Today is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Holiday of Atonement.  As part of the holiday we fast from sundown to sundown to atone for our sins over the past year.  Yup, that means 24 hours of not eating.  It’s always been tough, but these past few years have been especially hard.

First I was pregnant. Anyone that tries to fast while they’re pregnant is insane. I started out the morning planning on trying not to eat until lunch, but the baby inside me had other plans. I don’t think I made it much past 10 am before the nausea set in and I had to get something in my stomach. Then the next year Aidan was only 4 months old and since I was breast feeding him, that meant I had to eat to make sure my baby was getting enough milk.  So this year, I’m not pregnant and I’m not breast feeding which means I could actually make it through the 24 hours without eating. 

But then you have the issue of making a big Break the Fast, which means you have to cook while fasting. That’s also difficult.  But somehow I manage. Especially if I’m making recipes I’ve been making since I was a kid.  This is one of those recipes.  This noodle pudding or noodle kugel has been in my family for years. I don’t know where it came from or whose recipe it is, but it’s been made every year for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Passover or if we were just in the mood for a really yummy noodle pudding.  It’s so easy, I really don’t need the recipe anymore.  And if I don’t need the recipe, it also means I don’t need to taste it to make sure it’s coming out okay.  And since I won’t be tasting it, that means I won’t (ideally) be eating before sundown.

Hopefully you won’t need the recipe after you make it a couple times, which means you too can be food free on the holiest day of the year.  But if you do want to break the fast early and sample this delicious kugel while you’re making it, please be my guest.  I promise I won’t tell.

Sweet Noodle Kugel

• 1 12 oz. package of wide flat egg noodles
• 1 pound of cottage cheese
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup of sour cream
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 2 cups of milk
• a handful of raisins

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a 9×13 pan and put aside.

Cook the noodles through in boiling water.  Add all the ingredients to the cooked noodles and stir by hand until combined.  Add a handful of raisins and give a quick toss.

Pour the mixture into a prepped 9×13 pan.  Pour in the milk.

Cook for 1 hour and serve immediately.

I’m a big fan of epicurious.com.  It seems more times than not, I’m searching their website looking for some interesting new recipe.  I wanna make an apple pie that’s a little different?  Epicurious.com.  An interesting salmon? Epicruious.com. Some cool way to cook couscous, I hadn’t thought of? Epicurious.com. Now that’s not to say I don’t come up with plenty of my own ideas as well or better yet, put a spin on a recipe I found over at Epicurious, it’s just sometimes, if I’m in a pinch and my mind’s drawing a blank or more often than not I really don’t want to make the same old chocolate chip cookies, I’ll head over to this wonderful food site. 

Well, last week for Rosh Hashana, I was trying to figure out what to make for dessert. I wasn’t in the mood to make another fruit tart and I had absolutely no interest in anything apple related. (Apples and honey being the theme of Rosh Hashana to symbolize a sweet new year.) So I checked out one of my favorite food sites and discovered this wonderful honey cake which evidently is a pretty popular dessert choice for the new year celebration.  I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of it, let alone had one. So since I already had everything I needed, I decided to try out the recipe. The result – YUM!

There’s only one thing I wish I had discovered before I served this delectable dessert: the blog, In Jennie’s Kitchen.  She described a zucchini apple whoopie pie that sounded out of this world. But more than the whoopie pies, I was interested in the frosting she made.  That was the one thing missing from my cake – something to cut the sweetness.  I know frosting doesn’t sound like something you’d use to cut the sweetness, but trust me, it works.  I used vanilla ice cream, which was great.  But I’m sure her frosting would’ve been better.  And the next time I make this cake, I’ll find out.

So while Rosh Hashana has come and gone, this cake would be great for Yom Kippur as well. After all, just as on Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur hears the shofar sound as a way to let people know the new year has officially started and the day of fasting has come to an end. So, happy new year everyone. May it be sweet and hopefully, a little spicy too.

Spiced-up Honey Cake

• 1 1/2 cups of honey
• 3/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 cup of strong brewed coffee
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease a 9x 13 cake pan.

Combine the honey, oil, coffee and vanilla in a small sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is well blended.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Place the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, coriander, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and stir to blend.

Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until the mixture is pale yellow and very thick, about 5 minutes.

Pour the honey mixture into the egg mixture and beat for another 2 minutes.  Gradually add the dry ingredients until combined, another 2 minutes. 

Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake until the cake springs back when lightly touched with your finger and a toothpick instered into the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.  Cool for 20 minutes.  Run a long sharp knife around the edges and invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool for another 10 minutes while you prepare the frosting.

Frosting

• 1 stick of butter, softened
• 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp of honey

In a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and airy.  Add the powdered sugar and beat until creamy.  Add the ricotta cheese and the honey and beat for 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for another 2-3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Spread the frosting evenly over the cake.  Cut and serve with tea or coffee.

My in-laws were here this weekend.  Since they made dinner for us on Saturday, I thought it would be nice if I made breakfast on Sunday.  And since blueberry season is practically over, I thought some lemon blueberry pancakes would be a great way to get our blueberry fix in before the long winter months.

This was the first time I made pancakes from scratch and I have to say, there’s no comparison.  I’ve always used either Bisquick or Aunt Jemimah mixes because they saved time. They’re easy and pretty tasty, especially if you add fruit. Making pancakes from scratch always intimidated me because it seemed like tons of work.  I figured if I could get the same result with the box, why should I bother beating egg whites and sifting flour. Well, I now have the answer – pancakes from scratch not only taste better, they’re light and fluffy.  The secret, beaten egg whites.

See, since I’ve never made pancakes from scratch, I’ve never separated and beaten the egg whites before.  I just stirred in the whole egg. Beating the egg whites really makes all the difference.  The egg whites add air to the batter and the air makes each cake so light, it’s like eating a lemon-blueberry flavored cloud.  This airy quality has another much more important benefit, though - you’ll probably get to eat more pancakes since they won’t fill you up as quickly.

The other trick with these pancakes (or any fruit pancake for that matter) is not to add the fruit to the batter.  When you add the fruit to the batter, it makes it harder to spoon into the pan and more importantly, the fruit gets all mushed up while mixing.  If you want to keep your fruit fresh and nicely shaped, the best thing to do is add the fruit to the cake while it’s cooking in the pan, just like in the picture below.

Don’t they look yummy? Even cooking in the pan? That picture actually makes me want some right now.  Well… who says pancakes are only for breakfast?  Get a nice lemon sorbet and you’ve got yourself dessert.  Hmmm… now there’s an idea.

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

Makes about 24 pancakes

• 1 cup of milk
• 1 cup of blueberries
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of cakes flour
• 1  Tbsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Whisk together milk, eggs yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice, until smooth.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter.  Then fold the remaining whites into the batter until light and fluffy.

Preheat the pan and melt 1 Tbsp of butter. Spoon the batter into the pan, creating 3-4″ pancakes. Don’t crowd the pan. Add a few blueberries to each cake.  Once you see bubbles form in the batter, flip the pancake. They should cook for about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and serve.

I realized the other day that the subhead for Kitchy Cooking is “a blog for newlyweds and parents who like to entertain” but I don’t have any specific baby/toddler food recipes on the site.  There are a few recipes that not only feed adults, but can also be fed to your little one like the Tomato Soup or the Chicken Taco Salad, but I don’t have anything that’s specifically baby-based.  Well, this post will change that.

Thankfully, my little guy is not a fussy eater.  If I’m making something for me and my husband, 9 times out of 10 my son will eat it.  But sometimes, I’m not making a nice meal for the three of us.  Sometimes, all I want to do is scrounge around in the fridge for left overs or make a sandwich.  And while that’s fine for me and my man, it unfortunately, won’t work for the little guy. 

Since Aidan can only do peas and hummus so many nights in a row, I’m always on the lookout for another easy meal I can whip up.  Well thanks to Parents.com and Itty Bitty Bistro I found a recipe that was simple, quick and a huge success: crinkle cut carrot fries.  If you don’t own a crinkle cutter, don’t fret.  I don’t own one either.  And since straight cut french fries are just as good as the crinkle cut kind, I figured plain old straight cut carrot fries would also be just as yummy.  I was right.

Aidan couldn’t get enough.  Every time he stuffed one in his mouth he was pointing at the plate asking for another. If your toddler won’t eat his veggies, I guarantee this recipe will make him change his mind.  It’s only 4 ingredients, takes no time, and the best thing about it, they make a great side for a nice chicken or steak dinner for the parents.

Carrot Fries

• 1 lb of carrots
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Cut the carrots length-wise in 1/2 inch thick sticks with your crinkle cutter (or straight if you, like me, don’t own one).  Toss the carrot sticks with the thyme, olive oil and salt.

Spread the carrot fries on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until soft.  Pull out and let cool for five minutes for the toddlers. (Serve immediately for adults.)

*These carrots are great for babies 8 months and up who have at least 4 teeth or more. You may need to bake them a little longer so they’ll be soft enough for them to gnaw on.*

**As always, this is based on my own personal experience. Please check with your baby’s pediatrician on introducing solid foods, as these suggestions may not apply to your infant. **