Salmon...again...my favorite. This salmon was baked at 370 for 20 minutes with a slices of garlic placed on top of each fillet. I also made sesame noodles and a salad. Delish!
heese on top even though that's not part of the recipe. It was actually so delicious but I now understand why its considered a "birthday dinner" in my house--it's really a special treat because of the patchkeing.
This salad was inspired by a salad I had when out to eat with Adam over the summer: grilled chicken ceasar salad with cheese tortellinis. I bought 3-color tortellinis, made them in the morning and then refrigerated during the day, and then tossed them into the salad that evening like croutons. Check out earlier posts here to find out how I make my light ceasar dressing. A fun and pretty salad!
Last week I marinated chicken breasts in Soy Vay Teriyaki sauce and grilled them on a grill pan. My mom gave me her grill pan because she rarely uses it, but I have to say that since bringing it back to Buffalo I have found many occasions to use it. Along with the chicken, I served green beans in soy sauce and brown rice.
n up. The key is to get the 95/5 ground beef so that there is very little fat. I also made homemade oven baked french fries. A delicious summer bbq.
Check out the banana muffins I made this morning. These couldn't be easier to bake and there is no better feeling than baking from scratch. Come over and get one! Props to QCC's official new photographer.
These were so awesome that I inspired Hannah to make the same last night and she loved them too. Featuring chicken (marinated in italian dressing, seasoned with paprika and onion powder, and grilled on the stove with a grill pan) and accompanied by Israeli salad (diced cucumber and tomato in a bit of EVOO and kosher salt) and Sabra hummus. This recipe was a spin-off on a recipe on the back of a Sabra lid top. Be sure to check those out, they have some great recipes.
My triumphant return to Buffalo after a long summer of recovery from foot surgery has inspired me to cook, cook, cook. Last night I made salmon in the oven with garlic, spicy sesame noodles and blanched green bans sauteed in soy sauce. The meal was delicious and I have to say that this is one of my favorite QCC photos, thanks to ADG.
Ari and I made a cake for Tom's birthday. I baked the chocolate cake from a delicious Duncan Hines mix (cheating, I know) in two 8" cake pans. We then froze the layers for easy icing. I thought it would be cute to do a tuxedo cake: black-white-black, so we decorated with chocolate frosting which looked HOT on the white icing. Two layer cakes are clearly more effort but so worth it, because it kicks a sheet cake's tuschy.
Tom and Krystal made the most delicious fiesta dinner, and I wish my loyal QCC readers were there to experience the greatness that was this dinner. They ordered these special chili peppers and made enchiladas and this spicy chicken dish, that I still can't get over. I was also very impressed with the homemade salsa, so tasty and spicy. AMAZING! Next time you are invited to Tom & Krystal's for a fiesta RUN, do not walk.
because the PAM does the trick. Delicious dinner.
We made sliders for dinner a week or two ago and I never got around to posting. I purchased Wegman's pre-made sliders and Ari helped me make our own as well. The meal was inspired when I saw that Wegman's makes their own whole wheat slider rolls--whole wheat is crucial. It was a delicious meal--I 
love all things mini!
In keeping with theme of repeat meals, I made the zucchini and spinach stuffed shells again because they were so good the first time and I was interested in perfecting them. This time, I doubled the amount of spinach used. I always forget how much spinach shrinks, so this time I used 12 oz of spinach. I sauteed that, then sauteed the thinly sliced zucchini, diced onion and garlic, mixed it in with part-skim ricotta and stuffed the shells. You can see the shells here before the sauce and mozzarella was added. I also added to the cooking time--40 minutes, with about 10 minutes without the foil. I love these because I can make them in the 
morning and then just stick them in the oven for dinner. It is a huge dish so there was plenty of leftovers for the next night and there are still some in the fridge, so come on over! Maybe next time I'll try part cottage cheese, part ricotta.
Fish Tacos! Featured here is last week's fish taco dinner. Ari and I have this meal down to a science at this point...as it is our favorite. We just can't get enough. As you can see in the photo: tilapia fillets that we broil with EVOO and lemon juice, homemade guac and pico de gallo, blue corn tortilla chips, mini tortillas, etc. If you ever find yourself in Buffalo on a Tuesday we just might share the love.
did not give nearly enough credit to how amazingly delicious this recipe. As I said, I was given this recipe by Hannah and Barbara and now after the second time making it, I really just need to sing its praises again: so yummy! Sauteed red pepper and onion, then add chicken breast, after being cooked through, add a can of cream of mushroom soup; a tbsp mango chutney; a little bit of milk and curry powder. Served with Basmati rice and Naan bread...I could eat this every week. Clearly not Kosher, but super delicious. Also, the curry is even better cold the next day from the fridge.
Please vote on which cupcakes my friends and I should attempt to make. The input of loyal QCC readers is greatly appreciated :)
This recipe was adapted from a recipe I found in a great cookbook called Cook Yourself Thin. The great thing about these shells is that you cut out so much fat by adding zuchinni which sort of acts as a filler so that you can cut down on the amount of cheese used. First I sauteed some fresh baby spinach, then drained and squeezed and set aside. Next I sauteed a zuchinni which I had sliced into thin pieces, and then added onion and garlic. Once everything was slightly browned and soft, I added the spinach and mixed in part-skim ricotta and stuffed the shells. With tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on top and baking for a half hour at 350, these babies were delicious! Leftovers for dinner tonight.
I constantly find recipes for delicious looking baked goods online but when I found a recipe for S'more Cookie Bars, I had to make them for a certain S'more-loving roommate of mine. I have to say that although I was excited about these the entire time I was baking, the final product was a bit dissapointing: the chocolate to marshmallow ratio is off--too much chocolate and not enough marshmallow. I added fluff to the top of the bars, which I think made them better (according to the S'more expert) but they are still very rich--too much chocolate! It was fun 
to branch out a bit with my baking even though it wasn't a complete success. In the top photo you will find all the ingredients used (brown sugar, regular sugar, white whole wheat flour, an egg, 1/2 cup butter, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 hershey's chocolate bars, 8 graham crackers, and 1.5 cups fluff). The middle photo is the graham cracker dough in the mixer and then the bottom pictures features the layering and then the final product.
Banana muffins from scratch is probably the easiest baking I have ever done just because they don't involve using the mixer (if the batter is over-stirred it won't have the right consistency). For these muffins, first you mix 4 mashed bananas, one slightly beaten egg, 1/3 cup melted butter, and 1/2 cup sugar. Then in another bowl you mix together a tsp baking soda, a tsp baking powder, a tsp salt, and 1 and 1/2 cups flour (I used King Arthur white whole-wheat flour). Finallu mix together the wet and dry ingredients, being careful not to overstir. I added some chocolate chips to a few of them. Adding walnuts to the batter would also be 
delicious. See the before and after photos. The great thing about these muffins is that they freeze really nicely.
With our powers combined, Ari and I make some delicious meals. For Shabbat this week, Ari and I made Ratatouille. We cut up two eggplants, three zucchinis, one squash, a red pepper, a yellow pepper, peeled Roma tomatoes and basil. We mixed all the veggies together in a dish and then baked with a cover for an hour at 350. We also prepared a salmon fillet, and then served the Ratatouille over egg noodles
.
Over the weekend I found I still had chicken breasts I had frozen in the Soy Vay Terayaki marinade so I defrosted those and ADG grilled them on the Foreman while I made brown rice and broccoli (fresh broccoli: first blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes then shocked in ice cold water for 5 and then sauteed with garlic). The chicken breast doesn't look as appetizing as it was but it was a delicious and healthy meal we both enjoyed.
Although this hardly qualifies as cooking, please take a look at Hannah's delicious looking bagel. The MOTs enjoyed bagels, lox and cream cheese for Saturday morning brunch...we just can't get enough.
Dinner party on Saturday night with all the girls visiting from the ARL, along with Ari, Adam, and our friends Krystal and Tom. By special request (Alli), Ari and I cooked up shakshuka for everyone to enjoy. We hadn't made this in ages and I always forget how good it is. LKK made a delicious salad with baby heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, pepper jack cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.
Thanks to my mother, this dip has pretty much become a Shira Zemel special: I brought it with me to New Years at Danny's, served it at two parties in my apartment and enjoyed its deliciousness with the girls this weekend. Unfortunately I don't have any shots of the dip being served but here is a photo of the final product in the Cuisinart (thanks YAJ). The dip was originally just an artichoke dip recipe given to me by my mom but then when I made it last year with Ari, it was his idea to add some spinach, which gives it nice color and added deliciousness. So we've got:canned artichoke, a bag of fresh spinach (steamed), Parmesan cheese, lowfat plain yogurt, lowfat mayo, all mashed together in the food processor and then baked through the oven for a half hour. Absolutely delicious and a huge hit with anyone who tries it. Shout-out to the dip's two biggest fans: ASC & HPGK
Dinner tonight was pretty self-explanatory: I made us a veggie omelette with tomato, red pepper, green pepper (Dalia, I know, I'm sorry), and onion. Then I made home fries (1 cubed russet potato, 1 minced garlic clove, and diced onion--thanks Knowles) and we toasted a bagel to split. Breakfast for dinner is always the best.
I have to say that tonight I made one of the most delicious things I have ever cooked. ADG's favorite thing is seafood pasta and although I don't eat the seafood, how could I keep denying him his favorite thing? This was a new experience because though our kitchen is not kosher, which is clearly very convenient (cheaper meat, 1 set of dishes) I really had not cooked any non-kosher food before besides the mixing of milk and meat. I found a recipe for Shrimp Fra Diavolo in a new cookbook my mom gave me: Cook This, Not That by the authors of Eat This, Not That--great book. This cookbook offers lighter versions of restaurant favorites (Alli, we must try their version of The Cheesecake Factory's Mac&Cheese). In this case, the recipe is a twist of a favorite shrimp pasta dish at the Olive Garden boasting half the calories, half the sodium and 1/5 the fat.