Shanah Tovah - Happy Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year from Mommy Blog Expert

 Mommy Blog Expert is

Enjoying Rosh Hashanah

With Her Family

September 29 - 30

Best Wishes for a Sweet New Year

Shanah Tovah to All

MBE's Jewish Readers!

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Best of Rosh Hashanah Holiday Cooking and Art Craft Ideas for Kids & Kid-Like Adults

Celebrations & Crafts

Pictured above: Edible Apple Dish my 14 year-old made today using a new variety of apple called HoneyCrisp...

I love holidays, especially Rosh Hashanah, the first Jewish celebration and observance of fall this year because it begins starting at sundown tonight running through September 29 to 30. Certainly, cooking and crafting together -- no matter what the holiday -- is a really fun way to bond family parents and children of every age: toddlers school age students teens and even kids home from college. It is also the perfect way to create memories that will last a life time.  Spend some quality time together and enjoy your kids with the ideas with links below to inspire you, includes cooking and crafting ideas plus downloadable holiday theme color pages.

Martha Stewart is the Queen of Holiday Crafts in my book. And this Apple Honey Dish from her 2010 vault of uber creative ideas is made from a real apple is my all-time fave Rosh Hashanah idea for our family table this year. In fact, one of my triplets made the apple dish pictured above this afternoon.

Another great idea is a DIY stuffed toy challah from Akhlah that is not made with real flour that mom or even older children can make with proper supervision and motor skills. All you need is 3 panty hose legs and some tissue paper for stuffing and you are ready to braid, then coil the "legs" into a round loaf of faux challah bread.

From Chabad the worldwide Jewish outreach organization comes a great collection of free downloadable coloring pages to celebrate the holiday.

Pomegranate Napkin Ring, Image by Joy of Kosher

Lastly, since I'm a prize-winning cooking with pomegranate fan, here is a beautiful and really easy and simple craft that you'll want to use from year to year: A Pomegranate Napkin Ring designed by Joy of Kosher.
 

Please comment and share your own fun crafts for the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah. 

Shanah Tovah to all 

MBE's Jewish Readers!

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Entenmann's Big Book of Baking Cookbook Review

Book Review

I'm so excited to be sharing my review with you about the new Entenmann's Big Book of Baking which just launched today. As a mom and blogger who enjoys family time in the kitchen, I frequently have the opportunity to critique world class cookbooks like this one. But I have to say this particular title, with its huge array of over 140 recipes for making a few things using store-bought Entenmann's Bakery goods but mostly creating desserts and baked treats from scratch, is probably my favorite to test bake and comment on to date. Read on to find out why this baking title is a stand out.

Not only do I love cooking and baking -- both with my kids and by myself -- I'm a native of the Northeast, so I grew up on Entenmann's bakery products when they were just an East Coast regional brand. In fact, though I live on the West Coast now, I still remember how thrilled I was a little less than 30 years ago when the brand was finally available in California grocery stores. Thus begins my love affair with Entenmann's, the rest is history.

What strikes me most about this new 2011 cookbook is that unlike many other branded cookbooks where the recipes require a high percentage of brand products, only a handful of baked treats in the Almost Homemade section call for Entenmann's ingredients.  Of these almost home cooked recipes, I look forward to trying Easy Baklava first, which you can quickly make using a store-bought Entenmann's Sour Cream Loaf Cake.

The other sections of the book include directions for recreating some Entenmann's classics from raw ingredients, such as the company's All Butter Loaf Cake, as well as a range of the most innovative and eclectic selection of donuts, danish, puffs, crumb cakes, muffins, loaf cakes, brownies and bars, cookies, pies, and novelty and special occasion cakes and desserts I think I've ever seen in one cookbook.

Every recipe is accompanied by beautiful product photography to inspire you as you bake. From old standbys like Chocolate Chip Cookies to unlikely but delectably-sounding combinations such as Chocolate Pumpkin Pie and Cranberry Sour Cream Brownies, you will find both the basic recipes we all love and some interesting new one-of-a-kind ones to try in this dreamy cookbook.

Entenmann's master baker Kathleen Robbins drew from 23 years of experience in developing and testing each of the recipes in this book. Today, as I write this review, I am baking Kathleen's Spicy Apple Muffins. Watch for separate post shortly to see how these muffins -- which smell awfully delicious right now -- turn out. In that upcoming post you'll also learn about what I do to this recipe to give it my own personal touch with a few ingredient substitutions and a unique presentation idea for serving this.

The news release that came with my review copy calls this a coffee table book, which it certainly is, especially for those that just love beautiful illustrated books. For example, the Candy Store Cake is a real work of art and so pretty just to look at. But, after seeing this and baking my first dessert from it already, I'd say this is one cookbook that is not going to be spending any time on my coffee table. That's because my teens and I will be in the kitchen using it to mix up an assortment of baked goods and a few no-cook desserts suitable for any meal or snacktime of the day, whether it's every day or a special occasion.

Entenmann's Big Book Of Baking is published by Parragon Books. Available online and in-store as a hardbound coffee table book, $16.99. Also may be purchased online as an ebook for $6.99 and an app for $4.99.


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Entenmann's Big Book of Baking

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FTC Disclosure: Entenmann's provided me with a copy of the cookbook to facilitate this test and review. In addition, the brand is providing the giveaway prizes. However, MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.