Moon Milk - Ayurvedic Sleep Aid

Falling asleep had become a problem for me.  5:00 a.m. was becoming my norm and I needed that to change, without medicinal sleep aids. My friend Rachna Daryanani came to my assistance with Moon Milk, an ayurvedic sleep aid. 

Ayurveda means ‘knowledge of life’.  The word comes from the Sanskrit ayer – knowledge and veda -  life.  It is a natural system of healing from India that is over 3,000 years old. 

This is Rachna's recipe with a few additions from me.  Thank you my friend.  Sometimes, like you, I make a double recipe so I can have some for the next night.

Update 12/1/2021  - I added the honey into the cup tonight instead of into the French press.  I added just a small amount of honey plus some Sambuca.  It was delicious!  And, helpful for sleep.  

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Cauliflower Latkes! Gluten Free, Low Carb and DELICIOUS

 

One of my dearest and best friends, Rocio, lives in the Basque Country, El Pais Vasco, in northern Spain.  Thank goodness for email, then texts, then WhatsApp and now Signal because we can talk daily and it gets easier and easier.  

A couple of days ago Rocio asked if I had ever tried Cauliflower Pancakes, I hadn't. She's always looking for delicous gluten and sugar free foods, and cauliflower latkes hit the mark.

I decided to take my dad's recipe for Potato Latkes and turn it into Cauliflower Latkes, and it worked!  The first batch was too salty, but I got passed the taste of salt and the rest was great.

It's not the same as potato latkes, it's a different food and you don't have to be gluten free to enjoy it.  

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Beyond Beef Meatloaf - After 37 Years of Being a Pescatarian, This Made Me Happy

It looks like meatloaf.  It smells like meatloaf.  It tastes like meatloaf.
After 37 years of being a pescatarian, I am now able to eat meatloaf!

True, it's not meat and it's not perfect.  But in this meatloaf it was terrific.  I made it (more or less) like my mom did with her meatloaf and although she was by no means a good cook, her meatloaf wasn't bad.  And this Beyond Beef meatloaf isn't just 'not bad', it is good!

There are more and more plant based meats on the market now, but I used Beyond Beef because that is the brand that is carried at Whole Foods and that's where I shop.  

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Banana Cake with Walnuts, Raisins and Spiced Rum

I prefer to make this cake a day ahead of time to allow the moisture and taste from the glaze to seep through the cake.

I have 4 super ripe bananas in the kitchen, you can smell banana when you enter the room.  I would usually have one of 2 reactions:  toss them or make banana bread.  I almost decided on the latter.  However, I already know the Queen of Banana Bread is Lia Donato, and since I don’t like being a runner up, I had to go for something different.  Banana Cake! Yep, Banana Cake with Spiced Rum! Yep, Banana Cake with Spiced Rum, Walnuts and Raisins!  Yep, that’s it.  A Banana Cake with Spiced Rum, Walnuts and Raisins.  What could be bad?

I used a Bundt pan, but it can be made in a 9” x 2” round cake pan.  I have lots of fancy Bundt pans, but I decided to use a regular round one for this since it is New Year and it should be a continuing circle.  Plus, when a round Bundt pan is used, the glaze not only is poured on the top and sides, but also in the middle. Yum

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Banana Cake with Walnuts, Raisins and Spiced Rum

Chicken Soup - Oy, Does this Jewish Mama know how to make you feel better.

It's Flu Season!
And it's a bad one. 
In order to keep healthy, this Jewish mother says there is a few things you have to do.

1. Get a flu shot - I know that some people are against that, but if you're not, then do it.
2. Wash hands, use Purell, Wash hands, use Purell and wash hands. 
3. Keep your hands away from your face.
4. Don't make non-essential doctors appointments during flu season.  Sick people go there.
5. Think about wearing a surgical mask on buses and trains, and don't touch anything. If you are going to a doctor's office definitely wear a surgical mask.
6. Most of all - eat Sopa de Milagros (Spanish Soup of Miracles, the recipe is in this blog)
7. AND, eat this Chicken Soup! Jewish Penicillin.

Although I an a pescatarian and I don't eat chicken, I made this Chicken Soup for my dear darling Alessio who just returned from Thailand and immediately got the flu. Airplanes are an incubator.  

This soup isn't a broth, it's a meal. A healthy meal.  But if the person for whom you are cooking this is too ill to eat the healthy meal, I'll also show you how to make just the broth.  

Jewish mom's will note that this is not their Bubbe's recipe. It's updated and more like a meal.   

No, I'm not a doctor, just a Jewish Mother.
Click here for the recipe

Lemon Orzo Soup (Avgolemono)

We are ringing in 2018 with record breaking cold.  It's the coldest recorded weather at this time in a couple of hundred years.  Climate change in full force. 
It's soup time!

I had Avgolemono, Greek Lemon Orzo soup, at a Diner in Tallahassee, Florida.  We were visiting my sister Cathy and her family for Thanksgiving, and the next day we headed to the Diner.  It was really cold outside and the soup was delicious! Fortunately for me there was no chicken in it.  This soup is often made with chicken and since I'm a pescatarian, this was perfect. We were in a diner and I didn't expect much, but the Lemon Orzo soup surprised me and I have been thinking about making it ever since.

When I returned home from a New Year's Day party at friend Julie's house in Brooklyn there was a chill in my apartment.  I always keep the windows open, even if only a crack since at 12 degrees opening the window more than just a crack would be crazy.  I put on my fleece pajamas and my fleece bathrobe and covered myself in a warm throw blanket, and my cat Mollie snuggled on my lap, but I couldn't shake the cold out of my bones.  So what does one do when they feel like that?  Make soup of course. 

I wanted to warm up right now, so there was no time to make a long cooking soup.  I realized that I had some veggie broth in the cabinet, and some lemons and orzo, so it was perfect.  I would make the lemon orzo soup.  I had no idea if throwing together this recipe would be as good as my memory of the soup from Tallahassee.  It was even better! A success!  It was MY Avgolemono, MY lemon orzo soup. 

Note - if you can't eat carbs, leave the orzo out.  Lemon soup is delicious.

Note Note - Avgolemono is often made with rice instead of orzo, and it's just as delicious plus it is gluten free

Note Note Note - I love preserved lemons.  Rather than serving this soup with regular lemon wedges, I serve it with preserved lemon. If you happen to have preserved lemons, give it a try.  Yummmm

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