[2] Buy the book for yourself or as a gift.

Passover begins at sunset on Monday, March 25th and continues for seven days. Here’s a kid-friendly recipe that puts a new spin on mac and cheese.

RECIPE: MATZARONI & CHEESE

Wheat products can’t be consumed for passover—no bagels, no pizza, no pasta. But for kids whose favorite meal is mac and cheese, the authors have created a substitute.

“This is an easy dinner that will get all the troops running to the table when the hot, cheesy, and bubbling dish emerges from the oven.” they say.

Ingredients For 6-8 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. In an 8 x 8-inch baking dish, arrange 1/3 of the broken matzah pieces.

2. BEAT eggs in a medium bowl. Add sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, salt, and 1 cup shredded cheese. Pour 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the matzah. Repeat with two additional layers of matzah and cheese.

3. TOP with remaining 1 cup shredded cheese. Bake for 40 minutes. The cheese on top should be brown and bubbling. Serve immediately.

If you want to whip up something special to serve with wine or cocktails, consider this French-Asian fusion treat: wontons filled with Brie or goat cheese. Crisp, crunchy wrappers filled with hot, creamy cheese, they can also be served as an appetizer.

The recipe is from cheese importer Ile de France, which has plenty of cheese recipes on its website.
RECIPE: CHEESE-FILLED WONTONS

Ingredients

Brie or goat cheese wontons. Photo courtesy Ile de France.

1. PLACE squares of cheese in the middle of each wonton wrapper. Close the square wrapper diagonally, then seal the edges with a bit of moisture, pressing hard so it won’t come apart.

2. FRY: Heat about two inches of oil in a medium sized pot. Use some sesame oil to give it an authentic, Asian flare that won’t interfere with the cheese’s natural flavors. Sesame oil is strong, so we used 1/3 sesame oil, 2/3 vegetable oil.

3. PLACE the wontons in the heated oil for about 30 seconds or until they reach the desired crispiness.

4. BAKE by arranging the wontons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400°F until they become crisp and golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.

5. SERVE with your favorite dipping sauce. Ile de France uses warmed sour cream flavored with a little Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
TIPS TO ADD MORE FLAVORS

You can add extra ingredients, but be sure to use less cheese so the wonton wrappers don’t burst.

Sold in sets of 2, short Mason-type jars are layered with homemade graham crackers, Callebaut Belgian bittersweet chocolate chips and the company’s vanilla bean marshmallows. It’s a great gift for special occasions. A set of 2 jars is $13; two sets are $25.00 at OhMyMarshmallows.com. The jars are reusable.

The company also makes fun flavors of marshmallow: Bubble Gum, Chai Tea, Cinnamon Hots, Cotton Candy, Peppermint Swirl and Valrhona Chocolate.

When ready to eat, the jar of s’mores is baked in a 350°F oven for 10 minutes (remove lid and ring and place on baking sheet); then placed under the broiler for 2 minutes to toast the marshmallow.

We were inspired by this preparation to create our own “S’mores In A Cup.” Look for the best ingredients you can find. We used artisan marshmallows, Guittard chocolate chips and our favorite graham crackers from Trader Joe’s.
 
NATIONAL S’MORES DAY IS AUGUST 10TH.

S’MORES IN A CUP (MASON JAR)mo RECIPE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. SELECT vessels in which to layer the s’mores: custard cups, glasses, ramekins, teacups or other containers. They need to be microwavable or ovenproof. And since this dessert is very rich, they should be as small as possible: Ideally, just one layer of the ingredients in Step 2 (the wide-mouth Kerr brand Mason jar used by Oh My Goodness Marshmallows is approximately 2-1/2″ high by 3-1/2″). You can also use a small baking dish or casserole if you want to make a family-size recipe. While it’s nice to be able to see the layers through glass, a glass receptacle isn’t essential.

2. LAYER the ingredients: graham crackers, chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. This part can be done in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator, for up to 2 days.

3. MICROWAVE or BAKE when ready to serve. We reused the jars from Oh My Goodness Marshmallows and microwaved them for 30 seconds, enough to melt the marshmallow and soften the chocolate chips; microwave strengths vary. You can then brown the marshmallow under a broiler or use a culinary torch; but we served ours as is. You can also put the optional marshmallows on a baking sheet and set it under the broiler for 15 seconds or until they brown; then spoon atop each cup.

4. SERVE immediately. We enjoyed a large glass of milk with our S’mores In A Cup.
VARIATIONS

Has America gone latte crazy? If not, why would Burger King add a 12-ounce “coffeehouse latte” to its menu?

Enough with the questions:

Starting today, you can kick-start your morning or take your coffee break at Burger King. The menu includes caramel, mocha, plain and vanilla lattes in regular and nonfat varieties. The lattes are brewed with 100% Latin American arabica espresso from Seattle’s Best Coffee.

The suggested retail price starts at $2.29, but for a limited time, you can try them for just $1.00.
It’s time to round up the gang and head to BK for your coffee break!

Coffeehouse lattes are now on the menu at Burger King. Photo courtesy Burger King.

WHAT’S A LATTE?

Caffe latte, called latte (LAH-tay) for short, is a shot of espresso with steamed milk in a 3:1 ratio of milk to espresso. In France and Italy, it is a breakfast drink. In America it also serves as the base for flavored lattes, where a sweet syrup is added in any variety of flavors—caramel, hazelnut, mocha, vanilla and a long list of specialty flavors.

See all the different types of espresso drinks in our Espresso Glossary.
COFFEE 101: COFFEE CHERRIES

The fruits of the coffee tree are called cherries, and you can see why in the photo: They look just like Queen Anne cherries. Other varieties can be solid red or burgundy.

Inside the fruit are two seeds: the coffee beans. The seeds are a pale green color, and turn brown when they are roasted.

There’s a sweet, sticky pulp surrounding the seeds that tastes like a delicate blend of watermelon and hibiscus. But this is not an eating fruit: Most of the cherry interior is taken up by the seeds.

Thank goodness: Otherwise, we’d need to buy even more tiny beans to make a cup of coffee.
  

It’s National Nutrition Month, so we’re giving some credit to a food that’s often on the “avoid” list: pasta.

Jackie Newgent, RD, CDN and a consultant to Barilla pasta, has pointed out a few facts that should be of interest to any pasta lover. The good news is, you can and should incorporate pasta into your diet regularly. The only trick is to be sure that the recipe and the portion size confirm to approved guidelines for “healthy pasta.”

PASTA ALONE DOES NOT ADD POUNDS

Excess calories create excess fat, not healthy portions of pasta. Pasta is a good complex carbohydrate food. Several studies have shown that a balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat are crucial for maintaining a healthy weight and reducing risk of diseases. A 2009 study from Harvard School of Public Health and Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that reduced calorie diets with carbohydrates ranging from 35%-65% of the diet were equally effective for weight loss as other diet options.*

 
PORTION SIZE = 2 BASEBALLS

The other key to a healthy pasta meal is keeping portions right-sized. A healthy portion is one to two cups of cooked pasta, the size of up to two baseballs. Use these two tricks:

 
PASTA IS LOW SODIUM & CALORIE FRIENDLY

A one- to two-cup serving of cooked pasta is calorie friendly (about 200 calories), low in fat (about 1 gram, with no saturated or trans fats), cholesterol free and low in sodium (unless you add salt to the cooking water).

You can build toward your recommended daily 47g of whole grains with whole grain pasta. Whole wheat pasta has 4g or more fiber per two-ounces of dry pasta. Check the label: Some brands, enriched with flax seeds, have double that.

Pasta is a cornerstone of one of the world’s healthiest diets, the “Mediterranean Diet” of Italy, which nutritionists consider to be one of the world’s best ways to eat.

AL DENTE PASTA KEEPS YOU FULLER LONGER

According to Oldways, a non-profit organization that promotes healthy eating, and the International Pasta Organization, there’s a reason not to overcook pasta: Cooking pasta to al dente, still slightly firm, allows you to reap the full benefits of pasta’s already strong ability to increase satiety, delaying hunger pangs and providing fuel for working muscles long after meals.

Due to the special protein structure of traditional pasta dough, pasta has a low to medium glycemic index (GI) value depending on cut, which means that the body digests it more slowly than most other carbohydrates. That’s true for pasta that’s made from either soft or hard wheat.†
PASTA IS A SUSTAINABLE FOOD

Plant based foods, including fruits, vegetables, grains and pasta, are beneficial for our bodies while also providing the smallest environmental impact.‡

So you know what you’ve got to do: Use a dairy-free sauce, add lots of veggies and measure your pasta portion size. And enjoy pasta as often as you like.

*Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 26 February 2009; 360(9):859-73.

†Source: Oldways.org.

‡Source: Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, Enabling Sustainable Food Choices The Double Pyramid.