Improvisational Flour-less Chocolate Cake

Before Pesach I made Brownies, but I overcooked them and forgot to add nuts. They were a bit disappointing.  This week I wanted something chocolaty, but more moist and less traditional. I whipped these up:

LOL: Prunes "without a nucleus"

• 2 small carrots, peeled
• 2 red apples, peeled
• 2 bags (400 grams/ 14 oz.) of pitted plums
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 c oil
• 1 cup potato starch
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 bags (400 grams) walnuts, chopped
• fresh ground cinnamon and nutmeg
• Salt

Bake at 350 F/170 C for about 20 minutes depending on ingredients and thickness.

I encourage you to experiment with leftovers to make your own cakes and brownies. 

Do you have leftover cooked sweet potato, charoset, or applesauce? Over-ripe bananas, peaches, or pears? Throw it in! Add finely ground nuts for body. (Feel free to add baking soda or baking powder.)

I especially love to cook with kids and give them the reins with what and how much to add.

Please comment and tell me about your own baking improvisations.

Chewy Chocolate Almond Hazelnut Cookies - Gluten Free

These are the easiest no-fail special Passover dessert and snack. I just can't get enough!

Based on Faye Levy's Almond Macaroons, posted by Miriyummy.

For one batch, I would recommend a minimum food processor capacity of 1 liter or 1 quart.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup raw hazelnuts
• 1 1/4 cups sugar (preferably substitute some regular sugar with vanilla sugar)
• 1/4-1/2 cocoa powder (depending on your taste)
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (depending on your taste)

1. Grind nuts and half the sugar in a food processor until medium-fine.
2. Add remaining ingredients and blend to a fine paste.
3. Preheat oven to 170 C/350 F.
4. Line 1-2 pans with parchment paper.
5. Dampen hands, then form small balls of "dough" and flatten slightly. (I had my kids do this. They were slow, but it kept them busy.)
6. Bake 18-20 minutes. The cookies should darken, but stay chewy on the inside.
7. Keep in an air tight container for at least a week.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

In the time I saved making this sauce (compared to traditional recipes), I was able to tell you about it! Traditional recipes involve chopping the ingredients, adding them to a pan at specific intervals, and lots of standing over the pan/pot and stirring. Sauce can also be made in a pressure cooker much faster, but you always run the risk of burning it or under cooking it, since you can't peak.

The dry heat of the oven gives the ingredients a deep flavor without the need to stand over a frying pan.

Ingredients:

Basic:

• tomatoes, preferably ripe
• onions (I used sweet and purple onions)
• olive oil

Optional:

• bell peppers (I used red and green)
• garlic (whole cloves)
• mushrooms
• chili peppers
• fresh or dried herbs
• salt and pepper
• vinegar or dry white wine
• sugar or honey

1. Cut up all the vegetables into relatively similar sized chunks - about quarters for the tomatoes.
2. Remove any tomato seeds which come out easily and quickly, but without wasting a lot of time.
3. Toss with olive oil in a large pan, or pans.
4. Roast on high or broil until the edges are browning, probably at least half an hour. Stir/toss/flip or rotate at least once.
5. Add spices to taste and let cool.
6. Use a hand blender or pulse in a food processor to desired consistency.

This batch is mostly for shakshuka which I plan to serve for supper on Wednesday this week during Passover. I will serve it with homemade fermented chili sauce on the side. And maybe some fresh lemonade.

You might also enjoy: Creamy Roasted Tomato and Corn Soup with Cauliflower

Make Tri-colored Freezer Pops with Disposable Popsicle Sticks

Today I want to teach you how to do two things: 
A. Make striped posicles, which are just more fun for kids and adults.
B. Get craft sticks right in the middle if the homemade pops.

Why would you want to use craft sticks?

• Maybe you lost the sticks that came with your ice pop molds.
• Maybe you don't have ice pop molds.
• Maybe you want to make a lot of popsicles.
• Maybe you want to share your homemade pops without worrying about the sticks being returned.

You will need:
- Juice, or another liquid like flavored yogurt or chocolate milk -preferably 3 colors/flavors
- Ice pop molds or small cups
- Clean, un-died craft sticks or tongue depressors

How to Make Kosher Dill Pickles

I'd like to tell you about the method I use to make naturally fermented cucumber pickles. The same technique can be used for many different fruits and vegetables by varying the spices and the time. If you read no further, this is what you need to know:

 A. Use an appropriate amount of salt. Too little and unwanted molds and bacteria can develop and the cucumbers will become soft. Too much and you will retard the growth of good yeasts and bacteria, the pickling will take an unnecessarily long time, be unpalatably salty, and the cucumbers could get too sour, or too soft before they're ever really tasty.
B. Keep everything submerged. As long as your cucumbers (or other veggies) are safely deep in the brine, you can skim off whatever scum forms on top.

Disappearing Kohlrabi

This gets gobbled up so quickly it doesn't always make it to the table!

• 2-4 kohlrabi bulbs/heads/roots (what do you call them?)
• Paprika (sweet, smoked, spicy, whatever you like... I used fresh gourd sweet and smoked)
• Garlic powder
• Sea salt
• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard

1. Peel kohlrabi, cube, and remove woody part around the point.
2. Season generously with all the other ingredients.
3. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.
4. Bake around 200 C/390 F until they start getting golden brown, about 20 minutes, then turn off oven and leave in until they are soft.

You may also enjoy "Kohl Slaw" Kohlrabi Salad.

Probiotic Soda Recipes

Probiotic soda made from water kefir is an excellent way to stay hydrated and nourished all day!

If you missed my post What is Water Kefir? you probably want to check that out. Today I want to tell you how to make flavored soda from water kefir. In this post I will refer to the water kefir (a.k.a. tibicos) SCOBY as "grains." This term refers to the look of them, as in "grains of sand", they are in no way grains like wheat, barley, oats, rye, or spelt.



If you're starting from scratch, you will need to acquire water kefir grains. I ordered my grains from Keysands, which sells dehydrated and live grains. They have excellent, friendly customer service, so email them if you have questions. Follow their instructions to re-hydrate or revive your grains.
Now that you have a healthy batch of grains... Lets get started!

What is Water Kefir?

For video and recipes - CLICK HERE.

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to my new friend Tibicos, AKA Tibi, Sugar Kefir, Water Kefir, Japanese Water Chrystals, California Bees, Beer Seeds, and more. In past posts I've written about kefir, usually a yogurt-like drink made from milk, and kombucha, a fermented tea drink. Water kefir uses a similar process to make a unique fermented beverage full of probiotic goodness. Dispite the name, water kefir is a different organism from dairy kefir. 

What is Water Kefir Soda?
When sugar water is cultured with the water kefir SCOBY, the resulting liquid can be bottled with other flavors to become a slightly fizzy natural soda. It has tiny gentle bubbles like natural champagne  as opposed to the big bubbles that are artificially pumped into commercial soda pop.

How does it taste and smell?
I mix mine with juice, tea, ginger, vanilla sugar, or whatever else I want it to taste like. I would describe the taste as slightly sweet, earthy, and yeasty. The longer is ferments, the less sweet and more yeasty or sour it might taste. Eventually it will taste a little alcoholic or vinegary (though I've never had any that long.) Kelly compares it to a mild wine cooler.

Too Easy Chocolate Chip Peach Cake

I don't bake much. It just doesn't get my creative juices flowing quite like stringing together a healthy, balanced, and economical meal that most of my family might eat. But when I ask a friend if there's something I can do to help, I mean it. And if the response is that I should bring cake... Well by golly, I'll bake a cake! Here's the thing, my one go-to easy cake is the Apple Sauce Cake recipe given to me by the same person to whose house I would be bringing the cake! 

Special Helpers in the Kitchen - Guest Post

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, I invited author and mother of four (including a 10 year old boy with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and an 8 year old daughter born with Down's syndrome) to share her experience cooking with special needs kids. Deborah teaches cooking classes in her home to mothers and children with mild special needs. Check out Deborah's amazing, powerful, and insightful new memoir A Brief Moment in Time, published by ASD Publushing Co, New York, available where ebooks are sold.

Cooking can be hectic, messy and stressful. A brief loss of focus or minor slip up can lead to overly-spiced and over-cooked food, or blood and burns. Because adding children to that mix is quite often a ‘no no’ for many mothers, children are missing out on grasping the tools of a fundamental life skill.  

Photo from Nicole Mays

Cooking time with mum gives children an opportunity to learn about the different food groups and the importance of health, safety, and hygiene during preparation.  Furthermore, whilst we live in an environment where the consumption of processed food is more appealing than spending time preparing fresh food from scratch, we have a responsibility to teach our children how to make the correct culinary choices.

As a mother of four children, two of whom have special needs, finding the patience as well as the time to teach my children is no easy task.  Yet making the effort has taught me that cooking with children who have special needs is just as effective as a therapy session.  

How is this so?  I am certainly not a professional in the medical field with little expertise in the different techniques used when working with children with disabilities.  However, what I do have is a very specific skill set when preparing food.  This skill set is managed by rules and regulations that ensure safe food management and consumption.  Children with communication, coordination and attention difficulties thrive on rules and boundaries because they help guide them on how to behave.  By learning to cook using this skill set, they become more confident and focused by being able to reap the almost immediate benefits from their efforts by enjoying the food they have prepared.

Photo from Nicole Mays

It still amazes me that my 10 year old son, who has Autistic Spectrum Disorder and thereby has trouble focusing on a given task and trouble with hand eye coordination is able to egg, bread and fry chicken, under my watchful eye of course, with absolute precision. 

Below are my top 5 tips for cooking with all children:

1.  Allocate a 30 minute time slot for cooking:

  

For the first few sessions outlining a start and finish time will help the concept feel more manageable to you.  Also your child, who may have difficulty starting a new activity due to concentration issues, will be more inclined to participate knowing that this activity has a start and end time.

Stained Glass Craft Tutorial

This week I took over a craft class for elementary school girls in our neighborhood. The craft is supposed to relate to the Torah portion of the week. This week's portion is "Shemot" the first portion in the book of Exodus, where Moses encounters G-d in the form of a burning bush.  

I've been itching to join the fun of "Craft Schooling Sunday" over at Creative Jewish Mom, and I already wrote the instructions out for my mom, I though I might as well share with all of you! This project was inspired by a project my mom used to do with acetate  as well as numerous other projects around the blogosphere. It was designed to be done in one hour with supplies I already had in the house.


I showed the girls (and a couple moms) pictures of other burning bush inspired stained glass. Then I asked them to draw what they thought the burning bush looked like. 

Tofu Pad Thai

There is something about the end of December that puts Jews in the mood for Chinese food, or at least Asian food as it has evolved in the diaspora. If you find yourself with a block of tofu or some leftover chicken, you can whip this meal up from things you probably already have in your pantry and freezer. (You could also add scrambled eggs for protein.) NOTE: Instead of me writing "optional" on all the ingredients, just assume all the ingredients are merely suggestions.

For tofu, start by slicing or cubing the whole block. Put it in between paper towels or tea towels. Lay a cutting board on top and put some cans or other heavy things on top to squeeze out the water. This works best if all the slices/cubes are the same thickness, thus squeezed equally. You may need to switch the paper towels if they are soaked.

While the tofu is draining, mix the marinade. Use your own taste and what you have in the house, but something like

• terriyaki sauce
• soy sauce
• ginger - fresh grated or powder
• garlic - fresh grated or powder
• silan (date syrup), molasses, or sugar

Easy Peasy "Pashtida" - Dairy free

You can call this a quiche, pie, casserole, or pashtida. I call it yummy.

Ingredients:

• Something sweet and starchy (butternut squash), cooked to soft
• Something green (frozen peas and corn)
• bread crumbs (preferably Panko Japanese bread crumbs)
• About 5 eggs
• About 1 cup of soy milk
• salt
• garlic powder (optional)
• nutritional yeast (optional)

1. It starts with something you need to use up. I had two butternut squash that I peeled and steamed/boiled in my pressure cooker. Mash well.
2. Then look in the freezer and add something green. I mixed about two cups of peas and corn into the hot squash. Baby peas, broccoli, and spinach would all be good choices.

Very Easy Apple Sauce Cake

My husband's birthday is on Thursday, but we're expecting a crazy week, so we had a little surprise celebration today. I had just over an hour until he would be home, in which time I hoped to clean the whole house, start dinner, and bake a cake. All with four kids at home. Thankfully, I had the perfect cake recipe for the occasion! It's a recipe I posted previously, Leah's Easy Applesauce Cake, but with a few changes of my own (in bold).
      

   Ingredients

• 2 cups (260 grams) whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) demerara sugar
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 tsp cinnamon (I used freshly grated)
• pinch of fresh nutmeg
• 2 tsp aluminum-free Baking Powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (237 ml) olive oil
• 1 cup (237 ml) natural, unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 - 3/4 bag of chocolate chips (save some to put on top in the last 15 minutes of baking)

Mix all ingredients very well. Bake at 180C / 350F for about 45 minutes.

Baby Food For Thought

Ideas about what and when to feed baby vary greatly with time and culture. My little Avi is mostly nursing, but eagerly devours hummus from my fingers. I wanted to share two somewhat conflicting ideas about feeding infants.  I found both the following article and video to have very useful ideas for feeding babies.

In "Don’t Wait too Long to Start Solids", my friend Hannah Katsman, IBCLC, interviews Shoshi Belkowitz, a speech pathologist, Lactation consultant, and specialist in feeding and swallowing issues. I read the article several months ago, but one of the main points that stuck with me was the idea that baby's need for "solid" food coincides with their ability to sit up, grab small objects, and swallow. Teeth are not really necessary for mashing most foods.  Shoshi says:

... some nutrients need to be added to the baby’s diet at around six months, when iron stores from birth are starting to be depleted. While the iron in breastmilk is well-absorbed, iron is only present in small amounts. Also, at around this age, babies’ mouths and digestive system develop the physical ability to deal with solids. There is a psychological element too—at this age babies enjoy tasting, using their mouths, and experimenting with textures. 

Baby Canter's video "How to make baby food at home" has helpful tips for making and storing pureed baby food. I think that the actual need for this style baby food is limited. However, many parents find it an easy, convenient solution. My 2.5 year old has shown a sudden interest in baby food, so maybe I will try making and storing food like this for my little ones. I bet my older kids would also like eating frozen cubes of sweet potato!

Roasted Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)

This is so tasty and easy! You can snack on them with your hands, put them on salad, or just eat them plain with a spoon.

1. Rinse a can (or two or three) of chickpeas.
2. Put them in a zip-top bag or bowl with olive oil.
3. Season generously. I used curry powder and salt. Mix well.
3. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast on high until they take on some color, 15-20 minutes.

Alternatively, soak dry chickpeas overnight, dress, and roast at 400 F / 205 for a little over an hour.

For a great Good Eats episode, check out "Pantry Raid XIII: Destination Chickpea."

Make Yogurt Cheese - No cooking required

I had some down time in a mall last week and spent about 45 minutes browsing a beautiful gourmet food and cooking store - Lagaat B'ochel. One thing I saw was a "Yogurt Cheese Maker."  The instructions seemed so easy - just pour yogurt into the mesh insert in the plastic container and put it in the fridge for a few hours.  I thought, "I can do that, and I don't need to buy this "uni-tasker" to do it!"

1. You will need a clean, thin piece of cloth, cheese cloth, or extra fine mesh.  I used an old fashion flat cloth diaper or "mussy." Note, if you use cloth you may not have usable whey, just a very wet cloth.
2. Lay the cloth in a container so it is not touching the bottom. Secure it with a rubber band.
3. Add any yogurt. I used a small individual serving container to try this out and got enough cheese to spread generously on four pieces of bread.
4. Set the cover or a plate over the container and wrap any extra cloth over the top.

Lunch Apples and Breakfast Bags

Last week my 6.5 year-old daughter told me she liked the way I cut her apple for her lunch and put cinnamon inside.  I thought I'd show you what I did.  You will need a knife, a melon baller, and a piece of plastic wrap, or a bag and a rubber band to keep the apple together.



VIDEO URL
Start by cutting the apple in half.  By coring it with a melon baller you waste less than cutting pieces off the core.  Then cut the apple into pieces and put it back together.  My kids like when I put honey or cinnamon in the middle.  You could also hide raisins inside or even stick the apple together with peanut butter, if you want to get messy.

Another trick I want to share this week I call "breakfast bags."

Baked Chicken Tenders - Pargiot/Young Chicken

My husband made the most delicious baked chicken fingers or "shnitzel" last week.  Not to insult his skill, but I think the trick was good chicken.  Instead of using thinly sliced or pounded chicken breast, my husband bought something we call פרגיות "pargiot," which usually translates as baby chicken.  My understanding is that this can refer to either a young chicken (less than 28 days old) or a boneless chicken thigh.  Similar cuts would be "spring chicken," though they can be bigger, or "Rock Cornish game hen," though they are usually sold whole.  (A Cornish game hen is just a fancy name for a hybrid chicken with stunted growth. Despite the name, they are domesticated and can be either male or female.) Google translate says pargiot is a pullet, a hen less than a year old; however, I imagine most chickens sold today are under a year old.  It's hard to find a nice old chicken these days, the the type traditionally used for coq au vin.  For more on the benefits of dark meat, check out my post "Are you a Poultry Racist?"

Here's what he did:
1. For close to 3 pounds of chicken (over 1 kilo) beat two eggs in a bowl.
2. Put lightly seasoned Panko Japanese bread crumbs on a plate or bowl. (He used half a bag.)
3. Spray baking sheet with oil.
4. Dip chicken tenders in eggs, shake off, then coat in bread crumbs.
5. Lay chicken on the baking sheet and spray top with oil.
6. Bake until golden and tender.

No need to stand over a pan of hot oil! And they reheat nicely. Enjoy!

Libyan Meatballs - Simplified "Mafrum"

There is a lovely tradition in many communities that after a women has a baby, people bring her family meals for a week or so.  One of the meals I received after our little guy was born included the most amazing turkey meat balls.  Below is the recipe from my friend with my notes and pictures.  Note there are two cooking options.

In "non-recipe" style, this dish is modified from Tripolitanian "Mafrum," a more complicated dish made with minced beef sandwiched in potatoes.  It is the traditional Erev Shabbat (Friday night) meal of the Libyan Jewish community.  It is usually served with couscous, but for a lower glycemic option, I recommend whole wheat couscous, bulgur wheat, or barley.