November 22, 2015

SWEET POTATO RUTABAGA BITES (MINI TURKEYS)

November 22, 2015/ Hannah Bertiger

Clearly these are a turkey-day inspired recipe, which also happens to be one of my favorite holidays! I mean, who doesn’t like fall themed foods, glutinous amounts of dessert, and waiting all afternoon to enjoy that incredible bite of turkey (and also celebrate my birthday)? Aside from my excitement, this year I will be going away for Thanksgiving and missing my mom’s smoked turkey, but I guess every year there’s something new to do, but I’ll still be baking my signature pumpkin pound cake. With all the Thanksgiving change, I wanted to make a fun recipe with some things I don’t usually cook- like rutabaga. I have to say these were a hit- I had to chase my cookie monster out of the kitchen so he didn’t keep stealing them, although he did coin their new name as mini turkeys. I guess they are pretty holiday-themed. These would make a great appetizer for your Thanksgiving feast or just a Sunday activity if you’re like me and like to randomly cook up crazy things to bring to the office…But either way, Happy Thanksgiving and I hope no one has a dry turkey- because let’s be honest, that’s pretty much the worst.

July 10, 2015

BABUCIA'S VEGETARIAN STUFFED CABBAGE

July 10, 2015/ Hannah Bertiger

After traveling through Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Munich, Vienna, and Budapest, I finally arrived in Krakow to end my trip. Staying with my friend’s grandmother, who spoke no English, we found our communication through food. She kindly showed me her very own recipe for a vegetarian stuffed cabbage that she created

May 01, 2015

TURKISH SPICED ZUCCHINI NOODLE BOWL

May 01, 2015/ Hannah Bertiger

It only seemed appropriate to post this recipe with mother’s day coming up as this zucchini bowl was created not too long after last years mother’s day. While waiting for my mother and my boyfriends mother to have a “mom’s meet each other brunch,” my boyfriend and I wandered into the nearby Williams Sonoma.

April 24, 2015

BARBECUE CHICKPEA SALAD

April 24, 2015/ Hannah Bertiger

The tease of the nice weather has had me itching for barbecue…but too bad the grill was just sold (but hey, an apartment in NYC seems like a fair trade off!). In light of my warm weather yearnings, I decided to whip up a favorite meal of mine I made all of last summer. Barbecue chickpea salad- it is a hardy vegetarian bowl that hits the spot for those warm summer nights… even though spring has only brought rain and more cold.

March 06, 2015

ROYAL MASON JAR SALAD

March 06, 2015/ Hannah Bertiger

To me this salad says royal due to the rich purple and ruby red colors the vegetables provide. But let me back up and tell you how royalty and purple play a role in my life. In my family it is know we have some weird feet. (Skip this is your totally weirded out- I understand, feet give me the cringes too.) So yes I am admitting via the Internet my second toe is longer than the rest, and yes it does make wearing peep-toe shoes a bit awkward. But I own it. As a child my grandmother used to tell us (maybe to make us feel better) that those who had this long toe were meant to be royal.

February 20, 2015

LEMON TAHINI DRESSING

February 20, 2015/ Hannah Bertiger

I have to admit for the past two years I have been eating salad and yogurt every day for lunch. I do mix it up a bit and change some salad ingredients, but I am a creature of habit. Until one day I went into Whole Foods and found a lemon tahini dressing for my salad instead of my going for my usual balsamic. Let me say, it was game changing. But Whole Foods isn’t too close to drive to on a weekly basis to get my weekly dressing fix. Instead I decided to make a copycat- and I am pretty darn proud. It is lemony, creamy, and nutty, and makes my kale salads taste even better. This dressing is super easy to make, healthy for you, and free of any of those weird preservatives you often find in salad dressings.

January 30, 2015

SUMAC BEET HUMMUS

January 30, 2015/ Hannah Bertiger

I have to say I have never made hummus, but I am definitely an enthusiast. I love having some in the morning with pita and eggs and am always delighted to try new hummus flavor combinations I find in the grocery store. From my recent travels to Houston and New Orleans, I had on two occasions a beet hummus appetizer. After trying this wonderful combination, I knew I had to try and replicate the flavor at home.

July 20, 2014

SPICY MEXICAN TEMPEH BULGUR BOWL

July 20, 2014/ Hannah Bertiger

Sometimes it’s nice to spice things up. My week has been filled with some spicy moments, and when I say spicy and mean funny or quirky and not steamy. At work seeing-eye dogs visited and one child got all too friendly. The dog licked him so he licked him right back. I mean I guess being forward is a great way to get over being just acquaintances. Another spicy, slightly scary moment was a lockdown at my workplace. What actually happened that local police told us to stay inside the building, I am still unsure of, but telling those I was meeting after work that I was stuck in a building seemed slightly comical

March 10, 2014

CHOCOLATE CHIA BANANA BREAD

March 10, 2014/ Hannah Bertiger

Vegan baking round one.

This week I decided to finally commit and cook up a vegan recipe. Of course it was taste tested by my go to vegan friend- and approved. My vegan experience was of course an adventure, but so has been my past week. At my job at a Hebrew School we tie-dyed with the class. During the project I looked up to see a kid had squirted some of the dye across the table and hit another kid in the face.

February 04, 2014

CURRIED CHICKPEAS WITH TOMATOES, SPINACH, AND MILLET

February 04, 2014/ Hannah Bertiger

Sometimes things happen for a reason and sometimes recipes pop into your head. My past week has been a roller-coaster ride, so it only seemed natural to cook up something to stabilize my hectic week. I was evicted (to be ever so dramatic) from the lease I was suppose to sign for the upcoming school year for silly reasons that made me laugh and cry. I guess they're missing out on eating my food (boo-hoo). I then went out to hear music at a place where only a few people were lingering, the amp was too loud, and a artist hung around in the back sketching.

January 20, 2014

THAI COCONUT SOUP

January 20, 2014/ Hannah Bertiger

Slowly winter break has come to an end and spring semester has crept up. Although I do no want to go back to class, I do miss my college house. To kickstart the new semester I though a new soup post would be nice, especially due to the predicated snowfall to come.

September 22, 2013

FARRO SALAD WITH SWISS CHARD, PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS, AND CANNELLINI BEANS

September 22, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

Braised tenderloin, escarole, sous vide salmon, swiss chard- all of these roll of the tongue with a polished and slightly obnoxious foodie tone. They could all be possibly found in a Michelin star restaurant or in the belly of a person who takes pride in indulging in exquisite food served in a pristine and classy setting. Why am I suddenly mentioning all this classiness talk? Well, only to tell you being a undergraduate at a large state school, class is far from apparent on a day to day basis.

September 16, 2013

EDAMAME SUSHI SALAD

September 16, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

I recently started doing research at school and have met some of the graduate students in the PsyD/PhD program. During our first encounter one of the questions was what is it like to be an undergraduate at my school. The best way to describe it is dirty, grimy, and overly entertaining. I think a sum of daily life here at college could be described by my recent finding near my house at school. I was taking out the garbage after making this edamame sushi salad for my weekly blog post, when I noticed something ever so interesting sitting at the edge of my driveway. It was a pair of men's boxers.

September 08, 2013

SHREDDED FENNEL AND APPLE WHEATBERRY SALAD

September 08, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

Rosh Ha'Shana- or the Jewish New Year just passed. It is a custom to have apples and honey at the table as well as a fish head, to represent having a sweet new year and to be at the head of the year. Various foods have their representations for new beginnings, such as the custom of eating a new fruit, or to reinforce ideals in Judaism, such as the 613 mitzvot (or commandments) that seeds of a pomegranate symbolize. All of these ideals inspired me to create and fresh salad with some pomegranate flavoring to welcome in the new year.With a new year comes new goals, new ideas, new friends, new opportunities, and change

August 12, 2013

ZUCCHINI NOODLES WITH LENTIL MEAT SAUCE

August 12, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

Every Sunday my mother tends to find a plethora of garage sales to attend and buy random items. Mind you we recently finished cleaning out our house which was once inhabited by my post-war hoarding Grandmother (who I never met) that also had the all the walls coated in a vomit green color. Recently, my mom brought home a apple peeler and corer and I thought, hey why not make zucchini noodles with it!

August 07, 2013

TRIPLE C CURRY

August 07, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

Last week at work my mother texted me. Usually these texts are semi-comical, and this one was no exception. "Woo hoo got good cable channels back after complaining I can't see honey boo boo- now we have good channels!" Do we actually watch Honey Boo Boo consistently? No- but, for a while we were only limited to a few channels, one of which was the Food Network. By all means that is not a terrible thing for a foodie like myself, but when Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives is the only show on, you get a bit stir crazy. Is this recipe name a slight poke at "triple d" for naming it a "triple c" curry- possibly.

July 01, 2013

RAW PAD THAI

July 01, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

This is my first dedication post. One of my very close friends recently developed a gluten and dairy allergy and keeps asking me to come be her personal chef- a.k.a my life dream of just feeding people (or it's the jewish mom in me that feels the need to constantly feed people until they can't breathe). But I have also been wanting to recreate a similar dish to one I had when out to dinner with my siblings.

June 18, 2013

MEXICAN QUINOA SALAD

June 18, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

I love mexican food, and I am pretty sure I have stated this fact already and the fact that I can never find a good mexican restaurant by my house that serves good food, which is of course pre-judged on how their salsa tastes. To settle my cravings I create my own mexican food, which is probably better since I would rather eat more vegetables, avoid oodles of cheese, and have to tell a waiter please hold the sour cream (since it totally weirds me out , which I know, is totally irrational- but then again I have an irrational fear of velvet).

May 31, 2013

HONEY MAPLE NUT GRANOLA

May 31, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

Even since I was a teen, I have been called a "granola" on multiple occasions. The most was when I began telling people about the colleges I was considering to apply to, and many of them were granola schools, where I, a granola girl would fit it. I am not sure whether it is my quirky nature or my love of dance and yoga that coined that name upon me, but regardless I love granola. Before work begins and I become fully accustomed to a real person's working hours, I decided to make some granola.

May 29, 2013

OKRA AND LENTIL CURRY

May 29, 2013/ Hannah Bertiger

Well I've hit a crowd pleaser, and by crowd I mean my mom. She tends to be super picky with whatever I cook so when she actually likes something it is a great relief and nice to hear.This dish was inspired by my personal southern roots and the use of okra in southern cooking as well as that time when I couldn't stop watching Ramsay's Best Restaurant and an Indian place was featured in the competition.