Cinnamon Bin "Cin"-fulness

There is no time that I exercise self control more than when I walk by the Cinnabon stand in the mall and do not buy something cinnamony and gooey and ridiculously bad for you. I will actually admit something that I am very proud of - I have never bought one. Something in me can't justify eating an 880 calorie, 36 gram-of-fat snack. (Yup, those are actual figures; I just checked them out on their website.) But they do a good job of making my mouth water!

A couple years ago, my roommate and I were walking through Trader Joe's while we were in college and prepping for a Shabbos meal, and we stumbled across fresh pizza dough. They sold three varieties - plain, whole wheat, and herb - and we bought a couple bags of the plain variety and went to town with a couple experiments. The one the stuck and the one that we have made many times over the years is cinnamon buns. We rolled it out, buttered the dough, added brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins, rolled it up, sliced and baked it. They came out really well and were always a crowd-pleaser. But I always had 2 problems with the dough: it got a little hard when it cooled down (think about what pizza dough does in general), and it didn't rise or expand too much (again, think about pizza dough). But the really fluffy, really doughy dough is part of what makes a great cinnamon bun!

In looking at cinnamon bun recipes online, they all end up being made with an egg-y dough, similar to a brioche. Well, we're all familiar with egg-y bread dough - hello, challah! So, I decided to use a Kineret challah as the base of my cinnamon buns. (You know what I'm talking about - the kind that you find in the freezer section, that you allow to rise for a couple hours and bake off. It tastes as close to homemade as store-bought will ever taste.) This dough is meant to rise, which means that you end up with a light-as-air dough. When I tell you that they were perfect, it's an understatement. They were so soft, so sticky, so yummy-smelling, and even I was pleasantly surprised with the results! And, come on, can you beat a 5-ingredient recipe? I don't think so.

(P.S. I am going to be perfecting this recipe over the next few weeks. I want to try to come up with a gooey sauce for the bottom of the pan so that, when you invert them, the sauce spills over the sides. Or maybe an icing.....check back soon for an update :-) Also, the photo below shows what they look like in the pan. When I served it, since they were inverted on a plate, they were covered in liquid sugar, which made them shine. Oh so good!)

Super Easy Cinnamon Buns

1 box of frozen Kineret Challah dough
6 tbsp. margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins

1. Remove the challah from the box and defrost it until just defrosted. Do NOT allow it to rise.
2. Knead the dough into a ball with your hands.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 12 inch x 8 inch rectangle, with the long side facing you. (You may need a little flour so that the dough does not stick. It makes it very easy to do this on a cutting board.)
4. Microwave 4 tbsp. of the margarine for 10 seconds, to make it very soft. Spread the margarine all over the dough.
5. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, the cinnamon, and the raisins all over the margarine.
6. Starting with the long side closest to you, roll the dough up into a long snake.
7. Cut the dough into 11 slices, a little over an inch thick.
8. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the remaining brown sugar all over the bottom. Place 8 of the cinnamon buns inside the pan, cut side up, leaving space in between.
9. Cover the pan with a damp towel and allow to rise 4 hours to overnight.
10. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the towel; the buns will have risen and just about doubled in size. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar on top. Slice the remaining 2 tsbp. of margarine into paper-thin slices and scatter all over.
11. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is cooked and the sugar is bubbling (but not burning).
12. To serve, invert the cinnamon buns onto a large plate. Pull apart and enjoy!

Mind your P's

Well, it's still fall, which means pumpkins are still all over the place, which means I'm a happy girl :-) I've talked about pumpkins before have even come up with a really delicious pumpkin bread pudding back around Sukkos. But this past weekend, I was with my family and we had this outrageously good pumpkin ravioli. I knew I had to do something to replicate this recipe.

When I say that this pumpkin dish was awesome, that's an understatement. It was fresh pasta, stuffed with a velvety smooth pumpkin filling, tossed in a brown butter and sage sauce. It was so good and so perfectly seasoned....but I've never made fresh pasta before, and ravioli is a bit heavy for a weeknight meal. So I decided to borrow all those flavors - the brown butter, the sage, the pumpkin - and combine them into a much simpler, much quicker, and equally delicious dish. It worked out great and it ended up being a perfect single-serving meal. Since I only used about a third of the canned pumpkin, guess what I'll be making again this week for dinner....:-)

Pumpkin Pasta
(serves one)

4oz. (1/4) of penne
1 tbsp. margarine or butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
2/3 cup fat free half-and-half
1/2 tsp. ground sage or poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, melt butter or margarine in a large skillet. Cook for 3 minutes over medium-high heat, or until it begins to brown.
3. Add pumpkin to browned butter and turn heat down to medium. Add half-and-half and whisk to incorporate. (The mixture should be thick, but if it seems especially lumpy, add more half-and-half.)
4. Season with sage or poultry seasoning, onion powder, sugar, salt, and pepper and allow to cook for 5 minutes.
5. When pasta is finished cooking, reserve 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Drain pasta and toss it with the pumpkin mixture, adding the reserved pasta cooking liquid to thin out the sauce.
6. Serve pasta with a liberal sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Soup-er Dinner

It's finally late fall/early winter, so you know what that means: I finally switched over my closet and now I get to wear all my boots and scarves and coats and fun wintery clothes! It also means that a thick hearty bowl of soup classifies as the perfect meal. There is nothing better than coming home on a cold, wet, almost-winter day, changing into sweats and cuddling up in bed with a bowl of soup. It's the best way to unwind. And today, when it was one of those cold, wet, almost-winter days, I was looking forward to the sweats-and-soup combo since the minute I walked outside this morning.

Broth-y soups don't do it for me on a day like today. I needed something thick with a lot of texture and great flavor. I decided on a corn chowder that I've been throwing together for years. The chunky vegetables make you feel healthy, but the creamy soup is perfect for these cold nights. And did I mention that this is quick? It literally comes together in 20 minutes. All things considered, this isn't a horribly unhealthy soup either - pair it with a salad or a piece of crusty bread, and I'm telling you - it's perfect. This soup can also easily be adapted for a fleishig meal - use real chicken broth and pareve creamer, and it can go both ways! Now, all I want to wash it down is a steaming mug of hot cocoa....mmmm.....

Creamy Corn Chowder


4 tbsp. margarine
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 bay leaf
1 15-oz. can of corn, drained
1/2 cup flour
4 cups pareve "chicken" broth
2 15-oz. cans of cream-style corn
1 cup fat-free half-and-half
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, melt the margarine. Add the onion, celery, carrots, bay leaf, and corn and sautee on medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until the vegetables soften.
2. Whisk in the flour and allow to cook for 1 minute.
3. Slowly add the broth, whisking to combine with the vegetables and remove any lumps. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Add the creamed corn and allow to simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes to allow all the flavors to combine.
5. Whisk in the half-and-half. Season to taste. Remove bay leaf before serving.

She put the lime in the coconut....

Whoa, it's been a solid month since I've updated this blog! The last few weeks have been a flurry of traveling and getting invited out and my cooking has been minimal, at best. But fear not, I'm back with a yummy new recipe :-)

I was actually away this past weekend, too. I went to New York City to visit some friends, and I was invited to a Mexican themed Shabbos lunch. (I guess Mexican themed meals are popular among the young Modern Orthodox crowd? Who knew?) I went up on Thursday afternoon, and I knew I'd have some time on Friday to cook and prep some food, so I told my hosts I'd be more than happy to bring dessert....it's how I make friends, after all :-P

Mexican meals call for something citrus-y, don't you think? You already know about my thing for lemon, and lime doesn't fall too far behind in my list of favorite flavors. I created a similar recipe to this for another Mexican themed meal back in the spring, and I actually posted it here on a cooking website. But for this meat meal, I needed to adapt the key lime filling so it was pareve. Ina Garten's lemon curd hasn't failed me yet, so by one-and-a-halving it and changing up the lemon to lime, I created this super tart curd that layered perfectly with the moist cake, sweet whipped cream, crunchy coconut, and just a hint of tequila. I actually made the curd in my own kitchen in Baltimore the night before I left and stored it in a tupperware container. (Yes, Mom, I had it on ice :-P). It traveled great, and then pretty much all I needed to do was assemble when I got to NYC. And it was a hit! I think I'm welcome back on the Upper West Side....I hope!

Mexican Key Lime Trifle

Key lime curd:
6 limes, zested
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks margarine
6 eggs
3/4 cups key lime juice

Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix, baked according to package directions in a 9x13 pan, cooled
1/4 cup tequila
2 cups pareve whipped cream, whipped
1 1/2 cups coconut, toasted in a dry pan until golden, cooled

To make key lime curd:
In a large bowl, cream zest, sugar, and margarine with a hand mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, to incorporate. Slowly add lime juice. Pour mixture into a sauce pan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 10-15 minutes until thick. (Initially it will look like it has curdled. This is okay - just continue cooking until smooth; then it will thicken.) Cool completely.

To assemble trifle:
Cut the cake into 1-inch cubes. Layer 1/3 of the cubes in the bottom of a glass trifle dish (or any clear dish). Douse the cake with tequila. Pour 1/3 of the lime curd and spread evenly. (Want to make it more alcoholic? Add some more tequila for fun - far be it for me to get between a you and a good time :-P) Spread 1/3 of the whipped cream over the lime curd and then sprinkle with toasted coconut. Repeat this process 2 more times. Refrigerate for 6 hours to overnight so the trifle can set. Scoop to serve.

There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's pie

I was off from cooking and baking last week, which was such a welcome change from the few weeks before - making a million things (and trying to be creative and come up with new ideas one after the other!) is exhausting!! Some people have asked me in the past why I don't do some baking and cooking professionally, and this is why - because I DO get tired of it after a while!! But, after a nice little break, I'm refreshed and rejuvenated and back!

I actually thought I was going to have this past weekend off too - I went to New York to visit some friends and celebrate one of their birthdays. It ended up being a whole weekend of an unofficial college reunion (my life tends to revolve around reunions, apparently), and I had such a great time seeing old friends and pretending to be 20 again. I didn't realize how much I missed that part of my life! Crazy how time flies!

So, traveling on a bus with baked goods was not something I intended to do, but one of my friends - my oldest childhood friend, whom I have literally known since the day he was born and have remained close with ever since - emailed me and asked me to bring him something yummy. How could I say no? I immediately thought of peanut butter pie, since you can freeze it and it travels amazingly well. But then I thought, how can I make this a little more special....and I came up with it. I'd do a "Reese's Peanut Butter Cup" version of the pie: I'd do half of the filling with my normal PB pie recipe and, with the other half, I'd do an adapted version of the recipe with chocolate-hazelnut spread instead of peanut butter. And then, for good measure, I decided to chop up some (pareve) peanut butter cups and sprinkle them in between the layers and on top. Oh my goodness, if you like Reese's, you MUST try this. Took me literally 15 minutes to whip up and it was such a hit! (Mom, I'll make this for you next time I come home! And, you know the Shabbos drill....no inside pictures....just trust me ;-))

Total side note: Talking about Reese's Peanut Butter Cups made me think of HersheyPark and how every year, as a kid, I used to wish I was a Twizzler or a Mr. Goodbar or whichever category was taller than I was! Haha these are your memories when HersheyPark is pretty much out your back door!

(Note: I did have to go to a specialty kosher candy store for the pareve peanut butter cups. If you cannot find them readily available, just skip them altogether.)

"Reese's" Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
1 chocolate graham cracker crust
3 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
4 oz. pareve cream cheese, divided
1/2 cup. powdered sugar + 1/8 cup
1/3 cup pareve chocolate hazelnut spread (I used Schneider's Dellinut spread)
1 cup pareve whipping cream, whipped
12 pareve peanut butter cups, chopped

1. Bake the pie crust in a 375 degree oven for 5 minutes. Cool completely.
2. In a small bowl, whip together the peanut butter and 2 oz. of cream cheese. Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
3. Beat in 1/2 of the whipped cream and whip for an additional minute until fluffy. Pour mixture into the bottom of the cooled pie crust.
4. Sprinkle about half of the chopped peanut butter cups all over the peanut butter mixture.
5. In a separate bowl, beat together the chocolate spread and the remaining 2 oz. of cream cheese. Add the remaining 1/8 cup of powdered sugar.
6. Beat in the remaining 1/2 of the whipped cream and whip for an additional minute until fluffy. Pour over the peanut butter mixture and peanut butter cups.
7. Top with the remaining chopped peanut butter cups. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. (Note: This dessert can be made up to a week in advance and frozen. Remove the pie from the freezer 4-6 hours before serving and defrost in the refrigerator.)

Pizza Pie? Caprese Crostata?

Hi, all! We made it through another holiday season....woohoo! Now back to 5-day work weeks....yay! :-P

I spent my first weekend in a long time back at my apartment and saw many of my friends for the first time in weeks....we had such a nice Simchas Torah, and it was great to see everyone for singing and dancing and meals and desserts and lots of fun!

I ended up not having to prepare too much this weekend and I only really experimented with one recipe. (But....I didn't take a picture!! I don't know why I didn't, but I am going to post a picture of a similar recipe that I found online so you can see what the finished product looks like.)

We got invited out for Shabbos lunch, which was a dairy meal - a welcome change after weeks and weeks of such meat-heavy dinners and lunches. I decided to make a cheese and tomato crostata. A crostata is basically a free-formed pie or tart. You can make a crostata for any course - appetizer, entree, or dessert. Just vary the fillings and you'll have a totally different take on it! Mine was a "caprese" crostata, after my dad's (and my!) favorite salad - a caprese salad. Who doesn't love slices of fresh mozzarella and tomato and sweet basil? Yum yum! Good kosher mozzarella is hard to find, but since this dish is all melted anyway, whatever you can find in your store will be great. I bought a braided log of mozzarella, simply because it mirrored the size and shape of the tomatoes I got, which meant everything would look pretty :-)

I made this as easy as humanly possible. Didn't make my own pie dough, just mixed the filling together, layered on the tomatoes and cheese, folded it up, and popped it in the oven. It sliced up nicely and ended up going over really well! It can be served hot, but mine ended up being served closer to warm-ish (maybe even room temperature) and it was still great. This is a great one for any pizza lovers and is a nice side dish for a dairy or fish meal.

(sorry again about the picture....but this one is close!)

Caprese Crostata

2 frozen pie shells (regular, not deep-dish size)

7 oz. ricotta cheese

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

1 tsp. minced garlic

salt and pepper, to taste

4 roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices

1 16-oz. braided mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4 inch slices

1 egg

1. Defrost the pie shells in the refrigerator overnight.

2. When the pie shells are completely defrosted, remove them from their metal pans and knead them to form one disc of dough. Roll out the disc until it is a 14-16 inch circle and place it on a greased cookie sheet. (Note: This is easiest to do between two sheets of plastic wrap or in a 2 gallon plastic bag, which you cut at the seams for easy removal.)

3. In a small bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread in a thin layer over the pie dough, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border around the edges.

4. Starting from the outside in concentric circles, lay down alternate slices of tomato and mozzarella cheese, until the entire layer of the ricotta mixture is covered.

5. Fold the outer uncovered pie dough over the filling, making folds every 2 inches. 

6. Beat together the egg and 1 tbsp. of water. Brush this egg wash over the folded dough. Bake the crostata at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the dough is browned and the mozzarella cheese has melted and begins to brown.

Since you asked....

You know I baked more than just bread pudding for Sukkos. I can't go home for a 3-day yuntif with just one thing! So here is what else I baked.

P.S. I'm going to have to figure out some method for taking pictures of the insides of my cakes on Shabbos and yuntif. I wish you could see all the layers and fillings!! When I make a casserole or chicken dish, I always make a small test version that I can plate up and photograph in addition to the whole one that I make for the meal. But, as much as I love you, I'm not making TWO cakes so I can cut one up for you!!

Cookie Explosion Cake

This was my friend's request....and a good one at that! This is an ode to cookies. Its chocolate and vanilla cakes layered with buttercream frosting and chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough in between. Then, it was covered with cookies n' cream frosting and topped with chocolate cookies and more chocolate chip cooke dough.

Apple Spice Crunch Cake

You know about my love affair with apples and fall flavors. This is my kind of cake. Apple spice cake, with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and a homemade cinnamon apple filling between the layers. Then, it was iced with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and covered in crushed up homemade cinnamon streusel crumbs. The apple filling made the cake very moist....which meant that the layers weren't as defined as I would have preferred, but the flavors were just what I wanted :-)

And of course, for my mom, more peanut butter pie, which I made on Rosh Hashana. Can't go wrong with that one!

Passionate About Pumpkin

Pumpkins and I go way back. We are not a once-a-year, pumpkin-pie-on-Thanksgiving kind of family. Every year for my dad's birthday, we don't sing to him over a store-bought sheet cake with Crisco-frosting (nothing wrong with that though.....just ask my mom, a self-proclaimed frosting aficionado). No no, we celebrate with a pumpkin pie. Every time I have a slice, I think about my father and celebrations and it always brings up great memories for me. I also always think about Sukkos, when my dad decorates our sukkah with gourds of all shapes and sizes, hanging little pumpkins and squash-like vegetables from the schach beams, and piles even more of the big ones up in the corners for some added autumn rustic flair.

I love the complexity of pumpkin. Pumpkin pie is a given, but think of all the other amazing things you can make with it: add some chocolate chips and make pumpkin-chocolate-chip bread; add it to a spice cake mix and have pumpkin spice cake; stuff it into pasta for a savory ravioli; thin it out and pour it over fettucini for a great pasta sauce. The possibilities are endless.

I've been missing my pumpkin a lot over the last year. I'm not sure if you're all aware, but there was a national pumpkin shortage since last fall, thanks to too much rain and not enough sun in some of the prime pumpkin growing areas in the midwest. You can read more about it here. As with all things, I can go months without wanting pumpkin normally, but the second I can't have it, I want it all the time!!

Ever since my apple bread pudding post a couple weeks ago, I've had bread pudding on the mind. And with Sukkos desserts that needed to be made, and my dad's birthday just around the corner, I wanted to see what I could do with pumpkin bread pudding. I went to my grocery store, ready to buy pre-mixed pumpkin pie filling (which has been available all year - it was just the plain canned pumpkin that's been unavailable), when - lo and behold! - pumpkin is back on the shelves and ready for the fall! So I played around in my kitchen and this is what I came up with - a great pumpkin-spice flavor with a crunchy praline topping and cinnamon-y accompaniments. It kind of tastes like your favorite pumpkin pie got smashed up with French Toast. So perfect for cool nights outside in the sukkah with good friends and family (...or, in our case, very hot nights in the sukkah!)!

Cook's note: There are two things that I did in my first version that I would change a little bit. First of all, I only let my pumpkin custard soak into the bread for about 10 minutes. In the recipe, I indicate that it should soak in for 30, which I think will make the bread moister and break down some of the bread cubes a bit more than my finished version did. Because of the pumpkin, the custard is thicker and I was using a denser French bread (instead of Challah), so the extra time would have helped. Also, I tasted the pumpkin in it, but it wasn't in your face. For some people, that may be preferable, in which case, stick to the recipe below. But for a true pumpkin lover, I'd up the pumpkin to about 22 oz. (1 1/2 small cans or 3/4 of a large can) and I'd decrease the milk to 3 1/2 cups.

 (Sorry - my test version burned a little bit! See my note to prevent this below...)

Pumpkin Praline Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Sauce
For the Bread Pudding:
1 large loaf of French Bread or Challah 
4 eggs
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. ginger
4 cups soy milk 

For the praline topping:
1 stick margarine, melted
1 cup flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 8-oz. bag chopped pecans

For the Cinnamon Sauce:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. cinnamon extract or 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. pareve creamer or soy milk

1. Cut the bread up into 1-inch cubes and allow to go stale in a big bowl overnight.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, sugars, spices, and milk. Pour mixture over the bread and allow to absorb for 30 minutes. (Note: This custard needs to sit for a while to absorb since it is thicker because of the pumpkin.)
3. Pour the bread mixture into a greased 9x13 inch dish.
4. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the praline topping. Sprinkle liberally over the bread pudding.
5. Bake the bread pudding at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean. (Note: All ovens cook slightly differently. As such, the praline topping could begin to burn before the pudding is completely cooked. If this is the case, cover the pudding with aluminum foil and bake until it is done.)
6. Meanwhile, make the cinnamon sauce. In a saucepan on high heat, mix the water and brown sugar, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and reduce by half, about 10 minutes.
7. Remove the sauce from the heat and add the cinnamon extract or cinnamon and milk or creamer. Keep warm on low heat until ready to serve.
8. Serve warm bread pudding with cinnamon sauce (and, if you'd like, a dollop of pareve whipped cream that's been flavored with cinnamon or cinnamon extract).

Macaroni and Cheese.....er, Queso! :-)

G'mar Tov to everyone -- hope you all had an easy and meaningful fast!

Olé! We're taking a trip south of the border this week! I am so excited to share this recipe with you. This is something that I came up with a long time ago and have made several times, but didn't think I'd have the opportunity to make again anytime soon. And then, mazel tov! Good friends of ours had a baby last week and my roommates and I decided to cook a meal to bring to their house. What better for new parents than something they can heat and freeze and reheat and refreeze, right? Casseroles and baked pasta dishes are the best for those kinds of things!

Now, I have a confession: I love cheese. And I love pasta. They are maybe my two greatest food loves. So what's better than putting them together, right? Macaroni and cheese is just the most yummy and warm and creamy and comforting dish ever. In my childhood, I thought that Wacky Mac reigned supreme, but as I got older and started to cook a lot more often, I realized just how easy real homemade mac and cheese is. I have a great original macaroni and cheese recipe that I'm happy to share with anyone...or maybe it will be a blog post sometime soon!

One of my secrets for awesome cheesy mac is to cut up a some cheese into small cubes and mix it in with the macaroni after I'm all done mixing and right before I pop it into the oven. The cubes don't get melted into the sauce, but instead make these gooey pockets of cheesiness that are an awesome surprise! Another thing I do is add about 1 cup of milk into the mixed macaroni and cheese right before I bake it. It keeps the dish from drying out and is especially important if you plan on chilling and reheating it.

Sometime in the last year or so, my roommates and I were invited out to a dairy Mexican-themed Shabbos meal. I must have been craving mac and cheese that week, because I decided to put a little Mexican spin on my normal recipe and it came out so well. The corn, black beans, onions, peppers and tomatoes added such great color and texture, and simply switching it up from my usual American-and-Cheddar combo to a Cheddar-and-Pepper Jack mix made it so different and Latin-tasting. And who doesn't like crushed tortilla chips on top? This is such a great dish if you're going to a Mexican potluck, or if you just want a little twist on a classic...or if you have a new baby in the neighborhood and want to help out the new parents! Mazel tov!

(Also, notice the new blue background on my pictures. One of my cousins told me that me beautiful spic-and-span burners were not the best background for food shots. So we'll try this out for a week or two and see how we feel about it!)

M

Mexican Macaroni and Cheese
1 lb. campanelle pasta (or any short pasta - macaroni, bowties, whatever you like!)
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 medium green peppers, finely chopped
8 tbsp. margarine, divided
6 tbsp. flour
4 cups milk, divided
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz. pepper jack cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
1 15-oz. can corn, drained
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained
4-oz. brick of cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes
4-oz. of nacho flavored tortilla chips, crushed (about 1 1/2 cups)

1. In a large pot, cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and put in a large bowl.
2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the peppers and onions and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Pour over noodles.
3. In the same saucepan, melt 6 tbsp. of margarine over medium heat. Slowly add the flour and whisk for 1 minute, until it becomes a paste. (Note: This is a roux and is used as a thickening agent.) Pour in 3 cups of milk and whisk constantly until no lumps remain. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a simmer to thicken, about 5 minutes. You want it to be the consistency of Elmer's glue. (Note: This is a basic white sauce, or Bechamel, one of the 5 French "mother sauces," which can be flavored with any number of flavors and used in a million different ways - great to know!)
4. Turn off the heat and add the shredded cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese, whisking to melt completely. Season with salt and pepper. (Note: It is almost always easier to season the sauce before it's on the pasta; the seasoning will distribute much more evenly.)
5. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and sautéed vegetables. Add the drained corn, drained and rinsed beans, and drained and rinsed tomatoes and mix until everything is incorporated. At the very end, add the remaining 1 cup of milk and the cubed cheddar cheese and mix.
6. Pour the mixture into a greased 9x13 inch dish.
7. In a small bowl, melt the remaining 2 tbsp. of margarine. Add the crushed chips and toss to coat. Sprinkle the chips over the entire dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the tortilla chips are browned and the cheese sauce is bubbling at the edges.

Rosh Hashana Treats

Shana Tova to you all - Happy New Year! I just got back from a wonderful yuntif at my parents' house, where we had amazing meals (thanks, Mom, for all the cooking!), a great weekend with all my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmother, and just an all-around great time. My family truly loves spending time together, and we all look forward to Rosh Hashana every year, when we crowd around the dining room table all afternoon, talk and laugh, play a huge game of knock-out basketball in our driveway, and just get to spend some quality time together. Can't wait for the next holiday or reunion or whenever we get to do it again!

In the last few years, I've become the designated dessert-maker for Rosh Hashana and Pesach. It really helps my mom out and means that she doesn't have to worry about those few things in addition to the dozens of other things that she needs to make for the holidays. (I don't know how you do it, Mom!) I try to do a variety of chocolate and fruity desserts, and there are a couple classics that go over every year really well which I always repeat. I didn't come up with any of these recipes on my own, but I do want to share what I made with you and links to the recipes, in case you'd like to try!

Chocolate-White Chocolate Mousse Cake:

This is a cake that I made last year and decided to make again, since it was a hit the first time around. The inside is a layer of chocolate cake (no big secrets there....Duncan Hines all the way!), then a thin layer of chocolate mousse (choose your favorite recipe, or use this one, which is very good and very simple), then a layer of yellow cake (again, Duncan Hines is awesome), then a layer of white chocolate mousse (just substitute white chocolate in the link from above), another layer of yellow cake, then frost the cake in white chocolate mousse, and cover the whole thing in white chocolate shavings. I wish I had a picture of the inside to show you with all the contrasting layers, but that's what you get when you serve a dessert on Shabbos or Yuntif!

Lemon Curd and Raspberry Tart:

Again, thanks to the no-photography rule on Yuntif, you can't see the lemon curd that made up most of this tart, but i promise it's there! I made a very easy shortbread crust from this recipe, and then I covered the cooled crust in a very simple raspberry sauce. All you do is put about a half a pint of fresh raspberries and 1/4 cup of water in a pot. Turn the heat to medium-high and allow the raspberries to dissolve. When then do, mix in about 2 heaping tablespoons of raspberry jelly and mix to combine. Then, just pour the sauce all over the cooled shortbread crust in a thin layer.

The lemon curd recipe that I use all the time is Ina Garten's and it can be found here. I use this recipe several times a year - for just plain lemon curd, for lemon trifles, for lemon pies....and it's great because you can use it on Pesach too! So, I make the lemon curd and pour it over the raspberry sauce-covered shortbread. Once it's set, I put some fresh raspberries all over it (about two pints). Then, in a small sauce pot, I melt about 1/2 cup of seedless raspberry preserves with about 2 tbsp. of water until it's a thin sauce. Then I just brush it over the raspberries and it makes a shiny glaze....very professional looking. This dessert is my personal favorite from the weekend because it's so refreshing.

Peanut Butter Pie:

I know this little pie looks very simple and unassuming, but trust me: it's a winner. This is one of the easiest desserts I make, and if you're a peanut butter lover, this is a must. This is one of my family's favorites, and I make several every year for my cousins. I found the recipe a while ago on some website, but it's so easy that I've committed it to memory....and you should too!

4 oz. pareve cream cheese
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup pareve whipped cream, whipped until stiff

Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter until creamy. Add the sugar. Beat in the whipped cream and continue beating for an additional minute until the whole mixture is stiff. Pour it into a pre-made chocolate graham cracker crust (that has been baked at 325 degrees for 5 minutes and cooled) and refrigerate.

It's that simple and so good.

And now, for the pièce de résistance, my masterpiece - and centerpiece - of all my desserts....

Cake pops:

Look closer...

That's all cake. Cake lollipops. So cute and bite-sized and, oh, what a hit! I discovered cake pops on a fantastic baking blog that I read every week, Bakerella. She even came out with a book of them, and they're adorable. It's the perfect amount of rich, super moist cake...and you can have more than one!

Cake pops are very simple to make, but they can be time-consuming....especially if you make 120 like I did! One of my roommate encouraged me to stop after 60, but I told her that I had faith in my family that we'd finish them...and we came very close! Nice job, cousins! All you basically do is make a 9x13 inch cake, crumble it up, mix it with frosting, shape it into balls, refrigerate, pop a stick into them, and dip into melted chocolate or candy melts. Bakerella has a great demo video here.

I made four kinds of cake pops:

The brown ones are chocolate, the peachy-colored ones are carrot cake, the yellow ones are lemon, and the pink ones are vanilla - something for everyone! And then I stuck them in a planter so we'd have a great edible centerpiece. One of my cousins walked in and didn't even notice them...he thought it was a flower arrangement! Mission accomplished! But the best compliment I got on them was from my sister's boyfriend. He told me that he doesn't even like cake, but he loved these and had half a dozen. Now THAT is a compliment!

So there you have it. No originals this week, but for everyone who wanted to see my creations, here they are!! To all my family and neighbors who came by - I hope you enjoyed them! It was so much fun spending time with all of you!!

Chicken Noodle "Cacciarole"

I got invited out for both Shabbos lunch AND dinner this week....I love when that happens :-) I had to come up with something unique for each meal so....this week you get TWO recipes from me! I know, it's a lot to handle :-P

For my lunch invitation, my host asked me to make either a side dish or to help out with the main dish. I perused my usual recipe websites and couldn't find any inspiration, until it hit me....why not make a side dish out of a main dish? I know, I know, bear with me.

Casseroles and kugels are such a great Shabbos side dish. They're usually one-pot or one-bowl dishes and they take no time to make. But a standard potato or broccoli kugel recipe isn't so filling. So I decided to adapt chicken cacciatore into a casserole....almost a cross between chicken cacciatore and chicken noodle casserole. Get it? Chicken Noodle Cacciarole? I'm so clever :-P (Oh man, I'm turning into Rachael Ray. Up next? Stoup and meatsagna....) But seriously, this is a great dish to make if you're having a larger crowd and already have one meat or chicken dish on the menu, but still want something else that's filling and has protein to round out the meal.

Chicken cacciatore means "hunters' chicken" in Italian, and this is a dish that families in Italy make because it's so rustic and easy. It usually involves sauteed vegetables, some wine and tomatoes that are made into a sauce and cooked over chicken; the final product is usually served with pasta. I decided to combine all the components into one pan. This is a great recipe to use up leftover chicken....or, if you're lucky like me and have a kosher grocery store down the street, just buy a rotisserie chicken from the prepared foods aisle. Throw in any vegetables you have on hand...whatever your family likes. This dish freezes really well, too!

Now, for my honest opinion: the flavor was good and the sauce was sort of creamy, but not as tomato-y as I would have preferred. Some people may like it this way, and I got a lot of compliments on it as is at lunch. But I think if I were to make this again, I'd cut out the chicken broth and replace it with a can of tomato sauce and about a 1/2 cup of water. But that's just me. Feel free to make it either way and decide! Also, it didn't stay together as well as a casserole or kugel should. But it was still good, as long as you don't mind scooping!

Chicken Cacciatore Casserole
1 12-oz. bag of wide egg noodles
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
2 red bell peppers, cut into 2-in. long slices
2 green peppers, cut into 2-in. long slices
1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/4 rings
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup wine - white or red
1 14-oz. can chicken broth
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
4 cups shredded chicken
1 cup bread crumbs

1. In a large pot, boil the egg noodles according to the package directions until almost completely cooked. ((Note: The noodles will absorb some of the cooking sauce and finish cooking in the oven, so you do not want them fully cooked or they will become mushy in the final product.)  Drain and set aside.
2. In the same pot, melt the margarine over medium heat. Add the peppers and onions and sautee until tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms and garlic and continue to cook for an additional 3 minutes.
4. Sprinkle in the flour. Mix the flour with the margarine-coated vegetables until no lumps remain. (Note: The mixture of fat and flour is called a roux and is used as a thickening agent.) Allow to cook for 1 minute. Pour in the wine and whisk together, allowing it to cook out for an additional minute.
5. Pour in the chicken broth and tomatoes and increase the heat to high. Allow mixture to come to a simmer. (Note: Any thickening agent will only do its entire job once the mixture boils or simmers.) Simmer for 5 minutes, or until liquids have thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
6. In a large bowl, combine cooked noodles and shredded chicken. Pour vegetable sauce over them and mix thoroughly. Pour the entire mixture into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
7. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the casserole; spray lightly with cooking spray so they brown. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until the top is browned and the casserole has set.

Stale Bread Splendor

So raise your hand if this sounds familiar: It's Yuntif season....you may even have three-day yuntifs back-to-back for about a month solid (ring any bells?) and you're hosting meal after meal where you need to make Motzi over two challahs. You have a nice sized crowd, so you get through an entire challah and then, inevitably, someone wants another slice, so you cut into challah #2 and then....you have to make Motzi on two new challahs the next meal. And it happens again. And you're left with seven 3/4-challahs in your freezer or on your counter. What are you supposed to do with them?

Here's the answer....Cinnamon Apple Streusel Bread Pudding. It's rich, it's warm, it's sweet, it's so good. My roommate told me that it smelled like Rosh Hashana when I was preparing it, and it does! It's a cross between Rosh Hashana and the fall season when you get to break out your cool weather clothing and boots and buy new fall/winter clothes....unless it's 90 degrees where you live at Rosh Hashana! But around this holiday, I at least hope that the cool weather is coming! But I digress....

I love bread pudding. I love cinnamon and warm desserts and gooey caramely sauces, so anything that brings all those flavors together is a winner in my book. This is a great "use up" dish for all those challah ends. Or just buy a big challah, cut it up the night before, and let it go stale....that's right. Stale bread is better! (In a pinch, cut the challah up into chunks, pop it in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes and let it dry out in there....works just as well!). The streusel topping that I decided on at the last minute created this awesome caramel on top that made it apple pie-like. I also made a cinnamon vanilla sauce to serve with it. After researching dozens of sauces online, I combined a few to make the one I ended up with. It does include one egg. I know that there are health and salmonella warnings recently with raw eggs, but this sauce is cooked for several minutes on the stove, so you'll be good to go. Don't want to potchka with the sauce? Whip up some pareve whipped cream and add a little cinnamon...delish!

In the end, I actually served the bread pudding with both  the sauce and the cinnamon whipped cream. The sauce is extremely sweet and a little goes a long way. The cinnamon whipped cream actually cut through the sugar-y sweetness of the sauce and was a great accompaniment.

I feel like this will be a great dish to serve on Sukkos, when you're sitting outside late at night, the weather is just getting chilly and you need your sweater for the first time all season....ah, can you tell what time of the year I like best?? :-)

Cinnamon Apple Streusel Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Vanilla Sauce
1 large stale challah, crusts removed, cut into 1 inch cubes (about 8 cups)
8 tbsp. (1 stick) margarine, divided
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 cup raisins
3 3/4 cups soy milk
2 1/2 cups brown sugar, divided
4 eggs
1/2 tsbp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
2/3 cup flour
1 recipe Cinnamon Vanilla Sauce (recipe to follow)

1. Place challah cubes in a large bowl.
2. In a skillet, melt 4 tsbp. margarine. Add apples and raisins and cook over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
3. While the apples cook, whisk together the soy milk, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, eggs, and spices. Pour over the challah and push the challah down with a large spoon or your hands, allowing the custard mixture to soak the bread. Allow the bread to absorb the mixture for 5-10 minutes.
4. When the apples and raisins have cooled slightly, add them to the bread mixture and incorporate. Pour the bread pudding into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
5. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 4 tbsp. margarine, remaining 1 cup brown sugar and flour. Using your hands, mix until it is crumbly. Sprinkle this streusel topping on top of the bread pudding.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until the top is browned, the liquid has absorbed, and the pudding is set. Serve warm with Cinnamon Vanilla Sauce.

Cinnamon Vanilla Sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick margarine
1 egg
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon

In a small saucepan, melt together the sugar, margarine and egg. Whisk constantly for 8 minutes on medium high heat, until sauce thickens slightly. (Note: You must whisk this constantly, otherwise the egg will congeal and you will end up with a Scrambled Egg Sauce....not so yummy!) Add the soy milk. (Note: Most soy milk containers have four cups of milk in them. Use 3 3/4 cups for the bread pudding and save the last 1/4 cup for the sauce...perfect!) Remove from heat and add vanilla and cinnamon; whisk. Serve at room temperature with warm bread pudding.

One Pot Wonder

I've been off the hook a lot lately with hosting big Shabbos meals. There was definitely a time when my roommates and I hosted meals at least twice a month....and when I say "meals," I mean the 28-person variety with days worth of prep and hours of clean-up (which, for anyone who knows me, has always been my forte :-P). We've taken a break, though, and now when we do meals, they're generally much smaller and they are fewer and farther in between. So, I get to really experiment with fun new recipes or come up with new ideas - or even splurge a little more on my guests than I could when we were spending so much money all the time.

I was watching an episode of 30-Minute Meals with Rachael Ray this week and she was making a shallot pasta, where she made a sauce out of caramelized shallots and poured it over whole wheat pasta. It looked so good, and I decided to adapt a similar recipe to chicken for Shabbos. It ended up coming out great! All in all, it only took 1 hour to make when I got home from work on Friday (in addition to the couple minutes I spent pounding out the chicken the day before so it would be ready to go when I came home) and, I have to say, it's delicious. (I may or may not have purposely made a couple of the pieces very small so I could sample a little before my company arrived!) I can't lie, it was a slight hassle having to peel and slice an entire pound of shallots, but I love how sweet and tender they become, so it was worth it. My father bought me a bottle of white wine that I hadn't opened yet, and I figured this would be a great opportunity to use some of it and finish the rest at dinner. (An open bottle of white wine will go bad in a couple days....that was my excuse :-P) This was also a fairly inexpensive dish to make, since I had the wine at home already. I needed to buy chicken and shallots, but almost everything else I needed is something I can almost always find in my pantry or refrigerator. I think I'll definitely add this one to the file of "successful" dishes! (Believe me....MANY do not make the cut!)

Shallot and White Wine Smothered Chicken
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
1/4 cup canola oil, divided
1 cup white wine, divided
1 lb. shallots, sliced thin
1/2 tbsp. minced garlic (out of a jar is fine!)
1 cup chicken broth (mine was out of a can)
1/3 cup pareve creamer or soy milk
1 tbsp. margarine
salt and pepper

1. Pound each chicken breast out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap (or inside a 1-gallon zip-top bag) until 1/4 inch thin, using a mallot or a rolling pin. Cut each pounded chicken breast in half. (Note: This step can be done the day before.)
2. Heat 1/3 of the oil in a large heavy-bottom pan on medium heat.
3. Dredge each chicken piece in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper. The flour coating should be very thin. Place the chicken in the pan and shallow-fry about 3 minutes each side, or until lightly browned. (Note: because the chicken is so thin, it will fully cook this quickly.) Remove chicken from pan and place in a single layer in a large serving dish. Repeat until all the chicken is cooked, adding another 1/3 of the oil halfway through.
4. Pour 1/2 cup of white wine in the pan and, using either a wooden or plastic spoon, scrap up all the bits and pieces from the bottom of the pan. (Note: This is called de-glazing the pan). (Note: Many people recommend that you not use "cooking wine" since the taste isn't as good as the real thing. I almost always have cooking wine in my pantry and very rarely have an open bottle of good wine laying around, so use whatever is around. I promise it will still be yummy!)
5. Increase the heat to medium-high. After 2 minutes, when most of the white wine has evaporated, lower the heat to medium-low and add the remaining 1/3 of the oil. Add the shallots and garlic and toss to coat. Cook them low and slow, about 10 minutes, until golden and super soft. (Note: cooking garlic too high will make it go bitter on you...and there's no saving it after that!)
6. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of wine and, again, de-glaze the pan, increasing the heat again to medium-high. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes.
7. Add the chicken broth and reduce the liquid again by about half, about 8-10 minutes.
8. Stir in the pareve creamer or soy milk and margarine. If you like a thicker sauce, continue reducing until desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Pour sauce over chicken and serve. (Note: This dish can be made a few hours in advance, but I wouldn't recommend refrigerating and reheating this dish. If you are preparing this in advance, leave it out on the counter and place in a 250 degree oven to reheat.)