Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage Soup

Somewhere along the line I became the family cook. Along with this position comes the job of cooking birthday dinners for family members celebrating their special day. (Luckily I like to cook!) As you may know, the Hebrew date changes each day when the stars come out - meaning we get to celebrate our Jewish birthdays for a night and a day! 

As the sky turned dark last night, the date changed to the 27th day of Adar - also known as my hubby's birthday - and this was certainly a cause for celebration. It was certainly a busy day as I got to work  on preparing Levi's birthday dinner. I made dinner, wrapped presents, had the kids make cards, set the table with birthday decor and of course decorated cupcakes! 

My parents and one of my brothers came over to join us, and it was a fun and yummy evening for all. We began our dinner with a sweet and sour red cabbage soup, then moved onto steaks, roasted sweet potatoes, stir fried green beans and a garden salad. As the party drew to an end, we sang happy birthday, offered birthday wishes, gave Tzeddakah and then finished it all of with the super cute funny face cupcakes I decorated. (Thanks for baking the cupcakes Yisroly!)

Now let's talk about the soup! I found a red cabbage sitting in my fridge and knowing that Levi loves red cabbage I decided to turn it into a soup.  I have to say, I have experimented with this soup a number of times - and I am happy to report that yesterday's finished product was the best yet!

Here's the "recipe"...

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage Soup

Olive oil

3 sweet onions, thinly sliced

3 cloves  fresh garlic

1 medium sized red cabbage, thinly sliced

4 ribs celery, sliced

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

Water

Balsamic vinegar

Brown sugar

Salt

Pepper

Sautee onions and garlic in a little olive oil until soft. Add sliced cabbage and stir occasionaly as cabbage begins to get soft. Add celery.  Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Cover veggies with water (about an inch above the veggies). Pour in some balsamic vinegar and then add a little brown sugar. Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer until all of the vegetables are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Zucchini Soup

As many of you may know, getting in good amounts of exercise has become my new favorite thing to do. I started running and wake up at the crack of dawn to get to a 6 am workout class twice a week. Some people look at me like I am crazy - but most think it's great and then start to think about how they can start adding more exercise into their lives. Along with this new love comes a great desire for my children to be excited about exercise and keeping their bodies healthy.

Today was sunny and warm and absolutely gorgeous - and so I most certainly wanted to spend as much of my day outside as I could. I was certain that my kids should head outside right after completing their homework so they could have some healthy fun! Being the cook in the family, I knew that I would need to make sure that dinner was ready before their homework was done so that we could play outside until dinner time :)

While I love to cook - today was a day that I was thrilled to be able to make good use of the leftovers in my fridge. (As children, my brothers and I HATED leftovers, funny what becoming the cook of the house can do to you!) I had plenty of the hamburgers I made yesterday in the refrigerator and then I realized that I also had a whole container of the roasted zucchini I made the other day. I quickly sauteed some onions and then added the roasted zukes to the pot along with some fresh parsley and basil. I filled the pot with water - brought it all to a boil and then pureed it with my handy dandy immersion blender and presto - roasted zucchini soup! I created a salad and voila - dinner was done! (Yes - it is VERY similar to the first zucchini recipe I posted, but has somewhat of a different flavor because the zucchinis have been roasted.)

Dinner and homework completed, my kids grabbed their helmets, scooters and a big ball and we headed outside. For well over an hour my scooted happily and then joined me in a little running and then we had loads of fun playing monkey in the middle, kicking the ball and practicing volleyball serves. We all had a blast - and got our heart rates up too! 

Soo..as the winter turns into spring...why not make it a habit to make some easy dinners so you too can have time to play outside with your kids!!

Roasted Zucchini Soup

3 sweet onions

A handful of fresh basil

A handful of fresh parsley

Roasted zucchini

Water

Roast the zucchini: Preheat oven to 425. Wash and cut zucchinis in to half moons and then place on a roasting pan with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and oregano. Roast for about 20 minutes or until soft. 

For the soup: Cut onions into chunks and sautee in a little olive oil. Add in the basil and parsley. Add the zucchini and allow to cook together for a few minutes. Add enough water to cover the veggies, plus a little more. Bring to a boil and then puree. (Please note, you may have to add additional seasoning after you have pureed the soup. I found that mine needed a little more salt added at the end.)

A Twist On Tradition

Don't you love Purim? I LOVE Purim!  I love eating Hamentashen (who doesnt!!), I love checking out the cool costumes people put together and I love the opportunity to celebrate happy times with my family and friends! Along with all the fun and games, I also LOVE the Purim story! I think it is a great story  - with a great lesson too! In the Megillah we read all about how the Jewish nation escaped destruction with the help of Queen Esther - and of course with G-d working the story from behind the scenes. As one reads the story of Purim, it may seem as if the Jewish people were headed toward a horrific fate - we of course see in the end of the story that everything was turned around - with Haman facing his own demise instead of that of the Jewish people. Lesson learned? When things look gloomy, we must not despair - Hashem is always listening to our prayers!

Being the cookie lover that I am - I almost always get out my rolling pin and bake a whole bunch of Hamentashen! This year was no different - but this time I opted to try an experiment. In recent months, I have decided that I LOVE peanut butter! (My mother laughs every time I say this because as a child I wouldn't go near peanut butter.) Last night I decided to put a little twist on tradition and make some peanut butter and jelly Hamentashen.

After making a good number of regular Hamentashen, using my regular dough - I went ahead and added a good amount of peanut butter to my dough. I found that the dough really changed with the addition of the peanut butter. I also found that I had to mix extra flour into the dough before I rolled it out. While the dough was certainly more crumbly than the regular Hamentashen, with a little patience (ok - a LOT!) I was able to roll out and fill my cookies! I have to say, the pb Hamentashen, filled with jelly, were awesome!

Here is the "recipe". (It is my regular Hamentash recipe - with the addition of peanut butter.)

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 cups flour (you will need to add more when rolling out the dough)

2 tsps. baking powder.

Peanut butter

Strawberry preserves

Preheat oven to 350

Grease cookie sheet.

Beat eggs and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. 

Roll out dough, cut out circles and fill with strawberry preserves.. 

Fold in dough to create Hamentashen (3 corners)

Brush corners with water and pinch together. 

Bake for 20 minutes.

The International Conference of Chabad Shluchos

Last week my family joined me in visiting NY as I attended the International Conference of Chabad Shluchos (the women Chabad emissaries).  This conference is held each year during the weekend of the 22nd day of the month of Shvat as this is the day of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka's (the Rebbe's wife) passing. 

My husband was thrilled to be able to spend some time with his family and my kids loved having hours to play with their cousins. Shabbat was really lovely at my brother's home - and I was lucky enough to have 3  visitors from my Birthright trip last  January join us for dinner. 

During the conference on Thursday and Friday I had the opportunity to see cousins and friends whom I hadn't seen in ages - while listening to interesting speakers and checking out new resources for Chabad House across the globe. Interacting with "Shluchos" from all over gave me the opportunity to share ideas and arm myself with some new ones too!

The highlight of the conference was surely the banquet at the Hilton in NYC on Sunday night. Imagine if you can for a moment, a ballroom filled with 2,000 women who run Chabad Houses all around the world. It was an awesome sight - at my table alone there were women from the Georgia, Florida, Sao Paolo, Brazil, and the Netherlands to name a few. The speakers did a phenomenal job and were truly inspiring. It was a true reminder of how Chabad is available for every Jewish soul, no matter where on this earth he or she may be. It was a reminder for of how incredible this path I have chosen for my life is - and a reminder of the incredible things each and every individual can accomplish. 

As I listened to the "roll call" at the end of the evening when each and every Chabad House location was named, I was awestruck by the span of Chabad Lubavitch. It filled me with pride to be a part of this incredible network of people who have dedicated their lives to helping people around the globe in a multitude of ways. 

Of course an "Un-Recipes" post would not be complete without a recipe and so I will share a recipe for a salad I enjoyed during my Shabbat meal at my brother's home. This recipe is not mine, but rather that of my sister in law Zlata :)

Hearts of Palm - Avocado Salad

1 can hearts of palm, sliced

2 avocados, cut into chunks

Grape tomatoes, halved

Canola oil

Lemon juice

Salt

Pepper

Garlic

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy!

Grilled Flatbread

Like the rest of the world, I can usually have some pretty crazy, hectic days.  Delicious, but easy and quick to prepare recipes are a must for busy days! Knowing that I was heading out to run with a friend at 5:30 I decided to get cracking on dinner at about 4 so that everything would pretty much be ready to go when I got back. I quickly peeled and chopped veggies and created a vegetable soup. Next up was to put together the beef chili and let that start simmering.

 I decided that instead of making pasta or rice to go with the chili - we would be eating it on grilled flatbreads. (I found the recipe in a great new cookbook -  "Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking.) So I mixed up the dough for the flatbreads - it took less than 5 minutes - and set it to rise.

At 5:30 my hubby walked in the door and headed out to run with my friend. Just under an hour later I returned and after catching my breath I went to finish up the flatbreads. The dough had plenty of time to rise and I worked fast to get them onto my Griddler to grill them so we could eat!! A few minutes later all 6 flatbreads had taken a turn on my "grill" and we were ready to eat. The flatbreads were PERFECT and finished to every last drop!

This recipe came from the Fresh and Easy Kosher Cooking cookbook...I have modified the amount of flour and the selection of spices. Enjoy!

Grilled Flatbread

1 tsp sugar
2 3/4 tsp dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
Dried oregano
Granulated garlic

Oil for brushing

Place sugar and yeast in a bowl and then add the water. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes to allow the yeast to proof. Add the flour, salt and some sprinklings of oregano and garlic. Mix well. Allow to rise for at least one hour.

Heat Griddler (or grill pan or any indoor grilling thingy) to high. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Flatten out each piece as best as you can. (The recipe calls for rolling it out - but being that I was in a hurry and my rolling pin is way higher than I can reach - I just opted to flatten it to the best of my ability.) Brush both sides with oil and place on the grill. Grill for a few minutes on each side - happy eating!!

Pineapple Salsa

Wow! It has been ages since I have posted a "recipe". I have certainly thought about posting many times, and I have even sat in front of my computer to type...but each time something got in my way. So today I will post a recipe that I had planned on writing about two weeks ago.

While deciding what to make for dinner I noticed a lonely pineapple sitting in my spare fridge in  my garage. (I had bought the pineapple because I was certain I would cut it up and eat it - but of course it got totally forgotten about. This happens to things in everyone's refrigerators - right??) So I decided that the pineapple would be lonely no more and would star in that night's dinner. (Luckily only a tiny part of the pineapple needed to be cut off and discarded from its long life in my fridge.) I quickly cut that pineapple up into little pieces, added some fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, diced a red pepper and a red onion - added some seasoning and presto - pineapple salsa!  I placed the salsa in the fridge so the flavors could mingle (looks like people don't have a monopoly on the mingling) and headed to the fish store where I purchased super fresh salmon.  I baked the salmon with very light seasoning and then served it with the salsa - delicious!   Who knew that healthy food could be soooo easy AND delicious!!

Pineapple Salsa

Pineapple

Red bell pepper

Red onion

Italian flat leaf parsley

Rice vinegar

Lime juice

Garlic

Salt

A tiny bit of cumin

Dice up the pineapple, red pepper, onion and parsley and place in a bowl. Season with rice vinegar, lime juice, garlic, salt and a little bit of cumin. Place in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to blend. Serve with chicken, fish or anything that makes you happy!

Vanilla Rugelach

I know time machines don't really exist -  but yesterday I really felt like I took a ride in one. As you know by now, I do a weekly baking session for the Torah and Tea ladies that meet at my home on Tuesday night (coming soon...Torah and Tea in Va Beach - email me for details!) and I every week I need to decide what our treat is going to be.

This week I decided to make vanilla rugelach and this is where the trip down memory lane comes in...

As I have mentioned in the past, I attended a Jewish high school in Montreal and lived with my aunt and uncle, Berel and Breindy. My aunt Breindy is an incredible baker!!  (I'll admit it I put on a few pounds living in their house.) Breindy baked and baked and then baked some more. There were always freshly baked babkes and rugelach and cakes and cookies. I always took some of her yummy treats with me to school for snacks - and my friends quickly learned that her treats were incredible - so sharing was a must :)

One of my favorites was her vanilla rugelach - so I set to work on making some yesterday.  After mixing the dough, and filling and rolling up 112 rugelach I can say I was wiped - but tasting the first delicious  pastry quickly transported me to some wonderful times in Montreal.

So...today I will share the recipe for these yummy treats. (The recipe is slightly different than the one my aunt sent me due to a missing ingredient.)

Vanilla Rugelach


Dough


16 cups flour
2 cups sugar
4 oz. yeast
1 1/2 cups oil
2 whole eggs
8 egg yolks
Pinch of salt 
2 cups orange juice
3 cups water


Filling:
Oil for brushing dough
1 cup sugar
1 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar


Mix all of the dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Divide the dough into smaller pieces to make rugelach (or divide by 8 to make babkes - I actually broke my dough down to 112 pieces.) Roll out dough as thinly as you can (I was lazy and just smushed the pieces of dough down using my hands). 


Mix the sugars together to create the filling.


Brush a small amount of oil onto each rugelah - and then sprinkle filling onto each one.  Roll the rugelach up and place on a greased cookie sheet. Allow to rise for an hour and then bake on until they start to brown very slightly. (Mine only rose for about 25 minutes.) 


Enjoy!!