Six days down and two to go. The eight-day Passover holiday is nearly over and we’ve run through our cookies and our brownies and our sponge cakes. Time to make macaroons. I grew up thinking of macaroons (as opposed to the French macaron) as Passover cookies. My mother would buy a couple of cans of macaroons (one coconut, one chocolate… and yes, I said cans) every year with her Passover groceries. Even today, when the Passover food displays appear in the grocery store, the predominant sweet lining the shelves is macaroons. And then — they disappear. Poof!

There’s no rational reason for that, of course. Macaroons can be enjoyed all year-round, and flavored to suit your tastes and the season. They’re also entirely gluten-free. My adult tastebuds were asking for something a little different, this year – a little fresher and less cloying. My eyes landed on a pile of fresh limes I’d just bought, and I thought, “Aha! What’s a more natural pairing with coconut, than lime?” And so, the Coconut Lime Macaroon was born:

Coconut Lime Macaroons
(Makes 20-24 large-ish cookies)

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites
pinch of salt
1-1/4 cups sugar
8 oz. (by weight) fine almond meal
7 oz. (by weight) unsweetened dried coconut
Grated zest and juice of 1 large (or 2 smaller) limes

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Prepare 2 cookie sheets by either lining with parchment paper or silicone liners.

In a large glass or metal bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff. While continuing to beat, add the sugar in 4 parts.

Fold in the almond meal, coconut, and lime zest and juice, continuing to fold until everything is completely incorporated. There should be no streaks of whites and you should have a very thick, scoopable batter.

Mound by tablespoonfuls (I used a scoop 2” across) onto the prepared pans, about 1/2″ apart, and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Allow to cool completely on the pans.

Notes:

If you can’t find unsweetened dried coconut (got mine at Whole Foods in the nut/snack aisle), you can use the usual sweetened coconut that you find in the baking section of your grocery store. Just reduce the sugar to between 3/4 cup – 1 cup. I think this makes the macaroons less cloyingly sweet and you don’t have big shreds of coconut to deal with. Your choice.

No almond meal? Just weigh out 8 oz. of blanched almonds and run them through the food processor until they’re finally ground. No need to sift as you might for French macarons.

The lime really enhances the flavor of the almond and coconut, while at the same time cutting the sweetness a bit and adding a fresh note.

These Coconut Lime Macaroons are such a hit around here (my husband said they were the best I’ve ever made), that I’m adding them to the roster of treats I’m making for our National Food Bloggers Bake Sale, benefiting Share Our Strength / No Kid Hungry.

If you’re in the South Florida / Miami area on May 14th, I hope you’ll come out and join me and our roster of fabulous South Florida food bloggers and baking talent, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden – one of my favorite spots on Earth! We’ll have wonderful treats, both sweet and savory, and an incredible Raffle – all to raise money to feed hungry children here in the U.S. Click here to get more information or to donate.

This post is part of Share Our Holiday Table, a seven-day, online progressive dinner series that we hope will encourage you to support and donate to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign during this critical holiday period. I’m honored to be one of more than 50 bloggers who are participating. If you’ve been following along, the dinner has been unfolding for the last week across 7 courses and in 4 tracks (Gourmet, Family-Friendly, Gluten Free and Vegetarian).

Today’s featured course is the Side Dish and I’m offering you one of my favorite Vegetarian dishes, Kasha Varnishkes. My mom used to make this as a side to pot roast and turkey, and I’ve been cooking it through my adult life, frequently as a main course.

You see, kasha is actually roasted buckwheat kernels and is one of the healthiest grain products out there. A complete protein on its own, high in fiber, yada yada yada, kasha can be used as a main dish, side dish, stuffing, and even as a delicious hot breakfast cereal. It’s also gluten-free, so if that’s an issue for you or someone you love, you can also prepare the following recipe without the pasta as a Kasha Pilaf.

This recipe will feed a crowd on your holiday table or buffet, and makes an attractive change – or addition to – the usual potato fare. If you have less than a crowd, you can easily make half the quantity.

Kasha Pilaf Varnishkes
(serves 8-10 as a side dish, 4-6 as a main course)

Ingredients:

1 14 – 16 oz package Farfalle (Bowtie) pasta

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup carrots, split & sliced thin
1/2 cup celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced thin
1-1/2 cups medium or coarse Kasha
1 large egg or egg white (optional – see Preparation)
2 Tbs canola oil or butter
3 cups vegetable broth (divided)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

If not using the egg, skip to the next step. If using the egg or egg white: Beat the egg or egg white until well-blended. Add the kasha and combine with a fork until the grains are coated well.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the kasha and stir while toasting, till the grains are mostly separate and you smell a pleasant, toasty aroma.

Add the vegetables and 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth, stir well, and saute until the vegetables soften slightly, about 3 – 4 minutes. Add the remaining broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover the pan tightly, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 8 minutes, or until the kasha is soft. Uncover, and cook an additional 3 – 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the kasha to dry out a bit.

Check the seasoning, and add the farfalle (bow-tie) pasta, tossing together until thoroughly combined. Serve hot.

Notes:

You can find kasha in your regular grocery store in either the pasta/rice aisle or the ethnic foods, kosher products section. I’ve only ever seen Wolff’s brand, but feel free to use any other you may spot. It comes in Fine, Medium, or Coarse granulations. Only use the medium or coarse granulation for this recipe. The fine granulation is mostly for cereal and will turn out mushy.

A variety of liquids can be used to prepare this, including beef or chicken stock (although using these would render this no longer vegetarian), or even water.

The word “varnishkes” refers to the bow-tie pasta. No, I don’t know what it means.

As noted earlier, if you omit the pasta, this Kasha Pilaf is an excellent gluten-free choice, too.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this special holiday post on behalf of Share Our Strength, and that you’ll visit the other participating blogs to see what they’re serving up for Share Our Holiday Table.

In fact, I hope you’ve enjoyed it enough to click on one of these links and make a donation to Share Our Strength and sign the No Kid Hungry Pledge. Approximately 17 million children right here in the United States go hungry because of lack of access to programs that can change that, and lack of access to healthy foods. A hungry child can’t learn.

Even though my husband and I have no kids, we recognize that today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. And can yank our Social Security in a heartbeat.

Will you join us in the No Kid Hungry Campaign?

Today’s side dishes in each track are brought to you by:

Gourmet

• The Urban Baker
• Heather Christo
• We Like to Cook, and Eat
• Plum Pie

Family Friendly

• What’s Cooking
• Dine and Dish
• The Evolving Cook

Vegetarian

• My Kitchen Addiction
• Taste as You Go
• Flamingo Musings (that’s me!)

Gluten Free

• The Whole Gang
• Jenn Cuisine– A mostly gluten free cooking blog.
• Creative Cooking Gluten Free

For the final Can Jam of 2010 – but hopefully, not the last Can Jam ever – Tigress herself picked the key ingredient: Dried Fruit. I knew I wanted to use something a little bit out of the ordinary, and settled on one of my favorites – dried mango. And since I haven’t canned a chutney this year for Can Jam, I thought it was high time that I did. I was inspired by some of the flavors common to Bengal, in northern India. This isn’t a terribly traditional version, but delicious nonetheless!

Bengal-Style Chutney
(yield: 3 pints)

Ingredients:

10 oz. carrots
1-1/2 lbs apples
1 large onion (about 8 oz)
2/3 cup dried mango (chopped into roughly 1/4 – 1/2″ pieces)
4 dried chili peppers, crushed
1 cup raw sugar (turbinado or demerara)
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 Tbs ground ginger
1 Tbs curry powder (I used hot Madras curry powder)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 Tbs honey
1-2/3 cups cider vinegar

Preparation:

Peel the carrots and slice into thin coins – about 1/8″. Peel and core the apples, then chop roughly into about 1/2″ dice. Peel the onion, cut in half, and slice into very thin half-rounds. Place everything into a large saucepan (at least 4 quart).

Add all of the remaining ingredients, stir well, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and allow to simmer for about 45 – 50 minutes, or until reduced and thickened.

Ladle the hot chutney into hot, sterilized jars – leaving 1/2″ head space, cover with new lids, and tighten rings finger-tight. Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Check your seals in 24 hours. Any excess can be put into a sealable container and refrigerated.

While you can certainly eat the chutney right away, it’s at its best if allowed to meld for at least a couple of weeks. Try to control yourself.

This Bengal-Style Chutney is sweet, savory, and spicy all at the same time. Don’t wait for an Indian meal – this is a condiment that compliments so many different foods! Try it with chicken, turkey, and I imagine, even pork or a nice tofu steak.

Happy Holidays to all of my fellow Can Jammers!

By the way, have you been following
Share Our Holiday Table is a progressive holiday dinner party consisting of 7 courses over 4 tracks (Gourmet, Family Friendly, Vegetarian, and Gluten Free), with over 50 bloggers participating, to raise money for Share Our Strength during the critical holiday season. I’ll be posting a vegetarian side dish on Monday, December 13th, but here’s what’s been happening so far:

December 9: Soup

Gourmet

• edible cville
• The Runaway Spoon (read the post)
• A Girl, A Market, A Meal (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Ladles and Jellyspoons (read the post)
• Two Dollar Dinners (read the post)
• All About Alton Brown
• Cookie Central’s Great American Bake Sale (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Good Life Eats (read the post)
• Feed Our Families (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Celiac Teen (read the post)
• Celiacs in the House (read the post)
• Gluten Free Life with Jen
• And Love it Too! (read the post)

December 8: Salads

Gourmet

• The Bitten Word (read the post)
• girlichef (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Food For My Family (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Glugle Gluten-Free (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Add a Pinch (read the post)
• Gluten Free Diva (read the post)

December 7: Drinks

Gourmet

• Food Woolf (read the post)
• The Gringo Chapin (read the post)
• Neo-Homesteading (read the post)
• Three Many Cooks (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Fat Wuz Here (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Lexies Kitchen (read the post)
• Simply Sugar and Gluten Free (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Gluten Free Easily (read the post)

December 6: Appetizers

Gourmet

• The Italian Dish (read the post)
• Recipe Girl (read the post)
• Neo-Homesteading (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Family Fresh Cooking (read the post)
• Giving Up on Perfect (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Two Peas and Their Pod (read the post)
• Smith Bites (read the post)

Gluten Free

• La Fuji Mama (read the post)
• Wenderly (read the post)

Please visit these terrific blogs and consider donating to Share Our Strength.

It finally came off! After weeks of rejection by every commercial venue down here you can think of, and acceptance with open arms by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the Miami leg of the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength, happened this past Saturday! That is, with a lot of help from my friends.

Sweetness Bake Shop donated dozens of delicious mini-cupcakes (red velvet sold out fast!). Thanks, Stephanie!

Our good friends at Dunkin’ Donuts South Florida (@DDSoFla on Twitter) were kind enough to donate dozens of doughnuts and boxes o’ joe (coffee) for us to sell, and believe me, the coffee was especially appreciated.

Friends Astrid W., Kristin H. (also known as “BooBoo” to my very long-time readers), Lynne (Miz Shoes of Girlyshoes), and Paula (of Mango & Lime), and I, baked into the night, resulting in dozens of cookies, brownies, biscotti, rugelach, healthy muffins, quick breads, and so much more! A couple of my co-workers even contributed baked goods (“Sheila, I need you to bake me about a half-dozen banana breads.” “What?!?”)

I even got a volunteer baker referred to me by Tasha of That’s So Yummy, who was running her own GABS in Orlando! Shana lives about an hour away in Broward county, baked some wonderful cookies and brownies, and then drove them all the way down to us. Thanks go out to both of them, too!

This little ladybug landed on my shoulder and stuck around for nearly an hour – a sign of good luck, right?

And good luck we had, too! After threatening us with rain that never materialized during the day, we had a very good day, indeed. Counting the donations, proceeds from our raffle (see previous post), and food sales, we were able to put $748.00 in the mail to Share Our Strength! If you include online donations, that’s a total of $828.00! Not bad for a week-and-a-half’s notice, eh?

Thanks to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, our intrepid volunteers, and wonderful donors! Next year will be even better!

(Photos by Paula Nino, Renée Joslyn, and Lynne Cohen. Additional photos from our day can be found by clicking here.)

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here

Rumors to the contrary, I have not disappeared off the face of the Earth! For the last couple of weeks, I have been immersed in baking and jamming in preparation for the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength.

After a few episodes of tearing my hair out to find a location, and being led down the proverbial garden path more than once, guess what? I should have gone down that garden path to start with – Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, that is! I should have known that an organization that emphasizes education and children’s programs, would be familiar with SOS and might have a natural affinity for an event such as ours. I am thrilled and honored that Fairchild agreed to host our bake sale!

I’ve personally made strawberry jam, two different types of biscotti, my signature Framboise Brownies, lemon sweet rolls and even some strawberry sweet rolls (using my own jam!). If I get the time, I may even make some marmalade! But it’s not all about me – seven very talented local ladies are baking with me: Miz Shoes (of Girlyshoes), Paula (of Mango & Lime), Stephanie (of the newly-opened Sweetness Bakeshop & Cafe), as well as good friends Kristin H. & Astrid, and two of my co-workers.

We’ll be having a raffle, too! This fabulous full-size quilt, lovingly handmade by Tante Leah Handmades (a/k/a, Miz Shoes):

A beautiful Bromeliad plant, donated by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (the Bromeliad Show & Sale is happening that weekend at the Garden, too!); and a basket of my Framboise Brownies, together with a bottle of the elusive secret ingredient – Pacific Rim Framboise Wine – and the recipe, are all items being raffled at our bake sale!

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here.

The PhotoHunt theme this week is “Vertical”

A late entry, but I was shamed into it. But, also, I thought, a good opportunity to promote an excellent cause, Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to eradicating child hunger in America.

I am organizing a Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength. It will take place at one of my favorite spots on the planet, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, here in Miami. The Garden has graciously allowed us to piggyback on their annual Bromeliad Show & Sale, next weekend, so next Saturday, I and a few of my cohorts will be “planting” ourselves at Fairchild and selling cookies, brownies, sweet rolls and more, to raise money for this worthy cause.

Fairchild Garden is even donating one of their own Bromeliads for us to raffle off to raise even more money! What’s a Bromeliad?

Isn’t it beautiful? And Vertical!

Have a great weekend, all! And wish us luck!