I am a cookbook junkie – so what recipe will I serve up this week?

In an effort to provide full disclosure, I must admit that I am a cookbook junkie.  I cannot pass a cookbook without picking it up, flipping through it and of course, buying it. The older the cookbook, the crazier the recipes, the better! 

My favorite haunt for buying cookbooks is my favorite second-hand book store in Tel Aviv: Halper's Books http://www.halpersbooks.com/.  It is here that I have bought a bizarre range of cookbooks from Chinese to Japanese to author-signed editions of Italian cookbooks to the Soparano cookbooks – (both The Soprano's Family Cookbook and Entertaining with the Sopranos and bought brand new, by the way), vintage cookbooks from the 1930s with black and white photos of good wives in frilly aprons and information on how to be a 'good hostess' and books with personalized inscriptions from mothers to daughters. 

I have been told that I have the largest collection of tref cookbooks found in a frum home in the entire Middle East - but of course that is another story.

My cookbook habit has gotten so bad that I have begun to buy cookbooks in languages I can barely read, just because I enjoy the pictures and can brag about my habit.  Case in point is a German-language Polish Jewish cookbook, Küche Der Polinschen Juden, replete with staged scenes of Jewish life with obviously gentile actors in fake beards published in Warsaw.

When Sid and I began our WW journey in November 2013, I began an additional journey through all my cookbooks and recipe files and recipe cards looking for points-friendly recipes and cooking methods that would lend themselves to our new lifestyle.  I found nothing satisfying: no endless supply of kosher recipes, no real cooking and meal preparation tips and hints and no interesting variety.

I quickly came to the realization that I needed to create my own library of recipes.  Each week I hope to answer that need with a new recipe and also tips and hints that have worked for us.

This week's tip: Perhaps one of the single most basic tenets of the WW way of eating is PORTION CONTROL and being aware of what we put into our mouths.

For us portion control began with measuring portions – yes I now measure tablespoon portions onto a plate, instead of ladle spoon portions.  Portion control has also given new meaning to that old saying: "chew your food".  As someone who loved to eat, I never realized how important chewing your food is.  I now enjoy what I eat – because I can actually TASTE it.  When I feel myself hurrying up, I set down my fork and take a sip or two or three of water and then begin again.

I know this also helps you know when you are full, but that was secondary for me.

For me it all began with chicken.  I always hear that just about everything on earth, from snake to ant, tastes "like chicken", so let's talk chicken. 

By the way, in our house "chicken" is the hind quarter thigh and pulka (for the innocent: chicken leg).  I do use chicken breasts but that's another blog article.  We brought up our kids on thighs and pulkas and all they could assume is that a live chicken had a head and six hind quarters. This is a BIG mistake!  If you are just starting your family make sure your kids get used to eating chicken breasts, especially if you like the thighs.  Believe me buying whole chickens is much cheaper!

I must admit to everyone that one of the HARDEST things for me to give up was the skin of the chicken thigh.  I love it.  I loved it and will probably always love it.  The first week I cooked WW-style, I cooked the chicken with the skin and then removed it before I ate it.  I am pretty sure I heard the angels in heaven cry. 

By the second week I was removing the skin and fat from the chicken and have done so religiously ever since. (Now aren't I a good girl?)

To be fair I stopped pouring heavy sauces on chicken many years ago.  I believe in cooking chicken "au naturale"; just good virgin olive oil and fresh spices.  The problem was that I stopped using just a sprinkling of olive oil and added way, way, way too much oil! (Sin #1 the use of too much olive oil: now expunged.)

As I said, I now remove the skin and underlying fat from the chicken quarter before I cook it. 

Yochi's Chicken and Vegetables

Yochi's Chicken and Vegetables (the pasta is points-friendly and the recipe will be found in a future article)

How to cook chicken in the oven: 

Ingredients:

·        Roasting pan, large enough to comfortably hold the desired quantity of chicken and vegetables without stuffing the pan

·        Parchment paper to line the pan

·        Chicken thighs and legs (in quarters or eights)

·        PAM

·        Any spices that you fancy: such as freshly ground pepper, good quality paprika, garlic powder, a touch of ginger, as well as fresh parsley, basil and the like (I rarely add salt, koshered chicken has enough salt on its own)

·        Hearty root vegetables sliced thickly: butternut squash, carrots, pumpkin and in moderation: potatoes and sweet potatoes (I don't add them)

·        Soft vegetables (nearly any vegetable you fancy), including onions, mushrooms, garlic cloves, quartered cabbage, broccoli and more

How to work:

1.   When cooking chicken in the oven you must be very, very careful not to dry it out.  The best method to prevent dried out chicken is to spray the chicken with PAM (my new best friend) and add just a sprinkling of spices and WATCH your chicken.  The spices can be anything from fresh cracked pepper to good quality Hungarian paprika and freshly chopped parsley or basil. 

2.   A great way to improve the taste of chicken is to first line the roasting pan with vegetables and then place the raw chicken on top.  When working with this method, first place a sheet or two of parchment paper in your pan and then select hearty root vegetables that can be cut into "nice" chunks or thickly sliced and will cook roughly for the same length of time it takes the chicken to cook, without falling apart.  These vegetables include: butternut squash (more on this vegetable in later articles), carrots and thickly sliced pumpkin and the like.  I have given up potatoes and sweet potatoes (and I know there is no reason to, it is just better for ME), but they can be added in moderation as well. Spray everything with PAM and then you can sprinkle on any spices you wish.

3.   Bake in a preheated oven to 180°C for about  40-45 minutes.  Cooking time may vary according to oven, roasting pan material (glass or metal) and thickness of chicken. Begin checking the chicken after about 30 minutes.

4.   About half way through the cooking time (the chicken is just beginning to change from white to slightly golden) you can add the soft vegetables, such as onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic cloves, quartered cabbage and more.  Place these vegetables all around the pan.  You can even place some carefully underneath the chicken.  You can also give another spritz of PAM and move the vegetables around a bit to make sure they all get their fair share of the chicken juices and spices.

Hints and Tips:

·        I strongly recommend that you do not add eggplant slices as these have a nasty habit of turning bitter during the baking process.  I will discuss the best way to work with eggplants in future articles. 

·        You notice that I did not talk about "covering the chicken" – I don't or rarely ever cover this kind of chicken during the cooking process.  The caveat is that so long as I am staying in the kitchen during the cooking process, I don't cover my chicken.

If I am throwing the chicken in the oven and going off to do more important jobs like saving the world; then I will cover the chicken from the onset and set the oven to shut off 5-10 minutes before the chicken will be done and allow the chicken to continue cooking in the hot oven. 

Obviously once the chicken is done, I do cover the chicken and refrigerate it.

·        I think that just about everyone knows how to tell when chicken is "done", but just to make sure: chicken is properly baked and cooked when a fork inserted into the thickest part of the thigh causes clear juices (not red or pink juices) to flow from the chicken.

·        Having said this, if you are going to be reheating your chicken on Shabbat (on a blech or a platta), I suggest you take your chicken immediately out of the oven once it is done.  Leaving the done chicken in a hot oven (even if it is shut off) will cause the chicken to start to dry out.

I want to tell you that cooking for our "new" lifestyle requires a bit more effort and requires a bit more time (when I started out it took A LOT more time) and requires more attention and thought, but it is WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF THE EXTRA TIME.

Just Look at the Calendar!

Well it's official: Pesach is over, the summer is almost here, wedding season is just around the corner and all that means is: it is time to make a change.  A change in our eating habits.  I will not use the "d" word (d-i-e-t), at least I will try.   

My husband, Sid, and I successfully lost weight through Weight Watchers.  On the WW system we lost a combined weight of 35 kilo. Saying it in pounds is even more impressive: we lost 78.4 pounds. – wow that is a lot! 

I believe that our success was the result of two very important factors: (1) working together and (2) changing our diet.   

As soon as we began WW, I realized that I needed recipes; lots and lots of recipes to help me (us) change our eating habits.  I found nothing of interest on WW sites and nothing that answered my kosher recipe needs.  It was then I decided I had to create or perhaps, recreate my favorite recipes and 'give birth' to new ones, to fit our new lifestyle.  I began to experiment with recipes and ingredients and started to record and photograph my culinary successes.   

I have to tell you at the onset that I need to always have new and interesting dishes to cook and serve.  I cannot have the same dish every day or week.  My new recipe file grew and with it my appetite (sad pun intended) for even more dishes.

As a dedicated blogger, I decided to start this blog for kosher, points-friendly recipes, hints, tips and stories that will help and inspire others.

Each week I will publish a new recipe and photo. I will not give you the WW points value, as you can easily calculate that yourselves. I will also share with you our thoughts and feelings as we took this journey.  

If you have any questions, suggestions and thoughts, please feel free to share them on this blog and on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/yochi.eisner

I look forward to taking this journey with y'all.

And now for the first recipe.  There is a tradition that when a child begins to learn to read the Hebrew alphabet, each letter is traced in honey so that she/he can touch the letter and taste the sweetness of its meaning. I am also going to start this blog with a sweet recipe: my favorite Orange Vanilla Cake. 

Yochi's points-friendly Orange Vanilla Cake

 

Yochi's Orange Vanilla Cake

Baking tips:

1.   Substitute a sugar substitute, which can be measured like regular sugar and can be used in baking, for regular sugar. This cake will be sweeter than the "regular", non points-friendly version.

2.   Substitute applesauce for oil to reduce points.

3.   As applesauce is thicker than oil, you need to add a little more liquid than you are used to into the cake batter.

4.   Until the egg white stage, mix all ingredients very well, as the whole wheat flour tends to be thicker than the bleached white flour version.

5.   To ensure a light cake always whip the egg whites and then gently fold them into the cake.

6.   Ensure that you have all the ingredients before you begin! 

7.   I bake this recipe in a round Bundt cake pan, sprayed with PAM.

Ingredients:

·        1 cup whole wheat flour

·        1 teaspoon baking soda

·        1 teaspoon baking powder

·        1 teaspoon salt

·        1 1/2 cups sugar substitute

·        200 grams applesauce

·        1 1/2 cups orange juice with pulp

·        Grated peel of 2-3 oranges

·        3-4 teaspoons of vanilla extract

·        1 whole egg

·        4 egg whites

·        PAM spray

 What to do:

·        In a large bowl mix dry ingredients and then add applesauce.  I try to find sugar-free or low-sugar applesauce, but I am not always successful.  There is barely any difference in the final points value between the two applesauces. 

·        Squeeze enough oranges to make one and a half cups of orange juice.  Pour the orange juice into the batter (I like to add the pulp left at the bottom of the juicer) and mix.

·        Next add the vanilla extract.  I like to really taste the vanilla, so I usually add a bit more of the extract.  Vary the amount of extract you use each time you make this cake, until you find the best flavor for your pallet. 

·        Next add the whole egg. Make sure all ingredients are mixed very well, as the whole wheat flour tends to easily stick to the bottom of the bowl.

·        In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they are stiff (usually you will quadruple the original volume of the egg whites) and then gently fold them into the mix.  This step is key to creating a light textured cake.

·        Spray a round Bundt cake pan with PAM.

·        Pour the mixture into the cake pan.  The cake should fill the pan until almost the very top.

·        Bake in a preheated oven to 180°C for about 40 minutes.  Baking time may vary according to oven, baking pan thickness and season, so check the cake after about 30 minutes of baking.  The top should be golden brown and the cake should be firm but springy.  The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

·        I do not invert the cake and remove it from the pan, but rather cut slices as needed.

Portion size:

I cut 8-10 slices from my Bundt pan for a very points-friendly dessert.

 

How to store:

Always store this is cake covered in the fridge. 

Try my recipe this Shabbat and share with us how it turned out.  Stay tuned for more recipes and hints and tips next week...