Orange Miso Dressing

I was flipping through this month's Bon Appetit magazine and came across a recipe for orange miso dressing.  I thought about what I had in my fridge and was excited because I had all the ingredients at home!  I made two  adaptations to this recipe. First, I used vegetable oil instead of safflower oil.  Although I suppose you could use any oil that doesn't have an overpowering flavor. Second, I used a blood orange instead of a regular orange, from the zest to the juice, I went blood. I also added splenda and rice vinegar.  In my salad I mixed romaine, dried cherries, carrots, cabbage, mango, cilantro, blood orange segments, tomatoes and cucumbers. Any and all ingredients you desire would work just fine, be creative! Enjoy!

Orange Miso Dressing
(enough for 1 entree-size salad)
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons white miso paste
1 tablespoon safflower oil
1 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 packet splenda
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice (Use the orange you just zested!)
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine ingredients in a container or jar with a lid, and shake, shake, shake! Drizzle over your salad and enjoy!

Cannoli-Stuffed French Toast

This past Saturday I was watching Lisa Lillien's Hungry Girl show on the Cooking Channel.  The theme for the show that day was "Rise and Dine."  I really enjoy her show and look forward to watching the new episodes every Saturday!  After I watached the show I was a convert.  I now am in love with unsweetened almond milk, which has less calories than skim milk, although not much protein.  Oh well, it's amazing and great with cereal, oatmeal, and in smoothies!  And since Saturday I've been searching for light hot dog buns in every supermarket in NYC that I pass...she uses the buns to make this recipe.  I never found light  hot dog buns, but I did find Fiber One hot dog buns and settled on them for 1 extra points+ point, on top of the 6 the recipe already contains.  That's the other great thing about Hungry Girl, she posts the weight watchers points+ values on every single recipe she makes.  I can't wait to go to her book signing in NYC on March 30th in Union Square!!  Here's the recipe for Cannoli-Stuffed French Toast!  Have it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Enjoy!

Cannoli-Stuffed French Toast
(serves 1)

3 tbsp. fat-free ricotta cheese 

2 tsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 

1 tsp. vanilla extract, divided 

1 no-calorie sweetener packet (like Splenda or Truvia) 

1 light hot dog bun with about 80 calories (like the kind by Sara Lee) 

1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original) 

1/4 tsp. cinnamon 

2 tsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown) 

1/2 tsp. powdered sugar 

Optional topping: sugar-free pancake syrup 

In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese, chocolate chips, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, and sweetener, and mix 

well. 

Split hot dog bun open lengthwise, without fully separating the two halves. Spoon ricotta mixture onto the 

bottom half of the bun. Gently press the top half down over the filling. Carefully slice into four "nuggets" using a serrated knife 

and set aside. 

See the chocolate chips?...Mmmm! I made one for breakfast and one for another day's lunch!

Mix egg substitute, cinnamon, and remaining 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract in a small bowl. Set aside. 

Bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat on the stove. Add butter and allow to coat th

e bottom of the skillet.  

Meanwhile, coat each nugget on all sides with the egg mixture. (You won't need to use all of the egg 

mixture.) 

Once butter has melted, place nuggets in the skillet and, flipping occasionally, cook until golden brown on 

all sides, 3 - 4 minutes.  

Plate your nuggets and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Top with syrup, if you like. Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

It's finally November and Thanksgiving is approaching us!!  Halloween was yesterday and pumpkins are everywhere!  Even though it's over pumpkins are still here to stay for a while... I always love this time of year, pumpkin pie, squash of all varieties, pumpkin pancakes, and even pumpkin bread pudding! This recipe is a great brunch dessert, or make it on thanksgiving instead of pie.  I pretty much was experimenting when I made this recipe but I tested it out with my family and it was a huge success!!  Even my dad who claims he doesn't like pumpkin and cinnamon, enjoyed!  I think you will enjoy too!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

(serves 12)

1 loaf of challah, broken into large chunks

4 eggs

1 (15 oz.) can on pumpkin puree

2 cups non-dairy vanilla soy milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)

(You can also use pumpkin pie spice)

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or good vanilla extract

Combine eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and spices in a bowl and whisk until combined.  Pour mixture over chunks of challah and let soak for a 2-8 hours.  

When you are ready to bake the bread pudding, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a rectangular baking sheet.  I used Pam non-stick spray.  If you would like to add chocolate chips (or non-dairy carob chips) you can add that into the challah mixture now, and mix to incorporate the chips.  About 1/2 cup.  Place pudding mixture into the baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 1 hour, until golden around the edges. Serve warm with spiced whipped cream (see recipe below).

Spiced Whipped Cream

1 cup non-dairy whipping cream (or regular whipping cream)

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Place all ingredients in a glass bowl.  Using a hand mixer, mix the cream until soft peaks form.  Place in the fridge until serving.

Egg in a Hole

I was browsing through the list of blogs I read daily and saw this great idea on Proud Italian Cook.  I had actually purchased an acorn squash at the Farmer's Market a few days prior and thought it would be a perfect weekend breakfast!

Egg in a Hole
(Serves 4 people)
1 acorn squash, sliced into rings, pulp and seeds removed (save the seeds for roasting later)
salt and pepper, taste
1/4 cup olive oil
4 eggs
parmesan cheese, for sprinkling on the egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place acorn rings in a bowl with half of the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Coat all the rings and place on a greased baking sheet.  If you want to reserve and roast the seeds, place them in a corner on the baking sheet, toss with olive oil and salt.  Roast for about 30 minutes. (Roasting time for the seeds may be shorter)  Roasting the squash can be done the day before.

 When you are ready to cook the eggs, place the rest of the olive oil in a heated pan and place the roasted acorn squash in the pan as well. Crack an egg in each acorn hole, add salt and pepper to the egg, cover and cook to your desired egg consistency.  I like my egg over easy, so I flipped the the egg over once.  Serve with a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese and a piece of toast! ENJOY!

Shakshuka

Along with the Potato and Feta Bourekas I made Shakshuka.  This is a dish that consists of eggs baked in a sauce containing tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices.  It originated in Tunisia but is a very popular Israeli breakfast.  If you live in NYC there are a few restaurants that serve a mean shakshuka. Hummus Place and Hummus Kitchen are two places that I know of.  I originally got the idea of making this dish when my friend Kim sent me a link from Smitten Kitchen.  It seemed pretty easy and I remember loving this dish when I was young and spent summers in Israel.  Not only is this meal delicious and easy to make, it's super healthy and low in calories too!  I basically followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe with a few minor changes and I doubled the recipe too.

Shakshuka

(makes enough sauce for 1 dozen eggs)

1/2 cup olive oil
3 Jalapenos, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped (optional)
2 green peppers, chopped (optional)
3 dried spicy red chilles, broken in half
10 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons spicy paprika (you can use regular paprika too)
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (omit if you don't like it too spicy)
2 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, undrained
Kosher salt, to taste
12 eggs
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley, for sprinkling
Warm pitas, for serving


Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add jalapenos, chiles, onions, and peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.
Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with parsley and serve with pitas, for dipping. Enjoy!

The recipe says to bake the eggs in a skillet, however if you don't have a large enough skillet, you can do what I did.  I made the sauce in a large pot and then transferred the sauce to a baking dish, placed the cracked eggs in the dish, and baked for about 10 minutes in a very hot oven, about 400 degrees.  Serve and Enjoy!

Whoops I forgot to take a photo of the finished dish, sorry, my friends were hungry and I was overly excited!!

Happy 100th Post!!

It's finally here!!  My 100th post!!  I celebrated this past weekend with a bunch of friends and now it's time to write all about it.  Sorry it took me so long to get it up!  Anyways, I can't believe it's been nearly 8 months of blogging!  I've had one giveaway and a couple of shout outs on Mile-Posts, a blog written by my runner friend Dorothy, and I'm scheduled to do a Thanksgiving-themed cooking demo in November!

I've cooked and baked more than ever before and have fed a lot of friends and family, and of course sisters (and brothers).  I've thoroughly enjoyed all your comments, suggestions, and ideas on the blog and on my Facebook fan page!  Please keep up all the good work and continue.  Also, if you make any of my recipes I'd love it if you could upload pictures to the FYS Facebook page.

I am currently at 192 Facebook fans.  My goal is to get many more fans and to do that I need your help!!  Please visit the page, you can access it by clicking here.  Once you are there under the profile picture (Which is a picture my new apron that I got as a gift from my friend Sarah at my 100th post celebration.) there's a link that says Suggest to Friends.  When you click on that you can invite friends to join Feed Your Sister on Facebook!  Let's see how many fans we can get together!

Now onto the menu for the 100th post celebration.  I decided on going back to my Israeli roots and making a Meditteranean/Israeli themed meal.  On the menu was potato and feta bourekas, shakshuka, and a carrot and cucumber salad.  For dessert I made a non-dairy pumpkin pie (I chose this dessert because it's one of the recipes I had to try out for the cooking demo). Here's a few pictures of some friends enjoying my good eats!

Potato and Feta Bourekas

(makes 18 bourekas)

1 box Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed

8 medium yukon gold potatoes (or any potato you like)

1 pound Israeli Feta, crumbled (or any feta you like)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, scrambled (for egg wash)

1 cup sesame seeds (for topping the bourekas)

all purpose flour for dusting

NOTE: You can either peel the potatoes before boiling or after.  If you choose to peel before boiling, peel and then cut into large chunks to speed up boiling process.  If you choose to peel them after, boil the potatoes whole and once cooked peel skins off.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, place potatoes in the pot and let cook until fork tender, about 30 minutes (or sooner if they were cut in chunks). Drain and let potatoes cool slightly and peel the skins off.  Place peeled potatoes back into the hot pot along with the olive oil, salt, and crumbled feta.  Mash together until smooth.  (If you want to make a smoother consistency you can add more olive oil or butter or cream, if you like that.)  

Set potato mixture aside.  Sprinkle flour on a marble surface or piece of parchment paper.  Roll the dough to make a large rectangle and cut pastry into 9 squares. 

Place about 2-3 tablespoons of the potato mixture in the center of each pastry square.  

Fold square corner to corner, to make a triangle shape, and seal with the prongs of a fork around the edges.

 Use a pastry brush to brush on egg wash over each bourekas and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.

Repeat all steps using the second sheet of puff pastry from the box. 

Bake bourekas on a greased baking sheet for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.  

To Freeze: Do not bake!  Freeze them on a baking sheet for about 2 hours and then transfer frozen bourekas into ziploc bags.  To cook, thaw out and bake as directed above.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for the other recipes coming this week!

XXL, eggs that is!

I'm at Whole Foods at Columbus Circle today and I find these there, in the produce section next to a variety of mushrooms, eggplants, and summer squashes.  I've never actually seen an Emu or Ostrich egg up close and personal like this, but let me just tell you they were a little scary!!  I actually couldn't bring myself to even touch them.  I know that's kind of cowardly of me but still they freaked me out, so instead I took a photo for you all!  The Emu eggs were the scariest looking.  They had like a scaly shell with tiny raised darker spots over the overall avocado green shell.

They are pretty pricey too!  I did a little research online and found out that an Emu egg is probably around the same weight of about 10 extra large chicken eggs.  You can get a dozen organic eggs for around 3-4 dollars, no need to pay $29.99 for one Emu egg that apparently has a pretty bland taste.  From what I've heard Ostrich eggs taste pretty much similarly to chicken eggs.  I think one Ostrich egg is equal to about 24 chicken eggs.  I'd rather just buy 2 dozen eggs rather than spending $39.99!

What are you thoughts?  Ever eaten either of these eggs?  Would you?  Leave me a comment and share your thoughts!

Eggs and Cream: Part 2

Remember when I made my french toast and had some leftover egg and cream mixture??? Well I used the extra stuff to make an individual bread pudding. I filled a ramekin up with small pieces of challah, which was also leftover, and sprinkled some mini chocolate chips that I had in the freezer throughout. I poured the egg mixture over the challah and let it soak up overnight.

Now it's morning and I'm super excited to see if this actually will taste like chocolate chip bread pudding! Before baking the bread pudding sprinkle some sugar on the top. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the bread pudding for about 30-45 minutes until the top is golden brown.

I probably will want to pour some syrup over my bread pudding before digging my fork into it so that it's more on the sweet side! I suggest if you want to make a large bread pudding you can follow the recipe below that I got from Epicurious and adapted it to my liking.

French Toast Bread Pudding

• 12 ounces challah or other egg bread with crust, torn into 3/4-inch pieces
• 7 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean split down the center with seeds scraped out
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated whole nutmeg

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• Warm maple syrup (for serving)

Butter 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Place bread in dish. Whisk eggs and next 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend; pour over bread. Using spatula, lightly press down on bread to moisten completely. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of bread. Cover with foil and chill overnight.

Place foil-covered dish in cold oven. Set oven at 350°F and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until pudding is puffed and golden brown, about 35 minutes longer.

Spoon pudding onto plates, sprinkle with toasted nuts, and serve with warm maple syrup. Enjoy!

Eggs and Cream: Part 1

I took home a leftover challah from work on Friday and was thinking what I could do with it. I opened up my fridge and saw that I had eggs, milk, and half and half. I also knew I had some vanilla beans in the pantry. I decided I'd make french toast for breakfast!

You'll see in the recipe below that I added splenda into my egg mixture. I like making the egg mixture sweet, not sure why but I do. If you add real sugar or maple syrup, you'll find that your french toast will have a nice caramelized crust. I ended up having leftover egg mixture and I did not let it go to waste. Stay tuned to see what I ended up using it for!!

Vanilla Bean French Toast

(serves 4 people, 3 slices each)

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup fat free half and half

5 eggs

1/2 of a vanilla bean with seeds scraped out

1/2 cup sweetener (such as sugar, 6 packets splenda, maple syrup, honey)

12 slices of challah bread

Place first 3 ingredients in a large baking dish or bowl. Whisk together. Add vanilla bean scrapings and vanilla bean to the egg mixture, whisk again until well blended. Add sweetener of choice into the mixture and whisk.

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Spray non-stick cooking spray on the pan. Dip slices of challah into egg mixture and let sit 10-15 seconds on each side. Transfer wet challah slices into the pan to cook. Cook each side for about 3 minutes until golden brown. Repeat until all challah slices are dipped and cooked. ENJOY!

7 minute frosting is not easy...

So I get home this afternoon from work and am really excited to get busy making my cocount layer cake for the anniversary/birthday party dinner tonight at my brothers apartment...well let me tell you, this stuff ain't easy. I do not recommend beginner bakers to attempt this recipe. WARNING: DIFFICULTY LEVEL is HIGH!

So as it was I decided to make my life a little simpler by using a store bought white cake mix, that went great, easy peasy! I did that last night. I followed the Everyday Baking recipe, linked above. I started by placing all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl over a simmering pan of water, like they told me. I started beating and timed 7 minutes, like they told me to do. So the egg whites were cooking and getting nice and white, which is supposed to happen. When the 7 minutes were up the peaks were still not stiff, UH OH! I continued to beat the mixture for another 10 minutes, still no peaks, not even soft one! WTF!?!?! I was really frustrated at this point. I figured, you know what, let's try it again, maybe I did it wrong. Ahhh, here goes trial #2...

So again, I put all the ingredients in the heatproof bowl and start blending away, after 7 minutes no freaking stiff peaks, let alone soft peaks. I take a deep breath and continue to beat. Meanwhile my kitchen looks like a dynamite hit it, there are white specks of icing all over my stovetop and surrounding walls. Of course I wasn't wearing an apron and my jeans were all speckled white too! Great! So now my kitchen and I are all dirty and I still have NO PEAKS!

So I quickly google how to make egg white frosting, just to see if there are any other recipes that are somewhat similar to what I was trying to make, and they all basically were the same. So now I had to really think. I started to think rrrrrrrreeeeeaaaaalllllllllllll hard. I looked in the fridge to see if I had more eggs, cause I just wasted 6 whole eggs in the process. Luckily I did have just enough for one more batch, trial #3. They say three times a charm, right? Well, at least no one can say I didn't try...here goes nothing...

I decided to omit the corn syrup completely and cut down the sugar to a cup (the other two batters were too sweet anyway and I was running out of sugar). I also cut down the amount of water from 1/3 to 1/4 of a cup. I put 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar instead of a 1/2 teaspoon, because I know that cream of tartar is supposed to make things thick, so I didn't think it could hurt this time around. Below is the recipe, adapted from Everyday Baking's recipe, that I used for trial #3, and you know what...IT ACTUALLY WORKED AND STILL TASTED DELICIOUS!

Seven-Minute Frosting, My Way

3 large egg whites

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/4 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a simmer. 2. In a large heatproof mixing bowl, combine egg whites, cream of tartar, water, and sugar. 3. Place bowl over simmering water (it should not touch water); with a handheld mixer, beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes. 4. Remove bowl from heat; beat 3 to 5 minutes more to cool. Use immediately

This is the cool cake carrier I got yesterday at Bed Bath & Beyond. No one is touching this cake until it's time for dessert.

Mini Egg Muffins

Prepare the chopped veggies, chop them small...think mini muffin tins

Beat 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg in a bowl. Add salt and pepper. (FYI, I actually painted this bowl myself, you like?)

Dress the potatoes and asparagus with olive oil and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile in the egg bowl add some grated parmesan cheese, as much or as little as you like. Actually you can add whatever cheese you like.

When the veggies from the oven are cooked through mix them into the egg bowl along with your chopped tomatoes.

Spoon the egg mixture into greased mini muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes till they are puffed up and cooked. Below is my final breakfast plate. It was really delicious and I still have some mini muffins for another day. You can re-heat them in the microwave or oven. The salad that I had alongside the egg muffins was a mixture of cucumber, tomato, and avocado. The dressing is a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper....and TADA....you've got yourself a nice little yummy Israeli Salad! I also ate a piece of whole wheat baguette with some ricotta cheese sprinkled with salt.