I have no idea why a low-carb Gentile girl suddenly feels overwhelmingly compelled to make Challah bread for Shabbat, but there you go.
And I am beyond proud to say it turned out epic! Whew! Woo!
Recipe here: Challah – Averie Cooks
Before 2nd rise
After 2nd rise, before baking
After baking
Before eating
Ummm, you don’t want to see any pictures after that. 
cross posted on my daily blog
National Blueberry Cheesecake Day May 26
NATIONAL BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE DAY
Each year on May 26, people across the United States, celebrate and enjoy National Blueberry Cheesecake Day.
via May 26, 2015 – NATIONAL BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE DAY | National Day Calendar.
Oh my goodness, did you know it’s National Blueberry Cheesecake Day? I had no idea! I love cheesecake, it was always one of my favorite desserts. But I think blueberry must be my absolute favorite version. More than cherry or strawberry, for sure.
If you love blueberry cheesecake too, here’s a recipe (below) for you! Enjoy!
Ultra creamy homemade cheesecake swirled with sweet blueberry sauce. All on top of my favorite buttery graham cracker crust.
“Uh, Mom? Why are you taking pictures of the chicken?” asked my son.
“I thought I’d blog how I make chicken,” I responded, “so people can see.”
“Then you’ll be doing them a favor, because then everyone will be able to make chicken as awesome as you.”
Isn’t he the sweetest boy? I should tell you about all the times he was little, and he’d walk past the kitchen and cry out, “EWW! What smells so bad in here?!” with absolute horror. So, you know, balance. 
Anyway, this is my son’s favorite “mom-made” chicken dish.
Start with ordinary chicken. You can use whatever kind of chicken floats your boat – white meat, dark meat, skinless, skin on, boneless, bone-in – doesn’t matter. I have about 4 pounds all together in this photo.
Then, the tweaking. I think, many years ago, I saw a recipe from Kraft for parmesan chicken, and decided to play with it. What I love about this recipe is that it’s so versatile. There are so many different kinds of marinade sauces out there and you have so many options! So, you can have chicken on a regular basis but have a different chicken dinner every time simply by changing out the one sauce.
I confess, I don’t measure. For roughly 4 lbs of chicken I use 4 blobs of the Miracle Whip. It’s at least half a cup, I’m sure.
Then I add about a quarter bottle of the marinade sauce. Perhaps 3-4 oz.
Lastly, I dump in about a quarter cup of parmesan.
I should add, at this point, you could put in whatever herbs and spices your heart desires, if you wanted. Heck, you could skip the marinade all together and just use the Miracle Whip and the parmesan and add all kinds of different flavorings – let your imagination run! Use cayenne for a southwest flavor, or maybe some mustard and honey for a spicy sweet taste – I’ve used mustard instead of the marinade and it turns out really well, too. I like Gulden’s for that. A dijon would be cool. Ooh, even crushed pineapple for a Hawaiian flair! I hadn’t thought of that before.
Mix it up and glop it on the chicken. It will be thick, like a paste, so I just use the back of the spoon to kind of smooth it over the pieces.
As a finishing touch and to help aid browning, I sprinkle some more parmesan over everything, and when I have them on hand, I also sprinkle some sesame seeds over the whole thing too. Those don’t show up in this image.
But you can see them here! Golden brown and delicious. You could also add some chopped nuts, maybe sunflower seeds, almost any kind of herb – rosemary, parsley, lemon or orange zest.
This is great with rice, potatoes, even noodles would go really well with this. Add a nice salad or vegetable and you’ve got dinner.
This takes about 10 minutes to slap together, and I bake it at 350 for 2 hours, or 375 for 90 min, you could go 325 for 2 and a half hours, too – it will work with pretty much whatever time you need it to.
It’s easy, fast, versatile, and budget friendly for the win.
Enjoy!
> cross posted on my regular blog, Vanessence <
Not sure how I even came across this article. Probably reading a recipe or something. The headline caught my eye. Mercury? In corn syrup? Seriously? That makes HFCS even worse than it already is. Did you know your body can’t metabolize fructose? (The F in HFCS) Your liver doesn’t know what to do with it, it can’t send it to your muscles for energy, so it just dumps it directly into your fat cells. Scary, huh? Who knew fruit was actually bad for you?
Corn Syrup’s Mercury Surprise
By Melinda Wenner
If the specter of obesity and diabetes wasn’t enough to turn you off high- fructose corn syrup (HFCS), try this: New research suggests that the sweetener could be tainted with mercury, putting millions of children at risk for developmental problems.
Dufault sent HFCS samples from three manufacturers that used lye to labs at the University of California-Davis and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The labs found mercury in most of the samples. In September 2005, Dufault presented her findings to the FDA’s center for food safety. She was surprised by what happened next. “I was instructed not to do any more investigation,” she recalls.
At first, Dufault was reluctant to pursue the matter. But eventually, she became frustrated enough to try to publish the findings herself. She had her 20 original samples retested; mercury was found in nearly half of them.
But the FDA and the Corn Refiners Association, an industry trade group, claim there’s nothing to worry about.
Nessipes! 