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jillbcooks 4/30/2009 8:30:00 AM
My friend (and former neighbor) Kelly asked me for some food and drink ideas for the party that marks the opening of her neighborhood’s private pool. She is chairing the event for the first time. The neighborhood is tight knit and the pool becomes the social center during the summer, especially for kids and moms. I used to live in that neighborhood and loved to see the kids taking lessons and training for swim meets when I went past the pool. The pool facility has a very nice clubhouse with areas for eating indoors and on a large patio. Kelly plans to use the large grills for making hotdogs and hamburgers. She wanted ideas for unfussy salads and memorab...
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cake, party, salad, chex, planning, summer
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jillbcooks 4/28/2009 8:46:00 AM
Have you been hearing buzzwords like social utility, “Twittering” and "Friending" just about everywhere these days? It seems like interest in online communities is exploding recently. I just read someplace that the highest growing segment of new Facebook users is women over forty. Betty Crocker has gone online, too. I like to imagine that Betty has a fancy laptop and pda-phone that matches her famous red cardigan and that she uses wi-fi in cute coffee shops.
As I write this, Betty Crocker’s Facebook Fan Page has 29,512 fans. In case you don’t know, Facebook is a website that con...
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recipes, The Mixer, facebook, online cooking classes, polls
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jillbcooks 4/23/2009 8:58:00 AM
My friends and family often think that because I am a cookbook author, everything I try to cook turns out beautifully. Not true..not at all. In fact, I tried to make cookies yesterday and I missed the mark. Since the cookies were for my husband’s book club, I wanted them to be good tasting and nice looking. The cookie dough was simple to make: stir together a package of Betty Crocker brownie mix, ¼ cup of oil, a tablespoon of water and two eggs. I even used a very small scoop so my cookies would be uniform and bite sized, but they spread in the oven, running into one another. A bit dismayed, I knew I couldn’t send these off to book cl...
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baking, brownie mix, ice cream sandwiches
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jillbcooks 4/21/2009 9:34:00 AM
There are few things that I love with the same burning intensity that I love cake. One of those things is the internet. I am rarely without my laptop, and, if my cholesterol level would allow, I would try very hard to be without cake just as rarely. Alas, but I have found a way to have my (virtual) cake online.
I have a few favorite blogs that are dedicated solely to cake. One is called Pictures of Cake, and it charts the adventures of an ambitious ba...
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cakes, blogs, decorating
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jillbcooks 4/16/2009 9:09:00 AM
Learning about different holiday traditions can be fun and can inspire new ways to celebrate at home. When it comes to traditions for the Jewish holidays, especially food traditions, they vary widely based on where people live. One of my favorite holidays is called the Mimouna, and is associated with the Jews of North Africa. As the week of Passover draws to a close at sundown on the last day, the Mimouna begins. The celebration is all about enjoying the leavened foods that are avoided during Passover, where people have open houses featuring buffets of treats. What could be better than harkening spring by eating cakes, cookies and candies?
These would be fan...
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Lemon Bars, Open House, Party Cake, Passover
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jillbcooks 4/15/2009 3:08:00 PM
Don’t get me wrong, meringue cookies can be very good, especially if you make them yourself, but some commercial ones are simultaneously cloying and tasteless. Long associated with Passover because they do not include flour, meringue can be a versatile component of a dessert, serving as a base as in a Pavlova, as a topping as in lemon meringue pie, or, my favorite, as an edible dessert bowl. This twist—making the meringue into a bowl—is not only a smart way to present a substantial dessert that is kosher for Passover, but a show-stopping one as well.
I love chocolate as an ending to any meal, and the ...
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desserts, ice cream, meringues, Passover, Seder
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jillbcooks 4/14/2009 7:56:00 AM
The challenge of cooking during Passover is avoiding food with leavening agents in them, and that category of ingredients is quite large and includes flour. Variety is often sacrificed for the same meals of meat and vegetables. Get out of the rut and try to incorporate variety with this recipe for Asian Lettuce Wraps. Using lettuce rather than bread or tortillas is a fun and chametz-free solution.
Asian Lettuce WrapsServes 4
16 Boston Bibb or Romaine lettuce leaves1 pound ground beef1 large onion, chopped2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced1 cup red and green bell peppers, sl...
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Asian Lettuce Wraps, chametz, Passover, Taco Salad
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jillbcooks 4/13/2009 2:07:00 PM
Passover is also known by another name, Hag ha-Aviv, which means Festival of Spring. The timing of the holiday shifts, as it is based on the vernal equinox and the cycles of the moon and the Hebrew calendar. If the month of the holiday (called Nisan, and Passover begins the 15th of Nisan) arrived and spring had not, an additional month (called an intercalary month) would be added to the calendar to delay the coming of Passover until it was truly springtime.
One way to celebrate Hag ha-Aviv is by eating fresh, seasonal foods. This helps counterbalance the heaviness of some other traditional Passover foods like baked goods without leavening agents. Pass...
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spring, Matzoh, Nectarine Salsa, Passover, Salmon
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jillbcooks 4/10/2009 9:25:00 AM
If you have ever attended a religious school, like parochial school or a Jewish day school, you might know a little something about watching the clock tick during morning prayer. I was a teacher at a Jewish day school, which had a compulsory prayer period every morning. As you can imagine, some students took it very seriously, some were present and indifferent, and some were truly misbehaved. The administration of our school recognized that students might be more engaged if they had some meaningful activity related to Judaism instead of traditional prayer. A fearless young teacher, I volunteered for the program’s pilot and was assigned Jewish Cooking, wi...
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Matzoh, Matzoh Brei, Melon Cucumber Salad, Passover
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jillbcooks 4/9/2009 11:55:00 AM
One of the staples at my house during Passover is crustless Shepherd’s Pie. I love meat pies and have a special fondness for tourtiere, a family favorite that is a nod to our French Canadian heritage. My husband lived in England for a year and quickly became enamored with traditional pasties, dough pockets with meat and vegetables in them. While we love the flaky crust of a chicken pot pie, we also love a simple Shepherd’s Pie, which is a dish of meat, gravy and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes.
While a dish with a baked potato topping is sometimes called Cottage Pie, the name Shepherd’s Pie is particularly appropriate at Passover because...
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Kosher, Passover, Shepherd's Pie