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Out of the Bowl Tiered Salad
Who says that salad must be served in a salad and tossed? Today’s salad is about layering a gorgeous vessel with different vegetables and toppings. Its effortless simplicity achieves an elegance that highlights the colorful and flavorful vegetables themselves.
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Drunken Mushroom Lime Chicken
It starts with boneless chicken breasts, a lighter option than whole roast chicken. It uses wine and lime juice for the perfect balance of flavor and freshness. Oh, and it is smothered with lots and lots of mushrooms. It is fragrant with loads of flavor and texture.
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Simple 10-Minute Creamed Spinach
Creamed spinach pairs so well with deli, meat, fish and just about every protein. It is a favorite at steakhouses and delicatessens. The bright green wilted spinach takes only minutes to prepare and its creamy texture and fresh flavor tantalize the eye and the palate. This classic recipe can be easily prepared with soy or…
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Simply Amazing Onion Kugel
My life is rather like a “Chopped” competition. After all, so many of my favorite recipes are developed using the ingredients on hand, keeping the preparation quick and transforming simple ingredients into something more than the sum of the parts. Most often, my time is limited so I am racing the clock just like the…
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Simple No-Bake Sorbet cakes
Desperate times call for desperate measures. A few weeks ago, I had finished preparing a simple Shabbos menu when we found out that we were about to have a houseful of Shabbos company. I had plenty of real food, but I needed to create an impressive dessert…quickly and with ingredients already on hand.
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Sukkos Lulav Napkin Fold
Among other mitzvos (Jewish commandments) unique to Sukkos (Jewish Feast of Tabernacles), we acquire a set of Arba Minim (Four Species). Each of the Four Species has its own unique character: The Lulav (palm) is an impressively tall and straight green date palm branch with tightly bound leaves. It has a sweet date flavor…
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Sukkos No-Knead Ciabatta: Harvest and Humility
The Autumn Jewish holiday of Sukkos is referred to as Zman Simchaseinu (season of rejoicing) and Chag Ha’Asif (Festival of of Gathering). It falls at the time of year in Israel that the grain, grapes and olives are ready to be harvested and brought to market. The winter, spring and summer months of hard work in…
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Abracadabra Potato Kugel
I have been preparing potato kugel for as long as I remember and most kugels share similar ingredients. I have two potato kugel recipes on this blog (Davida’s Awesome Potato Kugel, Simply the Best Potato Kugel Ever and ) and they are both delicious, but rather similar. There just doesn’t seem to be much new in…
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Streusel Topped Challah
Sometimes, just a simple topping can be a recipe-changer. This simple streusel topping transforms my Simply the Best Challah Recipe…ever! into something extraordinary. It adds a delicious sweetness and texture that is unique and oh, so decadent.
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Apples and Roses: A Rosh Hashana Table Arrangement
I was looking to create a SimpletoWow fruit and floral arrangement worthy of the Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) table. On Rosh Hashana, we dip an apple into honey as a symbol for a sweet new year (see Dip the Apple… Rosh Hashana Cupcakes), so incorporating apples into the arrangement was a no-brainer. I wanted…
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German Chocolate Cake for Mordy
Last week, my brother, Mordy, celebrated his birthday. Growing up, nobody made much of a deal about birthdays and that has become part of my DNA. Most of the time, we forget each others birthdays and I have been know to forget my own birthday and anniversary. Thankfully, my brother, Itzy, often calls, texts…
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Machzor Cupcakes
So much of the Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) holidays are spent in shul (synagogue). The prayer service follows an order of prayers delineated in the respective machzor (prayer book) for each of these holidays. In preparation for Rosh Hashana and Staci Segals’ charity bake sale, I prepared some cupcakes…
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Upside-Down Apple Nut Beehive
This cake is both creative and delicious. The upside-down cake is simple to prepare and can be served as is. For a Rosh Hashana twist, I surrounded the cake with a chocolate honeycomb and some candy bees.
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Red Apple Cupcakes with a Purpose
Last year, I prepared these beautiful and delicious apple cupcakes in time for Staci Segal’s pre-Rosh Hashana bake sale. They were such a hit that one of my blog readers rushed down to the bake sale and purchased all the baked goods that I had delivered. Rosh Hashana is around the corner again and I…
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Pacman Gefilte Fish
Sometimes the wow is all in the presentation. The presentation takes a simple menu item to a whole new level. Just cutting something a different way or finding a unique manner to plate it creates a real wow. Gefilte fish is a Jewish Shabbos and Yom Tov (holiday) staple. It is like a meatloaf,…
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Perfect Lean and Moist Brisket
This recipe doesn’t require marination. It also doesn’t call for any oil. What it needs, though, is time. Plenty of time. Three hours of cooking time. Oh, and onions. Plenty of onions to keep it moist. The low and slow cooking keeps the flavor and moistness. The sliced onions create a flavorful and tender blanket…
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Fan Potatoes and Family Memories
When I was young, I vividly remember my mother preparing fan potatoes. She did not serve them often. They were a rare treat. I can picture in my mind how the potatoes fanned out and how delicious they were: crisp on the outside. soft and buttery on the inside. The fins of each fan potato created pockets of…
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Perfectly Roasted and Seasoned Bok Choy
Bok choy is one of our favorite ingredients in leafy salads. It is a powerhouse of nutrition, and has a signature taste and bold texture, making it the perfect ingredient for salads that are dressed in advance. I have incorporated it into a number of salads already highlighted on the blog (see Simple, Colorful and Crunchy…
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Gorgeous Roses on a Rose Gold Base
Don still brings home roses just about every Friday. He brings home a different color every week just to keep things interesting. While I always favored tropical flowers like birds of paradise, ginger flowers, antherium and haleconias, I have learned to enjoy and embrace the simple, classic rose, mostly because that is what Don brings…
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Lemon Zinger Chicken
Sometimes the best flavors are simple ones. Lemon. Garlic. Chicken. Tea. Delicious food is simple food with no compromises in freshness, flavor, moistness and taste. Today, I prepared chicken that was tangy, flavorful and succulent. It took very little effort. It used natural ingredients. And its simplicity and taste made everyone take notice. INGREDIENTS…
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To Preheat or Not to Preheat?
I have a confession to make. I almost never preheat the oven. “I don’t want to take the extra time. I don’t like to stick my hands into a hot oven, unless absolutely necessary. I love shortcuts. I love to use the delay timed cook feature on the oven. I don’t want to waste the…
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Simple Superstar Roasted Onions
Onions are the ultimate team player. They are used to start soups and sautes, taking very little credit for the impactful favor that they impart. They are sprinkled atop salads or roasts, adding spiciness and satisfying juiciness wherever they are used. They are the utility player that can be used here or there, always…
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Chana’s Low-Carb Broccoli Kugel
Last Shabbos, we hosted my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and niece for Shabbos. We always look forward to their visits. Yisroel and Chana are some of my favorite guests, so helpful and appreciative. We had a wonderful Shabbos, sharing divrei torah (words of Torah) and my father-in-law’s a’h favorite zemiros (Shabbos melodies) at our Shabbos table. Don…
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Kate Spade Black Pink and Gold Armoire
The centerpiece of the project is her new Kate Spade inspired armoire. In its former life, it was a gorgeous antique walnut armoire owned by a lovely family in nearby Fair Lawn. I found it on CraigsList and fell in love with the vintage dovetailed drawers and lovely carving. It had such good bones and…
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Challah: Wrapping Up a Bit of Heaven
Traditionally, we bake braided challah for Shabbos. The Hebrew word, challah, actually means loaf of bread and alludes to the mitzvah (commandment) of challah, the blessing and setting aside of a small piece of bread dough during the bread preparation process. At our Shabbos meals, after we say the kiddush (blessing on wine), we recite a blessing over…
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Cheesy Cabbage Steaks
I used red cabbage for this recipe, but any cabbage may be used. In this simple recipe, the red cabbage creates a stunning purple backdrop to the velvety melted cheese on top. It may be used to Passover and is gluten free, too.
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A Simple and Regal Gladiola Arrangement
I love gladiolas. I love their ladder-like flowers that are soft and delicate. I find gladiolas to be regal and tall, stately, yet graceful. I look forward to each higher blossom budding and opening, just as the lower blossoms are withering and falling off. I love the deeper and interesting shades of this flower, gladiolas…
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A Bench Fit for Kate Spade (and Davida)
And, most of all, Davida was excited for the Kate Spade-inspired bench. After all, it was the only thing that was completed. It was cool. And, it served as a harbinger of a new age in Davida’s room. The bench had been a torn nailhead vinyl covered bench with x-shaped legs that I had picked…
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Floating Gerber Daisies in Series
I am enchanted by simple floral arrangements that highlight the beauty, intricacy and detail of individual blossoms. From my very first blog post entitled It’s all about the arrangement (psst….even with last week’s roses)until now, I have advocated for using a few blossoms to create inexpensive and stunning floral arrangements.
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Tisha B’Av: On Sadness, Continuity and Redemption
According to the Jewish calendar, the festival of Pesach (Passover) always falls out on the same day of the week as Tisha B’Av. In Hebrew, there is no real word for coincidence because in Judaism things are just not coincidental. Things that happen in the same way were meant to be that way. And so,…
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A Bottlebrush Arrangement
My favorite floral arrangements are those that bring the outdoors inside. This weekend, we are visiting the Upper Galilee and we are always amazed by the beautiful varieties of plants and trees that are native to this gorgeous part of Northern Israel. One of my favorite shrubs found is this part of the world is…