Sweet and Peppery Noodle Kugel

The excitement in our house today is tangible. I believe you could reach out and touch it.

My seven year old daughter Mushky spent 10 days in Arizona at a special overnight camp for children of Shluchim. (Shluchim are the people who run the Chabad Houses all around the globe.) While Mushky was away we were lucky to be able to see some pictures of her online and see that she was really enjoying herself. My heart was beating rapidly as I made my way through security and proceeded to the gate to retrieve Mushky. Seeing her was such an exciting moment! Her eyes were sparkling and she spent the whole ride home giving us all the details. Being a good Jewish mother, I made sure to ask her if she liked the food and if she had enough to eat :) She let me know that some of the food was yucky and some was good - but that nothing was as good as her mommy's food! That being said, I figured we better create some of her favorite Shabbos foods for tonight's dinner.

Amongst the other items on the menu, we will be having a sweet and peppery noodle kugel which Mushky loves.

A few years ago my husband's sister Chanie came for a visit and made this kugel. We loved it so much that we asked for the recipe. I have made some very minor tweaks to the recipe and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy New Year!

Sweet and Peppery Noodle Kugel

4 ½ cups water

¼ cup oil

1 cup sugar

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp salt

1 lb egg noodles

2 eggs

4 Tb dark brown sugar

3 Tb oil

Boil water, oil, sugar, pepper and salt.  When it comes to a boil turn off the fire but leave the pot on the stove. Mix in the egg noodles. Cover pot and let sit for 15 minutes.  While you are waiting, mix the eggs, brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of oil together. When 15 minutes are over add in the egg mixture. Cover pot and let sit for an additional 15 minutes. After 15 minutes spray a baking dish (around 9 x13) with Pam and pour the mixture into the pan. Bake on 350 until the top of the kugel is brown and slightly crispy.

Sesame Chicken

A Chinese Shabbat dinner - yum!

While it took lots and lots of preparation, last night's Chinese themed Shabbat dinner was delicious! We served up an Asian style gefilte fish, a colorful angel hair pasta salad, a crunchy bok choy salad, coleslaw with a soy sauce dressing and a garden salad. Piping hot chicken soup, served with chow mein noodles came along for the second course. The third course brought yummy sesame chicken, stir fried veggies and of course egg rolls and duck sauce.

I had lots of fun creating all these yummy Chinese style delights and had many requests for the recipes to appear on this blog. 

Tonight I will start with the Sesame Chicken.

A good number of years ago my cousin Esty told me she was making sesame chicken for dinner. I thought that sounded yummy and asked her for her recipe. She gave me some basic instructions (her family also isn't big on exact recipes) and I have experimented with this dish ever since.

Here's how I created the sesame chicken for last night's dinner. (Being that we were prepping chicken for 50+ people I don't really have any real measurements. I always change up this recipe, so just use your best judgement :)

Sesame Chicken

Boneless, skinless chicken breast

Flour

Water

salt

Canol oil

Brown sugar

Soy sauce

Ketchup

Garlic powder

Black pepper

Sesame seeds

Cut chicken breast into strips (chicken finger style). Mix flour and water together until it has the consistency of a thin paste. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper and mix. 

Heat oil in a frying pan. Dip chicken strips in the flour and water mixture and then fry until it is almost cooked. Place fried chicken strips in a pan and place in the oven to finish cooking. 

Sauce:

Mix together brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, pepper, garlic powder and lots of sesame seeds. Mix well. 

Place sauce in a pan and place in the oven to warm up while the chicken finishes cooking.

When chicken is cooked and sauce is hot, toss chicken in the sauce and serve. Delicious!!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

It happens to all of us. We have busy days filled with countless things to do and then we realize that somehow dinner needs to be created - and fast. We reach into our brains and scan our list of easy and quick dinners. This happened to me yesterday. Amongst other things, I went to Shalom's first violin recital. I loved watching his smiley face as he gently played the violin. As soon as the recital was over we headed home and then I realized that I had to make dinner quickly.

Having taken out ground beef I decided we would be having mushroom barley soup, spaghetti and meatballs and broccoli for dinner. I got to work and dinner was ready in under an hour.

Spaghetti and meatballs are really easy to make, yet the first time I made them they were not so tasty. I realized that I better get some meatball advice. I decided to call my aunt Breindy.

While I attended high school in Montreal, I lived with my aunt and uncle, Breindy and Berel. Breindy always made delicious meatballs and I loved coming home to yummy hot meatballs after walking home from school in the freezing cold. Breindy told me over the phone how she makes her meatballs. I tried them and they were delicious. 

Of course over time I began to experiment with the meatball dish and here is the recipe the way I made them last night.

Classic Meatballs

1 lb ground beef

A couple of squirts of ketchup

garlic powder

3 cans Hunt's tomato sauce

Oregano

Before starting with the meatballs, set a pot of water to boil for your pasta.

In a pot,bring the tomato sauce to a boil with garlic powder and oregano. While it boils mix the ground beef with ketchup and garlic powder. Form into meatballs and drop into the boiling sauce. Bring sauce back to a boil and then lower the flame as the meatballs finish cooking. Meatballs cook pretty quickly which is a good thing. 

When I have more time on my hands I have all kinds of variations to this recipe. Sometimes I will put eggs and bread crumbs and even chopped onion into the meatball mixture. Other times I will first sauté an onion and fresh garlic in the pot before adding the tomato sauce. There are also times where I throw in some fresh basil. When I am in a hurry, I stick with this very simple recipe and it's a winner every time.

Butternut Squash Soup

As I have written previously, I am a big lover of soups of all kind. With the freezing cold weather we've been having there is nothing like a bowl of nice, hot soup. About a year ago I picked up a butternut squash on a trip to the grocery store, but wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it. The poor squash sat in my house for a very long time before I decided that it was time to create something yummy with it. 

I decided on butternut squash soup. I had never had butternut squash soup before but once I tasted it I was hooked. This soup is sooo easy to make (the hardest part is peeling the squash), and you only need a very few ingredients. I will even venture to say that your kids might just like it! I told Mushky and Shalom that butternut squash soup is a cousin of zucchini soup and so they agreed to taste it. Turns out that they really like this soup, so much so that Mushky asked for a second serving last night!

So, here's how you make it.

Butternut Squash Soup

canola oil

1 butternut squash

2 big onions

2 cloves fresh garlic

4 big leaves fresh basil

chicken stock 

dried dill

salt 

pepper

Slice the onions and place in a pot with some canola oil. Allow the onions to get really soft and slightly brown. Then add in the garlic and allow to sauté for a few more minutes. Peel the squash and cut into chunks, add to the pot. Stir the vegetables and let the squash cubes get a little soft together with the onions. Wash (and check for bugs) 4 basil leaves, tear the leaves and add them to the pot. Cover everything with the chicken stock (enough water to cover and then a little bit more). Season with salt and pepper and dill. Bring to a boil - then lower and allow to cook until squash is soft. Once the squash is soft, use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Enjoy!

Recipe For Smiles

I am fully aware that this is a food blog - however today I will go with a recipe of another kind, a recipe for smiles.

When an idea falls into my head, I have a very hard time ignoring it. Recently a new Chanukah concept lit up like a light bulb in my brain, and I knew I had to run with it. My brain moved into overdrive and the "Chanukah Party Bus" was born. 

The concept in reality was quite simple; fill a bus with kids, take the kids to bring Chanukah cheer to local seniors AND make the bus ride a cool Chanukah party. 

I quickly lined up three assisted living facilities who were more than thrilled for us to bring children in for a Chanukah celebration. I then started spreading the word, and it took off like wildfire.

In the days leading up to the event I worked on getting the "party" part in place and took the opportunity to help the last few seats on the bus get filled.

Nothing could prepare me for the awesome experience it was. It is hard to describe boarding a bus filled with excited children (and their parents) with smiles beaming from ear to ear. To listen to so many voices singing Chanukah songs as the bus pulled away from Chabad House was awesome. After singing a few songs and taking part in a lively Q & A session with Rabbi Levi, we were already at our first destination. 

The seniors were THRILLED with the arrival of the children, and the kids looked so happy to be there.  At each of our three stops we lit the Menorah, sang a few songs, danced and gave out doughnuts and chocolate gelt to the residents.

On the bus, the party rocked on. A big puppet made an appearance as the story of Chanukah was told, a cool Chanukah movie was presented on the video screens, we played an exciting game where each side of the bus had to be the first to pass certain items to the front of the bus, we cheered and we sang. 

I loved watching as the children's eyes grew with amazement when I began to hand out giant chocolate coins, and I loved seeing the joy in their eyes as they received a dreidel bubble necklace at the end of the ride. 

Most of all, I loved that with one simple bus, we were able to bring Chanukah smiles to people of all ages. I loved watching the sweetness in the children as they went around to pass out chocolate gelt to the seniors we met. I loved seeing the shining eyes of the residents at each stop as they watched the next generation continue with the traditions of Chanukah.