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NOVEMBER 18, 2021 | The Jewish Home
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
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ON APPLES, HONEY, SALT, AND FRENCH TOAST CHURROS Rivky Kleiman Talks About Her Newest Book, Simply BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
Rivky, I was amazed when I saw that you came out with another cookbook because I’m still delving into the depths of Simply Gourmet. I have my favorite recipes that I use all the time, but I still have some recipes I didn’t get to. How did you manage to put out another cookbook so soon after publishing your first one? Well, really, it’s not so soon. It’s about two-anda-half years. Simply Gourmet came out in May of 2019. And now we’re here with my newest book, Simply. I will be honest. When ArtScroll asked me, I didn’t know if I wanted to do it. But I had a little bit of a lull in my life. You know how sometimes you have a lot going on, and you just can’t even think about doing something? But I had the time, and I went into it like that. I was really grateful because, baruch Hashem, with my first book, I had five months from the time that we said, “OK, let’s do this,” until it was printed and in everyone’s hands. I still hyperventilate when I think about that. This time, baruch Hashem, I had a year. A year is just great to work on a book. You can have your more hectic times. You can have your less hectic times. When you have your yamim tovim, it really lets your creative juices flow. That’s how it all started and, baruch Hashem, I’m really grateful. The timing just couldn’t have been more perfect.
Did COVID contribute to that – did you have extra time at home to think about recipes? Absolutely. I found that when I looked at the
world at large, I felt that everybody was home. Everybody was cooking. I have a brother-in-law who is a rabbi. He called me up around Purim time – we were knee-deep in lockdown and it was so frightening – and he said to me, “Rivky, are you posting on Instagram?” And I said to him, “Look, I’m doing the best I can,” but we all were busy with cooking and cleaning and trying to figure out how to stock our houses without leaving because nobody really knew what to expect. There was so much fear. And I remember he told me, “Rivky, you have to. People really need it now.” And I definitely saw that – people were picking up pots and pans and their batters and doing so many things that they hadn’t done for a long time.
So true. And food, in a way, is a comfort to many people. I agree 100 percent with that. Then the trick is to make sure that your comfort foods don’t equate with your waistline, right?
Speaking about our waistlines, how do you manage to prepare really yummy foods but also make sure they’re healthy for your family? It’s something that, I think, the world at large has really made a
tremendous movement towards – healthier and cleaner eating. I feel like there’s much more of an awareness out there than before. And I guess, also, as you age – I’m not old, but I’m not in my teens anymore – all of a sudden, it’s like, oh, you got to start watching what you eat.
I noticed that you have a few salads in Simply. What else are more of your healthier dishes in the Simply cookbook? You know, I have a mantra. When you’re doing desserts, and when you’re making a cake, just do it right. And then worry about portion control. But if you’re going to do dessert, come on, enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be not tasty. Do it right. And when you’re baking as well, do it right. Truthfully, I do have a couple of really nice muffins that are really healthier-geared, because a breakfast muffin, to me, doesn’t have to be a fattening piece of cake. You can incorporate healthier ingredients. Use oatmeal or whole wheat flour or be cognizant of the sugar in the muffin. I will tell you, though, that in all of my baking and all my recipes nowadays, I’m so much more cognizant of the sugar intake than I used to be.
