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Save Money with These Yummy Memorial Day Recipes

While I may not be the mom who cooks dinner every single night for my family, what I do quite well is entertain. From Thanksgiving, to Passover to birthday parties, to holiday barbecues, when it comes to festive occasions, I'm usually the one who nods her head and shrugs her shoulders when my husband has decided to invite 25 people over for a barbecue. The problem is, over the years, I have spent a bundle ordering pre-made items that I could have actually prepared myself!

Thanks to Chef Kim, of the Daymon Resource Center and her colleague Andrew Woltmann, I got the chance to sample a delectable gourmet spread of Private Brand food at the recent SVMoms blogger event held at Tribeca Cinemas in NYC. On the menu: stuffed small red potatoes topped with shrimp; beef tenderloin tartlets with plum sauce; mini Napoleons with eggplant cream, and spinach and feta mini soufflés, crudite with dip and baked brie with rosemary, almonds and cherries. And where did all these mouth watering items come from...Stop & Shop and Costco!

Plus, we were also treated to snacks provided by 7 Eleven. My personal fave: the chocolate covered pretzels, smoked almonds, and the Swiss trail mix - all easy and inexpensive items to add to any party menu!

So now that you know the inside secret on saving money this Memorial Day - here are Chef Kim's incredible recipes that'll knock the socks off all your guests...unless of course they're wearing sandals!

Baked Brie with Rosemary, Almond & Cherries

Serves 4-6
2 T chopped fresh rosemary

2 T chopped slivered almonds

2 T honey

1 brie cheese round

8 fresh cherries, pitted and chopped
crackers (of your choice)

Preheat oven to 400F. In a small bowl, combine rosemary and almonds. With a pastry brush (or knife), coat the sides of the brie with honey and dip into rosemary-almond mixture, pressing. Place brie on a sheet pan. Brush the top with honey and sprinkle with the remaining herb mixture. Place in oven and bake 20 minutes. Remove brie from oven and top with chopped cherries. Bake an additional 5-10 minutes until brie is soft when cut. Serve with crackers.

Beef Tenderloin Tartlets w/Plum Sauce
Yields 24
12 slices of thin white bread
Butter or spray for mini-muffin pans
4 tbsp of chicken pate
1 tsp thyme
1/3 cup rare deli beef slices cut into small pieces
2 tbsp plum sauce

Remove the crust from the bread and roll out each slice very thin. Cut two 3-inch circles from each slice, press into prepared mini-muffin tins. Bake @ 370° for 7 minutes for until golden brown. ( Can be kept at room temp for 2 days)

Fill each baked tartlet with ½ tsp of chicken pate, sprinkle with dried thyme, drape with a small piece of beef tenderloin over the top and spoon on ¼ tsp of plum sauce.

Miniature Napoleons with Eggplant Crème

Yields: 12 Miniature Napoleons
Roasted Vegetables

4 Plum Tomatoes, sliced thickly (between 1/4″ and 1/2″)

1 Zucchini, sliced thickly

12 Cremini or Button Mushroom Caps, de-stemmed and brushed clean

Tamari or Soy Sauce

Salt

Pepper

Basil
Oregano
Parsley & Garlic Powder

Spray Oil
Eggplant Crème

2 Eggplants

2/3 Cup Raw
Unsalted Cashews

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Basil
Oregano & Garlic Powder

2ish Tbs Oil

Garnish

Basil

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar
Slice the tomatoes and zucchini and place them on baking sheet.

Spray or brush vegetables with oil to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and herbs. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the veggies almost look dehydrated.
Place the mushrooms on the same baking sheet, upside-down. Fill the centers with a little tamari, no more than 1 tsp.

Spray them thoroughly with spray-oil and bake for 30 minutes, or until tender, at 300º F. Remove and let cool with the other veggies.

While the vegetables are baking peel & cube the eggplant and place them on top of a towel or paper plate. You can microwave the eggplant on high for about 8 minutes, until the eggplant is soft and the paper towels or plate have absorbed a lot of the moisture this will prevent the eggplant from absorbing so much oil while cooking. Or just roast until most of the moisture is absorbed.

Sauté eggplant for 5-10 minutes over medium-high heat, until very soft and browned. Pure the eggplant with the salt, cashews, herbs and garlic and process for several minutes until VERY smooth. You may need to add a little liquid if you over prepared the eggplant. You can use heavy cream if you are not vegan or a little veggie stock. The texture should be smooth, not liquidy.

Season to taste, if needed, then place the eggplant crème in a piping bag or a plastic baggie with one of the corners cut off.

To Assemble

Pipe a little dab of eggplant crème on the plate where you want the napoleon to be. This will act as an anchor.

Place a tomato on top of the anchor, and pipe a small dab of eggplant crème on the top.
Add a slice of zucchini, then another layer of eggplant cream. Top with an upside-down mushroom cap, and place a dab of eggplant crème where the stem was.

For garnish, add a s basil-leaf crown. Put a thin layer of olive oil in the bottom of the dish, surrounding the napoleons and dribble a few drops of balsamic vinegar on the olive oil. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Stuffed Small Red Potatoes topped w/Shrimp
Yields 40

1 ½ lb Small red bliss potatoes, about 20
40 cooked shrimp, w/tails
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
½ c Cream Cheese
½ c Sour Cream
4 slices of crispy crumbled bacon
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 tsp chives, minced
Green onions, tops, sliced thin

Boil red bliss potatoes just until tender, do not overcook. Shock in ice water bath. Slice potatoes in ½ using a melon baller leaving a thin lining. Cut a slice off the bottom of the potato so it can stand on its own.

Marinate shrimp for at least 3 hours or overnight in oil, salt, pepper & thyme.

Combine Cream cheese, sour cream, bacon, salt, pepper & chives and spoon into potatoes and top w/ shrimp, tail up. Garnish with onion tops.

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Recipes on 05/18/2010

Take Back the Kitchen with an Edamame Dip

Introducing our latest contributor, Alma Schneider, founder of Take Back the Kitchen!

Getting your kid to eat something besides chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese might be a challenge-until now. This easy, delicious AND nutritious edamame dip may solve some of your how-do-I-get-protein-into-my- kid? blues. Yes, chicken nuggets are easy but so is this dip if you take a moment at the supermarket to pick up some frozen, organic, shelled edamame beans. You probably have the rest of the ingredients at home so whip out the food processor, make a big batch, and freeze it in 1 cup servings for easy defrosting whenever you are strapped for dinner. Whole wheat pretzels, carrot sticks or celery can make a dip dinner a lot of fun. It freezes really well and you'll be all set at 5PM . Be careful-it is so good, you may eat it all before your kid does!

Edamame dip:

1 lb bag of frozen, shelled edamame beans (sold in most supermarkets but definitely in Whole Foods and Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar (can get in any supermarket)
1 TBS sugar (if rice vinegar is seasoned-which means it has sugar in it, you may not need any sugar)
1 tsp salt

Boil water in a med. sized sauce pan. Add beans and when the water starts boiling again, cook for another 5 minutes. Drain beans and let cool until warm.

In a blender or cuisinart, add beans, rice vinegar, salt, sugar and oil. Blend until pureed to a creamy texture.

Kids love this and it is a beautiful light green color.

Want to hear more from Alma? Then listen in to our recent interview with her!

Alma Schneider, LCSW, is founder of Take Back the Kitchen. Like TBK, this blog is dedicated to helping people recognize and overcome the common and unique obstacles to being everything they hope to be in the kitchen. She is a featured Kitchen Coach Expert on http://www.realsavvymoms.com and healthy food sponsor for BabyLovesdisco.com. Alma is also a frequent recipe contributor to www.suzysaid.com. Alma is a native New Yorker, transplanted to the suburbs, where she lives with her husband and four children. She is also the founder and President of Parents Who Rock, a non-profit organization which raises money for charity through concerts performed by parents seeking to reconnect with their musical pasts.

Posted in: Daily Shout Out, Role Mommy Recipes on 03/10/2010

Check out These Great Oscar Desserts!

As the Oscars are quickly approaching, Hyundai, one of the main sponsors for the awards telecast, has some really clever and mouthwatering dessert ideas of this year's nominated films including "Up in the Eclair" and "Inglorious Custards." Check it out...

If you're in the midst of planning a party, check out Hyundai's fan page on Facebook - they even have a personality test to show what kind of party thrower you are - incidentally, according to my answers, I'm a docu-geek.

*This post was brought to you by Media Needle.

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Recipes on 03/06/2010

Having my Kugel and Eating it Too

Well, Yom Kippur has come and gone and while I was feeling quite hungry most of the day, I figured it could help with my weight loss efforts. You see, I'm down more than 5 pounds with 10 more to go and I'm determined this time around to lose weight for good! I even made another low calorie "break the fast" recipe. One of my favorite dishes that my mom makes every year is the noodle pudding that's been passed down to my family from generation to generation.

So even though noodle pudding (aka Kugel) should be pretty high in calories, I managed to figure out a way to keep it low cal with my handy dandy splenda sugar substitute. So how did I make my fantabulous dish? Well, take a look and then start cooking!

Grandma Dora's Low Calorie Noodle Pudding:

Ingredients:
1 Package egg noodles
2 eggs (or egg beaters)
1/2 cup of splenda
1 cup of raisins

Directions:
Boil egg noodles
Drain and return to pot.
Add eggs, splenda and raisins to egg noodles
Spray pam in a frying pan (or use vegetable oil)
Pour noodle mixture into frying pan
Make sure the pan is the size of a dinner plate (not bigger)
Keep on medium flame and watch the bottom of the pan - once the noodles become crispy, put a dinner plate on top of the pan and flip it over. Then place the uncooked noodles on the bottom of the pan.
Cook 10 minutes or until golden brown on the other side.
Voila, you have Grandma Dora's famous noodle pudding (with Splenda)

Now if you're me, you have to improvise because otherwise, you won't be able to flip the noodles. Instead, I started out by putting the mixture in a pan and then put it in a casserole dish, pre-heated the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and baked for 25 minutes. The dish still came out crispy and I received the ultimate compliment from my mother-in-law..."It's just as good as your moms' noodle pudding."

Woo hoo. So I did it. And it's low in calories! More tasty dishes to come. In the meantime, I'm bringing my kugel with me to lunch tomorrow. Nothing like a little noodle pudding to put a little spring in your step.

Posted in: Daily Shout Out, Role Mommy Recipes on 09/28/2009

Memorial Day Recipes

It's been a while since we've shared some stellar recipes with our readers and since it's the holiday, I figured I'd share some of our favorite dishes that are Weight Watcher friendly. So before you bite into that 4 million calorie burger, here are some good tips for eating what you love and not bursting any buttons.

Tuna Sliders Anyone?
The first time I ever tasted a tuna slider was at a party thrown by CBS that kicked off the launch of the Rachel Ray Show. So I have to admit, this is not an original recipe, it's actually Rachel Ray's recipe for Asian Tuna Sliders. So stay away from those Bubba Burgers and fire up the tuna steak!

Lenore's Famous Ambrosia
This one's a classic that my mom has been whipping up since I was a kid spending my summers in the poconos. The ingredients for this one are simple. Throw in all your favorite summer fruit along with bananas, mini marshmallows, coconut shavings and a dollop of cool whip on top. You can also replace the cool whip with vanilla yogurt, but personally, I'm a Cool Whip fan all the way.

Lenore's Patriotic Strawberry Shortcake Extravaganza
Here's another simple recipe. You can either purchase an angel food cake mix and a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple in its own juice.

Mix the two ingredients together, take a fork and make sure the cake batter is moist and mixed thoroughly.

In an ungreased pan, 10.5x 8.5 bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. When ready to serve take cool whip, cover the top and make the flag. For stripes on the flag use strawberries. For stars use blueberries.

Happy Memorial Day! Here's to great food, conversation and a relaxing holiday!

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Recipes on 05/24/2009

Family Fun for Father's Day

Family Fun for Father's Day
By Frances Nankin
Executive Producer and Editorial Director, Cyberchase

This Father's Day, weave math into your family fun with these quick and easy, skill-building activities from Cyberchase, the animated hit series that airs daily on PBS KIDS GO!. And don't miss the all-new Cyberchase special episode, Father's Day, premiering June 19 on PBS KIDS GO! (check local listings).

Make Banana Pancakes! (Math skills: Measurement, Fractions)
In Father's Day, Creech's dad Max gets the Cyber Dad of the Year award, in part because of his fabulous banana pancakes. Does your Dad of the Year like pancakes? Together, you and your child can prepare Max's recipe for that special Father's Day breakfast. Need more pancakes? Work with your child to double, or even triple the recipe!

Max's Banana Pancakes
(Makes 8-10 pancakes)

1 egg
1/2 C. sour cream
2/3 C. whole wheat flour
2 TBL sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/3 C. orange juice
1 C. mashed banana

In a medium-size bowl, mix together the egg and sour cream. Set aside. Sift together the flour, sugar, soda and salt. Stir flour mix into egg mix with the orange juice until moistened. Stir in the mashed banana.

Heat griddle with 2 TBL oil until oil is hot. Ladle mix onto griddle to make pancakes. Cook on one side until bubbly, then flip to cook other side.

Serve with butter and your favorite syrup, or eat as is!

Play Frisbee Golf (Math skills: Measurement, Using Numbers)
Here's a fun way for the whole family to play golf on Father's Day - Frisbee Golf! Dust off your favorite Frisbee, grab some paper and pens to keep score, and work together to set a "course" of landing targets for the Frisbee (a table, a picnic blanket, a hula hoop, etc.). Invite your child to help you measure the distance between the targets so they are at least 10 feet apart. Choose spots so the targets are not all in a straight line. The object of the game is to toss the Frisbee from one end of the course to the other using the least number of tosses, hitting each target as you go.

To play, take turns tossing the Frisbee toward a target - where it lands becomes the spot from which you take your next shot until you hit your target. Keep track of your score from target to target. (If you take three throws to hit a target, your score is three.) When all players have completed the course, lowest score wins - just like in golf!

Eating Out? (Math skills: Mental Math, Estimation)
Eating out for Father's Day? Estimation is a powerful tool in mathematics. Before calculating a sum or a product, for example, using number sense to estimate the answer can help you know if your final calculation is reasonable. Here's one way to give your child some quick and easy practice using estimation. At the restaurant, work together to estimate the total bill. To do this, decide on a way to make the prices of the menu items easy to work with (round up to the nearest dollar, for example). Then, use mental math to estimate the total.

Fight Boredom with the Dr. Marbles Gotcha Game! (Math skills: Logic, Problem Solving)
No one likes to be kept waiting at a restaurant, especially when you're hungry. But you can make the time pass quickly when you play this fun math game. To set up, you need 15 sugar packets, 1 of them a different color. Arrange 14 of the packets in a circle. Put the 15th different-color packet in the center. The object of the game is to force your opponent to take the packet in the center Take turns removing one, two, or three sugar packets from the circle. T

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Recipes, Role Mommy Recommends on 05/13/2009

Side Dish of the Week...Baked Polenta Fries

Last night we went out to dinner at Zoe Restaurant in SoHo with our close friends and after catching up over mojitos and crispy calamari, I was salivating over one of our side dishes and decided that this morning, I'd search the web for the best recipe for polenta fries.

This one wins my vote for best side of the week. They taste like fries - crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and beyond delicious. And if you bake them, they're pretty healthy too! Don't believe me? Then try out this Polenta Fries recipe and let us know how it turned out!

Posted in: Role Mommy Recipes on 04/19/2009

Passover Recipes that Aim to Please

Try these recipes for family and friends and you'll have them clamoring for an invite for your next seder.

Scrambled Matzoh Brie
Ingredients
2 Boards of Matzoh
2 cups of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of sugar (or 1 packet of splenda or stevia)

Directions...
Step 1 - soak matzohs in the water. Drain water. Add eggs, sugar and salt. Pour into a greased frying pan and let it settle, then mix up and scramble. Voila, you have matzoh brei.

Ingredients
4 boards of matzoh
3 cups of water
2 tablespoons of sugar (or replace with 1 tablespoon of splenda or stevia)
1/2 cup of raisins
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3 eggs (or egg substitute)

Directions
Soak the matzoh. Drain liquid from matzoh. Add eggs, sugar, raisins, cinnamon and then pour contents into a hot greased pan (using Pam or other oil Kosher for Passover). After 3 minutes on medium head, it will form into a thick pancake. You'll then take a spatula and check the bottom to see if it's lightly browned. Next, use a dinner plate, cover the pan, invert the cake and put it back in the pan to brown on the other side.

Once it's complete, put it on a plate, slice it up and serve with syrup or it can be eaten on it's own since it's so delicious!

Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup matzoh
large bag choco chips
toasted chopped pecans or almonds

Directions
Line a large baking sheet with foil, grease well and place four matzahs/matzot on it.

Preheat over for 350

Cook butter and sugar in a saucepan till boiling, for five minutes, stirring occasionally
Pour over Matzot. spread evenly with a spatula.

Bake for five minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chips over matzot. When the chips start to melt, spread them with a spatula and sprinkle on some nuts. Chill for an hr and then break into pieces and see how long you can keep from gobbling it up.

Matzoh Candy
Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
matza
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 ½ cups crushed pecans

Preheat oven to 275
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil

Fill cookie sheet with one layer of matza

In a saucepan, combine butter and sugar. Stir continuously over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Stir until caramel turns gelatinous and naturally comes away from the edge of the pan.

Pour caramel over matza, spreading to cover.
Sprinkle choc chips evenly over the caramel covered matza.
Put pan in oven for 3-5 minutes to soften choc chips.
Spread chocolate evenly over caramel covered matza.
Sprinkle pecans over chocolate.
Put in refrigerator to cool.

Break candy into pieces and serve.

Tanya's Rocky Road Brownies

Brownie ingredients

4 ounces (4 squares) semisweet chocolate, chopped
½ pound (2 sticks) margarine or butter
1 ½ cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup matzah cake meal
½ tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups mini marshmallows or large marshmallows cut up
1 cup chopped pecans

Topping ingredients

1 cup mini marshmallows, or large marshmallows cut up
½ cup choc. chips
½ cup chopped peacans

Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Grease or spray with nonstick spray a 9x13 inch baking pan.

To make Brownies:
In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and margarine on high for 1-2 minutes, or until melted. Stir well. Stir in sugar and cool slightly. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Stir in cake meal and salt. Stir in choc chips, marshmallows and nuts. Pour into pan. Spread evenly.

Bake for 30 minutes or until set.

After 30 minutes, sprinkle brownies with marshmallows. Return to oven for 3-4 minutes, or until puffed but not browned. Removed from oven. Place choc chips in a small, heavy plastic bag and microwave on high for 60 to 90 sec, or until melted and smooth when pressed with fingers. Squeeze chocolate into one corner of bag. Cut a small tip off the corner and drizzle chocolate over brownies. Sprinkle with nuts. Cool completely. Okay to cool in refrigerator. Cut into bars. May be refrigerated up to 4 days or frozen.

They are really yummy! Good luck and happy pesach!

Posted in: Role Mommy Recipes, Role Mommy Recommends on 04/08/2009

Mango Salsa Swordfish for Dummies

Last week I took a valiant attempt at making swordfish and failed miserably. But I have to say, I think the reason my creation tasted way too fishy had nothing to do with my culinary abilities - I blame it on Stop & Shop and their lack of fresh fish at the end of the weekend. But yesterday, we went to Stew Leonard's and Bam! just like Emeril Lagasse (or perhaps a very distant relative), I was back in rare form. I picked up two huge pieces of swordfish, a few mangos, some limes and was ready to start grilling.

So without further ado, here's my recipe for Mango Salsa Swordfish for Dummies:

Ingredients:
2 pieces of Swordfish
Slice one mango into small pieces
Ready made bruschetta or tomato and onion salsa (not saucy)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 glass of white wine
1 tablespoon "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter"
1 Lime

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
Spread olive oil on swordfish
Add butter
Sprinkle mango salsa and bruschetta mix on swordfish
Squeeze lime over swordfish
Pour wine over swordfish

Heat the fish for at least 30 minutes or until the fish is cooked thoroughly.

So there you have it! Hope you enjoy it! Incidentally, for those of you keeping score of my weight loss, I'm down a 1.5 pounds! Woo hoo! And according to a news report I saw this morning, if I cut out 100 calories per day for the next year, I could shed 11 pounds. If you have any great weight loss tips or recipes, then what are you waiting for? Share your comments now!

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Recipes, The Girdle Chronicles on 01/12/2009

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