Category Archives: A Peek Into My Kitchen

A peek Into My Kitchen: Sweet Potato, Corn and Wild Rice Chowder

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I had some dental work done this afternoon, so I made a big pot of this soup this morning. With a whole grain loaf of bread, some good cheese and a side of roasted asparagus, it made a nice dinner for a gloomy day.

Sweet Potato, Corn and Wild Rice Chowder

1 tbsp vegetable oil

I large or 2 small onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

12 cups water

1 cup wild rice

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

generous pinch salt

4 cups diced sweet potatoes (about 3)

2 1/2-3 cups corn kernels–fresh, frozen or really good canned ones (if using canned, rinse well)

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A peek Into My Kitchen: Honey Pie

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To those who are celebrating Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year–Happy New Year! Shanah Tova!

It is traditional to eat an apple dipped in honey, as well as other sweet foods, to ensure a sweet new year.  No reason you can’t make this amazingly easy (and not too cloyingly sweet!) if you have only a peripheral relationship with tradition or non at all 🙂

I adapted the recipe for the filling from one I saw a Greenmarket a few years ago, and have been making it ever since! Don’t you dare call it Honey Boo Boo 😉 The crust is adapted from my mom, Gloria Kobrin’s, Kosher Cookbook app for iPhone.

Honey Pie

For crust:

2 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

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A peek Into My Kitchen: Green Tea Pound Cake

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Yes it is slightly green.  No it hasn’t spoiled. It’s green tea, silly 🙂 Don’t you think that Starbucks, Oren’s or even the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf should be serving slices of this along with their coffees and teas?

Green Tea Pound Cake

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 sticks butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup Matcha Green Tea latte powder, divided

4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Spray a 9x5x3 loaf pan with nonstick baking spray.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt

4. Cream butter, sugar and 1/4  cup of the green tea powder until fluffy.

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July 15th is National Ice Cream Day! (recipe)

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I guess we’ve reached that point in the summer when it’s actually time to unearth my ice cream maker from the depths of the kitchen cabinets.

Yup, I actually do have one…it was one of the most exciting things that I got to add to my wedding registry.  For the first few years, I used it a ton…then I broke the bowl and forgot about it for a bit.  At some point in the middle of the winter, I ordered a replacement bowl and told myself that I would be making a ton of ice cream this summer….

Not quite yet.

I’ve eaten plenty of ice cream, mind you, but I haven’t been able to get my act together to make any. The forethought involved in putting the bowl in the freezer the night before just hasn’t quite worked out.

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Erupting Volcano Birthday Cake!

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My son turned 6 on Friday. How on earth is that even possible?

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I have a thing for themed birthday parties…and that I try (in a somewhat obsessive way) to make cakes that go along with the theme. So, when I planned a science birthday party for my kiddo, I scratched my head for a while to think of a cake with a science theme…and, in a Eureka moment, realized that I just HAD to make an erupting volcano. In a seriously funny coincidence, when I started googling to figure out exactly how I was going to accomplish this ridiculous feat of cake, I came up with a post by my good friend Sheri Gurock about her own Erupting Volcano Cake experience from 5 years ago and discovered that we had even both hired Mad Science to entertain the kids–even though we are in different states!

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A peek Into My Kitchen:Favorite Banana Bread

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Years ago, I was wandering around the cookbook section of one bookstore or another and I came across a book called Comfort Foods by Rita M. Harris . Some of the recipes are totally useless to me (you know when you are silly enough to buy a cookbook for a favorite recipe or two?) but one stands out in particular. With a couple of changes, the recipe for Banana Cake is the absolute best that I have ever come across. Bake it in a large pyrex, or two small ones, and it’s banana bread. Bake it in two round cake pans and frost it, and it’s good enough to be a cake.

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