Eggs at the Coffee Table

I was having rough morning. Who am I kidding... I had been having a rough couple of weeks. Nugget has been cutting two top teeth and two top molars for what feels like 52 years. It's been a drooling, crying, waking up at 3am nightmare around this house. But Sunday was bad. I woke up after not much sleep with a crick in my neck so painful that I couldn't move my head. Uh great. That's super helpful when you are the only parent on that day and have a 23 pound wiggly toddler for which to care.Magically that moment my mom called. I kvetched and complained and she told me that I just needed to go with the flow, that day especially. We were FaceTiming and nugget was refusing to eat the egg I cooked for him for breakfast. She said, "get him something you know he will eat." When he refused to eat even his favorite Mini Club Crackers, she said "eh, don't worry about it! Try again later. In fact, put it on a plate on the coffee table and let him graze."And you know what? She was right. My mommy was right. She reminded me that no matter my agenda for my toddler, to some extent he is going to make his own and while I can fight the good fight most days, some days I get to just go with the flow.So I put our EzPz mini mat on the coffee table, loaded it up with scrambled eggs and some crackers, got him a sippy of milk and made a nice buffet for him. We decided that THAT DAY, eating wasn't going to be a struggle and it wasn't. Low and behold, he came over and started grazing. Not how I want every meal to go but it worked! We had a nice flow that morning and when he went down for his first nap, I was able to take a nice steam shower (another mommy recommendation... instead of washing the dishes or doing laundry) which helped my neck tremendously.I guess what I am trying to say is... every now and then we need our mommy to remind us that it's ok to eat eggs at the coffee table. :)

Homemade Turkey Meatballs For Baby

Our food journey has been really challenging with the nugget. He's struggled with prolonged vomiting and now has some trauma around eating. Except carbs. He loves his carbs.This summer he was pounding yogurt and milk and eating his weight in puffs, crackers, and all manner of bread products. He was refusing anything else I offered him in the fruit and veg families, with the notable exception of bananas... the great binder of the fruit family.I think you know where this is going... We had so many mornings of horrible crying and so much pain and pushing because now... we were constipated. That poor guy! He just can't get it together. Everyone had suggestions but with a toddler attitude and the traumatic memory around eating (three weeks of vomiting when you eat will do that to you... anyone remember tequila and college? Or Captain Morgan's... omg just thinking of that makes me a little queasy...) we were getting nowhere. He was open to prune pouches but they weren't totally doing the job. A friend and I were talking about sneaking veg into meatballs so I decided... it was time.I looked up a number of recipes and decided on this one as our base recipe with some modifications from other recipes I saw online. Honestly, you can use any summer squash you are growing or find at the grocery store. Pattypan, calabacita, zucchini, yellow squash. You will find zucchini and yellow squash nearly year round at your grocery store... I recommend buying it frozen if it is not in season (aka not in the summer). Frozen veggies are amazing in that they are picked at the peak of freshness and flash frozen. I prefer buying them if something is out of season. Plus they are SO cheap!Nugs Homemade Turkey and Secret Veggie Meatballs -

• 16oz of lean ground turkey
• 1 carrot (peeled and grated... or just washed and grated...)
• 1 small zucchini (peeled and grated)
• 1 small yellow squash (peeled and grated)
• 1/2 cup Wheat Germ
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt (or split it up, garlic and salt)
• 1 teaspoon of onion powder (if you want)
• 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper (if you want)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees (F, of course). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper... if you don't have parchment paper (which I didn't), you can use foil but for the love of all that is holy OIL THE FOIL! (haha... oil the foil...) These guys stick to the pan.Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with your hands. The recipe I linked to had a really good instruction for this part... don't over mix it, it will make the meatballs tough).Form your meatball and place on the tray. If you are a 'rule follower' you can use a tablespoon scoop or you can make them your own size. I did a bunch of small ones for nugs and some bigger ones for our dinner. The original recipe says you will get 48 but I got less.Put them on the baking sheet (NOT TOUCHING) and bake for 20 minutes.---These were delicious and even my husband enjoyed eating them. It's a great way to sneak in veggies and they freeze/defrost really well.Share your comments, pictures, and variations below! 

Homemade Beans & Rice

My little guy is about as brand loyal as one year olds get! When it comes to food, he's pretty much obsessed with the Plum Organics pouches. And of these pouches, his absolute favorite is the Plum World Baby Mexico pouch. The ingredients are beans and rice with sweet corn, red bell pepper, cilantro and lime. Pretty fancy for baby food, eh?Well at $1.30+ per pouch I thought, maybe I can make a close approximation for the nugget for less per serving. I found these recipes online and thought I could use the ingredients from the Plum pouch and the quantities from the recipe to make something that nugget enjoys. I really just tossed things in and we got a pretty good end result. No great pictures of nugs eating it but here's my guesstimate recipe and some pictures of the mixture.Nugs Homemade Beans and Rice pouch -

• 1 cup organic brown rice
• 1/2 a red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup of frozen sweet corn
• 1 can organic black beans
• Handful of fresh cilantro
• 1/2 a lime, juiced
• Water (as needed)

Prep the rice as you normally would (and if you are as hopeless as I am at cooking rice, here are some tips).Saute or bake the bell pepper until soft and defrost the corn.Combine it all (rice, pepper, corn, beans, cilantro, lime) and puree. Slowly add water as needed to smooth it out. You could also use chicken or vegetable stock, formula, breast milk... whatever liquid you want.The liquid is where I went wrong on the first attempt. I didn't add enough and it was still a bit too thick for nugs. The other recommendation I have is TASTE IT! Try it and see what it needs. Maybe more or less lime, cilantro... maybe toss some salt in. With nugget, he has reflux and so he actually need salt and seasoning to make food taste good to him. Between the burning acid and the medicine that dulls the tastebuds, he prefers seasoned foods but more on that another time!Post below with pics and stories after you try the recipe! I would love to hear it! Does your nugget love a particular brand of food?

Ethical Jewish Food Movement

Just so happens, that I got a call the other day from a lovely Denver Post reporter about the Jewish ethical food movement. She was looking for a statement from the JCC about why this is important to add to her piece about Rabbi Soloway and his work in Boulder. We talked for... maybe 30-40 minutes. :) We talked about how the ancient Jews agricultural laws guide us today. How we know now that letting land rest between planting helps the output and Judaism guides us in these things. We spoke about how impossible it is to get out of season produce in Israel and you really understand how food grows when and how it matches up to our calendar. Apples are harvested at Rosh Hashanah. Olives are picked and pressed and the oil is ready at Chanukah time. We spoke about how deeply Judaism and food and agriculture are linked. And we talked about how my husband and I grew our own horseradish this year for the first time to have a piece of our garden on the Seder table. That's the part she mentions here, in her article. P.S. Here is our NYTimes article where she found out about how we got engaged. :) I believe that Judaism is about mindfulness and that extends to our food. When we say brachot over our food before we eat it, it bring a mindfulness about what we are going to ingest. When we seek out Kosher food, it brings a mindfulness to our lives that we can't bypass. We can't 'shovel' food in our mouths. We have to think about what and when we eat. And now, Dan and I have added an aspect. When we grow the food we eat, we add a mindfulness to the whole process. Your tomatoes aren't in season yet. Please G-d, we can't have a hail storm today! Everything was nearly ready! So I am thankful that she gave me an opportunity to speak about a topic I am passionate about. Get ready for many more garden posts this summer. Cruciferous vegetables are in the ground along with beets, carrots, radishes, peas, beans, turnips, and rutabegas. Maybe if it stops snowing the rest of our seedlings will hit the dirt soon. We are wishing everyone a Chag Pesach Sameach, Happy Passover. If you are looking for a last minute dessert for your seder, check our Kosher food blog, Kosher, She Eats for my Great-Grandmother's (Nanny) Passover Sponge Cake Recipe.

Cauliflower Tabouli

For our first culinary adventure of our married life, we decided to make Cauliflower Tabouli during Passover. It was delish, tasted like the real thing and much healthier for us! This is our own, made up recipe based on ideas we saw around the web. Here's how to do it:Ingredients:

• Full head of cauliflower
• One bunch of parsley
• Half of a cucumber
• One tomato
• Zest from half of one lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Zatar to taste (optional but recommended)

Preparation:

1. Break apart the cauliflower, removing the greens and breaking the florets into small chunks. Then wash the florets.
2. In small batches, put the cauliflower into the food processor and pulse them until they look roughly like couscous. (AKA: are broken down into small pieces.) Don't over pulse them... you don't want mush, just tiny pieces.
3. Over a medium heat, in a non-stick pan, heat some olive oil and toss a batch of cauliflower on the heat. You can salt it here if you would like.
4. Cook for just a few minutes, tasting every so often until the cauliflower is partially cooked.Again, you don't want mush, you still want a bit of a crunch but not raw.
5. Once all the cauliflower is cooked, set aside. You can serve this dish warm or cold but I preferred it cold. So let the cauliflower rest and cool while you prepare the rest of the dish.
6. Dice the cucumber into small chunks and set aside.
7. Slice the tomato in half. Since we don't want this dish to be too "wet," I recommend scooping the seeds and juice out of the center then dicing the tomato. Set aside.
8. Take a bunch of parsley and wash thoroughly. Roll it up, and chop it.
   • Talia, what do you mean "roll it up and chop it?"
   1. • Well, remove the leaves from the stems. Once you have the leafy matter separate, literally roll it up into a little tube like object.
      • Once it is rolled up, start chopping from end to end. Be careful of your fingers!
      • Do a final chop of any big leaves that missed the knife before but this should take care of most of it.
9. Now, combine the cauliflower, cucumber, tomato, and parsley into a medium size bowl.
10. Mix them together and taste. Feel free to add more of any ingredient.
11. Season with lemon zest, olive oil, salt, pepper, and zatar.
12. Keep tasting until you get the proportions perfect. It is a personal taste situation.
13. Top with some lemon zest, olive oil, zatar and serve.

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We are back!

I want to apologize again for the lack of posts in the past few months. My husband and I were married on the 10th of March and now we are back from our honeymoon.We had some amazing culinary adventures in the South Pacific and we are ready to start posting new, fun Kosher ideas for you all. Again this year, we are planting our gardens so we are excited to have tons of fresh, fun produce to use in our recipes. Look forward to more pickling and easy but unique recipes. We have agreed to have one night a week (Sundays, generally) where we will explore new recipes.So stay tuned! And check back often!Here's a picture of the amazing fruit we bought at the local market in Vanuatu:From left to right: local mango (best thing we have ever tasted), custard apple, guava, star fruit, bananas (totally taste different than ours), and papaya.

A culinary decision

Our wedding is in 18 days. 18 DAYS I SAY! I can't believe how soon that is.We have planned our wedding relatively fast. One of my brother's best friends from elementary school used to work for the Knot.com... when I told her we were getting married in 5 1/2 months she was shocked and then proceeded to tell me that the average engagement these days is one year. ONE YEAR! Oy! Anyway, we held our invitations back until we made final decisions on our meal at the wedding. We wanted to give more detailed choices and I am glad I listened to Dan's urging to wait. We ended up going a different route completely than I had anticipated. That being said...Drum roll please...We are having a dairy wedding. While I am sure some of you totally understand that sentence, I am sure many of you don't. Let  me explain.Dan and I keep kosher. We don't mix milk and meat, we don't eat shellfish, we don't eat pork... anymore. We had our last traif hurrah and now none of that is on the menu. Honestly, we pretty much kept kosher the whole time we knew each other other deciding to start our lives together and build a Jewish home together, we decided there was no wiggle room. We would have a last day for traif and that was it. Anywho, we had to make a decision for our wedding. We could have a fully kosher meal, with kosher protein. That means the cake would have NO dairy in it (aka fake icing and no butter). Everything we serve would either be meat based or have no dairy in it. This would double the price for our catering, we would have had to cut back our guest list even further and to add "insult" to "injury" we could not serve the delicious wine and booze we want to. It would have to be kosher wine and only liquor that is kosher as well (no sherry casks for the scotch). There would be someone on site monitoring everything and it seemed rather... limiting.After much discussion, we chose to go the path of a dairy meal. Yes our guests would have to forgo the traditional steak or chicken but we could offer them a much more exciting meal with more food and more options. We could also then have a delicious dairy cake with buttercream frosting and the most delicious wine and booze we could buy. This also enables our kosher keeping guests to have the fish or pasta option OR if that doesn't work for them (because there is no kosher supervision) we will order a special glatt kosher meal for them from the kosher deli.Additionally, it allowed us to give  further options to our guests. Instead of a meat and a vegetarian dish, we offered a lovely fish dish and two pastas! If I may say so myself, all of the food is amazing.The fact of the matter is this, we are so excited to celebrate with our family and friends and we wanted to provide the nicest meal we could. In this case, that meant offering fish and dairy in abundance. I know it is different than usual, but we hope that our friends are coming to celebrate with us... not just to eat the food.

61 Days Until The Wedding!

I just can't believe how fast time is moving! We are two months away from the wedding and we are trucking!Last week, we booked our photographer. They look amazing! Very nice husband and wife couple who run the business Dox Photo. You should check out their blog here - www.doxphoto.com/blog. We are so excited to have them shoot our wedding day. It was a nerve wracking experience to choose a photographer. These are possibly the most important pictures of my life! It was very reassuring when Khala (the wife) told us about her wedding photographer... she mentioned that it wasn't the best experience and that the woman missed most of the details of the day. Subsequently, she makes an extra effort to catch everything that she wishes she had from her own wedding! While I totally feel for her, I am so thankful that she is committed to the details.We also have contracted with our florist. I have had two meetings with Paula at Newberry Brothers about our flowers. She is a delight to work with, very creative, and understands our budget restraints. Since our colors are navy blue and yellow, we have some really fun options for our flowers. I don't want to give it all away but expect to see yellow roses (Talia's favorite flower since she was little), some tulips, blue hyacinths, and other fun flowers. She is also bringing the chuppah for us. It's made from grape vines which is a nice tie in for us.All in all, we are going for an indoor garden party feel. We know, we need to get those invitations out ASAP and we promise we will but we just want to head over to the Grand Hyatt for a tasting of the meal. They are not hosting our guests but will be providing catering at our wedding venue. They do amazing work and Marta is an invaluable resource.Just so everyone knows, because this is a Jewish event, we had to make some choices regarding the Kosher status of the food. We have decided that our special day will be all dairy and fish, allowing more of our friends and family to eat the meal and we will have special Glatt Kosher meals provided to those who need them. Please let us know when you send back the RSVP card that you need a Glatt Kosher meal. The event will be Kosher-style and all dairy. But this means we will have a dairy wedding cake and who doesn't prefer butter-cream frosting to some margarine imposter? :)We are this ___ close to booking a band and then, I think, all the major details are done! We can't wait to celebrate with you on March 10 but more than anything, we can't wait to start our new lives as husband and wife and celebrate every day with all of our friends and family, beyond the wedding guest list!

Food is expensive... Heck... A wedding is expensive!

I know I am not telling anyone anything new here but... man! We just started talking to caterers and florists... and wow! Things can really add up. Dan and I are both pretty money conscious so it hit us hard when we saw the first catering proposal. Wow.Here's the thing... normal weddings are expensive... our wedding will be even more so because it has to be kosher. Thus, we have to pay for a person to be onsite the whole time to supervise the kashrut and we have to pay for special dishes and silverware... Kosher meat is 2 to 3 times as expensive as non-kosher meat... oy! What we do for our beliefs... but that's the point, right?I (Talia) believe that kashrut, keeping kosher, and a lot of Jewish halacha (law) is about being mindful. I can't just eat in any restaurant or any place. I have to be mindful.So ... Judaism is keeping us mindful at our wedding too. :) Unfortunately, it's not all good mindfulness. We had to cut down our guest list for the final time the other night... oy... that was hard. There are definitely people that I would love to come to the wedding but I just don't have the space. I hope everyone understands... making my wedding guest list was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life!We are sending out save-the-dates soon and many of you have been contacted by us with the password to the wedding details section.Anyway, wedding is trucking along!