Only 100 calories per slice!!!!

Here’s the story… My SO and I just recently moved back to Minneapolis from Jerusalem in June.  3 weeks ago we moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.  Needless to say, our lives are in a bit of disarray.  To go along with that is a very incomplete kitchen at the moment.  So when I was in the mood to decompress by baking, I came to find that I really didn’t have the ingredients that I wanted.  It was in this moment that the Greek Blueberry Apple Bread was born!

What I didn’t have: any oil for baking, butter, vegetable shortening, buttermilk, etc.

What I did have: non-fat vanilla Greek yogurt (trader joe’s), apples, olive oil, and blueberries.

Now, these ingredients may sound odd in combination, but I kid you not, this bread is absolutely wonderful!  It is the perfect combination of sweetness, moisture, and the tiniest bit tart.  I highly recommend it for breakfast or dessert (or anytime of day for that matter).  What’s more is it is fairly healthy too (no oil, butter, less sugar, etc.)!  Out of curiosity, I did the nutritional facts math and as long as you’re not eating an inch and a half wide slice, each slice is only 100 cals!

Here you have it:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 3 pinches of brown sugar
• 3 sweet red apples (you pick your favorite) - 2 apples grated to get 1 cup freshly grated apples, 1 apple sliced thinly
• 1.5 cups fat-free Greek vanilla yogurt (I used Trader Joe’s)
• 2 eggs
• 1-1.5 cups blueberries
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Here’s how to do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit
2. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan (I used olive oil), and dust with flour - set aside
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk and set aside.
4. In another large bowl, combine 1 cup freshly grated apple, yogurt, eggs, blueberries, and olive oil.  Stir well.
5. Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture, and stir until all ingredients are moist (no need to over mix here though).
6. Pour batter into loaf pan.  Place apple slices over the top of the loaf in even rows.
7. Sprinkle 3 generous pinches of brown sugar over the apples.
8. Bake for 60-65 minutes (until golden brown, or use the tooth-pick test)
9. Let cool for about an hour - serve and enjoy!

So I know it has been far too long since we’ve posted a new recipe.  But it’s been a busy summer for all of us - moving across the country, going to school, planning a wedding, yada yada.  I’ve been taking pictures of my creations, but keep neglecting to post them to the blog.  Well not today!!  This afternoon I had leftover Zucchinis from burritos last night, so I decided Zucchini bread was in order!

It is slightly “lower” fat because I tried to replace some oil and sugar.  To do this, I used low fat vanilla yogurt.  I was able to replace all the oil, and some of the sugar - and it tastes pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Here you have it:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 pound zucchini, cut in half length wise and seeded
• 1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped coarse
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 pinches of brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Here’s how to do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
2. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan, and dust with flour.
3. Grate zucchini, after halving and seeded, using the large holes on a box grater.  Mix the zucchini with 2 tbsp sugar, and put in a strainer above a plate or bowl for at least 10 minutes.  When it’s done draining, squeeze excess liquid out using paper towels.
4. Toast the walnuts in the oven for about 5 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
5. Turn up the oven to 375 Fahrenheit.
6. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nuts.  Stir to combine.
7. In a medium bowl, thoroughly combine 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter.
8. Combined the drained zucchini and the yogurt mix into the flour mix.  Stir until everything is just moist - no need to over mix here.  Scrape this into your loaf pan.
9. Bake for a total of 1 hour (or until golden brown, or use the toothpick trick).  Halfway through the baking, rotate the pan.  15 minutes before the baking is done, sprinkle 2 pinches of brown sugar over the loaf - it should glaze a bit on the top.
10. Cool for a long time - an hour or so.  Serve, and enjoy!

Today’s post comes from a guest blogger - our very own Jodie Gordon.  While Jodie isn’t technically in the same SO program as the rest of us (i.e. she’s in rabbinical school), she is somebody’s SO, and therefore is legit for the blog.  I can personally vouch for this salad - fantastic!

As we approached the final week in Israel, I was suddenly struck with the need to eat as much salatim (salads) as I could. Last week, I picked up a few beautiful beets at Machane Yehuda (i.e. the shuk, or the place I will miss most in Jerusalem). Without much of a plan in mind, I washed the beets, trimmed the tops, and threw them in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes. And then…..

3 medium-large sized beets, roasted and chopped into whatever size feels right to you
1/2 lemon
Chopped Fresh Dill (i used about 1/4 cup; use as much or as little as you like)  
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
A healthy shake of good olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop it up. Mix it together…. Enjoy!

Courtesy of jodiesays

fran’s tel aviv peach salsa was so good it inspired an entire shabbat meal. no joke. while eating it on the beach in tel aviv two weeks ago we came up with the (brilliant) idea for caribbean shabbat. i always love cooking themed meals because it’s so much easier to decide what to make. besides, we had a lot to celebrate!
1) school for our SO’s and friends had officially ended
2) my SO and i had friends visiting us from brooklyn
3) it would be our dear friend/future rabbi bethie’s last shabbat in israel (this is not actually a reason to celebrate, as it is very sad, but it was certainly a reason to have a large, delicious meal)

three notes:
1) arielle and her SO are currently in MOROCCO, so they weren’t able to join us for the cooking or eating, but fran did wear the adorable apron they gave me for my birthday while he was preparing the salsa, so they were with us in spirit.
2) mangoes aren’t yet in season here so we weren’t able to use them even though they would have been perfect with this meal. this is particularly unfortunate for me since i practically lived on them last summer. sometimes life is hard.
3) plantains. i spent about an hour trying to remember whether or not i’d ever seen them in this country, decided i hadn’t, thought about preparing bananas the way i prepare plantains, decided it was a bad idea, then forgot all about them.

all that said, here is the menu (for 9)

caribbean salmon
ingredients:
enough salmon fillets for 9
juice from 3 oranges and 1 lemons
1 cup coconut milk
2 large red bell peppers
1 1/2 cups pineapple (use fresh stuff if you can get it)
1 large purple onion
1 jalapeno pepper (or more if you like things really spicy)
2 tbs. fresh ginger
1 tbs. fresh garlic
1 tbs. honey
2 tbs. dijon mustard
1 tbs. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
chopped cilantro

1. squeeze the juice from the oranges and lemons into a large bowl and remove any seeds. it’s totally fine if there’s pulp. add the coconut milk.
2. chop the red bell peppers and the pineapple into 1/2 inch or 1 inch pieces and add them to the citrus coconut marinade.
3. dice the jalapeno, ginger, and garlic and add it to the marinade, too.
4. stir in the honey, mustard, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. do a little taste test at this point and see if you’d like to adjust anything.
5. using a slotted spoon remove about half of the chopped peppers and pineapple and throw them in the food processor. pulse until it looks like gazpacho (more on that later) and then re-combine with the marinade. if you don’t have a food processor don’t worry, it’ll still be delicious.
6. lay the salmon out in a large pan and pour the marinade over it. every last drop.
7. dice the onion and sprinkle it over the salmon.
8. refrigerate for at least an hour so the fish can soak up the flavors, then throw it in an oven that was preheated to 350 F. check on it after 30 minutes to see how it’s doing. just cut into the salmon and see if it’s been cooked through. it should be a nice light pinkish organgish SALMON color.
9. when you’re ready to serve it, sprinkle cilantro over it (or let your guests do that for themselves in case they have that weird cilantro aversion gene). enjoy!


gazpacho (yes, i know this isn’t actually caribbean but it’s just SO GOOD and easy and i love it so much i’ve been known to eat it for breakfast)
ingredients:
12 ripe tomatoes
3 cucumbers
1 red bell pepper
2 white onions
1 jalapeno pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 cup of bread crumbs or a large piece of stale bread (i used a hot dog bun)
3 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

1. quarter the tomatoes and squeeze out the seeds, then roughly cut two of the cucumbers, the bell pepper, the two onions, the jalapeno, and the garlic. toss everything in a food processor and leave it on for a while until it’s nearly liquifies.
2. add the bread crumbs/bread, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and process again. taste it and adjust.
3. chop the remaining cucumber into 1/2 inch pieces and combine with the gazpacho. i did this because i think it’s fun to have some crunch in the soup.
4. serve cold with cilantro!


garlicky lemony swiss chard
ingredients:
3 bundles of swiss chard, washed and any bad parts removed
3 cloves garlic
juice of 3 lemons
5 tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. chop the rough white ends off the swiss chard (leave some of the white though, because it has a great texture) and tear it into 4 inch pieces. place all parts in a bowl.
2. pour olive oil into a very large pot. dice the garlic and add to the olive oil, then saute on high heat until the garlic starts to brown.
3. add the swiss chard to the pot and stir it a bit. it’s okay if it doesn’t coat every leaf immediately.
4. add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir. it will get easier to stir as it cooks down.
5. leave it on high heat, stirring occasionally, until the leaves are wilted and the the beginning to shrivel and the white stems are not longer hard. it should take about 10 minutes.
6. remove from heat and refrigerate. i’m sure this would be good served hot, but i served it cold and it worked nicely.

here’s a picture of a dinner plate:


a few more things… we had four other components to the meal. challah (of course), fran’s salsa (obviously) ginger rice and beans (no recipe required, just prepare white rice, add a can of black beans, and stir in some ginger powder), and our friend jodie’s out of this world sweet potato salad (seen above on the top right). she’s going to guest blog and add the recipe herself. it was incredible. oh, and since we were doing it up, we served lemon mint sorbet and grapefruit basil sorbet in shot glasses as a palette cleanser in between the salsa and soup course and the main meal. it was the fanciest thing i’ve ever done at a shabbat dinner. we had vodka cocktails with mango nectar (apparently boxed nectar is always in season) and there was a lot dessert (of course and obviously), but i’ll save those recipes for another time…

Hands down, mommy’s meatballs are the best! From Chanukah parties to Rosh Hashana meals, these meatballs were always a hit. For Shabbat dinner this year, I learned I could substitute ground tofu in place of hamburger. So, whether you’re playing hostess to a group of vegetarians or meat lovers, these are a tasty entree to add to your repertoire.

2 lbs hamburger meat

2 eggs

1 12ou jar Heinz chili sauce

1 can whole cranberry sauce

3/4 c Italian meatballs

1 onion chopped

1 c water +

Mix meat with eggs, bread crumbs, and water. Melt cranberry sauce in a pan. Add chili sauce and onions. Stir. Make tiny meatballs by hand and drop in the sauce. Keep on a very low light. Shake pan at first. Do not stir for the first 30 minutes. Then gently stir and continue to cook for an additional 45-60 minutes covered on a low light on the stove. Stir periodically to insure meatballs do not stick to the pan. These freeze well. Also, they are great served with rice.

Serves 6-8

at my first baking party with fran and arielle i tried to make this recipe. it ended up a shapeless, gooey, melty, chocolatey blob. it was a mess. and it was delicious. this time, i altered the recipe a little and came out with actual behrs (bars said with a minnesota accent) and they were still delicious. like, really delicious.



top and bottom layers:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks salted, room temperature butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups oats
1 cup crushed peanuts

chocolate layer:
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
*2 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 tbs. butter
pinch of salt
drop of vanilla
*you can pretty much use any kind of chocolate. i got to use some fancy delicious dark chocolate that fran brought me from switzerland! milk chocolate chips should work just as well as semi-sweet ones.

1. first things first! take the butter out of the fridge and put it in a warm spot so it gets soft. then, preheat the oven to 350 F and line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper or a whole lotta grease.
2. in a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs and vanilla and continue mixing.
3. slowly add all the dry ingredients and continue mixing until everything is well combined.
4. take a little bit more than half of the batter and press it into the 9x13 pan so it forms an even bottom crust layer. leave the remaining batter in the mixing bowl.
5. melt the 1 tbs. butter in a small non stick pot and add the sweetened condensed milk. stir the milk on high heat and as soon as it starts bubbling add the chocolate chips. it’s really important to stir this continuously so it doesn’t burn. when the chips have melted, remove from heat and stir in the salt and vanilla.
6. pour the melted chocolate over the bottom crust layer and spread it evenly with a spatula.
7. add the top layer. this will be a little bit more difficult than the bottom one since you’ll be spreading it on top of a melted chocolate layer, but don’t worry if it’s not even. it’ll actually look prettier if it’s not.
8. bake at 350 F for about 20-25 minutes, or until the top is a dark golden brown.
9. let the pan cool and then put it in the fridge for a long long time or at least two hours.
10. once the bars are totally cooled and set, you can cut them. any size works, from skinny rectangles to small squares to big chunks. cutting them is a workout, but that’s okay, since these bars aren’t exactly healthy. enjoy!!!

For my SO’s big 2-7, I wanted to make sure he had a birthday dinner he loved. Well, what’s better than bringing a few recipes from home to Israel? Thanks to ima shel Eitan, I planned to prepare his favorite watercress zucchini soup. It sounds funny and looks very green but it really is delicious. Unfortunately, it turns out most (read: any) Israeli supermarkets don’t carry watercress (aka gargarim hanhalim) so I had to make due with rocket. Fortunately, the soup was taim ma’od anyway!
 
Ingredients
4 T. butter
2 C. chopped yellow onions
3 C. Chicken Stock ( I use as much as I need for the right consistency)
6-8 medium zucchini
1-2 bunches watercress
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice to taste

 Preparation
1. Melt the butter, add the onions, cover and cook until tender.
2. Add stock and bring to boil.
3. Wash zucchini and chop up coarsely. Add zucchini to stock and simmer until tender.
4. Pull leaves and small stems off watercress, rinse.
5. Remove soup from heat, add watercress, cover and let stand 5 minutes.
6. Transfer soup to a blender and blend until desired consistency.
7. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

A few notes: I needed to make the soup parve so I substituted margarine for the butter and chicken flavored vegetable stock in place of the real thing. I don’t think anyone even noticed!

Our SOs are done with finals and their first year of rabbinical school.  So today, some of us are going for a relaxing day at the beach in Tel Aviv!  Both because I enjoy cooking for my friends, and also because I wanted to post a new recipe to the blog, I decided some salsa was in order.  Thus, the Tel Aviv Peach Salsa was born - a true Fran original!

One of my favorite meal additions lately has been home-roasted red peppers (I’ve included instructions).  You can certainly substitute store bought roasted red peppers.  Another note, if my SO didn’t love cilantro so much, I wouldn’t have included it in the recipe (tastes like soap to me).  So feel free to leave out the cilantro if you also got that gene.  Enjoy!

(my apologies, my food photography is not yet up to par)

Tel Aviv Peach Salsa

Makes about 2 cups of salsa.

Ingredients

4 Ripe Peaches, peeled, chopped into 1/4in pieces

1 Red Pepper, roasted and chopped

1 Roma Tomato, chopped

1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced

Juice from 1 lime

3 Green Onions, chopped

1 Clove Garlic, minced

1 tsp Cumin, toasted

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus a little extra for roasting the pepper

1 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro

Sea Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Toast cumin in skillet over low heat, just until aromatic (about 30 seconds).  Set aside.

2. Coat red pepper lightly with extra virgin olive oil.  Over an open flame (gas stove, broiler, or grill), blacken thoroughly all sides of the pepper (2 min per side depending on the flame).  Transfer to a bowl and cover to steam (about 15 minutes).  Using a knife, scrape off all the blackened skin.  Remove seeds and ribs, and chop.

3. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, stir well, and enjoy!  Best if served chilled on the beach.

this year i found out that making “truffles” is really not all that hard. this was a very big discovery for me and i’ve been experimenting with lots of different kinds. these are my favorites (actually, the mexican truffles fran made are my favorites, but he’ll have to post that recipe). arielle and i made these for some important football game our SO’s wanted to watch. maybe it was a playoff game. football has never excited me but the food that goes along with it always has.

ingredients:
*1 18 oz. package of oreos
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
1 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate (chocolate chips work just fine
a tab of butter

* i got this recipe from this adorable blog, but made a small change the second time i made them and added more oreos. if you want them a little more chocolatey and less cream cheesey, then add another 1/3 a package or oreos. but this will only work if you use a food processor to crush them.

1. crush the oreos! you can do this in a food processor or in a ziplock bag. if you opt for the bag use a rolling pin or a can to crush them.
2. combine the oreo crumbs with the cream cheese in a bowl. i’m not gonna lie, you might have to use your hands.
3. roll the batter into 1 inch balls and line them up on a cookie sheet, then stick ‘em in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until they get a little harder.
4. melt the chocolate chips in a pan with the butter. you can do this in a microwave too, but i don’t have one in my israeli apartment so i’m stuck with a pan. stir the chocolate frequently and remove from heat as soon as it’s melted or it’ll get all chunky and gross.
5. dip the balls in the chocolate and turn them over so they’re coated. i haven’t quite mastered this as you can see in the pictures, but even if they’re not perfectly coated they still taste amazing! line them up on a cookie sheet and refrigerate until they’re hard. keep them chilled until you serve them.