Kosher Tips

Jewish life is rife with traditions which shape so much of our culture. I often find inspiration in these traditions and weave them into meals for friends and family. On occasion, inspiration comes from unexpected places, as is the case with my Kentucky Derby Shabbat lunch- now a long-standing tradition in my family.

Charred Asparagus

At the Kentucky Derby race, there are many customs that play a large role in the Derby atmosphere. Onlookers drink Mint Juleps from frosty silver cups and eat Burgoo, a thick, cholent-like stew of beef, chicken and vegetables. Derby-goers dress to the nines: Women wear fashionable dresses accessorized with large, elaborate hats as the men wear seersucker suits and bowties. At my party, I ask my guests to come dressed for the occasion, which gets very exciting (and lots of looks at Shul)!  The Derby is frequently referred to as “The Run for the Roses,” so the centerpiece is always a lush bouquet of stunning red roses.

The actual Kentucky Derby race only lasts about 2 minutes. For me the greatest part of the race is the meal, which-thankfully- lasts much longer…

Below is my Kentucky Derby Shabbat Menu, even if you just have Mint Juleps  you can start a new tradition of your own.  I have linked to many of my recipes as well as some from others on this site.

Tomato Salad

I love to see a bountiful table filled with delicious foods and vivid colors, it goes back to my belief that we eat with our eyes before we eat with our mouths. Try to ensure that your menu has green, red and yellow hues by serving brightly colored dishes along with the traditional meat, don’t miss my favorites, Charred Asparagus and Heirloom Tomato Salad.

Kentucky Derby Menu

Mint Juleps
Iced Sweet Tea
Tea Sandwiches
Deviled Eggs
Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Aioli
Iceberg Wedge Salad
Derby Braised Ribs
Burgoo
Jalapeno Corn bread
Tomato Salad
Charred Asparagus
Strawberry Shortcake
Bread Pudding with Chocolate Bourbon Sauce

With Passover just behind us, we can relax and enjoy the easier pace of spring and summer. The days are getting longer, a fact we notice most on Shabbat. Whereas the end of the Sabbath once arrived while we were still groggy from our naps and surfeited from second meal, we now find we can’t make it to sundown without some stirrings of hunger.  That’s where third meal comes in.

Not the heavy, meat-laden, many-coursed repasts we enjoy at first and second meals, third meal is a lighter, more casual affair. There is the obligatory challoh, but we can now accompany the bread with simple cold salads based on vegetables, grains, eggs, or fish. The long gap between second and third meals means we may also be past the maximum 6-hour wait between meat and milk and can have a dairy meal, if we like.

Hot weather makes my thoughts turn to the regional foods of warmer climes like Provence, Sicily, or Turkey. A little chili spice, the acid spark of vinegar or tomatoes, and the smokiness of grilled vegetables helps soothe jaded palates as the weather wears on, growing hotter by the day. You can toss something together just before the meal, or if you’re like me, you can make it all ahead on Friday so there’s nothing to do on Shabbat but relax and enjoy the meal. I like to take the salads out of the fridge about 45 minutes before the meal to take a bit of the chill off them. This helps to develop the flavors.

Roasted Pepper Salad

This brightly-colored Provencal dish calls for just five ingredients. Use best quality olive oil and feel free to dip your challah in the delicious juices left on the plate. Serve with flaked tuna dressed with more of that good olive oil and brightened with a healthy spritz of lemon juice and some cracked black pepper.

Insalata Di Patate e Fagiolini

A bit labor intensive, the flavors of this Italian-style potato salad are so addictive, you won’t mind the extra work. Give the salad plenty of time to come to room temperature before serving.

Batrik - Tomato Bulgur Salad

When it’s too hot to cook, make this no-cook Turkish tomato bulgur salad. Your kitchen stays cool and you get to eat this delicious salad.

Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Potato Green Bean Salad

Tomato Bulgur Salad

The secret to a moist cake:

• Cover cake immediately after taking out of oven and cake will become soft and moist on top.
• Use a sifter to enhance the fluffiness and texture of cakes and cookies.

Baking tips:

• Parchment paper is the secret to making baked products that will not get stuck to the pan.
• A cooling rack helps cookies cool down evenly thus providing a better tasting product.
• Spray the top of the muffin tray before baking to allow muffins to slide out easily and prevent muffin tops from sticking to tray.

Soup tips:

• Cheesecloths are a great way to make a clear, flavorful soup.  Place vegetables in cheesecloth, tie and place in soup.
• Beets add a golden color to the soup.

Lemon tips:

• The best way to get juice out of a lemon is to roll the lemon on countertop with palm of hands.  After rolling lemon, slice and squeeze.

Salad Dressing:

• When dressing salads, place all ingredients for salad dressing in a covered plastic container and mix vigorously.

Leftover risotto:

• Leftover risotto can be made into arancini di riso which is fried rissoto balls. when risotto is cold, form the risotto into small balls and stuff with a piece of mozzerella.   Coat with beaten egg, panko bread crumbs and deep fry.   Serve with tomato sauce and grated parmesan cheese.  (or try this meat version of arancini if you had a pareve or meat risotto)

Smelly hands:

• Wash your hands with a few spoonfuls of mouthwash to cleanse hands of garlic, onion or other strong odors.

Cooking like a pro every time:

• Read the recipe completely before starting so cooking will be a breeze!
• Prepare as many ingredients as you can before beginning a recipe.  This minimizes clean up time and helps you cook more efficiently.
•  Use the freshest and highest quality ingredients you can find to amp up the flavor of your dish.  There is no way to substitute the taste of fresh garlic, fresh lemon juice, freshly ground pepper or high quality olive oil.
• When baking make sure to use exact measurements for flour, eggs, oil, baking powder/soda.   A little less flour or baking powder will impact your end product.  However, nuts, fruits and chocolate can be added to your liking and taste.

If you missed my last set of tips, see Shifra’s Cooking Tips and get more tips from me with every issue of Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller – 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.

How many people have cooked for years or are newly married but really never learned the secrets of cooking and not getting frazzled or despondent when a recipe doesn’t turn out like it says in the book.

Cookbook recipes are only a guideline.

But cooking is always from the heart giving you the ability to play and experiment.

In the months to come I will be giving you the tricks of how to cook learning all the tricks and secrets of the trade.

Today I will teach you How to Cook Finger Licking Chicken.

Chicken has always been one of my favourite foods and is always on our table on Shabbos.

Regardless of the time of year, there’s always a great way to cook chicken. Chicken on the barbecue, skewered, marinated in teriyaki sauce for the summer. And that first roast chicken in the fall – with mashed potatoes, peas, and carrots – always feels like an extra special treat.

But… you need to know how to cook chicken if you want it to be delicious.

Knowledge… It’s the difference between ending up with burnt, dry chicken, and ending up with a perfectly seared, juicy chicken breast.

And hey! It’s a lot more fun to spend time in the kitchen when you know you’ll end up with a fantastic meal.

How to cook Chicken

There’s a lot to know about cooking chicken. How to prepare baked chicken breasts, barbecued chicken wings, whole roasted chicken. How to fry chicken, how to braise it, how to grill it. There are endless possibilities.

Not sure what the best way to cook a particular piece of chicken is?

So….Let’s get started on the basic way of roasting a chicken to perfection.

Roasting a chicken well is actually a very simply task and here is my recipe for a  Simple Market Roasted Chicken. 

“Worries go down better with soup than without.” (A Jewish proverb)

I love winter’s crisp-cold air and the way the sunlight casts shadows. I enjoy the long dark nights and I especially love to cook during the winter months. I hunker down in my kitchens and bring long cooked soups and stews together with aromatic herbs, dried mushrooms and root vegetables

I notice my customer’s habits changing as well. Suddenly everyone is actually hungry. Summers dainty and delicate appetites are replaced with something a bit heartier. I really look forward to soups, making them and eating them. They remind me of my favorite sweater taken out from summer storage, cozy and familiar, like an old friend.

I teach cooking classes all over the country and am often asked how to make the perfect  broth and stock.

Here are some definitions.

Stock-is a liquid base from which soups and sauces are made. Stock is made by simmering bones and sometimes meat with mirepoix (aromatic vegetables) and herbs and spices.

Broth-is an already flavored stock or water with vegetables and sometimes starch added to make it more substantial. Many prepared stocks contain flavor enhancers.

Bouillon-In French means broth, it is broth simmered with vegetables, herbs, and sometimes meat or poultry.

Bouillon cubes- are made by dehydrating vegetables, meat stock, a small portion of fat, salt, and seasonings and shaping them into a small cube. Dehydrated broth is also available in granular form. Bouillon cubes are convenient but have little nutritive value since they mostly contain flavor enhancers from monosodium glutamate or yeast extract.

Stock is the backbone of every delicious soup. Sure, you can make a soup with water or canned broth, but you will not have the richness of flavor and mouth feel. As a professional chef and mother of three, I like to make my own stocks not only for reasons of attaining superior flavor, but also I like to know what exactly is in my soup. Every ingredient in the soup is in my control and I know that when I serve my family and clients, I am giving them a delicious and nutritious gift from my heart.

I make soup with a technique called Ad Hoc cooking. It means “for this.” What I mean by ad hoc is that I start out with the intent to make a great soup. Each ingredient is thought out and has a purpose. Many people make stock with “a little of this and a little of that” mentality. While you will end with stock, it will not have a defined flavor and texture. I tell my staff that stock should be made just as carefully as a sauce or braised dish. That means technique as well as love goes into the pot! I do not throw leftovers into a pot hoping for a great end-product. I start with carefully chosen ingredients and then add some touches usually in the form of garnishes.

So here you are my three favorite stock recipes. All should be kept in your freezer ready to go at all times to enhance everything you make.

Vegetable Stock

Veal Stock

Chicken Stock

Fish Stock

When cooking with wine, don’t use that bottle of cooking wine you’ve grabbed from the supermarket shelf. Use a wine you would drink, not the most expensive wines, but an enjoyable cheaper one.  And don’t worry about serving wine-infused desserts to non-drinking guests. The alcohol content disappears when wine is cooked, leaving only the concentrated flavor.

To use wine as a sauce, make a wine reduction, turning a glass into a delicious, thick syrup. Use a frying pan instead of a saucepan when reducing wine—it will go quicker if there is more surface area. And be patient!

Here is how to make a Wine Reduction

• ½ cup wine
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar

In a frying pan over medium heat, combine the wine and agave nectar.  Bring to a simmer and cook until the liquid is reduced to about half the quantity, and is thick and syrupy.

What to do with your wine reduction?

• Add a few tablespoons of red to your favorite chocolate truffle recipe for red wine truffles
• Add berries to your reduction and spoon the mixture into crepes
• Use a red reduction to top panna cotta
• Use it as a dressing on fruit salad

What else do you like to do with a wine reduction, share your tips below.

As seen in the Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine Purim 2012 – Subscribe Now.

1. Start With Delicious Liquid

• Soups are mostly water, but it’s often disguised as broth or stock, wine, milk or cream.
• The vast majority of the time, the liquid in soup is stock or broth.
• When adding wine to soups, add the wine after you have sweated off the vegetables.
• Be sure to bring it to a boil and let it cook for at least 10 minutes to cook off the harshest of the alcohol.
• For cream- or milk-based soups, use fresh dairy products.

2. Sweat the Roots Man!

Aromatics include onions, leeks, garlic, and often celery and carrots.  Cooking them over low to medium heat in the pan before adding any liquid will help soften their texture and blend their flavors. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft but not browning, about 5 minutes.  The goal is to break down their cellulose (making them easier to eat or purée later) and get them to give off some of their liquid, which will deepen the flavor of the soup.

Peel and chop onions as uniformly as you can so they cook evenly.

3. Use the Right Tools

Technically all you need is a heat-proof vessel and heat, but if you want to make soups that shine a large and heavy pot, a powerful blender or immersion blender is going to work wonders.

4. Salt in Stages

Canned and prepared soups are known to be high in sodium. There’s a reason: all that water takes a lot of salt to flavor! The difference between soul-satisfying homemade soup and “why did I bother?” homemade soup is often in the salt. Cooks, afraid of over-salting, create pots of soup just a teaspoon or two shy of proper seasoning.

Salt soups as chefs do: in layers. Add some salt to the aromatics and other vegetables as you cook them. If you’re cooking the meat separately, make sure it is well seasoned before it goes into the pot. And, most importantly, taste it before serving and add salt until you taste a hike-up in flavor, then stop.

5. Make your soups look Alive!!

You’ve used great ingredients. You’ve cooked and salted them properly. How to make the most of it all before it hits the table? Add a bit of something fresh right at the end. Fresh herbs, fresh citrus juice, a dollop or two of cream or yogurt. A hit of something un-cooked and un-simmered will highlight the deep, delicious, melded flavors in the rest of the soup.

6. Garnish like a Chef

Go beyond chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper (although they both make great garnishes for many soups!). Chefs know that the best soup garnishes offer a contrasting flavor or texture to both compliment and highlight the soup.

• Crunchy on smooth (small croutons or crackers on a silky leek soup)
• Smooth on chunky (sour cream on borscht)
• Bitter on savory (herbs or black pepper on lentil soup or almost anything!)
• Salty on sweet (diced crisped pastrami on sweet potato carrot soup)

For Parmesan to top a salad:
Peel the parmesan cheese lengthwise, using a vegetable peeler to get long strips of parmesan cheese to top off the salad.

Make your own croutons:
Slice leftover bread into desired size croutons. In a nonstick pan, heat about ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil and toast the bread in the pan until it becomes crunchy, about three minutes. Add salt, pepper, other spices and herbs such as garlic, rosemary, or basil. Alternatively, preheat oven to 450o, drizzle olive oil and spices of choice over cubes of bread and toast for about ten minutes, making sure not to burn bread.

How to select cauliflower:
Select cauliflower that is firm and tightly packed and make sure that the heads are purely white with no brown spots.

For Pickling:
Use nonreactive pots (stainless steel, enameled pots, cast iron) when making pickling liquid, reactive pots (aluminum and uncoated iron) will leave an unpleasant taste.

Leftovers Meatloaf:
That is if you have any leftovers!  Leftover meatloaf makes a wonderful sandwich – cold, sliced thinly with some mustard. If you like it hot, use a flat, stovetop griddle, lightly sprayed, and heat slices on both sides.

Lemon verbena:
This herb has bright green delicate leaves that produces a strong lemon flavor and aroma. Lemon verbena can be added to teas, salads, sorbets and as a flavoring to jams, stews and more.

Fire Roasted Tomatoes:
Fire roasted tomatoes have a smokey flavor that adds a lot of depth to many dishes. Use it in marinara sauces, roasts, and barbecue sauces to
uplift traditional sauces calling for tomatoes. It is easy to find in any large supermarket. Hunt’s makes an all natural fire roasted tomatoes, with no added smoke flavor; simply authentic tomatoes that were slowly roasted over an open fire. To roast your own tomatoes; slice tomatoes in half, brush with olive oil and place on medium heat on an open grill. once tomatoes are blackened in spots (about 5-8 minutes) place in bowl and wrap in plastic wrap.  Remove peel and dice tomatoes when ready to use.

Making Pastry Crust:
For that melt-in-your mouth crust, the margarine and water must be ice cold.  If I am also making a large chicken pot pie I normally put crust on the bottom of the pie as well as on the top.

Powdered Sugar Topping:
Put the confectioners’ sugar into a hand sifter and sprinkle it on top of the treats.

Cooking a roast in a transparent cooking bag must be one of the most effective ways of keeping a roast moist without compromising on it’s golden brown look. And, once the roast is cooked you can make the most wonderful gravy from the juices left in the bag! What could be easier than placing a piece of meat with all your favourite herbs and spices into a sealed bag to cook? The convenience of not having to scrub the roasting pan once it is cooked! A double delight, a wonderful tasty, moist roast with no mess.

Bronzed Bag of Beef

Once you’ve followed your recipe and sealed the bag, place it into a roasting pan.  Place your pan in the oven on the middle shelf (or even one level lower) remembering that the bag will puff up from the steam and you don’t want it to melt on the element above. When you open the cooking bag, a large amount of hot steam will escape. Make sure you are not leaning over the bag as you open it as it may burn you.

Here are two of my favorite recipes for cooking meat in a bag.

Stuffed Roll of Beef

Bronzed Bag of Beef

The holidays are wonderful. And they can be very stressful. Suddenly there are so many more expenses than the month before! For a family on a tight budget, that can be very tough. One of the keys to living frugally is sticking to a budget, and holiday expenses can make that very, very difficult. But careful planning makes it possible.

Holidays don’t come as a surprise. If we plan and budget for them, we can still save money AND have a  festive celebration.

Here are a few tips for celebrating without going over budget:

1. Become a really price sensitive shopper. Don’t buy sweet potatoes (an example) for your holiday meal if they are suddenly priced through the roof (This really does happen here in Israel. Sweet potatoes will be 3 shekels/kg sometimes, and at others, nearly 20 shekels/kg.). It doesn’t matter if you always served sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving. If the price is not right, substitute something else. (Or maybe you were really truly awesome and you planned in advance and bought them when they were really affordable, and prepared your holiday sweet potato dish and it’s already waiting in the freezer! If that’s you, you are THE BEST!)

2. Since you know there’s a holiday looming, look for extra ways to spend a bit less each week on consumables and food than you would normally, for a month or so beforehand. I have no problem serving chicken wings for Shabbat meals, purchased on sale, for a few weeks, so that the bigger expense of the holiday meal doesn’t overwhelm me.

3. Save oven time – prep a whole bunch of foods, and only put them in the oven when there is enough to fill the oven. It truly saves energy. I know, Israeli ovens are small. Mine has three racks though, and if I plan carefully, I can fit a lot in (round baking pans, however, are not conducive to saving space. I rarely use them anymore, rectangular pans fit a lot better).

4. Make ordinary foods seem festive by making a slight change. Add a small amount of dried cranberries to your cornbread, or change the spices you use for roasted potatoes. Roast some peppers to jazz up an otherwise ordinary salad… make inexpensive chicken with an exotic recipe… the possibilities go on and on. (My cornbread recipe below uses about 3 shekels ($0.75) worth of dried cranberries, so it’s not an over-the-top addition.)

Festive Cornbread with Cranberries (eggless)

5. Consider eggless baking. I use ground flaxseed as an egg substitute, and I’ve discovered that not only are there some great health benefits, it also costs me less to use flaxseed than eggs.

The big to do after Thanksgiving is all about the leftovers.  You either love em or hate em.  Some people pile all the traditional thanksgiving grub into a big sandwich.  Some can’t look at it again and just start the cooking from scratch for a nice Shabbat dinner, but those people are crazy!  Let’s use those leftovers.  Here’s how.

Leftover Turkey Chili with Loaded Corn Muffins

Jamie twists things up with Mexican take on a turkey chili.  Really, who can resist this creative use of leftover turkey.

Click through for 18 ways to creatively use your Thanksgiving leftovers for a Shabbat feast.  You will love these tips and tricks from Felissa Billet, she shows you more than just how to change up the turkey.

Leftover Turkey Shawarma

You can always go Israeli like our friend Yosef who turns his turkey leftovers into a shawarma.  Top with some Techina and chopped salad and enjoy.

Main image – Orzo with Chicken, Dill, and Chickpeas – just sub in the cooked turkey and you got a winner.

What do you do with Thanksgiving leftovers?

I always feel a little glum on the day we switch the thermostat from air conditioning to heat. It means we’re bracing for winter and cold weather, heavy clothing and darkness by 4:00. There’s a smell too as the oil burner turns over for the first time to send hot air through the house.

But after a day or so I remember the bright side. First, I live in New England where the foliage is so glorious that people from everywhere drive up to take a look. So outside my window the view is entrancing.

And there’s the food. After months of light salads and grilled everything my family and I long for the warm, nourishing, rib-sticking dishes that give us comfort when the weather turns fierce.

Like braised meat, perfuming the house as it cooks, enticing us to eat and enjoy a meal with family safe inside. Braised meat is fork-tender and glossy with gravy. It’s my bulwark for the new season.

Braised Short Ribs

Braising has an added make-it-ahead virtue. On Sunday I sometimes cook up a storm, make lots of food and pack it into containers that I can freeze and then take out as needed. Like for during the week when I don’t get home until dinnertime, and the thought of preparing an entire meal is beyond me. As an accompaniment to something I’ve braised I can fix a quick veggie like sautéed spinach or kale and maybe a side order of rice or noodles.

Most Jewish women already know how to braise. We’ve seen our mothers and grandmothers make brisket, haven’t we? And we’ve cooked it too, probably.

But my husband and kids and I have always liked more variety. And so do my brother Jeff and sister-in-law Eileen, who live nearby. We see each other frequently for dinner at one or another’s house during the week. So, when cool weather comes, and I cook lamb and veal shanks, chuck, short ribs and coq au vin, everyone is happy.

Braising is one of the easiest techniques and the recipes are wonderfully forgiving. It’s basically this: brown meat in a pan, add some liquid and seasonings, put a cover on top and slow-cook the dish on the cook top or in the oven until it’s tender.

Really, that’s all there is to it. It’s the same whatever cut you choose. Use a heavy pan, add some vegetable oil and brown the meat. You can flour it first if you like a darker look (flour also thickens the sauce a bit). The only caution is to not crowd the pan. Brown the pieces a few at a time.

Osso Bucco

The liquids? That depends on what you like and what you have. Wine, stock, juice, cider, even water will do. You can add a bit of brandy if you like.

Seasonings also depend on your personal tastes. Fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, savory, etc.) or dried. Once in a while I make a braised dish that includes dried fruit, so I add so-called “baking” spices: cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and so on.

Most of the time I include vegetables. Not only do they give the dish more flavor, they add color too, and some, like tomatoes, onions, celery and mushrooms, add moisture.

Kosher meat cuts are ideal for braising. Shank, short rib, chuck, lamb breast, veal breast all cook to tenderness and taste perfection when you cook them slowly. Over the years I have learned that that means VERY slowly. I’ve seen that many recipes will tell you that 350 degrees is best, cooked for an hour or two (or the comparable heat on the cook top). But I always let the dish take more time, with 225 degrees as my guide. Yes, you have to wait longer, but the results are more than worth it.

I very sadly threw out a whole stalk of celery last week. It was a completely wasted purchase. Frankly, I had forgotten about it, and it had gotten buried in the vegetable drawer under some squashes. When I found it, it wasn’t salvageable.

Do you sometimes throw out vegetables, too? Or maybe fruit? At times, I’ve bought gorgeous fruit, only to find it later, after it had grown fuzzy because I had forgotten about it. Statistics show that I am not alone (According to the EPA, in 2010, about 34 million pounds of food was thrown out in the United States!).

I’ve been trying to cut back on food waste, and regularly go through the fridge. I still may not use every fruit while it is perfect, but I have become pretty good at finding ways to use the less-than-perfect produce I sometimes find in the fridge.

When I have fruit (and even some vegetables) that’s past its prime, but not spoiled yet, I try very hard to turn them into something delicious. You know the kind: the ones that are a little wrinkled, or have a couple of bruised spots (just enough that the kids look at them and shake their heads)… Instead of letting them rot, I have begun to bake muffins! (Lots of muffins.) Just remove the bruised spots before you get started. (I even mix them up. One of my kids’ favorites was the time I mixed mashed ripe bananas with mashed ripe plum. Oddly, they insisted there was honey in those muffins!)

Any Kind of Muffin
Some other ideas for past prime produce (please, cut away any obviously not-good parts before you make these recipes):

• Roasted Vegetable Gazpacho
• Apple Kugel
• Streusel-Topped Sweet Potato Muffins

With Yom Tov upon us, it’s important to review all the FREEZER TRICKS I share in my cookbook and at my Tupperware Freezer Class demonstrations.  I often give out a sheet like this at my demos, called ‘The Deep Freeze” with many freezer tips and tidbits. Bookmark and save these for future reference!

1- Always leave ¼” – ½” at the top of the container to allow for food expansion.
2- Never “burp” before freezing Tupperware freezer containers – seals will pop off quicker when food expands due to reduced air space.
3- Your freezer runs much more efficiently if packed full – (check previous month’s tips).
4- Save money by buying in bulk and flash freezing vegetables and meats – pull out only the number of pieces of amount that you need.
5- Add cornstarch to shredded cheese and then freeze – cheese will not freeze together.
6- Put coffee in freezer in Tupperware and it will not freeze solid and retains the natural oils in the bean which make for a better cup of coffee. One pound of coffee will brew 40 to 50 cups.
7- Use (Tupperware) Jelring for homemade ice cream cakes (layer whatever you please – try adding flavored liqueurs….!)
8- Use (Tupperware) Ice Tups for baby’s boo boos and teething; and don’t forget frozen pops for yourself!
9- More ice crystals form on cheaper brands of ice cream, therefore buy the best!
10- When you remove a Tupperware container from the freezer, wipe the inside of the seal before replacing the container – air temperature change will cause condensation that will drop back onto food causing ice crystals.
11- Always let food cool down before sealing and placing in freezer – because the steam will form condensation which will drop down onto your food and form ice crystals.
12- Make freezer jams and put into 12 oz. tumblers – no cooking or processing needed and tastes like fresh fruit.
13- Freeze juice, iced tea, milk in tumblers for minimum of 2 hours and then put in cooler or lunch bag – they will serve as your ice packs (no others needed-Perfect for Pesach/Succos trips!)
14- Put an onion in the freezer for several minutes before slicing “for no more tears!!”
15- Put a block of cheese in freezer for a half hour and it will not crumble when grating.
16- Cook soups, stews, spaghetti sauce, etc. in bulk and freeze in smaller quantities – it’s cheaper and much easier to clean up one big mess than to clean up 5 little messes!
17- Make extra batter when having waffles or pancakes – cook while you’re eating, then flash freeze on a foil-lined tray and place in large rectangle container. You’ll always have a quick “nosh” ready to heat and serve!
18- Freeze candles to make them burn more slowly and last longer. Works great for tapers—very thick candles may crack.

Vegetable Barley Soup

I’d like to share with you a delicious soup my daughter-in-law, Laya prepares.  Friends who have made this recipe have witnessed their family members “licking the plate”! It freezes very well when you double or triple the recipe.  This is a perfect recipe for a cold or “blizzard” day! It would also complement your Succos menu.