Happy Turkey Day and a Chanukah Giveaway!

Thanksgiving prep has us beat. 

Oh Thanksgiving. I have such love-hate relationship with you. In truth, the "love" part is the Green Bean Casserole. The "hate" part is all of the other food. I'm not a big crazy indulge meal kind of person. Wait, how did I become an Orthodox Jew with that type of meal twice every week on Shabbat?!

I digress. (On that note, if you're curious why some Jews don't celebrate Thanksgiving, read my article.)

This year, oh this year my parents are coming to town, and I'm making my first solo Thanksgiving ever, without the help of a husband at home. Add to that Asher breaking out with some illness and a fever yesterday and boy oh boy it's been tough cookies around here.

Here's the menu, and before you ask, no, I'm not not making stuffing because I'm gluten free. No, I hate the stuff. It's disgusting.

Kosher Turkey a la Trader Joe's

Gluten-free Green Bean Casserole

Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole

Deviled Eggs (mom is supposed to make these)

Pistachio Salad 

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

Udi's Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls

Yes, you can see there is some heavy prepackaged goods going on here, but the gluten-free green bean casserole is itself quite the undertaking. I make my own mushroom soup/gravy and my own fried onions. Basically, I do everything but grow, pick, and prep the green beans. (Thank you Target and your Del Monte discount on the Cartwheel app!) These recipes will be posted up, but after Turkey Day. Sorry! At least you can plan for next year?

The Pistachio Salad is an Edwards Family standby. However, for the first time ever in my life making it, I noticed the recipe on the Jell-O Pistachio Pudding box is our family recipe and that it's actually called "Watergate Salad." Secret family recipe bubble burst! I did have to get creative, however, because Cool Whip is dairy and turkey is not! Luckily, I found a new non-dairy whipped topping product by SoDelicious called CocoWhip. Now, I wouldn't suggest plopping this on your pumpkin pie because it's potently coconut flavored, but in something like Pistachio Salad? Perfectly dreamy!

The Pumpkin Pie got help from Wholly Wholesome's gluten-free and parve pie crust. Although it didn't get very crispy and the pie filling appears to have separated from the crust, it looks like Pumpkin Pie, and that's what matters.

The big sticking point for me here is going to be the turkey. Yes, it's pre-brined thanks to the kashering process, but there's still the whole need to cook and baste and perfect the turkey. I've never cooked a turkey in my life. I've watched plenty of them being made, but I've never had to do one myself. And, thanks to my hatred of stuffing and Alton Brown's crusade against stuffing your bird, I'm anxious about a hollow turkey cooking right. When to start? When's it done? Do I season it? Do I put anything in the spacious cavity? I've become a monster on Facebook and Google owns me.

But I'm sure it's all going to turn out okay. After all, the worst that can happen is my non-Jewish, non-kosher parents will look at my gluten-free, non-dairy kosher Thanksgiving, smile and head out to McDonalds whenever it opens. I honestly don't know how non-Jews feel about parve substitutes, let alone how carb-loaders feel about gluten-free fried onions (a classic) and pie crust (so tasty when it's chock full o' gluten).

Amid the stress, the love-hate balance, and attempting to cook with a sick babe, I have to say a big thanks and hallelujah for Manischewitz. Yes, I don't imagine you suspected this post to end with a big "Whoo Manischewitz!" plug, but here we are. The truth is, I did them a huge disservice. They were kind enough to send me their naturally gluten-free Vegetable Broth, Chicken Broth, and a can of Turkey Broth, and I was going to write an elaborate post with the recipes for my Thanksgiving goodies. Unfortunately, life got the better of me and here we are, the evening before Turkey Day and I'm finally saying "these products have made my life so much easier."

The Vegetable Stock actually made its way into some quinoa for Shabbat when we partook of more Terra Chip Tilapia with Roasted Mushrooms and Popcorn Cauliflower. The rest of the stock made its way into the gravy for the Green Bean Casserole, along with some of the Chicken Broth. The rest of the Chicken Broth and the Turkey Broth are going to be the basting goodness for my hopefully successful 14.5-pound beast in the fridge.

Without these broths, I probably would have defaulted to water like usual. I just don't keep broth or stock in the house anymore! Color me convinced that Manischewitz has a good thing going with their broths. It's an easy way to pack something full of flavor, and I'm sold!

Also from Manischewitz? The Do-it-Yourself Chanukah House! Okay, I thought I was way ahead of the curve and super progressive back in 2008 when I made my first Gingershul, but the Chanukah House has really upped the ante. Yes, you could go out and (like I did back then) buy a kosher-certified Gingerbread House kit, but the colors would be a little unfestive for Chanukah.

The Manischewitz kit has festively colored frosting and sprinkles, and it comes with a magen david, too! Talk about the kit with everything you need to make a real Gingershul.

I'm schlepping mine to Israel in mid-December when Ash and I go visit Mr. T (thanks to my gracious inlays) or else I'd show you my amazing constructing skills (oh, there will be pictures, but I won't be eating any because it isn't gluten free). But wouldn't you love to make one of your own?

Well, I'm giving away a Do-it-Yourself Chanukah House kit! The best part of this giveaway is that after you win the kit and build your own, you can snap a picture and enter a contest to win up to $500 (find out more below the giveaway)!

Rafflecopter
After you've designed your own Chanukah House (or Gingershul), snap a pic and upload the photo between December 9 and 23, 2014, to Manischewitz's Facebook page. The grand prize winner will receive $2,000, second prize gets $1,500, and third gets $500!! $500, second prize nabs $200, and third prize will get $150.

(Rules: You must be 18 or older to enter. Minors can submit their entry with parental permission using a parent's or guardian's email address. Additional materials like sprinkles, frosting, cookies, or candy can be used to enhance the design.)

A Gluten-Free Manischewitz Review

The kind folks over at Manischewitz were kind enough to send me some amazing and delicious gluten-free treats around the holidays last month. Although I didn't have the time with my big aliyah move to cook with all of them, I did have time to sample a few items, including the Guiltless Gourmet All Natural Snack Crunches: Roasted Cashew Crunch, the Mishpacha Gluten Free Flavored Coating Crumbs, and, of course, the Manischewitz Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Mix.

My thoughts? Well, the first thing I dove into, of course, was the cake mix, which happened to come conveniently with the pan to bake it in and the frosting mix. Now, for someone who lives alone, this was the perfect size cake -- roughly the size of the box when made. Yes, I happened to indulge in the entire thing, and yes I got a little sick from the sugar, but honestly this was one of the better gluten-free cake mixes I've happened upon. It was incredibly moist, the chocolate was thick and dark, and it hit the spot. If I liked yellow cake, I probably would have made the other box, too, but my waistline thanks me for not enjoying yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Find all their sweet treats here.

The next nosh? The All Natural Snack Crunches: Roasted Cashew Crunch (yes, they come in other flavors). The first thing I did with this was look at the ingredients, because when you're eating something that says All Natural, you really want it to be All Natural. I think that Guiltless Gourmet does a pretty good job of sticking to it, and I appreciate them explaining what inulin is. The ingredients?

Dry roasted cashews, pure cane sugar, tapioca syrup, inulin (chicory root fiber), sea salt, natural flavor.

I'm not sure whether tapioca syrup, inulin, or "natural flavor" are good for you, but by and large for having no GMO ingredients and being vegan and gluten free, I'm hesitant to complain when they tasted so so so good. I topped off the package without batting an eyelash over a few days. It was the perfect snack to hit the spot -- the kind of thing you buy and keep in your car, because these are better for you in a million ways than stopping at Starbucks for a super venti mega sugar carb loaded beverage to hold you off until dinner.

And last, but not at all in the least, are the Flavored Coating Crumbs, which are surprisingly produced in Israel, my new home! I used these in making a batch of Spaghetti (Squash) and Bean "Meat" Balls as a binding agent. I've done these before, but never with a coating crumb (aka "bread" crumb) before, and the honest truth is they kept their shape a lot better than without. There wasn't a huge flavor shift, but I was extremely happy that they kept my delicious little Italian-style bean balls together in one piece for my makeshift vegan version of a classic. (And, if you're really, really religious, you'll be pleased to know there is not one but three hechshers on the package!)

Overall? I was pretty happy with the new gluten-free products out by Manischewitz  I really wish I had gotten a chance to try their gluten-free noodles, so I'll have to see if I can't manage to find them here in Israel.

If you hit the store and try out any of their gluten-free nosh, let me know what you think!

Kosher Fest: The Highs, The Lows

See all that Black and White? 

Kosher Fest, Kosher Fest ... you will forever be known affectionately as "The Big Kiddush." (Hat tip to @elierosenfeld on that one.) The reason? Kosher Fest comes with everything kiddush does: fish, booze, little old ladies and large Hasids elbowing you for nosh ... oh, and Tam Tams. Yes, Kosher Fest had literally everything the kosher consumer could dream of. Squeazable hummus, chorizo-style sausage, soy cheese for your favorite burger, and everything in between. I'm pretty sure my eyes have melted from the shock of so much at once. At least, it feels that way. My knees ache, my back hurts (I schlepped around a lot of stuf), and I'm exhausted. The noise, the shoving, the nudging, the meeting of new old friends. But I survived. I did, indeed, live to tell the tale.

I was eager to go to Kosher Fest for one reason: I love food. (Okay, I was also really excited to be in the presence of literary giants Sue Fishkoff, Susie Fishbein, Jamie Geller, Paula Shoyer, and Joan Nathan.) Food, the enemy, is one of my favorite things. The search for delicious gluten-free kosher food is a difficult one, but one I'm willing to rock for the sake of  other kosher-keepers who seek tasty, healthy, gluten-free eats. The problem? These things don't really exist out of vegetables and fruits -- the basics of a gluten-free diet. But sometimes, you want bread and cookies and crackers and to eat a sandwich like a normal person. Matzo ball soup and cake, pasta and chicken fingers. Just as much as kosher consumers want to eat that treyf-like food (imitation crab and soy cheese for burgers), so do gluten-free consumers want to eat like the rest of the world and even more so like their kosher brethren. To be able to say motzi and bensch at the end of a meal. To enjoy a cookout and go out to eat.

So let's forge forth. I'll be reviewing individual products that I took home with me over on www.kosher-critic.com over the coming week. Items that I tried on-site will get appropriate comments. I was really shocked at how few of the vendors offered products for me to review when I said "I'm a blogger." The power of the blogger is mighty, right? I had to ask, and in a few cases ask multiple times, to take something with me to review.

My adventure began at the Kosher.com booth. I'm already sold on Kosher.com, from which I purchase Heaven Mills gluten-free challah rolls (oat based for motzi fun!) and other goodies like gluten-free gefilte fish. Jamie Geller (of Quick & Kosher fame) tells me that the King Arthur mixes that Kosher.com sells are worth my time, so I'll be giving those a go and if you do, too, please let me know what you think. I trekked on, stopping by the folks behind Naked Juice drinks. They didn't seem to have a clue what I was talking about when I mentioned "gluten free," but when I said I was a blogger they were keen on showing me good customer service (a blogger's tirade can ruin you). From there I spotted the illustrious Susie Fishbein, with whom I nabbed a picture and shared my disappointment in the cookbook's layout. To be honest, she didn't seem super interested in my comments, but, after all, she was bombarded with people and probably stressed out ... so I guess I won't read too much into that ...

I intended on maintaining fleishig status throughout the day (I was sporting some coffee im chalav), so I ended up eating a lot of interesting parve and cheesy things. I surpassed the Mikee marinades, which come in a variety of gluten-free options (although, I did go back later and have some, and it was outstanding). I nabbed an awesome bag from the folks at Kind Healthy Snacks, which produces a variety of fruit and nut bars, including one that is packed with fiber. My recommendation is to get some and throw them in your bag to stav off hunger. The bag they gave me saved my life, btw. So much to schlep! So little time ...

I hit up a variety of booths with random goodies throughout, and I finally met my connections over at Katz Gluten Free and picked up a container of their new sugar-free cookies. I have to give props to them for going the extra length to add a little healthfulness to their products, but I'm still not sure I'll be eating them regularly. Same goes for Shabtai products, which are so delicious in that they taste like normal cakes, but ... sigh. Calories. Sugar. Fat. Weight Watchers is watching. And I'm trying to avoid processed stuff in order to fill up on things packed with veggies, protein, and fiber. One product I'm super stoked about is the Garden Lites line of gluten-free eats. I've had their souffles before, but tasted the Zucchini Marinara today and it blew my mind. With 110 calories, 5 grams fat, and 3 grams fiber, it's a seriously healthy treat that, yes, you guessed it, tasted like spaghetti marinara. I've decided I'm going to just eat this every day for lunch. Why? It tasted good and it was healthy and that's what I've been looking for in kosher foods.

Oh, and I love the redesign of gluten-free soup nuts. Rings? Awesome. And fun. And soup-a-licious! Also, there was a French (or was it Israeli?) company there trying to get U.S. distribution that represents French cheese and a whole line of St. Dalfour jellies that are all natural. By this I mean it's fruit and juice. ZERO sugar. And wow, so delicious. I picked up a jar of the Orange Ginger, and I'll be reviewing it in short. And meat? I had probably the most delicious sausages I've ever had -- surpassing even those of Smokey Joe's in Teaneck! The "Delicious and Kosher" eats of Jack's Gourmet. They had a chorizo-like sausage, a spicy Italian (it wasn't that spicy) and probably six others. They're gluten-free and oh-so nommy.

I'll cap off my product placement and musings with the booze. Yes, the booze. The liqueur was flowing through the aisles. There was a mountain of kosher wines (I seriously had no idea there were so many), and there were varied versions of whiskey and scotch and bourbon. My favorites? Walders Vodka & Vanilla, which won Kosher Fest Best in Show and didn't taste a bit like alcohol (which I love) and the Heering Coffee Liqueur? Holy Moses. I could drink this stuff for breakfast. I didn't try any of the wine, but from the looks on people's faces, they were happy. 

The view from the Tweetup. I felt so powerful ... reigning supreme over the masses!

Kosher Fest loves Canada! 

In the end, Kosher Fest has a LONG way to go in becoming Social Media friendly. There was wi-fi, but it was nonexistent outside of the press room (where there was no room to sit, for anyone) and it was impossible to blog on-site. Phone service, too, was slight in most instances. It was impossible to be technologically connected and live from the location, and the organizers appear to not have been set up for welcoming or even encouraging a social media presence at the event. Color me disappointed and let down by Kosher Fest. 


That is: the experience, that is, not the food. The food? It was 60 percent outstanding and 40 percent irritatingly unhealthy and gluten-filled. Stay tuned for detailed reviews and anything I might have forgotten here, as well as more info about upcoming gluten-free products from Kedem (there will be a "matzo-like" product, as a teaser), Manischewitz's plans for gluten-free eats, and some safe and fashionable Shmira Wear. Yes, you read that last thing right. Hopefully I can get Tuvia to do a fashion show for me!


Oh! And, before we part ways, check out this awesome video of someone making a havdalah candle. I got to take the gem home with me, and I can't wait to use it. These guys were totally shtetled out, too! (PS: It's sideways, but you'll get the drift.)