BIZZY BAKES

The first Friday of the month has arrived and so has Ina Garten Fridays.  Ina Fridays is a group who cooks recipes from the Barefoot Contessa monthly.  We do have a theme as to what part of the meal is represented.  This month, we are sharing appetizers.  I left my choice to the end of the month and as life would have it, an answer came to me by chance.   My husband went to a Bris (ritual circumcision) in the morning and brought me back a bagel and a large piece of cheese cake.  The day before, looking for appetizers, I had come across this spread but was not enthusiastic.  When I saw the bagel, I thought perfect, I will have it on a bagel.  I only cut up half to make it an appetizer.  It would have been yummy between two halves of the whole bagel. Smoked Salmon Spread (Ina Garten)   (adapted) Ingredients: 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (I used whipped cream cheese) 1/2 cup sour cream 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspo...

Margaret of Tea and Scones chose Soft Poached Eggs with Sweet Potato Hash Browns . I broke this down in my head and realized, there were two items, I did not have. One was asparagus which hubby does not eat and the other was sour cream for the topping. What was left was an easy recipe sweet potato cakes with a soft boiled egg on top. Actually, I cooked mine longer so it would not be soft boiled which is not our favorite. I, also served a few plain and ended up planning to make them for a side dish, for the holiday. When I make them again, I plan to bake them, rather than fry them. Mine were not cooking in the middle so I put them in the oven while the egg cooked. The few minutes there finished the perfectly. I would like to see how they come out, only baked, missing the browning and crisping of the fry. I think, it will still be good. Linked to:  Full Plate Thursday       Showcase Your Talent Thursday    

I am impressed at the number of books, Donna Hay, has written. I have been reading two of her books with great pleasure.  I have been putting stickies on the recipes I like and I found a number that sound like something for our table. For my first recipe (not my first Donna Hay recipe), I chose a simple corn cake from Modern Classic, Book 1. The book has many photos and they are plated nicely and feel comfortable. Some books beautify their dishes and the surrounding area so, it feels like it doesn't belong in my house. Her food is often on a plain white background and stands out beautifully, simple in design. I was interested in these corn cakes because they have Cheddar cheese in them. I usually make mine without any dairy products. It also has bacon which I can't use because I am kosher. I substituted some olive oil to cook the corn cakes in. I did not like, the set-up of the recipe, since the flour and baking powder were separated by several ingredients and I ended ...

I was at my granddaughter's about a week ago and she served what looked like spaghetti and meatballs but they were not meat at all.  They were salmon and quinoa.  I loved them but never got to ask for the recipe although, I certainly intended to. This was a birthday party for my great grandson who is turning one.  I can assure you that the star of the show and not the food, as good as the food was.  My husband took pictures and I am going to see if they are any good.  There were other unusual dishes served. The star was the one year old who probably did not understand the purpose of the party but as my granddaughter said, there are photos to prove he had the party.  He had fun with cousins, aunts and uncles and his great grandparents. We  had fun with everyone. I was looking at posts in Kitchen Belleicious which always has dishes, I want to eat.  Take a look for yourself.  What did she have but quinoa-salmon meatballs?  I have...

For Jews, this week is the saddest week of the year.  It is a week of mourning and one way do this is not to have any meat meals.  We have either dairy or what is called pareve (not meat and not dairy such as a vegetable soup or fish).  As I schedule, that is what I have to make my decisions on. Check out Menu Plan Monday for many weekly menus. Sunday - dinner at my son and daughter-in-law's. Monday - Salmon Quinoa Meatballs - Spinach - Baked Sweet Potato Fries Tuesday - Soft Poached Eggs with Sweet Potato Hash Browns  Wednesday - Lemon and Dill Smoked Salmon Pasta  Thursday - Eggplant Parmesan Friday night and Saturday lunch is the Sabbath and we do have meat.  We do not mourn on the Sabbath. Friday - Grilled Chicken Cutlets, Fried Rice, Broccoli Kugel Saturday - lunch is Chulent

This is another recipe brought over from My Sweet and Savory. This is when a kosher site runs into difficulties. This recipe was meant to be made with shrimp and we don't eat shell fish. Salmon may be a poor substitute but it was good. I found this to be an easy recipe which went quickly as I find most of Donna's recipes. I am going to share my recipe which of course, will be different from the other participants. Ingredients; Recipes: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, sliced 1 clove garlic, chopped (more was called for in original recipe) 1 can diced tomatoes 1 cup white wine 1 cup vegetable broth 2 salmon fillet 2 tablespoons parsley black pepper Method: Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil, onions and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 8 minutes until onion are soft and golden. Add tomatoes, wine and broth. Simmer for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Add salmon and cook for 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Add parsley...

Mostly, we have chicken for Friday night dinner but on occasion, hubby asks for a meat loaf.  That is what happened, this week.  I am a fan of Indian spiced foods so I looked for a recipe, combining the two, the Indian spices and the meatloaf. Fine Cooking had the answer.  I made so much more than we need, we are eating for a dinner during the week. Indian Spiced MeatLoaf 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1/2 cup small-diced red bell pepper 1/2 cup small-diced carrots (I use my mini food processor) 2 cups gluten-free bread crumbs 1 cup Rice Milk 1 pound. ground beef 1 pound ground turkey 2 large eggs 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 2 teaspoons. peeled and finely grated fresh ginger 2 teaspoons garam masala 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons honey Heat oil in a 10- to 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the onion, bell peppers and carrots, stirring freq...

Sometimes, I look at my cookbooks and sigh.  I have, obviously, bought or been given more than I can make good use of.  It is a good problem to have, I admit, but it challenges me.  Either a multitude of books look inviting or none of them do.  Rarely, does one jump off the shelf and say, "pick me." Automatically, I keep my Donna Hay books separate from the others since I use them weekly. Ina gets pulled out, at least monthly. My kosher cookbooks are popular in terms of usage and solid recipes.  There are those, I love to read l like novels, such as those by Nigella.  She has such a quirky way of describing food and methods. There are, what I call my miscellaneous cookbooks such as the one, I used for this recipe, Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking. There is a series of these Not Your Mother's ........ cookbooks and I have two of them. One came free when I bought the other. I didn't expect much from them but both turned out to be filled with goo...

This is an easy recipe, which I have found all the Donna Hay recipes, so far to be.  This is good because I have little time and I enjoy cooking with a group.  It helps me to see what others have done with their recipes or how they turned out.   After, I finished this recipe, I found someone who made this in muffin cups instead of flat which the recipe called for.  It was a prettier presentation and could be held in the hand although, it might be greasy to hold. This uses puff pastry which is the trick to get to easy.  I would guess that slicing the apple is the most time intensive step and you know how easy it is to slice an apple.  Mine baked for 12 minutes so even the baking does not waste time.  I cleaned my kitchen while waiting. I overdid the cinnamon because we love it. I found it was worth it when I took my first bite. The Weekend Social

This week, WWDH made  Yorkshire puddings.  This recipe can be found in of   Modern Classics I on page 120.  I was excited about making these because this would be something new for me.  Unfortunately, I ended up with flat burnt hockey pucks.  I don't know if it was because of the gluten-free flour or the use of oil in place of lard.  All I know is that they went straight into the garbage. Fortunately, I only made 6 of these so I had batter left and I decided to use it on eggplant, mushrooms and onions.  It worked beautifully for all three but particularly for the eggplant.   Ingredients: 1 egg 5 ounces of milk 1/2 cup gluten-free flour pinch of salt olive oil ---- 1/2 cup salsa 1 few tablespoons Parmesan Method: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients except oil together. Heat oil in large skillet.  I used an electric skillet. Peel and slice eggplant, about one half of an inch th...