Try Some Kosher Karbonara.

Recipe Adaptation: One of my favorite pre-Torah dishes was Spaghetti Carbonara, which traditionally includes both pork bacon and cheese. Obviously, that doesn't work in my new life, but it can be adapted to the kosher kitchen.

To do so, you first need to understand what's involved with a traditional carbonara. I've heard two explanations for the name, carbonara. The first is that the Italian for "carbon" is a reference to the coal-mining community that was fond of the dish. The second is that the word refers to the coal-like bits of coarse black pepper that are more or less essential. The steps to make traditional carbonara as I learned them.

1. Saute bacon, onions, a bit of onion in wine. I did this slowly.
2. Cook spaghetti. Other pastas will work.
3. Once spaghetti is cooked, transfer it to a dish containing a mix of a beaten egg or two and some parmesan cheese. Mix. The spaghetti will cook the egg mixture.
4. To serve, garnish with bacon and onion mix, more parmesan cheese.
5. Season to taste with coarse black pepper.

To come up with a suitable kosher version, you need to honor the basics of carbonara, to wit: Smokey flavor (easy), pasta cooked with egg (easy), coarse pepper (easy), cheese (a little tricky for meat version). Try these adaptations:

• Meat: Instead of pork bacon, substitute kosher Beef-Frye, summer sausage, Italian sausage, or ground beef or turkey and add the "smoky" flavor with kosher Liquid Smoke. For oil, you can use chicken fat or vegetable oil. Instead of cheese, use parve bread crumbs. This is not as much of a compromise as it may seem. Bread crumbs are commonly used instead of cheese in pasta in some parts of Italy, but you should add them after you mix the pasta with the egg. Don't forget the coarse black pepper.
• Dairy: Instead of pork bacon, substitute a parve ground "sausage" like Gimme Lean combined with Liquid Smoke or smoked salmon.. For oil in your saute, you can use butter, parve margarine (yuk!), or vegetable oil. After that, assuming you can find kosher parmesan or a good substitute, it's just like the traditional carbonara
• Bonus Tip: Instead of Liquid Smoke, you can sprinkle on some parve Baco-Bits to get that smoky flavor.

--Schueller House.

Tabouleh: The Flexible Food

The parsley-intense version: I didn't like my first encounter with tabouleh because it was mostly bulghur wheat and tasted more healthy than good. Then I discovered a version that was heavy on the parsley and light on bulghur. Much better in my book. More of a refreshing salad. Tabouleh has an added benefit. Because it's parve and cold, I can use it anytime--even as a potluck dish if I'm socializing in a non-kosher home and want something I can eat. I don't use a precise recipe for this. Tabouleh basically consists of parsley and bulghur as the main ingredients; scallions, tomatoes, and mint as the grace notes; and olive oil and lemon or lime as a dressing. You can also add other elements, notably cucumbers. I like it at least three parts parsley to one part of bulghur. Curly parsley works better than Italian parsley for this dish. Make sure you wash it well and inspect for insects--and use a kosher bulghur like Red Mill.

The DaVinci Code: A Jewish Perspective

It's a blockbuster: The only way to finally overcome Christianity, after 2,000 years of consistent failure, is by exposing the anti-Torâh Yësh"u as a counterfeit of the pro-Torâh original: historical Ribi Yәhoshua!

Think about it … the original, historical Ribi Yәhoshua, because he advocated Torâh before Paul's Hellenist apostasy, will lead Christians out of their post-135 C.E. Roman idolatry to Torâh – and the fulfillment of Zәkharyâh 14.16-21 (which is already beginning) and related prophecies.

Surprisingly, a free online book from Jews for Judaism does just that. It's DaVinci Code: A Jewish Perspective by Rabbi Michael Skobac. Except for his use of the common name J*sus to refer to the historical Ribi Yehoshua, the relevant sections might as well have been written by the Netzarim. It's a beaut. You can see the relevant parts by going to the Netzarim website and following the "Jews" link on the home page or you can go to Jews for Judaism website to view and printout the whole book (It's short.) Schueller House.

Shopping Tips: Kosher Bread

It ain't easy: I enjoy shopping for Kosher food. Finding an OU or a Triangle-K on a packaged product in supermarket is akin for me to finding a diamond in a forest. Kosher foods are not especially hard to find, though it can be daunting to locate some items. Bread, for one. Even if you are easing into kashrut, buying kosher bread is important because the kosher stamp guarantees that the bread contains no dairy ingredients, which are commonly added to breads in the U.S. The exception, of course, is bread that is certified kosher-dairy, a rarity that we have seen in one brand of Jewish rye and in Sun-Maid Raisin Bread. I may have an easier time than most, living as I do in an area served by King Sooper's, whose store-brand breads are often kosher. Especially welcome are their hot dog and hamburger buns, which are hard to find in kosher versions and in demand because the one kosher meat available almost everywhere is the hot dog. In addition, we stumbled across Baker's Inn breads, which are certified kosher, widely available, and higher end than you would expect to find in the Wonder Bread store where we first found them. If you can't find regular loaves of kosher bread, look for specialty breads that have kosher certification. I have run across bagels, pita, and tortillas that are certified kosher. (And I just realized I'm not sure whether these all constitute bread for ritual purposes, especially the tortillas. Something to ask the rabbi.) And of course, you can use matzot if you can't find anything else. Egg matzot for Shabbat. Schueller House

Ken's Kosher Kitchen: Dunking the Dishes

On the day before Yom Kippur: I went to Prospect Lake near the house, said the requisite blessing, and immersed my dishes, pots and pans, and utensils. I did this several times, once for each group of utensils. This was the final step in making my kitchen kosher-functional. Even though I don't have much in the way of utensils, I didn't have enough boxes to hold everything and so made several trips. I had intended to use a nearby creek as my mikvah, but an online search showed some misgivings about immersing in a creek. This had something to do with the creek not being available for immersing women because of snowmelt. Or something. In any case, I chose the lake and am glad I did. The water, at the time, was relatively warm and adequately deep water was just a few steps from shore. Now it's winter, and I will have to wait until late Spring to add to my collection of useable utensils. Schueller House.

Back to Kashering

A Watched Pot Never Boils: I decided to re-kasher my utensils because I wasn't satisfied that I had kashered my large boiling pot well enough I added some bricks to the pot so that it would boil over and then, on another day, rekashered everything. Other than waiting for the darn thing to boil again, it went well and quickly enough. (I don't have a lot of stuff yet.) Now it's on to the "mikvah." Schueller House.

Netzarim Website Is Back Up.

Get War Updates: We've received many inquiries worried that the Netzarim website was down. Concurrent with the Hezbollah attack on Israel, Israeli ISPs, including the one serving the Netzarim, were hacked by anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish elements. The site is back up, with the Netzarim blog especially worth visiting for updates on the war. Schueller House.