The Bunny Box

Last week, I played some catch up with you guys and introduced you to stay-at-home date night. Continuing in our new endeavor to cook foods from every country in alphabetical order (a la Global Table Adventure ), we took on Albania last night. Ok, last week, when we did Afghanistan, I was blown out of the water. The flavors were bold and bright and earthy and I was just--Wow--it was great. This week? Eh. Byrek with puff pastry...gotta love that crust... We had a couple problems for this week's meal. First off, the main course is lamb in yogurt sauce. Now, kosher lamb is pretty expensive, and not as widely available in my area as beef. Also, when eating kosher, you can't mix meat and dairy, which would mean finding a substitute for yogurt in the recipe. The thought of taking that kind of risk with such an expensive piece of meat was just a little too daunting for me, so I figure we'll wait to make lamb when I can follow the recipe to a T. So, we went ahead w...

Hey everyone! In spite of my best intentions, I have found myself continually slacking on my blogging duties. So the first thing I'm going to do in this post is play a little catch up on some tasty things I've made in the past two months.   Latkes with applesauce. A classic combination. First off, let's take a  look at the Chanukkah cooking. Obviously there were latkes. The Toddler and I spent an evening cooking those up together after several weeks of anticipation. You see, she had gotten a book called "The Runaway Latkes" which included a recipe at the end. She was eager to try it out, and insistent that OUR latkes would not be allowed to run away, but there was a twist. You see the Toddler is terrified of the food processor, so she started crying when I took it out of the cabinet. Thinking fast on my toes, I said, "Well, I guess I could hand-grate it..." and after that the Toddler insisted we get out the grater. 30 painful minutes of elbo...

Well it certainly has been a while since we've had a good recipe post, huh? How does shakshouka sound? Okay, I realize not everyone has heard of this dish, but it is a Moroccan staple, according to Wikipedia , and pretty popular in Israel. The dish consists of eggs poached on top of a sauce consisting of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices cooked up in a cast-iron skillet. Sound good to you? Then proceed... The idea to make shakshouka was born of a conversation with my boss about "Jewish" food, and after discussing various Ashkenazi (Easter European Jewish) dishes, I mentioned that Sephardi (Spanish and Middle-Eastern Jewish) dishes are a bit different. After briefly discussing shakshouka with my boss, I went to see if I could find a recipe, since I'd never actually made it before. The recipe I found was over on The Shiksa in The Kitchen , and I started out with that recipe followed to a "T" and then made a few minor changes based on personal ...

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine steered me towards a produce subscription service called Washington's Green Grocer  (H/T to Diana).  If you've never heard of a produce subscription before, here's how it works: You sign up to receive a box of produce, select the box size and the types of produce you would like to receive ( Organic , Local , etc .) and how frequently you would like to receive it (weekly, on-demand, etc.). They determine which specific produce will be in each variety of box for a given week and provide you with a list. You then have the opportunity (up until the night before delivery to your area) to remove items which you don't want to receive and replace them with extras of the other produce being offered. You can also order other items at no extra shipping cost (though you must pay extra for the items). The box is then delivered and the rest is up to you. After snooping around their site for a bit, I figured I could give it a try, an...

I'm trying to get in a habit of posting here more regularly, which is probably a bad idea with the end of the semester rapidly approaching.  I really don't cook much these days, and when I do it's fairly boring.  I did make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving that came out pretty delicious, but it's not post-worthy and I didn't get any pictures. (Recipe here .) We've been living off of a lot of Shabbos leftovers, basic pasta dinners, tuna, and eggs lately.  It's not that I don't enjoy those dinners from time to time.  It's good to have a break.  But after a bit, it just leaves me feeling kinda "meh" about life.  So every now and then, I get these flashes of inspiration and wreck my kitchen to create a dinner that brings a little spirit back to the table. Which brings us to Tuesday.  On Tuesday, I stood around wondering what we'd eat for dinner when I remembered two things: I had a package of tofu in the fridge I had stir-fry veggie...

First of all, I'd like to state the obvious: I love calzones! They're easy to make and so wonderfully customizable for whatever I've got hanging out in the fridge.  Er...maybe not ANYTHING, but at least the stuff that hasn't developed it's own ecosystem. Secondly, before I tie that statement to anything relevant (like, say, a recipe) I want to talk about my week.  Not this one.  Last one. Last week, The Huz took a week off from work so we could have our first real family vacation.  We took a trip to Albany to visit his grandfather (very enjoyable trip, though unfortunately he passed away this morning, BDE), took The Boo to the library for the first time (she had a blast in the baby room!), took a trip to the beach (deets and pics to follow), and spent the weekend out of town with some friends. All in all, it was a wonderful, though exhausting, week. Let me focus for a minute on that beach trip. Ahhh....thanks... I've been craving the beach ...

You're gonna hate me. I hate myself for this. I made AMAZING stuffed portabella mushrooms on Tuesday, but I was so hungry that I ate them before getting any pictures. :( I know. I'll accept my punishment. But trust me. These were amazing. Served with roasted veggies=FULL MEAL OF AWESOME! Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms Portabella mushrooms 1 package garlic couscous, cooked (or whatever couscous you want to make is cool, too) Ricotta/cottage cheese Shredded mozzarella Optional: sauteed spinach, sauteed onions, fried crispy onions, Any other awesomes Wipe mushrooms with a damp paper towel to clean and remove stems.  Rinsing mushrooms waterlogs them. They're little sponges. Place in a pan, gill side up. (Some people remove the gills, but I love their flavor so I keep them.) Sprinkle mushrooms with a pinch of salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Spread a layer of ricotta/cottage cheese on.  Don't skimp.  If you're going to add any other toppings...

I know, I know. It's been a while since my last post. I'm supposed to be better about keeping up on it, but I'm not. For what it's worth, I have a lot to talk about today! My first story is kind of sad and tragic. You see, a few days ago, I decided to try making "Coffee Pops." I'd seen the idea on several other blogs and thought it would be a good way to get my coffee while holding my daughter without worrying about scolding her.  So I brewed a pot of coffee, mixed it with milk and splenda, and poured it into my bunny Popsicle molds. I had high hopes and I was eager. Perhaps TOO eager. The next morning, I went to remove a popsicle from one of the molds, but it hadn't loosened enough and my dear, sweet bunny pop cracked in half. In honor of the bunny's memory, I wrote a poem.   Ode To A Popsicle Stick    Little Bunny Fu-Fu  That's what I might have called you  But your life was cut too short to have a name.  ...

I've gotten so many requests for this recipe, and I realized it never got posted to my blog. I have no picture for it, but here's the recipe. Note: I NEVER measure anything for this recipe. The measurements I give are approximations. I recommend tasting as you go and adjusting accordingly. Chummus 1 can Garbanzo beans 1 tsp-1 Tbsp olive oil (more olive oil will result in a thinner chummus) 2-3 cloves of garlic 1-2 Tbsp Tahini 1 tsp lemon juice OR the juice of 1 lemon 1-2 tsp Cumin powder 1 tsp Parsley (either chopped fresh, or dried) The following seasonings are just to taste: Paprika, Ground red pepper, onion powder, salt, pepper Place all ingredients in a food processor and puree to desired texture. Taste, and adjust seasoning. You can also add other flavorings such as: Pesto, roasted peppers, spinach. If you can dream it, you can make it. :) Enjoy!

Since the Huz had the day off on Friday, I took the opportunity to try cooking real shabbos meals again while he watched our daughter. I came up with a couple of pretty awesome recipes on the spot, and I'm kind of proud of myself so I wanted to share them with you. Sweet and Sour Chicken Ingredients: Chicken (I used a whole fryer, but you can use whatever parts you want) Ketchup Sweet and Sour style Duck sauce Srirachi sauce Soy sauce spices: onion powder, garlic powder, sage, oregano 1 onion, sliced Instructions: Use onion slices to line the bottom of your pan (got this idea from my SIL. HI! ~waves~) Clean chicken and place it on top of onion slices. Season chicken with the spices above to taste Mix duck sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, and srirachi sauce together in a bowl. I don't have measurements because I just do everything to taste. The ratio is LOTS of duck sauce to a medium amount of ketchup to a SMALL amount of srirachi sauce and just a DASH of soy sauce. Mess around w...

Well, here I am in the midst of what would be midterms if I had any. Instead, I've got more than my fair share of papers to write before Thanksgiving. But that doesn't mean I'm not more than happy to distract myself by cooking something interesting for dinner and then blogging about it. So come on. Enable my procrastination and read on. On Monday I announced on Facebook that I had made pasta with a "creamy pumpkin sauce." I also mentioned that I hadn't perfected the recipe and wouldn't blog about it until I had. Here's the problem with that. I'm unlikely to remember to perfect it later on if I don't blog about it now. So here goes: I wanted to make pasta, but I didn't want to make boring ol' pasta with cheese. I wanted something quick and easy, but interesting and tasty. Well, let's say I got 3/4 of it right. It was quick and easy and definitely interesting, but it was definitely bland. In the following recipe, I'm ...

Well, Yom tov has been great so far, and I'm really loving the stretches of nothing to worry about. However, eventually, all that "nothing to worry about" catches up with you after yom tov is over and you're scrambling to get all your school work done. So this post is a quickie. I just made some eggs. This may not sound too thrilling. In fact, it's not TOO thrilling. But these are good eggs. So I'll share their secret. Now remember, this is just between you and me, so no telling, k? The secret? {curry and s'chug} Did you catch that? Good. So here's the recipe. Enjoy! Yummy Spinach Eggs Ingredients: 1/2 Cup Egg Beaters (or two eggs) 1/2 Cup fresh spinach 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (from a jar) 1/4 Cup shredded mozzarella 1/4 teaspoon curry powder 1/2 teaspoon s'chug (Israeli jalapeno dip) 1/4 teaspoon onion powder salt and pepper, to taste Instructions: Beat eggs, cheese, s'chug and seasonings in a bowl. Spray a nonstick frying pan w...