BIZZY BAKES

The photo is without the dressing. I bought crystallized ginger for a specific recipe.  I remember being pleased with the results and wondered why it took me so long to add this to my cupboard.  Unfortunately, I forgot about the ginger and have not used it enough.  When I made this salad which called for raisins, I decided that the crystallized ginger could only make it better.  Success. In the past, I have found cucumber salad can get very boring and I have tried different dressings to make it more interesting.  The little bit of ginger made a difference and next time, I would like to add a little bit more. Cucumber Salad with Crystallized Ginger Ingredients : 4 Persian Cucumbers, thin sliced 1 small red onion, thin sliced handful of yellow raisins 1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger Dressing: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2  cup apple cider vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon ...

This week, for Eating With Ellie, Kayte chose a delightful salad, Tuscan Kale Salad, found in Ellie Krieger's book, Weeknight Wonders , a book, I love.  So far, every recipe was a success and was healthy and delicious to eat.  Page 41 is the page to find the recipe or here. I did not have kale so I subbed in baby spinach and in place of pine nuts, I used almonds.  I followed the rest of the recipe and although this is an easy recipe, cutting the spinach into thin strips took some time.  It looked pretty this way. You can check out what the other members did with this recipe by going to the Eating with Ellie website.  We welcome new members.  There are no requirements other than to love to cook and explore Ellie Krieger recipes.  Just make the week's recipe and add your link to the site's page. Thank you Kayte for a wonderful choice.  I served it with spicy salmon with caramelized onions and mango rice.

Until the week before Passover (Pesach), Operation Clean-Up is going on and I am clearing out any cabinet with food in it (including refrigerator and freezer).   This is an example from an old post of how I throw, whatever I can find in my kitchen, together to create a new dish. I found in my hydrator, a half of a package of shredded cabbage which had to be used up or it would land in the garbage and that is not where food belongs.  I have tons of recipes using cabbage but I was not in the mood for making any of them.  What else could I find? In my onion drawer, there were two shallots.  Sounded good to me.  There was a bag of golden raisins and another of cashews in the cabinet.  So far, so good.  A moment of thinking and I decided on a simple stir fry. Nutty Cabbage & Shallot Stir Fry Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 shallots, sliced thin 2 cups shredded cabbage (you could use cole slaw mix) 1/2 cup (pecans or cas...

Although the recipe called for canned beets, I had the real thing, so I roasted the beets and sliced them and replaced the canned variety. This is an easy recipe and it cooked quickly. It makes a flavorful side dish and I served it with chicken, green beans and a salad. That made for a very nice dinner. Orange Kissed Beets Ingredients: 1/3 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 1 tablespoon oil 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon pepper 3 beets roasted and sliced 2 tablespoons golden raisins Method: In a saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir orange juice, brown sugar, oil, cornstarch, ginger, salt and pepper until thick. Add the cooked beets and raisins; heat through.  Yield: 2 servings. Eat and Enjoy. Linked to Full Plate Thursday       Fight Back Fridays        Gluten-Free Fridays         Fo...

When I was on my baking spree for Ina Fridays, I ended up making a whole bunch of goodies including these which I did not have time to write up when the linky first came out.  I plan to add it now. I made these for hubby as a special treat and did not serve them to the rest of the family. After all, they had chocolate cake, peach cake, apple crisp and sorbet.  I never served the ice cream that I bought.  A bit of overkill but I know the grand kids like the apple crisp, some of the adults are peach cake fans and everyone likes chocolate.  My daughter-in-law is a sorbet fan.  I wanted everyone to go home full but that happened before dessert. Hubby smoked two chickens and they were incredible and they disappeared quickly.  I was happy to see that two of the grandchildren were fans of quinoa but my very delicious veggie muffins were not as successful.    Sometimes, cute does not work. Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies - Ina Garten , adapted In...

I decided to bake the  Milk-Chocolate Walnut Coffee Cake   selected by  Eileen of One Hundred Eighty Degrees  and organized by Joyce of  Kitchen Flavours.   You will find the other bakes at THB . Since hubby does not like chocolate, I used raisins and walnuts and I think, it turned out well.  I forgot to put the filling in the middle so it is somewhere on the bottom. I thought, I would add a little about mourning in Judaism.  There are stages of morning,  Right now, for us, this is called the Shloshim which ends 30 days after the burial.  We do not listen to music, cut our hair or go to parties.  The children of the deceased mourn even further, lasting the entire 12 months.  Celebrations are avoided at this time.  The other relatives are over the official mourning period,  Certainly, it is a time to remember the loved one.  Someone has suggested that since my daughter was such a fantastic cook and baker, w...

I rarely made bread dishes because we make all of our bread.  Finally, I broke down and bought 4 loaves of Katz's gluten-free bread for dishes like stuffing or bread pudding.  Since then, we have enjoyed French toast, stuffing and grilled cheese sandwiches, among other delicious dishes, we had been skipping. I need the option of throwing together a meal in a short time.  That does not include baking bread.  Yes, I could make extra bread and freeze it but the reality is that I don't.  Now that doors have opened for us, it was easy for me to select this apple bread pudding for out them of apples for the Kosher Connection. I served it as a side dish which was fine but what a special dessert it would make.  It would be good with a little maple syrup but it did not need it for sweetness.  I am a big fan of maple syrup on pancakes, waffles and French toast so why not this? We did beat the apple season but this is good practice for the sweet dishes ...

For weeks, hubby has been asking for kasha and I just have not gotten to it so today was the day.  I like to add something to the kasha, it being a plain dish without a little oomph so I chose butternut squash, because I have it, in the house.  Then, I found a mango and that did it.  I had my dish. Kasha with Butternut Squash (a dapted from Spark People) Ingredients: 1 tablespoon Olive Oil 1 Onion, chopped 1 tablespoon shredded ginger 2 cups kasha, cooked 1/2 teaspoon dried nutmeg 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped 1/2 cup golden raisins 1 butternut squash, cut into  one inch cubes 1 mango, cut into small pieces 1 cup water 1 teaspoon honey 1/2 cup nuts Method: In a large sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes.  Add golden raisins and cook, stirring for 2 minutes.  Stir in the water, squash, and salt and bring to a simmer over high heat. ...

It rhymes......raisin and spice........brown rice.  The meter is wrong though. Rice with a lot of "stuff" in it appeals to me, much more than a plain rice.  I tend to throw in all kinds of extras.  I think it is the difference in textures that is so good. Raisin and Spice Brown Rice  (adapted from allrecipes.com) Ingredients 1/2 cup  1 cup  1-3/4 teaspoons butter 1 bay leaf 1-3/4 teaspoons vegetable oil 1/2 cup  chopped onion 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander 3 tablespoons thinly sliced celery 2 tablespoons seedless raisins 1/4 cup nuts (cashew or pecans) 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce freshly ground black pepper to taste Method: Bring brown rice, chicken broth, butter, and bay leaf to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and  simmer until the rice is tender, 45 to 50 minutes; discard bay leaf. Meanwhile, heat th...

Today is an exciting day, in our house, because, I finally bought gluten-free oats.  For 18 years,  I have baked a few items with oat meal (GF) but I never had the oats for crumbles and cookies and all that good stuff.  Today, I received a shipment of the real thing, rolled oats.  I baked cookies and my daughter is excited to make an apple crumble and we have so many plans.  This is truly like a new toy, for us.  The problem is that I was not sure what the cookie should be like.  Should it be thick.  Does it spread (oh yes!)  Will it taste good?  ....another resounding YES!!!  Oatmeal Raisin Cookies   from Dorie Greenspan Makes about 40 Oatmeal Raisin cookies Ingredients: 3 cups gluten-free old-fashioned oats 1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1 1/2 sticks  unsalted margarine, at room temperature 1 (packed) cup l...

I got Southern Living for a year and this recipe made my subscription worthwhile.  It has everything good, in it.  It is the perfect quick bread for my husband. A  moist sour cream bread with pecans and apples. This does not imply that I have not gotten lots of good recipes from Southern Living.  I found wonderful dishes to make.  The recipes appear to be relatively easy and ingredients quickly located.  Recently, I am finding Eating Well and Cooking Light to have more of the recipes, I am looking for. I am slowly working my way through my magazines.  One year, I went on a spree, ordering subscriptions to every foodie magazine, I could find.  It is taking me way more than  a year to make a dent in these.  I enjoy reading them and inevitably find recipes in each and every one.  I am torn between magazines and books, both which line the shelves. Praline Apple Bread – adapted from Southern Living – September 2009 Ingredients:   1...

Do you know Joanne from Apple Crumbles ?  Yes - lucky you.  No?  Go on over and check out her blog.  Joanne eats healthy and exercises healthy and most of all lives healthy ( Should that be healthily?  It doesn't sound as good. )  If you are a runner, check her out.  If you want good recipes, check her out.  If you want to see stunning photos, check her out. Most important, if you want to learn about living healthy in a charming manner, check her out. If you want to simply like her blog, get over there and you will.  I am sure, you will also like the person, Joanne who I see as someone who cares, who is responsible and who lives by a code that benefits her and all those who know her. Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins "It took me years to appreciate spinach.  As a raw salad green, it wasn’t crisp enough.  null, it was soggy and flavorless.  Then my taste buds matured.  Spinach has become a daily requirement in my d...