BIZZY BAKES

This week,  I selected this recipe for EwE but I unfortunately did not post it in time for our weekly Thursday cooking.  Better late than never definitely is proven because this turned out to be a fantastic side dish.  The noodle with caramelized onions, garlic, parsley and caraway seeds blended together for the right flavor and the right crunch. I recommend this recipe,  Egg Noodles with Onions, Caraway, and Parsley  from Weeknights Wonders  by Ellie Krieger.  Check out our Eating with Ellie page to see what others have done with this recipe.         Foodie Friends Friday                  Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge     This is How We Roll

Another week of cooking from,Thirty Minute Pasta, by Giuliano Hazan means another way of cooking pasta.  Noodle soup is hardly new to us but sharing the limelight with the peas is new to me.  Also, I was thinking of pasta in a more traditional way (meatballs and spaghetti, lasagna, mac and cheese) and I am happy to  be making soups and salads as well as casseroles. It turned out to be a comforting dish which is based on Rice and Peas and adapted into this delicious Noodles and Pea Soup.  Hazan made this into a real shortcut soup by using a bouillion cube added to water to make the soup.  If you have a good vegetable broth or frozen chicken soup or beef broth, I recommend using it to make an even better tasting soup.   I was not disappointed with the bouillion and I guess I chose one that had good flavor but that was simply luck. Hazan suggested cutting the noodles into smaller pieces but I saw no real purpose in doing that.  I prefer the full ...

The choice of dish for Eating With Ellie is a shrimp pad thai, something I can't have, being kosher.  I subbed in turkey to make the dish work and the turkey was a good fit.  Thanks to Glennis  for selecting this. I had some cute problems making this dish.  I bought a bag of shredded cole slaw and when I went to get the components of the recipe, I discovered the cabbage was bad.  As a result,  I made a tiny faux salad to show you how it looked with slaw.  Then I made my own meal without the cole slaw and that is the other dish. Without the slaw When I had put it all together, I thought to myself, this would be better warm rather than as a cold salad.  I took the bowl and put it into the microwave for about a minute.  It was delicious.  I would make this  as a main course, a little heavier on the protein, served hot. Ellie mentions, in the beginning of her book, Weeknight Wonders, that she gets these recipes to be under th...

I found this wonderful recipe on Bon Appetit , a blog, not the magazine.,  Go take a look and see for yourself. I knew it would be a hit and even though, I was missing some of the ingredients, I went ahead and put it together. What a success!!!! It was easy to make and delicious to eat. For the original recipe, go to the source and get all the details. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this is a recipe, originally from Nigella Lawson, one of my favorites. What I like about her is the way she writes her books, with cute phrases, hints and interesting pieces of information.  It is like reading a novel with fantastic recipes included. This recipe is from a few years ago and I see that she has a new recipe for this salad that looks interesting too.  It is on Food Network. Peanut Butter Noodle Salad adapted from Nigella Lawson Ingredients: Dressing  2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon sesame Oil 1 teaspoon garlic flavore...

This week, Margaret chose Hokkien Noodles with Sesame Chicken from New Food Fast by Donna Hay for out WwDH. Of course, I had no clue as to what Hokkien noodles were so I went to one of my favorite sites, Wise Geek, to find out. " Hokkien noodles are round egg noodles that are usually of medium thickness. Often packaged and sold in refrigerated packages in ethnic food shops and health food stores, these noodles are favorite options for inclusion in stir fried dishes as well as in several varieties of soups and entrees seasoned with mixtures of meats, fish, and vegetables. Dishes that make use of Hokkien noodles are found all over the world, with some of the most popular recipes originating in Malaysia, Singapore, and China." I have to admit that I used Sesame Chicken which I made for Friday night since the recipe was similar and I had it left over and it made no sense to duplicate my efforts.  Tonight, I altered the seasonings lightly, added broccoli and noodles and ...

Chicken Pad Thai for our WwDH group was a delicious treat.  Thanks Margaret. It seemed a lot went wrong, for me, with this recipe.  First, I looked it up online instead of in the book, only to find later, the recipe is different.  I stayed with the online recipe borrowing a few ingredients from the original recipe from Modern Classics 1, chosen by Margaret.  It is not that different.  Some of the vegetables are different and the sauce definitely has differing ingredients.  Mine was ketchup and chicken stock which I used and added lime juice and soy sauce.  It turned out to be, only by luck, a good sauce. Problem # 2 was that the eggs got stuck to the pan and I had to scrape them off in bits and pieces instead of as strips.  That did not change the taste though.  The third problem was in slicing the chicken, in some strange way, I missed cutting some pieces thin enough and had to do a recut, at the last minutes. Despite all this, we h...

Cabbage has been popular in my family for years. Even as a child, I remember cabbage, onions and noodles with some brown sugar and a good shake of black pepper.   For me, cabbage adds crunch and flavor to dishes which need something to shake them up.  I keep a bag of shredded cabbage on hand, most of the time.  Cole slaw also was popular. It seemed, no matter where we went, there was cole slaw, potato salad and macaroni salad which is why, at least macaroni salad is not made often, in my kitchen.  Salads have changed dramatically over the years.  Sure, we still have variations of the tomato and lettuce salad but how many different kinds of lettuce or how many varieties of tomatoes, do we have?  I like using spinach with lettuce or in place of lettuce. I remember the traditional macaroni salad with too much mayo and a few vegetables.  I certainly did not see spaghetti in a salad with soy sauce, sesame oil, peanuts and scallions.   ...

Ingenuity is called for when Passover arrives.  There are plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables that can keep one satiated and happy for days but there is still that craving for the "good stuff".  Cakes, noodles, muffins, pancakes and the likes, suddenly turn into the important foods in your life.  If you can't have them, you want them, and most of us have come up with ways to make all of these without any flour.  Potato starch is the secret ingredient and I make brownies, pies, blondies, sugar cookies, cakes and candy from this wonderful ingredient. As the wife of one afflicted with celiac, potato starch is a staple in our lives but during the year, it is mixed with a variety of flours.  We use rice flour, sorghum, almond, coconut, nut, tapioca, etc.  There are too many to name. For Pesach, it is potato starch and fortunately, it works just fine.  I am not saying, the finished product is the same; it is not.  What it is, is delicious. Pesa...

This is such a simple recipe and it is a delight to eat.  I love apples and I have made apple noodle* kugels which are better than this dish but takes a little more work.  I make the kugels for the holidays and Shabbat.  This is more for everyday.  I was experimenting with apple recipes, at the time, had apples in everything from slaws to bread pudding.  It was fun since I knew, ahead of time, I would like each and every dish. Apple Noodles (adapted from Apple Recipes) This can be served as a dessert as well as a side dish. Ingredients: 1 pound (gluten-free) noodles ¼ cup butter 6 apples, peeled, sliced ¾ cup sugar ½ teaspoon cinnamon Method: Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat; add noodles and cook until al dente, 9 to 11 minutes. Drain and set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add apples and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and cinnamon; stir to coat. Add reserved noodles to pan; stir to coat...

I was excited about this week's recipe from our Donna Hay group.  It was chosen by Gaye , and it sounded great except that it called for pork.  Chicken makes a good substitute (actually, I don't know that.  Does chicken taste like pork?)  Regardless, Gaye had made that suggestion and I took it and like it. I tried two supermarkets and neither had lemongrass so that was my second change.  I also omitted the mint since I just don't like mint in savory dishes.  Of course, my favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. I, also had no luck finding mung bean noodles so I used brown rice vermicelli.  I had to cook it differently from the book's unique directions but it still worked. The rest of the ingredients blended well to give a really nice flavor to the dish.  There was some brown sugar added to the mix and I always like a little sweet in my savory dishes.  I would gladly make this again. I am sure you will find the dishes made by G...

  Today is a busy day with both the Crazy Cooking Challenge and the Secret Recipe Club scheduled at the same time.  I have my Monday Muffin recipe ready to go, as well but I am holding it back, until tomorrow. It is always exciting, waiting to hear who our partners are going to be and I am delighted that mine is Shelby from The Lives and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.   My first reaction though, was that I have already cooked from Shelby's blog and I dropped a line to my team captain Jane from the Heritage Cook.   Jane is the sweetest person and has such patience when I run into a little wall. Jane came back to me to tell me that Amanda from Amanda's Cookin'  who started the Secret Recipe Club (3 cheers) didn't have a record of it.  I looked back and sure enough, for another group, I had cooked from  Shelby's blog but not for SRC so I am the lucky one to get a second chance. Now comes the real problem.  Shelby has too many great re...

This is one of our favorite dishes.  It is creamy and sweet and delicious.  I had some strawberries, in the fridge and I thought about putting them into the kugel.  I was afraid, they would not do well baked like this.  I wondered what the juice from the strawberries would do it.  So, I passed on the strawberries and debated blueberries or bananas.  I ended, using apples. I have been making many dishes with the summer fruits. Using them in salads or desserts, they make delicious additions. Apples are on vacation (until they show up on the trees again).  OK, I took away a little of their well deserved rest but I was yearning for apples. I adapted this one from About.com Kosher Cooking Lokshen Kugel In gredients:  1 2/3 cups low fat sour cream  1 cup Ricotta  1/4 cup melted butter 3 eggs, lightly beaten  1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon  1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract  8 ounces medium noodles, cooked  1/2 c...

Since, I have closed down Chaya's Comfy Cook, I am moving my group recipes from Craving Ellie in My Belly  (CEiMB) .  For those of you, who are new to this group, we are cooking Ellie Krieger recipes from her two books, So Easy and The Food You Crave.  Ellie known for healthy eating and the group has found that most of her recipes are easy and delicious.  We make everything from main dishes, sides, salads, soup, to desserts, baked goods and drinks and anything I may have left out.  You might want to join in with us and if so, stop by the site and sign up.   The group is composed of the nicest people and there is an active core. This week, we made Asian Noodle Bowl.  I looked at the long list of ingredients and moaned but found out quickly, each was easy to locate and to work with.  The recipe calls for three items, I changed.  Instead of soba noodles or wheat spaghetti, I used gluten free  thin rice noodle (not the usual rice noodles bu...

Bon Appetit is a wonderful and stunning blog.  Go take a look and see for yourself.  I found this amazing recipe there and knew it would be a hit, even though, I was missing some of the ingredients.  I was so right.  This is delicious and one tends to crave more after just tasting it. The recipe originally came from our gal, Nigella Lawson who has many amazing dishes for us to enjoy.  This was easy to make and simply the yummiest to eat.    For the original recipe, go to the source and get all the details. Peanut Butter Noodle Salad   adapted from Nigella Lawson Ingredients:  Dressing   2 tablespoons Canola Oil  1 tablespoon Sesame Oil 1 teaspoon garlic flavored rice vinegar 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce 2 teaspoons Tomato Sauce  2 tablespoons Peanut Butter  Salad Add dressing to noodles and cabbage. 12 ounces thin white rice noodles 2  cups shredded cabbage 4 scallions, ...