Posted on 09/28/2017 8:23:20 PM PDT by Yaelle
Funny, I didn't think about this when I offered to take over this week for the vacationing Jamestown1630, that I'd be heading into a religious fast! What great timing! Still, there is no time like fasting (or thinking about fasting) to come up with delicious ideas to make and eat.
What would you break a fast with? Personally, the actual first food I eat after not eating for some 25 hours needs to be protein, or I will feel quite sick. But there are a million kinds of protein! Traditionally in my family the proteins have been cold meats (as in deli meats), or smoked salmon, or even cheeses for the vegetarians. The usual cooks have been fasting all day in the synagogue, so there wouldn't be a fresh, hot cooked meal. I would hope to break the fast with a bite of smoked salmon with a bit of cream cheese and some capers, personally. Maybe wrapped in lettuce, forgoing the delicious bagels I don't digest well, and certainly not on an empty stomach.
But not everyone would agree that we should be sensible and break the fast with protein. Some, feeling that low blood sugar, would step straight up to the dessert table. I'm making 150 little rugulachs tonight for just that sort of person. And the beloved radio conservative Dennis Prager, if you are lucky enough to be a part of his High Holy Day services, will share with you his favorite break the fast food: M&Ms. I can't knock it; they seem to be working out well for him so far!
When you haven't eaten in a while, when you didn't mean to skip a meal, when you have been sick and your appetite returns with a vengeance, what do you seek out? A hearty food? A bowl of something comfy and warm?
This recipe is my favorite, from Lora Brody's Cooking With Memories.
The Dough
2 sticks butter, at room temp; 8 oz cream cheese, at room temp; 1/4 c sugar ; 1 tsp vanilla; 2 c flour
Cream butter and cream cheese, mix in sugar and vanilla. Mix in the flour and form the dough into a ball. Divide the ball into four disks, wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for several hours.
The filling
(You can play with this and use other things, which I always do)
1 c sugar; 1/2 c brown sugar, firmly packed; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1 1/2 c chopped dried apricots; 1 1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped
Combine all ingredients. (This makes too much filling for this recipe and you can freeze it for later batches)
To assemble
1 jar apricot preserves, warmed to glazing temp; 1/4 c milk; 2 tbsp sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon
Remove dough from fridge and let sit for 15 mins before using.
Preheat oven to 350.
Roll out each dough portion into 9 in circle, 1/8 in thick, on floured surface. Cut the dough into 12 "pieces of pie." A pizza cutter makes this easy. With a thin knife or spatula loosen each triangle and brush it with a thin layer of warm apricot preserves.
Spread the filling down the middle of each triangle. Carefully with your fingers, lift the wide end of the triangle dough over the filling and roll the pastry over the filling toward the point. Place on parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet, pointy end down to secure.
Before baking, brush each rugulach with milk, and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Bake for 16-18 mins until lightly browned.
I don't have a picture for this exact recipe but I will find one online that looks close.
Uh oh, a substitute teacher! Jamestown is on vacation! Come join in this week, and let’s discuss Not Eating. Not really! ;) How about getting back to eating ASAP? Much better.
That’s a beautiful photo and they look delicious! They also appear to be a pain to make.
If I haven’t eaten in a while I go for cheese and saltines, so carbs and protein as well as salty, which I love. I also love bagels, but there is really only one place for good bagels here in Albuquerque, IMO and they have weird hours so I don’t always have fresh bagels.
I’m a salty craver rather than a sweet treat craver. Give me a bag of chips over M & M’s any day!
Thanks for filling in for Jamestown and I hope you enjoy your break fast!
Tell Jamestown she is fired! How can she take a vacation? I have not had a vacation in twenty years. Oh boy.
It isn’t fair that Jamestown gets more vacations than we do. I’m taking a knee right now!
They are time consuming but easy. Trying to rope my useless assistants into doing some of this. Unsuccessful. I sure hope JT1630 appreciates these sacrifices we make so she can travel the world on our taxpayer dollars. Oh. Wait. She’s probably not traveling on our dime. I guess she can go, then.
I need to eat more. I’ve been feeling so sick lately.. I’ve barely been eating. I wish I could talk my family into making me some pumpkin cream cheese muffins.
My hubby cooks for us and is a baker as well, so I was hoping he might want to do these if I helped....we’ll see.
I hope wherever Jamestown went, she is going for fun and enjoys it! I love to travel.
Those look yummy! When you were first describing them I thought it was like the kolaches my grandmother used to make. But those have the filling in the center of the dough instead. And she was from Czechoslovakia, which may or may not be Eastern European. More like Central I think.
Love your tag line!
That will be a quote that needs to be repeated often. Maybe put above the door of the Trump library.
When I haven’t eaten for a while I feel like something heavy. Like cheese. It’s probably not the best thing, because something that would digest quickly like fruit might be better. But it seems to be what satisfies me the best.
Oh, and thanks for stepping up to the plate and filling in.
Re: Protein. I’ve got a freezer full of salmon, halibut from Alaskan fishing.
I made langos last week. Hungarian fried bread. I just run them with garlic.
Try making your own bagels. They’re not difficult to make, at all. I make everything bagels, and they’re really good!
I had my tonsils removed as an adult (a LOT easier on you when you’re a kid, I’ve heard). I couldn’t eat OR drink anything for a whole week (I lost almost 10 lbs!). Even taking a sip of water to down pain pills was agony - and they were not much help at all anyway. When I finally recovered enough to be able to eat again, the ONLY thing I wanted was a Burger King cheeseburger. Oh, it tasted SO good!
I’ve never even considered it. Off to check some recipes now, thanks!
Thanks much for taking over this week!!
Summertime, breakfast every morning usually involves a tomato and a pinch of Lawry’s seasoning salt. (Best part of summer!)
Lox and bagels were my craving food during all my pregnancies. Love it.
For those of us who can do bread, this is fabulous with smoked salmon. (Usually not a whole wheat fan.)
Irish Brown bread
(Wheat germ seems to be the tastiest. I throw in about a tsp of brown sugar too.)
https://www.browneyedbaker.com/brown-bread-irish-soda-bread-recipe/
I just had a minor medical procedure and the first thing they gave me afterwards was sugar - so I guess eating m&ms and rugulach makes sense for people with low blood sugar and lowered energy.
I buy my rugulachs at Zabars, I do not make them but since I love pastry-making, I’m sure my own would taste fresher and superior to store-bought.
Any traditional foods served after Rosh Hashanah?
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