Coconut Chicken

I found this recipe in Kosher By Design Entertains (sure hope this isn't plagiarism...) and made it for my husband this past shabbas. He loved it and it was surprisingly easy to make. Two things to note: 1. This recipe was intended to be an appetizer, but I made it a main dish. (Instead of cutting the chicken into strips I just left them whole.) 2. This recipe comes with two dipping sauces which I didn't make and am not going to bother posting them for just that reason.

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (all I had in the house was crushed red pepper, so I used that)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs or panko
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
honey

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Season thee chicken with salt and pepper.
3. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Ass some salt and pepper to the flour. Add the garlic powder and cayenne. Toss too combine. Place the beaten egg into a second shallow dish. Mix the corn flake crumbs and coconut in a third dish.
4. Lightly coat chicken with flour, shaking off excess. Dip each piece into the egg, shaking off excess. Roll into coconut mixture, pressing the coconut into the chicken to evenly coat.
5. Place chicken on baking sheet. Lightly drizzle with honey. Here, the recipe calls for baking for only 20 minutes, turning strips halfway through, but I left it in the oven for about 40 minutes because it wasn't completely cooked after only 20 minutes.

The Best Peanut-Butter Pasta

3/4 cup water with an instant soup cube (can substitute w/ a tspn. ful)
1/2 cup Smooth peanut butter
1/4 Soy sauce
1/2 tspn Crushed pepper flakes
1 clove Garlic crushed
4 tbsp Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp Sugar
Add all the ingredients to pot, bring to medium high,
Don’t burn, once again be careful not to burn it.
I SAID DON'T BURN IT!
Ok, now so you don't burn it, mix while cooking.
Let cool in a tupperware, and refrigerate till ready to serve

Pour over a medium size batch of pasta,and mix in 2 table spoons of sesame seeds (optional)

Pie Cookies

Yesterday I found myself with quite a bit of leftover homemade cherry pie filling and a dessert, made with said filling, that is unable to go to the potluck gathering it was intended for. The issue was that the place didn't allow red foods [something to do with the carpeting] and the pie filling was exposed on the surface of the dessert. I suddenly found myself in need of making a new dessert that require minimal ingredients and time. Utilizing the rest of the pie filling was ideal.

So I made gluten-free cherry pie cookies. These cookies can also be low-carb depending on the pie filling being used.

I doubt anyone attending the potluck will mind the change in dessert offering as everyone, who has tried my gluten-free low-carb cookies, loves them. The cookies don't look like much but they are absolutely delicious.

If you find yourself free of pie filling, a jelly or jam of choice can be used.

I apologize for the quality of picture. It was taken with my phone as my digital camera has gone MIA recently.


Pie Cookies

2 1/2 cups almond meal
1 stick unsalted butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup gluten-free rolled oats [or regular rolled oats if gluten-free is not an issue for you]
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3 tablespoons agave nectar or honey [optional, depending on the sweetness level of the pie filling]
2/3 cup pie filling
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and almond meal. Add in the remaining ingredients. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes. Beat again on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and the bowl. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Take 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie and put them down on the parchment paper. Lightly press the rounds flat. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes until they start turning lightly golden in color. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

To store: These cookies will stick together when stacked. I put a single layer down on a plate/serving tray. I rip the parchment paper that the cookies were baked on and divide it into halves or thirds. Put down one of the parchment paper pieces then another layer of cookies. Repeat until all the cookies are on the tray then wrap with plastic wrap/cling film. Keep refrigerated until served. They are best out of the refrigerator.

Curried Carrot & Bean Soup

While I'm not a big fan of soups, I am a supporter of all things that can be cooked in a crockpot. There's nothing like coming home to a house that smells absolutely delicious and having a fully prepared meal waiting for you after a long day.

This soup is flavorful, vegan and makes a nice hearty but light dinner on a cold day. The recipe calls for a lot of spices - essentially making one's own curry powder - but I left off the traditional curry spice of fenugreek because I'm allergic to it.




Curried Carrot & Bean Soup

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks [if using baby carrots, cut them in half]
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 cups water
1 15 ounce can chickpeas or other bean of choice, rinsed and drained [or 1 1/2 cups cooked]
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/8 teaspoon each of the following spices: ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, anise seed, sesame seeds and ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon each of the following spices: ground cinnamon, fennel seeds and ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon each of the following spices: ground turmeric, cumin and ground cayenne pepper
4 strands saffron
Chopped parsley for garnish

[1/4 teaspoon of ground fenugreek seeds can be added to the spices if desired or, instead of the spices listed above, you can use 2 - 3 teaspoons of your favorite high-quality curry powder.]

Combine all the ingredients except for the parsley in a 4 to 5 quart crockpot. Stir, cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender or - in small batches - in a blender prior to serving. Strain if desired to make an even smoother soup. Serve warm. Garnish each serving with chopped parsley if desired. Make approximately 4 meal-sized servings or 8 appetizer-sized servings depending on the amount of liquid evaporation during the cooking process. The final blended soup should look a little like cooked pumpkin pie filling. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Variations: 1 pound of pumpkin, butternut squash or acorn squash chunks can be used in place of the carrots. No other changes needed.

edamame

I know this isn't a recipe, but I thought I'd tell you all about my latest fave snack!

Edamame are baby soybeans, similar to green beans, and contain tons of fiber and protein - and are an awesome healthy alternative to a bag of chips!

You can buy fresh edamame at your local Asian or specialty grocer (try Whole Foods), or frozen from Costco or Trader Joe's. I get the box from Costco which contains mini individually-packaged containers of the beans - the perfect serving size.

Cheesecake Brownie Bites

No fancy French name here, as the French neither have a. cheesecake as we know it, or b. brownies, but I guess you could say "Les petits gateaux a fromage avec un croute de chocolate et enrobe de ganache" but that just sounds ridiculous. Anyway, I (Nameless Faceless) usually make my mini-cheesecakes with a regular graham cracker crust and some kind of fruit topping (mostly because my father likes them that way and he pays the bills), but yesterday I made this batch for a friend of mine who loves these. They are half cheesecake, half brownie, topped these with a chocolate ganache and baked in a mini-cheesecake pan, but we are going to cheat and use a regular muffin tin and hot fudge. It's the same thing, but your finished product will have fluted edges in lieu of the smooth sided picture above -- essentially, it doesn't matter: let's get this show on the road.

1 package brownie mix
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I cannot stress this enough. I've killed two electric mixers trying to be a hero.)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Jar of hot fudge topping

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease them individually
2. Prepare the brownie mix according to the directions on the package and fill each muffin cup about 1/3 of the way full.
   
3. Bake the brownie portion for about 15 minutes. If the brownie top is shiny and looks to be set, remove the pan from the oven. If not, stick it in until it does - and *then* take it out. Either way, let these brownies cool for at least twenty minutes.
   
4. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Spoon this mixture on top of your brownies (while still in the pan!). Fill each muffin cup with this mixture, almost to the top.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely. Top with warmed hot fudge - you can make it look fancy or not, it's irrelevant. Cool and serve. Oh, and
   
6. Freaking delicious.
   

thank you

Wow! Our KC team sure has grown in the last few days!

Thank you for posting your awesome recipes
- even if some don't exactly yield edible results (random you know i mean you) but as long as it's funny and therefore worthy of MM standards - then keep them coming!

Be sure to add Kosher Cuisine to your blog rolls
and get the word out about this fab new blog!

Always Fail Kosher Blog

The AFKB is a dish best served rare(ly, or never for best results.) If done right though, it can serve hundreds and sometimes more.

Ingredients:

Bored teenager (preferably fresh out of sem/yeshiva,) slightly undone mentally
1 laptop
internet
a couple of dates (for material)
dash of unwarranted confidence in creative writing
a selection of similarly dysfunctional gen-Y'ers for feedback and comments.

Preparation time: Usually 1 rainy night after too much narcissistic self indulgent self doubt/pity/reflection. Beware: AFKB will become irrelevant within a year or two at which point the blog will either become moldy or destroyed somehow.

Directions: Bring laptop to young, bored person and attach to internet. At this point, young person might not be seen for extended periods and surface with square eyes. Do not panic - this is normal dysfunction.
Let them wonder what the hell they need the $700 thing for before slowly folding in inflated confidence in writing capability and whipping up the dates.
At this point, simply let the weird creation rise on its own as the other self-obsessed organisms pepper the blog with (what they think are) witty and relevant comments.

Variation: Have the main ingredient in conflict about their religion/recently divorced/in a retirement home with limited mental ability (for extra laughs.)

Tarte Aux Pommes

[Not an actual pic]
This tarte is unbelievably easy and fast to make so jazz up the name if you have too :)

I am willing to go out on a limb here and say this is the worlds easiest Apple Pie, one which I absolutely love. No this is not the extent of my cooking, my recipe for pickling your own herring and liver saute will follow but I decided to start easy. Make this and you will be the consummate All-American Chef, all that's missing is an entree and a main dish :)

3 Apples peeled and sliced (whatever kind you prefer, I generally use green macintosh, I like the tartness but red or yellow is fine too)

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 1/4 stick margarine

1 egg

1 Cup Flour

Slice the apples and place them on the bottom of a pie dish. A standard size round one (9 or 10 inches or so I don't really know what "standard" is) will be fine.
Next, melt the margarine in a large mixing bowl (microwaving it is fine). Then add in the sugar, egg, and flour and stir until it is a smooth batter-like mixture.
Pour this mixture over the apples and bake on 350 for approximately 40 minutes until done (depending on the oven, cooking time will vary).

That's it! Congratulations you have dessert for any occasion.

Serving Suggestion - Chill and serve cold, but then again I like all m cake either cold or frozen so you may enjoy this one hot. whatever gets you going I guess :)

No-Mixer Fruit Crumb Cake

This is Child Ish Behavior here; admittedly I can’t really cook very well. Just the other day I burned some frozen pizza in the toaster oven. And a few months ago I almost burned the house down because I left the water boiling while going out to the grocery. Luckily I got back home before all the water boiled out. All this doesn’t detract from the fact that when I was around 10 years old I used to make the best crumb cake with my mother. I can tell you without a doubt it was the best crumb cake I have tasted, ever. It was crunchy, crumby, moist, and yummy in every bite. Just writing about it is making my mouth salivate. If only I weren’t so lazy, I’d be eating crumb cake all day. Perhaps this Thursday, in preparation for Shabbos, I’ll bring back old memories and whip up some No-Mixer Fruit Crumb Cake.

The ingredients are pretty straight forward; they come right out of the Lubavitcher Cookbook. There is nothing more kosher than the Lubavitcher cookbook, from page one it tells you exactly where Kashrus falls in everyday thinking, “Kasherus belongs to a category of mitzvahs for which no rational explanation is given in the Torah. (3)” Just as Kashrus laws are God givenly good without rational explanation, so too the No-Mixer Fruit Crumb Cake, is good beyond any rational explanation, though looking back it seems my mother may have forgotten a few ingredients.

No-Mixer Fruit Crumb Cake

1.25 sticks margarine (Though if I recall correctly, I think my mother conveniently left this out.)

2 cups of flour (This is where the crumbs come from.)

1 cup sugar (for the sweet tooth)

2 teaspoons baking powder (I have no idea why this is needed. It is part of the Kosher thing, no rational explanation.)

1 teaspoon lemon rind (I believe my mother left this out as well, as I can’t imagine consuming lemon rind.)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs separated (That means, put the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another.)

Jam (I like raspberry, you can do prune if you’re feeling especially masochistic.)

Lemon Pie filling [optional] (Definitely left out. Who has lemon pie filling lying around the house?)

2 apples, grated

Raisins (Also left out, the chewy raisins just weren’t my speed.)

Another .25cup sugar (for the sweet tooth)

And now for the directions:

Take two forks out of where ever you keep your two forks. With those two forks, Mix the first six ingredients together. Take the bowl of egg yolks, and mix into the powdery mixture until you get a crumbly consistency. Remove one cup of these crumbs, and like the Afikoman, set them aside for later.

Line a 9” X 13” baking dish with the remainder of the crumbs. Top with Jam, [lemon pie filling],(raisins), and apples.

Beat the left over egg whites and the .25cup of sugar and pour over the apples.

Add the Afikoman crumbs over the egg whites and sugar.

Bake at 350° for around 45 minutes.

Enjoy with a nice glass of Baron Herzog White Riesling Late Harvest 2005.