Month: December 2015

How to Upcycle Vintage Fur

Published by Miri Nadler

Confess. Do you have grandma’s fur coat hung up in a closet somewhere in your house? You can’t just wear it around – it’s fur, REAL FUR. What if someone tried to splash you with red paint or something? Plus, you don’t condone the murder of beautiful animals for the sake of fashion. On the other hand, this belonged to your grandmother, Bubbe, Me-Maw, Nana even. It was special to her and expensive, not to mention it made her look like the toast of the town back in the day. I took a few weeks off blogging for the holidays, and, oh yeah, WE MOVED! Like, we moved across the country, moved. It’s taken a little while for me to find my bearings, so I’ve been silent on the blog for a bit. Yep, East-Coasters-R-Us! Don’t worry, I have a backlog of blog posts to share with you guys, so I am not short of content for the next few months. Before we left, I came across a post in one of the SoCal mommy …

Firecracker Chicken

Published by Miri Nadler

Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Chanukah Night 6! I’m a little late in getting this out today, but I wanted to remind everyone that hot on the heels of Chanukah is another big Jewish holiday: Chinese Food and Movie Day! Asian is food is my favorite. I love the flavor from India to Japan – except Pho. I don’t like that at all. Oh, and I don’t like cilantro, but cilantro never makes or breaks a dish in my opinion, so no big deal. This dish is a real crowd pleaser. Spicy and sweet, and with the feel of something fried, but it’s actually mostly baked, so you don’t have to feel as bad eating it, especially after all those hash browns and donuts during Chanukah. Ok, so there is some frying involved, but it’s not just meat sitting in a vat of oil. One thing to note about this recipe is that though the ingredients and directions are easy, it does require some baby-sitting. You can’t just put ingredients together and leave it, so plan …

Anytime Parve Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Published by Miri Nadler

You ever get a hankering for fresh cookies? Of course you do! The craving comes on fast and at a late hour. Worse yet, you don’t have all the ingredients you need, and you end up at the grocery store buying already made cookies that you heat up in the microwave. Don’t get caught in this unfortunate state again. Plan ahead, and you’ll always have hot homemade cookies at the ready. By making a large batch of dough, rolling it into cookie-sized balls and freezing it, all you need to do is heat up your oven and bake just enough to satisfy your craving. On top of that you get the additional benefit of aging the dough, which makes for a more flavorful cookie. Why oatmeal? Well, if you’re having that late-night craving, might as well ingest something that’s going to fill you up. The best part? As long as you use parve chocolate chips, these cookies are DAIRY FREE! Want to start incorporating the cookie-freezing practice into your life? Pin this pic! Recipe adapted …

Good Riddance Fourth Trimester

Published by Miri Nadler

I had a hellish pregnancy. If you aren’t new to my blog, you are well aware of this. So when people began warning me of the 4th trimester late into my pregnancy, I pretty much put my fingers in my ears. I didn’t want to hear it. Then the baby came and I was so busy with learning about nursing and baby schedules. I was also in the tumult of redefining who I am – a mother, and easing into that new identity. The days and nights went on and on. The baby was attached to me and I to him. My husband was supportive and would give a break every now and then by watching the baby so I could go to Target by myself. I learned I needed to get gallbladder surgery, and faced a good amount of meshugas to get it done close to my parents’ house, so I could have help caring for the baby while I was recovering. After Thanksgiving, we came back home. The feeling was wonderful to finally …

Pampushki – a Special Kind of Latke

Published by Miri Nadler

Latke lovers, the time has come for a different creation. Something special. Something that could actually count as a meal… maybe. I know what you’re thinking: “How could the latke possibly be improved?” Though hash brown medallions with plops of sour cream and applesauce is just short of perfection, there is one thing that can improve almost any dish. That’s right. It’s cheese.

Chanukah Puff Pastry Cronuts

Published by Miri Nadler

Hey, so back from Thanksgiving, and already a holiday is hot on my heels! Chanukah starts Sunday night. Before Chanukah used to be a week of holiday parties and taking a moment to light a menorah. Now that we have a kids, we’ve got to think about doing something every night for 8 nights. S is almost 4 months old, so we’re not doing anything out of the ordinary this year, but still, having a kid makes us give pause to think about the kinds of traditions we want establish in our family.