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Thank you to my gourmet  niece Shirley Dana, who continues to inspire me with her fantastic recipes!

S’mores Brownie Bites

“Hi, its Shirley from Homebaked, and I’d like to share a fun, easy recipe that is great for topping off any meal. While I make these bite-size treats with my favorite from-scratch brownie recipe, you can simply use a box of Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie mix (with a little extra chocolate chips) with equally scrumptious results.”

Smore’s Brownie Bites

(makes about 48 mini brownie cups)

Graham Cracker Crust:

• 1 ½ cups crushed graham crackers
• 6 tbs melted margarine

Brownies:

• 1 box of Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie mix
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• ¼- ½ cup chocolate chips

Topping:

• Mini marshmallows
• Marshmallow Fluff

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray mini muffin trays liberally with cooking spray. (You can also use regular size muffin trays, but baking time will be longer, and you will probably get about 15 cupcakes out of the recipe).

To make crust

Simply mix the crumbs and the melted margarine together by hand. Drop about a teaspoon of the crumb mixture into each sprayed muffin cup. Using the back of a knife (or your fingers), carefully press the crumb mixture down until each cup has a flat, compact cookie crust at its bottom. (Save any leftover crumbs, as you will use them for on top of the brownies). Bake the crusts for about 3-5 minutes.

For the kosher brownies

Combine the brownie mix, water, eggs and oil together in a large bowl. Mixing vigorously until you have a smooth, shiny batter. Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.

Drop the brownie batter by the spoonful into the muffin trays on top of the baked crusts. Don’t be afraid to fill the cups to the top, as these brownies rise little while baking. Sprinkle each brownie with remaining graham cracker crumbs.

Bake for 10-13 minutes. Brownies should have a nice domed top and crackly top, and a toothpick inserted into center should come out with a few moist crumbs. (Just be careful not to over bake these… you don’t want hard brownies! If you are not sure if your brownies are ready, take them out a bit before they seem to be fully baked).

Let brownies cool in pan before carefully removing each one with a sharp knife.

To finish

Using a tiny bit of marshmallow fluff as glue, simply adhere 3-5 marshmallows to the top of each brownie. You can leave the brownies like this, or you can toast the marshmallows with a kitchen torch for a true campfire feel. Top with cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Shirley

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Recipe from Laura Cohen adapted from Epicurious.

“This recipe came out so good…. i even love the topping for a pasta dish…My changes: I did half red cherry tomatoes and half yellow tomatoes for pretty color. I also added a splash of white cooking wine while I cooked the tomato mixture.”

Kosher Recipe Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 pounds tilapia, red snapper, or orange roughy fillets
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced

Directions for this Kosher Recipe

Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Add half of fish to skillet and sauté until cooked, about 5 minutes per side depending upon thickness of the fish. Transfer fish to platter. Repeat with remaining fish. Add parsley and crushed red pepper to same skillet; sauté 1 minute. Add tomatoes, olives, and garlic; sauté until tomatoes are soft and juicy, about 2 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper; spoon over fish.

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This delicious frozen Passover holiday dessert can be served alone with whipped cream and berries, or alongside our decadent chocolate mousse recipe.

An “ice cream” treat everyone will love.

Recipe Ingredients:

Many Sepahrdic Jews eat chick peas on Passover, and I am lucky to be one of them. If you do buy chick peas in a can for Passover, make sure it is Kosher certified for Passover.

If you are of  Ashkenaz descent, then start using up your chametz chickpeas by trying this savory recipe ASAP!

To read more about  kitniyot on Passover, click HERE.

This recipe is too good to pass up.  It took 10 minutes to prepare, and took another 10 minutes for the family to devour it. Use more olive oil, salt, pepper,vinegar  and honey if you have  a lot of arugula. Serve as a weeknight tasty side dish, or as a midday main course with friends.

Check out this REVIEW of this great Mark Bittman cook book.

From : How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food

Makes: 4 side- or 2 main-dish servings

Time: 20 minutes with precooked beans

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups cooked or drained canned chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 4 cups arugula leaves
• 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 4 hard-cooked eggs, quartered (optional)

Kosher Sephardic Passover Recipe Directions

1. Put the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the ginger, garlic, and cumin and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant and the ginger and garlic are soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then stir in the chickpeas until hot and coated in the oil and seasonings, about 3 minutes more.

2. Remove from heat and with a fork, stir in the vinegar, honey, and 1 tablespoon water. Mash a few of the chickpeas as you stir to add texture to the dressing. Put the arugula and red onion in a large bowl and toss with the warm chickpea dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, garnished with hard-cooked eggs if you like.
Recipe from Mark Bittman‘s BLOG.

More books from Mark Bittman

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The Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy:

Leah Koenig’s Sweet and Savory Hammentashen:

“Nothing brings out the baking spirit in me like Purim.  Several weeks before the holiday, I start dreaming up new exciting fillings to spoon onto my cookies before pinching them into the familiar tri-cornered shape recalling Haman’s hat.  Never a fan of mohn (poppy seeds) or artificial cherry pie filling, my hamentashen fillings tend to skew either towards the sweet-tart – things like lemon curd, apricot marmalade or homemade pear and ginger compote (see below for a kosher recipe) – or the all out, hands-down decadent – think spoonfuls of Nutella, or white chocolate chips swirled with raspberry jam.

But a few years ago, while in the midst of one of my pre- Purim daydream sessions, my thoughts drifted from sweet to savory.  What would it taste like, I wondered, if I cut back on sugar in the dough and replaced it with dried herbs?  And what sort of filling combinations might compliment this savory foundation?  After a few excited rounds of testing, tweaking and tasting, I hit the Purim jackpot: a rich, herb-flecked “cookie” encasing a medley of lightly caramelized mushrooms and onion, browned in the oven until golden and unbelievably fragrant (see below for a kosher recipe)

One bite was all it took to know that I’d stumbled on a new annual tradition – for me anyways!  Lest one think that savory hamentashen sounds too unconventional to try, consider the spinach knish, the Middle Eastern bureka or the Italian calzone.  All of these delicious pastries combine dough with meat, vegetables and any number of tasty fillings – so why should the hamentashen be left out of the fun?”

Savory Hamentashen

Directions, Dough:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme, basil, oregano, or rosemary
• 2 tbsp milk

Cream butter, egg and sugar. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and herbs together and set aside. Add 1/2 of dry mixture into wet ingredients and combine until smooth. Add milk, then remaining flour mixture, stirring until incorporated. If dough is too sticky at this point, continue adding flour until it is firm enough to withstand being rolled out.

Gently roll out dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a circular cookie cutter or the rim of a wide-mouthed glass and transfer to a baking sheet. Dot each circle with filling (see below).  Pinch corners into triangles. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until delicately browned.

Variation 1: This dough can be used for sweet hamentashen too.  Increase the sugar to 3 Tbs and omit the dried herbs.

Variation 2: If you would like to eat these hamentashen after a meat meal, replace the butter with non-hydrogenated margarine (e.g. Smart Balance) and the milk with soy or almond milk.

Savory Onion and Mushroom Filling

• 3/4 pound mushrooms (white cap or cremini)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup dry red wine (optional)

Chop mushrooms and onion into small dice. Heat oil in a large pan or skillet over medium heat and brown onions. Add mushrooms and salt and let cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and about halved in size. Add red wine (if desired) and salt and cook 2-3 minutes, until liquid is dissolved. Let cool before stuffing into hamentashen.

Sweet Pear and Ginger Compote

• 2 bosc pears, chopped
• 1 Tbs honey
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1 Tbs water
• 1 1/2 tsp crystallized ginger, chopped

Combine all ingredients in small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring regularly until the pears soften and soak up the fragrant liquid, about 8 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before using as hamentashen filling.

Happy Purim!

Related articles

• Hammentashen Challah for Your Purim Seuda by Sara Katsen (thejewishhostess.com)
• Queen Esther Reigns and Entertains With Regal Purim Decor! (thejewishhostess.com)
• Egg, Nut, and Dairy Free (Vegan) Hammentashen for Purim (thejewishhostess.com)
• The Jewish Hostess Post Purim 2011 Party ReCap (thejewishhostess.com)
• Allegra’s Perfect Hanuka Sugar Cookie Dough Recipe (thejewishhostess.com)

by Esther Mosseri

” Hi Marlene, this easy kosher Shepherd’s pie recipe is a great warm winter dish . All you need is a salad, and you have a complete meal!”

For more inspiration, check out the quick video above by Gordon Ramsay. Notice how he doesn’t measure, but adds a few more ingredients for extra flavor .Of course delete his cheese addition (!!!), but use the video as a reference for endless Shephard’s pie possibilities!

For an elegant look, serve in white ramekins lined up on a tray.

• 1 lb chop meat (or ground turkey)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 4 servings of mashed potato flakes prepared according to box
• allspice
• cinnamon
• paprika
• salt and pepper

Directions for this Kosher Recipe

1. saute the onions in a little oil until soft sprinkle with salt and pepper
2. take out half and combine with potato mixture
3. put chop meat in pan with onions and brown sprinkle with some allspice and a drop of cinnamon and salt and pepper
4. the start layering in a sprayed pyrex, first with half of the potato mixture, then all of the meat then remaining potaotes
5. sprinkle top with paprika and bake in 375 degree oven for 45 min uncovered
6. Check out this meatless version HERE.

by Bianca Kaidatzi

“Great recipe for a weeknight dinner!  Just mix all ingredients in a slow cooker in the A.M. and leave for several hours till done.”

Kosher Recipe Ingredients

3 cups water

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed and drained

2 teaspoons dried thyme, crushed

3 teaspoons ground black pepper

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (about 400gm)

2 cups shredded fresh spinach

Method

In a 4 litre slow cooker, combine the water, chicken soup, uncooked wild rice, thyme and pepper. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours. To serve, stir in chicken and spinach.

6 (12) Servings

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The Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy:

Back by popular demand- Gladys’s healthy baked ziti! Great idea for a Rosh Hashana lunch or a Sukkot lunch!

“Hi Marlene its Gladys. Here is my Spaghetti Squash Ziti recipe. Its low-cal and healthy!!!”

P.S.- Give Gladys Bawabeh a big round of applause- she is only married about 2 months and is cooking not only for her husband, but is whipping up cool dinner parties as well!

Directions for this Kosher Recipe

1. To make delicious spaghetti squash baked ziti, you will need two spaghetti squash.
2. Cut both spaghetti squash in half vertically and cut the top off. Once you do that take out all the seeds inside. (you can also ask the  guys in the fruit store to cut it for you).
3. Sprinkle a little drizzle of olive oil on all 4 halves . Then face them down and put them on a tray and bake them on 350 degrees for about an hour and ten minutes.
4. Next take the tray out and take a fork n gently scrape the inside of the spaghetti squash. The squash should fall out and look like spaghetti.
5. Place it all into a pyrex and put a half of cup of marinara sauce on it. Mix it all in so its not juicy.
6. Then sprinkle kosher muenster or kosher low fat mozzarella cheese on top and cover all the squash.
7. Put back in oven and bake 350 degrees for another 35 minutes.
8. 35 minutes later you will have a healthier verzion of baked ziti!
9. check out my Pretty in Pink table setting HERE!