Very simple chocolate yeast cake (vegan)

It's baking shortcut time!

Who loves chocolate yeast cakes (think: Chocolate Babka and the like)?!

Well, we're big fans of them around here, but sometimes I have no time or patience for kneading and rising. 

That's where this super simple, cheater version of a chocolate yeast cake comes in!

It's so easy and I even avoid making dirty bowls -  I just mix it AND bake it in a baking pan!

Recipe:

1 3/4 cups flour (I used white spelt)

1 Tablespoon dry yeast

4 Tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt

2.5 Tablespoons oil (I used sunflower oil)

3/4 cup warm water

Your favorite chocolate spread (small jar - I use anywhere from 1/2 - a full jar, depending what I have in my pantry)

1/3 -1/2 bag chocolate chips/chocolate chunks

oil for the pan

What you do:

Oil a 9 inch round baking pan or something that holds a similar amount (there are medium size - long but narrowish, not as narrow as "English cake" disposable foil pans - that work) - I used sunflower oil spray.

Place flour, yeast, sugar, and salt into the pan and mix. Make a well in the middle and add water and oil. Mix everything together with a spoon until well combined - it will be a very sticky dough. Spread it out in the pan. Scoop chocolate spread on top of the dough and then use a spatula or spoon to swirl it into the dough. Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips.

Put the cake into a cold oven and then turn the oven to 175 C. Bake for about 30 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting it!

Enjoy with coffee and please let me know if you try it out. I love to hear from you!

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Chocolate Cake (Vegan)

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My go-to cake lately is chocolate cake. And it's a super simple recipe. (And more often than not, one of my kids makes it.) And it always gets compliments. AND it's vegan!

So since several people asked about it, I'm posting it here. 

The thing about this recipe is it's deep chocolate flavor. REAL dutched cocoa is the secret. If possible, don't use any other kind. And certainly don't substitute with that weird powder Israelis call chocolate for baking. It will be all wrong, so just don't, ok? Thanks!

Vegan Chocolate Cake

This recipe makes 2 cakes - 9 inch round or 8 inch square both work. Actually, this week I made it in my 8.5 inch bread pans and it was extra moist and delicious!

3 cups flour (I used 80% whole spelt, but really any flour should work)
2/3 cups dutched cocoa powder (I get it in the shuk in Teverya, I'm sure you can find it other places too. If you live near me, you can join our group orders from the store that carries them! Be in touch!)
2 cups sugar
0.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking soda

MIX all the above together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center.

Add:
1/3 cup oil (I use sunflower oil, but use whatever you prefer)
1 cup cold coffee (plain, unsweetened, no milk, nothing whatsover added!)
1 cup cold water
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

MIX everything together until well combined. Pour batter into lined or greased and floured pans.

Optional, but highly recommended: 1/2 bag or more of chocolate chips - sprinkled on top!

Bake at 190C for about 35 minutes (test with a toothpick before declaring them done). Cool before cutting.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

 

VEGAN White Spelt and Oat Bran Challah Recipe

--- Retrieved from http://www.kosherfrugal.com/2013/06/sweet-whole-wheat-and-oat-bran-challah.html -
I change up my challah recipe sometimes, and this is our White Spelt Vegan version! It's been a hit with my family. If you make it, I'd love to hear your feedback!

White Spelt and Oat Bran Vegan Challah

1 kilo white spelt flour, sifted
2/3 cup oat bran  
1 T. salt  
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1/3 cup oil + a little more for oiling the bowl (use the oil you like for baking - I use sunflower oil)

3 1/4 cups warm water*

 *I find that the amount of water needed varies a lot - it depends on the temperature and humidity in my kitchen on a particular day, and different batches of flour behave differently

(Take challah without a bracha for this quantity)

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, oat bran, salt, sugar, and yeast)
2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add liquid ingredients. Mix well. Then knead well till you have a nice ball of dough that isn't too sticky to work with.
3. Drizzle about 1-2 teaspoons of oil into the bowl and flip the ball of dough over a couple of times, so it's coated lightly in oil. Cover and allow to rise till doubled. On warm days, this can take about 1 hour.  In the winter I set it up in the morning and forget about it until noon or so.
4. Punch down. Shape your challot. Allow to rise for about 1/2 an hour. (I usually make 3 challot out of this size batch, but it's easily doubled)

5. PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 220 C/425 F

6. Optional: brush the tops with a sugar-water mixture or oat "milk"
7. Bake for about 25-30 min at 220C (425 F) until golden.
Allow to cool before you devour them. Lately everyone likes them best when I remember to take them out of the oven at 24-25 minutes so they're just-so-slightly underbaked.

Shabbat Shalom!

Updated Recipe: Vegetarian Liver

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I'm posting an updated NUT-FREE version of this recipe, because I no longer make it the way it appeared on this blog back in 2014, due to a nut allergy.

I've been making variations of this recipe for years, and it's been a big hit with family and guests.

It IS vegetarian, so I'm sure it does not taste like REAL chopped liver, but I haven't eaten chopped liver in over 3 decades, so what do I know? It's our favorite vegetarian version, though.

I hope you'll try it out and let me know what you think!

Vegetarian Liver

1 cup water
1/2 bag frozen green beans (about 400g)
1/2 bag frozen peas (also about 400g)
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
oregano
1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Place green beans, peas, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 min.

(watch to be sure you don't boil out the water, add water if needed)

Set aside to cool.

Heat olive oil in a medium size frying pan (I usually use my cast iron pan) and saute onions and garlic with oregano flakes, until caramelized and very fragrant.

Combine peas, green beans, some of the cooking water, onion/garlic mixture, sunflower seeds, salt, and pepper in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse to puree. Add more cooking water or regular water if needed.

(If you don't have a food processor, you might want to consider getting a light duty one for the times you want to make recipes like this! Here's one to take a look at that ships from within Israel (link updated 31.1.2024 so it's valid again!).)

Transfer to a container and refrigerate before serving. Serve with cherry tomatoes, pickles, olives, and crackers!

I'd love to hear what you think of this recipe!

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Versatile Vegan Cake Recipe

This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may receive a small commission if you click on a link and make a purchase, but at no additional cost to you! Thanks for your support!

I love having simple cake recipes I can throw together in just a few minutes! Because let's face it - we're all really busy people who just want to bring yummy food to the table for our families, with minimal fuss and minimal stress, right?

This recipe is so simple, it can be mixed in the pan you're baking it in - just be sure to whisk it well! If you've been using disposable baking pans, I highly recommend this awesome set of 6 stainless steel baking pans (2 of each of 3 sizes)! They even ship (free to Israel (and other locations) with a $49 USD order. (I just bought them for Pesach for myself - for year round I had found a different deal, but this deal is so much better I just had to share!!) I'm trying really hard to use real pans instead of disposables, and lately, I have bought a LOT fewer disposable pans! Less waste and lower expense over the lifetime of a pan! Win-win, as long as I can handle washing a few more dishes. And yes, yes I CAN do that!

(Pictures here are from cakes I made before I bought new cake pans. Sorry)

Here's the cake recipe I've been making almost every week, and it is easy to adapt to different flavors (see notes at the end of the recipe).

My family is always happy to see this cake, as are my guests, and no one knows it only took a few minutes to make!

Vegan Vanilla Cake

1.5 cups flour (I use white spelt or whole spelt flour, but wheat flour should be fine)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vinegar

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup water

1/4 cup oil

If you want, you can mix this in a bowl and transfer it to a greased or lined pan, OR mix right in the baking pan according to these instructions: 

Use an 8" round cake pan/can also be square or rectangular - it works perfectly in the smallest of the pans in the set mentioned above. Mix together dry ingredients (with a fork) right in your baking pan. Push the dry ingredients toward the outer edges of the pan, pour the wet ingredients into the middle and mix gently but thoroughly (gently so you don't make a mess) - best to use a whisk but you can use a fork. Once it's all combined, smooth it out, add in whatever add-ins you want (use a spatula to gently fold them in) and you're ready to bake the cake!

Bake at 190 C for about 50-60 min.

Variations:

- Leave out vanilla and use 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, and 1/4 tsp cloves for a Spice Cake

- Add 2 mashed bananas and 1 cup of chocolate chips for Banana-Chocolate Chip Cake

- Make a cinnamon streusel topping (I combine half a cup of flour with half a cup of sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 2 Tablespoons of sunflower oil) and swirl it into the batter for a Cinnamon Coffee Cake

- Swirl cherry jam into the batter for a Cherry Cake

- Add 1/3 cup of cocoa powder to the batter to make chocolate cake. Top with chocolate frosting if you're so inclined! I sometimes just break apart a bar of chocolate and leave it to melt on the still-warm cake, then spread it around with a silicone spatula. It makes a great chocolate "icing"/

I love making this cake because it checks all my boxes: 

EASY

INEXPENSIVE

ALLERGY FRIENDLY (no dairy, eggs, or nuts!)

IT DOUBLES EASILY to make a larger cake for a crowd (use a lasagna size pan, or the largest pan of the set I mentioned above!)

YUMMY

I hope you love this cake recipe as much as I do!

Please share this post with your super busy friends who still want to cook from scratch! I know it's counter-culture but there are people out there who like to cook from scratch and take shortcuts! I can't possibly be the only one!

Banana Coconut Bread (with a twist of lime) - "Tropical Coffee Cake" (Vegan)

I made a last minute banana bread on Friday, but I didn't have much sifted flour left on hand, and I had a LOT of mushy bananas (note to self: stop buying too many bananas!).

I also had a lot of limes. Our lime tree has been giving us SO many limes!

(But the lemon tree. Don't ask me about the lemon tree! It's got about 3 lemons on it. What a stingy lemon tree - the lime tree is way more generous.)

So, I decided it would be banana with coconut and lime. And I am a fan. The kids seemed to like it, too - they pretty much polished off this cake without leaving any for me.

Here's what I did:

Banana Coconut Bread, with a twist of lime

3-4 overripe bananas, mashed well
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. oil
1 T. chia seeds
2/3 c. water

juice of 1 lime
1 cup flour
1.5  c. shredded coconut                                                                       
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
 

First combine all the wet ingredients, and then mix in the dry ingredients.

Pour into a loaf pan and bake at 180 C for about 1 hr.

You can make muffins instead if you like, use a greased muffin tin or paper liners, and bake for about 30 minutes.

This is a pretty dense loaf, though! So - keep that in mind.

It went well with my coffee! I'll call it my "Tropical Coffee Cake"!

Enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Squares

I baked some cookies. I mean cookie bars. Chocolate chip squares. Whatever name you prefer.

The kind of thing you bake when you need cookies around the house but you don't have any intention of actually taking the time to shape cookies...

Do I need an excuse about why? I don't think I do! After all, we all have the same excuse. It's the middle of a global pandemic. I needed cheering up. There were no snacks on hand.

See, I have plenty of excuses!

Anyhow I just wanted to share some virtual cookies with all of you!

Enjoy!

These are vegan.

Recipe:

2 T. chia seed, soaked in 2/3 cup water

1/2 cup oil

1.5 cups demarrara sugar (what I had on hand, use the sugar you prefer)

splash of vanilla extract

2 cups white spelt flour

dash of salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 bag mini chocolate chips

I mixed it all together in a big bowl, chocolate chips at the end, and spread it out on a large cookie sheet.

Baked at 180 C for about 20 minutes, it could have been a bit more. 

I'm really not a scientist, sorry.

Cut into squares, and eat them... probably best to share them with your family! 

(Great with coffee!)

Catch ya later!

Recipe: Pesach Brownies (GF, Pareve)

What is Pesach without brownies?
I mean, this year we are all home in our houses, no guests, and feeling a little out of sorts... It's a very different experience that Pesachs past. (I'm sure one day we'll tell our grandkids about the Pandemic Pesach of 2020, right?) So we needed something to jazz up our day - and I decided it would be a new brownie recipe!

I know that we are the lucky ones, we're not alone - there are six of us living in this house. So there's always someone to talk to when you don't want to feel alone. On the other hand, there's also always someone right there - even when you need some space! I'm sure you understand.

Anyway, brownies have always been a favorite in this house, so for the chag, we had brownies for dessert to help make sure everyone was feeling the holiday cheer! And they were a hit, so I'm sharing the latest variation with you.

Pesach Brownies (gluten free, non-gebrokts, pareve)

4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp pesach vanilla (optional)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup potato starch
1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Optional: chocolate frosting (I used part of a jar of pareve chocolate spread) or chocolate chips to mix in to the batter

Mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. In a second bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the wet mix. Mix well with a wooden spoon. If you want to use one bowl, you can, but you'll probably find this needs to be mixed with an electric mixer, rather than a wooden spoon. (Optional: mix in 1/2 package of chocolate chips)

Pour into a large pan (I used a lasagna size pan), and bake at 180 C for about 25 min. I actually baked these in my "Shabbat mode" oven on 140 C (the highest I can leave it on Shabbat mode. I know, that's very strange, but that is what it is) for about 35 or 40 minutes, and it was perfect. But not everyone leaves the baking for the chag, so if you're baking on a weekday, go ahead and bake it at 180 C for 25 min!

Allow to cool before frosting.

Cut. Serve.

YUM. Chocolate craving solved.

Hope you are managing this Pesach, and please know that you're not alone, we're really all in this together. Hang in there!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Bar Cookies with Chocolate (Recipe)

Cookies.

When you're more or less living in lockdown (as we're all doing right now due to the pandemic), sometimes you just need some cookies!

And personally, I can't get enough of these peanut butter and chocolate creations - and the recipe is super simple so ... well, let's just say I've been making them a little too often!

So, for those of you who've been asking as well as those of you who didn't know to ask, here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Bar Cookies with Chocolate Topping

Cookie bars:
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup Demerara sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir everything together with a wooden spoon until well combined. Spread out in a large pan (9x13 or so). It will be relatively thin and that's all good.
Bake at 180 C for 20-22 minutes. Turn off oven.

Topping:
1 bar bittersweet chocolate. If you want it extra chocolate-y, use 2 bars. You could totally do this with milk chocolate if you prefer, but I like to keep my baking pareve (dairy allergy!)!

Break the bar up and put it on top of the baked cookie layer (uncut). Return the pan to your still-warm (but off) oven. Leave it in the warm oven for about 8-10 min. Remove from oven when the chocolate is warm and spreadable. Use a silicone spatula to spread the chocolate evenly on top of the cookie layer. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into cookie bars.

Cool further before you eat them.

Enjoy!

Please tag me on Instagram (@kosher_frugal) or FB (@kosherfrugalmenus) if you make them!

Potato Kugel!

I'm reposting this recipe, as it's one I make almost every single week. For those of you who think we are boring eating potato kugel every week - we're not! Our house is hopping! And we are innovative, and try out new things all the time! We just happen to associate the taste of a perfect potato kugel with a happy Shabbat, so we make it, time and again.

THIS is the perfect Potato Kugel recipe. I guarantee it will be a hit!

Enjoy!

Potato Kugel

about 1.5 kg of potatoes (8-10 medium size) - I use the lightest skinned ones I can find here, in the States, I used Yukon Gold. -- scrubbed clean, not peeled.
1 large onion
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil)
.5 - 1.5 T. salt (please adjust to your preference!)
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C)

Scrub the potatoes.

Fit your food processor with the bottom blade AND the shredding disk. In mine, this means that my end result will be partially pureed and partially shredded. If yours works differently -- use the shredding disk, then change to the bottom blade and puree about 1/3 of the potato/onion mixture.


In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil and seasonings together.

Feed your food processor the onion first, then the potatoes. My bowl isn't big enough, so I do this half at a time, including half an onion with each batch. the pureed onion helps keep the potatoes from oxidizing.



Add the onion and potato mixture to the egg and oil mixture. Mix well to combine.


Pour into a DEEP pan. The trick to this potato kugel is its depth. It does NOT work in a shallow pan. I use a lasagna size disposable pan because I haven't managed to fully stock my kitchen with all the baking pans I want.

Edited to add: I use a foil pan that is 32cm X 26 cm according to the label on the package (5.5 mm depth). Hope that helps!



Place kugel in hot oven. After 25-30 min, lower the temp to 350 F (175 C), and bake for another 30-40 min. Watch to make sure you don't burn the top.

And that is it.
No peeling, no draining, no straining, no adding in just the right amount of starch... 

AND it's perfect for all year round, including Pesach!

Please let me know if you try it. I'd love to hear what you think!

Spicy Lentil Sauce Recipe (Vegan)

I'm always looking for new ways to make quick and easy and healthy weekday meals.
And we all know that rice and legumes is the most frugal way to feed a family, almost anywhere in the world!

So with that in mind, and armed with the knowledge that my family doesn't love their foods pre-mixed for them - they prefer to mix it themselves (or not) - I started serving rice bowls.

That is, rice, and things to go on top of the rice. Because this way, everyone can choose how much of each thing they want to mix into their bowl. Or they can choose to eat each thing separately on a plate. And I don't have to spend any more energy thinking about whether this one eats onions but that one doesn't, and that one eats dairy, but this one doesn't...

So this spicy sauce worked really well with long grain brown rice and roasted veggies (yes, I roasted each vegetable in its own pan, to keep the everything "clean"). I filled up my rice bowl with rice and roasted veggies and then ladeled this on top, and it was just right!

So here's my spicy lentil sauce:

1 cup lentils (picked over and rinsed)
3 cups water
lots of sliced or diced garlic
harissa (hot pepper sauce I buy in a can) to taste
tomato paste (I used about 100g)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
black pepper to taste
salt to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper powder

Cook the lentils with the water and the garlic till soft.
Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing well.
Simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
Serve hot!

picture taken with my junky phone, sorry

Gluten Free "Bread" Experiment

I was asked to make sure I have a bread substitute for this Shabbat for someone eating here who has recently gone gluten free and is not so happy about it.

Gluten Free breads tend to be very pricey in my neck of the woods, so I figured I should save a bunch of money making my own! But I didn't want to spend a lot of time patchey-ing, and I didn't want to use starch and xanthum gum to figure something out...

So I thought back to that Techina Bread that made the rounds one Pesach in the not-so-distant past, and that I had made using cashew butter for Pesach (as we are not kitniyot eaters). I remembered it being slightly more cake-like than bread-like, so I decided to tweak it a bit. No, this is not a real bread that you can make "hamotzi" on, but I think anyone who really cannot eat gluten doesn't need to make hamotzi, so it's ok (that's my understanding, but I'm not giving you a halachic psak - check with your halachic authority).

The Techina bread recipe calls for eggs, techina, honey, and baking soda. That's it! Hoping to make it a bit more like a hearty, whole grain bread, I changed things up a bit.

Here's my version:

4 eggs
1/2 cup techina
2 tablespoons silan
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp flaxseed
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp sesame seeds (+ more for topping, if you want)
pinch of salt

Mix together eggs, techina, silan, salt, and baking soda - mix well with a whisk until thoroughly combined and batter thickens slightly. Fold in seeds.
Fill greased baking pan(s) - I used 3 mini loaf pans, but it can certainly be made in 1 loaf pan for one loaf
 - and sprinkle extra sesame seeds on top (optional).

Bake 25-35 min at 180 C (about 360 degrees F) It turned a rich golden-brown color, and resembles a whole grain bread (at least that!)!

Hoping it goes over well! I nibbled one and it's definitely less cake-like than my last experiment! I liked it! Hoping my picky "customer" enjoys it too!

Let me know if you give it a try!

Gluten Free Vegan Cholent (pareve)

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I modified my black bean cholent to make a GF (gluten-free) version! It was a hit among those guests who needed a vegetarian, gluten free option, and all the others here were happy to eat it as well! So now, it's easy to serve a vegetarian, gluten free cholent to all!

Here's the way I make it - feel free to play around with the recipe!

Gluten Free Vegan Cholent 
(I use a slow cooker with approx. 6L capacity, a.k.a. "crock pot")

2 large onions, chopped coarsely
6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
4-6 medium sized potatoes, cut into chunks
500g raw (green) buckwheat, soaked in cold water for a couple of hours, drained, and rinsed
1-1/5 cups dry black beans,  soaked (overnight), drained, and rinsed (can also use a can of cooked black beans, drained and rinsed)
spices: salt or smoked sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika if you don't have smoked sea salt - be generous with the seasonings!
water to fill the pot

Place everything in the slow cooker and let the pot do its magic! I fill my slow cooker about 2-3 hours before Shabbat, and we eat the cholent at lunch in the late morning.

If you want, just before Shabbat starts, add frozen vegan kishke to the pot. You'll have to modify the recipe by substituting the oat bran with a GF mix of something like corn meal and rice flour, or quinoa flour. This is the perfect Shabbat morning cholent accompaniment! 

Note the "slow cooker" links in this post take you to a 220V version. If you are in the USA and want a 110V version, click here!

GF Noodle Kugel (pareve)

Lately, we've been doing a lot of Shabbat hosting - every week we find ourselves with a houseful of guests! It's really amazing to do this, and reminds us that we have a direct line to the tradition of hosting, passed down from Avraham and Sarah...

I won't lie and say it is simple, though. It's a lot of work to host all the time, so I decided to try to streamline my cooking -- I found I was getting overwhelmed -- even more than before. And I think I've done it! Shabbat prep isn't quite as overwhelming as it used to be (granted, some of this is related to the fact that it's Summer, and Shabbat starts late, but I'm trying to convince myself that it's more than that!)!

One of the things that I have begun to do is make several kugels in multiples (and I do this on Thursday) - so all of our side dishes Friday night and Shabbat morning are actually identical.

Most weeks I make 4-6 kugels, but it's not that much work.

Here's one of my new go-to recipes, because it's so easy, and works for almost everyone's food issues (but not vegans, sorry) and is not expensive at all to make. I also take shortcuts and don't make lots of dirty dishes in the process.

noodle kugel, not yet baked

GF Noodle Kugel (makes 1 large pan or 2 small pans)

1 package of thin rice noodles
5 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 Tablespoon salt
pepper to taste 
(1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar, optional)
(1/4 cup raisins, optional)

Boil a pot of water and cook rice noodles. I tend to undercook them and then turn off the fire to let them finish absorbing the water in the pot.
Allow noodles to cool somewhat (do something else while waiting - it's enough time for me to chop some veggies or check Facebook...).

Then I do the rest of the prep RIGHT IN THE POT so I minimize the dirty dishes I've got piling up in the sink!

Add the rest of the ingredients to the rice noodles, stir with a wooden spoon. When fully mixed, transfer to baking pan(s).
Bake at 200 C for about 1 hr.

That's it! It's so easy, and everyone seems to enjoy it!

Price breakdown: 
Rice noodles - 5-8nis. (Depending where I buy them. Obviously I prefer to get them for 5, but that's not always an option.)
Eggs - just under 5nis
oil - 1nis perhaps
seasonings - minimal, let's round up to 1nis
if you use raisins, add a few shekels to the cost.
(Baking time in the oven -- costs a bit too)
Total: less than 20nis (12 - 15 for basic ingredients)!!

The other kugels I make are usually Potato Kugel, and Vegetable Kugel. All are big hits among kugel eaters. The thing about kugels are they are totally comfort food for many of us...

Then I add random other things to the menu: Usually roasted whole chickens or cut up chickens (spicy or with date honey, depending on my mood) for Friday night, and Cholent and Spicy Chicken Breast for Lunch. And salads, using the abundance of cheap veggies available! If I get enough requests, I'll make soup for Friday night, too, but right now, its so hot I think it's fine to skip it!

For dessert, I have been keeping watermelon on hand, and if there's enough time, I'll bake a couple of cakes.

What are your favorite, EASY crowd-pleasers for Shabbat?

Updated Pesach Brownie Recipe (gluten free, pareve)

Brownies are a pesach staple in my house. There seems to always be a pan of them waiting for someone to inhale.

Here's how we make them:

(This makes 3 smallish square brownie pans if you like them thin. You could make them thicker and do 2 pans. All of my Pesach recipes are "for a crowd" - my apologies to those who don't cook in large quantity. Feel free to adjust as needed.)

6 eggs, beaten
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Mix well.
Add:
1.5 cups cocoa powder
1 cup potato starch
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
chocolate chips (I used half a bag because I'm careful with my chocolate chips)
nuts if you like (I make them without nuts.)
 
Mix well, with a wooden spoon.
Pour into baking pans and bake at 325 F (165 C) for 20-25 min
Enjoy!
 
Note: this recipe needs some adjusting if you are doing higher altitude baking. I developed it when I lived more or less at sea level. Now that we're a bit higher up, I bake it for less time.

If you like this, please be sure to stay in touch by following my blog and find me on Facebook!

Sweet Potato and Carmelized Onion Kugel (GF, Pesach friendly, pareve) Recipe

Here's a really yummy way to use those sweet potatoes! I don't know about you, but I got some sweet potatoes this week for less than 4 shekels/kilo! That means a lot of yummy orange foods on our table. 

While I really love spicy roasted sweet potatoes and even sweet potato muffins, sometimes I find myself relying on the good ol' kugel to coax my family into eating their veggies - somehow the act of turning a vegetable into a kugel makes my children less attuned to their vegetable-ness...

So here's our Pesach friendly, gluten-free, pareve sweet potato kugel recipe!

my sweet potato pile

Sweet Potato and Carmelized Onion Kugel

2 LARGE sweet potatoes, diced and steamed (I use a steamer basket in a pot on the stove)

2 LARGE onions, sliced or diced, cooked in a heavy pan (I used my cast iron pan, my favorite) with olive oil till they begin to carmelize.

4 eggs
1 cup non-dairy "milk", like coconut milk, soymilk, almond milk or whatever you prefer
1/2 cup water mixed with 2 tablespoons of potato starch.
fresh basil (lots) - torn into pieces
salt and pepper to taste


 

First spread the sweet potato out, covering the bottom of the pan. Then, layer the carmelized onions on top of the sweet potatoes.

Mix the eggs, non dairy milk, water and potato starch mixture, and seasonings together. (mix very well)

Pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes and onions.

Bake for about 1 hour at 425 F. 
This kugel is best served warm, but it's decent when cold, too.

Enjoy!

Let me know what you think!