Salads are big during the spring, especially if you have access to a great organic farmer’s market. If you are looking for a way to lower your calorie and fat intake, then experiment with salad recipes. Salads are easy to make, they contain high levels of anti-oxidants and they are tasty.
The first thing that you need to learn when experimenting with salad recipes is how to properly select and prepare greens and fresh vegetables. To start with you will want to select crisp vegetables that have vibrant colors. If there is slime on the vegetable or if the vegetable is wilted, it isn’t any good. Don’t use it. Before you start cutting up your vegetables you will want to wash and dry them. Your goal is to remove dirt, sand and other contaminants from the vegetable, as well are remove small stones that could have piggybacked on your lettuce.
You have a couple of options when it comes to preparing a salad. Your first option is to simply tear your lettuce and hand break your veggies into bite size pieces. This creates a very rustic looking salad. If you are trying for a more formal looking salad then you will want to chop and slice your veggies. For an American style salad cut vegetables straight across, for a more Asian looking salad, cut veggies lengthwise into long strips.
Traditional Jewish recipes for salads are known for taking advantage of the ingredients that are available in the local market. This is a Jewish recipe strategy that you can also use when developing a salad recipe. For example, you can look for fresh Spring greens, local produce or simply experiment with the veggies that are available in the produce department of your local market. Remember to return next week to read a Jewish recipe blog on the upcoming berry season.
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Another favorite side dish to serve during the Spring is gelatin. Gelatin molds come in fruity flavors, as well as savory flavors. In addition to desserts, gelatin can also be used as a thickener for main dishes. If you are a gelatin fan and are interested in living a Kosher life style you need to read this blog to learn if gelatin is Kosher.
Gelatin is actually an animal product that is created by boiling down tendons, bones and skin. According to Kosher laws, gelatin is Kosher, and remains Kosher even when served with dairy. This is because the product isn’t made from meat, per se. If you are trying to live a vegetarian lifestyle, then you will not want to use gelatin that is made from animal bones, but rather look for a variety that utilizes Agar-agar, which is a product made from seaweed.
One of the easiest ways to create side dishes with gelatin is to buy flavored gelatin mixes. These mixes can be used to create Jello® salads, Jello® molds or even smoothies. If you are looking for a quick dessert or side dish for a brunch, then make a Jello® parfait.
Brunch Jello® Parfait
Family sized Jello® in strawberry, lemon, or orange
2 cups of boiling water
2 cups of cold water
1 tub of Cool Whip
Directions
1. Dissolve Jello in boiling water for 2 minutes, then add in cold water. Place in the refrigerator and allow to set up.
2. Once set up, mix the Cool Whip with Jello until well combined. Serve in a nice bowl or in individual parfait glasses.
Gelatin desserts and side dishes work great as holiday, Passover and low fat Jewish recipes.
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Last week we kicked off the Spring season with a blog on BBQing, or grilling. This week I’d like to talk about a popular side dish and snack for both the Spring and the Summer, chips. Now when most people thing about chips, they think about potato chips. However, you can make great tasting chips from just about any vegetable.
The first step in preparing a great batch of vegetable chips is to identify what types of vegetables you want to use. Starchy veggies are going to work the best like potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, turnips, parsnips, carrots and Kohlrabi. For a good sized batch of chips you will need about one or two potatoes or root vegetable per serving. When you shop for your root vegetables look for firm bodies.
To prepare your veggies you will want to peel them and slice them into very thin slices. If you have a mandalin chopper, then this will go quickly. Next you will want to rinse the pieces and pat them dry. If you are not concerned about your sodium intake, then you can sprinkle the raw chips with a little salt to help draw out extra moisture.
The final step is to cook your chips. For traditional chips you will want to deep fat fry them for three to five minutes, or until crisp. When you remove the chips from the oil let them drain on a pile of paper towels. Season the chips with sea salt or flavoring right after they are removed from the oil. This will help the flavorings stick to the chips. If you are watching your fat intake then you can bake your chips. To bake your chips line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, spray the foil with cooking spray, line cookie sheet with a single layer of chips, spray the chips with cooking spray and bake on 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until crisp. Remove from the over, give a quick spray of cooking spray and add flavoring.
Spring is a great time to experiment with new Jewish recipes. However, it can also be a great time to create a big family meal using a beef brisket Jewish recipe. Return next week to the informative Jewish Recipes Blog for more cooking tips and recipe ideas.
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Finally, Spring is here and the weather is getting warming. As things start to heat up, why not move your cooking outdoors. Grilling and barbequing season is upon us. Here are a few tips for a great BBQ season.
The first thing that you need to know about BBQing is that cleaning your grill properly is going to make your life a lot easier. To prevent your meat from sticking to the grill rack you need to make sure you scrape off all the burnt on meat pieces from the last time you BBQed. To do this, use a wire brush to scrape each grate. You can run your hand over the grates to make sure you got all the food particles off the grill. After you clean your grill make sure you oil it. This will help to prevent the meat from sticking to the metal while cooking.
If you are not a fan of red meat, then consider learning how to BBQ fish. Fish is difficult to BBQ directly on the grates because the flesh sticks and flakes apart. To make grilling fish easier to do on your BBQ place a piece of aluminum foil over the grill. To prevent the fish from overcooking, you can push all the coals to one side of the BBQ and then cook the fish on the opposite site of the BBQ.
BBQing is a great way to prepare low fat Jewish recipes, as well as a unique way to prepare traditional Jewish recipes. Return next week for more tips on Jewish cooking and healthy living.
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We are now officially half way through the month of March, and about a week away from the first day of spring. At this time of year, my thoughts naturally shift to spring and lighter eating. Perhaps this is because I know that a wardrobe change is approaching where more of my body will be exposed, or perhaps it’s just because I enjoy the fresh produce that comes to the market during the Spring. Whatever the reason is, I enjoy spring dishes.
Eggs are a great item to work with when creating spring dishes. They are an excellent source of protein and they actually don’t have as much cholesterol as we have all been programmed to believe. However, if cholesterol is a concern, you do have the option of working with only the egg white or using an egg substitute.
One of my favorite spring dishes is deviled eggs. This dish, served as an appetizer, can be a high calorie high cholesterol snack, however, with a few modifications it can be a little lighter on your palette.
Lite Deviled Eggs
Ingredients
12 eggs
1/2 cup lite Mayo
1 stalk of celery diced
1 tbsp mustard
Sweet relish
Paprika
Directions
1. Hard boil your eggs. Then drain water and soak in ice cold water.
2. Peel your eggs and cut each one in half. Remove the yolks and place them in a mixing bowl.
3. Chop celery and add to mixing bowl with yolks, mustard, mayo and relish. Also chop up three of the egg whites and stir in to the mixture.
4. Stuff the remaining egg white halves with a scoop of the mixture and sprinkle with paprika.
Making traditional Jewish recipes lighter is easy to do. Simply replace high fat ingredients for your Jewish recipes with a low fat or non-fat alternative. When substitutions aren’t available, simply reduce the size of the serving of your Jewish holiday recipes.
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