creative jewish mom

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.

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!

Cheerios And Dried Cranberries Dark Chocolate Bark!

Looking for a treat that is simple to make, and will be polished off instantly—chocolate cheerios and dried cranberries bark is the answer! I made up this one on the last night of hanukkah when my daughter was wondering what we were going to do with the three bars of chocolate, and for lack of a better idea I figured bark was was the way to go. And with some sugar free dried canberries and cheerios (the classic kind) on hand, and some sprinkles to add some festive color, we were good to go!

You'll Need:

• 3 bars of chocolate, bittersweet or milk chocolate of some combination
• 2 cups of cheerios (Truthfully I could have added quite a bit more cheerios to stretch out the chocolate a bit more, next time!)
• 1 cup of sugar free dried cranberries
• sprinkles

How To:

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, once melted add in cheerios and dried cranberries (and anything else you have on hand like some raw nuts, or raisins....) and spread in a 9 x 12 inch pan such that bark is as thin as possible. Put in the freezer to set, and once hardened, break apart into serving pieces and enjoy!

 

A Very Jewish Summer: Freezer Cooking For The Grill!

Today's contribution for "A Very Jewish Summer" is from Happily Hectic, and she shares some great information for freezer cooking for summer entertaining. Check it out, seems like a great plan for working moms, or even for someone who needs to plan ahead when it comes to summer entertaining!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, Yippee!

At long last, whole wheat homemade pizza has become a mainstay in our home, thanks to a simple recipe for whole wheat pizza dough that I have been quickly whipping up in my food processor!  And I couldn't be happier,  because I have to admit,  if there was one thing that I felt guilty about feeding my family (namely on Thursday nights when I was busy cooking for shabbat) it was storebought frozen pizza, which I knew just wasn't good for them at all, but which they were happy to eat.

But now, that they've tasted homemade pizza that is so much more filling on account of the whole wheat crust and real tomato sauce, well, hopefully there's no going back. Even my husband said the pizza was "Sof" which means "end" in Hebrew meaning at the end, or really top, of the rating scale. He just wished I had made a bit more!

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water,
1 tablespoon date syrup
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2¾ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit with rack in the upper position. (I've been using a toaster oven for this, set on the highest temp. and it works just fine.)