creative jewish mom

Chocolate Almond Date Balls Are No Bake And Healthy As Can Be!

Passover  is sadly coming to an end, and we have one last shabbat (those outside of Isreal have 2 days of holiday) to enjoy matzo (we enjoy it!) with all the homemade Moroccan salads that taste especially amazing on Passover. I'm  looking in my  pantry and I discover that i bought tons of dates, in order to make almond date balls, so what am I waiting for? All the teens in the family have gone on outings with friends today, so I guess it is time to get off the computer and into the kitchen, shabbat is coming! The chocolate date balls are truly delicious and can even be passed off as junky dessert, so maybe keep it to yourself! Or on the otherhand, maybe just keep them for yourself to pull out when everyone else is eating the junk?

How To Sprout Mung Beans And Use Them In A Colorful Salad!

We are all relieved to say goodbye to 2020, though the silver lining is that is gave many of us the chance to try some new things, and for me one of those things is sprouting! Now that I've got a bit of experience under my belt, I just had to share with you our new family favorite, sprouted mung beans! They are packed with nutrients, truly delicious, and so simple to sprout that they've become a weekly staple in our home. They can be eaten raw, or cooked, though we enjoy them the most in a colorful mixed vegetable salad, perhaps with a bit of quinoa added! And to my great surprise, when I shared this salad with a few neighbors they (and their kids, gasp!) loved it so much they have jumped on the sprouting wagon as well! So get some mung beans and lets get started. One important note: sprouting in general can lead to growth of non-desirable bacteria, so if you are pregnant, or have health issues do cook the sprouts and/or sprout mostly in the fridge, which I'll mention below. Okay, ready?

Simple Vegetables With Cream Cheese Appetizer

I have a really simple idea for creating a great looking platter of fresh veggie appetizers or finger food for a buffet: cream cheese topped whole veggies with a touch of whimsy, and placed on a mirrored tray, or even just a round mirror, which is what was used here. The vegetables are lined up like little soldiers and with relatively minimal effort you can create something that looks quite elegant. Gotta love the minimal effort part right? Oh and of course you don't have to use cream cheese, just as long as whatever you'd like to use can be piped in a pastry bag.....like  possibly whipped cooked egg yolks, chopped liver, and  certainly there are many spreads, dips and relishes that might have the right consistency, any ideas? (I was thinking it would be great to try with hummous.)

And do take the time to make those carrot flowers, a great little vegetable carving trick everyone should know! I'll try to do a little tutorial for that, in the mean time check out my carrot hearts tutorial.

Sugar Free Biscotti With Dried Fruit And Nuts

I love biscotti, what can I say, but I don't love the idea of eating a cookie packed with sugar and wheat, even if it is low-fat, as most biscotti are. So, I decided it was time to come up with a sugar free biscotti recipe, even though I'm not exactly an expert baker! Experimenting in the kitchen can have all kinds of results, but I have to say, my daughter and I really loved these fruit filled oat biscotti, even if my young boys crinkled up their noses and didn't even finish the pieces I gave them. Silly boys, I guess they need some chocolate chips thrown in there, sigh.

So I will say, these biscotti are for those who have shunned the taste of processed, sugar laden, white flour baked goods and whose tastes lean in the all natural, not so sweet direction. And I won't claim to have come up with the end-all in recipes, but it certainly is good enough to share, and maybe one of you will have fun tweaking it some more? I would love to make an egg-free version so that these could be classified as vegan biscotti, any ideas? And I do wish that these were crisper, like real biscotti. These are much softer, not sure why, maybe I needed to bake them at a lower temperature, so that they would bake longer without burning, next time! And just by the way, one can make biscotti that are vegan, and if you are vegan or want to incorporate more vegan foods in your diet, check out more tips for vegan deserts and lifestyle from Vegan Liftz

Mini Doughnuts Using A Combo Mini Doughnuts Machine!

Doughnuts are a traditional Hanukkah treat, though I've always wanted to bake some rather than serve my family the oil laden traditional fried ones. And this year, ta da, we made a whole bunch of mini baked doughnuts thanks to a Bat Mitzvah gift certificate that my daughter finally redeemed (a year plus later) at a department store on our trip to Tiberius. To my great surprise, the only thing that we found in the whole store that was really worth the 250 shekel gift certificate was a combination waffle iron, cake pops, cupcakes and mini doughnut maker!  And just in time for Hanukkah too, so I guess it was just meant to be. My daughter actually made a ton of these but we were so rushed that I hid about five of them to photograph after the houseful of guests left and I could find time to take some photos!

Chickpea Flour Flatbread

Introducing my favorite new recipe, chickpea flour flatbread, especially great for someone like me who is not eating wheat, or needs to avoid gluten! Of course you could call this is a chickpea flour pancake, whichever sounds better to you! It is true that the taste of the chickpea flour may not be for everyone, but when accompanied by something a bit savory or spicy I think even the pickiest eaters may be won over. I gave my kids a bite together with my hot pepper dip, and they didn't spit it out! So there may be a family meal using these pancakes in the future (with a huge selection of delicious veggie and bean based things to spread on them) in the meantime I'm just going to enjoy them myself, starting with tonight when I plan to enjoy some with the traditional Moroccan salads that I make every week for shabbat.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 2 cups water
• 1 small white onion finely chopped (and you could add some fresh chopped coriander too)
• 1 tsp baking powder (optional, try with and without and see which you prefer!)
• a dash of cumin, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon (and more than a dash if you like these spices)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if possible, but my family will more likely eat them with the salt)
• olive oil (preferrably spray) to lightly coat pan

Preparation:

Combine dry ingredients and onion. Add water and use a wisk to make sure all lumps are dissolved. Heat a non-stick frying pan and lightly coat with olive oil spray. Use a ladle to place batter in pan, flatten batter with ladle, and once pancake starts to bubble, flip over and continue cooking until nicely browned on both sides.

Pancakes can be stored in the fridge and easily re-heated, though have yet to try freezing them. Cut pancakes into wedges, or if you are skilled at making a thin pancake you may be able to use them as roll ups. I folded one in half to make a very satisfying sandwich. Enjoy!

 

Hot Pepper Relish: Fresh And Delicious (Very Hot Or Not!)

Many of the cuisines from countries in the Middle East and Mediterranean include spicy food, so it is no surprise that here in Israel, schoog, or hot pepper relish, is a staple amongst those with Sephardic or Yemenite heritage. My husband's family hails from Morocco, so I have also learned to prepare hot peppers to his liking, and as my children have grown older, I have also started to make some or our favorite Moroccan dishes just a bit on the spicy side.

This hot pepper relish is a great way to become familiar with the delicious side of something that uses hot peppers, and you can choose to make it fairly mild or very hot, you decide! My kids love it, and now no shabbos table is complete without this tasty relish, which is especially delicious when eaten with techina and or course a nice selection of Moroccan salads.

You'll Need:

• 1 cup chopped fresh coriander
• 1 head of garlic- peel the cloves
• 1 cup chopped hot green peppers, for a hot relish, for a milder relish go with 1/2 cup
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Preparation:

In a food processor, chop the garlic, and then add the coriander and the olive oil. Stir if necessary to that coriander gets chopped. Add the hot peppers and the salt and continue to pulse until a not too watery yet finely chopped consistency is reached. You can always a some more olive oil if needed.

That is it, enjoy! Oh, and yes this does not make a huge quantity, I usually make a batch at least twice this big, but for starters keep these amounts to try out this new taste.

Basil Pesto With Almonds Ice Cubes

At long last I have made pesto ice cubes, such a wonderful idea, and really perfect right about now not only because it is the end of summer, but because with a bunch of Jewish holidays coming up that will involve lots of cooking, it is great to have something tasty on hand to help whip up a quick meal!

The interesting thing about these pesto ice cubes is that they are much lower in fat than most pesto, since I only added a few tablespoons of olive oil, and I used only about half a cup of chopped nuts for a really huge bag of basil. Even better, I used up some chopped almonds that had been hanging out in my freezer for way too long, and while the pesto may not be quite as rich it sure was convenient! (Not to mention that both walnuts and especially pine nuts are more pricey than almonds.)

Ingredients: Rough amounts, taste pesto and adjust accordingly

• about 5 cups loosely packed basil leaves removed from stems and carefully washed
• garlic
• 1/2 chopped almonds
• 3 tblsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Preparation:

First place about a head of peeled garlic in the food processor, then add the basil in bunches, some olive oil and then the almonds. Process until desired consistency is reached and then spoon into ice cube trays. My batch resulted in about 18 ice cubes, though given the amount of basil I would have expected more!

Oh, and just by the way, these photos were taken with my camera on manual, and I have now realized that the best time to take photos in my entry courtyard is right around 11am, as the natural lighting has a nice cast at that time. Honestly, I can't believe that I spent so many years afraid of using manual, it really isn't difficult at all, especially for simple photos like this one!

Mini Kugel Platter Is Perfect For Receiving Guests!

Last week a neighbor's son got engaged, so I had to send a little congratulatory something over to her house on Friday.....but what? At first I was going to send a challah, but then I realized that with all the excitement going on, it is better to send food that can actually be eaten by hungry family members on the spot. And so this mini kugel platter was born. The salads and egg were actually an after thought, but really pulled the whole thing together and I felt like quite the balabusta! And to make the story even better, it turns out that my friend has some guests in her home and she was wondering around the kitchen trying to figure out what she could serve them when my platter arrived!

The other great thing about this platter is that you can put it together ahead of time and have it ready to serve when guests arrive!

 

You'll Need:

• mini kugels made in a muffin tin using my vegetable kugel recipe
• hard boiled eggs
• chopped olive salad, or the salad of your choice, recipe coming soon
• jullianed kohlrabi/carrot/red pepper salad, dressed with vinegar salt and pepper
  
  

Will fill in more details on Sunday, gotta run the last shabbat of the year is coming!

Healthier Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies With Coconut

Lets face it, life is just much better when cookies are involved. And of course if you happen to live amongst people who are not anywhere near as health minded as you are, then depriving your kids will very likely backfire in the end. Sooooooo, do bake some cookies, or better yet, get the kids to bake some cookies, but use a recipe that at least has healthier ingredients even if you haven't managed to cut out the processed sugar!

These two chocolate chip cookies were all that were left from a huge batch, and only because I hid them, so rest assured, unless you only eat really flaky "really junky" (as we say in our family) cookies, these should be just fine, and I'd take these anyday over the standard white flour and margarine or butter versions.

Healthier Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Or Spelt Oatmeal Cookies:

This recipe makes roughly 35 nice sized cookies, or even more. (Probably enough batter to fill 3 regular sized baking sheets)

Pre-heat oven to 190 C/ 375 FIngredients:

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups whole wheat or spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tblsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup water, only if mixture is dry
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups oats (rolled or oatmeal, or some combination)
• 1 1/2 cups no sugar added coconut

 Preparation:

Cream sugar and egg together and then add oil, flour and other items. Dough should be quite sticky. Make balls of cookie dough the size of a large shelled walnut and place on cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 12 minutes for soft cookies, or if like us you prefer them crunchier, bake until browned to your liking, which can be as long as 20 minutes or so.

Enjoy! Whoops, almost forgot, these photos were taken in manual mode, yippee, some of the best photos I've ever taken, so I am encouraged by my progress!