Shabbat Menu!

I am so proud of myself. I did most of my Shabbat cooking on Thursday night, so we could go on a tiyul today. That is the plan for this year - tiyul every Friday. Do you think we'll manage?

(Real life friends - if you can make it, you can always join us! Just call me Thursday night and we'll make our plans!)

So this week's menu:

Homemade whole wheat flaxseed challot (I made 4 for this week, and 3 for the freezer)

Rice

Curried Lentils

Apple Kugel (get those apples while you can find them cheap! I buy whichever apples are in the 5 shekel range and bake with them!)

Sweet potato, avocado and fig salad. It may sound a bit unlikely, but really yummy on a bed of lettuce (sweet potatoes - organic! - were 5 shekel/kg! and we foraged the figs today, and I splurged a bit on 9 shekel/kg avocado. at least the price came down a bit. 2 weeks ago it was more than double that!)

Make your own salad (we have cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and avocado)

Black bean cholent for lunch

Fruit for dessert

Molasses cookies

Shabbat Shalom!

Don't forget to check the coupons!

I've posted several coupons lately, and even some a while ago that are still valid.

So don't forget to check out all the various couponing opportunities you have!

Probiotic Supplements

Baby Cereal

Frozen Stir Fry Vegetable Mixes

Ice Cream

Phyto-Guard Supplements

Cetaphil lotions and more

Baby Shampoo

Yogurt

As I find more, I will post them!

Happy savings!

Coupon (Israel)!

If you use baby cereal for a little one, you can sign up to get a coupon sent to you.
The coupon gives you one package of Materna "Diysa" for 6.99

Sign up at the Materna site! Be sure to put it coupon code 699 where it asks for it!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Today's monkey bread is a higher fat version. And is cinnamoney. And a big hit with my kids.

See - I didn't manage a picture before they attacked it!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Monkey Bread 

This recipe has a LOT less sugar than similar recipes I have seen, and my kids did not miss the extra cup of sugar, really!

Dough

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 cup milk

Mix together and knead with hands, for a short time.

Filling:

1/2 c. sugar 
1.5 tsp cinnamon

Mix together in a shallow bowl

Form balls of dough and roll them to coat (lightly in cinnamon sugar mixture.
Layer into a greased baking pan

Use the leftover cinnamon sugar mixture (I had plenty left), add 1/3 - 1/2 c. more sugar. Mix with 1/3 - 1/2 c. oil.

Pour sugar and oil mix over the dough.

Bake 30-45 min at 375 F.

It's our new favorite quick cake! Maybe I'll make it pareve for Shabbat, with coconut milk or something...

Shared with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Choose your own ice cream coupon.

This deal will probably get taken down in the next few days, so hurry up and print out a coupon while you can!

Printable Coupon (Israel)!

Do you use supplements?

Here's a 20 NIS discount on "Phyto Guard" supplement
It combines Omega 3's and Phytosterols (I think. I am not really familiar with this product).

Valid thru December 31, 2012

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Cetaphil has 3 new coupons available on their website!

Print them and use them as long as they are available.

Valid thru December 31, 2010

Mocha Monkey Bread

 Dough:

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c. oil
1 c. milk

Mix together and knead for 2 min. The dough should be fairly well formed.

Topping:

3 T. instant coffee
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa powder
2 T. oil

mix the topping together. It will be crumbly

Form balls of dough and place 1 layer of them in a lightly greased baking pan. Spread 1/2 the to topping over the dough. Layer more balls of dough on top and spread the rest of the topping over this layer.

Bake at 375 F (my toaster oven is Fahrenheit, sorry!) for about 30 min.

I had some of it with my coffee before I took the picture, so you can't see it in it's full glory (also, I made a super small batch, as I just used the leftover dough from another food experiment. I have to say, the monkey bread was the more successful of the two!) If you want the mocha to be more runny and less crumbly, I suggest doubling or tripling the oil. I wanted to cut back on the oil, though. It was still really yummy.

Giveaway Winner!

I am so pleased to announce the winner of my first giveaway!

The winner was chosen at random, by a computer generated random number.

J. Rivkah, you won a box of Adanim organic tea!

I'll be contacting you for more information, so your prize can be sent out just as soon as possible.

I'd like to thank all of you for entering my giveaway, and for following my blog!

My great readers make this blog so much fun to have!

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Shufersal has another Facebook coupon, this time for their store brand deli meat.

Expires September 3, 2012

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Do you use probiotic supplements?

Right now, Altman has a printable coupon available on their website for 15% off their line of probiotics for kids!

Valid thru the December 31, 2012

The Chagim are coming!

It's Elul, and that means a few things.

1. Time for some introspection.

2. Time to mend our ways.

3. Time to start a new "school" year.

4. Time to start thinking about the chagim.

I guess before I can really plan my menus, I must solidify my plans. Whether we'll be away at all, who is coming over when... those silly details!

But I can start planning my menus anyhow!

Are you planning yours?

So far, I have a list of things to bake (this is for all the chagim, I plan to fill up the freezer!):

Round sweet challot
Honey Cake
Brownies
Banana Cake
Cornmeal and Molasses muffins
Molasses Cookies
Apple Pie

More lists coming in the next few days!

(And I will try to post recipes over the next two weeks)

I'd love to hear what you are making!

Giveaway Reminder!

Don't forget to enter the Adanim Tea Giveaway!

It's live for about 1 more day, so hurry up and enter and tell all your friends to enter as well!

Giveaways are so much more fun when you share them with your friends...

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Get 20% off frozen stir fry vegetable mixes!

Print your coupon from the Tnuva Facebook Page

Valid thru Sept 15.

Don't forget to check the other coupons on that page as well. Most have been up all month and some are expiring this week. Print and use them while you can!

Back to School Books!

Now that Better World Books has announced their end of summer used book sale - 20% off your order of 4 or more used books - it is time for me to buy some books!!

We love books. We have several thousand books in the house. We homeschool, so we can never have too many books around.

Just don't let my kids know that I'm book shopping. Last time I mentioned it, they gave me a "short" wish list of just TWO HUNDRED books!

What kind of books do you love?

Two years later

I was going to write a whole two year recap of life since we made Aliyah as a family of 6 (first time I made Aliyah I was single. What a difference!).

But the post was just way too long to finish in time. Maybe it will become a book, instead. :-)

Anyhow, just wanted to say that we have been back in Israel for 2 years now. We are so happy and feel so priveleged to be here.

I won't say it's easy. It's not. But it's the only place I want to be.

I hope more of you will join us here in the very near future!

Lentil and Vegetable Sloppy Sams

Tonight's supper started out early, with really good intentions.

I mixed up some bread dough WAY earlier in the day, so I could make fresh bread for supper.

And then, I got distracted. I forgot about supper and decided to try to make chocolate chip mandelbread without eggs.

The mandel bread worked out JUST FINE. Actually, more than just fine. Really yummy!

Funny thing, people still thought we should have supper!

So I threw that bread dough into the oven as dinner rolls, and then quickly made sloppy sams.

Sloppy Sams (Lentil and Vegetable)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 small red pepper, diced (use green, they are cheaper, I just had one in the house for some reason)
any other vegetables you want to use up, diced.
Cook veggies in a large skillet in olive oil, till onions are browned.
Add 2 c red lentils (sorted and rinsed)
tomato paste, water, and spices/seasonings of your choice (I repurposed some leftover sweet and sour sauce from earlier in the week, and added some cayenne pepper)
More water
Simmer it all together till the lentils are all soft. You will likely need to add some more water while it's cooking, unless you have a really huge pan to begin with...

Serve on dinner rolls, and ENJOY!

We're having some melon to go with this, too.

Spinach and Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Ok, I splurged. Spinach is not on most frugal shopping lists in this country.

Here's what happened: I was at Mega for a 10% off day (Friday, select locations only) and I decided to splurge and buy a bag of frozen spinach. First I checked the fresh produce section to see if there were any suitable fresh greens that would work out cheaper. But there weren't. They had chard, but the bunches were small, buggy, and wilted. And cost 8.99. But I decided against that in favor of spinach, because once I cleaned, chopped, and wilted the chard, it would have been a lot of effort, and not so much chard.

So I bought a bag of frozen spinach, for just over 20 NIS with the discount.

My family likes spinach, so I justify the purchase of a bag of spinach every so often.

I wanted to stretch it to last a few meals, so here's the first spinach recipe I made, using about 1/3 of the bag.

Spinach and Cottage Cheese pancakes

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 package of spinach (about 265 grams - maybe 8-9 oz?)
400 g cottage cheese (approx 1 lb)
2 cups whole wheat flour
salt, pepper to taste
nutmeg if you like it

Mix well. It will be pretty thick. Spoon heaping spoonfuls into a hot, oiled skillet, and brown on both sides. Serve hot.

Ok so this is not the best picture. But as you can see, I used very little oil to cook these in my enameled cast iron frying pan. And I really like that blue pan. I have the same in green for pareve, and one in red for meat. I also have a regular, not enameled cast iron frying pan. That one is pareve, and gets used almost every time I cook!

Variations: you can lower the cost of this by using less expensive greens than spinach. Sometimes chard or beet greens are a lot cheaper. Here in Israel, you might try lowering the cost of your cottage cheese by subbing PART of it with Eshel or Gil .

If you have a couple extra shekels, these are really amazing when you use 1/2 cottage cheese and 1/2 feta cheese. This will raise the cost a bit, as feta DOES cost more than cottage cheese, so this is not a good option when looking to lower your costs.

Lots of recipes and food blogs

This month's Kosher Cooking Carnival has been published! Check it out at the Me-ander blog.

Lots of great food and recipe posts come together there.

And don't forget to check out my Whole Wheat Challah entry as well!

Enjoy!

My first Giveaway!

I am so pleased to announce that I am teaming up with Adanim Tea for my first ever Frugal and Kosher giveaway!

The winner will get a box of delicious tea, in the flavor of her/his choice from Adanim! I know, it's still summer, but you can make some great iced tea! And soon the chagim will be here, and guests, and you'll be so happy to have these unique teas to serve!

These teas are really one of a kind. They have an amazing selection of flavors, and many flavors are organic. With flavors like thyme-cinnamon-anise, and apple-orange-ginseng, you are sure to discover a new flavor combination! They are produced right here in Israel (actually, they are just a few minutes away from my home - super local product!), and are really impressive! I even used to buy their teas when I could find them in Florida!

To enter the giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget!

You must have a mailing address in Israel to enter this giveaway.
UPDATE: This giveaway is open to all of my readers, those in Israel AND abroad!

ONE winner will be chosen from the entries, so use all the entry options available!
Winner will be chosen after August 27, 2012, using a random drawing process


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: I am not being compensated in any way for this review or giveaway. I just wanted to host a giveaway for all of you, because my readers are so awesome!  Adanim Tea is sponsoring this giveaway. All email addresses that are collected will be used ONLY for notification purposes. I won't spam you,  don't worry.

Spicy French Fries... mmm

I got sick of catering to toddler tastebuds. After all, there aren't any toddlers in my house anymore! But somehow we had continued the "rules" of making pretty bland, boring, one ingredient foods much of the time.

A few weeks ago, I decided this had to change. So every so often, I've just been mixing it all up!

Tonight, for supper we had:

Rice (long grain brown) with black bean meatballs and sweet and sour tomato sauce

Roasted kishuim, that had been marinated in olive oil and Italian-style spices

Carrot sticks

Spicy baked fries (to make these, I sliced potatoes into strips, then tossed them with some sweet and sour tomato sauce - tomato paste mixed with apple cider vinegar, honey, spices, and thinned a drop with water - and additional cayenne pepper powder, smoked paprika, ground black pepper, garlic powder, and 1-2 T. olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour. So delish! And yes, the kids said, "spicy!" when they ate them. But they ate them. And I wasn't bored with plain potatoes. I win!)

A drop overdone, but oh so delish!

I will get my kids to eat curried something or another one day. I will. Really. If only because my friend brought over a truly outstanding curried butternut squash soup for Shabbat! (It was great having guests who helped out with food preparation!)

Printable Coupons (Israel)

New printable coupons from SuperPharm!

Go ahead, like SuperPharm on Facebook and print out your own savings!

Shabbat Menu Planning

We are having guests over. Picky guests. The mother says she can't find any food her kids will eat.

On the one hand, this reality is making me a little stressed. I pride myself on making simple, but good food. My kids are picky too, but I always find SOMETHING they'll eat! So I'm feeling like I need to make some healthy, good foods that these children will eat... and who knows how they will take to whole wheat flaxseed challah? Don't get me wrong, my whole wheat flaxseed challah is delicious! But children who only eat white bread may not take to it so easily... :-(

On the other hand, my friend already warned me that her kids are extremely picky and hardly eat anything. So there is actually very little pressure to make food they will eat! So maybe I just shouldn't stress about it at all...


Here's the plan:

Whole wheat and flaxseed Challot, and rolls

Chicken in Apricot-Ginger sauce

Potato Kugel (potatoes and onions are 1.99/kg at Mega right now. I'll be buying some Friday morning, don't forget about the extra 10% off!)

Yerushalmi Kugel (the last couple of times I used this version)

Steamed Kishuim (summer squash)

Make-your-own-salad (hopefully I'll find some affordable salad veggies)

Black bean cholent (for lunch) (Did you know that my cholent comes out completely WRONG when I forget to soak the barley? I figured it wasn't a big deal, but it really was. And I know, I said no cholent in August, but my hubby was so sad about that, I will make a cholent, especially with guests!)

Chocolate Cake (I'm running low on cocoa though, so I will use less cocoa. It will be less intense, but still delish!)

Raisin-Bran Cake

Also making chummus, potato salad, and pasta salad for seudah shlishit

Fresh fruit for snacks


Ok, off to start the cooking marathon!

What are you making?

Vegan, frugal meal (yummy too)

Today's supper is still partly pantry challenge...
We are now at the stage of the pantry challenge where we buy fresh dairy and produce (and chicken for Shabbat) but not regular pantry staples!

I still had about 1.5 kg red lentils (when I use them up, we may actually go out and buy that 5 kg bag of red lentils at Osher Ad for 30 NIS! I haven't seen a better price anywhere), so I wanted to use them.

And we had plenty of whole wheat flour.

So tonight's dinner is brought to you by whole wheat flour and red lentils!

Whole wheat/oat bran/flaxseed rolls

Red lentil burgers (I cooked red lentils with sauteed onions, garlic, and green pepper, then cool them, mix with ground flaxseed, wheat bran, flour, salt, pepper, and sesame butter. form patties, and lightly pan fry in olive oil)

I have 2 tomatoes to use up, so we'll slice them to garnish the burgers

Carrot Sticks

Mashed Potatoes

Watermelon

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Meeting a friend for coffee?
Make it cost less!

Right now, Cafe Greg is offering a coupon for Buy one, Get one free on their coffee. Good thru Thursday!
(It says good thru 18.08, but only Sunday - Thursday, so effectively, you must redeem this one today or tomorrow)

Just like them on Facebook and print out your coupon!

Printable Coupon (Israel)

There's a coupon out for Johnson's baby No More Tears Shampoo at Superpharm.

I am posting it here, because the site that is hosting the coupon appears to be experiencing technical difficulties.

This coupon is redeemable at SuperPharm, thru April 30, 2013

Produce Prices

I don't think it's just me. Is it?

Produce prices EVERYWHERE I go seem high! What are we supposed to do?! When we first made Aliyah, I rarely paid more than 1.50 NIS/kg for a whole bunch of staples - onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, even cucumbers and melons. Now - I can't find anything at all for that price!

I know I am just going to have to stick out my chin and pay higher prices. We were doing the calculations - it doesn't pay to drive far to save on fruits and vegetables. Not unless you are buying a LOT. And to be honest, I want to fill up my freezer, but I really don't have the kind of space that would make a drive to save a couple shekels per kilo worthwhile.

So I will have to stick to shopping locally (or convincing my husband to go shopping in Teverya before or after work. But he won't venture into the shuk, so not sure if there will be much of a difference!). And I will have to plan better and be creative with less money.

What are you doing? Are you feeling your grocery bills soaring too?

Last Minute Supper Plan!

For some reason, when it is this hot, I get the feeling that time slips past me, and dinnertime is always here before I am ready. Either that, or I delusionally believe someone else will take care of the meal-prep task FOR me.

In any case, so we are having the last minute supper crisis. The kids are outside playing and I expect them to walk in the door in a little over half an hour. They'll be hot, thirsty, and hungry.

I am still kind of low on groceries, as I went to one of the local supermarkets and discovered that vegetables have gotten outrageously expensive!

But here's the plan:

Cucumber slices
Watermelon
Pea Soup (not split pea soup, this soup is made with frozen peas. It's simply sauteed onion and garlic, frozen peas, vegetable stock, salt, pepper. Bring to a boil. Puree. Serve. Easy and fast!)
Pita triangles with melted cheese (I have a couple of slices of cheese left for the week. I guess I should use them up)
Cottage Cheese and grilled peaches...

That ought to do it.
Ok now I have about 1/2 an hour to pull it all together!

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Printable coupon for cake flour at Shufersal!

Good thru August 20th. Get it while you can!

Please print this coupon from Shufersal's Facebook page

Life

When I'm not blogging about food or cooking it, or wasting time on Facebook, I do have other things that fill up my time.

For one thing, I have 4 children who are home with me almost all the time. They keep me quite busy. We read, play, draw, blow bubbles... learn to read in 2 languages, make science discoveries (one kid is obsessed with Stephen Hawking), learn parsha, review mishnayot, learn halacha, build electrical projects out of circuitry kits, do puzzles, play Bananagrams, play chess and checkers, and cook and clean.

One kid is really into computer programming. He's my tech guy. Whenever I don't know what to do with my computer problems, I expect my 13 yr old to fix it. Is that fair?

I don't know anything about computers, even though my parents were very forward thinking and sent me to computer programming classes after school in the 80s. We used TRS-80s and learned BASIC...

So when my kid posted his latest blog post, he thought I would know what he was talking about. But I don't.
Do you?

Free e-books!

I've hunted down a bunch of free e-books for you! These are mostly food related. And I'm a little into cooking.

Have fun with your new e-cookbooks!

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Don't forget, that Cetaphil coupon I told you about in June is valid thru the end of the year.

So if you haven't used yours yet, you can still go ahead and use it!

Pantry challenge continued

I am out of vegetables. I cannot come up with a normal meal. I think I must go shopping...

We have been eating kind of strange combinations of food. I think the heat is really getting to me. All I can really think of eating right now is watermelon. Seriously.

So tonight for supper, I made red lentils - cooked with sauteed onion, garlic, and green pepper. Came out great. But no one felt like eating lots of it. I also served potatoes with sauteed garlic, gevinah levanah, and a little bit of shredded gilboa cheese. I called them Cheesy Garlic Potatoes. My boys really like Cheesy Garlic Potatoes... We also had the leftover vegetable soup (pareve) from Friday night. It was actually the leftover soup from Pesach that I found at the back of the freezer on Friday.
And of course, watermelon.

Style J discount

Do you or your daughter need some new skirts?
Style J has TONS of skirts, in all styles and sizes (yes, even maternity and plus size).

Jean skirts, casual skirts, trendy skirts, tiered skirts, office skirts...

And they have a clearance section!

AND you can get 25% off your purchase right now, thru Aug 14th. Use code ZS25H



 I doubt you need any more convincing.

I hope you find the perfect skirt!

this is an affiliate link, please do not be too shy to use it. I won't know who bought anything, or what was purchased . I'll just get a commission. And that would be VERY appreciated. Everyone knows I'm always working on closing my budget gap.

Bank Survey

Each year,  banks in Israel are ranked by Globes.

This year's rankings came out, and I figured that now is the time to look it over and decide if a change in banks is in order.

Source: http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000772599

The basics you need to know from this survey, is that overall, Bank Yahav got the best ranking, and overall, Bank Leumi got the worst ranking. But it stands out that Bank Hapoalim tied with Bank Leumi for high fees. And Bank Beinleumi scored a drop higher than Bank Yahav for professional service. And Mizrachi Tefachot and Bank Hapoalim both scored higher than the others for range of ways to contact the bank.

Overall, though, I think this means I should stay with Bank Yahav. We hardly pay any fees there, and I have access to online banking...

Are you ready to switch banks? How does your bank rank?

Shabbat Menu Planning

Still doing a pantry challenge, and Shabbat is almost here!

So, for Shabbat, we are having freshly baked challot, and I am making some herbed-roasted chicken. Otherwise, It's time to clean out the freezer!

Hopefully there will be enough to go around. It's mostly half a pan of this and half a pan of that. I haven't actually pulled out what I'll serve yet.

I know there is noodle kugel, apple crisp, and snow peas. And banana bread. And chocolate cake.

And some "surprise" packages I had labeled but the writing is all rubbed off (oops, how did that happen?).

Might as well have a surprise (as long as none of it is milchig, it should work out ok, right?) for Shabbat!

After this, my freezer will start to have room, hopefully, for food for yom tov. I am not sure yet when exactly I will start cooking, but it will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks!

What's your plan for Shabbat? Are you also in on the pantry challenge?

Whole Wheat Challah

I can't post a recipe for my challah. I'm so sorry about that. I have completely stopped measuring when I bake bread. I was inspired by all sorts of stories of traditional cooks who don't use measuring cups and spoons. Instead the just take a fistful or a pinch or pour what looks right...

I make whole wheat challah, and on occasion whole wheat and oatmeal challah. I tried to get rid of the eggs, and the result was fine. So I'm fine with making eggless challah, although to be honest, there are certain members of the family who noticed a textural change when I got rid of the eggs.

So now, I make a low-egg version of challah. But those of you who don't eat eggs can safely leave them out.

Here are my challot this week.
My family prefers challah that is just ever so slightly underdone.

The basic ingredients of my challah are:

2 kg whole wheat flour
ground flaxseed
vital wheat gluten
salt
sugar
2 eggs
oil
yeast, proofed in sugared water (just a bit of sugar) - a lot of water. I add more until the dough gets the right consistency. I find this changes with the seasons... This was one of the reasons I stopped measuring in the first place - the water content of the recipe just never seemed to be quite right. And I'm pretty good at eye-balling my measurements, I think. After all, if there ever is a time when I don't have time to bake challot and there aren't any left in the freezer, EVERYONE complains... So something must be right! (Sorry for bragging...)

Do you ever cook without measuring cups? What do you think of this old-fashioned methodology? 

Pantry Challenge update

I am trying to clean out my freezer now.
I had so many things just piled up in the freezer in a big mish mash, I had no idea what most of it was!

So for today's lunch, we are having a freezer cleanout meal out. Don't worry, there's still plenty more in there to get rid of. Hopefully this will make a dent in my freezer though, and inspire me to continue emptying it.

I found some whole wheat oatmeal rolls, and some carrot muffins.
I am making some couscous right now, and I will serve a mixture of sauteed onions, peppers, and chick peas, cooked with some lentil soup from the freezer, over the couscous. (the cooked chick peas were in the freezer.)

That's a few more containers removed from the freezer! Will I ever see the back of it, though?

What kinds of goodies are hanging around your freezer?

Printable Coupon (Israel)

You'll have to print it from their page, I wasn't able to print and scan it for you.

Don't forget to print out your Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cone coupon!

It's good for a 5 NIS discount, and expires at the end of August!

So hurry up, and even if you're dieting, save some money on ice cream!


Enjoy your cool, refreshing treat.
I know I could totally use another way to cool off this summer. I don't eat much ice cream, though.

Yogurt Drink Bonus Packs

I really don't buy those single serve yogurt drink bottles, certainly not the expensive, sugary Gemadim ones. The couple of times I have bought them, they are a major treat for the kids!

BUT just so you know, this month, there is a bonus pack out there on supermarket shelves. Instead of 8 bottles, you'll get 10 per package.

Hopefully this means you get 2 extra without paying extra.

Let me know if this is the case (or not).

Photo from Strauss Group

Prigat Soft Drink Recall

As long as I'm posting recalls, a couple of weeks ago there was a soft drink recall.

330 ml GLASS bottles of Prigat soft drinks, grape, grapefruit, and orange flavors are being recalled because they may contain glass shards.

The affected bottles have expiration dates of 17/1/2013, 18/1/2013, 19/1/2013, and 20/1/2013.

The public is advised NOT to consume the products, and to call Prigat at 1-800-335-522 to exchange them.

Bottled water recall

Ein Gedi bottled water is recalling thousands of 2-liter bottles (sold as six packs).

The source water tested positive for bacterial contamination, and it may not have been treated properly to insure safety.

The water bottles that have been recalled have production dates of  1.8.2012, 2.8.2012, and 3.8.2012.

The public is advised NOT to drink the water. Please call Ein Gedi at 1-800-701-701 for more information

This is what the bottled water looks like. source: Ein Gedi Mineral Water Company

Milk recall

Tnuva milk RECALL! 

1 liter cartons of 3% milk with an expiration date of 22/8/2012 are being recalled. 

The recalled cartons have the letter "ב" next to the date. They were distributed to stores in the area between Binyamina and Rishon L'Tziyon. They have been contaminated with a cleaning substance. 

 Call Tnuva at 1-800-666-244 between 8 am and 10:30 pm for more information.

This is what a Tnuva milk carton looks like. Source: Tnuva.co.il

 

Printable Coupons (Israel)

This time you can get Dr. Fischer coupons - hand sanitizer, baby shampoo, baby bath soap, oatmeal lotion, oatmeal bath...

These coupons are for Facebook fans, but I have copied them here for your convenience.
They can be redeemed at pharmacies, and are good till the end of the year!

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Victory Supermarkets is offering a coupon for free cake to their email list subscribers!

A generous subscriber shared the link to her coupon with me, but to be on the safe side, you may try signing up for their e-mail list (but I couldn't find a way to do that on the Victory website)...

Enjoy your free cake. Coupon expires August 30, 2012.

Pantry challenge update

I just wanted to update everyone on my pantry challenge:

Today, I made a batch of whole wheat bagels, served that with peanut butter and jelly (boring I know, but we didn't have any cream cheese), found a lonely couple of beets hiding in the fridge, so those were baked and served plain, and some carrot sticks left over from last night. I also found a container of split pea soup in the freezer, that was less than enough for when all 6 of us are home, so I served it for lunch, when we're not *ALL* at home (just most)!

I'm pleased that my freezer now has one container less in it! And I didn't let the beets spoil in the fridge. Accomplishment.

Later I plan to try to make potato blintzes. My hubby likes to eat potato blintzes, but they aren't exactly my "go-to" easy food. I think I'll try it out though. And I will make that lentil chili I mentioned...

How's your pantry challenge?
Let me know what's cooking at your place!

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Danone (Israel) just put out a new coupon for yogurt! (Yes, yogurt seems to be the most popular item for couponers in this country!)

This one is buy three, get one free, for fruit on the bottom yogurt. Expires Sept 2, 2012.

To get yours, click on the picture of the coupon and print yours from Danone.

Enjoy your yogurt!

Free e-cookbooks

Download some more free e-cookbooks from Amazon today!

You never know when the price will pop back up, so get them now!

Happy cooking!

Tomato "Quiche"

Pantry challenge week does not mean we have to eat boring food, does it?

Sorry I don't have a camera available today... next time!

I decided to make a tomato quiche with a rustic (a.k.a. too lazy to roll the dough) whole wheat crust for supper. But then I changed it to a tomato-cheese pie instead of a traditional custard filling.

Here's the recipe:

Crust: (enough for 2 quiches)


2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 T. olive oil
water (woops, I forgot to measure how much!) I think about 1/4 - 1/2 cup.

Mix everything together and knead a bit (I am such a lazy cook, I hardly kneaded it at all...). Separate into 2, roll dough into a ball, then press into an oiled pie pan with your hands (clean, of course. I am a bit of a freak about washing my hands while cooking.). Do the same in a second pan, or wrap the extra ball of dough very tightly and freeze for another time.

When it's all relatively evenly spread out and up the sides of the pan, bake in your convection oven at 400 F for about 10 min. This will help keep your crust from getting too soft once you've assembled the quiche.

Filling:

Tomatoes (3 large plum tomatoes were perfect)
Cottage Cheese
Shredded cheese 
Flour
Spices (oregano, salt, pepper)

First I spread out a little cheese on the bottom. This helps keep the pie crust from soaking up all the liquid from the tomatoes. Then I thinly sliced 3 large plum tomatoes, and layered the slices on top of the cheese.
Then I mixed together 2 eggs, 400 g (approx) of cottage cheese, 1/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. shredded cheese (I went light on the shredded cheese), 1/2 tsp dried oregano, salt and pepper. When that is well mixed, pour over tomatoes and spread it out evenly. Bake at 375 F for about 1 hour.

Even my daughter who said, "Yuck, tomato quiche!" ended up eating her tasting portion AND asking for more. Success!

Amazon Global Shipping

Has anyone out there tried out Amazon Global? It's an Amazon shopping site that ships to many countries all over the world, including Israel. They often charge an import fees deposit to your credit card, in order to cover potential fees. IF the fees are less than they estimated, you will get a refund on your credit card.

Every so often, it's worth checking out a purchase on Amazon Global...

Have you ever bought anything from them?

Pantry Challenge (beginning of August 2012)

I decided that this week I will try to skip the grocery shopping, and instead, prepare meals out of my freezer, fridge, and pantry. I really want to empty the freezer so I can make room for food for Yom Tov. I know we still have more than a month to go, but the Chagim always have a way of sneaking up on me!

I also want to do this in order to make sure I use up some staples that have been sitting around for a while.

And last, I want to do this so that I don't spend much money this week.

I'm trying to inventory what I have:

3 bags of potatoes
10 onions
4 heads of garlic
4 kishuim
2 light green peppers
2 cucumbers
8 tomatoes
12 apples
6 pears
8 peaches
10 plums
1 mini watermelon
1 stalk of celery
1 bag carrots

1 large-ish chunk of gilboa cheese
15 slices Emeq cheese
800 g cottage cheese
Kefir
400 g butter
4 small containers of yogurt
18 eggs

yeast
whole wheat flour (10 kg)
white flour (4 kg)
wheat bran
oat bran
flaxseed
long grain brown rice (3 kg)
red lentils (3 kg)
green lentils (3 kg)
green split peas (3 kg)
barley (2 kg)
white rice (1 kg)
black beans (1.5 kg)
white beans (.5 kg)
1/2 kg oats
wheat berries (1 kg)

1 package of raw salmon steaks (might save this for yom tov)
3 packages frozen chicken (more than enough for the coming Shabbat)

2 loaves bread
4 rolls
4 pitot

vegetable scraps (lots)
vegetable soup stock (about 2 liters)
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen green beans
1 bag frozen mushrooms
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 bag frozen spinach
small bag frozen diced red pepper
several small bags frozen diced onion
several small bags of frozen cooked chick peas

cooked salmon
vegetable-noodle kugel
various packages of leftover odds and ends (oy)

banana cake(s)
carrot muffins
PB muffins
corn bread
chocolate cake

plenty of pasta
tomato paste
ketchup
cocoa
baking soda
baking powder
chocolate chips (saving those)
raisins
peanuts
peanut butter/chocolate peanut butter
teriyaki sauce
honey
sugar (1 kg)
applesauce (1 jar)
jelly
oil (olive, coconut, sunflower)
vinegar
mustard
sunflower seeds
coffee, tea
stevia
maple syrup (we use this sparingly)
spices of all kinds
ground walnut (100 g)
shredded coconut (only a little left)

quick cooking whole wheat egg noodles
ptitim - whole wheat and white
couscous (1 pkg)

I think I should be able to pull together a few meals from all this, don't you?

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Alpro Soy Products has a personalized printable coupon available on their Facebook page !

You will need to go to their Facebook page, like them, and then fill in your details to get your coupon (choose which product you want), then print it out!

I don't use a lot of soy, but every so often it is good to have around...

Shabbat Menu

I'm a little behind in my Shabbat menu planning. It's already 9:45 a.m. on Friday... and I was still planning to do a run to my local Mega (10% off today), and all the kids will be hanging out with me - so I need to keep them occupied AND get them to help get ready for Shabbat!

So here is the plan for Shabbat food:

Challot from the freezer
Fruit soup (using some of those cheap summer fruits I'll pick up at mega today - peaches and plums for 5/kg before the discount)
Baked "fried" chicken
Apple crisp
Rice
Roasted Ratatouille (chop up kishuim/summer squash, onions, eggplants, tomatoes, garlic, peppers - if I  have any left... Toss with olive oil, roast in the oven till browned. so yummy, and can also be served as a cold salad)
Make-Your-Own-Salad (although I think that will be heavily weighted toward cucumbers and tomatoes. Not sure which other vegetables I have in the house, and I wasn't planning to buy much at Mega...)

That's for Friday night and Shabbat Lunch.

Seudah Shlishit will be PB&J sandwiches, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Is my standard seudah shlishit too boring?

I'm also planning to throw together a chocolate cake and I will take a banana bread out of the freezer for breakfast...

Sale on Natural Products

This is a sale from an Israeli online retailer, specializing in Natural products!

Right now B-shvilenu has a Tu B'Av sale - 3 products from a selection of Ecolove products, for 59 NIS (including delivery).

 Sale ends August 15th!

Limiting Spending

Do you have limits for how much you will spend per kilo on a specific fruit or vegetable?

I do. Mostly I limit vegetables to 3 NIS/kg (although I am always thrilled to get them for less, and there are a few that I will pay a bit more for - like summer squash/kishuim). And I try to limit fruit to 5 NIS/kg but there are the occasions I will splurge for something really wonderful (remember those cherries?) and pay 8 or even 10.

Of course, I try to minimize waste. I don't let my kids eat apples if I haven't cored them for them. They will leave behind too much edible fruit if they just take bites out of an uncored apple! I love to eat a good navel orange or pomelo, but of course I hesitate to buy them because so much of it goes in the garbage...

In comes my blogger friend, Penny. She made these awesome charts so you can see how much of that fruit or vegetable you are buying will end up as usable, edible food.

It will help you figure out what you are REALLY paying for the edible portion of your food. Check it out! My guess is you will be surprised by the scope of her research as well as by her conclusions.

Have you ever wondered how much of that produce you buy actually just ends up as waste? Now you probably understand why I refuse to throw out all the "waste" bits of soup vegetables, and instead, make vegetable stock! Do you make anything out of the normally wasted part of a fruit or vegetable? I'd especially love to hear ideas for fruit scrap uses, besides the compost pile...

Let me know what you do!

Skirt Sale!

Style J has another sale going on - they have such great skirts! And they ship internationally... (but it IS far less expensive to have someone accept your order in the U.S. and send it on to you with family and friends... that's what I'll do if I can scrounge up the cash to buy myself a new "I'll wear this everyday till it falls apart skirt". My last one gave me over 3 years of almost everyday wear...

To take advantage of the sale, shop at Style J, and get 25% off your order of $60 or more with coupon code RE25B. Coupon code is valid Aug 1 - 3, 2012, so you'd better hurry!

This post contains affiliate links, so when you place your order thru these links, you will help me buy myself that new skirt I mentioned! Thanks! XOX

Printable Coupon (Israel)

Here's a coupon for baby clothes at Vardinon Baby, good thru Aug 4th.

It's good for Buy 1, get one Free, and free socks with a 100 NIS purchase.

Make sure to print it from the link above!

Printable Coupons (Israel)

Tnuva has a bunch of new coupons on their FB page today!

They are good until the end of the month! They are redeemable at Shufersal, Mega, Tiv Ta'am, Rami Levi, Yainot Bitan, Machsanei Hashuk, Yochannuf, and Chatzi Chinam. You should choose with which supermarket you want before you print them. Details over at the FB page.

(looks like I was wrong the other day. The yogurt coupons are BACK!)