There is a farmer’s market that is set up every Wednesday, and now that I no longer am a member of a CSA, I try to visit this market weekly. It’s a nice break in the afternoon, and it’s exciting to see what is available and to think ahead to plan my meals. I discovered two years ago how much I like patty pan squash, and for some reason it isn’t being sold in my supermarket. So, I was very excited a few weeks ago when I saw it at the farmer’s market! It’s easy to prepare it - just steam them in a pot of water until it gets soft. It’s a delicious summer squash.
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As Leah, one of my colleagues, posted last week, our staff is getting ready for our Food Cleanse which will be this weekend. Not only do we have to prepare the logistics of getting all of us and our food out to Fire Island, we have to adjust our eating habits and wean ourselves off of certain foods this week so as not to shock our systems when we start eating “Cleanse” meals. The main items that pose as a personal challenge include caffeine… carbs… and sugar. When our staff was informed of this information, some of us were afraid to react vocally and were a tad surprised. While it makes sense to engage in these changes, no one said the process will be easy!

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I have been very fortunate to attend and organize several bridal showers for friends throughout the past few years. But to honest, they are all the same and somewhat… boring. Whether the bride is surprised or not, similar things happen. The same types of food are served - salads (while they are always quite delicious), pasta dishes, fruit, and cake - and we all watch as the bride opens all her gifts while she tries to look surprised (even though she’s the one that picked it out for her bridal registry and we bought her gifts from the registry!).
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It’s that time of year again - CSA fever is in the air! I was a proud member of the local CSA in my neighborhood last year. Since the farmer didn’t allow for half shares, I split my vegetable share with another woman in my community and split the fruit share with a friend. Although, during the numerous heat waves last year it was a bit of shlep bringing all the produce back to my apartment, as my partner and I would alternate weekly doing the pick ups. Despite that, I greatly enjoyed this new experience. It encouraged me to try new vegetables and learn to appreciate seasonal fruit. A few particular vegetables which were new to me were kale, bok choy, and beets. I never really tried beets before, and now I really enjoy their sweet taste - and you got to love that color!
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In a recent post, I mentioned a homemade granola recipe that I found on Aviva Allen’s website. She recently published a kosher organic cookbook with simple yet delicious recipes. She personally invented all of the recipes, and are made with wholesome, organic foods and grains. Something that is very useful which she added are little icons next to each recipe indicating if it is a vegan, gluten free, or passover friendly recipe. After Pesach, I plan on doing a full review of this cookbook, but in the meantime here is a sweet potato kugel that I made last night which is very good.
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The final three hours of Pesach preparations are approaching… and I actually have some down time now to blog! I am happy to say that it’s been a group effort amongst my family members to get to this point in time. Between the shopping, shlepping boxes from our basement with Pesach dishes upstairs to our kitchen, preparing our kitchen, to cooking, and to preparing all the necessary items for the Seders, I feel lucky to have time now to post about my cooking preparations.
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 *OU KOSHER FOOD WEEK*

*EAT KOSHER.* THE MOST HEAVENLY DIET ON EARTH.

*April 29-May 5, 2007*

A project of OU Kosher - the world’s most recognized and trusted kosher symbol.

For more information, contact Rabbi Eliyahu Safran at safrane@ou.org.

Look for recipes, information on how to keep kosher, kosher information hotline, talks, lectures, shiurim on kashrut, and loads of programs on www.oukosher.org.

*Announcing an Essay Contest **For Grades 4-12*

Prizes! $50 gift certificates to Eichlers.com.

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Despite the crazy weather which the North East is experiencing today, I am having a number of friends over for shabbos this week and was up late cooking last night. I made an array of different dishes, in addition to my friends offering to make a few dishes as well and helping me out in the process. I remembered that my friend’s mother had a good blend whole wheat/white flour challah recipe, so I decided to make it as well. It’s been some time since I’ve made it last, so I felt I was up for the challenge. Read more »

Following the holiday of Purim, I can be pretty sure that many people have a large volume of the following items in their house: candy, chocolate, and a variety of baked treats. I think that the mitzvah (Torah commandment) of sending Mishloach Manot (sending of portions” which often include wine and pastries; alternately, sweets, snacks, or any foodstuff qualifies) is a beautiful one which emphasizes building community and spreading sweet, warm feelings to one’s friends and family.  

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I am staying in my community for Shabbos and since I am eating at friends for the meals, I offered my hosts to make something. I made the following two dishes last night – feel free to try them yourself and I’d greatly encourage feedback!

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake from The Kosher Palette

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When I did my weekly grocery shopping earlier this week, I was faced with an interesting dilemma: should I buy strawberries (which two pints were being sold for $5- which the price I bought them for in the summer!), even though they aren’t in season in New York and they were imported from Mexico, or not? I had to stop and think about what I wanted to do – I really love strawberries and summer fruit, yet at the same time I have been trying to purchase some of my produce based on their seasonality. Though I came close to calling my friend for moral support, I chose not to buy them. So I reverted to buying pears. At least they were grown in America (even though they could have been grown in a place which is further away than Mexico is from NY – but I am not going to stress over this too much!) and generally always in season since they store well, as apples do.

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As I was commuting to work this cold, wintry New York morning, I was reminded of a warm and yummy Shabbos dish that has been in my family for years. I am referring to fricassee. There are many variations of this dish, and I don’t even know where my grandmother got this particular recipe since it seems to be very unique compared to the ones I just found online. My mother and my aunt have both replicated and slightly altered the recipe and have thus continued the family tradition of making it as an appetizer for Friday night Shabbos dinner.

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While I was studying my business degree in undergrad, I had a fascinating marketing project which my friend and I really enjoyed doing. My teacher inherited several old issues of different magazines, dating back to the 1950’s-1970’s. The assignment was to pick a theme in the magazine and analyze its presence and development throughout the issues. One of the magazines offered was Family Circle, which was the one we chose for this assignment.

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In a recent article entitled “Kosher Food Becoming Chosen Food of the Unchosen People”, kosher food is now being marketed by kosher food companies (this article focused on Manischewitz in particular) to the mass public, the 98% of the world’s population which is not Jewish. The reasoning behind this is that given the current drive in our society towards eating purer, cleaner food, many consumers are looking for kosher foods and something positive, even though they don’t keep kosher.”

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