Happy Chanukah!!!

We spent our morning shopping for food in Brooklyn and then hit the road to head home for the first night of Chanukah. (That is why Shalom spent the day in his pjs - his preferred travel attire.) While on the Eastern Shore of MD, we watched as the sun sunk into ground and our day turned into night. As soon as it was dark, Shalom made a big announcement that it was now Chanukah. Still being on the road, there wasn't much we could do to celebrate other than break in out in loud "Happy Chanukah" cheers - which we did with great gusto.

We finally arrived at home at around 7 pm..and having been in a car for my entire day, I suddenly found all sorts of energy. As Levi set up the Menorahs, Shalom and I danced around the house singing Chanukah songs! (So that you won't wonder - Mushky is far, far away having a blast in sleep over camp in Arizaon!) Once the Menorahs were lit, we did some more singing and dancing - and then we sat down for an unusual game of Dreidel. We decided to tally up our Gimmels - and whoever had the most after 15 minutes would win the prize...Shalom won by a landslide getting a Gimmel almost every time he gave the Dreidel a spin - Levi and I didn't even come close!

Next, I decided that it wouldn't be Chanukah without latkes...and I opted to do a little experiment and make Zucchini-Potato latkes (well, mostly zucchini). They turned out to be delicious - and when I told Shalom that I put zucchini in them, he tasted them and made sure to let me know that they were perfect and were just as good as "regular ones".

Happy Chanukah everyone!!

(PS...if you are in the 757 - make sure to come to the GIANT Menorah lighting in front of Waterside in Downtown Norfolk tomorrow night at 5:45 pm...lots of Chanukah fun to be had!!)

Zucchini - Potato Latkes


1 sweet onion
2 large zucchinis, unpeeled
2 medium size Russet potatoes
2 eggs
1 cup flour
A tiny  bit of white vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying


Peel onion and grind in a food processor fitted with a chopping blade. Pour onion into a mixing bowl. Remove the chopping blade and set up the food processor with the shredding/grating disc. Grate the two zucchinis  and add to the bowl. Switch the blades and put the chopping blade back in (of course you could do the potatoes first to avoid all the switching - but I wanted to do them last to keep my potatoes from turning grey.) Grind the potatoes until finely ground and add to the bowl. Pour in a tiny bit of vinegar - to help keep the mixture nice and white. Add in the eggs, flour and salt and pepper. 


Heat oil in an electric skillet (more even frying experience!) and drop the batter in by the spoonful (I use a small ladle.) Fry until crispy on one side and then flip. Remove to platter and enjoy!

Raspberry Rollups

Torah and Tea is one of the most fun parts of my week! Each week a group of "girls" get together for an hour of chitchat, treats and some Torah discussion. Taking a little break from my busy week to sit and shmooze with my friends is certainly loads of fun! Each week I put out my pretty box of teas, fill up the hot water pump and prepare some thought provoking qs to go with our summary of the weekly Parasha. Of course we always need something sweet to munch on - and so I make sure prep something yummy for us to enjoy!  The conversations are always lively - and I love that we are always able to draw comparisons between our own modern lives and those of the people we read about in the Torah. It's just a little reminder to me each week that while the Torah was written years and years ago - it is still super relevant to each of us!

Yesterday I decided it was time to bake something different for Torah and Tea. I got out my cookbooks and started to hunt for something interesting. A recipe for rugelach caught my eye in a very old cookbook (more about the cookbook another time.) I set to work on the recipe, but I quickly realized that something was off with the measurements and so I tweaked it a little and hoped for the best. Once the dough was set I took out a big jar of raspberry jam and got to work on filling my little pastries. I rolled them up and set them in the oven to bake.

When my "rugelach" were ready, I tasted one right away (the bit about not eating hot cakes is a myth - right?). I immediately realized that these cookies were not really rugelach, seems to have been the wrong kind of dough - but, whatever they were they were delicious! In my recipe files they are now known as "Raspberry Rollups".

PS: If you are local and would like to come check out a Torah and Tea session - just drop me an email and I'll get the details to you.

Raspberry Rollups


7 cups flour
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup oil
1 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking powder
Raspberry jam


Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients, except for the jam, and place in the refrigerator for about an hour. Pull out pieces of dough and roll into balls - then pat them down to flatten them. Place 1/2 a teaspoon of the jam on each flattened piece of dough. Roll up the cookies - and place them on a greased cookie sheet (seam side down to prevent them from opening). Bake on 350 for about 30 minutes.


Mine out came nice and soft and fluffy!

A Healthy Frosty Treat

As you may have figured out by now, I like to create yummy things to eat. If you would come visit my kitchen, you would also know that I love kitchen toys, gadgets and small appliances. After all, how many people do you know with two different stand mixers, two food processors (one is most certainly not enough in my kitchen!), a hand mixer, an immersion blender, a regular blender, a sorbet maker and a deep fryer to name the more popular pieces in my kitchen. 

At some point, Levi let me know that it would be ok if I didn't buy anymore toys for our kitchen for a while - I have no idea why he said that ;)

So I was pretty good and pretty much hadn't bought anything for my kitchen for quite sometime.....until I came across the "Yonanas" machine. Luckily Levi was with me and he too agreed we should buy it and try it out. 

The "Yonanas" machine is really an incredible addition to our kitchen. Using frozen bananas and other frozen fruits of your choice, it creates a delicious - soft serve textured - frozen dessert. The frosty creations it churns out have zero fat and no added sugar. Simplicity and deliciousness at its best!

Truth be told, we were a little skeptical about this so called "super cool treat maker" but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really does work. All you need to do is peel ripened bananas (finally - a use for those spotted bananas!) and freeze them in a container. You will also need to purchase frozen fruits or freeze some of your fresh fruit. When you are ready for a treat, you simply put the machine together and let the bananas and fruits defrost a little. Then you simply throw the fruits down the shoot - alternating bananas with other fruits - and what do you know, it comes out nice and soft. 

My favorite combination is strawberries and bananas - with a little dollop of whipped cream on the top. 

Soooo...in a nutshell - if you want a healthy, delicious and easy frozen treat - the Yonanas is the perfect solution!