School Cafeteria Shabbos Dinner

B"H

My friend Dulcy and I were in the Shabbos dinner rotation this week. Our Chabad house has communal Friday night dinners every single week. I love to cook with Dulcy. We both like to have fun in the kitchen and try to do something a little different from the usual chicken, gefilte fish and matzoh ball soup Shabbos dinner.

What is a traditional Shabbos dinner? Depends on who you ask, where you grew up, what your mother always made... Well, we decided to make meatloaf. Not exactly exotic, but it really is a treat in our community. Sometimes we can't even get chicken, but ground beef? Only through the community kosher co-op.

So we found someone who had a case of ground beef and was looking for a buyer for some of it. I know, to those of you who live in South Florida or New York, that sounds a little strange. Around here, it's normal. Sort of.

Anyway, after securing ten pounds of ground beef, we decided to make real mashed potatoes and green beans. Talk about adventurous! Yes, the mashed potatoes came out kind of gluey, but excellent when smothered with the onion gravy. I did stray from the path on the green beans. I cooked them with red onion and sgarlantro. I couldn't help myself.

And Dulcy put her stamp on the cafeteria menu as well. One thing I like about cooking with Dulcy is that she always has me doing something that I never would have thought of on my own, like putting cumin and cinnamon in the meatloaf! You should have smelled the kitchen!

Anyway, I took a picture of the main entree and thought it looked like a funny face. So here it is, mostly for the entertainment of my grandkiddles!

Shabbat Shalom!

Crazy for Sgarlantro!

B"H

I told you yesterday that I would be thinking of more ways to use sgarlantro. Asparagus was on sale today, so I stirfried a batch with some mushrooms in sgarlantro. I then made beet salad with sgarlantro and lemon juice. The lemon juice completely tweaks it and gives the beets a nice, savory, yet refreshing flavor. I took some challahs and a slice of gefilte fish out of the freezer, made a nice green salad with the farmer's market tomato from my daughter, and added some sliced farmer's market mango. And this is what Shabbos for one looks like for tomorrow. Tonight I will go to the Chabad House, but after all the traffic and noise from the TPC golf tournament this week, I am looking forward to a nice quiet Shabbos day tomorrow.

Kol tuv.

Smelling Up the House! Yum!

I had lunch this week with my favorite farmer's market stalker, my daughter, Melissa, and my two favorite grandkiddles, Allie and Robby. Okay I only HAVE two grandkiddles, but that's beside the point! Melissa came loaded down with produce that would "go to waste" if I didn't take some home. I think she really means that she has no intention of doing that much cooking this week. She gave me over a pound of whole string beans, three bulbs of garlic, a beautiful red tomato and a couple of pounds of tiny red skinned potatoes.

I came home, scrubbed and trimmed the green beans, scrubbed and cut the potatoes in half, and sauteed them together in some leftover sgarlantro, (soy sauce, fresh garlic, fresh cilantro and olive oil, blended in the food processor.) After five minutes, my whole house smelled of garlic and cilantro. I added a little water and steamed them until tender. What a feast with my leftover chicken.

I typically make scarlantro as a challah dip, but it is hard to make it in small quantities. After this experiment, I'm starting to get other ideas for this fragrant oil dip. In the meantime, see how pretty? Tastes even better than it looks or smells!

Fruits and Veggies For Life!

B"H

I just started reading "The China Study." Oy vey! According to the research, nearly all the pharmaceuticals we need come from the Garden of Eden? After all these years of trying to outsmart G-d, science is backing Him up, or I should say, finally starting to catch up! I love seeing colors on my plate. I'm glad it's healthy. Here's what my daughter picked up at the farmers' market for a little more than twenty dollars.



And my grankiddles love apple fries. Nothing fried about them. They just LOOK like fast food. Well I guess they ARE fast, once I cut them up!



And they like to try new fruits, like this one that I don't remember the name of.



So think about it. Fresh fruits and veggies are health food, cheap food, and fast food! Oh yeah, and they are kosher!

Do You Like Quiche?

B"H

I am addicted to quiche. Why? Because I can make a couple, slice them and put them in the freezer. If I am not sure where I am going to be during the day, I pack a frozen slice of quiche and a nice salad and I know that I won't be having a potato chip and soda lunch. That pretty much represents kosher "fast food" in our area.

My first quiche was a big deal. Now I have a little system that I will share with you. I take two frozen pie shells. I put a nice layer of my favorite vegetables on the bottem. Then I top it with grated cheese. I take the quiche to the oven, and only then do I add an egg mixture of 5 or 6 eggs, seasoned with Morton's Hot Salt and whatever spices you like. If I don't have scallions in the kitchen, I sometimes sprinkle in dehydrated onion.

They need to cook about 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven.






Sorry, I just had to have a bite of this tomatoe florentine quiche. I think next time I will add mushrooms, basil and oregano.



Kol tuv.

If You're Spending Shabbos Alone...

B"H

I always go to our community Friday night dinners. After a week of work and routine, while sometimes it is tempting to put on my slippers and stay in, I am always glad to spend that time with my community. Many friendships have developed over challah and chicken soup.

We have a fairly young community here at the beach. By young, I mean that it was established about five years ago. To have a Shabbos guest at my home is a rare and wonderful treat. So on Saturdays, I opt out of the community kiddush and lunch and unless I have a Shabbos guest, I spend Shabbos day alone. I really enjoy this quiet time. I relax and read and study. If I didn't enjoy it, I would walk to the community services on Saturday morning as well. But really, I love my quiet Saturdays at home.

Even if you are spending Shabbos alone, it is still Shabbos and it should feel special. You may not want to make cholent, and prepare food as you would for a crowd. But you can still prepare a colorful plate of healthy and beautiful salads. This plate includes morrocan carrot salad, chick pea salad, a garden salad and fish.




I usually keep prepared and sliced gefilte fish in my freezer. I can pull out a slice or two on Friday afternoon. Sometimes I will put up some soup, but usually, just a nice salad plate and I make sure the hot water pot is on so that I can enjoy a cup of tea. And if you are not a baker, you can buy the frozen challah rolls that come in a package of six. I bake and freeze them and it lasts me three weeks. Sometimes I just make very small loaves of challah.
This is what Shabbos for one looks like at my house.



The main thing of course is to "Remember the Shabbos day, and keep it holy."

Shabbat Shalom.

This is my favorite cookbook of all time, bar none! Thank you Tonya for this gift. I use it all the time!

Moshiach is Coming and So Are the Bagels!

B"H

So I got a call from the Federation. They needed some simple fare for the Best of Rabbis Series. It is not always easy to find specific kosher items in northeast Florida. But Publix carries a par cooked New York bagel that is pas Yisrael. With a selection of plain and flavored cream cheese, tuna and egg salad and some fresh fruit, it made a nice light dinner.

Kosher Diva's Kids In The Kitchen Rocks!

B"H
Our four week Kid's In the Kitchen series was a blast! We had one hour each week to prepare (and eat!) at least two courses. As all good chefs do, we had to adapt to individual dietary requirements, recipes that don't go as planned, and time constraints. The only rule we had, (which of course includes kitchen saftely) is: If it's not fun, we don't do it!



Week 1: We made funny face pizza. Since our kitchen was under construction, we didn't have the tools we needed to complete our rasberry applesauce. No problem. It became a warm appleberry fruit compote. Even better!



Week 2: Thanksgiving week. We made miniature turkey meatball soup and individual pumpkin pies in puff pastry, using honey instead of sugar. Yummm! Happy Thanksgiving!






Week 3: We became bug detectives, checking our lettuce for bugs. We then made taco salads and frozen fruit smoothies in orange cups.




Week 4: While noshing on fishcakes and latkes, we designed our own edible arrangements.



And as you can see, we followed the only rule. We kept it fun!

The Kids In The Kitchen will return in late February,- back by popular demand!