Colorful and Healthy Frittata

I know I have given you a lot of desserts lately for Shavuot but here is a nice lunch dish that can be reused for breakfast the next morning. It's colorful and healthy.I highly recommend getting farm fresh eggs (like literally from chickens) or buying free range organic eggs. I know most people don't understand the value of this but having recently been turned on to these types of eggs, I can tell you first hand there is a HUGE difference in taste and quality. It is better for you and your family. But I will leave the egg rant for another time...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli florets
• 3/4 cup sliced fresh button mushrooms
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 2 green onions, sliced thin, green tops included
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup finely-shredded Cheddar cheese

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a shallow 1-1/2-quart casserole dish with vegetable oil.
2. Saute broccoli, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and green onions in the butter until barely cooked. They should remain firm and colorful. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, water, Dijon mustard, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and salt until well-combined. Pour into prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle the sautéed vegetables over the top of the eggs, then sprinkle with Cheddar cheese.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, until center is set. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.
5. Yield: 4 to 6 servings

This delish recipe is from About.com

What about the cheesecake haters?

What do you do when it's Shavuot and someone doesn't like cheesecake? It's a serious dilemma. I know for years I did not like cheesecake and I always had a piece foisted on me. Well, here is a good alternative. Peach Frozen Yogurt... and it only takes 5 minutes. You can even use this year round and make it parve with some tofuti or other parve yogurt!

You will need a food processor and this may be served immediately without freezing. Try it with non-fat yogurt to make it even more waist-friendly. Other fruits may be easily substituted for the peaches.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag (20 ounces) frozen unsweetened peach slices
• 1 container (8 ounces) plain lowfat yogurt
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation:

1. Let frozen peaches stand at room temperature 10 minutes.
2. In food processor with knife blade attached, process peaches until fruit resembles finely shaved ice, occasionally scraping down side with rubber spatula.
3. With processor running, add yogurt, confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract. Process until mixture is smooth and creamy, occasionally scraping down side. Serve immediately.
4. Try it with strawberries, blueberries, or your favorite combination of flavorful frozen fruits.

Yield: 4 cups or 8 servingsWe got this gem from The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book.

Rainbow Cheesecake

This one is for the kids (and the kid in each of us)! How cool is it to make a RAINBOW CHEESECAKE! Impress your guests, rainbow swirl it.

Rainbow Cheesecake

Crust

• 2 Cups graham crackers, crushed
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 Pinch Salt

Cake

• 2 Pounds Cream cheese, room temp
• 1 1/3 Cups Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 1 Pinch Salt
• 1 Container Food colors (blue, yellow, green, red)

Directions

1. Before you get started with the crust, make sure your springform pan is water tight. I do this by carefully wrapping a few layers of foil on the outside of the pan, working in both directions so water cannot get into the pan. Be careful not to rip the foil or water will get into your cake and ruin it!
2. To make the crust, grind the graham crackers in a food processor until very fine. Then mix crushed crackers, salt, sugar, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Then mix in butter with your clean fingers.
3. Press all but a few tablespoons of the graham cracker mixture into the prepared springform pan. (Save a bit of the crust mixture in case there are holes later) Press it down firmly in the pan. I like to use a measuring cup for this which makes it easy to get around the edges. You should have an even, flat crust.
4. Bake the crust in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes on a low rack. Remove from the oven and cool completely before continuing. Turn oven temp down to 325.
5. To make filling, cut cream cheese into pieces and add to a mixing bowl. Whip until smooth, maybe 4 minutes. Then add sugar and continue to beat until smooth again, another 4-5 minutes. Next, add salt, vanilla, and one egg at a time, beating briefly between each egg. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream.
6. Once the mixture is well combined and very smooth, divide it into 6 dishes. Add food coloring to each dish to get the desired colors.
7. Pour colored mixtures into prepared dish with cooled crust. Start with red and pour it right in the center. Continue to build the rainbow by pouring the fillings directly in the center. This will create layers so that each slice has some of each color.
8. Place cheesecake into a baking dish a fill with boiling water about 1 inch up the side of the springform pan (pray that your dish is waterproof).
9. Bake at 325 degrees in the water bath for one hour and 10 minutes. If you're baking at high altitude like me, it will be more like one hour and 45 minutes--keep an eye on it and watch for browning.
10. Turn off the oven, crack the door to the oven, and let the cake cool in the oven for one hour. The slow cooling will help it not crack.
11. Then loosely wrap the dish in foil so the foil isn't touching the top of the cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
12. When ready to remove cake, run a clean narrow knife around the edge of the dish, remove the foil, unlock the spring, and carefully lift off the outer ring.
13. Serve either alone or with a cherry/raspberry sauce. It's so rich and creamy that it really doesn't need a topping.

This recipe came from a great blog called Taste For Adventure. LOVE the pictures they use!

World's Best Cheesecake (at least her son thinks so)!

This was sent to me by a friend and tweeter. FunJoel says that this is the BEST cheesecake recipe out there. I mean, he might be a little bias since it is his mother's recipe but I am super happy to share!Oh and, if you ever find yourself in Israel looking for a great tour guide, check out FunJoel. He rocks!World's Best CheesecakeMy mom, Ricki Haber, said there is no specific recipe for the crust. But she mixes graham cracker crumbs, a bit of sugar, cinnamon, ground walnuts and butter, then presses it down on the bottom of the pan. Here is the cheesecake itself:Ingredients

• 4 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 pints sour cream (32 ounces)

Cream cheese, eggs and sour cream should be at room temperature.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1.  Put cream cheese in bowl and mix at low speed.
2. Add sugar gradually.
3.  Add eggs one at a time.
4. Mix at higher speed for 5 minutes.
5. Fold in sour cream and vanilla.
6. Pour into greased 9 x 3 1/4 inch spring pan. Put in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
7. Shut off oven and leave in oven for 1 more hour.

Cannoli Cheesecake

This one is for my dad. Another cool twist on the cheese/dairy theme for Shavuot. And another great recipe from Woman's Day.

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Cannoli Cheesecake

• 1 container(s) (6 cups) whole-milk ricotta cheese (about 3 pounds)
• 7 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract
• 5 1/2 teaspoon(s) freshly grated orange peel
• 1/3 cup(s) semisweet chocolate mini-chips

Topping

• 3 tablespoon(s) apricot preserves
• 1/4 cup(s) shelled pistachio nuts, skins rubbed off
• OR more chocolate chips (which is what I use)

Directions

1. Fill a roasting pan or a 13- by 9-inch baking pan with hot tap water to a depth of 1 inch. Place pan on oven rack in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan. Tap out excess flour. Wrap outside of pan with heavy-duty foil, molding it tightly around pan to prevent water from seeping in.
3. In a food processor, process ricotta cheese, scraping down sides once or twice, until smooth.
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, and orange peel until blended. Stir in ricotta until blended and smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Carefully place pan into the pan of hot water. Bake 1 1/2 hours or until top is golden and cake pulls away slightly from side of pan (middle may jiggle slightly when pressed gently).
6. Turn off oven; prop oven door open about 1 inch. Let cake cool in oven about 45 minutes. Remove pan from water, then remove foil. Set pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, or overnight.
7. Up to 3 hours before serving, run a long thin knife around edge of pan to loosen cake. Remove sides of pan. Brush top of cake with the melted preserves. Sprinkle with pistachio nuts. OR decorate with chocolate chips. My cannoli lovers do NOT like fruit on their cannolis.
8. The cooled baked cake can be refrigerated, wrapped airtight, up to 1 week. Decorate with the topping just before serving.

Every Holiday Has a Theme!

Okay, I am slightly veering away from the healthy aspect of this blog for Shavuot. On Shavuot, the time when the Jews received the Torah at Mt. Sinai, we traditionally eat dairy products. Now there are a million arguments as to why we eat dairy on Shavuot and I am not going to get into them here. If you want to learn more about why, click here.I thought we could do some fun and unusual cheesecakes and cheese cake alternatives for your Shavuot table.Here is a no-bake Mango Cheesecake option. Amazing!Crust

• 2 Cups graham crackers
• 2 tablespoon(s) stick butter or margarine, melted

Filling

• 1  ripe large mango
• 2  bricks (8 oz each) 1⁄3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 2 3/4 cup(s) canned or bottled mango nectar
• 1/2 cup(s) sugar
• 2 tablespoon(s) lemon juice
• 1 envelope(s) (21⁄2 tsp) unflavored KOSHER gelatin
• 1/4 cup(s) cold water

Directions

1. Coat an 8-in. springform pan with nonstick spray.
2. Crust: Put crackers in food processor; pulse until finely ground. Add butter; process to blend. Press over bottom of prepared pan; wash and dry processor.
3. Filling: Cut half the mango off the seed. Wrap half with seed, refrigerate and reserve. Hold half without the seed peel side down and score flesh of mango lengthwise, then crosswise, being careful not to cut through the peel. Bend peel backward, then cut along peel to loosen the cubed fruit. Put diced mango in food processor, add cream cheese, nectar, sugar and lemon juice. Process until smooth, scraping bowl as needed.
4. Sprinkle gelatin over water in a microwave-safe cup measure or a small saucepan. Let stand 1 minute. Microwave on high about 40 seconds or place over low heat and stir 2 to 3 minutes, until gelatin has completely dissolved and liquid is clear. With processor running; add gelatin and process until well blended. Pour onto crust. Cover tightly; refrigerate at least 5 hours or overnight until firm.
5. Shortly before serving: Remove pan sides; place cake on serving plate. Cut remaining 1⁄2 mango off seed, peel and thinly slice. Arrange in spoke fashion on top of cake. Dice mango on ends of seed; scatter in middle of slices.

Thanks to Woman's Day for this gem! It's perfect for the summer!