Honey Orange Cake

This honey cake is delicious! It has a hint of citrus and crunchy walnuts for texture. Honey cake is a traditional desert for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, but I love this cake all year round. You can also add some coffee or bourbon in place of a few tablespoons of the orange juice for a few different variations!

4 Eggs
1 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Canola Oil
1 C. Honey
1 tbs. Orange Zest
1 C. Orange Juice
2 1/2 C. Flour
3 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 C. Chopped Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350'.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and honey together at a high spead until light in color-approximately 5 minutes. Add in orange zest. Sift together dry ingredients and at a low speed add them into the batter alternating with the orange juice -I usually do this in about four parts. When the batter is smooth, fold in chopped walnuts.

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. Pour half the batter into each, and place in the middle of the preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour at 350'. After 1 hour, turn down the heat to 325' and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

-Enjoy for a sweet New Year!

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Onions

This roasted chicken is super delicious and easy to make, not to mention that the lemon onion sauce is amazing!

1 4lb Chicken
1.5 lemons cut into wedges
1 head garlic
2 large onions
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1/2 C. Chicken stock
1 tbs. flour






Preheat the oven to 425' F

Clean the chicken, removing any internal portions such as the heart and livers that may have come with it. Dry the outside of the chicken well with a paper towel to make sure that it gets a good crust.  Rub the outside and inside of the chicken with plenty of salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Place the chicken in a roasting pan. its good for the onions and lemons to be snug in the pan as they will burn if they are too spread out.  Stuff the chicken with 1 lemons worth of wedges and the garlic (head sliced in half).

Slice both onions thickly and place in a bowl with the remaining lemon wedges.  Drizzle the onions and lemons with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Pour the onion mixture around the chicken.

Place the chicken in a pre-heated oven for about 1.5 hours ... possibly a little less depending on the oven.  When chicken is fully cooked, remove it from the pan and cover with foil. Make sure you let the chicken rest prior to cutting it! You don't want to loose any of the juices!

If you have time to make the full sauce with the onions and lemon from the pan, I would highly recommend it! To make the sauce, place the pan with the onions and chicken drippings on top of the stove over medium heat (remove the lemons if you would like to use them as garnish, but they are no longer needed). When it comes to a simmer add the chicken broth and scrape up any stuck bits on the bottom of the pan to add additional flavor to the sauce.  Slowly add in the flower, as you stir, to thicken the sauce and to remove clumps.

Serve sauce warm on the side of the chicken so that your guests can add as much or as little as they would like!

ENJOY!!!!

Lemon Loaf

This delicious lemon loaf is made with Meyer lemons and non-fat Greek yogurt instead of butter
(so its healthy ... ) Its moist texture makes it irresistible and is great as a dessert or as a snack with a warm drink!

For the Loaf:

1 1/2 C. All purpose Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt 

1 C. Non-Fat Greek yogurt

1 C. Granulated Sugar

3 Eggs

2 tsp. Lemon Zest

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 C. Vegetable Oil

Simple Syrup:

1/3 C. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice (you can use Meyer lemons or whatever looks fresh)

1/3 C. Granulated Sugar

For the Glaze:

1 C. Powdered Sugar

3 Tbsp. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

Preheat the oven to 350'. Grease well a loaf pan ( aprox. 8 1/2'' by 4 1/2'')

Into a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl combine eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and 1 C. of the granulated sugar.

Carefully mix in the vegetable oil, just until its incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake until golden brown (about 50 min)

Allow cake to cool almost all the way and remove from loaf pan onto a cooling rack.

In a small sauce pan cook together the remaining 1/3 C. granulated sugar and 1/3 C. lemon juice over low head until sugar has completely melted. (creating a simple syrup)

Pour simple syrup over cake and allow to cool completely.

While cake with simple syrup cools create the glaze.

For the glaze whisk together the powdered sugar with 3 tbsp. lemon juice.

Drizzle glaze over the lemon loaf and allow to set up and harden for a few minutes (or until you serve)

Enjoy!

Split Pea Soup

I love split pea soup! This version is really healthy and can be made as a meat dish or easily without the meat for vegetarians...and both ways are delicious.

1 large yellow onion chopped
2 carrots (cut into quarters and chopped)
2 russet potatoes (pealed and cut into 1/2' cubes)
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic (3-4 small cloves), minced
2 cups dried green split peas (rinsed well and picked through for anything that is not a pea!)
1 lb. beef meat for stew, cut into even pieces ---if making meat version
8 cups of water
1.5 chicken (or vegetable) bullion cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste

(The water and bullion can be substituted for 8cups of chicken or vegetable stock if you have some on hand) :)

Place 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Brown the meat in the hot oil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the meat has good color remove it from the pot and place it to the side.
  (If you are making the vegetarian version you will want to start here). Place the remaining 2 tbsp. of olive oil in the soup pot and over medium heat sweat the onions and carrots (about 10 min). You will want the onions to become translucent but not to brown too much. After the onions have sweated, add the minced garlic and potatoes and cook together for another minute or so.  Add the  rinsed split peas, water and bullion (or stock). Bring to soup to a boil and add the browned stew meat. Reduce heat to low and simmer the soup, stirring occasionally, for about 1.5 hours, or until the peas have broken down. Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy! 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

   In the mood for some chocolate?... Try these muffins! 

      1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder

3/4 cup superfine sugar

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil (and some extra for greasing the muffin tin)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 1 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together separately and add them to the dry. Be careful not to over mix the batter, some lumps are ok. Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins (or you can use paper muffin cups) into the prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes. J

Passover Nut Torte with Chocolate Orange Glaze

This cake is so delicious you wont even know its passover!

For the cake:
1 2/3 C. Toasted Almonds
1/4 C. Matzo Cake Meal
1 C. Sugar
4 Eggs separated
1 tsp. Lemon Zest
1/4 tsp. Salt

Pre heat oven to 350' and grease a 9'' spring- form pan.
In a food processor pulse nuts, cake meal and 1/4 C. sugar until finely chopped ( be careful not to make into a paste).
In a large bowl mix egg yolks and 1/2 C. sugar until thick and pale yellow. In a separate bowl beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 C. of sugar.
In batches, alternately fold in nut mixture and whites mixture into yolks.
Carefully spoon combined cake batter into spring-form pan and bake int the middle of the oven until golden, about 35 min.
Cool slightly. Run a knife along the side of the cake to loosen from pan and remove the sides of the spring- form.
Allow the cake to completely cool and invert onto platter.

For the Glaze:
3 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate
3 Tbsp. Orange Juice
3. Tbsp. Unsalted Margarine
3. Tbsp. Sugar

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan over low heat and whisking often. Allow to cool for a few minutes before pouring warm glaze over torte.

Enjoy!

Shepherd's Pie---a Kosher for Passover version!

Looking for something delicious to make for passover? Try this great shepherd's pie recipe :), its great for all year round too!

• 2 pounds russet potatoes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 3/4 pounds ground beef
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 10 cremini mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons margarine
• 2 tablespoons potato starch
• 1 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon  paprika         

Peel and cube potatoes and boil until fork tender. Drain and set aside.

In a large pan saute onions with 1 tablespoon olive oil  until translucent.Remove from pan and add an additional tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Saute mushrooms and remove from pan.  Into the same pan add the ground beef with an additional tablespoon of olive oil and brown. Add the onions, mushrooms and carrots to the pan with the browned meat and cook for an additional 5 minutes. 

In a small pan melt the margarine and add the potato starch, stir until combined. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth and cook until thickened (about 1 min.). Add the mixture to the meat and stir. Allow to cook and thicken for a couple of minutes.

In a large bowl mash the potatoes with a cup of chicken broth and add salt and pepper to taste.

Place meat mixture in a rectangular casserole and top with potato mixture.

Sprinkle with paprika and broil until the top is golden brown!

ENJOY! and happy passover :)