Berlin, Germany - Eating pistachios daily may reduce the risk of lung and other cancers, according to a US study cited by the German Lung Foundation.
The nuts are a rich source of gamma-tocopherol, a form of vitamin E and, as such, an antioxidant. Antioxidants are substances thought to protect cells from damage that can be caused by molecules known as free radicals. This protection could help prevent cancer from developing, the foundation said.
It pointed out, however, that pistachios had a high fat content and eating large quantities of them could cause weight gain.
The foundation cited a recent study conducted at Texas Woman's University - Houston Centre. Half of the study's participants were given 68 grams of pistachios daily for four weeks in addition to their normal diet. Afterwards, the level of gamma-tocopherol in their bodies was
found to be significantly higher than that of the control group.
There is no need to fear a vitamin E overdose, the foundation noted. It said that vitamin E, in contrast to other fat-soluble vitamins, was not stored in the body's fatty tissue, but was quickly excreted by the liver and kidneys.
Passover 2010 this year falls out on March 30, 2010. The holiday will begin nightfall on Monday, March 29th will be the passover 2010 first seder. Passover will last a total of eight days outside the land of Israel, and will end on April 6th.
Passover begins early this year, so it is best to start preparing as soon as possible. If you are staying home and cooking Passover foods by yourself, there are a variety of ingredients already available for your cooking use.
Purim has now ended. It is time to prepare for Passover 2010. Start cleaning up your home, and turning over your kitchen into a kosher-for-Passover cooking station.
Hamantaschen are fairly easy to make. It’s like making cookies but in a different shape and with slightly different steps. You may prefer to use your own cookie dough recipe instead of following a brand new recipe. You may also opt to buy pre-made cookie dough and make your Hamantaschen after rolling out the prepared dough. Whichever you choose, you are bound to end up with delicious Hamantaschen cookies.
There are pretty easy Hamantaschen recipes and there are more complicated ones. The level of complexity can be measured by the ingredients that may be tedious to prepare or by ingredients that wouldn’t necessarily be in your own pantry (for example: lemon zest or agave nectar).
An easy fruit Hamantaschen recipe can take about 30 minutes to make including baking time.
Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup orange juice
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup fruit preserves, any flavor
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2.In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until lightly and fluffy. Stir in the oil, vanilla and orange juice. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter to form a stiff dough. If dough is not stiff enough to roll out, stir in more flour. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into circles using a cookie cutter or the rim or a drinking glass. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of preserves into the center of each one. Pinch the edges to form three corners.
3.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
A more complicated recipe can take up to an hour with the preparation of the filling.
Filling
20 ounces pitted prunes (2 packages)
12 ounces dried apricots (2 packages)
6 ounces dried peaches (1 package)
10 ounces raisins (1 package)
1 orange (thin skinned or peeled)
1 apple
6 ounces apricot jam (1/2 a small jar or to taste)
1 dash lemon juice
Dough
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1/2 lemon, juice and zest of
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-5 cups flour (sifted)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch baking soda
Directions
1 For the filling, simply chop all the ingredients fine in your food processor and mix well.
2 For the dough, cream sugar and eggs.
3 Add oil and mix until it turns pale yellow and is no longer shiny.
4 Mix in lemon and vanilla.
5 In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
6 Slowly add dry ingredients to wet. When it becomes difficult to mix, add more flour and knead.
7 Preheat oven to 375°F.
8 To assemble cookies, roll out dough (in batches) to desired thickness (maybe a little thinner than 1/4") and cut into circles of desired size (can use cookie cutter, inverted glass, etc). Put a dollop of filling in the center of each cookie and fold up into a triangular shape, pinching the corners and leaving the center open so that the filling peeks out.
9 Bake cookies for about 15 minutes until they are beginning to brown. I've always greased the cookie sheet very lightly with non-stick spray, but I don't know that you need to.
It may be worth it to try a more hands on recipe if you are trying to impress company or to get an even more delicious version of your favorite Purim snack!
Chocolate Hamantaschen http://www.jewishfood-list.com/recipes/cookie/hamant/hamantaschchoc01.html are special for the successfulness of their rich filling. Any ordinary cookie dough will work well with any luscious chocolate center.
Caramel Pecan Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 cups toasted chopped pecans
7 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk or nondairy creamer
1/4 cup honey
Chocolate Filling:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk or whipping cream or coffee
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
Hamantaschen:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
3 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg
1 egg white
Make Caramel Pecan Filling:
Bring sugar and water to boil in heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring with wooden spoon until sugar dissolves.
Remove from heat and add pecans, butter and milk. Return to heat, stirring constantly, and simmer until thick, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in honey. Transfer to oven-proof glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.
Make Chocolate Filling:
Combine cocoa, sugar, milk and walnuts in bowl and blend thoroughly.
Hamentaschen:
Combine flour, almonds, baking powder, salt and sugar. Blend in butter with electric mixer until mixture resembles very fine crumbs.
Blend water and cocoa in small bowl and beat in egg. Add to flour mixture and beat until mixture begins to form dough. Do not over-mix. Transfer to floured board and knead into ball. Chill 30 minutes for easier handling.
Divide into 6-7 portions. Flatten each with palm of hands and roll out 1/4" thick. Cut into 3-1/2" rounds with scalloped cookie cutter.
Place 1 teaspoon Caramel Pecan Filling or Chocolate Filling in center of each round. Fold edges of dough toward center to form triangle, leaving bit of filling visible in center. Pinch edges to seal. Place on lightly greased, foil-lined baking sheet and brush with egg white.
Bake at 350°F until firm, about 20 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool.
When making your very own Hamantaschen from scratch, you need to remember to prepare the dough thick enough so that it will hold the glob of filling on top without breaking. Also when you are pinching the ends of the circle of cookie dough to form a triangle, remember to press down firmly and securely to ensure that none of the corners will loosen while baking.
There are different types of Hamantaschen you can make. Instead of using natural preserves, try icing to create the look and feel of a Hamantaschen cookie. Whichever way you choose to make your Hamantaschen, it is sure to be a hit! With all the recipes available to select from you are bound to finish with a wide variety of delicious Hamantaschen cookies.
Hamantaschen are delicious little triangular cookies that are eaten on Purim. They are the most popular Purim snack. They are most often filled with raspberry, apricot, chocolate, or poppy seed fillings. There are many other variations available as well.
The fruit filled Hamantaschen are the most widely seen Hamantaschen around. They are made with apricot and raspberry preserves or jam for filling. The Hamantaschen’s crispy cookie balances nicely with the soft and chewy center from the filling.
The chocolate filled Hamantaschen are usually the most requested flavor. Everyone loves to enjoy these Hamantaschen especially when they are warm. The gooey chocolate with the crunchy cookie are a delicious combo. These tend to be the most decadent flavor available, so these may be eaten up the fastest!
Other common Hamantaschen available are the prune Hamantaschen and poppy seed Hamantaschen kinds. They may not be the most obvious flavors for a dessert but they definitely succeed in providing a tasty treat. It is even a great excuse to enjoy a dessert for a nutritional supplement.
No matter which flavor Hamantaschen you choose to enjoy on Purim, you really can’t go wrong. You can bake them up and give them out as part of your Mishloach Manot or simply buy them wherever they are sold.
Purim is a holiday where the Jewish people celebrate their triumph over Haman and all of their enemies. What better way is there to celebrate the holiday than by eating a cookie that symbolizes the victory over their rivals?
Hamantaschen are an intriguing dessert to enjoy on Purim mostly for their unusual shape. It’s a cookie that tastes good and that bears historical significance to the story of Purim. But what exactly is the history behind these triangular cookies
The simplest and most widely heard explanation is that Hamantaschen symbolize Haman’s triangular hat. This signifies the Jewish people’s victory over Haman. Israelis refer to Hamantaschen as Oznei Haman, the ears of Haman, which demonstrates the same symbolism.
Apricot Hamantashen
There is also another interpretation that the word Hamantaschen derived from the word mohn, which means poppy seed. It is customary to eat poppy seeds on Purim and they are available in poppy seed Hamantaschen as well.
With candy stores across the country competing with each other to display the most wonderful array of Valentine’s Day Candy gift in their stores, you will have no problem in finding that perfect Candy gift for your loved one this Valentine’s Day. Valentine ’s Day with its theme of love and romance has the best quality of Valentine’s Day Candy gifts to be offered to ardent lovers and candy fans.
These novelty boxes of Valentine ’s Day candy are made with the discerning lover in mind and manufacturers spare no pains to make their confections to the highest quality standard and undergo thorough checks before being sent to the stores.
The celebration of Valentine’s Day is never complete without having given or received one of these intricately decorated Valentine’s Day candy gift boxes which is the epitome of a lover’s declaration of his feelings. The variety of such Valentine’s Day candy gifts are so amazing that one will find it hard to choose from the various selections displayed in the candy stores.
Same as in the past, it makes you tingle with excitement when you are given a gift of a gorgeous box of Valentine’s Day chocolates which comes in many different shapes and sizes. If you girlfriend loves chocolates, why not surprise and delight her with a gift of a big bouquet of Chocolate flowers instead of the traditional bouquet of flowers? I’m sure she will be thrilled with your innovativeness. You can find novel and very exciting Valentine’s Day Candy gifts not only in the shops but also online. You can get them in different types and categories to suit each person’s mentality not to mention affordability.
With you and everyone else under the sun buying Valentine’s Day Candy gifts for that special person in your life, how can you make your own gift more personal ?
A cardinal rule is to ensure that your partner is a chocolate lover and that he/she will really and truly appreciate your gift of Valentine’s Day Candy.
While some like dark or even bitter chocolate, there are others who prefer the lighter white chocolate or the sugarless ones, depending on their dietary requirements,
Did you know that a simple bar of “Mars” means “I love you”? Wouldn’t it be the sweetest way of saying the 3 words?
There are those who prefer nougat or caramel which also can be given as a Valentine’s Day candy gift.
You can also get personalized candy bars, pralines, jelly beans, chocolate covered nuts, baskets of chocolates or even luscious looking candy trees decorated with chocolate.
Another important point to keep in mind is that an overwhelming number of men are said to prefer receiving Valentine’s Day Candy gifts or Chocolate Roses over flowers. Therefore you must ensure that you give him/her what they prefer and not what you would like to have yourself.
So there you are, buy any one of the above mentioned Valentine’s Day Candy gifts for your loved one and you can be sure he/she will make you his one and only Valentine this year.
So when is Purim 2010 (Purim 5770).
This year Purim in 2010 will start on Sunday, the 28th of February (Saturday Night) and will continue for 2 days until Monday, the 1st of March.
As you may know that on the Jewish calendar, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Jews will start celebrating Purim on the sunset of Saturday, the 27th of February.
So get ready for purim by shopping for your Purim needs
The most popular day of all for lovers being Valentine’s Day what better way to express your love than with Valentine’s Day Candy? It could be big chocolate heart or a scrumptious bag of red and blue jelly hearts or better still a glittery bag full of chocolate kisses, or how about some gooey, melt in the mouth chocolate roses that would make your lover swoon in your arms? It will be the ultimate expression of love and is bound to make your lover feel very special and cherished.
Valentine's Day Candy
Does anyone wonder how and when this custom began? One of the common beliefs is that during the 1800’s, lovelorn patients were told by their doctors to eat as much chocolate as possible to calm them and sooth their nerves. It is also thought that as far back as the era of the Aztec empire, chocolate was considered an aphrodisiac and was used to win love.
Although it is the heart shaped Valentine’s Day candy that is popular today, in days gone by, Valentine’s Day candy was made in the shape of watches, anchors, horseshoes, or even postcards with lengthy messages of love written on them. The messages found inside Valentine’s Day Candy hearts today, are much shorter and sweeter and in keeping with the “cool” talk of the modern generation.
Valentine's Day Candy
Close upon a century now makers of Valentine’s Day Candy have been coming up with unique and novel ways of saying “I love you”. Apparently, just one company produces more than 100,000 pounds of Valentine’s Day Candy chocolate hearts per day and it is said that approximately 8 billion lovers are presented with these delectable candy chocolates within a period of six weeks. Although the peak season for the sale of these Valentine’s Day Candy hearts is just one month, the candy hearts are produced round the year for 11 months.
With great competition among manufacturers of Valentine’s Day candy, to invent novel confections to Valentine’s Day Candy titillate the palate of lovers, they come up with yummy new fillings for chocolates while catchy and romantic messages are introduced every year. Some of the more popular recent ones included such messages as “Puppy Love”, “Melt my Heart”, “Cloud Nine” and even “Take a walk”!
What lover can resist a Valentine’s Day Candy Chocolate heart that says “Melt my Heart” or “Make me yours”? I bet you can’t and neither can I.
Rugelach (pronounced rug-a-la-kh) are pastry-like cookies that are typically enjoyed on the Jewish sabbath. However, they can be enjoyed all year round and on every day of the week. Rugelach is a Yiddish word meaning “little twists”. These pastries derive from Eastern Europe. They were traditionally made strictly with cheese, but today’s variations of rugelach can be found in many dairy-free versions.
You don’t need an excuse to enjoy some freshly baked rugelach. Especially with all the flavors to choose from, you can’t go wrong.
Chocolate Rugelach is a crowd favorite. You can get them dairy and fill your rugelach with milk chocolate. Or you can enjoy your rugelach after your Shabbos meal by adding pareve or dark chocolate and by substituting margarine for butter in your pastry.
Cinnamon Rugelach are also a favorite. These are especially mouthwatering to bake when the aromas from the cinnamon start to spread throughout your kitchen.
Apricot Rugelach are probably the most common fruit flavored rugelach pastries available. There is something about the sweetness of the dough with the tanginess of the apricot that makes it a delicious combination.
Raspberry Rugelach are a nice alternative to the common chocolate and cinnamon rugelach types. They go great with a cup of fruit flavored tea.
A rugelach platter is a great way to show somebody that you care. It can celebrate the birth of a baby, a recent marriage, or as a holiday gift.
It is pretty easy to make rugelach . There is no wrong way to eat Rugelach. Rugelach can be enjoyed straight from the oven or right out of the store. They can be crunchy or chewy, with nuts or without. The choice is yours
So now we are going to take it out of the refrigerator and roll it out and perform a what we call threefold. Now, it’s important that we work with the floured surface. Keep in mind that we need to keep a rectangular shape in order to perform threefold. Now, the filing that we used, even though we used chocolate, pecans and raspberry jam, use anything, from marzipan, to apricot jam, walnuts or just plain cinnamon sugar. The reasoning for performing the threefold is to make sure that all the butter and the cream cheese are incorporated into the layer of the dough. This is going to give us a final texture that’s flakey and a beautiful cookie. Now, if your dough cracks, just press it together lightly with your fingers. We are going to roll our dough well, just until it’s about little less than an inch thick. Now, I am going to take my and just straighten out the sides. As you can see, I am being careful to keep our rectangle shape. Now, to perform a threefold just think of how you fold a letter: one, two, three. On one side, and two. Straighten up the sides again. Now, we are going to wrap it out in plastic wrap and chill it again for another hour.
So, an hour has gone by. We have our chilled three-folded dough. Using our divide this into three potions. As you can see, we have our nice flakey layers. We have one, two, three. With the rolling pin, roll this out until it’s around a quarter inch thick. So once my dough’s about a quarter inch thick, I am going to take a ten inch room. If you don’t have one of these, just use a large mixing bowl. Brush off on flour, take our filling, putting about a quarter of it on to the surface of the dough. Mixing down lightly. Spread the mixture as thinly as you possibly can, leaving about an inch circumference around the edge with the dough. And you can also use your hands as well. We are going to take some cinnamon sugar and sprinkler it lightly on the surface. Divide our circle into either 12 or 16 triangles. The easiest way to do that is to start from the centre and divide our circle into four quarters. And it doesn’t have to be 16 triangles; it can be however big as you want it to be. For instance, we’ll take this slice and simply take the widest base and roll it forward, similar to how you shape . Now, Rugelach is a very simply cookie to make. Our dough has butter and pink cheese in it. So you need to take care in making sure that the dough is nicely chilled, otherwise your dough will become sticky and hard to shape. Once we’ve finished rolling out all of our Rugelach, we want to transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet or lightly sprayed baking sheep , making sure that we have a good amount of space in between each cookie, to allow for even spread. Have a small amount of egg wash here, that we’re just going to top of each cookie. Now we egg wash the cookies because they are going to give us a nice brown color on the surface. After we egg wash our cookies, we are going to sprinkle small amount of cinnamon sugar on the surface and transfer them to a pre-heated oven to 375 degrees and bake them for about 25 to 30 minutes or until they are golden brown. After about 25 minutes, I am taking the last batch out of the oven. As you can see, they have a beautiful crescent shape and a nice golden color. A little bit of sheen, that’s from the cinnamon sugar. And it’s important to put this on wire rack. It helps to make sure that the bottoms of the cookies don’t get too soggy.
You can find this recipe and many others in CIA’s Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America,
Hanukkah has so many wonderful aspects, its no wonder why it is most people’s favorite holiday. With all the delicious Hanukkah foods, the exchanging of Hanukkah gifts, and all the fun Hanukkah parties, it’s a hard holiday to beat. To add to that list is the Hanukkah music and Hanukkah Gelt. One of the very best things about Hanukkah are the songs. We sing and dance to songs about dreidels, the Maccabees, and the Hanukkah food we eat. “Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel” is one of the most popular Hanukkah songs. It is catchy and is sung by children as well as adults! This song explains the game of dreidel the children play (and adults too!) The lyrics for this song are memorable and repetitive.
“Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel” lyrics:
I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Oh dreidel I shall play!
chorus:
Oh - dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Oh dreidel I shall play!
It has a lovely body
With legs so short and thin
And when my dreidel’s tired
It drops and then I win!
chorus
My dreidel’s always playful
It loves to dance and spin
Happy game of dreidel
Come play now, lets begin!
chorus
“Maoz Tzur” is another popular Hanukkah song that is traditionally sung after reciting the Hanukkah blessings over the menorah. It is also known as “Rock of Ages” and has ancient roots. This song reflects on the historical hardship the Jewish people endured in biblical times. It bridges between the suffering and the promise for redemption.
Another popular Hanukkah children’s song is “Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah.” It is also a popular children’s song and is catchy enough to be remembered all year long.
Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah
Come light the Menorah
Let’s have a party
We’ll all dance the Horah
Gather ‘round the table
We’ll give you a treat
Sevivon to play with
And latkes to eat
And while we are playing
The candles are burning bright
One for each night
We’ll spread a sweet light
To remind us of days long ago
Another song that is sung customarily after the lighting of the candles is “Hanerot Halalu”. This also has ancient roots and recalls all of the Hanukkah miracles. There are many different melodies to this song and is often sung slowly.
Purim Baskets - Mishloach Manos
Hamantaschen- Purim Cookies
Shalach Manos for Kids
