Food for Shabbat!

I'm hoping to have *just* enough time tomorrow to cook for Shabbat! It's going to be quite busy here, as it has been all week!

So, I'm trying to keep it all very, very simple.





Here goes:

Challot
Vegetable Soup
Black Bean Cholent (for lunch, obviously)
Spicy roast chicken
Rice
Various Roasted Vegetables (I've got kohlrabi, sweet potato, cauliflower, and kishuim)
Israeli salad

I think that's going to be just about it. I'm tired already. Good thing Shabbat is coming!!

For dessert - whatever fruit we have in the house, and cookies if the kids make some.

Seudah Shlishit will be whatever I manage to pull together. Maybe I'll cook some pasta so we can make a pasta and roasted vegetable salad...

What are you making?

Food Recall (Israel): Vegetarian Hot Dogs

Misrad HaBriyut announced a recall of Soglowek Vegetarian Hot Dogs.

Here's what you need to know: 

Vegetarian Hot Dogs (Soglowek  "Teva" line). in 2.4 kg backages, barcode 7290006739636,  with production code 4002, and a "best by" date of 02.01.2015, are being recalled.

The product may contain bits of red plastic, due to a malfunction in the production line.

Consumers are being asked NOT to eat these vegetarian hot dogs, and should call Zoglowek's customer service line at 1-800-555-000 to arrange for a refund and replacement.

Only the product with the production code and best by date specified above were affected by the malfunction.

Please share this with your friends who may have bought this product!

And don't forget to find me on Facebook, I love to hear from all of you!

Delicious but easy Potato Kugel (GF, Kosher for Pesach too)

I used to be totally put off by the idea of making potato kugel.

All those instructions. Peel. Drain. Do this special trick. And that one. It seemed like such a huge time investment.

And it was too much for me.

You've probably figured out that I am probably the laziest cook ever, which is why I serve my family roasted vegetables all the time! But I make potato kugel. (Even though it has eggs!)

And now, I will share my method. Several of my recent guests have requested this, so here goes:


Potato Kugel

8-10 potatoes (medium size) - I use the lightest skinned ones I can find here, in the States, I used Yukon Gold. -- scrubbed clean, not peeled.
1 large onion
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil)
.5 - 1.5 T. salt (I modified this after some feedback that some people found the original amount too salty, please adjust to your preference!)
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C)

Scrub the potatoes.

Fit your food processor with the bottom blade AND the shredding disk. In mine, this means that my end result will be partially pureed and partially shredded. If yours works differently -- use the shredding disk, then change to the bottom blade and puree about 1/3 of the potato/onion mixture.


In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil and seasonings together.

Feed your food processor the onion first, then the potatoes. My bowl isn't big enough, so I do this half at a time, including half an onion with each batch. the pureed onion helps keep the potatoes from oxidizing.

 









Add the onion and potato mixture to the egg and oil mixture. Mix well to combine.










 
Pour into a DEEP pan. The trick to this potato kugel is its depth. It does NOT work in a shallow pan. I use a lasagna size disposable pan because I haven't managed to fully stock my kitchen with all the baking pans I want.







Place kugel in hot oven. After 25-30 min, lower the temp to 350 F (175 C), and bake for another 30-40 min. Watch to make sure you don't burn the top.

And that is it.
No peeling, no draining, no straining, no adding in just the right amount of starch... 

AND it's perfect for all year round, including Pesach!

Please let me know if you try it. I'd love to hear what you think!

50% off Pyrex and more

Springtime in Israel...

The warm weather that we enjoy but we pray for much needed rain...

The allergies...

The kitchenware SALES!

Here's one I noticed that some of you may want to check out: 50% off Pyrex, Luminarc, and T-fal pots and pans at Home Center. Even though Home Center can be overpriced, they are worth checking out at 50% off!

 

They also have plastic storage boxes on sale. These are 65 L boxes with wheels (great for storing kids' toys like Legos), on sale for 89.90 for two. This may not be the best price EVER but for Israel, that's a pretty good price for a decent size storage bin.

 

They also have many other items on sale, including some small appliances that may be worthwhile...

Time to start thinking about Pesach... PLUS I am desperately trying to get organized at my house!

Anyone else out there struggle with organization?

 

 

Menu Planning for the week

Here we go again!

Time to plan my meals for the week so we don't get stuck!! Even though I often switch days around, and even play with the meals a bit, I find it so helpful to sit down and plan meals around what we have in the house. I haven't done much shopping lately though, so some of this is going to be speculation about what I will find when I shop.

Sunday
Lunch: Macaroni and Cheese (for the kids), cucumbers, avocado, and kohlrabi. I ate stuffed peppers (that I pulled out of the freezer)
Supper: Shabbat leftovers, embellished

Monday
Lunch: sandwiches and make your own salad
Supper: red lentil soup, rice, stir fried vegetables

Tuesday
lunch: picnic
Supper: red lentil soup, spaghetti with marinara sauce and black bean "meatballs", roasted or steamed kishuim, roasted kohlrabi

Wednesday
Lunch: leftovers from the week
Supper: garlic bread, mushroom-barley soup, ???

Thursday
Lunch: pancakes and ???
Supper: vegetable soup, baked ziti with vegetables, cucumbers and tomatoes

For snacks we have fruit, carrot sticks, popcorn, cornmeal muffins, oat bran and honey muffins, and granola bars (requested by the kids)

For breakfast, we'll mostly have oatmeal, perhaps some fruit and yogurt, and toast too (we have random pieces of bread in the freezer to use up)

And that's the plan. The question is, will I stick to it? Or will I still have supper crises? 

Shabbat Planning

 It's been a fun pantry challenge week. We actually had TONS of fresh veggies in the house (ok, not literally tons, but you know what I mean) because I bought a lot at the end of last week and on Tuesday I went to the shuk at closing time and got some good deals.



I've taken chicken out of my freezer to defrost, and here's the menu for Shabbat:

Whole Wheat and Oat Bran Challot

Split Pea Soup (already made, phew!)

Honey-ginger baked chicken
 
(Honey-ginger baked tofu)

Steamed Broccoli Florets

Roasted Vegetables: Cauliflower, Kishuim, Red and Yellow Pepper (roasted seperately)

Potato Kugel

Make-your-own-salad (we have lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, carrots, red and yellow peppers, pickles

Black Bean Cholent

For Snacks, Dessert. and Seudah 3:
Banana Cake from the freezer

Maple-Pumpkin Bread

Egg Salad (for the egg eaters)

Challah Rolls

Popcorn (Caramel popcorn if I don't run out of time!)

Fruit - we have clementines, persimmons, and some pineapple 

Chocolate Babka from the freezer - we must have cake, my daughter is finishing up masechet brachot (mishnayot) so we need to celebrate!

What are you making for Shabbat?

Menu Planning for the week

Wow, I can't believe it's time to start again... I feel like I just planned last week's menu (and failed to stick to it)!

I'm planning around what I have in the house - I have lots and lots of carrots, red peppers, yellow peppers, cucumbers, avocados, persimmons, and kale. I have some tomatoes, clementines, grapefruits, and bananas. I have no idea if I will make it to the shuk on Tuesday -- I would love to get some more veggies (weird but I SO want cauliflower and kishuim), but we shall have to see how I'm feeling AND what the weather is like!

So let's try that again...

Breakfasts will be mostly oatmeal and citrus fruits. I may try out making some homemade granola.
Snacks will be persimmons, homemade crackers with guacamole, and muffins

Sunday:
Lunch: Split pea and carrot soup and sandwiches
Supper: Leftovers from Shabbat

Monday: 
Lunch: Coucous with cooked vegetables (including kale), lentil patties, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes

Supper: Split pea soup, vegetarian stuffed peppers, oven fries, make your own salad

Tuesday
Lunch: Red lentil soup, sandwiches, carrot sticks
Supper: Baked ziti (cheeseless version for me), roasted veggies, sauteed kale, garlic bread


Wednesday:
Lunch: leftovers from the week, make your own salad
Supper: Red lentil and chopped kale soup, spaghetti with black bean "meatballs" and chunky tomato sauce

Thursday
Lunch: picnic??
Supper: Vegetable soup, macaroni and cheese (something else for me), make your own salad


What are you making this week? 




p.s. Be sure to find me on Facebook! See you there!

SuperPharm Coupons!

SuperPharm has some really worthwhile coupons right now, good thru Monday (Feb 17th)

You can print them or use their smartphone app for paperless coupons.

Here are some of them:

32 rolls "Sunday" brand toilet paper for 19.90

750 ml exta virgin olive oil (Life/Wellness brand) for 22.90

700 ml bottle of baby wash (Pinuk brand) for 7.90

Solgar B-12 for 54.90

Alsefa Omega 3s, 210 capsules total for 49.90

Colgate toothbrush 3-pack for 6.90

Dove Baby baby wash, 700ml for 7.90

Weleda calendula diaper cream for 29.90

Plax mouth rinse for 6.90

Life Shampoo or Conditioner for 7.90

and lots more, I just selected some to highlight!

Be sure to check them out. And to print them or download them to your phone, be sure to log in to SuperPharm's website or app.

Happy Savings!

Shabbat Planning

My friend picked up a TON of persimmons this week, and then she gifted us with a whole lot of them! They are calling me... saying "make me the star of your Shabbat"!



So here's the plan:



Challot (I just may have to buy some still - still recuperating and not quite back to being able to do "everything")
Vegetable Soup with Kale ribbons (because I got bunches of kale for 3/10 shekels this week and I bought a whole lot)
Honey ginger chicken with broiled persimmons
Honey ginger tofu with broiled persimmons for my vegetarian teenager
(see - persimmons will be the star!)

these persimmons were broiled with cinnamon

Whole wheat couscous (got some on sale) with roasted garlic
Steamed broccoli
Make your own salad
Black bean cholent for lunch

Dessert - vegan brownies and fruit

Last minute addition: roasted peppers and onions! (I found some peppers in the fridge that REALLY needed to get used up)

Eden Teva deals!

For those of you who live in Eden Teva's delivery area (not me any longer, sniff, sniff!):

Right now there are two awesome sales -- 

1) No ma'am (that's VAT, which is a whopping 18% tax on nearly everything sold in this country) on internet orders; 

2) Pay using Paypal and get free delivery!

They also have a good selection of organic vegetables for 6.90/kg, and a whole list of other sales!

So share this post with all your friends - friends let friends know about deals!

Weekly Menu!

Here's my menu for the week! Trying to use up what's here in the house, plus do minimal cooking. I feel like I keep adding to my pantry but have not made enough of an effort to use up what I've bought, so now's the time to start. 

I am planning to have some work done in my kitchen soon, so I will be able to get more organized soon! (Think of it -- just about doubling my cabinet space! But not putting in the coveted island, the carpenter thinks the space cannot handle it. But he came up with some creative ideas to help me maximize the existing counter space -- he was here when I made no effort to clean up and saw just how cluttered my kitchen can be. It was nice that he was non-judgemental and had all sorts of cool ideas!)

Breakfasts will be oatmeal and fruit and banana muffins

Sunday:
Lunch: Red lentil soup, brown rice, carrot sticks and cucumber sticks with chumus,
Supper: Green vegetable soup (leftover from Shabbat), Baked potatoes, Cottage Cheese and other random items, roasted red peppers

Monday
Lunch: Pb&J sandwiches, carrot sticks and red pepper sticks with chumus
Supper: Whatever was left from Shabbat, embellished if need be

Tuesday
Lunch: Red lentil soup with brown rice, pineapple, avocado, etc
Supper: Macaroni and Cheese, Steamed broccoli (I bought some quite impulsively!), sliced tomatoes

Wednesday
Lunch: Leftovers from the week
Supper: Fresh Rolls, Minestrone Soup, pineapple

Thursday
Lunch: Picnic stuff
Supper: Scrambled eggs and other easy to make foods

Time to look for deals!

Need housewares for Pesach, or all year round?

Now's the time to start watching out for special sales.

I noticed that right now, you can get a set of 12 glasses for 12 shekels (1 shekel each!) at Yesh, thru Feb 9.

I think a shekel a glass is a pretty good deal.

New International Shipping Option from iHerb?

I was just browsing on iherb, as I often do -- thinking about why I can't buy certain products locally for a decent price... and missing my old shopping habits just a little bit...

Then someone messaged me that she had seen a new shipping option. With tracking!

So I added something to my cart to check it out.

And lo and behold, two separate shipping options came up!

The second option allows slightly larger packages, but can cost as much as $12. It appears to have tracking, but still says (for some reason I do not understand) that it is non-refundable.

I'm not sure whether I'll be making use of this new option, but if any of you out there decide to try it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

P.S. if you've never shopped at iherb before, you can get $5-$10 off your first order using coupon code QEJ101 or any of my links.

SuperPharm Coupons!

Just wanted to remind all of you who shop at SuperPharm that checking and printing out (or downloading to your smartphone) their coupons can really save you some money.

The current coupons are valid thru Feb 12, 2014. In order to use them, you must log in to their app or to their website to print, as each coupon will get a unique barcode.

Among them you'll find:

50 shekels off your 175 shekel cosmetics purchase

Revlon mascara for 49.90

Other make-up coupons

Cologne and perfume coupons

Materna ExtraCare Formula for 49.90

Dr. Fischer Natural Care Body Wash for 8.90

Life mouthwash for 13.90

Life 3-pack hand soap for 12.90

And more...

Happy Savings!