with harissa cheddar sauce

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Nutella Banana Ice Cream

Now that I’ve made my homemade nutella, I’ve got to find uses for it, right? As if eating it off a spoon isn’t good enough for me…

The truth is, I am in love with banana ice cream, and I really wanted to share it with you in time for Passover! I made it for the holidays last year, and I’ve been making variations ever since.

There’s not too much to banana ice cream, and that’s precisely why I love it so much. You can say goodbye to the dozen-egg-homemade-passover-ice-cream and say hello to this no-machine, easy, healthy and no-guilt variety that’s tastes just like soft serve.

All you have to do is just slice up some ripe bananas and freeze them until a solid, just a couple of hours. Then, you pulse the bananas in the food processor until they’re very finely chopped. Keep going until the bananas are creamy and add in your flavors of choice! I love adding nut butters – like my homemade nutella – for Passover. During the year, my favorite combo is banana, peanut butter, cinnamon and maple syrup. It’s so so good.

I mean would you just look at that creamy consistency? Don’t you just want to grab a spoon and dive right in?

The best part about banana soft serve is the possibilities. Blend with strawberries, top with coconut whipped cream, stir in some chopped macaroons, or add in your favorite candied nuts!

Nutella Banana Ice Cream

4 ripe bananas
½ cup nutella (use my easy homemade 4-ingredient recipe)
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Method

Peel bananas and slice into pieces. Place on a baking sheet and freeze until solid, a few hours or overnight. Place the frozen banana slices in a food processor or powerful blender and blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. If the bananas are hard to blend, let them thaw for a few minutes to soften. Add the nutella and vanilla and blend until incorporated. Serve immediately for soft-serve ice cream consistency. If freezing for later, store in an airtight container and remove from the freezer to soften before serving.

NOTE: If you’re making your own nutella from scratch, make sure it cools completely before adding it to the ice cream, or it will freeze on-contact and won’t incorporate as well.

VARIATION: For a fun frozen banana treat, you can dip the banana slices into melted chocolate (before you freeze them) and top with shredded coconut, chopped nuts or sprinkles.


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Cheesy Zoodle Marinara + Zoodles 101

With Passover soon approaching, I think it’s time for ZOODLE school! Zucchini noodles, or zoodles, have taken the (healthy) food world by storm, and I am all over the trend.

I’m been zoodling for months now, and I’ve come to love zoodles even more than traditional pasta. Besides being fun and easy to make, zucchini noodles are cheap, very low in calories, and you can get lots of noodles out of a single zucchini. If you haven’t hopped on the zoodle train, it’s time for zoodle 101.

There are three popular tools on the market for making zoodles: The Veggetti, The Julienne Peeler and the Paderno Spiralizer. Each tool has it’s pros and cons. Lets get into it!

THE VEGGETTI – The veggetti works like a pencil sharpener – each side has a different size blade, one larger and one smaller to yield a thicker or thinner noodle. If you look at the picture below, you can see the leftover zucchini looks like the tip of a sharpened pencil. The veggetti makes long noodles, but perfect ones come with practice. Turning the zucchini is a bit difficult and the results can be a bit scraggly.
PROS: compact, inexpensive ($12-$15)
CONS: You can only make noodles out of veggies that fit in the veggetti opening – up to 2.5″ in diameter.
Purchase here

THE JULIENNE PEELER: A julienne peeler looks like a traditional vegetable peeler, except the blade has little micro blades that cut whatever you are peeling into julienned strips. I prefer the OXO brand.
PROS: compact, inexpensive ($10), easy to use, easy to clean.
CONS: yields the most waste, you get strips and not traditional-looking noodles, only works on straight vegetables that are easy to peel.
Purchase here

THE SPIRALIZER: The spiralizer is the most versatile tool. It allows you to create noodles out of many different vegetables, and even fruits. Any fruit or vegetable that is at least 2.5″ long and at least 1.5″ in diameter can be spiralized. It cannot be hollow or have a pit, and it must be firm. You can spiralize apples, pears, beets, jicama, plantains, kohlrabi, potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash (the neck), turnips and more! The spiralizer also yields the most authentic looking noodle. I prefer the Paderno brand.
PROS: yields the most authentic noodle, various blades yield different noodle shapes, works with a variety of fruits and vegetables, easy to use.
CONS: takes up the most space, not cheap ($30-$40 for the 3-blade and $50 for the new 4-blade), endlessly long noodles tangle and are hard to eat (I recommend cutting them shorter with kitchen shears), hardest to clean (I recommend cleaning immediately otherwise it’s hard to remove dried residue).
Purchase 3-blade, Purchase 4-blade

Here you can see how the noodles look based on the tool that was used, and what you have leftover after making the zucchini noodles. Now, lets talk about cooking methods.

BLANCHING – blanching means to cook vegetables quickly in boiling water and then shock them in an ice bath. As you can see below, this yields a mushy noodle. Not recommended!
ROASTING – roasting the zucchini noodles at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes, yields tender zoodles that are evenly cooked.
SAUTEEING – this is my favorite cooking method as it is fast and easy. I saute my zoodles in a wok or large skillet over high heat for about 2-3 minutes for perfectly tender zoodles.

An important point to consider about zoodles, and which tool you want to use to make them, is that zucchini’s have a lot of water. When you use the veggetti or the spiralizer, the seedy center of the zucchini (where most of the water is), get’s incorporated into the noodles. When you use a julienne peeler, you can stop peeling once you reach the seedy portion (in fact you’ll need to, because the strips will just fall apart). Therefore, zoodles made with the julienne peeler have less moisture and won’t water-down your sauces (same goes for cucumbers btw). If you prefer to use a spiralizer or veggetti, one way to solve this problem is to salt the zoodles to draw out some of the moisture. Let the salted zoodles drain in a colander for a few minutes, rinse off the salt and then pat dry on paper towels. I prefer to skip this step. Instead, I only cook my zoodles until tender, and I serve them immeidately (the longer they sit, the more moisture they will emit).

Now that we’ve covered the zoodles – what can you make with them? Well, you are only limited by your creativity! One of my favorite zoodle dishes is this cheesy zoodle marinara. I whip it up for lunch at least once a week! It’s so hearty and indulgent, yet it takes under 5 minutes to prepare. I use the julienne peeler for this because it’s the quickest, and I don’t want my lunch to be a whole to-do. Also, because I don’t use the seedy center of the zucchini, the zoodles don’t water down my sauce.

What else do I make with zoodles? Zoodle Pad Thai (recipe in my ebook), Zoodle Bolognese, Pesto Zoodles with Parmesan, Minestrone Soup with Zoodles, Chicken Zoodle Soup, Miso Soup with Zoodles and more!

And my spiralizer? Well the skies the limit on that! I make everything from rice and risotto to pizza crusts and sandwich buns – all out of vegetables!

Cheesy Zoodle Marinara

1 zucchini, made into zoodles with your preferred tool of choice
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup prepared marinara sauce
heaping 1/2 cup Natural & Kosher shredded mozzarella

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the zoodles. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the marinara sauce and bring to a gentle simmer. If your sauce is too thick, add a splash of water. Add the cheese and cook until melted. Serve immediately.

If you’re looking for more recipes using the spiralizer, I’ve got loads of delicious spiralized dishes in this months issue of Joy of Kosher Magazine, so be sure to pick up a copy! You’ll find great Kosher for Passover recipes like beet-crust pizza with arugula walnut pesto and fresh mozzarella, cucumber salad with almond butter dressing, Spanish sweet potato rice with lime marinated chicken and no-bean minestrone with zoodles.

You can also check out the new Inspiralized cookbook by Ali Maffucci of Inspiralized.com.


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

Other Zoodle Recipes:

spinach white bean minestrone with zoodles
harissa roasted chicken with zoodles

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