BIZZY BAKES

I rarely made bread dishes because we make all of our bread.  Finally, I broke down and bought 4 loaves of Katz's gluten-free bread for dishes like stuffing or bread pudding.  Since then, we have enjoyed French toast, stuffing and grilled cheese sandwiches, among other delicious dishes, we had been skipping. I need the option of throwing together a meal in a short time.  That does not include baking bread.  Yes, I could make extra bread and freeze it but the reality is that I don't.  Now that doors have opened for us, it was easy for me to select this apple bread pudding for out them of apples for the Kosher Connection. I served it as a side dish which was fine but what a special dessert it would make.  It would be good with a little maple syrup but it did not need it for sweetness.  I am a big fan of maple syrup on pancakes, waffles and French toast so why not this? We did beat the apple season but this is good practice for the sweet dishes ...

I was not particularly excited about making a cold soup.  I love hot soups and unless it is a fruit soup, I don't opt for cold.  I could have made just that, a delicious fruit soup, but I decided to try something new and since I had two English cukes in the refrigerator, cucumber soup is the soup of the day.  My alternate choice was a cold pumpkin soup which sounded too much like a smoothie to me. With the school year, coming to an end, quick and easy recipes, are the only kind, I have time for so this also filled the purpose of starting and finishing in only a few minutes.  If you are in a hurry, this is a perfect refreshing soup.  Mine needed more garlic and salt, both which my husband, does not use.  I would suggest a little cayenne pepper, as well. Cold Cucumber Soup 2 English cucumbers, cut into chunks 1 small clove garlic, minced (I used about 1/4 of the clove) 2 scallions, cut into pieces 2 cups plain yogurt (I suggest Greek) 1 small ...

  I have to admit that this month's food choice threw me.  Croutons.  What do I do with croutons.  I never use croutons, except to throw them into a salad.  With hubby having celiac, I tend to skip bread products or bread creations.  Either, I have to make it first or buy it and it is expensive.  After much thought and more perusing through cookbooks and the Internet, I decided to make a breakfast dish.  I figured a little cheese, eggs and some seasoning and I would have something. Then, I found a recipe on Allrecipes .com. I made it for a 2:00 PM breakfast on Sunday.  No, I did not sleep until then.  I started working on plans for my fifth grade and was too busy to eat.    If I want to diet, all I have to do is start a project, whether cleaning a closet, or leaning something new or making plans for school or even cooking.  I get absorbed and never a thought goes to tempting food. Of course, I can not say that I...

This month, Kosher Connection is making desserts for Passover (Pesach).  I had planned to do this way before the holiday but had no time.  Here the deadline is due and my kitchen is not ready for Pesach but I have packed away all my baking and cooking wares.  My dilemma was how do I make this work. For those of you who don't prepare and celebrate this holiday, I am not sure, if you can understand the complexity of changing over one's kitchen. We literally pack up or shut down everything from the year and bring in different items, which we store from Pesach to Pesach.  I am fortunate, having an extra buffet that a relative gave us and I store myself there and do not go into that piece for the entire time between the annual holiday. I have already cleared out the cabinets, I will be using, and filled them with my Pesach pots and pans and gadgets, flatware, dishes, etc.  I purchased new spices and they are in place.  I got lots of potato star...

  This month, Chinese Food is the theme for our recipes for Kosher Connection.  This is not authentic fried rice but I think it still fits the category.  This is Ellie Krieger's Spicy Fried Rice with Peanuts and it is good, even better than my more traditional recipes for the rice.  For those of you who do not know how much respect, I have for Ellie's dishes, let me say right now, I have found her food to be healthy and tasty and hubby loves anything I make from her books.  He does not know they are Ellie recipes but when I make one, he always comments on how good it is. I have made this recipe a number of times with minor changes, each time, such as leaving out chicken, this time.  I already had a chicken dish made and saw no reason to add it to the rice.  This was part of a Chanukah meal. I have this posted on My Sweet and Savory with Cashews in place of the peanuts. Spicy Fried Rice with Peanuts - adapted from Ellie Krieger (Comfort Food ...

I have an oven that you can set to time out after a certain amount of time and I use that, almost every time, I use the oven.  It gives me a chance not to burn my cakes and other dishes.  I have a nasty habit of putting something in the oven and walking away to do the wash or mark papers.  Without the timer, I don't have a chance of true success in my baking. In the recent months, there were a few times, I forgot to set the timed feature and berated myself for such carelessness.  After this happened several times, I decided, it could not be me and had to be the oven.  I mentioned it to my hubby who checked and said, it appeared the oven was working just fine. Friday, when I was making these root vegetables, I came back to well cooked vegetables with some blackened parts.  This time, I knew I had set the timer.  Proof came Friday night when I set the timer for dinner to go off in an hour.  My daughter went to get the first oven course and ...