Doctored Up French Fries

I had a bag of store bought french fries in the freezer and thought that instead of just baking them plain I'd doctor them up a little.  Not only will it give them more flavor, it will also make them fancy enough to serve dinner guests.  Perhaps the kids will even be adventurous and try something new.  Last night I made garlic and parsley flavored fries.  I'm thinking if you are a cheese lover, after they are baked you could even sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese on top. Here's the recipe I came up with!

Doctored Up French Fries
Serves 4-5 people

1 bag store bought french fries (whatever variety you prefer)
1 cup parsley, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
non-stick spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place parsley, garlic, salt, and olive oil in a mini food processor and process until finely chopped.  If you don't have a food processor, combine ingredients in a small bowl, but be sure to mince garlic and chop the parsley very finely.  Pour parsley mixture over the french fries in a large bowl and use your clean clean hands to distribute it evenly over the fries.  Place fries in a single layer on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  If you want to add parmesan cheese, do so now.  Serve with ketchup or a spicy mayo and enjoy!!

Poblano Potato Soup

First off I want to wish everyone a healthy and happy new year!!  I am very excited to begin my journey through 2011!  Over the holidays I was away in Aruba relaxing and spending time with my family!  It was a great trip and very needed.  I came back refreshed and ready to get back to blogging.  So here I am...

While I was away I ate at this steakhouse called L.G. Smith's.  On the menu they have this wonderful poblano soup.  I ordered it for an appetizer and when it arrived I was surprised by how good and tasty it was!  I knew it would be very easy to re-create back at home. So for dinner on this snowy cold evening I decided to give it a whirl! I actually did give a whirl, in my new Vitamix blender.  If you are a fan of the Feed Your Sister page on Facebook you'd know that I purchased a Vitamix blender and am falling in love with it!  I've made ice cream, soup, and amazingly smooth smoothies.

Anyway here is a recipe I created for Poblano Potato Soup.  It's creamy without the creaminess.  It's extremely tasty without too much spice.  And it's not what you think a pepper soup would be at all!  So be brave and give it a try, even if you don't love peppers.

Poblano Potato Soup
(makes 4 cups)


2 medium onions, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 poblano peppers, seeded and roughly chopped (leave some seeds in for extra spice)
2 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cups water + 1 tablespoon chicken consomme (OR replace with 3 cups vegetable/chicken stock + 1 teaspoon kosher salt)
Pepper to taste


Place chopped onions and olive oil in a pot and saute until onions are soft, about 10 minutes.  Add poblano peppers, potatoes, water or stock, and chicken consomme.  Let soup come to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and let simmer for about 30-40 minutes.  The potatoes should be fork tender and peppers should be soft.  Place contents of soup in two batches into a blender and puree until smooth.   You can also use an immersion blender to blend the soup.

NOTE: If using a Vitamix blender, pour everything into the 64 ounce container and blend on variable 1 and increase to 10, blend until smooth.

Isn't this the most gorgeous color green??

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!

Mixed Veggie Quinoa Salad

Here's a recipe for a salad that I served to a bunch of people at work for lunch!  They all enjoyed it and I think you will too!  Of course, there's quinoa in it!  You know I loooovvvvvveeee QUINOA!!!  I just believe it's a great grain to add to any salad, and it's super easy to make!  So why not have it?!


Anyways, I fed 7 people with this recipe and served it for Lunch, but it could easily be the main dish if you added some grilled chicken, fish, or tuna to it!  To make it for more people add more of all the vegetables and add another cup of quinoa.  I realize I don't have a photo for you but count on me for this one!!  


Mixed Veggie Quinoa Salad
(serves about 7 people for lunch)
1 cup measure of uncooked quinoa, cooked
To cook quinoa: Combine  1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water in a pot, bring to a boil, and lower to a simmer for about 15 minutes. If there's still some water left in the pot don't worry, just drain the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. 
2 sweet potatoes cut into a medium dice, roasted
2 zucchinis cut into a medium dice, roasted
(To roast vegetables: Preheat oven to 400 degrees, toss veggies in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and then place on a baking sheet, roast for about 20 minutes)
4 large tomatoes, cut into medium chunks
4 persian cucumbers, cut lengthwise and sliced
3 ears of RAW corn, kernels shucked 
1 cup chopped parsley
1 large bunch fresh arugula, chopped (you can substitute any greens for this)
3-4 medium balls of fresh mozzarella cheese, medium diced


Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette
1 cup olive oil
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
1/4 cup water 
2 shallot chopped
salt and pepper, to taste


Combine all ingredients for the salad in a large bowl. To make the dressing combine all ingredients in a mini food processor or blender.  Drizzle over salad and toss well to combine! Dress the salad right before serving. Enjoy!

Creamy Potato Leek Soup with NO CREAM

Summer is over and the weather is slowly getting cooler, the sun is going down earlier and earlier everyday and that means that comfort foods are coming back into play on people's plates, or bowls.  I had some leftover leeks from the tart I made last week and thought I'd prepare some potato leek soup to have in the freezer.  You never know when you'll want to cuddle up on the couch with a nice warm cup of soup, don't forget the grilled cheese!

I actually invited my friend Allison over to help me cook.  She helped buy some of the ingredients, I taught her how to make a soup, and we both were able to take home 2 quarts of soup!!  For all you cooks that need to conserve their spending, invite a friend or two over, split the shopping and get cooking!! It's always a good time when you have friends around!

Potato Leek Soup
(makes 16 cups)

3 leeks, white and light-green parts only, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 small onions chopped
1 cup olive oil
3 pounds of yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed clean, ends trimmed, and quartered
NOTE: If you prefer to peel the potatoes go ahead, I just hate peeling them, and found that the skin doesn't make a difference for the end result.
4 quarts water, or enough water to cover the potatoes in the pot
4 tablespoons Chicken flavored Consomme (I use the Osem brand)
salt and pepper to taste
**Requires an immersion blender to puree soup.  You can also substitute the consomme with 3 bouillon cubes.

In a large soup pot saute onions and leeks in olive oil.  Saute until translucent, about 10-15 minutes.
Add potatoes and pour water in the pot, enough to cover all the potatoes.  Mix in the chicken consomme and stir until combined, add salt and pepper to taste.  Boil with the lid on high for about 1 hour, until potatoes or fork tender.  Take soup off the heat and use an immersion hand blender to puree into a smooth velvety soup.  Taste and adjust flavor as needed with salt and pepper or more chicken soup consomme.  Serve with a yummy grilled cheese or salad and ENJOY!

Simple Potato Gnocchi

Well let's just say this recipe is time consuming, but the steps are pretty simple.  You do need some special tools such as a potato ricer, but otherwise if you follow the directions and take your time even the beginner cook can master gnocchi!  Even better, take advantage of yourself and double the recipe, like I did, to make tons of gnocchi to stock your freezer!  Try preparing them with various sauces, like this one!  I got this recipe from the September issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine. Instead of russet potatoes I used yukon gold.

Simple Potato Gnocchi

serves 8

2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (about 5 small)

2 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 large egg

In a large pot, bring potatoes to a boil in salted water; reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, 35 to 40 minutes. Lightly dust two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets with flour; set aside. Drain potatoes and peel while still hot with a paring knife (use a thick, dry kitchen towel or pot holder to hold them). Immediately pass potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl. Let cool completely.

Sprinkle potatoes with flour and 2 teaspoons salt, then top with egg. With your hands, work flour and egg into a dough. Knead dough until smooth but not elastic, dusting with flour if it becomes too sticky, 4 minutes. Do not overwork dough.

Divide dough into 8 portions. Roll each portion into a rope (1/2 inch thick and 24 inches long). Cut each rope into 1/2-inch pieces.  Gently roll each dough piece against the back tines of a fork to make ridges, (This step is not necessary but does make the gnocchi look more authentic although it's very time consuming.) then arrange in a single layer on prepared baking sheets.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In batches, add a few handfuls gnocchi and cook until most have floated to top, 2 minutes. With a wire-mesh spider or a slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi immediately to a sauce.  

Make Ahead:  Place boiled gnocchi on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, cover, and let sit, up to 2 hours. Freeze it: Freeze raw gnocchi on baking sheets until firm; transfer to freezer bags and freeze, up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature on parchment-lined sheets, 30 minutes, before boiling.

I can't get enough!

It's like a drug, I just can't get enough of it! All day yesterday I was thinking to myself that I couldn't wait to get home so I can make more quinoa salads...today I made a copycat version of a quinoa dish I get at this restuarant called Hummus Kitchen, on the Upper East Side. They call it the "Super-Healthy Salad." And they aren't lying either. I wouldn't call it quite a salad because there's no variety of lettuce in it.

It might be hard to tell what's in this salad based on my photo, sorry I'm not the photographer in the family. I probably should have used the white quinoa so it's a more pretty "salad" in the end, but since I had leftover red quinoa I used up what I had. If you want to go for the pretty effect I'd use white quinoa as opposed to the red variety. If you don't care about that sort of stuff, then GO BIG RED!

Super-Healthy Non-Salad

(serves about 4 as a side dish)

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup dried apricots chopped

1 cup roasted sweet potato* (about 2 yams or sweet potatoes cubed)

1/2 cup walnuts or slivered almonds (I used a mixture)

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a pot bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of the quinoa to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and then cover and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Pour cooked quinoa in a sieve and then rinse quinoa with cold water to cool off. Drain and place in serving bowl.

2. Add cranberries, chopped apricots, roasted sweet potatoes*, and walnuts to the bowl.

3. In a small bowl combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Pour dressing over salad just before serving.

*If you don't know how to roast a sweet potato read on to get step by step directions.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Pour about 1/4 cup olive oil on the cubed potatoes and mix to coat then lay the sweet potatoes out in a single layer on a roasting tray. Roast for 30-40 minutes in oven or until tender.

Green Garlicky Potatoes

Here's a picture of the potatoes before they got cooked.

Green Garlicky Potatoes

2 cups italian parsley

10 garlic cloves

1/2 cup rosemary

1 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 pounds of potatoes (whatever kind you like to use, I used baby yellow dutch potatoes)

Place first five ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until ingredients are chopped and blended well. Pour green garlicky goodness over cut potatoes and mix with your hands to coat potatoes. (you can cut them like I did above, or into fries, or coins, etc.) Make sure they are evenly sized so that the cooking time is the same. Spray baking dish with Pam or olive oil and place potatoes onto pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes. Be sure to turn, flip, and shake the potatoes every 10 minutes. you know they are done when they are fork tender and golden brown along the edges.

And the winning marinade is....

Well, there's no winner actually...the past two dinners I had Thursday and tonight, Korean steak and piri piri chicken, are both rated very highly on my yummy meter! I did learn a few things however.

First of all, when cooking with sugary marinades, such as the Korean Marinade My Way, I do not recommend using your grill pan, I'd stick to using a real BBQ. I basically ruined my grill pan, but I guess after having it for 7 years, it's probably time to buy a new one anyways, right??

Second, I'd make both marinades more spicy!! I like spice and once the proteins were cooked I didn't really taste the spice as much as I did when I tasted the marinades pre-cooking.

Thirdly, I highly recommend marinading for at least 1 day before cooking! Especially for the steak!

Fourth, I sliced up the shell steak that was cooked along with the spare ribs in the Korean marinade, and it made a great protein topper for a spinach arugula salad with grape tomatoes and leftover potatoes (recipe to come Monday).

Here's what the dinners looked like: Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the salad!

My familia gets together

The flank steak that was marinated in olive oil, salt, and pepper for over 24 hours. It was deeelisshh!

My bro cooking up some potatoes with garlic and parsley, par-boiled first and then roasted in the oven til crisp! Also delish.

My meal. The steak and potatoes were adapted recipes from David Tanis' cookbook, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes.

The salad was simple, just some mixed greens and shredded carrots. The dressing was olive oil, lemon juice, a pinch of sugar, rice wine vinegar, and salt and pepper.

This is my brother's cat, Grizette. I'm allergic to her and she gave me hives. Not a pleasure at all during dinner, but being with the family was worth all the suffering. Thanks Grizette!

From left to right, dad, mom, other brother, and my cousin from Israel on my dad's side...can't you tell??

My gorgeous sister in law.

My mom and brother with the gorgeous coconut cake I made.

We ate half of it. When I got back to my apartment I served 2 slices to my doormen, they were both extremely impressed and very thankful. And the rest I'm bringing to school, in my cool cake carry case, for my colleagues.

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.