The Kosher Home

Finding the perfect gift can become a real guessing game. Some people become overwhelmed with doubt, unsure whether the gift they choose will be appropriate and appreciated. Yet one thing that is always sure to please is a present made with a personal touch, chock-full of love. For the modern day foodie, the go-to DIY gift is, naturally, a gourmet treat.

And there is no better place to start than with homemade flavored olive oil, also known as infused oil. It is a quick yet sophisticated option to be
given out at various holidays and occasions: At dinner parties or birthdays, as housewarming gifts, or “just thinking of you.” You will be giving more than a fantastic kitchen staple that can be used for salads, sauces, garnishes and more; it will be a gift of your time, thought, and little bit of yourself too.

Anything goes really, just follow the basic guide in one of these recipes and use your favorite flavors.  To get you started try:

Infused Chili Oil

Basil and Garlic Oil

For more edible gift ideas for Father’s day click here.

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller (Bitayavon Summer 2012) – Subscribe Now

Create these simple bud vases in 4 simple steps!

Supplies:

Martha Stewart Glass Paint Opaque or Translucent (click to order)

Brush

Directions: 

Step 1 – Clean your bottles inside and out. Use Goof Off or water to take off the labels. Make sure your bottles are completely dry

Step 2 – Squirt a nice amount of paint into the bottom of your glass jar. Spread around all the sides of the glass with a brush until the inside of the bottle is completely covered with paint. Let it sit for 24 hours.

Step 3 – Bake the glass in an oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. You can put the glass directly on the oven rack. Let the glass cool down in the oven. DO NOT try to take it out before it cools. The glass will be VERY HOT.

Step 4 –  Add water to your vase and decorate with flowers!

I know you are thinking Summer and Crock Pot, those don’t go together.  Why not?  Our busy schedules haven’t changed and more than ever we want to be siting outside and relaxing not standing over a stove top cooking.  There are tons of recipes you can make in your crock pot that don’t have to be heavy and wintery, here are some that stand out.

Moroccan Chicken Stew

Chicken is kept light with Moroccan flavors in this stew that can is really a set it and forget it meal.  Serve over some couscous and it is really perfect any time of year.

Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry with Rice

I love Asian food in the Summer and this Vegetarian recipe will keep it spicy, drink a Thai Iced Tea alongside to keep you refreshed.

Slow Cooker Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken

Roast chicken never goes out of style, but keep you oven off and make it in the slow cooker, eat it for dinner and use leftovers for a chicken salad sandwich the next day.

Lemon Lamb Cholent

I know many people serve cholent all through the Summer, but I am not one of those people.  When I do feel in the mood for the ease of a one pot cholent meal in the Summer, this is what I make.  It is so flavorful, but kept a bit lighter with spinach and chickpeas and the lemony goodness, it is my favorite and gets rave reviews from all guests.

Mexican Black Bean Soup with Spiced Tortilla Chips

Mexican is always great in the Summer, serve up some fresh salsa and gucamole and it feels like a Summer Fiesta.  Whether you go with this Black Bean Soup or try a slow cooker chili you must serve a frozen margarita and enjoy your Summer.

Links to all the recipes in this article:

Main Image – White Bean Soup with Garlic Cornbread is tasty and delicious and adds that dose of greens that really livens it up.

Moroccan Chicken Stew

Vegetable Curry with Rice

Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken

Lemon Lamb Cholent

Black Bean Soup

We recently posted a recipe for Zucchini Spaghetti that really is best made using a Julienne Peeler.  This kind of peeler has little rivets on the blade that allow it to cut the food into long thin, even strips.  Sure you can use a regular peeler and then cut it, but to get perfect uniformity and do it in seconds you need one of these peelers.  You can do so much more with it too, cut up carrots or cucumbers for salads or for sushi rolls into thin julienne pieces. The only question now is which one to buy?

This Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler is really well made being entirely from stainless steel. It feels nice and solid in your hand and quickly creates the most perfect julienne vegetables every time.

Jamie doesn’t leave home without her OXO Julienne Peeler. Light weight and easy to pack, even in your make up case if necessary. With the comfortable rubberized handles everyone has come to love OXO, this peeler makes life easier.

Whichever one you choose, you must make this Zucchini Spaghetti.

Do you use a julienne peeler? Which one is your favorite?

As warm weather rolls around, I look forward to an abundance of rosy rhubarb in late spring, luscious berries in early-to-mid summer, and
heavenly stone fruit towards the end of the season.  When you can’t work fast enough to eat everything up, homemade jam is in order. To make things as simple as possible, I don’t rely on canning methods, use store-bought pectin, or keep my preserves in special jars. Instead, I focus
on basic pantry ingredients coupled with a simple stovetop method that turns the fruit into scrumptious jams which store beautifully in the freezer.

Instead of pectin, use corn starch, potato starch, or arrowroot powder diluted in a little water to thicken your cooked fruit.

Your jam will only be as good as the fruit you put into it. Over or underripened fruit won’t taste as good.

Try these recipes:

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Peach Jam with Blueberries

Now that you have them stocked in your freezer here are 10 Easy Ways to Use Summer in a Jar:

• Use instead of syrup for pancakes and waffles
• Drizzle on top of vanilla ice cream
• Spread onto toasted challah
• Mix into hot oatmeal
• Swirl with yogurt
• Spread on top of cheesecake
• Use as a filling for blintzes and crepes
• Before baking, add a dollop to muffin batter already ladled in the muffin cups
• Serve with pound cake and whipped cream
• Mix into batter for scones

How do use your extra jam?

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller (Summer 2012) – Subscribe Now.

What kind of equipment do you need to get started with BBQ Smoking? There are a number of choices available at your local hardware mega-store. Each has pros and cons, but with practice, they can all provide good results.

The offset, barrel smoker (under $200) offers versatility and a huge space for cooking. A fire is built in a separate chamber, outside of the main cooking area and the hot smoke passes across the food in the cooking chamber and out via a chimney. If you build a fire in the main cooking chamber, you can also use this smoker as a charcoal grill. This kind of smoker requires a lot of babysitting to produce good results.

Electric smokers ($300 and up) are
shunned by professional pit-masters, but are much more practical for home cooks. Load the chamber with food, add wood to the smoker tray and turn it on. Temperatures are kept constant by a thermostat. The only two downsides are the price, and needing an electrical socket where you cook.

Propane smokers (under $200) are similar to electric smokers. A smoker tray holds the wood that will provide smoke, but instead of an electric heater, a propane burner is used. You won’t need an electrical socket, but you’ll be trading it for a propane
tank. Also, you need to control the temperature manually.

Bullet smokers (from $40 to $400) are an interesting breed. A charcoal fire is built at the bottom of the smoker and wood chips are thrown on to generate smoke. A water pan rests between the fire and the food, to temper the heat and add moisture.

A plain old kettle grill (about $100) can also be used for smoking, but you get the smallest amount of cooking space. Lit coals are placed on one side of the cooking chamber and the food is placed on the other side. Wood chips are tossed on the coals periodically. This setup works best for foods that require less cooking time, since maintaining low temperatures for long periods of time can be difficult.

If all you have is a gas grill, all is not lost. Turn on the burners on only one side of the grill and place the food over the un-lit side. You can use a foil packet of wood chips placed over the lit burners to generate the smoke you need.

Regardless of what you use to smoke your food, temperature control is key for consistent results. If your smoker has a thermostat, just set it and forget it. There are digital thermometers that allow you to place a probe inside your smoking chamber to monitor the temperature – more expensive models have remote readouts, so you can monitor temperatures from indoors. Your smoker may come with a thermometer built into the hood, but these are rarely accurate.  When all else fails, poke a digital instant-read thermometer through a vent hole. Unless a recipe says otherwise, you’ll want to keep the temperature between 200° and 225° F. Adjustments to the air-inlet and vents will allow you to raise or lower the temperature – more air equals more heat, less air equals less heat. Don’t close the vents all the way or you will smother your fire.

To create the smoke that bathes your food, you’re going to need wood to burn. The same hardware stores where you buy a smoker will have a variety of choices.  The most common woods for smoking are hickory and mesquite, but apple, cherry and pecan are often available. Hickory is the best all-purpose wood. Mesquite has a very strong flavor and it’s very easy to over smoke your food with it, so I avoid it. The fruit woods are very nice for smoked poultry. Wood is available in either chunks or chips and the smoker manufacturer will suggest which one is best for your smoker.

NOTE: Don’t buy a smoker that uses wood pellets or pucks to generate smoke. They are made from sawdust held together with nonkosher
gelatin. Rather, use wood chips made from chopping large chunks of wood.  I’ve smoked burgers, chickens, whole turkeys, and ribs. I’ve even been known to smoke vegetables now and then – aioli made with smoke-roasted garlic is divine. Starting with easier recipes such as Beer Can Chicken, you can work your way up to the more involved recipes, such as Barbecued Brisket.

Good barbecue is a skill worth perfecting.

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine – (Bitayavon Summer 2012) – Subscribe Now.

Toss It!
Tired of cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives, and raw peppers?

Your bowl of Romaine is a blank canvas.

Keep a few different homemade dressings and some of these fun ingredients chopped up in the fridge for easy mixing-and-matching and a new salad every day.

• Sun dried tomatoes
• Supremed orange segments (learn how to cut citrus supremes here)
• Green olives
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Celery ribs
• Kohlrabi
• Avocado
• Sauteed mushrooms (add a little white wine while cooking)
• Cooked brown rice
• Corn kernels
• Carrots (pulsed once in food processor so they are still crunchy but easy to eat)
• Roasted peppers
• Roasted beets!
• Mango
• Grapes
• Craisins
• Jicama
• Peaches
• Asian Pears
• The Fun Stuff
• Croutons
• Candied Pecans (I love Diamond Pecan Pie Pecans)
• Slivered Almonds
• Sesame Seeds
• Crushed Taco Chips
• Pita Chips
• Feta Cheese
• Goat Cheese
• Chunks of Fresh Mozzarella

You’re never fully dressed without…a good emulsion. Shake these dressings up and keep them in your fridge and the lonely veggies in your produce drawer will always have something to wear.

Toasted Sesame Salad – I like the Orange Soy Vinaigrette served over Romaine, avocados, clementines or supremed citrus, and toasted sesame seeds.

Go South Salad – what pairs well with the hot flavors of the Creamy Sriracha Dressing? Romaine with raw or roasted peppers, sweet corn kernels, carrots, avocados, tortilla chips, baby corn, cucumbers, tomatoes—your pick! Or—add a protein and throw it all in a wrap, using the dressing both in the wrap and as a dip.

Caesar with a Punch – Use the Classic Caesar Dressing with Romaine, croutons, thinly sliced fennel, capers or cannellini beans, and sun-dried tomatoes. Add Parmesan cheese if you’re making yours dairy.

Roasted Beet and Mango Salad – Mix sweet roasted beets with Romaine, grapes, mangos, candied pecans, hearts of palm, and cucumbers, and toss with the Fruity Balsamic Dressing for a salad with a sweeter side. I like using golden beets so there’s less mess and no color bleeding.

Tomato and Arugula Salad – Toss sliced sweet summer grape or cherry tomatoes with arugula with the Green Goddess Dressing.

Mediterranean Fusion Salad – Toss the Lemon Basil Dressing with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese, slivered almonds, and fried eggplant for a salad that spans the sunniest sea.

All the dressing recipes can be found here:

Caesar Dressing

Green Goddess Dressing

Lemon Basil Dressing

Creamy Sriracha Dressing

Orange Soy Vinaigrette

Fruity Balsamic Dressing

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine – Summer 2013 – Subscribe Now

This Shavuot, have your kids brighten your walls with some flower power! Even the youngest ones will be able to get easy and beautiful results.  While you are cooking in the kitchen, keep the kids busy with this easy to do craft everyone can enjoy.

Materials you will need:

• Crayons
• Glue stick (glue will work too, but less mess with the glue stick)
• 1 sheet of colored paper, 8×10
• Scissors

Directions
1-Print the image above.  Then use crayons to color the attached template with fun patterns and colors. The first two petals are done for you, but try to come up with your own ideas for the others. (stars, hearts, squiggles, zig zags, swirls)

2- Carefully go around each petal with your scissors and cut the flower out of the paper.

3-Then, cut along the two straight lines and slice the flower into four sections.

4- Glue the flower pieces back together onto your colored sheet of construction paper. Leave spaces between each section to let the color show through.

5-Cut the flower out again from the construction paper, leaving a border of color as you cut.

6-Hang on the wall of your for Shavuot, and Chag Sameach!

Variation: If you are making these flowers with siblings, in step 3 have them trade flower sections with each other and recombine the pieces to make new and different flowers.

Have you ever dissected a tea bag? I did and found myself in a magical world of aromas, flavors and colors.

I remember a time when Starbucks sold crushed tea in paper pouches and my cup of tea was nice, but a total stranger to me. Those days fill me
with much nostalgia for many things passed…but as far as tea is concerned, I’d never go back. See, unlike kids growing up in, say, Southeast Asia, the only teas we had in the house were Celestial Seasoning’s Red Zinger and a couple bags of Lipton. Life was beautiful, but my beverages were a drag.  Through G-d’s kindness however, years later, a simple encounter would transform me from a naive paper tea bag consumer
to an enthralled and impassioned tea enthusiast.

It began as simply as walking into The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shop in Los Angeles and finding myself face-to-face with jars of brightly colored whole tea blends in stylish mesh sachets. I know you were expecting a more dramatic tale, but that’s the whole story.  I was hooked.

At first, it wasn’t so much about the taste as it was about the beauty of the spices and flowers. I brought the tea bags home, cut them open and sorted out the different ingredients. Cardamom pods, pink peppercorns, chamomile flowers, rose buds, lemongrass…ahhh, I felt like I’d walked from my simple kitchen into an exotic fragrant world. A new calling overwhelmed me: I must go out and make my own tea.

Almost as suddenly as I discovered tea, I discovered the myriads of Indian spice markets near my home. Who would have thought? Loose tea, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cardamom pods, cloves, dried ginger…all in abundance, inexpensive and around the corner from me. Other
ingredients like chamomile blossoms, lavender buds and lemon verbena, had to be tracked down at my local health market.
And thus, with the help of t-sacs and some boiling water, a hobby was born.

Apparently I’m a bit of tea late bloomer.  Boutique tea stores and companies that sell loose tea have been around for ages, but the trend of whole leaf blends in silky bags has just started gaining traction in our market. Today you don’t necessarily need to seek out boutique vendors for the experience–most tea companies already sell them. But there is still no more gratifying tea experience than buying the teas and spices and assembling them yourself!

All you need are 3 things:
1. Freshly boiled water
2. Teas/spices/blossoms/herbs/flowers of your choice
3. A t-sac, tea-ball, or just a strainer.

Tea assembly can be an intuitive process, but be careful not to overload your cup with spices. Start simple, see if it’s your taste and then continue with your adventure. (If all else fails, cut open your favorite tea bag and take notes on what they are doing right!)

Instructions: Use around 1 shot glass full of ingredients per 2 cups of water. Transfer ingredients to t-sac or t-ball. Place in cup. Add boiling water. Steeping time depends on desired intensity of flavor.

Here are some on my favorite blends:

Soothing Mint Tea

Mint is refreshing, but you knew that already. Try mixing it into a soothing floral blend.

• Lavender buds – Chamomile blossoms – Spearmint leaves
• Optional additions: White or Green tea – Coriander seeds

A Floral Blend

Sweet, tart, and fun, floral teas are not only fragrant but also beautiful to assemble.

• Rose petals -Chamomile blossoms -Lavender buds -Lemon verbena
• Optional additions:White or Green tea

Green Tea with Dried Ginger

Spicy Chai Tea Blend

Adding black pepper will give your tea an extra kick of flavor! This is a great recipe to experiment with. Make a latte by adding steamed milk
and some honey.

• Black tea (Assam or Darjeeling)*
• Cinnamon – Star anise – Cloves -Dried ginger -Cardamom pods – Pink peppercorns – Black pepper -Fennel seeds (optional)

*Use rooibos tea for a caffeine-free option.

Labeling your tea can turn into arts and crafts.  A little twine and wooden labels will go a lot way.

Tea Tips – There are many ways to store your tea blends. Using a tin box will keep the tea the freshest.  Use within a few weeks of purchasing. If
your spices lose their flavor, try grinding them a bit with a morter and pestle.

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine (Bitayavon Summer 2012) – Subscribe Now.

In this busy kitchen, nature meets modernity and functionality. The kitchen is this home’s central stage, and the modern yet cozy nature-inspired style make it the place everyone loves to be. Homeowner Leslie Chera and her husband Jackie love to entertain—so the three ovens are always busy. Leslie’s four young girls join her in the kitchen as she hosts cooking classes, and all the food prepared is donated to the needy.

Wall of Function
The refrigerator and freezer hide behind wood cabinetry on this wall. Other cabinets are fitted to store trays and platters.

Up and Down
These hydraulic Lucite bar stools move up and down, so Leslie’s four girls can climb up and help this Zumba queen mom cook healthy dishes.

Focal Point
We love these “bubble” chandeliers by designer George Kovacs.

A Study in Contrast
White and wood cabinets pair to effortlessly bring the modern and natural elements of the design together.

Pop It Open
There’s always bottles ready to share when the guests arrive.

The Purple Mood
Unique purple granite and the purple marbleized glass tile backsplash bring in nature with a twist. Purple and lavenders reappear throughout the home.

Who Needs a Red Carpet?
This slate floor runs from the front of the home, to the back, welcoming visitors inside.

Seamless Steel
Stainless steel drawers share a wall with the ovens and range so the appliances blend into the kitchen design.

Photo by Morris Antebi
Kitchen Design by Joyce Silverman
718-336-4386

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller (Summer 2012) – Subscribe Now.

Long, summer days are the perfect time to introduce colorful, fresh produce to young palates. Adding kid-friendly fruits like berries to nutritious greens like spinach and asking them to help prepare the vinaigrette makes it much more likely that they’ll gobble it down. Let them create a clever recipe title that includes their own name, like “Joshy’s Rainbow Salad,” so they’ll be more open to eating it.

This salad can be modified to your family’s tastes by switching the nuts for seeds or the cheese for chicken. The fantastic thing about salads is that kids can make the entire dish from start to finish since it doesn’t involve working with heat.

Strawberry Pecan Salad

Little ones can do everything from combining the ingredients in a bowl to whisking the dressing to sprinkling on the cheese and nuts.  Get the kids in the kitchen with you and make this delicious Strawberry Pecan Salad.

Have some more fun by making your own flavored Vinegars.  You can replace the balsamic vinegar in this Strawberry Salad recipe with your own flavors of vinegar. Use your favorite berries, or make savory varieties using garlic, basil, or other fresh herbs.

I’m not really one for playing favorites.  Not with my kids or my friends and definitely not with food.  I just can’t pick one thing that is really the best.  So this wasn’t an easy task, but I do remember the best cup of coffee I ever had.  It’s amazing how roasted beans and hot water can be life changing, but the combination made Howard Schultz a billionaire and changed the way most of us start (or get through) our day.  But this post isn’t about Starbucks.  It’s about a cup of coffee I enjoyed a while back at an upscale restaurant in NYC.

It was the first time I really fell in love with a cup of coffee.  It’s been a challenge ever since to recreate that moment and I have become an insufferable coffee snob.  Usually great coffee doesn’t need any additional flavor, or even milk or sugar.  I called the restaurant for their recipe as a surprise for my husband and they graciously shared their secret blend, including the source for their coffee beans and it was one of the best presents I ever gave my husband for his birthday.  It really is the perfect give for any coffee lover, just mix it all in, place in a jar and tie a note around it.

All you need is really, really good quality coffee, like an Ethiopian Yrgacheffe, that is light to medium roasted so you can enjoy the floral and citrus notes in the varietal rather than the overpowering qualities of darker, espresso roasts.  You will also need some high quality cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods.  Here is my recipe adapted from the restaurant’s version:

Spiced Ethiopian Coffee Blend

It’s Not Your Grandfather’s Salami Anymore

For most diners, there’s nothing new about charcuterie, but for kosher eaters in the United States, there is suddenly a whole new world. A revolution in artisanal meats was a logical extension of the explosion of interest in expanded kosher possibilities that brought us Camembert,
Gruyere, and sushi.

What is charcuterie?

It is a French word for preserved meats and meat products, or a butcher shop that makes it. Pronounce it shar-koo-tur-ee. Think of salami, hot dogs, beef jerky, and chopped liver, but super delicious. Kosher butchers in France, Germany, and South Africa have been making kosher charcuterie, sausages, and dried meats, well, forever. In fact, the practice of drying, curing, and smoking meats was a necessity in times before refrigeration.  It could be argued that the Israelites were among the first to document the pairing of meat, smoke, and salt.

Exodus: Chapter 29 describes the feast and burnt offerings following Moses’ descent from Har Sinai, and Leviticus 2:13 details the commandments of offering salt with the sacrifices. In fact, salt was so important that there was a Chamber of Salt in the courtyard of the Temple (Ezra 7:20).

Unlike the more familiar deli options of salami, pastrami, and corned beef which are cooked, charcuterie is air-dried and cured in a cool, enclosed environment with circulating air which causes the meat to dry out while enzymatic magic occurs, concentrating the flavors.
The Prime Grill restaurant in New York features a charcuterie platter on its menu, and its recently opened gourmet market, Prime Butcher Baker on the Upper East Side features an eye-popping (and, to be fair, wallet-busting) assortment of kosher delicacies including sauscison, beef bacon, pepperoni, lamb prosciutto, and pâtés of duck, veal, and beef. With prices up to $100 a pound, this adventurous home cook wondered if any of this could be reproduced at home.

We secured a session with the charming and young Executive Chef of The Prime Grill, David Kolotkin, a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, for a lesson in making bresaola which is air-dried beef, the perfect first project for a home chef to attempt. Made from a single piece of beef, there is little chance that spoilage can occur, apart from the normal white coating that develops on the outside of the bresaola during the drying process. This is called “bloom” and will be cut off before eating.

Unlike in sausage making, no nitrites are required for this recipe. What you will need is a place to hang the meat for the five weeks necessary for the process. A small refrigerator, such as the kind that students use in a dorm room, is the perfect solution. Add in a small battery operated fan for air circulation, and you are all set. A thermometer will come in handy also, as the temperature needs to be around 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

Get the complete recipe to make your own Bresaola from Chef David of Prime Grill here.

Serving ideas

A wooden board arrayed with cured sausages, meats, and pâtés is perfect for a picnic or any warm weather entertaining. A great assortment is
key, so try to procure a selection that includes a variety of different choices. Slices of a crusty French baguette, a few different mustards, the
tiny French pickles called cornichons, and olives are classic, but you can be creative and add hot pepper jelly, marinated artichoke hearts, hummus, and a small bunch of champagne grapes.

Prepare the charcuterie board in advance if you like, and keep it refrigerated until about half an hour before serving, and allow it to come
to room temperature for optimum taste and texture.

Don’t forget a great bottle of wine.

French ones like the Bordeaux from Chateau Le Petit Chaban and Chateau d’Arveyres, or the Côtes du Rhône from Domaine des 3 Cellier Chateauneuf du Pape will hit it out of the ballpark.

Not sure you want to make try making your own, but you want to give some of these delicacies ad try, here is our shopping guide for Kosher Charcuterie for local and nationwide stores. 

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine (Bitayavon – Summer 2012) – Get more articles like this delivered to your door when you Subscribe Now.

Creamy cashew cream, vanilla, and fresh tomatoes. Ever think you would hear that combination? Well if you are used to my website, I Want That For Dinner, you know I am very creative in the kitchen. If eating healthy and gluten free without creativity, life can taste very bland. I hope you are up to try something new tonight for dinner and follow this delicious recipe!

Bakto flavors were kind enough to send me delicious vanilla products for me to create dishes for my blog. Thankfully, the extremely fragrant ground Madagascar vanilla bean made its way into the package. I chose to make a recipe that was not a typical dessert with vanilla. I thought about savory dishes and realized tomato is considered a fruit, but eaten in a savory dishes. I then Googled adding vanilla bean to sauce, and hundreds of websites popped up… I wasn’t crazy after all! After reading many of the comments, the consensus was that vanilla added a warmth and flavor without the usual sweetness.  To finish my sauce, I chose to add a little spicy chili flakes and cream to balance all of the flavors together.

Have you ever made a cream out of cashews? It is SO simple and tastes like actual dairy, but is Pareve and vegan.  All you have to do is mix raw cashews with water and process for a few minutes in a good blender and there you have it, non dairy cream.

Follow the directions in my recipe for Cashew Cream and Tomato Sauce to make your cream sauce and mix it with my spicy tomato sauce to top your first Pasta after Passover.  Enjoy the return to chametz.

The recipes have been made and the delicious food consumed, so what do you do now with your left over Temp Tee containers??? Well craft them of course!!

This project is fantastic not only because it’s absolutely perfect, but because it takes an item that would normally be thrown in the garbage made purposeful again.

TEMP TEE Potted Kitchen Herb Garden

SUPPLIES:

Temp Tee Containers (empty)
Spray Paint – white and any other colors of your choosing

Rubber bands Optional

Box

Step 1:

Clean your Temp Tee containers and dry them completely.

Step 2:

Make a series of whole on the bottom of your container. This way the soil can breathe and the water can seep out of the container.

You will use the container for the soil and the top of the container as the base to capture the runoff water.

Step 3:

Take your box outside and turn it on its side. Place the container inside and spray paint it white, making sure to cover all the words and design on the container. Let it sit for 2 hours

Step 4:

Spray paint container your second color. You can see here that I chose to do 3 different containers. Let it sit another 2 hours.

Step 5: OPTIONAL

If you want to do a striped design then place rubber bands around your container and spray paint on top of them. Let that sit and dry and then pull of the rubber bands. You will get this very neat striped affect.

Step 6:

Once your containers are dry, you are ready to add soil and add your herb plants. These Temp Tee containers are small enough to sit on your kitchen windowsill making these the perfect herb planters.

We would love to hear from you and see the beautiful herb containers that you make! Please send in your photographs to info@joyfkosher.com and you may be featured on the Joy of Kosher website.

Happy Crafting!

Till Next Time!