Who doesn't love a good sponge cake? It's light and bouncy and goes well with any topping - fruits, sauces, sugars. Before today, I only associated sponge cakes with the holiday of Passover-because yeast is not used as the leavening agent, sponge cakes are one of the only cakes "allowed" to be baked and eaten. Yesterday morning I literally stumbled upon a sponge cake recipe of Mom's: Hot Milk Sponge Cake (not to be confused with her generational Passover Sponge Cake that requires the addition of matzoh meal and the deletion of milk). I … [Read more...]
World’s Best Irish Soda Bread
March 14, 2012 By 5 Comments
What's a Jewish girl doing with her Mom's Irish Soda Bread recipe? NOTHING. But, my mom does have an insane amount of generational recipes in the section I cataloged "Jewish Judy." Some of these recipes are so torn, faded and damaged, it's as though they survived the battlefields of Word War I. With Passover right around the corner, I simply can't wait to roll up my sleeves and start exploring! But, we're not talking Passover just yet. We're talking St. Patrick's Day! And, like I said, I'm Jewish. Unfortunately for … [Read more...]
Raw Chocolate Pudding
March 12, 2012 By 5 Comments
The type of pudding I remember eating as a child came directly from those square plastic containers that probably sat on the shelves of the supermarket for weeks. This same pudding was endorsed ad nauseum in the 1980's by Bill Cosby in those iconic commercial's where he's featured licking the chocolate Jello "puddin'" off his spoon while surrounded by dozens of salivating kids. It's probably safe to say every brown bag school lunch packed by Mom contained a jello pudding accompaniment for dessert. My go to chocolate pudding as a kid....and a … [Read more...]
Making Lemonade from Lemons
March 9, 2012 By 1 Comment
Last June I wrote a post titled, "Teaching Your Kids to Make Lemonade from Lemons." I spent most of the time talking about its figurative meaning-- making the most out of life and turning what could be perceived as negative or "sour" into something positive or "sweet." It's still something that we continue to massage in my household; obviously a difficult concept for two young kids to fully grasp intellectually. Today, since spring is truly in the air on the east coast, we're talking about the literal meaning of making lemonade from … [Read more...]
