Purim Recipes

I am baking my cookie dough Hamentaschen recipe (pg. 223) and freezing the cookies for Purim. They freeze very well. Hamentaschen are filled cookies. This special triangular shaped cookie is eaten on Purim. There is disagreement as to what the shape represents. Is it the hat of Haman?, the evil man who tried to destroy the Jewish people in ancient Persia,  or is it his ear? Esther, the heroine, saved the Jewish people and good triumphed over evil. The story of Purim is in the Book of Esther.

In my family, chick peas (garbanzos) were eaten on Purim. Is this because Queen Esther ate vegetarian at the king’s palace? If you have any insight about why chick peas are eaten on Purim, I’d love to hear from you.

“Something Healthy to Eat – Desserts” on Kindle has my healthy Hamentaschen recipes too.

Saturday nite

Saturday lunch was a success. So many compliments. I almost feel that it’s so easy that I don’t deserve the accolades but, then again, making quick plain healthy but fancy meals is nothing to sneeze at.

My company stayed late so I prepared a lite supper from the leftover Instant Cholent. I made a soup! I added no salt Marinara Sauce, water, soymilk and mixed frozen vegetables. Made garlic bread from the leftover challeh. Leftovers are great because you can make new dishes from stuff that’s already made.

Did you check out “Something Healthy to Eat – Desserts” on Kindle? I served the leftover Ice Cream Cake with my Strawberry Sauce. Strawberry Sauce recipe is on Kindle and in “Something Healthy to Eat”.

 

Speedy Sabbath Lunch (Kiddush)

I am having company for Sabbath lunch. I don’t have time for lots of preparation because my house is upside down from painting and papering. I have to spend time cleaning. So my quick, easy plain but fancy recipes are perfect today. I think I’l spend about 20 minutes to make an entire nice company Sabbath lunch.

I’m defrosting my challehs (pg. 179) (no egg yolks, no margarine). When I bake challeh, I double the recipe and freeze some loaves. This is convenient when I’m rushed for time, especially today. What is also helpful is that I will make my Instant Cholent (pg. 90). It is pareve (no meat, no dairy). I prepared a big green salad with ready made greens, I’ll serve it with my Fat Free Russian Dressing (pg. 61).

My cholent is in the refrigerator, I will put it in the oven before candle lighting so I have a little time to make dessert and I mean “a little time”. Ice Cream Cake (pg. 220) will be perfect because it will take me practically no time to prepare. This cake is very impressive and my recipe is really really easy. Of course, I am using fat free ice cream, much better than buying an expensive calorie-laden artery clogging commercial ice cream cake.

New twist on Jewish Sabbath meal

I try to make all meals different and interesting. Tonight for my Sabbath meal, my main dish will be crispy Baked Eggplant (pg. 86) - not fried. In my book, “Something Healthy to Eat”, the recipe calls for the eggplant to be sliced. For tonight, I have cut the eggplant lengthwise making large eggplant steaks so you see that you can make variations on my quick and easy recipes. By the way, a half cup of cooked eggplant contains only 19 calories. So as with most vegetables, you can eat a lot and not compromise your figure or your health. You can check out a healthy dessert in the dessert section of the book or, if you have a Kindle, you can go to “Something Healthy to Eat – Desserts”. I am serving Frozen Rum Balls for dessert. The recipe is in both books.

Chicken a la King

Tonight for supper I made my creamy Chicken a la King (pg. 83) in my cookbook. I substituted Tofurky slices that I cut in squares for the chicken. Great for vegetarians and vegans and good for your heart.

Soups for the frigid weather

It has been so cold that my soups really hit the spot. I’ve been making soups for the past two months and we never had the same soup twice because, as I say in my book, you can make many variations on my recipes, be creative and use leftovers as an already cooked ingredient. Last night, we had a variation of my Cream of Tomato Soup (page 39). What was great is that I added frozen shelled soybeans. All I did was heat the soup in the microwave.

Super Bowl Chili

SUPER BOWL CHILI

Super Bowl fare was very easy this year for me. I had a Chili Bar which was a great success. I tripled the Chili recipe and placed it in the middle of the table. My guests could help themselves to Chili on Rice or Pasta. Some had Chili Baked Potatoes and some made Burritos. Go to my Recipe page to check out my figure friendly and healthy recipe.