KCC #61 — Let Tevet Bring The Rain!

Welcome to the 61st Kosher Cooking Carnival — the Tevet 5771 issue!  As I’m putting together this issue it is still Kislev.  We are in the midst of Chanuka and the candles are burning, as is our wonderful land of Israel, both physically and psychologically.  The horrific forest fire in the Carmel Forest has claimed 41 lives (edited after posting — 42).  The weather continues to be hotter than normal for this time of year.  As the sun continues to shine and balmy weather brings warm breezes and banishes all thoughts of a wintry Chanuka, we still continue with our holiday traditions, the frying of latkes, the filling of sufganiyot, the caloric intake as if to bulk up for a winter that has yet to arrive.  But rumor has it that with the month of Tevet comes that rain!  Inclement weather is predicted for the erev of and the first day of Rosh Chodesh.  May the rains come and wash the burning land and perhaps the Carmel Forest can start to regenerate the green we long for.

Just a note — today, as I finish writing this post, erev Rosh Chodesh Tevet, the rain has come, washing the country in its blessing and causing Am Yisrael to smile and breathe a sigh of relief.  But still, the showers of last night and today are not enough, so please pray that the weather stays wet and gray!

Over the centuries Israel has been beset by many a tragedy, and how have we always managed to get through it?  We eat!  So let the Kosher Cooking Carnival begin!

The Kosher Cooking Carnival KCC is a monthly blog carnival, a “round-up” of blog posts about all aspects of kosher food and cooking.  It includes Jewish Law, customs, kosher restaurants, cookbooks and kosher recipes, too.  Every month it’s on another blog.  Next month the KCC is once again going home and will be hosted by Batya at me-ander.  If you’d like to host an edition, please contact Batya.

Anything Kosher

Leah of Ingathered brings back some childhood memories with her Quick and Easy Homemade Pickles.

Batya, of me-ander, decided to do something we do almost weekly in our house and did a little Cashing In, Frozen Foods.  In our house we always cook twice or three times as much as we need, just to feed the Freezer Gods.

Leora who lives over Here in HP posted a wonder No Cook Pea Salad.  This one is absolutely going into the Shabbat rotation at our house.

Jennifer is having some Adventures in BreadLand, and is stretching and folding, stretching and folding and wants us to Bake Bread Bold with “Stretch n’ Fold”!

Even though we are in the midst of Chanuka, not too long ago we were celebrating Thanksgiving.  Mirj of Miriyummy (hey, that’s me!) didn’t quite make the traditional dinner, but had a little party to give thanks, and served up some unconventional Thanksgiving food.

Desserts

Phyllis, our favorite Ima On (And Off) The Bima, made a supercool dragon cake for her son’s 5th birthday.  You can read all about it at Move Over, Cake Boss – Dragon Cake.

What do you do when you just don’t know what to call your creation?  You do what Mrs. S. over at Our Shiputzim:  A Work in Progress did.  Curious?  Find out what she called her dessert in Freshly Baked Goods Friday: Nameless Edition.

Not that I want to get political or anythings, but… with all this talk about a building freeze, Jennifer and her Adventures in MamaLand is building houses, gingerbread houses, and they look good!  Have a peek at Gingerbread Night.

One way to avoid politics is to focus on the ying and yang of the sweet stuff.  Mirj of Miriyummy (me, again) gives it to you in black and white with Reality Bites.

Diet Food

There were no entries this month for Diet Food.  Like, duh!  This is the Chanuka season!  Latkes, sufganiyot, anything fried, oil, oil, oil, get the picture?  Just in case you don’t, here’s one…

Everyday Meals

Ilana-Davita took one of my favorite side dishes and gave it her own personal twist in Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with Apple.

If you head over to Here in HP you can read how Leora made Kid-Friendly Spicy Potatoes.  Sounds like something my kids would love to cook, and love to eat.  Very kid-friendly!

With the drought we’ve been having here in Israel Batya has come up with a very economic way to save water over at me-ander.  See this new innovation with Water-Saving Meatloaf.

Halacha

Mrs. S. on Our Shiputzim discusses the mitzvot of blogging on Chanuka.  Nothing to do with food, but worth reading, just so you know…  Happy Chanukah!

Jewish Shabbat and Holiday Food

Mimi of Israeli Kitchen receives some potato inspiration with 2 Recipes:  Spiced Olives and Potatoes with Olives.

Just in time for the last days of Chanuka (and who says this should only be limited to Chanuka?), West Bank Mama tells us Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Latkes.

Over at JewishBoston.com we have an interesting take on the usual latke thanks to Dan Brosgol.  Check out Hybrid Latkes: Low-Fat, High-Flavor, and Interestingly Textured.

Bookishima, who’s In Our Small Garden, wants to tell you All About Sufganiyot.

Mirj of Miriyummy (me, again) has way to chill down in Israel with memories of the cold north and little baby sufganiyot with There’s a Hole in My Donut.

Just because it doesn’t feel like winter yet here in Israel, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the world isn’t freezing its tuchas off and in need of hot and nourishing food to stave off the cold.  Beth, the Upper West Side Mom, has a warming recipe for Fassoulyeh b’Lah’meh (Syrian Cholent).

And while were still talking about Shabbat food, doesn’t every shul have a Kiddush Club?  Mine does, so I blogged about it at Miriyummy.

Restaurants and Cookbook Reviews

Gillian Pollack of BiblioBuffet takes us down under and back in time with In Search of Nineteenth-Century Food.

In Jerusalem?  Hungry?  Batya at me-ander has found The Best Lunch Deal in Jerusalem!

Still in Jerusalem?  Still hungry?  The trials and tribulations that Batya of me-ander goes through to find us An Even Better Salad Deal for a Great Lunch!

Miscellaneous

Okay, so while this doesn’t fall under the issue of kashrut per se, I just couldn’t pass up including this entry from Erin Lenderts from Bachelor’s Degree Online: 40 Beautiful Coffee Table Books for Foodies.

Maybe I should call this the Not Kosher But Interesting Nonetheless category.  In any case, Jennifer Lynch submitted an entry which is good for those of you who keep kosher but like to read about weird, non-kosher restaurants.  Check out 20 Strangest Restaurants Around The World over at TopOnlineColleges.com.

Everything you wanted to know about the food pyramid but couldn’t be bothered to Google it yourself?  You can find the Top 50 Blogs About the Food Pyramid and Macronutrients at ADN to BSN.

So how many of us who regularly read the KCC deep-fry their turkeys for Thanksgiving?  Hmmmm, thought so.  We’re just not in that demographic, are we…  But just in case you ever get the, erm, hankering to try, Susan Howe discusses how Deep-fried turkey fiascos can spoil Thankgiving at Insure.com.

Have a happy holiday full of light!

Here are the previous editions of the Kosher Cooking Carnival:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,19, 20, 21, KCC Meta Carnival, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28,29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43,44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52,  53,  54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60.  Click on the numbers to check them out.  Blog about them and visit the various links.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of kosher cooking carnival-kcc using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.