Month: December 2012

Latke Fest 2012

Sadie3 Comments
Happy (belated) Chanukah! This past weekend my family had what my mom dubbed “Latke Fest 2012.”  In celebration of the last night of Chanukah we made three latke recipes that yielded about 100 latkes in total.  Our kitchen was basically transformed  into a latke factory.  We made a traditional version from an old Jewish cookbook we’ve used for years.  Then a sweet potato version that’s actually a Rachel Ray recipe that my mom has made before.  And lastly we tried a new recipe that I saw in the Food Network magazine this month: Spinach Latkes.  The recipe caught my eye because: 1. Jewish recipes are hard to come by among all the Christmas cookies recipes in magazines this month (no offense because you know I love cookies), and 2. whenever I see a spinach recipe I immediately think my mom will be interested (I was right).
Here's the spread: 3 kinds of latkes, plus some roasted broccoli, and a kale salad!
Here’s the spread: 3 kinds of latkes, plus some roasted broccoli, and a kale salad!
I enjoyed all three recipes that we made, but this new one was particularly great. I enjoyed that it had more than just potato and seasonings.  It includes a few different vegetables, plus feta cheese right in the latke.  The cheese added a nice creaminess to the latkes.  If you need some healthy fritters in your life, I would give these a try!
Spinach Latkes
Yeilds about 20 latkes depending on size, from Food Network
Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for frying
  • 3 ounces spinach, stems removed, chopped (about 4 cups)
  • 2 leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced
  • Kosher salt
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 pound russet potatoes
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • Freshly ground pepper

Method

  1. Saute the chopped spinach in a pan over medium heat with a little oil.  After the spinach is wilted in a couple minutes, take the spinach off the heat and let it cool to room temp.
  2. Next, heat some more oil in the pan and saute the sliced leeks for 10 minutes until tender.  Add the chopped scallions and cook for 3-4 more minutes.  Make sure to season with some salt.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temp.
  3. Grate the potatoes.  Put the grated potatoes in a clean towel and squeeze out the excess moisture.  Combine the potatoes with the eggs, flour, spinach, leeks, scallions, feta, and seasonings. Once the mixture is uniform, it’s ready for frying.The mix
  4. Heat up vegetable oil in a heavy skillet for frying.  Once the oil gets hot enough (sizzles when water is flicked at it), form latkes the size of a heaping tablespoon or about a quarter cup.  Make sure they are flat like pancakes so they will cook through. Fry them for a couple minutes on each side until golden brown.  Try not to put too many latkes in the pan at once, or the oil will drop in temperature.frying time
  5. While you’re frying the latkes, you can set your oven to about 200, and place the batches of cooked latkes in the oven to keep them warm.yum!

Crafty Claus

CarrieLeave a comment

I have been busy this season doing a whole bunch of projects. One project that I have completed is painting the Santa Claus ceramic figures that I found in my grandmother’s attic. They were unfinished pieces of ceramic that a family member had made. Now, they have a whole new look of color. I brought them to life with Martha Stewart’s new all-purpose paint line that you can find at Michael’s Craft Store. The paint can be used on ceramic, glass, wood, pottery…just about anything you can think of. I found the paint to be thick and creamy. The paints started at $1.99 per bottle and the bottle might look small but it goes a long way. Here is one of the finished products.

IMG_0731

 

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Sadie1 Comment

So I’m going through a little bit of a granola bar baking phase thanks to the fabulosity of the pumpkin granola bars, that I have made several times at this point.  I decided to switch it up a little and try a granola bar recipe from Martha.  This recipe is great because it doesn’t have a million ingredients (sometimes granola ingredients can add up quickly), and it had all the best stuff: peanut butter, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and oats!

I decided to make a couple alterations as usual.  First, I felt the need to add some mini chocolate chips, of course.  And second, I threw in some protein powder just for fun.  I will try protein powder in anything these days.  Don’t worry, I’m aware that I’m weird.  Martha’s recipe only makes an 8 x 8 pan’s worth, but since I was made these for a big group I tripled the recipe and used a full cookie sheet.

To make them more portable I ended up wrapping them individually!  They’re a great snack when you’re on the go!

Peanut Butter Almond Granola Bars

Adapted from Martha, yields about 24 bars depending how you slice them.

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 ½ cups sliced almonds
  • 1 ½ cups dried cranberries
  • 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 “scoops” protein powder (optional)
  • 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter ( I used an entire 15 oz jar)
  • 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
  • 9 Tbs oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment.
  2. Combine the oats, almonds, cranberries, protein powder, and salt in a bowl.
  3. In a small pot over medium heat, combine sugar, oil, and peanut butter.  Cook for about 5 minutes until brown sugar is completely melted.
  4. Pour warm mixture over oat mixture.  Stir to combine.  When mixture is slightly cooled add egg whites and continue to mix to ensure that the eggs don’t cook.
  5. Spread mixture out on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Sprinkle top with mini chocolate chips (if you add them earlier they will just melt into the mixture).
  6. Bake 30-40 minutes until golden brown.