Baked With Passion

Baharat Spices This is a lamb and rice dish that is both mouth-watering and finger-licking! It is simply delicious, sublime! And SO easy and fast to prepare!  It is also economical—yes, indeed, it will not break the bank: the main ingredients are meat and rice. At my children’s request, Mensef became part of my weekly culinary repertoire as soon as our family tasted it. It was Assaf and Noa, our dear Israeli friends, who introduced us to Mensef one autumn afternoon, when they cooked us a lovely dinner. I remember savoring the warm cheese pockets Assaf brought to the table right from the oven, his small apartment just wafting with the delightful aromas of a busy French bakery. My daughter’s favorite was the eggplant salad. This version of Baba Ghanoush- was beautifully decorated with fresh pomegranate seeds and crunchy, verdant mint leaves. It tasted like heaven: welcoming and refreshing. But the piece de resistance , the masterpiece that night, was by far the lamb and ric...

Sweet Chia-Cardamom Bark A good friend of mine, who is a firm believer in healthy food/nutrition, sent me an interesting cracker recipe to try, the other day: no grains (flours), just seeds. Although her multi-seed crackers recipe, entitled I Can’t Give Up Crackers , is savory, the recipe below is a sweet counterpart to this easy to make, healthy, wonderfully delicious crispy cracker—that I called bark. Thanks Alex, for inspiring me to come up with this! The original savory recipe called for pumpkin seeds, which I did not have in my pantry.   Nevertheless, I really wanted to try this cracker recipe! A few tweaks later, (which involved some ingredient substituting), my sweet bark was born.   Enjoy this flavorful cracker with a touch of your favorite nut butter, as the perfect accompaniment to your morning tea or coffee. Savor it as a mid-day snack, with a touch of Brie and fig or raspberry jam! Or love it any time of the day, as a mini decadent desert, spread with...

     Yesterday I finally found an old recipe of a Hungarian walnut cake that my friend's mother shared with my husband, years ago. Yes, that is right, I did say my husband! We tasted this delicious nutty and chocolaty, flour-less cake, about five years ago. My lovely hubby loved it so much, that he felt compelled to ask for the recipe. More recently, we licked our lips once again, as Buni spoiled us all with her SUMEGHE.  Thank you Buni, and Ramona, for all your wonderful recipes, and for all the good times we shared in your great company, with amazing food and exquisite desserts!  Here's my version of Buni's delicious Sumeghe, with some modifications. For one, I used ground almonds, instead of walnuts.  I also used brown instead of white sugar. Finally, I adjusted both the cake batter, and the chocolate cream by adding almond extract to the first, and vanilla extract to the latter. I call it Chocolate Almond Meringue because that's what it ...

Hello world! I am finally posting my first recipe. I am a baker, all right, but this is a smoothie one of my daughters literally whipped up one rainy afternoon, to satisfy both her thirst and hunger after a hard day's work. I walked in the kitchen when she was pouring the yummy concoction into two glasses--one for her, and the other for her sister.  Since the original recipe has milk, and I am lactose intolerant, I decided to mix my own frulato (smoothie in Italian). Here's  my take on the  Spur of the Moment Rejuvenating Protein Packed Chocolate Smoothie that came to be, all thanks to my bright, savvy, ingenious daughter. I will also include my daughter's original smoothie, following  my "healthier", modified version. Mix the following into a high-speed blender: (Serves 2) ~1 banana ~2 Tbsp unsweetened cacao powder ~2 Tbs Amazing Grass Outrageous Chocolate Kidz Superfood (Shake mix with greens, fruits, veggies and pre and probiotics) ~2 Tbs Amazing Gra...