Category Archives: Recipes & Food

Dec9

Cupcake Menorah

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Cupcake Menorah

If like me you are caught unprepared by the early arrival of Chanukah this year, here is a quick easy idea to help you celebrate on short notice! When Arielle brought a similar cupcake Menorah into our friend Betsy’s Chanukah party several years ago the kids were blown away. I may have been more excited than they were to be introduced to such an easy and fun way to celebrate. I had forgotten about the cupcake menorah until coming across a photo from the party on my computer a few days ago.   It was just what I needed as a  way to surprise my kids and make things instantly festive without having planned ahead!

Dec7

It’s Your Latke Day!

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It’s Your Latke Day!

It’s your Latke Day because Chanukah begins tomorrow at sundown, and I have two delicious Latke recipes to share! The best part is that these bite sized potato treats are good enough to serve as side dishes or appetizers all year round.

 

If you want to get fancy:

 Then go with the Sweet Potato Latke recipe that I submitted as a ONE.org Community Partner to the ONE.org Digital Cookbook for their Sweet potato Nutrition campaign.  These are a dressed up version of the traditional Chanukah treat.

PANCAKES:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled
 and shredded

¼ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 ¼ teaspoon Cumin

4  eggs

6 tablespoons  flour

Pinch of salt & pepper to taste

canola oil for frying

TOPPING:

8 oz. crème fraiche

1teaspoons cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Caramelized Pecans

DIRECTIONS:

Mix shredded sweet potatoes with eggs, flour, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt & pepper

Place a tablespoon of the batter in a frying pan with oil and fry until light brown and crispy on both sides.

Place on a paper towel before putting it on the plate.

Mix crème fraiche with cayenne pepper and cumin and place a dollop on top of each pancake.

Top with caramelized pecan and serve.

To make traditional Potato Latkes:

4 potatoes peeled & shredded

2 Eggs

salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl

Heat oil in a pan and drop in spoonfuls of the batter  and press flat with a spatula. (beware of hot oil splattering, I like to use an oil screen as shown here):

Fry until crispy and golden brown on each side.

Serve with optional toppings of sour cream and applesauce.

 

Dec6

Mindful Giving Gift Guide For The Foodie

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Mindful Giving Gift Guide For The Foodie

I believe that the best gifts are those that are meaningful.  By that I mean either globally in the form of a gift that gives back, personally in the form of sentiment, or thoughtfully supporting something the receiver is passionate about. I know I’m not the only one out there passionate about food, so here are a few suggestions for the epicurean in your life.

EAT:

Gifts For The Foodie:

1. Jerusalem the cookbook: If Cous Cous could bring peace, then this book is needed more than ever right now. It is a gorgeous cookbook filled with delicious recipes by two chefs who both grew up in Jerusalem. One a Muslim, one a Jew who met in London as chefs and became friends and collaborators. They have worked  together to create what they have admitted to be a self-indulgent, nostalgic trip to their past in this guide to the flavors of their youth.  This is more than just a cookbook, filled with beautiful photography and regional history it delivers more than just rich flavors of food, but culture as well.

2. Have you noticed the foodie trend this year seems to be flavored sea salt? I think a set of samples would make a great gift to a hostess or for the holidays!

 

 

 

 

3.Combine a gift set of various flavored sea salts with a few flavored olive oils and I think you’ve got the foodie on your list covered!

 

 

4. Throw in some exotic gourmet chocolate from Vosges if you really want to put them over the top!

 

 

 

5. The Dean & Deluca Limited Edition Pantry Feed Bag is a way to feed hungry children along with the food lover in your life. The FEED bag comes filled with pantry staples from Dean & Deluca.

 

 

6. The OXO Be A Good Cookie Spatula 50% of the proceeds of each cookie spatula will go to pediatric cancer research. Not only is this Spatula a great cooking tool, but also a constant reminder to “Be a Good Cookie.”

Nov14

Fruit Turkey Recipe

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Fruit Turkey Recipe

I have brought this Fruit Turkey that I saw years ago in Family Fun Magazine into my kids classroom celebrations for Thanksgiving and it is always a huge hit!

You Need:

A melon with the bottom sliced off so it sits flat

A red pepper for the feet, feathers, and snood (the thing that hangs over the turkey’s beak)

A Bartlett Pear for the head

Craisins or Raisins for the eyes

Chunks of melon and red grapes for the tail feather  fruit kabobs

Wood skewers for the Kabobs and toothpicks to attach all else.

Gobble, Gobble!

 

 

Oct4

Wine Not Whine; Love My Mommy Juice

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Wine Not Whine; Love My Mommy Juice

At the risk of sounding like Honey Boo Boo…… I love my Mommy Juice!  I have mentioned before one of the fun perks of blogging is being sent products to test out and to review on occasion.  I have to say, hands down, this was my favorite package that I have received yet!    These wines were so fun, that my plan was to save the bottles of Mommy Juice wine to  help celebrate my friend Julie’s upcoming birthday.  So here is my confession, after my final school Open House of the season (did I mention that I have four kids?!) I came home….tucked them all into bed….and I broke open the Mommy Juice. That’s it, there it is, (I am sorry Julie, there is still a bit left that I am willing to share with you!) but I have never tasted such a luxurious glass of wine! O.K., that may be the frazzled open house mom talking, but the truth is, it was really good wine!  I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it so much. Then I read about founder Cheryl Durzy, mother of 2,  who has worked in the wine industry since 1999 (hmmm, the year my oldest child was born).

Cheryl Durzy, founder of Mommy Juice Wines

Cheryl works at her family’s Central Coast Winery, Clos LaChance,  she sits on all sorts of fancy wine boards, and she passed with Merit the Advanced Certificate level of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. In other words the wine tastes good because she knows what she is doing!   She decided she had to produce a wine called Mommy Juice because her kids would point to a wine glass whenever they saw one and exclaim “That’s Mommy Juice!”. How funny that we all call it that!

 

So now I had to break open the  bottle of  White to see if it lived up to the deep, rich, full bodied red.  The White Wine Mommy Juice is a Chardonnay, which is my favorite type of white to begin with, and the Chardonnay Mommy Juice tasted as good as the red! Crisp, not too sweet. Lovely. Is it wrong to be excited that I’ve found  a wine brand where I love the label as much as the taste!?

These are great bottles of wine to bring along as gifts for all sorts of occasions.  Your mommy friends, or friends who know what a busy mommy you are, will love them. Mommy Juice Wines can be purchased online , or ask for it at your local wine shop.  I guess I can’t show up with two opened bottles of wine to celebrate with, that would be as  uncouth as showing up with a half eaten birthday cake! I do plan on ordering more, so girlfriends don’t worry, I promise I will share next time!

 

* I received a complimentary bottle of red, and bottle of white Mommy Juice to review.