Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free!) and Pesto and Fresh Mozzarella Paninis

I love a good food dare.  One of the surest ways to get me to try a new recipe is with a food dare. Now, there are several different types of food dares.  The first is a Direct Dare from friends or family.  This type of dare includes challenges such as “Hey Sharon, I dare you to make this recipe!” or “Hey Sharon, check out this recipe I found – can you make it?”  Friends know that a surefire way to get me to make a specific recipe is to throw down the gauntlet and challenge me with a simple Facebook tag under a posted recipe – Sharon Matten.  That’s all it takes.  Sometimes “what do you think” may be added, but usually just my name is sufficient to have me studiously planning my next new recipe.

The next type of food dare is a Suggestive Dare.  A Suggestive Dare is usually done at a family or Shabbat meal.  Somehow, I can’t imagine why, the subject of different types of food or recipes will come up for discussion and someone will say “Hmmm…I wonder how one would make that” while looking directly at me.  It really doesn’t take much.  Suggestive Dares are very subtle and extremely powerful.  I mean, we’ve all heard of “the power of suggestion” right?

Gooey, crispy & SO cheesy!

The final type of dare is a Personal Dare.  It’s one where I dare myself to make a specific unique recipe. Pesto and Fresh Marinated Mozzarella Panini.  (In case you were wondering last week why I happened to have Garden Fresh Pesto in my fridge…here’s your answer!) I took my Personal Dare so seriously that when we got home I actually purchased an inexpensive George Forman grill at Target to make the Panini’s.  Another type of Personal Dare is the MacGyver Dare.  Similar to an episode of the Food Network Show Chopped, I sometimes find that I have to make some sort of appetizer or soup out of whatever ingredients I happen to have on hand.  MacGyver Dares can be the most fun and creative which is why I love them so much. For example, when Dear Husband and I were in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, at Café of Paris, DH ordered an awesome Panini sandwich.  He loved it so much that I personally dared myself to remake a version of the sandwich – a

Each dare tests my cooking depth and skill.  It’s fun because it’s a new challenge, uncharted territory to discover, and a fresh way of making something novel.  How fun is that??!!

And they're Gluten Free too!!

Recently a friend Facebook tagged me on a gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  There was nothing subtle about it – it was a direct challenge and I took the trial seriously.  Mind you, other Facebook friends also goaded me into trying the recipe with “So Sharon…did you try the recipe?  How did it turn out??”  Are you kidding me?  How am I supposed to pass up that type of Direct Dare?  It’s equivalent to suggesting to someone who loves roller coasters “Hey, want to go to Great America Sunday?”  To be truthful, I was a lot suspicious of the cookies.  How could you possibly make a cookie that’s gluten-free, sugar-free, and egg-free too and have it taste good?  And not only that…there were CHICK PEAS in the recipe!!  That’s right - CHICK PEAS!!  Complete and utter insanity.  SO EXCITING, SO FUN!!  There was the test.  I set out to make the cookies, and ironically happened to have all the ingredients in the house.  They turned out so well that people couldn’t believe that they were gluten-free.  I also had a rousing good time having friends and family guess what the ”secret ingredient” was in the cookies… CHICK PEAS of course.  That’s right CHICK PEAS!!

I’m sure I have you all revved up for next week’s Kosher Everyday article.  Come back and check it out at www.koshereveryday.com – I dare you!

Pesto and Fresh Mozzarella Panini 

(Can be made Gluten Free by using GFE bread!)

Use a crusty, hearty bread for these sandwiches.  Café of Paris used a wonderful ciabatta bread, but when I went to our local kosher Breadsmith I found out that they had stopped making ciabatta bread and I ended up buying a few loaves of rustic French sandwich bread.  It was also fabulous!

2 tablespoons Garden Fresh Pesto

Sliced fresh marinated mozzarella cheese, or sliced mozzarella cheese (enough to cover one slice of bread)

2 slices crusty bread

1 large tomato slice (optional)

Nonstick vegetable spray

Preheat a Panini maker, mini indoor grill, or skillet. Spray one slice of the sandwich bread with nonstick spray and place sprayed side down on the grill/skillet.  Spread the two tablespoons of pesto evenly over the bread, leaving around ½ inch un-pesto’ed around the edges.  Top with the tomato (if using) and then layer the cheese on top.  Spray the remaining slice of bread with nonstick spray and place it sprayed side up on top of the cheese. Close the grill lid, or press down lightly on the sandwich with a spatula if using a skillet.  Allow the sandwich to cook for around 5 minutes.  If using a Panini maker or grill, rotate the sandwich 90° and cook until golden brown.  If using a skillet, flip the sandwich and cook until golden brown on both sides.  Remove from grill/skillet and slice diagonally.  Serve hot. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie – Great for the GFE (Gluten-Free Eater)
I spent some time online trying to find the origin of this recipe.    I found it on a number of blogs, food websites and Facebook pages.  They are best served warm, when the chocolate chips are melted and gooey, but are still really peanut buttery and rich even after they cool.  I know you won’t believe it until you try the recipe yourself but you really can’t taste the chick peas in this recipe.  Really truly!!  Please let me know how yours turn out!

1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (I used crunchy and they were awesome! )
1/4 cup (80 grams) honey or agave (I used honey)

1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Use the best ones you can find!)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.

Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl.  Add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to combine.

Wearing gloves, or with wet hands, form the cookies into tablespoon size balls.  (I used a scooper and then rolled them into ball shapes.)  Place the balls on the prepared cookie sheet.  Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.  Bake 10 minutes.  Serve warm.

Pesto and Fresh Mozzarella Panini (Can be made Gluten Free by using GFE bread!)

All the ingredients (no tomato in this sandwich!)

 Garden fresh pesto on the bread...

(Check out my new Forman!)

 Top with the fresh marinated mozzarella cheese!

 Another slice of crusty bread...

 Cheesy & gooey!

(They ate it before I could photograph it cut!)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie – Great for the GFE (Gluten-Free Eater)

All the cookie ingredients...

Note the CHICK PEAS!!

(I almost always make a double recipe!)

 I love these cool measuring pushers!!

 All the ingredients in the processor...

 Whirrrrrrr.......

SO smooth!

 Dump in the chocolate chips...

  Whirrrrrrr.......

 I used a scooper!

 Ok...they look good so far...

 Woa!  Gooey & Fabulous!!

(And you can't even taste the CHICK PEAS!)

Kosher Everyday is dedicated to the memory of my father

Dr. Theodore Saltzberg - Tuvia Ben Nachum Z”L

May his memory be for a blessing - Yihi zichro baruch.

Look for additional information about Edible Experience Kosher Everyday at www.koshereveryday.com,

aish.com, Mishpacha Magazine’s Kosher Inspired Magazine,

The Chicago Tribune Syndication,

 or on Facebook at Edible Experience by Sharon Matten.

These recipes are for sole, personal use of visitors to Sharon Matten -Edible Experience Kosher Everyday. Edible Experience Kosher Everyday recipes are for your enjoyment but are not to be posted or reprinted without express permission from Sharon Matten. Thank you!!

 

Garden Fresh "Gourmet" Pizzas

Fresh, gooey & delicious!

At this point in the summer, our Optimistic Garden begins to yield some of its initial bounty. It’s fantastically exciting to pick our first little tomatoes, mint, chamomile, rhubarb, basil and peppers.  This year we bought some unique hot pepper plants: jalapeno, Kung Pao, Hot Banana, Chili and others.  I actually picked the super-hot peppers wearirng gloves!  My favorite pepper plants are the jalapeno purple peppers.  They are really beautiful, with little purple flowers and eggplant colored peppers. I wondered though, at the wisdom of planting so many varieties of hot peppers. I mean, what am I going to do with all the hot peppers we’re picking?? (Read: Sharon picked a pack of purple peppers). The rest of our “crops” don’t take a lot of creativity to figure out how to use.  The kids eat the little tomatoes as fast as I can pick them!   I use the mint and basil for pesto and other recipes. I have started drying out the mint and storing it in mason jars to use for mint tea (the chocolate mint is particularly awesome…think peppermint patty tea), and have started to dry out the chamomile flowers but haven’t yielded more than enough for a single, but superb, cup of fresh chamomile tea. 

Hungarian Black Jalapeno Peppers!
(They're really purple though!)

Chamomile tea anyone??

I have been very perplexed about those hot purple peppers.  I really wanted to find a recipe that would not only highlight the great hot and spicy flavor of the peppers, but would showcase the gorgeous color of the unusual peppers.  Luckily inspiration struck when we were in LA while walking down Pico Avenue.  One store had a menu taped to its window advertising a “cool” hot pizza using marinara sauce, jalapeno peppers, and cheese.  Lightbulb moment!!  What if I made my ubiquitous pizza crust using whole wheat pastry flour (to make it a little heartier), topped it with a light layer of our favorite marinara, finely diced the fabulous purple jalapeno peppers and sprinkled them on top of the sauce, topped that with some marinated fresh mozzarella cheese, then baked it on a pizza stone for a super crispy crust?  Crazy right?  Holy Cow – it was insanely, awesomely, delicious!!  Surprisingly, the purple peppers weren’t quite as hot as I thought they were going to be, so while the pizza was a little spicy it wasn’t “OMG get me a glass of water crazy spicy” and in fact had a nice little spicy after taste. 

While I was already making Gourmet Pizza, I figured…what other kind of pizza can I make using ingredients from our Optimistic Garden?  I had some Garden Fresh Pesto in the fridge and extra whole wheat pastry flour pizza dough.  I spread a thin layer of the super fresh tasting Garden Fresh Pesto on the crust, placed a handful of Optimistic Garden green and purple basil leaves on top of the pesto, then topped a single piece with Trader Joes goat cheese feta (I wasn’t sure how the feta would go over with the troops), and sprinkled the rest of the pizza with shredded pizza cheese.  All I can say is good things happen when I MacGyver in the kitchen (BH!).  The pizza was SO fresh tasting!  I liked the feta cheese piece, and the crowd at home inhaled the rest.  I was a little surprised that both pizzas went over so well.  I had also made some more traditional pizzas too (just in case), but the hands down favorites were the “gourmet” ones.  Who would have thunk it??

During the warm, sunny, Chicago summer days, we go outside to tend to our Optimistic Garden and inspect the newly flowering plants.  We make great optimistic plans for what we will do with the bountiful harvest that our garden yields.  More garden fresh pizza’s in the Matten family’s future perhaps?  B”H, it’s all good.

You can find additional articles and recipes relating to this blog via: Garden Fresh Pesto and Pizza to the Rescue.

Pizza Dough 

2 ½ - 3   cups       whole wheat pastry flour

1              cup         apple juice (or warm water)

1              envelope rapid rise yeast (2 ½ teaspoons)

1 ½         tbsp       olive oil

½             tsp          salt

Nonstick vegetable spray

Combine apple juice and yeast.  Allow mixture to sit for 3 minutes until yeast is dissolved and starting to bubble.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, olive oil and salt.  Stir in apple juice/yeast, and knead for 3-5 minutes until dough is smooth.  Remove dough from bowl and spray with non-stick vegetable spray. Return dough to bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap or towel and allow dough to sit for at least 5 minutes.  (Makes one 16” pizza crust or two thin 12” pizza crusts)

Garden Fresh Pesto

This pesto has a little kick to it from the crushed red pepper.  For a milder, less spicy pesto reduce or omit the crushed red pepper and black pepper.

4                                              ripe plum tomatoes, cubed

1              cup                         fresh parsley leaves

½             cup                         fresh mint leaves

½             cup                         fresh basil leaves

½             teaspoon             crushed red pepper

½             teaspoon             black peper

⅓             cup                         extra virgin olive oil

Combine all the ingredients, except the olive oil, in a food processor bowl.  Pulse until ingredients are coarsely ground.  Add the olive oil and pulse until thoroughly combined.  Transfer to container with a lid and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for flavors to blend. 

Spicy Jalapeno Pizza with Fresh Marinated Mozzarella

(Makes one 12” pizza)

½ recipe Pizza Dough

¼ cup marinara sauce

1 medium jalapeno pepper finely diced

8 ounces fresh marinated mozzarella cheese, sliced

Preheat oven to 375° F Convection or 400° F Bake.

On a lightly floured surface, roll pizza dough to a 12” round.  If not using a pizza stone, lightly grease a 12” pizza pan with non-stick vegetable spray.

Place dough on a round pizza stone or prepared pan.  Evenly spread marinara sauce over the dough.  Sprinkle the dough with the diced jalapeno pepper.  Top with the fresh marinated mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is completely melted and bubbling.  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Pesto Pizza with Fresh Basil

(Makes one 12” pizza)

½ recipe Pizza Dough

¾ cup Garden Fresh Pesto

¼ cup fresh basil leaves

8 ounces shredded pizza or part skim mozzarella cheese (or feta cheese)

On a lightly floured surface, roll pizza dough to a 12” round.  If not using a pizza stone, lightly grease a 12” pizza pan with non-stick vegetable spray.

Place dough on a round pizza stone or prepared pan.  Evenly spread the pesto over the dough.  Sprinkle the dough with the fresh basil leaves.  Top with the shredded cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is completely melted and bubbling.  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

 Spicy Jalapeno Pizza with Fresh Marinated Mozzarella

Start with Dear Husbands favorite cheese...

Dice a spicy jalapeno pepper...I seeded

this one so it wouldn't be too hot!

(Purple ones are prettier!!)

 Spread the sauce...

 Top with the peppers...

 Silly me...thought I could use only 1/2 a package

of cheese...wait and see what happens...

 Who was I kidding??

Add the rest of the package for 

heaven's sake!!

 Much better!!

AMAZING!!!

That piece is MINE!!!

Pesto Pizza with Fresh Basil

Start with super fresh ingredients...

It doesn't get fresher than this!

After making the pesto, spread

it on the pizza.  Not too much

or it will be too liquidy.

Top with fresh basil.  Yes...

we're growing purple basil too!! 

 Top with your favorite cheese...

here's the feta (it was really good!)

 Or...shredded cheese...

Bake until bubbly... 

 BEST PIZZA EVER!!

And now...

a little optimism from our garden...

So...

Here's what I do with my time....

(when I'm not writing the fabulous Kosher Everyday!)

Kosher Everyday is dedicated to the memory of my father

Dr. Theodore Saltzberg - Tuvia Ben Nachum Z”L

May his memory be for a blessing - Yihi zichro baruch.

Look for additional information about Edible Experience Kosher Everyday at www.koshereveryday.com,

aish.com, Mishpacha Magazine’s Kosher Inspired Magazine,

The Chicago Tribune Syndication,

 or on Facebook at Edible Experience by Sharon Matten.

These recipes are for sole, personal use of visitors to Sharon Matten -Edible Experience Kosher Everyday. Edible Experience Kosher Everyday recipes are for your enjoyment but are not to be posted or reprinted without express permission from Sharon Matten. Thank you!!

Super Easy Pasta & Cheese (GFE!) & Skewered Spiral Fries

Hey all my dear old Kosher Everyday friends…remember me?!!  I know it’s been a while but I haven’t forgotten you!  Things have been a little crazy around here!!  I’ve been collecting recipes and writing volumes of articles (in my head of course) and the minute I sit down to write, something comes up. My head hurts from all the articles rattling around in it ;-).  Work has B”H been super busy, but we all know that desserts spelled backwards is stressed – and making sure that all my customers are happy is incredibly rewarding but making desserts until all hours of the night is stressful!!  Everyone is always saying that the way to deal with stress is to make sure to take time for yourself.  Get a manicure, go shopping, take a bath, read a book, exercise. For better or for worse I often find comfort in food.  While that’s not too great for my waistline (we can talk about that later!), good food can be comforting. 

Now I have been trying to eat more foods that are gluten free (HOORAY!  I’m a GFE!!).  Although I’m not allergic to gluten, I find I do feel better when avoiding it.  I was SO happy when my sample box came from Goldbaum’s.  I wrote about Goldbaum’s a few months ago when I met them at Kosherfest 2012.  The Goldbaum’s Company makes awesome gluten-free products, such as pasta, snacks, and even ice cream cones!!  I’m not sure how they do it, but their products are fabulous and taste almost like they’re gluten-filled!  My go-to lunch lately has been Super Easy Pasta & Cheese.  Basically, it’s a lunch that I toss into a skillet, go about my business, and poof, a warm, comforting, cheesy, lunch is ready before I turn around.  They only annoying part is having to wash the skillet!  Also in my Goldbaum’s survival kit were some yummy crunchy snacks.  They are incredibly light but really crunchy!  My dear Mother in Law (KIH) a nutritionist and a GFE, was in town this past week. I eagerly showed her my GFE loot and offered to share.  She was excited about the pasta – it was great, but less than excited about the snacks.  They are great for a quick crunch but a little lacking in nutritional components.  I guess that’s why they’re called snacks!  Anyway, it was incredibly convenient to toss one of those bags of chips into my bag for a quick grab-and-go snack.  I’m also really looking forward to trying the ice cream cones…I’m waiting until I’m having a crisis that only an ice cream  cone can solve.

The Rutger's Chabad Dorm...
it's HUGE!!

This past week my dear son and I took a day trip to visit Rutgers University in New Jersey where I”H he will be going to school in the fall.  The campus is beautiful and the brand, spankin’-new Chabad dorm he’ll be staying in (I”H!!) is GORGEOUS!!  We didn’t have a lot of time, as we flew in in the morning and flew out the same night, but we did have time to grab a pizza and sushi dinner at Jerusalem Pizza in Highland Park.  The pizza and sushi were excellent of course, but what struck me was a spiraled potato on a skewer sitting on the counter.  Yes, I did ask permission to take a picture of it.  It was so cool!!  A while ago my girls and I experimented with making spiral potatoes but we had a little trouble having them not clump together while they were frying.  The ingenious skewer solved that whole problem!  So, before Shabbat we set to making our own version of Skewered Spiral Fries.  It was SO MUCH FUN!!  They are fabulous looking and evenly fried due to the stick!   I was a little nervous that this stick might catch on fire, but it was fine in the oil.  Whew!  Thank goodness my friends at the local Fire Department didn’t have to come visit!!  The spiral tool we used was an inexpensive little gadget that can be bought at most kitchen supply stores, although some people even have a fancy-shmancy spiral cutter that can be bought online.  I have a few of the cheap ones, and if you come into our kitchen while we’re spiraling fries you can watch us being challenged to keep them all in one piece while cutting them.  It’s not that easy!!  I’ll tell you this – a little salt and these fries are super delicious!  Bonus – they’re great for the GFE!!

I’ll add a few pictures of my latest creations – just so you don’t feel left out of my chaos the past few weeks.  It’s never dull in the Matten house – thank G-d!!!

Super Easy Pasta & Cheese (Great for the GFE - Gluten Free Eater!)

Nonstick vegetable spray

¾ cup milk

1 ½ cups cooked Pasta (Goldbaums GFE!!)

3-4 slices American cheese (I use the ones from the 3 lb brick), torn into large pieces

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt (optional)

Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Spray with non-stick vegetable spray.  Add milk, pasta and cheese.  Warm, stirring occasionally, until cheese is completely melted and the sauce is thick and creamy.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Enjoy!!

Skewered Spiral Fries

Small red potatoes

Canola oil for frying

Spiral cutter tool

Long skewers

Coarse sea salt

Preheat the oil over medium-high heat to 350° F.   Using the spiral cutter tool, cut a potato into one long spiral.   Push a skewer all the way through the center of the potato, opening up the spiral on the skewer.  Place into the hot oil maintaining the 350° F temperature.  Fry the potato until crispy.  Repeat with remaining potatoes.  Sprinkle the fries with salt.  Serve hot!

Super Easy Pasta & Cheese

It all starts with the awesome pasta!!

Lowfat, cholesterol free, sodium free,

gluten free, easy to digest!

(It's all right there on the label!)

 Start with the basics...

 Add the cheese...

(this really can't be much easier)

 It's melting...

and melting...

 and melting...

 and melting...

 SO creamy...and cheesy...

and OMG!!!

It's even pretty plated!

The super cheesy sauce is dripping...

 She licked the platter clean!

 Skewered Spiral Fries

A simple tool - be careful...it's sharp!

 A perfect cut!

 Skewered...

This oil is really hot!

 Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...

SO crispy - wahoo!

Add the salt...

How fun is this??!!

Thanks Jerusalem Pizza in Highland Park, NJ!!

HEY!! No shnukering!!!

(OK, so maybe the little smusher pieces)

Just some stuff I've been up to...

 GO HAWKS!!

And now for a little Matten humor

(you never know what dear daughter will draw on next!)

Kosher Everyday is dedicated to the memory of my father

Dr. Theodore Saltzberg - Tuvia Ben Nachum Z”L

May his memory be for a blessing - Yihi zichro baruch.

Look for additional information about Edible Experience Kosher Everyday at www.koshereveryday.com,

aish.com, Mishpacha Magazine’s Kosher Inspired Magazine,

The Chicago Tribune Syndication,

 or on Facebook at Edible Experience by Sharon Matten.

These recipes are for sole, personal use of visitors to Sharon Matten -Edible Experience Kosher Everyday. Edible Experience Kosher Everyday recipes are for your enjoyment but are not to be posted or reprinted without express permission from Sharon Matten. Thank you!