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Maccabi Games
page 112
In Pictures

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gat

No Fuss
Chicken
Soup..
almost as
aood as
c5
bubbies.

H omemade

Easy and quick ways to make store-bought holiday foods taste homemade.

ANNABEL COHEN
Special to the Jewish News

c

onfession. A couple of
years ago, the date of a
Parent Teacher
Organization pot-luck
dinner at my daughter's school was
moved up a month without my
knowing.
Having offered to bring the main
entree to serve with everyone else's
sides, I was horrified when I
walked into the school library
empty handed. There, to my sur-
prise, was a paper tablecloth- cov-
ered table laden with meatballs,
Jell-0 molds and assorted unidenti-
fiable salads and casseroles.
With just minutes to spare

before the official start of the din:-
ner, I knew I had to act fast. I bolt-
ed from the school and drove the
quarter mile to Boston Market.
Within seconds I had purchased
four roasted birds and was racing
back to my kitchen.
With the motor still running in
my driveway, I dismembered the
steaming pullets and arranged the
pieces on a large serving platter. As
the clock ticked away, olive oil and
Minute Maid orange juice were
drizzled over the breasts, thighs and
drumsticks, dried dillweed was
sprinkled on, and a few handfuls of
dried cranberries and walnut halves
were haphazardly tossed over the
chicken.
Kosher salt and black pepper

were still wafting in the air as I
zoomed back to my car with the
uncovered platter of still hot and
now embellished fowl. When I ran
back into the library, beads of
sweat already forming on my fore-
head, a total of 12 minutes had
passed. The starving parents eagerly
gobbled up the home-made
imposter ... and asked for the
recipe.
Only then did I fully realize the
power and practicality of the oft-
whispered but never admitted art
of "doctoring up." Anyone who has
ever taken a "shortcut" or "cheated"
a little by sprinkling a package of
onion soup mix over a raw brisket,
or mixing a can of cream of mush-
room soup into green beans and

topping it with Durkee fried
onions will readily agree.
There are times when buying pre-
pared foods and "enhancing" them
here and there can make life a
whole lot saner.
It so happens that, once again,
Rosh HaShana couldn't come at a
busier time, what with school just
starting and fall home and work
projects shifting into high gear.
Who couldn't use a little help when
it comes to preparing holiday
meals?
Try making some of the doctored
recipes shown here. If you consider
yourself a good cook, no one will
dispute your talents when you
bring out a platter of delicious
chopped liver that was originally

9/3
199

Detroit Jewish News 1 ',

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