KosherEye is always searching for new kosher products and culinary gadgets, and we instantly knew we had spotted one while attending the January 2011 AmericasMart Gift Show. There it was – the Zoku Quick Pop Maker, a fun, colorful, very happy, popsicle display in the middle of winter. And, yes, this innovative tool proved to be a huge success with both kids and adults!

Flash forward 2 years to 2013, and Zoku has done it again with its new Slush and Shake Maker. So much fun! You can shake up healthy slushies, energy drinks, milkshakes, smoothies, icy coffee drinks, ice cream sodas and even frozen cocktails in just a few minutes! It stores in the freezer so it is always ready to use. And it is easy to use too. Remove the frozen inner core from the freezer and place it in to the outer sleeve, pour in your ingredients, mix & scrape the cup with the spoon (included) and watch as the slush freezes before your eyes! Really!

The Zoku Slush and Shake Maker sells for $19.99. For more information, visit Zoku.

Read about the original Zoku Quick Pop Maker as we reported in our 2011 feature.

KosherEye has made a new discovery and what a find it is! We try to follow up on suggestions from our readers, and so when a KosherEye friend recommended Papergoods.com we checked it out. We found a huge online store of disposables, paper and plastic goods for entertaining, everyday use, Shabbos and special occasions. In fact, we were so impressed that we contacted the company – requested samples and decided to share this site with our readers. Our sample order was shipped promptly and arrived intact. (According to comments on their site, this is the norm!) We don't know how they do it, but orders $49 and over are shipped free. Freight for orders under this amount, cost only $5. And, for even more savings, yes, KosherEye is very frugal-minded, we love their weekly "steals and deals".

A bit about the company: Sholom, the founder of Papergoods.com was brought up in a family of 9 children. His education includes yeshivas in the U.S. and England. While growing up, he shared many of the weekly supermarket shopping experiences with his mom and siblings, laboriously dragging home groceries and paper goods. So, as an adult, Sholom, realized how convenient, time saving and budget friendly it would be to have paper goods delivered. The option of affordable delivery was common for large offices, but not realistically affordable for families, especially small families. Thus, along with a childhood friend, he founded PaperGoods.com.

According to Sholom: "I am personally a huge online shopper. One day after an especially large shopping (schlepping) trip I decided to find out if there was anyone selling paper goods online. Lo and behold, there was none and I decided then and there that this is what I wanted to do! I started the company, which was originally called papergoodsdirect.com, in my garage about 5 years ago and have been building papergoods.com ever since. Presently, our company has relationships with many of the country's leading paper/plastic companies, but we hope to eventually manufacture our own signature lines."

We asked Sholom to recommend tableware for different occasions and budgets. He graciously complied.

Some choices for the luxury buyer:
One lovely choice is the silver collection white plastic plates with silver rim accent. Paired with detailed silver-like plastic flatware, clear square-bottomed plastic tumblers and color coordinated dinner napkins – the look is elegant.

Some choices for the budget conscious host: Many items can be purchased in money saving bulk quantities. We like these cream square plates, which come in several sizes, and have matching luncheon napkins.

Best Sellers for casual summer entertaining:
Floral ensembles are classic. Plates and napkins are available in many sizes.

And then there are the "hard to find" clear plastic plates and servers, including mini servers as shown here.

For more information and to see all available disposables: papergoods.com

Papergoods.com is partnering with KosherEye and gifting a random KosherEye reader with a $50 gift certificate toward tableware. To enter, click here.

Selecting a Breadmaker can be confusing – especially if one has not previously owned a bread machine. So many choices - one paddle or two? vertical loaves or horizontal loaves? A machine that makes a 1 lb. loaf or a 2 lb. loaf? Size of actual machine? Ease of use? Settings? Decisions... decisions... decisions!

So let's talk! We have recently tested the newest model, of the Zojirushi (pronunced zo-jih-ROO-shee) bread maker, the Virtuoso BB-PAC 20. In fact, since we have grown so attached to it, let's use its nickname, the Zo. It has moved to a position front and center in our kitchen, right up there with our stand mixer, Vitamix, Coffee Maker and food processor. Not only are we busily making whole wheat bread for weekday sandwiches, challah for Shabbos, and cinnamon rolls (yumm) much too often, but we have also made jam. strawberry jam to be exact. So simple! Making jam was so easy, that we plan to progress to blueberry and peach jam later this summer.

Yes the Zo is an investment ($275), but if you have the counter or pantry space available, and if you love fresh bread and preserves, we think that it is well worth the price. If you use it often, studies have indicated that over time, homemade bread costs substantially less than store bought bread, and is of course healthier, (We guess that depends on your ingredient choices.)

Why did we select the Zojirushi? – We compared many popular bread machines, some less costly, but liked the features on the Zo. The Home Bakery Virtuoso® Breadmaker (BBBAC20). If you plan to become a regular breadmaker...these features are important.

The Virtuoso bakes a traditional, horizontal-shaped 1 ½ - 2-lb. loaf, has dual kneading blades, 13 hour delay timer, easy to read clock and many varied menu settings-including basic bread, wheat bread, gluten free bread, sourdough starter, dough, jam, cake, quick bread and 3 home made settings for custom recipes. Trust me, we are not techies, but the accompanying recipe book and DVD offers easy to follow, step-by-step instructions for each setting. Additionally, the Virtuoso has an exclusive lid heater, which makes even baking and proper browning possible. The dual paddles ensure thorough mixing and kneading, and result in a higher rise. The bread pan includes easy-lift handles, ensuring quick and safe loaf removal of the loafs. And there is a large window to watch what's happening.
And, we must share one of our favorite features..the 13-hour delay timer – which allows us to go to bed and wake up to fresh homemade bread in the morning. Sounds so good, doesn't it? Yes, it's truly amazing. We also especially like the dough cycle, which is perfect for mixing up a batch of cinnamon buns, challah and rolls.
We find the 2 lb. size loaf convenient, some to slice, some to store and even some to freeze. For Shabbos challah, the Zo delivers fresh challah in a hurry on a Friday morning. One 90-minute cycle provides enough dough to make two 1 lb. loaves. We shape them, place them in loaf pans or on our Silpat mat, let them rise for 1 hour and bake for 30 minutes. Done! By the way, for those readers who are gluten free, the Zo even offers a setting for you. So, dear readers, if you are in the market for a breadmaker, do consider the ZO, and share your thoughts (and recipes) with us.

Learn more about the Zojirushi Breadmakers at Zojirushi.com.  To purchase: Zojirushi Virtuoso Breadmaker.

For some of the best bread machine recipes, see the following in our KosherEye recipe library:

Bread Machine Challah
Easy As Can Be Bread Machine Bread
Strawberry Jam

I love spring. It's the tentative, yet warm, wet kiss of seasons. Who doesn't want the weather to warm, the sprouting bulbs to wend their way through the earth to find sunlight, and bare trees lining streets to explode into canopies of green? Yet, for me spring comes with one long melancholy sigh as I realize I will be seeing much less of my slow cooker over the next several months and much less of the comforting fall-apart meat I love that is the result of the low-slow process the utilitarian cooker gives us. While I was researching, testing and planning weeks of spring recipes for my blog, foodfixkitchen.com, I came across a recipe for a lamb stew that starting me thinking about a classic French "navarin printanier" we made in culinary school. Navarin means lamb or mutton stew and when vegetables are added, particularly blushing new spring vegetables like asparagus, baby turnips and English peas, that's when the "printanier" or spring part comes in.

With a little tweaking of the recipe normally done in the oven or stovetop, and the help of the smart new Cuisinart 6-quart Multi-Cooker I was given by Cuisinart recently to play with, I am happy to report a wonderful spring excuse for slow-cooking!

The absolute stunning thing about this particular cooker, and why I loved working with it, is that it has a "browning" setting. It actually browns and sears, right in the cooker pot, right inside the cooker. Browning meat for a stew, even a slow cooker stew, is a flavor-building technique that should not be skipped, even though, for convenience sake, a lot of slow cooker recipes do skip it. With this Cuisinart cooker, you don't have to mess up an extra pot, or your stove with the browning process...and all the flavor stays right in the pot you'll be slow cooking in.

The browning function allows you to set the temperature as high as 400 degrees F, which is hot enough to get a nice sear on the meat. It also allows you to bring things to a boil, as in reducing the sauce at the end of the cooking time, without dirtying yet another pot!

Wouldn't you love to have one of these lovely cookers right now?  Even though it's spring? Just to make this lovely slow-cooked spring lamb? Well, as a memorable way to introduce myself to KosherEye readers, and because Cuisinart was generous enough to offer a brand-new one of these to giveaway, one lucky reader will give this beauty a home. Enter here. 

Now, a final word on this lamb stew. It's has the depth of a classic boeuf bourguignon, but on daylight savings time! It's perfect for the still cool nights we are having but gives a wonderful hint of all the green freshness to come. The herby-fresh pistou (fancy-French for pesto) with mint and parsley and basil along with the new potatoes, boiled, lightly smashed and pan-fried to a crispy, creamy perfection make this a meal fit for a spring celebration!

CHEF RACHEL WILLEN, CREATOR FOOD FIX KITCHEN
BLOG AND COOKING SCHOOL

"Food is the gas in your tank, it's the raw material of who you are, so why wouldn't you eat well?" asks Chef Rachel Willen, creator of the popular recipe blog and cooking school by the same name: Food Fix Kitchen.
Through her cooking, writing, teaching and personal appearances, Chef Rachel has delivered the credo she lives by: "cook well, eat well, live well,"

Her unique personal story is one of overcoming childhood abuse, traveling many life paths (actress, waitress, singer, caterer, stand-up comic, writer, graphic artist, and mother) to find fulfillment, culminating in a courageous, culinary-inspired reinvention. She acted on a life-long passion for cooking and went to professional culinary school at age 50, at the same time as her 19-year old son.
"I like to say that we followed in my mother's 'FOODSTEPS'" says Chef Rachel, "because she was a private chef for nearly 40 years, working until the week she died at age 86. She was a Holocaust survivor and knew what it was to go without food, so she lived her life as a gastronomical celebration. Cooking and feeding people was her way of healing others and herself."
Today, Willen's son, Max, is a chef working at Thomas Keller's Per Se in NYC, one of the top 5 restaurants in the world, and Willen is a Food Network's Chopped Champion, a nationally recognized food writer and founder of a successful NY metro area recreational cooking school. She has brought her culinary skills, living well credo, and message of "reinvention at any age" to schools, corporations, medical centers, destination spas, women's groups and charity events.

Chef Rachel Willen's Recipes for this delicious spring dish:
Spring Lamb with Garden Pistou
Hands-Down Potatoes

You can read more about Chef Rachel Willen at http://foodfixkitchen.com

We look at the Emile Henry bakeware and ovenware line as providing heirloom quality pieces for our kitchens. They are culinary accessories that although sometimes pricey, can last a lifetime and beyond. If a bride adds these to her gift registry, she can be confident that she will not have to purchase replacement pieces for a very long time. The company too is confident in the quality of its products and offers a 10-year warranty.

Our newest Emile Henry culinary wonder is the roasting/lasagna dish we have been testing. It is versatile, and our "go to" ovenware casserole dish for baking or roasting family sized entrees, sides or desserts. This rectangular baking dish is durable, functional and stylish. It multitasks...going directly from freezer to oven, to table, and then into the sink for a hand washing or into the dishwasher. And, due to the hard glaze, cutting and slicing in the dish is possible without the worry of damage or scratches. It is also resistant to chipping. Whew!

We tried our recipes in a large 16.7" x 11" – 3.8 quart family-sized dish, deep enough to hold mounds of ingredients, large enough to feed a crowd. We like the deep colors of the glaze – ours is in the sand color. Although this rectangular shape is popularly known as a "lasagna" dish, we think that its versatility reaches far past lasagna, useful for any casserole or layered recipe. Since we used ours for meat, we plan to purchase another for dairy. There will be no problem confusing the two, since there are many colors and sizes from which to select. In fact, for our dairy cooking, we likely will select a smaller one.

Since 1850, Emile Henry's ceramic bakeware and tableware has been made in Marcigny, France. It is still made from high fired Burgundy clay, a type of natural clay superior for conducting and retaining heat, keeping food warm longer than traditional bakeware.
Emile Henry cookware and ovenware is most definitely a KosherEye gift yourself gift others culinary selection. Any cook, beginner or seasoned will treasure this in the kitchen.

The casserole:
According to WikiPedia, the word casserole is from the French word for "saucepan" and is defined as a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan.

To purchase, click here: Emile Henry Lasagna Dish

Enjoy these crowd friendly casserole recipes:

• Everyday MEAT LOAF with Hidden Vegetables adapted from Chef Daniel Holloway
• Chicken Marvelosa by KosherEye friend and chef/teacher extraordinaire Norene Gilletz
• Chocolate Lasagna - layers of heavenly chocolate
• Meat Moussaka from KosherEye friend Gloria Kobrin. For more of Gloria's wonderful recipes, purchase her Kosher Cookbook app at the iTunes store.

When I read about the Manischewitz Cook-off I just couldn't resist entering. I was researching ways to gather funding for my daughter's education, and a $25,000 grand prize (cash and Maytag appliances) would surely help. I really did not think that I would become a finalist but, I do have a knack for creating original recipes that appeal to family and friends- a talent I do not take for granted. I created my original recipe inspired by a picture I had seen of a Panini that was so thin it looked like matzo, not bread. I added mushrooms, mango and balsamic flavors as the sandwich filler.

The contest rules encouraged simple, simple, simple – 9 ingredients, 3 of which had to be Manischewitz products. I found it easy to enter under these rules because I like to limit my ingredients anyway, and often take shortcuts for ease in cooking and preparation. Using Manischewitz products was not a problem for me, because they are readily available, and I find their quality superior to other similar products. I especially enjoy the broths to make soups, rice dishes, and also as ingredients in flavorful reductions.

Imagine how surprised and excited I was to receive the initial phone call from the Manischewitz PR representatives asking me questions specifically about my use of products and my reason for entering the contest. And then, I was even more excited when they told me that I WAS a finalist and I would be flying to Newark, New Jersey to compete on contest day, March 21st.

Prior to the trip, I tried to learn as much as I could about the Manischewitz Company, the history, the employees, the CEO's and their mission statement. I took being a finalist seriously and really felt they chose me and the other finalists to represent their company. After all, our recipes were all to be showcased on the Manischewitz site. I was honored.

But the timing... was a huge issue. This year I was invited out for Passover Seder meals and did not have family to entertain,. So, even though the event was just 4 days prior to the holiday I was able to interrupt my Passover preparation schedule. However, the timing was a concern for the other contestants as well; everyone agreed that perhaps in the future the date should be reconsidered. (That is – everyone agreed except the person who won the grand prize! )

The Experience
After I landed at Newark airport, I was whisked away by a private driver to the
Manischewitz plant, where I met the other contestants and was introduced to the Manischewitz PR team. They helped us set up our workstations, and organize the tools and ingredients we needed to create our recipes. I felt very comfortable and very much at ease with everyone I met. We all were taken to the hotel where we were able to refresh and prepare for dinner. That night along with all the contestants, their family members and the PR team we went to a well-appointed restaurant in Teaneck, New Jersey.. Originally I had read - we would meet the Manischewitz CEO's and the company executives. However, that was not to be that evening. The food was delicious, very well presented and we felt very special to be finalists in a competition, which attracted thousands of entries.

I had a sleepless night (well almost). I was emailing at 4 AM. The morning of the contest all the contestants were driven from the hotel to the Manischewitz plant which crowded with media personalities, Manischewitz Company representatives, friends and family. I was so nervous I did not eat, even though there was plenty of catered food. The caterer also prepared "copycat tastings" of the competing recipes.

It was exciting as spectators and the media surrounded our workstations, took pictures, and asked questions, interviewed and videotaped us. So many people approached me from different newspapers, publications, food blogs – it was overwhelming. As I looked down the line at my fellow contestants, they too were surrounded. Is this what is known as the 15 minutes of fame? Or as my husband named it: "Queen for a Day."

The Judges and the Judging
I suppose that I had hoped for some quality time with head judge Jamie Geller. I had really hoped to meet her and schmooze. . After watching her videos, reading her cookbooks and learning about her background, I felt we could be "best buddies". Although time did not allow for conversation, I did ask her if my daughter could come to her home in Israel for Shabbat next year! (Jamie and her family recently made Aliyah).

And now the judging –No, I was not nervous, but my adrenaline was pulsing fast and I was trying to be bright and cheery while the clock ticked away. OOPS! One judge came by as I was flipping my Panini in the pan and the matzo had browned while being pressed and fried. She asked," Is that supposed to happen?" hinting that I might have I burned my sandwich. I told her yes, but then she started writing something on her clipboard. I know that I told someone else that a Panini was grilled like grilled cheese, or French toast but this judge didn't seem to care- I saw it in her face. OOPS again --There was another judge who loved that I was from Atlanta and just wanted to talk about the Atlanta Braves. Well, I was trying to sauté my mushrooms and I am not really a Braves fan. (Not a time to talk baseball!)

It was hard to know just what the judges wanted, but we were told ease of preparation was very important, as was multitasking. We had to continue creating our recipes (the clock was ticking) while interacting with whoever came to our stations to ask questions. (Somewhat like Food TV) Another contestant told me that her recipe could be made while she held her baby on her hip; we all laughed about that.

We had one hour to prepare and plate our recipes. After the hour was up, each contestant carried their dish to the judges' table, shared a bit about themselves and their recipe and then a Manischewitz assistant divided the food individually for each judge to taste. We did not get any feedback and the votes were private.
At last the winning recipe was announced. No, it was not my Balsamic Mushroom Matzo Panini with Mango Jam, but a soup Faux Pho. I was surprised that a soup won the grand prize, for the 3rd time in 4 years.

The Mayor
I met a sweet media woman in the ladies room and she told me she was wearing turquoise jewelry because Cory Booker, the VIP guest, likes turquoise. Oh yes, I did get to shake Newark Mayor Cory Booker's hand--one of the highlights of my trip, since I admire all that he has done and continues to do.

The Wrap Up
My advice to Manischewitz: I, along with the other finalists, would have appreciated feedback about our recipes and the scoring. In the end, we really were left wondering what the judges saw, tasted, and chose. How wonderful it would have been for each contestant to meet the judge panel prior to cooking and have the main questions asked at that time.

Would I do it again? Maybe. I arrived home happy, but totally exhausted. I am looking forward to using all the Manischewitz products the company is sending me as a finalist prize. $500 worth of products will definitely keep me going for a while.

Robin Saul, a resident of Atlanta, GA was selected as a finalist in the 7th Annual Manischewitz Cook-Off competition. Robin is a dietician with 4 children and 4 grandchildren. She is passionate about creative, simple, and healthy cooking, nourishing family and friends, and vegetable gardening. Many of her cuisine inspirations come from traveling with her husband Art. She would love to see more kosher restaurants become farm to table with exquisite fresh vegetables replacing the typical fatty options.

Try Robin's winning recipe for Balsamic Mushroom Matzo Panini with Mango Jam.
The additional four recipes along with the grand prize winner Faux Pho can be found at Manischewitz.com.

                                                   Photo: Pretty Veggie, Sausage & Peppers

 Shalom, Bonjour, Guten Tag, Bom Dia, Konnichiwa!

"What's that?" you say.

That's the sound of a New York City girl who's been around the world and back, became a vegetarian, came up with an idea, and decided to get her act together and tell you about it.

I've traveled, lived, and worked in a number of locations around the world, from Israel to Hawaii, speak some Hebrew, a bit of French and German, and pleasantries in a number of other languages, love many different types of foods, and have puttered around with them all. (Of course, I even knew what harissa was when Alton mentioned it on "Next Food Network Star"!)

One bump in the road, though, was when I became a vegetarian a few years ago. Not a vegan but definitely a vegetarian, as I don't eat any meat, poultry or fish, and all in all I'm "Pretty... darn... Veggie"!

I thought I'd be leaving behind so many of the things I loved to eat. Surprisingly though, I've found ways to make substitutions and have come up with veggie variations that are so close to the mark, many times it's hard to tell the difference.

Not ALL of your favorites have to fall by the wayside when you "go veggie" and it's great for Meatless Monday. In fact, not many at all − it just depends on the dish! "Home-Style," or international, it's easy! And the sworn "meat eaters" in the family? It'll be pretty hard to tell the difference in the recipes I come up with... because not everything is as it seems!

Just take a look at the following meatless miracles − for SURE they're not what they seem. They're all vegetarian and can be prepared kosher!

Chicken Gyro, Sausage and Peppers, Chopped Liver and Shepherd's Pie

My recipes are written in such a way that you can "tweak" the ingredients as you like. Some suggested kosher, vegetarian brand names for the "meats" are listed below. These "meats" are available in well-stocked supermarkets, Whole Foods, and other stores that cater to "healthy," "vegetarian," or "vegan" clientele.

• Morningstar Farms Griller Crumbles for Ground "Beef"
• Tofurky Italian Style "Sausage" or Lightlife Italian Style Smart "Sausage"
• Lightlife Smart Cutlets for "Chicken"

About the Author

It all started when friends and family urged Mindy Johnson to share her food ideas and recipes online. She is now founder/editor of PrettyVeggie.com, a presence on Twitter, and in the works for Public Television – "Pretty Veggie," a vegetarian cooking and travel show. Her 1st stop--Israel!. She is currently seeking funding for this new venture. And in her own words: "Any corporate sponsors out there?"

Since visiting Kosherfest this past November, I've been thinking about seitan. It was there that I sampled the seitan gyros that Taft Foods was demonstrating and dispatching to a steady flow of visitors. After experiencing delicious bites of grilled seasoned seitan slices slathered in herbaceous tzatziki yogurt sauce and wrapped neatly in laffa bread, the recipe possibilities of this vegetarian protein began simmering away in my overfed imagination.

Seitan is made from wheat gluten. It offers a chewy, dense, and dare I say "meatier" texture than tofu, plus has more protein, less calories and fat per serving. Seitan for the most part is a blank-canvas food, meaning it takes on the taste of whatever spices and flavoring it is prepared with. But due to its texture it is more palatable to non-vegetarians, and can be prepared in a way with flavor that mimics meat or chicken. For kosher-keepers it translates as a parve protein or as the Japanese call it wheat-meat. For the health conscious it provides a versatile and healthier alternative to meat. For both reasons I was excited to play around with this product.

I met Jessica Taft at a health food store in Manhattan. She began our conversation by taking me to the fridges in the back of the store where she grabbed a couple packages of her seasoned seitan (gyro and sausage) to use as visual aids. She then told me about a food memory that has been a guiding inspiration for her life; it was at an outdoor rock concert in California sometime in the mid-eighties. She does not remember the band, but remembers what she ate... a vegetarian gyro. And that's when she realized that "you don't have to be a vegetarian to eat like one". And so in her quest to recreate the perfect vegetarian gyro she enrolled in the Natural Foods Culinary School in NYC, where she worked on seitan gyro recipes that would appeal to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.

While she was telling me about the stringent kosher certification her seitan features, the woman at the next table broke into the conversation. She studied the packages on the table, asked a few questions about how the product should be prepared or served (in pasta, on a pizza, with an omelet...). "This will be perfect for my daughter, she is very healthy...it's easy-to-prepare, different, and parve!"

Back in my kitchen the objective was clear: putting plain seitan to the Carnivore Test. Could it stand in for pastrami, turkey, chicken? The Deli Maven in the house would surely have something to say. Steeping seitan strips overnight in a brew of borscht, pickle juice, and a blend of spices, yielded a pastrami-hued substance. After coarsely chopping the seitan then lightly sautéing it so it was crispy around the edges, it was heaped on top of a saucy layer of Russian dressing, with a scoop or two of sauerkraut, and then blanketed in melted Swiss cheese. The deli lover was both surprised and pleased with the result.

Then because Big Game Sunday was just a football toss away, throwing a Buffalo chicken-style dish into the mix made sense. Chopping up seitan purchased at my local health food store, and dousing it in hot sauce and then baking it in piquant blue cheese dressing and cream cheese presented a substantial and irresistible vegetarian dip. Which kind of sums up my seitan cooking experiment in general.

*     *     *     *     *     *

Recipes from Rachel Harkham:
Sassy Seitan Reubens
Buffalo Seitan Chicken Dip

Rachel Harkham is the author of "Get Cooking: A Jewish American Family Cookbook" written with Doni Zasloff Thomas. For more fun and tasty recipes, check out Rachel's website.

For more seitan recipes/information, visit Taft Food Masters.

by Guest Columnist Sarah Lasry

                                                                            Photo: KosherStreet.com

Besides everything else that I do to provide for my daughter out of my home, I also have a 24/7 full time job where I work as a teacher, entertainer, cleaning lady, and of course, the on–call chef.

The truth is if you are a mother, by default you are a full−time working mom. And if you are anything like me as a mom, you are always looking for those little things in life that make your job a little easier. So, I have a secret weapon in my kitchen arsenal − the one pot.

What is this one pot kitchen miracle you ask? Well, it is really two things; a cast iron Dutch oven pot (like the Le Creuset pots I buy on sale at T.J.Maxx or, the less expensive and almost as superior, Rachel Ray Pot I bought at Kohl's) that I use when I have 2 hours before dinner and I have yet to put anything up.

Or, it is my $19.99 Crockpot slow cooker that is not only used for my Shabbat cholent. My slow cooker is the perfect solution for when I am out of the house at 8 AM, with no time to make dinner before my daughter comes home from school.

These two One Pots are my best friends in the kitchen and are perfect for what I like to call "Set it & Forget it − One Pot Recipes".

The trick to one pot cooking is making sure that your liquid−to−ingredients ratio is not too much or too little – combined with the temperature of the oven, or slow cooker, and the amount of time you plan on cooking it. Sounds a little complicated, but truthfully it is not. It really is a simple matter of common sense, or trial and error, when it comes to creating your own recipes. Many times I just dump what's left in the fridge − vegetables, meat, etc; use ingredients already in my pantry...walk away and Voilà – a delicious dinner!

But for those who are a little less adventurous than me, here are my favorite go–to One Pot Set It & Forget It dinners I make on a very regular basis! Chicken Tomato Barley Soup, Apple Juice Chicken & Potatoes and Turkey Meatballs & Spaghetti.

Enjoy & Happy Cooking!
Sarah

About the Author

Sarah Lasry is a chef, cookbook author, and recipe developer. She opened and ran, for 8 years, the successful and celebrated kosher dairy restaurant, Tastebuds Gourmet Café in Howell, NJ and wrote the bestselling cookbooks, The Dairy Gourmet and The At Home Gourmet (Israel Book Shop Publishers). Sarah's passion for good food and her no–fuss approach to cooking and baking is shared on her kosher lifestyle website, KosherStreet.com and on her recently launched personal blog, ThePatchkePrincess.com. Sarah resides in Lakewood, NJ with her daughter. Contact her at Sarah@kosherstreet.com.

                                               Photo: Handheld Chocolate Babka, Dara Mirsky

We had so many wonderful recipes entered into our Red Star Platinum Yeast Sampling/Baking Contest. As we previously posted, three recipes were selected by Red Star as the top winning entries:

Grand Prize: Soft Onion Rolls by Judy Stein
Runners Up: 60 Minute Dinner Rolls by Diane Krutsch and No Knead Bread by Lynn Teichman

KosherEye considered everyone's recipe a winner −  they were creative, looked delicious, sounded good, and it was obvious to us that each participant put a great deal of time and effort into their recipes. So, as we promised, we are sharing several of the recipes. Please try them and share your opinions with us.

Not Your Bubbie's Chocolate Babka by Amy Siegel: This recipe caught our "eye" because of the unique way that the babka is formed;  like a jelly roll but with a twist.

Cranberry Challah by Susan Rhine: We liked the addition of cranberries in this recipe. They are added during the forming of the challah strands.

CinnaYUM Cheese Buns with Caramel Crumb Topping by Leta Borck:- What could be better than a cinnamon bun? A cinnamon bun with caramel sauce!

Handheld Chocolate Babka by Dara Mirsky: Individual sized chocolate babka made in jumbo-size muffin tins with a crumb topping. Great presentation.

Easy Cinnamon Raisin Bread by Judith Shoobe:  Made with coconut milk and Earth Balance Organics Coconut Spread, this nondairy recipe appealed to us.

Never–last Cinnamon Roll Cake by Debbie Lowenstein:  Made with soy milk or apple juice, this is a great recipe that makes three cakes - actually, they look like cinnamon rolls to us. Using nondairy margarine, this recipe can also be parve.

Look for additional contest recipes soon.

January 23, 2013