Homemade Sesame Rice Crackers

I have made crackers a few times. Those Mary's Gone Crackers copycats were big hit in my house.

This time, I was looking for something with a similar crunch, but a bit different flavor - perhaps a little less nutty. I wanted something similar to those packages of Japanese senbei crackers I get at Whole Foods, or perhaps the sesame rice rounds I get at Trader Joe's. I wanted a cracker that met somewhere in the middle. I definitely wanted to keep it gluten free, but with a good crunch. I also didn't want to have to run out and buy too many new ingredients.

These crackers fit the bill. I had everything on hand. Definitely happy with the way they turned out and will make again - perhaps with a few flavor tweaks. These crackers are great with tapenade or hummus, or anything you would pair with a chip or cracker!



Sesame Rice Crackers
Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1 cup roasted sesame seeds
3.5 tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
3 tsp. sesame oil
1 cup warm water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix everything together in a mixing bowl. The dough shouldn't be too sticky and should come together. You can add a little more rice flour if it seems too sticky and wet.

Let the mixture sit for five minutes.

Spray a large baking sheet.

Pull of little teaspoon size pieces of dough and roll in to balls.

Similar to my previous cracker recipe, take a small square of oil sprayed parchment paper and press the ball on to the pan. You can use your hands, or you could use a heavy glass.

You want the cracker dough to be very thin, but you don't want it to rip. Even if it rips though, it's still tasty.

The crackers do shrink a little in the oven - so it's ok if your dough rounds are touching.

Bake in oven for around 15-17 minutes. Check to make sure they don't burn,

Cool on rack.

Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for Tribes-a-Dozen's Voila! Hallah!

Categories: appetizer, gluten free, snack

Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Wet Burritos

I get so much of my food inspiration from social media these days. Everyone's lunch or dinner gets posted to Facebook  twitter or Pinterest at any given moment. The photos are what get me motivated to cook and create new concoctions in my kitchen.

I have a growing list of friends from Michigan - either having grown up there or went to college there. At any given moment, a photo shows up in my Facebook feed of something that resembles an enchilada, but is really something so much more. It's the Wet Burrito. It's purely a Michigan concept. I can't decide if it's an upgraded or downgraded burrito. It's not authentic anything, or perhaps it's authentic Michigander food. Whatever it is, the spiced red gravy that tops the burrito is pure brilliance on a plate. And it's easy to make.

Vegetarian Wet Burritos

Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

2 tsp. salt

3 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small zucchinni, chopped

1/2 package of baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 can of black beans, drained

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1.5 cups cooked brown rice

Cheddar/Monterrey Jack Cheese Blend

4 large flour tortillas

Wet Burrito Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 can of Ro-Tel or chopped tomatoes with jalapenos

1/2 cup of plain tomato sauce

1.5 tbsp. tomato paste

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (Use a fish-free version)

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Heat up the oil in a large saute pan. Saute the onions for a couple of minutes. Stir in the spices and the chopped garlic.

Add in the zucchini and the sliced mushrooms and cook for a few minutes.

Add in the black beans to one side of the pan and let them heat up. Mash up the beans a bit and stir in the vegetable broth.

Remove the pan from the flame and set aside.

In a small sauce pan, mix up all of the sauce ingredients. Heat on medium low for a few minutes. Puree with a stick blender. 

Assemble the burritos.

Layer some rice then bean/veggie mixture then some cheese on top of a tortillas. Fold up in to a burrito. Set seam side down in a baking dish.

Repeat with the rest of the mixture.

Spoon the burrito sauce over the burritos. 

Sprinkle over some cheese.

Bake in oven for about 15 minutes. If you have extra sauce, you can spoon more over the burrito as you serve. 

Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win a free box of Tribes-a-Dozen Voila! Hallah! Enter here!

Categories: dinner, vegetarian

Tribes-a-Dozen Challah Review and Giveaway!

I was so happy when I saw the an email in my inbox from Leah over at Tribes-a-Dozen. She told me all about this great new product - Voila! Hallah.

For those of you that don't know, Voila! Hallah is a new product. It's the first-ever challah mix in a box. You heard that right - a challah mix in a box. So cool, right?! When I first heard about the mix, I wasn't so sure what to think. I like shortcuts. I don't always have success with the boxed stuff. This is definitely a better approach than a frozen Kinneret challah though. And perfect for someone who wants to make a small batch of good challah with ease. You can learn more about Voila! Hallah on their website, facebook and tumblr pages!

I've had hits and misses with challah baking. I find that my challah never comes out the same twice. I have come a long way from my first challah baking experience. I now have one set recipe I prefer to use, and ever since I got a Bosch mixer, challah baking has been relatively painless. I tend  make a huge 5lb batch of flour in to challah at time. I manage to stretch that challah to around 12 small challahs or so - which will  last a month or more in our house. Still,  I  was intrigued by this box of promising challah.

Leah sent me three boxes. I am testing the regular plain challah as well as the spelt challah. I have one box of whole wheat challah mix to share with one lucky reader of this blog!

I am pleased that the instructions on the box were clear and easy to understand. Like other boxed mixes, you only need to have a few ingredients on hand - eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and optional toppings.

I chose to follow the instructions as stated on the box. If I choose, I can always play with other options for subsequent challah bakings.

Included in the box is a flour mix and a yeast packet.

You start by mixing the flour and yeast mixture with warm water. The you add the egg and oil.

At this point, I wasn't sure how successful the mix would be. The mixture was sticky - though I was assured by the box, that it would indeed be sticky. I was just used to a different consistency for bread.

You let the dough rest and then you shape it and brush on some egg wash.

After the shaping, you let the braided loafs rise.

In to the oven they go for around 25 minutes.

It smelled so good while it baked. I was excited to pull them out of the oven. Lo and behold - I have two challahs! Perfect for Shabbat! So happy! I did set aside a small challah roll for sampling before shabbat. Verdict is in - it tasted great!

I highly recommend this mix - for the nervous or hesitant baker, or for someone short on time. This mix was easy and it came out perfectly.

Thanks to the kind folks at Tribes-a-Dozen, I have a box of Voila! Hallah to send to one lucky blog reader. Please fill out the raffle form below! Please note that this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

Shabbat Shalom!


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Categories: baked, bread, giveaway, product review, shabbat

Corned Beef Hash Egg Rolls

My mom came to town for the weekend. A shabbat with family is always wonderful.

In my family, a visit = food. When I go back to the midwest, I bring smoked fish and bagels. When they come to me, I also get special care packages. In this case, my mom graciously brought some packages of smoked meat from Chicago's famed Romanian Kosher butcher. That place has some of the most amazing meats. I don't eat that stuff anymore, but the husband is thrilled to pieces when there is meat in the house. Especially really good smoked meats. What a treat!

The husband and my mom grazed over various deli sandwiches over the weekend, but we still had some leftover corned beef. 

I thought back to my days as a waitress. One of the most popular dishes in the morning, was corned beef hash with eggs. There was this amazing meaty/salty smell that came off of the platters. I was thinking of just making that for dinner with some eggs for the husband, but I wanted to change it up a bit.

I had some egg roll wrappers sitting in the fridge. We've had pastrami egg rolls before, and those were a hit. I wondered how corned beef hash would work in an egg roll. It turns out that it tastes awesome. Not just because they are fried. They are even good when baked. The combination of the flavors along with the crunch of the egg rolls are perfect.



Corned Beef Hash Egg Rolls
Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 medium potatoes parboiled, cooled and cubed
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound of fatty corned beef (the deli kind), cubed/chopped
2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
2 tsp. paprika
egg roll wrappers
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

Heat up the 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Add in your chopped onion and cook for a few minutes.

Add in the chopped potatoes and cook for another five minutes until you start to see some browning on the onions and potatoes.

Add in the peppers and the garlic and cook another minute.

Now it's time to add the meat and the spices. Let everything cook for a few minutes. Set aside to cool a little.

Set up your assembly station: your bowl of filling, a board to roll up the egg rolls and a brush with some water to seal the egg rolls.

Place an egg roll wrapper on a flat surface. Have it facing you in a diamond shape.

Lay some filling across the middle and fold the bottom in.

Next, fold the sides in and finish rolling up.

Seal the egg rolls with some water brushed on lightly.

Fry the egg rolls in about a 1/4 inch of vegetable oil. Fry a few minutes on each side until crisp.

Serve the egg rolls with a dipping sauce. Some Thousand Island dressing or a spicy mayo work well.

Enjoy!

Categories: appetizer, meat, side dish

Meatless Monday: Vegetable and Rice Patties

My older daughter just left for camp. It's so odd having one less child in the house. When I got home and started to prepare dinner this evening, there was nobody to complain. Nobody questioned the flavors that would show up on the plate. I kind of miss it! It is nice though to be left with just my kid who eats anything. It's a nice treat to see everything eaten on the plate - even the onions.

I still miss the kid. A lot. And it's only been a day.

We were gone over the weekend, and I have a limited selection of what is available in the fridge. As with any Monday, dinner must be fast. With a limited supply of veggies and some cooked rice in the fridge, these veggie rice patties were perfect for a light dinner. When paired with a salad, everyone is happy.



Vegetable and Rice Patties 
Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice, cooled (white or brown works)
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
3/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 small zuchinni, chopped
1 small yellow squash, chopped
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a cheddar jack blend)
3/4 cup panko crumbs or gluten free alternative
2.5 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. rosemary
2 tsp. garlic powder
4 eggs
2-3 tbsp. vegetable oil for pan frying

Directions:

Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl. Shape in to patties and let sit on a plate for about 10 minutes to set.

Pan fry in a small amount of oil for a few minutes on each side - until browned.

Drain on paper towels.

Enjoy!

This post is linked to My Meatless Mondays

Categories: dinner, easy, vegetables, vegetarian