I recently watched an old episode of Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello, and he made a luscious looking bread pudding.  I made a few changes to his recipe, and I really loved the results.  What is remarkable about this recipe is that it is so easy to make. Below is my version of his recipe.

• 12 plain croissants (I bought mine at Costco) (let sit unwrapped for a few hours before you use them)
• about 15 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 stick butter
• 7 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 1 cup sugar

Directions:

Generously grease a large 10 by 13 pan- sides and bottom- with butter.  Tear croissants into 1 inch pieces- maybe about 4 or 5 pieces for each croissant.  Put all pieces in prepared dish.  Then sprinkle the chips all over.  Toss lightly with your hands or move the some of the top pieces so that some of the chips slip through. 

Prepare the custard by melted the stick of butter in the microwave in a mixing bowl large enough to eventually fit all the custard ingredients.  Let cool a few minutes or stick in the fridge to cool for about 5 minutes.  Then, add the sugar and mix.  Add the cream, and then the eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Whisk till  blended well. 

Ladle the custard mixture over the croissants and chocolate chips.  Push the croissants down lightly with your hands to submerge as best as possible in the custard.  Cover with aluminum foil.  Refrigerate until ready to bake. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake (still covered in foil) in center of oven for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.   Uncover and let cool for a few minutes and serve with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. 

***If you are baking this at home and then bringing it with you, put it on a half sheet pan after it comes out of the oven, keep it covered with the foil until you serve it. 

I made this recipe three times, and the flavors are really great.  My daughter Randi loved the chicken, so I’m sold.

1 1/2 pounds organic chicken cutlets

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil mixed with 1 large or 2 medium garlic cloves grated

pinch kosher salt

pinch of red pepper flakes

sprinkling of dried oregano

about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese mixed with about 1 cup Italian bread crumbs with a few twists of freshly grated black pepper

Put the chicken cutlets in the oil and garlic mixture with the salt, red pepper, and oregano.  Then dredge in the bread crumbs and cheese mixture.

At this point, you can fry the cutlets, or bake them.  If you bake them, you have to bake them at a high temperature to brown them.  I fried them, and that worked out well.

My grandson Noah’s third birthday was coming up, and my daughter Randi asked me if I wanted to make the cupcakes.  I think she knew what my answer would be.  I just needed to find the perfect recipe.  After reading many blogs about cupcakes, I couldn’t decide between a recipe from the Hershey’s website which Hershey’s calls, “Perfectly Chocolate Cake” and a recipe called “that Chocolate Cake” on the Scharffen Berger web site.  It was then that it dawned on me that they were literally the same, except that on the Hershey’s site, the recipe calls for 2 tsp. of vanilla, and on the Scharffen Berger web site, their recipe calls for no vanilla.  I compromised and settled on using 1 tsp. of vanilla.  I also changed the recipe by using extra large eggs and corn oil rather than canola oil.  No reason- I just grew up in a house where corn oil was used.  I used Hershey’s cocoa as that’s what I’ve got in my pantry-  I have both Hershey’s natural cocoa and Hershey’s special dark cocoa, so I used a combination of both- using a bit more of the natural than the dark.  I was “perfectly” happy with this recipe for the “Perfectly Chocolate Cake.”  This is so easy to make- I think just as easy as a mix- because you are doing it all in one bowl- practically just dumping the ingredients in.  The batter is very thin, so I ladled it into my muffin cups.  The result was very dark chocolate cupcakes, and very light- which was exactly what I was looking or.  My daughter compared the experience of eating these to eating Hostess chocolate cupcakes- only much better!  I used a standard recipe for vanilla icing which I adapted from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.  These cupcakes are amazing!

 Ingredients:

I’ve been wanting to make a Philadelphia style version of the David Lebovitz’s custard style vanilla ice cream I made last summer. My two favorite ice creams are Breyer’s vanilla, and Baskin Robbin’s chocolate chip. I love Breyers because it tastes like cream and vanilla with nothing artificial added. I love Baskin Robbins chocolate chip because of the zillions of bittersweet chocolate chips suspended in it. So my plan was to create a hybrid of the two. I looked on line for a vanilla ice cream recipe of Lebovitz’s made without egg yolks. I found it, I made it, I love it! It is easier to make than the version with the egg yolks, and I suppose it is slightly healthier. I changed a few things, such as eliminating the vanilla bean (to save the money), and the ice cream is still absolutely divine.This makes about 1 quart of chocolate chip or just plain vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream (I used Wegman’s, as it has no added stabilizers)

1 cup whole milk (or half and half- I used organic whole milk, and I loved the results!)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Optional: If making the chocolate chip, you will need about 10 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (I use King Arthur Flour’s- they are amazing!)

This makes about 1 quart of chocolate chip or just plain vanilla ice cream.

Steps: Pour the 2 cups of cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar. Warm over medium heat, stirring, about 2 min., until the sugar is dissolved.Remove from heat and add the milk and the vanilla extract. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator in a glass bowl, for at least eight hours or overnight.When ready to churn, pour the mixture into your prepared ice cream maker. Then freeze in your ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I have a Cuisinart, and I churned the mixture for about 45 min. to 1 hour.

I often make one of my specialties, called brenta, which is a recipe of my Grandma Hindes.  Brenta means burned in Yiddish, and these are basically fried potatoes- a Jewish version of hash browns-  but better (you can find this recipe on this site under potatoes). 

To make this, I put about 1 tablespoon of butter in a small nonstick frying pan and melted it on a medium flame.  Then, I put some leftover brenta (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups) in the pan and flattened them to cover the bottom of the pan.  Then I cracked 2 extra large organic eggs on top of the brenta.  I broke the yolks a little, then I covered the pan, and cooked over a medium high flame until the eggs were cooked.  I served and ate immediately, sprinkling with a little kosher salt and some fresh black pepper.  This Is as yummy as can be. 

The next time I do this, I may sprinkle some grated extra sharp cheddar on top of the eggs as they cook.  I’m also thinking about making this dish but in a larger quantity for my family or to bring to school for one of our teacher breakfasts.  I’d do it in an oval baking dish, and bake it in the oven on a high temperature - of course add more of everything- maybe about 4 cups of the brenta, 1 dozen eggs, and about 1/2 cup shredded cheddar over all.  I’ll keep you posted once I do this for more people than just myself.

My friend Lisa gave me this fabulous recipe that her grandmother had made.  I have now made this every week since she gave it to me for my daughter and her family.  This recipe reminds me of the flavors you get with chicken or shrimp oreganata- very tasty and satisfying.  When Lisa gave me the recipe, she told me that she had discovered that when her daughter was really little, she actually liked eating broccoli because, I guess it was disguised by delicious flavors.  So it turned out that my grandson Noah also loved the broccoli this way.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t convince my son Danny to give it a try- that’s how much he hates broccoli anything.  But what makes this such a great recipe is that it is very substantial, and you don’t need as much of your main course, because this is just so amazing and very filling too! Thanks Lisa for sharing this recipe of your grandma’s with me!

As much broccoli or asparagus as you wish (I usually buy about 2 pounds of organic)

Italian seasoned bread crumbs

shredded Romano cheese

garlic powder, black pepper, kosher salt, dried parsley flakes

extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Cut about 1 inch off the bottoms of the broccoli or asparagus, rinse with cold water to wash.  Boil a large pot of water.  Then drop broccoli into boiling water, and boil for 5 minutes.  Dump into collander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. 

Put oven on broil, and put oven rack about 8 inches from the heat element.  Dump broccoli on sheet pan covered with foil in single layer.  Sprinkle with kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper.  Sprinkle bread crumbs heavily over all.  Then sprinkle parsley flakes over all.  Then sprinkle shredded Romano generously over all.  Give another sprinkling of black pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.  Place under the broiler for about 5 -7 minutes till nicely browned, but not burned.   

Do the same with asparagus.

My daughter went to Whole Foods last weekend with her family, and she called me to tell me that they’d gotten the most delicious beef stew from the food bar there.  I called up the store, and asked what the ingredients were in the stew, and they told me.  So I put this recipe together even though I was missing a few things, and it came out delicious.  I wanted to use organic beef, so at Wegman’s I found an organic chuck roast, which I bought, and then cut it into stew pieces at home, which was very easy.  That worked out well.  I used as many other organic ingredients as possible, including Cento organic whole tomatoes, organic carrots,  and organic beef broth. 

1 very large onion, or 2 med-large onions, finely chopped
3 carrots from a 1 lb. bag, diced
rest of the 1 lb. bag of carrots, washed and peeled, and cut into nice chunks

5 celery stalks, leaves and ends trimmed, diced (I didn’t celery on hand, and stew still was amazing without it)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil
5-7 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup more olive or vegetable oil
about 3 lbs. stew cubes (chuck) I cut up an organic chuck roast into pieces that I bought at Wegman’s

 kosher salt and black pepper
About 1/2  cup of flour
1 cup red wine (I used a $5.00 bottle of Cabernet from Trader Joe’s)
1 cup chicken or beef broth (I used Pacific brand organic beef stock)
1 can (28 oz) canned whole tomatoes (I used Cento organic in puree) 

about 1 1/2 pounds of small white new potatoes, butter potatoes, or red potatoes, washed and unpeeled, left whole

about 2 pounds of baby bella mushrooms or white mushrooms, washed, and then sliced into 1/4 inch slices

optional:  5 sprigs of fresh thyme and 2 bay leaves (I didn’t use))
5 stalks of fresh parsley (I didn’t use)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. In a large oven-proof pot,  stir together the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter over medium high heat for about 5 - 8 minutes until the onion is translucent and is just starting to brown a little. 

3. Prepare the meat by sprinkling with the salt, pepper, and a little paprika, then sprinkle flour over and toss with your hands.  Add the extra oil to pot, and put meat in pot, and brown over medium high heat.  When meat is brown, transfer to a bowl (veggies will be attached and that is fine).

6. Deglaze the skillet with the red wine, scraping any leftover pieces in the pan, and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes to cook some of the alcohol off.  

7. After the wine has been added, set the pot over medium flame, add the meat back, add the broth, and the tomatoes and the juice or puree in the can, sort of crushing them somewhat with your hands as you put them in the pot.  Add the carrot chunks, and the whole potatoes.  Add the thyme, bay leaves and 3 stalks of parsley, if you have it (which I didn’t the last time), and bring everything to a simmer, then cover the pot and transfer it to the preheated oven.

8. Bake in the oven, covered, for 3 hours. But after the first hour and a half, take the pot out. Stir, taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper, and add the sliced and washed mushrooms.  Put back in the oven.  You may wish to check the pot every 45 minutes or so, to ensure that the meat is 3/4 covered in liquid or to stir.  I didn’t need to add any additional liquid.

9. After 3 hours, check the meat for tenderness.  For me, it wasn’t soft enough, so I lowered oven temp. to 300, and cooked it for another 45 minutes or so.

10. At this point, I also wanted my sauce to be a little thicker, so I took 1 tablespoon of butter, and mashed it with a fork with a spoon of flour, then I dropped a little into the sauce, and it thickened up perfectly for me, but next time, I don’t think I’ll do it; it was unnecessary.

11.  When stew is cooked and the meat is really soft, take it out of the oven.  Then add the bag of frozen peas and mix.

12.  Try to spoon any fat off the top of the gravy if possible.  Otherwise, after you refrigerate the stew, the fat will solidify at the top and you’ll be able to remove it.

12.  Serve sprinkled with fresh parsley if desired.

Serve alone, or over mashed potatoes, or with rice on the side or buttered noodles.  I ate mine plain, as I felt the dish had everything it needed.

Note:  The second time I made stew, I used a 32 oz. can of tomatoes in puree, 1 small can of tom paste, I added about 1/2 cup more of the beef stock, and when the stew came out of the oven, much liquid had evaporated, so I added about 8 oz. of water, and about 1 cup of chicken stock.  I also used the celery as suggested, and I used about 3 more carrots.

I like to keep a  one pound bag of split peas in the house just in case we’re in the mood for pea soup. We just had the big blizzard the day after Christmas, and I was snowed in with my son Benji.  I couldn’t have been happier.  He loves soup, I love him, so I made him a pot of delicious, warming soup.  It was delicious.

1 pound bag of green split peas

1 pound bag of yellow split peas

2 large  onion

4 quarts water

about pound of organic carrots, cut into smallish chunks

kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Rinse the peas.  Put in large saucepan.  Pour the water over.  Peel onions and then pierce with a fork, and place in pot whole.  Put sliced carrots in pot.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Simmer covered about 2 hours over low flame, adding your salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with thin egg noodles, matzoh balls, cooked Kosher hot dogs pieces, or just plain. 

I made my shrimp scampi with spaghetti last night for dinner for my son Danny, my mother Shirley, and for Danny’s friend Emily.  To go with it, I made a great salad with my lemon vinaigrette, and garlic bread.  Here is what I did for the garlic bread.

• 1 long Italian bread, cut in half horizontally
• about 1 stick of butter, softened, or what I used - about 4 oz. of Land o’Lakes canola butter spread
• about 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• about 2-3 tablespoons chopped finely or crushed fresh garlic

Spread softened butter or butter spread on both cut sides of bread.  Sprinkle garlic evenly over both.  Then sprinkle the chopped parsley over.  Rip off a large sheet of aluminum foil.  Place both halves of bread on sheet, side by side.  Wrap foil over and seal on top tightly.  Cook for about 20 min. at 375 or 400 degrees.  Then uncover and let cook another 5-10 min.  just to start browning around the edges.  Cut into pieces and serve.

My son Danny asked me to make sweet and sour meatballs, so I looked at a few different recipes, and then came up with this.  Both my boys really loved the meatballs, but I still like the texture more of meatballs made with beef.  I’m planning to make them this year for the Jewish Holidays, but I think I’ll use organic chopped meat instead of the turkey.  The sauce was delicious! I served them with baked stuffed potatoes, but they’d go well with mashed potatoes too.

Ingredients:

for the meatballs:

• two pounds ground beef, or ground turkey (I used Empire Kosher ground turkey)- (I’ll use 3 pounds of organic beef the next time I made them)
• 2 large or extra large eggs (3 eggs for 3 lbs. of beef or turkey)
• 1/3 cup ketchup (1/2 cup for 3 pounds of beef or turkey)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (1 1/2 teaspoons for 3 lbs.)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper (1 1/2 teaspoons for 3 lbs.)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (opt.) (I didn’t use when I used 3 lbs. of beef or turkey)
• about 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs (or matzoh meal for Passover) (one cup for 3 lbs. of beef or turkey)
• 4 oz. unsweetened apple sauce (I used this to give the turkey some moistness) (I used this same amount when I used 3 lbs. of beef)
• 1/2  onion, grated (didn’t use for beef)

Mix all ingredients together gently.  Dampen your hands and make into meatballs about 1 1/2  in. in diameter.   Set aside while you make the sauce.

for the sauce:

• one (14 oz.) can jellied cranberry sauce (2 cans for 3 pounds of beef or turkey)
• one (12 oz.) jar chili sauce (2 jars for 3 pounds of beef or turkey)
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar about 2/3 cup for 3 pounds of beef or turkey)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons lemon juice (2 T. for 3 pounds of beef or turkey)
• 1/2 small 3 oz. can tomato paste (the tomato paste cuts the sweetness and makes the sauce rich) (1 small can for 3 lbs. of beef or turkey)

In largish pot, put all above ingredients.  Stir over low flame until everything is dissolved.  Place meatballs in carefully.  Place over lowest flame, cover, and simmer for about 30-40 minutes without touching the meatballs.  When the meatballs are firm enough, stir very gently.  Cover and cook for about another hour, mixing gently every so often. 

You can serve immediately, refrigerate and heat up later, or freeze in freezer containers when it is cool enough. 

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1. Pour the whole jar of chili sauce into a 4 quart saucepan. Fill the chili sauce jar with water and add the water to the pan.
2. Add the can of cranberry sauce and cook over medium-low heat until the cranberry sauce melts.

Directions for Making the Meatballs:

1. While the sauce is cooking, mix the meat, egg, and onion together.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients (bread crumbs through black pepper) to the meat mixture and combine well.
3. After the cranberry sauce has melted, roll the meat mixture into walnut sized balls and gently drop into the sauce.
4. Cover the pan and cook the meatballs on medium low for one hour.

This recipe makes around twenty-four meatballs. Serve them with plenty of challah to soak up the delicious sauce.

Sources

Read more at Suite101: Sweet and Sour Cranberry Meatballs http://recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/sweet-and-sour-cranberry-meatballs#ixzz0wvMfRISf