R got me a Jewish Cookbook and so I decided to give a few recipes a go.  I wanted something healthy, light, and delicious so we decided to go for baba ganoush, kabobs, pita and an apricot mousse to finish off the meal.

This cookbook is definitely a keeper, even for non-kosher households.  All the recipes have fairly short ingredient lists and utilize the natural flavors of the ingredients by accenting the meats, fruits, and vegetables with spices and herbs.  Most of the recipes also are most healthy than other styles of cooking.

R made lamb kabobs with a yogurt sauce while I made the baba ganoush and pita bread.  The recipe said to cook the eggplant at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a knife pierces it easily.  After 35 minutes I took it out, the knife did get a little resistance piercing it so next time I plan on leaving it in longer.  The rest of the process was easy, just chopping up vegetables and pureeing in a blender.

Meanwhile I had mixed the dough and was letting it rise.  The bread turned out fluffy on the inside and hard on the outside, with a nice crack when it was split.  It seems the less the dough it handled when forming into the pitas the better it turned out.

The apricot mousse was very simple, and so delicious.  It is very sweet, but in a natural sweetness (no sugar was added).  The apricots provided a rich, luxurious flavor to the light texture of the mousse.  R and I only had a few bites, but I kept grabbing another spoonful every time I opened the fridge throughout the night.

Overall it was a delicious and tasty dinner that filled us up and yielded lots of leftovers!