Beverages

How to make flavored coffee:  Layer dried fruit, whole spices, chopped or sliced nuts (you see chopped pecans here), or edible flowers with instant coffee, ground coffee, or coffee beans.  Put in a cool dry place for at least two weeks before using.  This works just as well with decaffeinated coffee as with regular.

Dry Coffee Creamer:  Equal parts powdered milk and sugar.  Add dry, ground spices to taste.  You can also layer this mixture with sliced or chopped nuts, whole spices (like vanilla beans), dry fruit, or edible flowers.  If layered with other ingredients, store in a cool dry place for two weeks before using.

You can make instant flavored coffees similar to International Cafe coffees by combining 1 C instant coffee, 1 C powdered milk, and 1/2 C sugar, along with a total of 1 T any combination dried spices you desire.  If only using dried spices, the mixture can be blended in a blender or food processor for a few minutes and used immediately.  If layered with other ingredients, again, allow to sit for two weeks in a cool dry place.  Blend in a blender or food processor for a few minutes before using.

For drink syrups, use equal parts liquid and sugar.  The liquid can be 100% juice or water.  If using juice, it can come from any sort of concentrate as long as it is 100% juice and has no sugar added.  You can also get fruit flavored syrup by using water and sugar and cooking with whole or sliced fruit.  When the syrup has bubbled for 3 to 5 minutes, removed the fruit pieces.  This technique can also be used with whole spices and chopped or sliced nuts.

If you combine equal parts water and sugar and add molasses, you get a pancake syrup so similar to store-bought that most children will be fooled.  I use 2 cups each water and sugar and 1 Tablespoon molasses.

Chocolate Syrup:  1 1/2 C sugar, 1 C dutch process cocoa powder, 1 C water, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean, a few grains salt.  

Whisk everything together in a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  When the syrup bubbles, turn the heat to medium low and allow to simmer for at least 3 minutes.  This is a very kid-friendly syrup made with regular dutch process cocoa.  For a more grown-up treat, use "special dark" cocoa powder and also add 1 teaspoon chili powder.

Basic Kosher

Kosher is very simple.  There are only a very few basic rules from which all the daily tedium are derived.

1)  Milk and meat cannot, under any circumstances, be mixed together.  They cannot be mixed together at the ingredient level and if one is having a meat meal, *nothing* dairy can be on the menu, including a glass of milk.  Oh, and poultry, though obviously different from red meat, is generally treated as meat, though exceptions can be made.

1A)  Meat can only be eaten from certain animals.  These animals must both chew the cud and have two-part hooves.  All others are non-kosher.  Further, no blood may be consumed.  Therefore, meat must be painstakingly drained of as much blood as possible.  The eating of cuts containing certain major nerves is also prohibited.  A skilled kosher butcher can remove these nerves and render the cuts kosher but for the most part, these cuts are avoided.

1B)  The meat of birds that have feathers and can fly is kosher.  Birds that are not capable of flight, such as the emu, are prohibited.

1C)  Fish must have scales and fins and they may not be bottom feeders.  All other fishes and shellfishes are prohibited.

2)  Pork, shellfish, and some fishes are not kosher.  G*D designated them as non-kosher for reasons known only to Him.  Therefore, we do not eat them in any form.

3)  Label reading is important.  I recently picked up a can of shortening, saw "meat oils" on the label and figured that was okay as long as I didn't mix the shortening with milk - that is until I read the actual ingredients and discovered the "meat oils" were comprised chiefly of lard (pork fat).  Many spaghetti sauces have cheese in them, even if cheese is not declared on the label.  If there's cheese in the sauce, it cannot be served with meat.  Kosher certifications are important if one is buying lots of prepackaged groceries!

4)  Fresh produce does not need a kosher certificate.  It does, however, need to be washed free of any insects or bugs.

5)  Jews live on every continent and make up small percentages of every major ethnic group.  The rules of kashrut adapt themselves to every continent and all available foods.  

This blog assumes that all ingredients used are certified kosher by a major certifying authority.  If kosher is not important to you, you don't have to worry about that.  But you won't find pork, shellfish, or exotic game recipes here.  My idea is to showcase yummy food that just happens to conform to the rules of kashrut.

I'm a convert.  Therefore, the food I grew up with was not kosher.  Further, I grew up in a part of the country that has a tiny Jewish population.  Therefore, in the years since I began to identify with the Jewish people, I have become quite adept at altering recipes to fit within the boundaries of kashrut.  Doing so is both fun and challenging and I hope you enjoy the recipes posted here.

Chicken, oats, and sweet potatoes

Above:  Oat Flake Loaf topped with Saudi Kabsah.

Below:  Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries

Oat Flake Loaf

3 C Rolled Oats

3 C Water

2 Leeks or 1 Onion, sliced

1 clove Garlic

chopped Parsley

Olive oil to saute

Salt to taste

Saute the garlic and onions or leeks until they just start to brown.  Set aside , add more oil to pan, and toast the oats.  Let them brown but don't let them brown too much.  Stir in the water when the flakes just begin to brown.  Add salt and stir over medium heat until the mixture is thickened and becomes somewhat solid.  Stir in the onion and garlic and place everything into a greased oven safe casserole dish.  Bake at 400 F for one hour.  The top should be slightly brown and the inside soft and moist.

Saudi Kabsah

2 lbs Chicken

2 T Olive oil

1 medium Onion

1 clove Garlic, crushed

10 oz spaghetti sauce

1 t ground Cinnamon

1 t ground Ginger

1 t Salt

1 t ground Cumin

1 t ground Cardamom

1 t ground Coriander

1 t Black Pepper

This is a crock pot recipe.

Saute the onions, until they begin to brown.  Add the garlic, tomato sauce, and spices.  Cook until sauce begins to thicken into gravy.  Remove to crock pot insert.  Add more oil and brown the chicken pieces.  Place in the crock pot insert and spoon sauce over.  Add water to cover the chicken (amount will vary depending on the size of the insert).  Cook on Low for at least 10 hours.  About half way through, remove any chicken containing bones and pick bones out.  Add meat back to crock and continue cooking.  Take the lid off for the last hour to reduce the liquid to a thick gravy.

This chicken can be served over rice, as it's name suggests, or over bread, pasta, the oat loaf above, or just plain.

Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries

4 T Orange juice

2 T butter

2 T Olive or Vegetable oil

2 T Brown or Cane sugar

1 t ground Cinnamon

1/4 t Salt

2 lbs Sweet Potatoes

1/2 c dried Cranberries

This is a crock pot recipe.  In crock insert, mix juice, butter, oil, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cover and cook on high while you peel the potatoes and cut them into 1-inch pieces.  Stir potatoes into sauce, cover, and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours.

** Oat Flake Loaf come from "The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency" by John Suffolk.  Saudi Kabsah from the World Cuisine Institute.  And the Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries from the Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker owner's manual.