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The Ten Most Recent Posts By challah

From Talk

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

I went to a wedding this weekend. Part of the weekend festivities was a brunch on Monday. Served at the brunch was a lot of great stuff. The most memorable element was a cookie. This was a cookie the size of a dessert plate. It was a cross between a brownie and cookie, with overtones of meringue...being a shiny, cracked surface. Inside was semi-gooey with chunks of walnuts and a hint of coffee. I suppose I could make life easy and just ask the hostess to get me the recipe from the caterer, but I thought I'd toss it out here.

The Ten Most Recent Comments By challah

From Talk

Roasted Eggplant Salad

There was one Rumanian dish my mother agreed to learn to make for my father. She wasn't crazy about my grandmother's cooking, but she made this dish like a champ. Once, long ago when I was shopping in the Essex Street Markets, I had picked up an eggplant with one hand and asked the greengrocer where the green peppers were. He said, "Ah! A Rumanian." He knew.

Putlagella
(Romanian Eggplant Salad)

1 1lb eggplant roasted til soft (about an hour at 400)
1 small onion
1 carrot, peeled
1 half green, orange or yellow sweet pepper
1 hard boiled egg
1 T. mayonnaise or olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Scoop the flesh from the eggplant skin. Force it through a wire grater over a medium sized bowl. Grate the rest of the vegetables and the egg into the bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Refrigerate for several hours. Serve as a salad or on crackers or pita triangles as an appetizer. This can be made in a food processor, but be sure to chop, not puree. You want chunks.

Enjoy!

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

From Ed Levine Eats

Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 11: Less Really Is More

My kids used to laugh about my mother in law's fretting that she wouldn't have enough food on the table, and then pushing more on everyone because there were left-overs. It's definitely a cultural thing. Hopefully the 'clean plate club' will be disbanding at some point in the near future. As one of my friends is fond of saying, if you want a little behind, you have to leave a little behind. And while I'm dishing out platitudes, I'll just add the one I found in a fortune cookie. "Life is a journey, not a destination." It's like that with managing food intake. You can't expect the issues to go away just because you meet a weight goal. It's something you're going to live with forever. And Ed, it seems as though you've made a breakthrough. Congrats!

From Ed Levine Eats

How Much Should a Hamantaschen Weigh?

I'm so happy to see hamentashen here. I was afraid no one would mention them. Other than winning a gold fish in a plastic bag at the Purim Carnival, Hamantashen make my Purim. I make the kind with the crunchy cookie outside, rather than the soft yeast dough kind. And I'm never not disappointed by the ones from bakeries that should know better and produce those sawdust dry ones mentioned by Ed. I fill mine with pureed dried apricots, raisin and walnuts (the same stuff I roll up in ruggalach), and strawberry jam (which always turn out messy). The best ones, however, are the chocolate ones I make with Nutella. Those really crank my grogger.

From Recipes

Cook the Book: Stuffed Cabbage

That sure looks a lot like what my mother used to make. I make it on rare occasions, too. And I wonder why I don't do it more often. It's totally delicious and provides soulful comfort.

From Recipes

Procrastination Picadillo

I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you you should add cinnamon (even though it's only traditional in MY picadillo) and I agree with you about the bay leaf conspiracy and yeah, there were a few other things I changed in that recipe. I thought you would make a big deal out of it if I told the truth. Glad you were able to gloss over it without any comments. I'm sure it was tasty. I'm wishing I had some right now.

From Ed Levine Eats

Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 8: Timing Is Everything and Temptation at Every Turn

Wait! That wasn't Lauren Krueger. It was/is her mother, Challah using her laptop and, inadvertently, her name. Sorry. She really isn't a WW employee. That's me

From Talk

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

These sound wonderful. The color and texture would probably be right on. But I'm guessing with the low fat content, these aren't what was served. I will, however, try them. Thanks.

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: 'Whole Grains: Every Day, Every Way'

Oats. I add them to many things. My daughter calls me the Oat Fairy.

From Talk

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Okay, I've tried my first batch. I made the Chocolate Rads. They are rich and chocolaty and quite delicious, but not the cookie from Florida. Those were darker, taller and chewier. I'm out of chocolate and the cost of eggs is so insane, I might wait to try the next batch. Here are some pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503003071@N01/sets/72157603782136610/

Responses to Comments by challah

From Required Eating

Paula Deen Is Trying to Kill Us, Part 3

Don't eat the damn food if you don't like the content! You are not being forced to make these recipes, nor eat the food. YOU eat what YOU like and the rest of us mature adults will eat what WE like. I am sure that you have eaten a hamburger, french fry or doughnut in your lifetime....well, guess what, you have just eaten a fried cheese and butter ball. It's all the same thing, just a different flavor.

Remember, it is people like you and me who made her famous, not to mention her scrumptious recipes. There is no harm in eating food like this if you ingest in moderation.

From Talk

Roasted Eggplant Salad

An Algerian friend of mine once gave me this recipe for eggplant and red pepper salad. She didn't give any measurements so I've always had to wing it, but it always turns out great:

Roast however many eggplants you want over the grill until nice and charred and soft. (If you use small ones there won't be so many seeds.) Peel and chop into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces. Do the same with a couple of red peppers (and a green one, if you like) , . Mix them up with some chopped red onion, salt and pepper, olive oil and lemon juice to your tase. Delicious! The roasted peppers and eggplant give it a great smoky flavor.

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

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Please check your email for more information on how to claim your book.

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Tres Leches Cake

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Margarita Lime Pie or Strawberry Shortcake or Devil's Food Cake or Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake or German Chocolate Cheesecake or Pumpkin Pie or Lemon Meringue Pie or ....................help me!

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Strawberry Shortcake is my all time fave.

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

hands down....birthday cake

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

cheescake with cherries!

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Pears poached in marsala, cinnamon and vanilla bean.

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

butterscotch pudding with caramel sauce anda sprinkle of fleur de sel (from Mozza)