BIZZY BAKES

I was not interested in the Fine Cooking magazine, that is until I looked at their 2007 cookbook.  I have had the book for a while but there were always other books that I wanted to cook from.  It has sat on the bookshelf for much too long. I had bought both yellow  squash and zucchini which I used for this recipe plus other vegetables, we like. I must have used more of the spice than I thought because it was quite spicy. I thought it was fine though. This makes a colorful dish for the table. It doesn’t always happen but I like when the table is attractive because of the food. This is a dish that lights up the area. Southwestern Squash Sauté 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, diced salt to taste 1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced 3 small or two medium zucchini and/or summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 cup corn kernels (mine were frozen but canned or fresh can be used) Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teas

  I have not been adding lunches to my page above and it is about time, I got back on track.  Today, I remembered that I had a package of faux crab in the freezer and it has been there since Passover.  Time to use it.  Hubby does not like it which indicates it is the perfect lunch for me. I am serious about getting in my veggies so baby spinach wins, once again, which is common for such a versatile vegetable.  A simple lunch, easily assembled and so right for lunch,. Garlic Crab with Buttery Spinach Ingredients: 1/3 pound of baby spinach 1/3 package of faux crab 1 tablespoon butter 1 teaspoon minced garlic Method: In microwave or in pot on stove, defrost faux crab with butter, for 2 minutes.  Add minced garlic and microwave for another minute or until mock crab is completely defrosted and heated. In a bowl, microwave dry spinach for 1 minute and then combine all the ingredients.  Microwave again for an additional minute. Eat and Enjoy.

I have another Levanna Kirschenbaum recipe for you.  I recommend her book Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen .  You can find many of these recipes on her site such as this one. I have a large library of cookbooks and it is frustrating me that I don't want to move away from this one.  It is humorous how there are times, I can't think of what to cook, and times like this when the list is long. Funnier than that is my making two nights of dinner from my head and not using the cookbooks. When I made this meatloaf, I was sure  it would call for soy sauce and then I worried that without it, it would lack flavor.  It was delicious and flavorful. Chinese Meatloaf (adapted from Levanna Kirschenbaum) Ingredients:   2 pounds lean ground lean beef and turkey, combined 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil 1 cup grated carrots, packed 1 cup natural potato flakes   1 cup coconut milk  1 teaspoon cilantro 1 bunch scallions, sliced very thin 1 teaspoon ginger 2 chili sauce 2 eggs M

This week, in our Donna Hay group, we are making my choice of a recipe.  I tend to gravitate to soups because we love them.  I am not sure if I ever had gazpacho but if I did, it was not memorable.  This gazpacho, at least to me, is memorable and I hope to make it often.   Not only, did I have soup, last night but I have been drinking it, all day.  OK, that is an exaggeration but I did have a number of mugs of this delicious soup. The cucumbers were perfect to float on top.  Even, my husband commented on this.  The crunch and subtle flavor was a balance to the stronger tasting soup. Since hubby tends to get sick from garlic, I roasted an onion and then blended it with the other ingredients.  I miss garlic but the onion did fill in the gap. The recipe is from Modern Classics: Book 1 by Donna Hay and can be found online here. You can check out the other participants soups......... Margaret        Gay          Kayte  Linked to :     Real Food Wednesdays

I was sharing how I cooked several dishes from The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen by Levanna Kirschenbaum, on My Sweet and Savory,  I included her Moroccan Lentil soup which you can find here.   Today, I would like to let you know how good her Moroccan Style Fish is.  I chose to use salmon and if you have been reading my blogs, you know, we adore salmon. I had decided on Friday, I would select one cookbook to make all the Shabbat food and this is the one, I used and I did so happily.  The only dish that was not from here was dessert which I baked from the Home Bakers.  This means, the fish course, soup, meat loaf, sides and salads all came from the book.  I had no difficulty finding recipes, we would enjoy.  In fact, I want to stay with Levanna and make some of the tempting food she shares. The recipe for this can be found on her site .   I suggest you check it out,  Many recipes from her books are found here.  Instead of my typing in the recipe, you can find it on her site which

                                                                                                                                       I am working on catching up with the group, The Home Bakers.  I have fallen behind because of all good reasons, school, making a wedding, Passover and LIFE.  Taking a deep breath, I am going to see how much I can do to get back into sharing with my favorite groups. The group made what I was afraid, would be a flop with hubby - a cake with polenta and rosemary.  My husband responds negatively to black pepper on a potato, you can imagine how he would react to a cake with rosemary. When he saw the batter with something strange floating around, he moaned out loud.  It didn't look good for a successful cake.  I am a warrior so I kept going but made some mini bundts instead of a regular size bundt cake. I had forgotten, it was difficult to get cake out of these molds and when I went to do it, I was totally frustrated.  I ended up with a relat

The Hungry Little Girl has organized this  monthly swap and it is fun.  Why not contact her and join in the cooking fun?  This is my second month of the SRS and the blog chosen for me to cook from is Red, White and Blueberries.  Melissa is a Texan with a diversity of interests and the owner of rescue dogs.  That is impressive.  She was fortunate enough to have cooked with her Mom and grandmother.  To me, that means, family customs and secrets. I visited the blog a number of times and each time left with another recipe to make for the swap.  The last time, I looked, was close to dinner time so I gravitated to a main course recipe, Sausage and Peppers.  Since we eat little meat, sausage is a treat and I was happy to make an easy. Last year, I received a huge electric fry pan and decided this was an occasion to use it with all those peppers and onions.  I love using this pan. It is spacious and cleans up easily. I made a few changes in the recipe.  I used half fresh tom

I am excited about participating in Little Thumb s Up.  Each month, these is a chosen ingredient and we can link up as often as we have recipes with this ingredient .  Zoe from Bake for Happy Kid s and Doreen from my little favourite DIY have orgaznized this group. If you are interested, do link up your corn recipes.     W hen I saw this in Taste of Home, I knew I had to make it.  It has my favorite foods in it, I am more and more excited about having potato flakes in my kitchen.  I bought them to use as a coating and now, I find more and more ways, to add them to dishes.  I use them to thicken soups and add a little potato flavor.  It does not take a lot to accomplish this.  I spice them for a breading or mix them with taco chips or corn meal.  Kudos .  Loaded Cheddar Corn Potato Patties   ( adapted from Taste of Home) Ingredients : 2 cups mashed potato flakes 1/3 cup cornmeal 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder - feel free to use more 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 2 cups low

I rarely eat bread, only because the bread in our home, is gluten-free.  That is not a disparaging remark.  I value each loaf, we make, but can easily wait to make it again.  Hubby takes sandwiches,  four days a week and I want to ensure, we do not run out. It is funny, baking bread is interesting but baking the same recipe, week in - week out is simply boring.  Hubby wants this particular recipe and since he is eating it, who am I to experiment?  Yesterday, I treated myself to a loaf of rye bread to make this fabulous sandwich.  Normally, I would use white bread but the rye was sitting on the shelf asking me to take it home.  I am a good listener. In our group, the Kosher Connection, this month, the challenge is to make, The Best Thing I Have Ever Made, but that is impossible. How many favorites do you have?  What do you love the most in food dishes.  Not easy to answer? For two weeks, I bounced back and forth between ideas and changed the designated dish, time and again.  I

This week, Margaret . chose a free-form ratatouille tart for the Donna Hay group to make.  I  was excited about this choice.  I stay away from making gluten-free pie shells because I am not comfortable with the dough.  This is one area, I have not had real success. I didn't make my own dough  but used  one from Katz's Kosher Gluten Free Baked Goods.  These are kept frozen and after 24 hours defrosting in the refrigerator, it was still frozen.  Leaving it out for an hour did the trick and I had pliable dough. When rolling it, pieces on the outside broke off but I was able to reattach them.  It was great to have the ready made dough and made the recipe easy to make. It was a delight to fill this with onions, eggplant, tomato, red peppers,and zucchini.  They were delicious with little seasoning.  The whole thing with the already roasted vegetables were baked and I think it was a winner. I am sorry, I did not add the mushrooms, sitting on the counter but I wanted to be

My husband had minor surgery yesterday.  I didn't think, he would be particularly hungry and asked what he wanted, for dinner.  I was expecting him to say, " soup or salad" but no, he chose a creamy potato dish.   I asked what that meant to him.   "You know," he said, "something cheesy and creamy - soft." "Will you leave it up to me?" I asked.  He, of course agreed because that is what he does, when it comes to food. I put together comfort food even though I did not mash the potatoes.  Yep, mashed potatoes are the ultimate in comfort food.  For a change, I left out the onions and only added sour cream to the wedged potatoes.  I topped this with a Mexican cheese combination and it was delicious. Hubby loved it and I am going to keep this in mind for grumpy or under-the-weather days. Recovery Potatoes Ingredients: 3 large potatoes 1/2 cup sour cream 1 cup Mexican cheese mixture (shredded) Method: Preheat oven to 400 degr

Secret Recipe Club (SRC) time is here. again, for the second group under the capable leadership of Suzanne of Thru the Bugs on my Windshield and April from Angel's Homestead . The blog, I was assigned is No Reason Needed.   Strangely enough, she had my blog, last month, in another group.  It happens, I was about to bake and happily found this yummy apple cake.  I knew hubby would enjoy it which he did. This is easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand. Aunt's Apple Cake ( adapted from No Reason Needed) Ingredients: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 tsp baking powder 4 large apples  2  eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon rum extract 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon   8 tablespoons oil Method:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a square baking pan.    Beat oil and eggs until foamy. Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and Rum flavoring; mix well. Add apples, diced to the size you prefer.  I like chunks . Spoon mixture into prepared baking pa

I am finally back to Donna Hay Wednesdays and very happy to have the normalcy.  What a wonderful dish to start off with although, I seemed to do everything incorrectly, I decided to make this on Monday and at the last minute, something came up and I could not finish it.  I had the noodles cooked and on Tuesdays, they fell apart.  I did the best, I could do patching them up.  After putting the recipe together and in the oven, I went to check my email and forgot the lovely canneloni which dried up, even more. It is a miracle but they were still delicious.  You should definitely check out the other members who had more success and more pleasing looking dishes, I would make this again, correctly,  There was dill added and it was a delicious spice to include. Check the other Donna Hay Gals Kayte Gay Margaret Linked to Scrumptious Sundays

 After Pesach, I was in a hurry to make something with real flour in it.  We had been happy with our Passover treats and certainly, they are as good as our gluten-free baked goods.  There is a nut cookie, I made that is better than most cookies, of any kind, we have eaten, over the years.  It was basically made from ground nuts.  I wanted to bake for my class.  I know, with the beautiful weather, sitting in class is a challenge.  I know, I would rather be outside in the fresh air and certainly ten year olds would rather be, playing ball I  found this recipe on Culinary Bric a Brac,   Barbara made it in the frying pan, she baked in and it was billed a one pan cookie.  I was more traditional and doubled her recipe and made it, in two 9 inch square pans. Square Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients: 8 tablespoons oil 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 egg 1 1/2 cups  flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

A new group, cooking Ina Garten recipes has started and you are welcome to join us.  We are posting the first Friday of the month and we will have a broad topic, each month.  This is the schedule. This year's focus by type of dish: APPETIZERS: April, August, December, April ('14) SALADS/SOUPS/SIDES: May, September, January MAIN COURSES: June, October, February DESSERTS/OTHER: July, November, March I selected a favorite of mine, Guacamole.  Ina has several recipes for the dish and I chose her chunky one. You can find this recipe here. I love guacamole and it would be hard to find one that I don't like and this passed with flying colors.  I realized, I like a smoother guacamole.  I did like the addition of hot sauce  and the red onion.  I usually add tomato to mine so that was not a new ingredient. Here are the Ingredients . 2 ripe Haas avocados 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon) 4 dashes Tabasco sauce 1/2 cup small-diced red

This recipe is from A Taste of Tradition, Feldheim Publishers by T amar Ansh .   Tamar is a favorite of mine.  I really started appreciating her when I discovered this cookbook which is completely gluten-free other than the matzah.  While Passover is an easier time to eat on a gluten-free diet, any dish with matzah in it does not qualify.  That includes delicious dishes such as Matzah Balls (Kneidlach), Matzah Kugel  and Matzah Brei.  I can't say that we missed them and with a bunch of good Pesach cook books, I had more than enough recipes to make and to love.   A Taste of Tradition is the one, I used the most, and liked the most.  Knowing every recipe was acceptable for my husband, allowed me to drool over all the beautiful photos, knowing I could duplicate the dishes.     .This photo is from the book.  I did not take many photos during the hustle and bustle of cooking.  R