Guest Recipe: Grandma Rose’s Hamantashen
Thanks to Norma for sending in this recipe. Purim, the Jewish holiday celebrated this Saturday evening through evening. Hamantashen are meant to remind us of the three-cornered hat supposedly worn by Haman, the villain in the biblical book of Esther that will be read in the synagogue.
Hamantashen are made from any kind of rollable cookie dough. Cut the dough into circles, then fill and pinch into a triangle shape so the filling shows through on top.
This Hamentaschen recipe comes from Grandma Rose. The cookie is based on a classic sour cream cookie— light and airy. It’s one of the few Hamentaschen recipes where you actually enjoy eating the cookie that surrounds the filling! I sometimes make the cookie dough and leave the rounds plain.
Sofrito and Shepherd’s Pie: Interview with Yonit:
Please welcome reader Yonit van de Metz of Collecting Hats for today’s interview.
Name, location, family: Yonit de Metz, Philadelphia, wife and work-at-home mom to two toddlers and lots of houseplants.
What do you remember about family meals when you were growing up? What was your mother’s cooking style?
I have realized recently how diverse my mom’s cooking style is. Besides the traditional Jewish foods she brought from her own family she learned to cook Puerto Rican food from my grandmother and aunt. She also made Italian, Chinese, American, Mexican, and all kinds of different things. We have been known to have Thanksgiving meals with kugel, matzo ball soup, arroz y gondules, Turkey, enchiladas, and flan next to the traditional pumpkin & apple pies.
When Using Up Leftovers Is a Waste of Resources
Tesyaa left this comment on Why You Should Eat Everything on Your Plate:
Another thing about waste – quite often I’ve tried to avoid waste by making, say, a banana bread with overripe bananas, or using up rice in some other type of dish. Those items use energy to cook, and use other ingredients. If there is no real need for banana bread, making it to use up old bananas just wastes oil, eggs, sugar, & flour.
To me, avoiding foood “waste” is only helpful if it frees up other food items. If not, it’s not doing anyone any good.
I’m not sure what you mean when you write “there is no real need for banana bread.”
Red Snapper with Lemon and Dill
Wednesday is Recipe Day at CookingManager.Com.
Yesterday I went for a walk to our local shuk (open air market).
I wasn’t in the mood to cook, so when I passed the fish stand I knew that’s what I would get. Fresh fish is so easy to make, and the red snapper cost only $5 for three medium-sized fish.
Brightening a Bleak Culinary Landscape: Interview with Robin
Name, location, family, website
Robin, Central Israel, work-at-home mom of 2
Personal blog: http://aroundtheisland.blogspot.com/
Photography blog: http://aroundtheislandphotography.com/
What do you remember about family meals when you were growing up? What was your mother’s cooking style?
We always ate dinner as a family. Meals were very “American” – a meat, a vegetable or two, usually half a grapefruit or a slice of melon as an appetizer. The style for weekday meals was casual, with an emphasis on quick and easy. More elaborate meals were saved for weekends or company (but only tried and true – my mother never tried a new dish when company was coming. Still doesn’t for that matter.)
How is your cooking style different from your mother’s? We tend to favor much more ethnic cooking – Thai food is my “what to cook when there’s nothing to cook” staple, but I’m just as likely to throw together enchiladas or a vegetarian curry or a sauce for my husband’s homemade pasta. I tend to favor a lot of “Moosewood” style dishes and one-bowl with everything in it meals while my husband is all about dough – he bakes all our bread, keeps us well stocked with homemade pasta, anything as long as it involves dough. It’s a hobby and a stress reliever for him.
Why You Should Finish Everything on Your Plate
“Finish everything on your plate!” That mantra from Mom has gone out with the leftover corn flakes. Over the years we’ve learned that forcing children to eat can lead to eating disorders.
But Mom had a good reason. By the time it gets to your plate food that has been grown, watered, picked, transported, processed, packaged, stored and cooked. Whenever we throw out food, we also waste a portion of the resources that went into getting it onto our plates.
And I don’t need to remind anyone that wasting food costs your family money. If only one person in the family leaves just half a teaspoon of oatmeal each day, you’ll throw out more than 11 cups over the course of a year.
But there is yet another reason to scrape that last bit of food off your plate.
Links on Obesity, Packaging Waste and Poverty With Friday Roundup #27
I’ve collected a few food-related links to share with you.
We tend to think that since food is biodegradable, we don’t have to worry about throwing it out. At Wasted Food, Jonathan explains why food waste is worse for the environment than disposable packaging: When Packaging Helps.
At one of my favorite cooking blogs, Cheap Healthy Good, explains Why Healthy Eating Doesn’t Have to be Expensive.
Vered at Blogger for Hire gets attacked when she wonders about a fat girl in an ice cream parlor: Fat Acceptance. Check out the discussion in the comments about the reasons for obesity. To read about my mother’s methods for raising slim children, see Individual Portions or Family Style and Putting Food in Perspective. Our society puts too much emphasis on dieting and not enough on preventing obesity in the first place.
Parenting Squad writes on whether Michele Obama’s comments about her daughter’s BMI were embarrassing to her daughter.
Winter Kohlrabi Salad
In the winter, root vegetables make a great base for a salad. You can use kohlrabi the same way you cabbage in cole slaw. Most coleslaw dressing will work for kohlrabi as well.
Peel the kohlrabi with a paring knife or peeler. The peel can be tough, especially the stem and root ends. For the rest, just remove the smooth outer layer and any bruises. The green layer under the skin is edible, as well as the white center.
I hope you enjoy this simple salad, made in the food processor.
Winter Kohlrabi Salad
Interview with Kate: Maple-Ginger Butternut Squash Soup
Please welcome reader Kate for today’s interview and recipe.
1. Name, Family, Location, Website. Kate, One Tired Ema, Modi’in, Israel. Married with a daughter (5.5) and a son (3.5).
2. Describe family meals and your mother’s cooking style. My mom cooked really great, homey food. Nothing terribly fancy or restaurant quality, but I don’t remember complaining much. My stepfather was on a very low-sodium diet long before it was trendy, and my mom adapted to cooking without salt by using interesting spices and herbs.
Twenty Tips to Avoid Soup Powder or Canned Broth
It’s funny to be writing a post about substitutes for soup powder or canned broth. Soup powder was invented as a shortcut to making soup the good old-fashioned way. With apologies to my vegetarian readers, the best soup is made by simmering bones or meat in water for a good long time.
Why not use powder or cans? Processed soup may contain monosodium glutumate, starches, artificial flavors and preservatives and excessive amounts of salt. Monosodium glutumate adds flavor but gives some people stomach problems. And while we do need starch and sodium in our diet, it’s better to have control over how much and in what form.
Soup powder is meant to add flavor and texture. But we can do that with simple foods that we have at home. Try one of two of these techniques the next time you make soup. Adjust flavors along the way, write down your successes, and soon you will find yourself making great soup from scratch.
