This Week's Shabbos Line-Up

Read on for the best Matza ball recipe, awesome and gourmet lemon bars and intriguing cabbage salad. I also made a terrific chicken from the Kosher Palate - not posting the full recipe here but I do encourage everyone to check that book out - it really is great.

Amazing, Fluffy and Savory Matzah Balls

(from www.myjewishlearning.com) - I omitted the cayenne pepper, because who actually keeps that around? They were still terrific. I think the chicken soup mix is key for added flavor. These are light without including seltzer, which seems to be everyone's go-to for fluffy matza balls, but I don't like using it. First of all, we never have seltzer, and secondly, it's not so effective. I've used seltzer and my matza balls have still been stinkers.

Intriguing Cabbage Salad (adapted from this recipe at www.grouprecipes.com.)

1/2 pkg. coleslaw mix
1/4 pkg red cabbage mix (you can use any combo of cabbage you want, just make sure it's a combo and you have some grated carrot in there)
1/2 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2-3 tsp. honey
Sesame seeds for garnish

Mix all ingredients together and sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds. If not serving immediately, mix dressing in bottom of container and layer cabbage on top. This will keep it from getting soggy or overly vinegary.

Amazing Lemon Bars - on second thought, I am not going to post the recipe as it is really secret (as they state in their cookbook), and subject to copyright laws, but you can buy it here. It's from The Dairy Gourmet and it is succulent and attractive, with a perfect measure of sweetness and tart lemon flavor. Serve with sliced strawberries for a pretty presentation.

I also experimented with this couscous recipe, but it was pretty terrible. Interesting, and was noticed and commented on by guests, but really did not taste good.

Decadent Breakfast - waffles, homemade whipped cream and strawberries

Wow, how's this for the most decadent breakfast ever? Beating the egg whites makes these waffles light and airy, and once you have the beaters out it's easy to make your own whipped cream - just beat heavy cream with a couple tablespoons of sugar, make sure it's cold when you put it on the waffles - delicious!

Alternatively, you can warm some melted butter and pour that on the waffles with syrup (if you're lucky enough to have your Mom bring you some terrific pure sugar-syrupy concoction from London, all the better.) But PLEASE don't eat your waffles plain like my husband does - it just halves the enjoyment.

Here's a good waffle recipe from cooks.com:

1 3/4 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 lg. eggs, separated
1 1/4 c. milk
4 tbsp. melted butter

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then add egg yolks, milk and melted butter. Stir until lumpy. Beat egg whites with a beater until stiff, then fold into batter keeping everything light and airy. Heat waffle iron and brush with oil; spoon on batter and cook until golden-brown (your waffle iron should alert you with a green light when waffles are ready.)

Heat up some more butter until melted (hey, your pan's already dirty) and drizzle onto waffles. You can also heat up the syrup in a pan, or just leave it out so it's room temperature. But for the ultimate decadence, read on:

Whipped cream and strawberries (for 2)
Pour a half-pint of whipped cream into a bowl and beat for 1-2 minutes until stiff. Pour in a tablespoon or two of sugar and beat some more. Add additional sugar to taste.

Slice 4-6 strawberries that have been washed and checked (instructions below.)

Spoon some dollops of whipped cream onto your waffles, and top with the strawberries. Eat slowly and savor - this Sunday treat doesn't happen often!

How to check strawberries
To ensure that we don't eat any bugs (a serious Torah prohibition), our favorite guys at the OU have put together a handy guide on cleaning fruits and veggies. Here is what they advise for strawberries:

Slice the green tops off of strawberries, carefully so you don't make a hole in the top. If there is a hole, then slice the strawberry in half length-wise. Place in a bowl with water and a few drops of vegetable wash, and move them around (or "agitate them") in the water. Soak for a few minutes, then wash each individually under running water. Dry and look at each strawberry for bugs, if you don't see any, you're good to go!

Delicious (and parve!) mushroom-onion quiche

I adapted this from a terrific recipe by a woman named Judith Gellerstein on some Jewish-lady recipe-share, found here, but please try this. It is absolutely awesome. Just takes a while as you have to cook the mushrooms and onions for nearly an hour so they brown and caramelize properly.

Parve Mushroom Onion Quiche
3-4 medium onions
2 cans sliced mushrooms
1 stick margarine (I know, I know, gross, but delicious)
1/2 cup non-dairy creamer
2 eggs
2 tbs flour
salt and pepper (always makes me nervous when there are no amounts, since I tend to oversalt things, but do your best. Less is more, but salt really brings out the flavor here.)
1 deep-dish pie crust or 2 regular pie crusts

Saute onion and mushrooms in margarine until soft, brown and caramelized. Will smell very delicious. Add rest of ingredients, stir well, and pour into pie shells or shell. Bake in 375 degree oven for about an hour, or until crust is brown and it looks done.

Shabbos this week - 7/10/09

Lots of salads:
A cucumber salad from cooking.com
A corn salad and a carrot kugel from The Kosher Palette
Honey chicken, delicious gooey chocolate frozen something, and a great oriental cabbage salad from Quick and Kosher
A mandarin orange salad and almond salad from cookeatshare.com (with red onion replacing the green onions)
An apple tart dessert (haven't made it yet, hope it's easy as I'm SUPER tired) from Kosher by Design - Short on Time (which I'm hoping I can make in double the time it says the recipe really calls for), which my super-cool and not-yet-observant boss gave me for a wedding present, along with the most stringent Halachah book (Jewish law) that I have ever come across!

Plust gefilte fish and chicken soup and homemade babaganoush, all of which I DO make pretty well, even having been married for just over a year, and all of whose recipes I do plan to post in the near future.

Shabbat Shalom!

Casadias - good for a quick Sunday breakfast

Tortillas are among the most useful food items to keep around your refrigerator (where they last the best. Don't freeze them or they'll snap.) Good for dinner burritos, scrambled egg wraps or whatever, on this lazy Sunday morning when I was too lazy to make pancakes, just sprinkled some grated mozzarella and two pieces of sliced tomato, folded the tortilla over (did I mention that it had sun-dried tomato flavor? I don't recommend it, didn't taste too great) and cooked on an oiled frying pan for a couple minutes on each side. Quick and filling, and pretty tasty. It will make you mighty thirsty, so be warned.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

After doing some random searching for a good and easy recipe (finding two terrific mom blogs in the process - check out ChiefFamilyOfficer.com and CouponCravings.com) I came up with my own variation of this classic which tastes quite good! Best of all, it uses no cream of mushroom soup, which every recipe seemed to call for and is not a common product found in the kosher pantry. Not sure why, but I don't think I've ever bought it.

Anyway, here is my concoction. If you make it, please enjoy it extra for me since I can only have it once in a blue moon. Being pregnant makes you scared of tuna, doncha know?

Tuna Noodle Casserole Concoction

1 16 oz. pkg noodles (any kind works, ziti was great)
2 cans tuna
1 and 1/2 cups milk
1-2 tbs marg. or butter
1/2 -3/4 cup mozzarella cheese (or american)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (or whatever you can afford
Pepper, oregano, basil and garlic powder to taste (if you don't use parmesan, you probably will need salt as well) Be generous with the spices - they add great flavor.
pepper, basil, oregano and garlic powder to taste

Cook the noodles, removing from heat before they are soft (don't want the casserole to be mushy!) and mix in rest of ingredients. (Your choice whether to add more milk, do so if you want a creamier casserole.) Place in greased or buttered pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Delicioso!!