cooking

I have a few fears in my life. Spiders. Cockroaches. Ants. Flies. Ladybugs. Being in the same room as any of the above. And for the longest time, there was another thing on that list: yeast.

Baking with yeast terrified me, the "will it rise" question taunting me from underneath the covered bowl set in the corner of the kitchen. Will I put in all this work - mixing and kneading and rolling - to end up with a flat, inedible bread?

While I was secretly hoping that Kate and William might need a keynote speaker for their big day, I was not surprised that my invitation to the royal wedding never arrived. I can also say that, as a cheerful and frequent host of many Shabbat dinners, I am far from astounded when my family gets invited out to usher in the Sabbath around someone else's dining room table.

TEL AVIV (JTA) -- When a rare volume of a 1914 cookbook written in Yiddish for American Jewish housewives came into the hands of Bracha Weingrod, the once popular but forgotten book began its long journey from dusty oblivion to celebrated translation.

The thick, worn copy of “Dos Familien Kokh-Bookh,” now newly translated by Weingrod as “The Yiddish Family Cookbook,” appears to be the only Yiddish cookbook now on the market.

You might still be full from yesterday’s feast. But if there’s any room left in your stomach, and any pumpkin puree waiting around in the fridge, bake up these cupcakes and you won’t be disappointed. 

Pumpkin puree in a can is a pretty ubiquitous product, but I figured it would be way more fun to make it from scratch, so I lugged home a 5 pound pumpkin, sliced it up and roasted, scooped out and pureed the flesh. I can’t say I endorse making your own pumpkin puree as a time-saving method, but it was certainly an experience.

I like the idea of a one-recipe dinner. Protein, carbs and veggies all in one cohesive dish.

The cute little acorn squash that are everywhere in the markets these days work as perfect “bowls” in this recipe, to fill with whatever your heart desires.

Squash are prolific this time of year, and there are dozens of varieties – butternut, spaghetti, delicata, buttercup, hubbard – even pumpkin is in the squash family. The acorn is sweet, but not as sweet as the butternut, and is usually a great size for feeding two people.