This is Mama Miche, and today in My Magic Kitchen: Beef Mushroom Barley Soup

Soup! There it is... again! And again. Don't ever trust a person who doesn't love soup. I love soup any time of the year, but the fall season is soup season. Period. End of story.

Fuck pumpkin spice. Come fight me. I don't care. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I guess I'm not your average white girl. I don't like pumpkin spice everything, and I cook with spices! I mean, this bitch right here creates blends to make it easier for a lot of people who are scared to cook. It's not hard! I promise.

Cooking involves this skill set: telling time, measuring, and tasting. If you can do these three things, you can cook. Oh, make it 4 things, you need to be able to read since you'll probably need to follow recipes to start on your cooking journey. Don't be a wuss. No need to be scared.

This is Mama Miche, and today in the magic kitchen: Chili!

Fuck, yes! We are starting the Fall Soup series with a perennial favorite.

I love chili! Honestly, I have a history of overeating it because I love it so much. I really loved the way my Momster made it, but, like everything else she cooked, there was no written recipe. I do my best to replicate it and now provide a recipe complete with a list of ingredients and measurements. But you might like it spicier or not as spicy. Make adjustments. You might like it with lots of beans or no beans, your choice, friends.

This is Mama Miche, and today in My Magic Kitchen: "Ajun" Shrimp Pasta

So, let's establish right off the bat before some bitches get offended, I'm an equal opportunity lover/hater. I don't give one actual fuck about a person's skin tone, how or if they pray, their sexual orientation, their politics or pronouns; none of it. I will feel however I feel about a particular person based on how they make me feel when I am in their presence. Assholes need not apply. Liars can fuck all the way off. I am attracted to people who are honest, intelligent, creative, non-judgy, and authentic. That is all.

That said, I don't want to offend anyone by calling my new recipe "Ajun" which, in my mind, is a cross between Asian and Cajun influences. Another fusion of cuisines.

This is Mama Miche and today in My Magic Kitchen: Miche's Famous Tata

First, get yo' minds out of the gutter! Tata is short for frittata. And for now, my Tata isn't famous yet. But it's yummy, easy to make, and perfect for any meal, but it's especially delicious for Yom Kippur Break Fast. Everything is delicious when you haven't eaten in 25 hours.

Of course, we'll have bagels, lox, and cream cheese with all the accouterments. Whitefish, sometimes there are blintzes, apples, honey, and maybe a round challah if I have the time to bake one or buy it. But it must be a round challah for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because it signifies the whole year. In every Jewish holiday meal, food signifies something else that has to do with why we celebrate that holiday.

This is Mama Miche, and today in My Magic Kitchen: Honey sweet chili chicken

The catch-all Jewish New Year greeting for the entire season is “Shanah tovah” (שנה טובה), which means “Good year.” The words “u’metuka” (ומתוקה), and sweet, are sometimes appended to the end.

I tell people, quite honestly, that I'm Jew "ish." My Momster wasn't very religious and did not keep a kosher kitchen. We didn't usually go to High Holy Holiday services when I was growing up. Once in a while, we would go to my orthodox Jewish paternal grandparents' synagogue, which was very austere to me. I sat upstairs with the women, separated from the men, as tradition dictates. (Cue music from "Fiddler on the Roof", "Tradition")

This is Mama Miche, and today in My Magic Kitchen: Grilled Lobster Tails with Garlic Butter for Momster on her birthday, 9/1/23. This year, she would've turned 84.

My Momster. You hear a lot about this woman not just because she was my mother, from whence I came, but also because she was my very best friend. I can't celebrate her birthday with her anymore. It will be 10 years since she left for the great beyond this coming October, making Fall difficult for me to get through. It remains my second favorite season, but it's also my least favorite since she died.

She wouldn't want me harping on the negative, so I always find myself looking for ways to celebrate her in her absence. It's usually through food. Maybe it's a Jewish thing or just an “us” thing. On the anniversary of her birthday this year, my daughter asked me what her favorite food was, and without hesitation, I said, "Lobster." The funny thing about my Momster and lobster is that she was very allergic to shellfish, and lobster caused the most severe reaction: her eyes and lips swelling and her lips tingling or numb. It was always worth it to her. She would deal with the allergy whenever she treated herself to lobster.

This is Mama Miche, and today in My Magic Kitchen: Viral Sushi Bake

When my hubster and I started dating 20 years ago, he lived in Memphis, and I lived in Nashville. Our first dates usually lasted a weekend and involved a lot of going out to dinner to all the different restaurants that I loved in the area. He came to trust my taste in food.

So when I was craving sushi and said, "Hey, I'm in the mood for sushi tonight. Do you want to go get some?" He told me that he had never had sushi, and I literally felt my heart drop into my stomach. Thinking, “It's over. This will not work out.”

He's not the best dancer. Lord knows he was born with two right feet. He's a lefty. And he doesn't eat sushi? Total dealbreaker. But to my surprise, he said, "Well, it's called BAIT where I'm from, but every place you've taken me has been awesome, so let's go." I told him I would give him the beginner sushi, and he said, "Nope! If I'm gonna try it, I'm gonna do it for real. Give it to me raw." And I did.

This is Mama Miche, and today in My Magic Kitchen: Macaroni Salad

Back to salads! We've finished a lively little series on kebabs. That was fun. Now, we're returning to the summer salad series before summer comes to its inevitable end. It goes by fast.

I remember my childhood summers as if they were yesterday and not 50 years ago. And although it's true that those were simpler times, my childhood wasn't really great. I have some great memories, and almost all of them are thanks to my Momster. Deadbeat dad. My story isn't unique in that regard. My mom busted her ass so that I didn't know how broke we really were, and we always had food on the table. Thanks to her, it was fucking good too. She was known to be an excellent cook. And summer isn't summer without barbecue and good old macaroni salad.

This is Mama Miche and today in My Magic Kitchen: Kebabs Part 4

The final installment on kebabs. For now. We started with lamb and we will end by doing some lamb again, but oh so differently. We're using ground lamb. This recipe is similar to a Middle Eastern kofta but uses that fantastic and versatile marinade. To the lamb and marinade, we add the crumbs of bread. In the case of the ground lamb meat kebabs featured in this video, gluten-free breadcrumbs and lovingly made using our fabu air fryer as a toaster and our awesome immersion blender attachment. These are bomb kitchen gadgets, and if you don't have them, you should get them. I use them both all the time, if not daily.

Been thinking and talking a lot on these videos about being different and doing things your own way. Not just in the kitchen but in life. Obviously, do what you want BUT harm no one. The Wiccans, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and most world religions have their own way to express the same sentiment. Many of the same sentiments, in fact.

This is Mama Miche and today in My Magic Kitchen: Marinated Chicken Kebabs (Part 3 in my kebab series)

Chicken thighs. My oh my! These are some juicy and tasty thighs using the same base of compound butter/oil for marinating that we used on the lamb and the vegetables. I'm not gonna lie. This was an experiment gone terribly right. I made a large enough batch of the marinade base and kept it refrigerated. I wanted to try it for a bunch of different recipes to see how versatile it is and I'm impressed. The ingredients of the marinade tenderize meats and they melt in your mouth. It works on vegetables, fish and I'm sure it would flavor plant-based meat substitutes too.

I'm Mama Miche and I'm here to Make Your Kitchen Magic.

This is Mama Miche and today in My Magic Kitchen: Kebabs Part Deux - Featuring Vegetables

This is so easy to make. Pick your favorite vegetables. Maybe even some of your not-so-favorites, because putting them on a stick and grilling them taste different than any other way they are cooked and served. You can always intersperse the vegetables between meats but I like to keep 'em separated sometimes. Obviously, if you keep a vegetarian diet, this is a no-brainer. The veggies I love most on a stick are peppers, maters, shrooms, zucchini, squash, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, onions... you get the picture. They're all good. I marinate them for an hour or two. They don't need more time like meat to absorb the flava flavs. Cook times depend on size and texture as well as how high your heat is. Medium heat y'all, or you'll scorch them. 10 minutes is good for most but some take a skosh longer. Put a fork in 'em to test tenderness. These are great as a side or main.

This is Mama Miche and today in My Magic Kitchen: Kebabs

Meat on a stick. Vegetables on a stick. One must admit that food on a stick just sounds fun. The Turks lay claim to the origin. Turkish soldiers would grill freshly slaughtered chunks of meat. The Greeks make delicious kebabs. The Chinese have amazing meat on a stick too. I mean, if you’ve got a good thing, it’s gonna spread like wildfire, especially if it’s meat grilled over an open fire.

We’re starting another series featuring kebabs. For this short series, I made a variety of kebabs all using the same base marinade, and cooked it all the same day but served some of it another time. Meal prep, bitches. So, you’ll see the next recipes in the series cooking next to each other but it was too much to squeeze in an under a minute or two video.