monkey biscuits

in

This recipe is from Avi's great great grandmother Sheindel who probably got it from her great grandmother. It's been passed down orally for generations so I'm now writing it down. The Gessers make this often as gifts for people or just to snack on because they are delicious and addictive. They are also quite labor intensive but easy enough-and actually fun-- for the kids. It's a whole family affair. 

The name is Mun cookies but since they are more crackers than cookies and Mun is hard to say we're calling them monkey biscuits. Here is the recipe:

  • 32 oz flour
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 egg
  • 1 brandyshot (glass size) poppyseeds
  • 1 minced large onion
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 heaping tsp salt
  • Dash of pepper
  1. Divide wet and dry ingredients into two large bowls. 
  2. Combine wet and dry and mix well.
  3. Continue adding flour until dough is not longer sticky. you should be able to make a handprint and pull our hand away without dough sticking to it. 
  4. Spread out very thin on greased baking sheet.
  5. Bake at 300 about 10-15 minutes (switching half way through) until they are crisp and light brown.

genius?

in

Michael was in the Berkshires on a boy's weekend (read drinking Tequila and sleeping late) until Sunday. Alone, I ate bagels with cream cheese, pickles and nachos and whatever the boys didn't finish. Michael got home Sunday, hungover, and took the boys for a couple hours so I could do something that didn't involve legos.

Even though Pasta Sunday had been cancelled I decided to make pasta. Crazy, I know. I wanted to try  this recipe from Food52. I had been thinking about it because it was this week's "genius pasta." The word genius is very compelling. I don’t think I’d be sucked in by ‘best” or “greatest” or “number one” but genius speaks to me because there can be more than one genius pastas and I'll respect them all. 

The most exciting part was caramelizing the onions. I love watching how they transform over time.

I also added small broccoli florets (frozen) and canned mushrooms, making it a super easy dish and kinda of healthy dish.

Verdict: I thought it was good, not genius. The sauce -- consisting of greek/strained yogurt and pasta water-- wasn't quite rich enough to carry the dish. (I like the idea of using greek yogurt as a creaminess enhancer-- ie in place of cream-- and mixing it with starchy liquid. I guess that's the genius part,) But it needed a lot of cheese and salt and even then seemed missing something. Butter, probably.