Cooking With Kids: Crispy Rocky Road Bites

By the time mid December rolls around, I’m already knee deep in Christmas cookie making. My kids love making cookies for their teachers, bus driver, friends and family. We package them up in pretty tins and everyone is always appreciative to get a huge variety of all the holiday classics.

My cookie tins are really varied - sugar cookies, chocolate chips, gingersnaps, rainbow cookies, biscotti and struffoli. Every year my children love to make some candy for the tin and for sure, the chocolates are the first ones to go.

Sweet Tooth Friday: Time To Make The (Israeli) Donuts

Wednesday we talked about latkes and what they mean to the Chanukah celebration. Today, I’m still frying for Chanukah but this time, it's Sufganiyot - try and say that three times fast! Sufganiyot is a deep fried jelly donut and made all over Israel to celebrate this time of year. Once again, it symbolizes the miracle of the burning oil and , boy, are they good.

Cooking with Kids: Pizza Pizza Daddy-O

I haven’t ever met a person under the age of 18 that doesn’t LOVE pizza. Most kids will eat it any day of the week. My kids not only love cheese pizza, but they really enjoy the process of making it with me. Homemade pizza tastes really delicious and my kids always seem to eat much more when they help with the cooking.I love how proud they are of the finished product. Cooking with kids is fun and educational. Roll up your sleeves and give it a try!

ItalyAnna GassNovember 17, 2015cooking with love, cooking with kids, pizza, italian cooking, pizza dough, homemade, family tradition

From Nonna's Kitchen: Halmonee Soon’s Bibimbap

A quiet, calm woman, I was taken by Soon Huh's warm presence and spirituality. You can taste it in the precise, delicious food she prepares. Each ingredient, individually cooked. Not deterred by the extra pans and time it takes, Soon wants to ensure each ingredient maintains, not only its color but also its taste. This dedication and respect of each component of her Bibimbap is most definitely why, it was one of the most delicious dishes of food I have ever had the pleasure of eating.

Sunday Supper: Eggplant Parmigiana

Let’s defrost some Sunday Sauce because today, we’re making eggplant armigiana. Eggplant Parm is another labor of love dish. It’s a number of steps, takes some time but is so, so good. This is another dish where Nonna would stand over the stove for hours making it for us; classic and timeless. I should also mention that eggplant parmigiana is one of my favorite things to eat. And, if you know me well, you know I make/eat a lot of different things. So, when I say I LOVE eggplant parmigiana, it means something...

Sweet Tooth Friday (Cooking With Kids Edition!) Rice Krispie Pumpkins

Rice Krispie treats have been around since I was a kid. I remember quite vividly, in the early 90s, when Kellogg’s started marketing them through TV commercials and then printing the recipe on the box. I also remember telling my mother about it and making them with her. Even she liked them!

So, at least once or twice a year, my girls and I will grab some marshmallows and cereal and whip up a batch. This year, my daughter Veronica is taking a baking class and came home with a cute variation for Halloween, little rice krispie pumpkins. We decided to make them for her school party today so she ‘taught’ me how to make them.

How To Tuesday: Ravioli

Everyone loves ravioli. Delicious little pockets of pasta filled with creamy cheese and laced with sauce or butter are hard to resist. You can find them in the freezer section of any grocery store. What you may not know; is that with a little time and patience, you can make them from scratch.

Special Edition Sweet Tooth Friday: Grandma Harriet's Rugelach

This week, I decided to roll my Nonna recipe and Sweet Tooth Friday all into one sweet rugelach; I mean, blog post. This recipe is extra special to me because it was given to me by one of the best Nonnas I know, Harriet Marks-Nelson - my husband’s wonderful grandmother.

Sunday Supper: Pasta alla Bolognese

Last week, I shared a recipe for my mother’s Sunday Sauce. This week, I want to show you how the Sunday Sauce can be used to make another Italian favorite, Pasta alla Bolognese. This pasta sauce originated in Bologna, Italy way back in the 18th century. It consists of a tomato based sauce mixed with ground meat. Traditionally, it is served on top of tagliatelle or another long pasta like linguine.

Sweet Tooth Friday: Anna's Apple Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

When I was in college, I had a serious weakness for the Sour Cream Walnut Apple Pie made by The Little Pie Company. They came in mini pie tins and I could eat an entire one by myself - hello, freshman fifteen! I wanted to develop a cookie recipe that showcased the strudel topping AND the sour cream flavor because the combination is just heavenly. Here is my spin on combining cookies with the best pies you can get in NYC.

Daisy's Steamed Fish with Ginger Scallion Sauce

Next stop, Hong Kong!

One of my closest friends from college, Eric moved here to the States from China, at the age of five with his parents and older sister. I reached out to him to see if his mother Daisy would be interested in participating. As a true fan of Americanized Chinese food, I was excited to try Daisy’s food. I was pleased to find her dishes were not only extremely easy to prepare; they were delicious. The food was unmistakably Chinese to me but just much more refined, simple and delicate than what I get at the local Chinese restaurants.

Sweet Tooth Friday: Delectable Donuts

TGIF! The almighty weekend is coming and its time to make something sweet. Why? Because I said so.

This week, I decided to make some baked donuts. I know, it kind of sounds like an oxymoron because the main reason donuts taste so good is that crispy outside coupled with a fluffy inside achieved by a quick bath in a deep fryer. However, I wanted to see if the baked variety could stand up to its deep fried brother.

Medz Mama Lucy's Hummus

I love Middle Eastern food! Some day, I hope to traipse around the Middle East gobbling up falafel, hummus and lots and lots of pita. For now though, I have the next best thing. My friend Christine’s mom is Armenian and hails from Beirut, Lebanon. In addition, she is a fabulous cook. She raised her three American kids on all the delicacies of her mother’s Armenian kitchen.

Yia Yia Nelly's 'Greek Festival' Spanakopita

One of the first people I reached out to when I decided to start my Nonna project was my dear friend Kostas. He, like me, is a first generation kid. Both of his parents came from Greece in the early 1970s, set up house, and raised two children. Early discussions we had made me certain our childhood homes were very similar. So, I thought it would be a great place to start...

Make Your Mamma Proud Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies. I’m not really into cake or ice cream, I’m a cookie person. So, when I get a hankering for something sweet I make chocolate chip cookies. I think the most important component of the chocolate chip cookies is really, good quality chocolate chunks (sorry Nestle). What I want is big globs of melted chocolate pieces held together by a little bit of dough.

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