Open Letter From Our CEO: New in 5770

We’re Constantly Improving to Serve You Better

I would like to take the time to wish all our visitors and customers a
very happy, sweet and healthy New Year. We are very proud of what we
have accomplished together so far and look forward to serving all of
your kosher shopping needs throughout the year.

Our new site is constantly being updated with new features and functionality and we appreciate your continued feedback as we strive to make every aspect of our business better so that you, the consumer, can enjoy hassle-free shopping.

We will be adding new products to the more than 15,000 items
already offered on the site. We plan to add a number of new departments early this year—stay tuned for more information as it happens!

We are proud of our great selection and our competitive prices. Watch
for even more price cuts coming your way.

Please don’t stop telling us what we can do to make life easier for
you, which products you feel we should add to the site, how your
delivery experience went and of course how you, your family, coworkers
and friends enjoyed the many foods we offer and deliver to your door.

We take pride in our work and we hope we can work together this coming year to make it a very healthy, prosperous and kosher New Year.

Chag sameach and best regards.

True Homeland Security and Grandma’s Unforgettable Porridge

Quick & Kosher

Ah, Sukkot!  We’re eating and sleeping in huts with bamboo roofs and praying that the temperature won’t dip too low. I confess that I’m glad that the custom is for men to sleep in the Sukkah, and not women. I wasn’t much for camping, even as a kid. Now that I live in Rockland County—home to outsize groundhogs, raccoons, deer, foxes, snakes, huge crickets and wild turkeys—I’m perfectly content to peer through the double-pane windows overlooking our Sukkah, smile and wave to my husband with his knapsack and retire to my cozy bedroom.

At mealtimes, however, I love sitting in our Sukkah, watching the sunlight play off the decorations my kids and I had put up with such mirth. And I love to fill my Sukkah with guests, too, taking advantage of this enchanting ambiance as a setting for scrumptious, memorable meals. After all, Sukkot is all about remembering:  it takes us back to the Exodus from Egypt. As we sit in our flimsy little huts, we are reminded of the solid faith in G-d that we Jews had in the desert—and that we reinforce year after year in our Sukkah. Surrounded by His protection rather than material strength, we readjust our perspective to a deeper understanding of real security.

But that doesn’t mean it won’t get cold! Here in New York, we’re sometimes blessed with a Sukkot of gloriously sunny days, with just a crisp autumn nip in the air. Yet in His inscrutable way, G-d sometimes challenges us with a week of gusty, frigid weather. And that’s when I pull out Grandma Martha’s recipe for Beef Porridge. It’s a thick and filling soup, and there’s nothing like it for warming up you, your family and your guests in the Sukkah.

This Geller Classic is a perfect winter meal. I learned to make it in response to a special request. (Let’s just say I had never before seen my husband actually beg.)  It took me only five tries to master the recipe, but it’s worth the trouble. After cooking for three hours, the flanken gets so soft, it just melts in your mouth. I have substituted cubed beef, and even chuck steak, and gotten the same effect.  Since it’s for the holiday, you could go extra fancy and serve it in bread bowls. (Hey, that means fewer dishes to shlep and wash!)

As Sukkot is a time for lots of invited guests as well as drop-ins, turkey is a perfect main course—there’s always enough. Who ever ran out of turkey?  Cranberry relish complements the meal superbly and my Pumpkin Pie recipe serves 16—a crowd pleaser, literally! (Ok, so I’ve been snooping in ye olde Thanksgiving recipe box, but just see how different these dishes taste in your Sukkah.)

Did you know that there is also a traditional custom to eat filled/stuffed or rolled foods on Sukkot? So my simple stuffed peppers are another main dish option, if you don’t want to fuss with a turkey. I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear that this year I’ve graciously accepted my mother-in-law’s offer to make stuffed cabbage for our family. (We all know I can’t be bothered with that!) I doubt that she’ll come over to your place to make it for you too, but maybe if you ask nicely …

Have a wonderful Chag Sukkot, everyone!

Open Letter to Kosher.com Customers

To our Valued Customers,

I was sorry to hear that some of your orders were delayed this week. As CEO, I pay close attention to how effectively we deliver products to you. Of course, as a rule, things run very smoothly here—even during the week prior to Rosh Hahsannah, one of our busiest times of the year—but I don’t ever like to hear that we might  have disappointed a customer.

And so, I am reaching out to you, our customers; not to excuse any delays, but to let you know that we are working diligently here to serve you in the manner that you expect and deserve.  We sincerely believe that every single order needs to arrive on time, every time.

The launch of our new website just last week and the great recognition we have recently garnered in the media, greatly increased our volume of orders. We appreciate the notice and the business, but we appreciate our customers above all. Going forward we have made adjustments to accommodate everyone; you should expect timely and efficient delivery on all your future orders.

Please accept my sincere apology for any inconvenience and frustration.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and kosher New Year.

Sincerely,

Aaron Dobrinsky - CEO

Kosher.com

THE BIG CART: 16 FOOT GIANT SHOPPING CART DELIVERS SWEETS FOR ROSH HASHANAH IN NYC

Quick & Kosher with Jamie Geller - Rosh Hashanah Cooking Shows

EARLY SHOW PLUS

Quick & Kosher

This is Big—I Mean, Really Big!

Tune in to the Morning Show with Larry Hoff on local TV CW11, Tuesday September 15th, and watch Yours Truly and Kosher.com folks giving out apples and honey from our super duper giant “Koshercart” to commuters at Penn Station.  I’ve done a lot of wild things on TV folks but this is a first! On Wednesday morning, we’re going to steer that cart over to the CBS Early Show, where weatherman Dave Price will be in Rockefeller Plaza doing the weather broadcast.  We’ll be giving out apples, honey, Kosher.com coupons, and Quick & Kosher holiday recipe cards to the crowd.  Talk about wishing everyone a sweet new year on a grand scale! He doesn’t know it yet, but I plan to present Dave with a gorgeous Kosher.com Rosh Hashanah gift basket too.  You’ll flip when you see this basket! The gal who puts the  Kosher.com baskets together is so creative—you’ll want to order your own.

I went a little crazy shopping and cooking and freezing some of my Rosh Hashanah meals last night.  (I knew you’d ask: so far, I’ve cooked Classic Chicken Soup, Un-Stuffed Cabbage Soup and Cocktail Meatballs.)  I was going to make Chocolate Chip Cookies too, but I ran out of steam—not surprising, since this was my kids’ first full week in school.  Let’s just say it’s been a little hectic. Listen, we should all be busy this coming year with all good things.  So whether you catch the TV segment or not, Kosher.com and I wish you and your family the best, sweetest, most incredibly scrumptious new year!

It’s a Sign

Honestly, I’ve been baking challah for close to four years—to rave reviews and almost embarrassing oohs and ahhs at the Shabbos table. But you know me—I love every minute of it.

This time, I don’t know what happened, my challah lacked texture and shape. It was a bumpy, lumpy messy blob; ballooning at astronomical speed, then falling out of shape, falling all over itself and completely breaking apart.  They say that yeast is alive, but this was going beyond, into the unknown. The thing was living, breathing, multiplying—and mad at me.  My heart sank watching it succumb to itself and I was powerless to stop nature.  My eyes brimmed with tears…

I had done everything right.

I measured, added the ingredients in the right order, and prayed for my family, my friends, for world peace and for my challah. It’s not a joke when I tell you I do whisper a little prayer for my food to be delicious, to honor the Shabbos and to bring home its warmth and beauty through all of our senses.

This particular Friday, I got up way too early with my kids, earlier than I care to announce, threw an apron over my pajamas, and started my day—which consisted of nonstop conference calls, emails, writing, spreadsheets and Shabbos cooking. I was literally running in my fuzzy pink slippers back and forth between my home office and home—from the computer to my kitchen—balancing working and cooking, while my kids played and fought, danced and screamed.

When the Challah from Beyond made its bloated appearance, I frantically called my friend Anita. I tearfully moaned that my challah was overflowing, and in a flash, she said, “It’s a siman, a sign! It’s a Rosh Hashanah blessing!”  I said “AMEN!”—and with that, a new siman was born for this new year: May it be G-d’s will that my overflowing challahs represent overflowing health, happiness and prosperity for all of us this coming year!

It’s a good thing I called Anita, because when I told my other friends about it, they just shrugged, “better luck next time,” or “hey, it happens to all of us.” They’re right, of course; it does happen to all of us. But at this time of the year, I’m glad it was me, because it’s a good sign!

Good Morning New York Post Show Wrap-Up

Quick & Kosher

If you caught my appearance on WABC’s Morning Show this past Sunday, you probably noticed that we went with the Kosher.com apron.  (If you missed it, you can watch the clip below.)  It definitely wasn’t made for a pregnant woman—I almost cried when I saw it—but I think it worked out OK.  After all, I’m not trying to cover up the fact that I’m expecting—I just didn’t want to distract everybody from the subject at hand: how to fix a yummy, elegant Rosh Hashanah meal on a budget

My friend, Atara, came with me.  On set we met up with Janine our food stylist and Ilya our PR gal who is also a good friend and, after tons of pre prep, we patiently waited until we had a total of 10 minutes to set-up the entire table.  We were so pressed for time and, as usual, I had some pre-show jitters, so Atara retired to a corner and diligently prayed for me.  Now that’s a friend!

The host, Phil Lipoff was SO nice.  He remembered how his mom slaved away in the kitchen for hours prepping for Rosh Hashanah, and he nearly went into shock when I told him our entire spread took about an hour for everything!  He wished me the warmest, nicest “Shana Tova” at the end of the segment.  It was great fun, and the best part was having the chance to give useful, delicious and practical advice.

Click on the image to see the interview:

As I said, the Rosh Hashanah menu we presented takes about 1 hour to make and costs about $10-$12 per person.  Who said holidays have to be expensive?

We started with Sweet Carrot Salad (under $3 per person - and that’s using all the shortcuts like pre-shredded and sliced carrots and cabbage, and canned chunked pineapple.)

You can cut the costs even more by shredding your own carrots, slicing your own cabbage and cutting your own fresh pineapple—in which case you will have extra pineapple left over to serve for dessert.  That way, you’ve made the fruit work for you in two ways.  With the leftover cabbage, make Israeli Cabbage Salad. Most of the ingredients of which you probably already have on hand: mayo (either regular or light—both work perfectly in this recipe) lemon juice and salt.

The star of our show was Honey Chicken (under $4 per person).

As a colorful side dish, we showed an eye-catching Broccoli Mushroom Pie (under $2 per person).

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And we finished with Puff Pastry Apple Purses (approx $2.50 per person) that look fancy, but are so simple to make!

Whether due to nut allergies or because some people have the custom of not eating nuts over the yom tovim, eliminating the nuts will still produce a fab dessert.

This entire menu is not just low budget, it’s low stress; quick and easy, with superb results.  Our motto is “Keep it simple, keep it sane.”  Let it be your motto too!

How Sweet It Is!

Quick & Kosher

Ever notice the emphasis on honey for Rosh Hashanah?  We slop honey onto apples, honey on challah, bake honey into cookies and cakes.  Everyone will tell you it’s for a “Good Sweet Year.”

Will ingesting tons of honey change my fate in the coming year? (I don’t know, but I’m certainly game to test the theory!) Well, at least it will remind me to be a sweeter person, and maybe that will earn the blessings I need to help me along.  In fact, pulling down that kind of spiritual aid is precisely the purpose of some remarkable little gastric Rosh Hashanah customs.  Funny how even the foods we eat, rivet our attention to our ultimate goals.

There are certain foods called simanim—literally signs or indicators—that are meant to point the way to improved circumstances.  Traditional Jews make it a point to eat these special foods (that include spinach, leeks, gourds, cabbage, carrots, pomegranates and dates), preceded by a heartfelt prayer connected to the character of the food.  There’s even a custom to pray that in the coming year we will be at the head, rather than at the tail end, of good fortune.  Not to gross you out or anything, the siman for this is consuming (or at least nibbling) the cooked head of something: fish and lamb are popular choices.  To my mind, pickled tongue qualifies for this benefit.  Hey, it’s part of the head, isn’t it?  And just a tad more appetizing.

Some of the most fascinating simanim are based on word play.  A generation ago, Jews in the Ukraine fed their children chicken livers on Rosh Hashanah because the Yiddish word for livers, leberlach, is homophonous with leb ehrlich, “live honestly.”  Typically Jewish, isn’t it?  Even a kiddie snack is a lesson in ethics!  And then there is the more contemporary creative “custom” (although I am not sure how widely practiced this is) of combining raisins, lettuce and celery, with the heartfelt wish: “Lettuce have a raisin celery.”

Colorful food customs like these come from every corner of the Diaspora, and below is a recipe for sweet carrot salad (hot link) one dish that includes 3 simanim.  It’s fun to be creative and see how many of these foods you can work into your meal.  I’ve been told by a quasi-serious rabbinic authority that it’s OK to improvise your own simanim, too.  So how about ending your Rosh Hashanah meal with a really light, low-calorie dessert, accompanied by the solemn wish, “May the empty calories we eat this year be null and void; may they be like the dust of the earth, and evaporate like dew in the desert!”

Recipe:

Sweet Carrot Salad (Featuring the Simanim: Carrots, Cabbage and Honey)

Honey: The ultimate sweetener to sweeten up the coming year!  There’s another reason for honey, too.  The numerical equivalent for honey (dvash) is 306, the same as Av Harachamim, a term for G-d, “Father of Mercy.”

Carrots: There are two symbolic meanings for carrots, depending on whether you think in Hebrew or in Yiddish!  The Hebrew word (gezer) is similar to gezerah, decree, as in “may You decree only good decrees for us.”  In Yiddish, the term for carrots (mehren) means, “to increase,” for we are hoping for an abundance of merits and blessings.

Cabbage and Leeks: The Hebrew terms (kruv & kreishah) resemble another word meaning, “decimate.”  The symbolism is, “may those who want to harm us be decimated.”

QUICK & KOSHER: BACK TO SCHOOL

Good Ol’ American Ketchup and the Top 10 Healthiest Kid Foods

Most of the elders in my family are from “the old country”– though from the half dozen languages we speak, you’d think it was several old countries. And we have a tendency to talk really loud, unlike polite Americans who seem to converse in whispers. In keeping with this European influence, our eating habits are also distinctly un-American—like making a meal out of a zillion cloves of fresh chopped garlic piled atop toasted bread and butter. (Don’t knock it: my grandfather, z”l—the Garlic King—lived to age 97 on that diet.)

But these practices don’t fly with my very American husband. He ate tuna on white bread for lunch every single day for 20 years. After he grew up and left home, breakfast was always Ring Dings and a Coke. My Yankee Doodle darling puts ketchup on everything. I used to cringe when he would squirt ketchup on whatever he served our kids—fries, noodles, cereal—it didn’t matter. That ketchup really rankled me, until I did some research.

I discovered that tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that helps prevent premature aging, several forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Now here’s the kicker: the lycopene in ketchup is absorbed four times more efficiently than from raw tomatoes! Let’s hear it for the red, white & blue!

We all want to do what’s right for our kids, particularly when it comes to feeding them wholesome food. But during the summer, I got a bit lazy and gave them treats I would never confess to our Kosher.com nutritionist, Bonnie. But now we’re going back to school, and with Rosh Hashanah in view, the season gives us a fresh start. We can make new food choices for ourselves and for our kids.

To help with your daily meal planning, here’s a carefully selected list of best foods for kids. Your job is to work them into their meals and snacks!

THE TOP 10 BEST FOODS FOR KIDS

(From Leanne Ely, C.N.C. author of Healthy Foods: An Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well)

1. Oatmeal A fabulous breakfast food, full of B vitamins, iron, zinc, and calcium. Its carb load and fiber count offer quick energy for busy kids.

2. Eggs A great source of protein and a host of other nutrients, including the B vitamins, vitamin E and zinc, to name a few.

3. Nut Butters A super fast foods for kids, who need the protein and fat they provide. (A good fat doesn’t have hydrogenated oils mixed into it.) Almond butter is a big favorite. Nuts are a common allergen, so make sure that’s not a problem before giving it to your child.

4. Yogurt A great source of calcium, yogurt is easier to digest than regular milk and the cultures (check the label to make sure they’re in there!) are very beneficial to good colon health, especially if your child has been on antibiotics. Watch the sugar content, though. A better idea is to buy plain yogurt and sweeten it yourself with fresh fruit.

5. Melons One of the best choices is cantaloupe, with vitamin C, beta-carotene, B vitamins, trace minerals, and calcium in every juicy bite.

6. Broccoli “Trees” Sometimes you can get picky eaters to eat “trees” rather than broccoli. It’s full of calcium and a host of other nutrients, such as potassium, beta-carotene, and B vitamins.

7. Sweet Potatoes It would take 23 cups of broccoli to get same 30 mg of beta-carotene as in one cup of sweet potatoes. And with 3 grams of fiber per serving, sweet potatoes deserve a place at the table.

8. Meat, fish, poultry, soy products (like tofu), and legumes all contain protein! Beans combined with a grain make a complete protein, too. Growing kids need protein to keep growing, and with all of these choices, you can keep it coming.

9. Whole Grains Brown rice and whole grain breads are a quantum leap over their white counterparts and offer needed fiber, minerals, and vitamins. Don’t shortchange your kids with the white stuff.

10. Orange Juice OJ is OK in moderation, just don’t give it to your children in place of water. Orange juice is full of vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, folate, and zinc.