Summer Menu Planning

It's ridiculously hot.
I cannot plan any meals that will actually require cooking!

I think we will be fine with sandwiches, salads, and any other cold food we can find today!
But then - I  really need to come up with a summer friendly menu plan!!
(And make it work with all of my family's food aversions, allergies, and intolerances, which will be quite a feat!)

I'd love to hear all of your ideas.

Here's what I have so far:

Vegetable Salad - make your own
Potato Salad
Felafel night (using premade felafel balls, because I can't make homemade ones when it's so hot)
Sandwiches of various kinds
Fruit Soup
Vegetarian liver, cold lentil dip, egg salad, other dips- to go with crackers or breads and cut vegetables

I wish I had more ideas!
Please help me out!

Chumus Recall

Food Recall, due to possible listeria contamination!

I'm in a rush, so I'm just distilling essential information for you!

Click here to read the full recall on the Ministry of Health's site

The affected products are:

 

Yad Hamelech Brand "Chumus Mis'adot" (Restaurant Style Chumus)
400g containers with a sell by date of 01.07.2014
AND
400g and 800g containers with a sell by date of 15.07.2014

Please call 072-264-0150 to arrange a refund/replacement


Please share this announcement with your friends and family who may have purchased this product! Friends don't let friends get food poisoning...

Vegetarian Liver Recipe (vegan, actually)

I've been making this recipe for years, and it's been a big hit with family and guests.

It is vegetarian, so I'm sure it does not taste like REAL chopped liver, but I haven't eaten chopped liver in over 2 decades! It's our favorite vegetarian version, though.


I hope you'll try it out and let me know what you think!



Vegetarian Chopped Liver

1 cup water
1/2 bag frozen green beans (about 400g, I think)
1/2 bag frozen peas (also about 400g, I think)
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
oregano
1 cup mixed nuts - whatever kind you like. I used sunflower seeds and roasted cashews this week but the week I took pictures it was some other mix. Before I was allergic to almonds I always used an almond, cashew and hazelnut mix. That was great!
(optional - 2 hard boiled eggs)
salt and pepper to taste

Place green beans, peas, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 min.
(watch to be sure you don't boil out the water, add water if needed)
Set aside to cool
Heat olive oil in skillet and saute onions and garlic with oregano flakes, until caramelized and very fragrant.
Combine peas, green beans, some of the cooking water, onion/garlic mixture, nuts, salt, pepper and eggs if using them, in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse to puree. Add more cooking water or regular water if needed.

Transfer to a container and refrigerate before serving. Serve with the garnish of your choice and crackers if you like!

My obsession with iHerb

I know, it seems crazy, really crazy, for a frugal blogger in Israel to advocate importing products from the USA. Logic would dictate that it would be more expensive to order items, particularly specialty and hard-to-find items, from overseas. I mean, wouldn't the shipping costs negate any savings?!

Surprisingly, not always. 

Especially here in Israel. Some items are truly priced sky high here, but are affordable even with shipping when you order from a place like iherb, that has low international shipping costs.

Allow me to give you a real life example:

I bought an Israeli brand B-12 supplement, upon my doctor's urging. The reduced rate at my HMO pharmacy was about 56 shekels for 120 doses, or 0.47 shekels per dose.

I then bought Solgar brand B-12 supplement from iHerb, which was actually the formula my doctor recommended, but was VERY expensive at the pharmacy. A large bottle cost me $20.60 on iHerb before shipping. I ordered a number of other items at the same time, so I attributed $1 of the shipping cost to this item, making it cost $21.60 for 250 doses. Using today's exchange rate, that is 70.50 shekels, or 0.28 shekels per dose.

(Although to be honest, I got free shipping for the order with B12 in it - iHerb is currently offering free shipping for all international orders over $40 (and 4 lbs or less) until the end of June!)

The amount of B12 in the local supplement was very slightly higher than the amount in the Solgar one, but not significantly different and the Solgar one is a sufficiently high dose.  For me the difference in cost (almost 20 agurot per dose - about 1.40 shekels per week!) made it easy for me to choose which one to continue buying! It may not seem like a lot, but if you end up doing this with 10 products per year, whether it's a favorite food, essential oil, supplements, probiotics, shampoos, or unscented feminine hygiene products, it all adds up VERY quickly!

Another thing I love about iHerb is their Rewards Program. Any new customer who uses a reward members' link to start shopping will get a $5-$10 discount, and after that will be given their own code to pass on to friends to help them save! In addition, iHerb will give credit for all future purchases (a small percentage) to the referrer.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you all that iHerb does not guarantee their international shipments. If the shipment never arrives, iHerb's policy is not to refund, although I have heard of some who have managed to get refunded. I personally have never had a lost shipment, so I cannot comment on this. Please be sure to give your correct shipping address to help ensure your package's safe arrival!

Shabbat Menu!

We are planning for a VERY VERY hot Shabbat, there's a major heatwave starting!
Just a reminder to stay cool and drink a lot. Dehydration is really no fun.

So besides the heat, it's my husband's birthday Shabbat, and I wanted to try to stick to only foods I know he likes. Hopefully I will succeed. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I just don't. Don't ask me why, cuz I don't know.

Here's the plan - no soup or cholent this week, I feel like it's way too hot!

Fresh Challot
Vegetarian liver served on a bed of lettuce and with homemade crackers
(If I manage to take some pictures, I plan to post the vegetarian liver recipe soon!)
**UPDATE** Click here for the Vegetarian Liver recipe!

Roast Chicken (probably in a BBQ sauce marinade)
Potato Kugel
Stir Fried Veggies (whatever I have on hand - I definitely have peppers and carrots and cabbage and kishuim)
Rice
Salad - Lettuce, red and yellow peppers, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and honey-cinnamon oranges
Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies
Fruit Salad, or perhaps I will turn it into a sorbet

Also making: banana muffins for breakfast, caramel popcorn for snack, hard boiled eggs and salads for seudah shlishit.

What are you making this Shabbat?

Catch the Better World Books 24 hr Sale!

In case you're looking for summer reading and are in a country where the primary language is something other than English, or even if you're in an English speaking country...

--- Retrieved from http://www.kosherfrugal.com/2014/06/catch-bwb-48-hr-sale.html ---

This sale is great!  And there is always Free Shipping!



Save 25% off 6 or more used books when you shop the Better World Books 24 Hour Sale!






Enjoy your "new" books, and be sure to tell me what treasures you've found

*** UPDATE: The Sale has been extended for an additional 24 hrs! You can still save! (which is really good for me - I ran out of time and never ordered my books today! ***

Click Here to Shop at Better World Books

Air Conditioner trade-in program

There are still SOME mazgan (combination air conditioning and heating) units available in the trade-in program sponsored by the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy, and Water Resources.

I'm going to give you a quick summary of the original Hebrew article  about this program.

About 35,000 energy efficient units were made available to the public at a subsidized price with the trade-in of an old, inefficient unit.

Because of the success of the program, an additional 2500 medium size and larger size units were made available as well.

To qualify, the old unit being traded in must be 7 yrs old or older, attached to a wall, and in working condition. The subsidized price of a replacement unit will be between 800 - 1800 shekels lower than the retail price. All replacement units in this program have an energy efficiency rating of A or B, and have a 3 year warranty.

To participate in this program, customers should call one of the participating providers:

Tadiran Group 1-700-50-30-11 *
Family Line Marketing 03-5114222
Tornado Consumer Products ​03-9006706
Electra Consumer Products 1-800-222-222

* Tadiran Group's products are sold out.

The Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy, and Water Resources is running a hotline for customers with questions about energy efficiency of the various units, but they say they are only providing services in Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic, and Russian. Call *2307 between 8:00 am and 10 pm Sun - Thurs, and between 8:00 am and 1 pm on Friday.

Please be aware that many of the units have already been sold out, but it may still be worth checking if you can participate in the program!

Source: www.energy.gov.il

Free Eye Exams

Anyone who wears glasses and lives in Israel knows that it can be a big pain in the neck to get your eyes checked and get new glasses. Some places WILL do a free eye exam, but then you must buy glasses from them. Some kuppot cholim may subsidize eye exams for kids, but not adults... It is very confusing and frustrating. When I asked my kupat cholim eye doctor about getting a prescription for new glasses, she said she can't do them and I would need to go to an optometrist...

I'll admit, I've needed new glasses for quite some time now. But I haven't gotten them. The price of getting new glasses for my specific set of eye issues is SO high. And no one would tell me for sure how high until they saw my prescription. But my old prescription is outdated, so they'd need to do a new exam, and it would cost hundreds of shekels just for the exam if I did NOT end up buying glasses at that store (like if I wanted to order from somewhere overseas!).

I knew of some options for lower priced eye exams in the Center of the country. But today, I found out that now there are options EVERYWHERE, including in the far northern part of the country near me!

SuperPharm has opened their "Optic" stores all over. And they offer free eye exams! Of course, they hope you'll order glasses or contacts from them, but you don't need to. And now there is a SuperPharm Optic in the following cities (or find the Hebrew list with addresses and phone numbers here):

Eilat, Ashdod, Be'er Sheva (x2), Beit Shemesh, Bat Yam, Herzliya, Hadera, Haifa, Teverya, Yerushalayim (x3), Kfar Saba, Karmiel, Nazareth Illit, Netanya (x2) Petach Tikva, Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Shmonah, Rishon LeZion (x2), Rechovot (x2), Ramle, Ra'anan, and Tel Aviv (x3).

I think they recommend calling to make an appointment with the optometrist, or you can fill out a form online for them to call you to schedule one. 

Have any of you tried out SuperPharm Optic?

Time for me to make an appointment. I will be so happy to get new glasses!

**UPDATE**
Officially Super Pharm will not give you a copy of your prescription if you do not purchase glasses from them. However, I have heard that some people have been able to get copies free of charge. I think it may depend on the day/time/mood of the optician if they are willing to bend the rules. 

P.S. If you are looking to buy glasses online, there are a number of options out there. But here's one of my affiliate links, along with a great coupon code:  10% off all orders with code EYEBUY10 at EyeBuyDirect.com through June 30th, 2014

Eden Teva Sale!

For better or for worse, I no longer order from Eden Teva - they don't deliver to the Golan.

Click this picture to shop at Eden Teva

But I still get notices from them about sales, and here is one I felt was completely share-worthy.

Right now, delivery is free, and you'll get 10% off your order of 300 shekels or more! This is on top of any advertised sale already in effect. This sale ends tomorrow, so hurry!


Let me know if this works out to be worthwhile for you! I love hearing about the deals you find!

Free kids' digital magazines (summer promo!)

We love the Cricket family of magazines. 

Not only are they ad-free, they are high quality, interesting, engaging, and all around perfect for my curious kids who love to read! There are so many of them - each with a different focus and on various reading levels.

 
This year, we bought 5 subscriptions and the kids were thrilled with the digital versions! They read and reread them. They discuss and debate them. They enter contests and send in comments.

And one of my kids is so proud that his note was published in one of the editions! 
(Look in the picture - he marked his submission! I guess those are his 15 seconds...)


I recently found out that they have made their summer editions available for free, for anyone to try.

To sign up for your free editions, check out Cricket's summer reading page.

Enjoy!

Here's more info about which magazines are available on various devices:

 

Catch the BWB 48 hr sale!

In case you're looking for summer reading and are in a country where the primary language is something other than English, or even if you're in an English speaking country...

This sale is great!
 
Save 20% off 5 or more used books when you shop the Better World Books 48 Hour Sale all with Free Shipping Worldwide!







Enjoy your "new" books, and be sure to tell me what treasures you've found

Click here to go to Better World Books! 

Menu Plan for the Rest of the Week

So far this week has been some roller coaster ride.

Here in Israel, the entire country is anxiously awaiting good news about the 3 boys who were kidnapped. Theoughts of them and prayers for them have taken over much of our time.

In addition, we still have to live regular life. We're in the middle of recital season and summer is starting; excitement is in the air.

And regular life means work, learning, appointments, and paperwork and whatever comes our way -- it all still needs to be dealt with.

And with all that, I never planned my week's meals. And you can tell, as twice so far this week I've ended up picking up packages of pitot, and it's only Monday! Woops.

So now, I'm making a plan.

Tues - lunch - pancakes, scrambled eggs, yogurt and salad
          supper - baked ziti (with goat cheese and veggies) and salad

Wed - lunch - sandwiches, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, etc
          supper -  rice and stir fried veggies, not sure what else - some of sort of vegetable pancakes with a dipping sauce, perhaps.

Thurs - lunch - leftovers from the week
           supper - pizza on quick pizza crusts, salad

Friday - lunch - not sure at all. we'll see if I'm in the mood to cook anything, or if we just go play at the pool, have slushies and snacks...

Shabbat is a "freezer take-out" Shabbat. Gotta make room in the freezer for new things I want to make!

How's your week coming along?

Helpful Orlah List - Summer Fruits 2014

I love figs

Majestic Pomegranates (not on the list, oddly)

Many people find themselves shopping at a shuk or a store without a teudah. It happens most often outside of the major city centers, like here in the Golan, in our weekly shuk.
However, we have a few things to keep in mind - terumah and maaser (tithing) obligations and the problem of orlah - the fruits of a tree in its first four years.
 
It's very helpful to know which fruits one can buy and not worry about orlah, even without a hechsher. One must still take terumah and maaser from non-certified fruits (without a bracha), even if there is no need to worry about orlah, though.

When I was trying to figure out what I could or could not buy at the shuk, I found this handy-dandy guide. It changes seasonally, and is not completely comprehensive, but is helpful in any case.

Here are the basics to keep in mind if you are buying fruit from a seller without a teudah/ishur kashrut (although many recommend just trying to buy from a certified kosher seller):

Ok to buy:

Pears
Annona
Olives (regular)
Quince (חבוש) Lemons
Lychee Apricots Pitaya (dragonfruit?) Kiwi Plums Loquats
Almonds
Figs
Apples

Not ok without Ishur Kashrut:

Blueberries
Peaches
Guava
Syrian Olives
Papaya
Passionfruit ("shi'unit" or "passiflora")
Eden fruit (really not sure what this is, anyone know?)
Sabra
Starfruit


Unclear, so recommended to only buy with an Ishur:

Nectarines
Grapes

Enjoy your summer fruits!

If you found this list helpful, please share it with your friends, family, and neighbors, and be sure to find me on Facebook!

Shabbat Menu

So for all I saved buying produce for 2 shekels/kg this week (see the 2 shekel/kg post - and I've bought more since then), I ended up splurging when I found out I could get organic corn on the cob. I find regular Israeli corn on the cob starchy and unpleasant to eat, but last time we got corn on the cob (last summer) we tried the organic ones. And guess what?

They are sweet. And wonderful.

So when I heard I could get some, I went ahead and spent about 50 shekels on it. That's more than I spent on all the other produce I bought this week from the sug bet bins! (So far I've spent about 32 shekels on sug bet produce this week -- and today I found papaya and REAL dark skinned zucchini in the sug bet stuff!)

I guess I wiped out my savings for the week buying corn. 

Oops.

Anyhow, so my Shabbat menu. It's going to be very heavy on the vegetables, as I have a bunch to use, and almost no grains or beans in the house.

Fresh Challot
Vegetable soup
Black Bean Cholent for lunch
Chicken in Honey-Teriyaki marinade
Vegetable lo mein with tofu
Eggplant ? (thinking of making a sweet and spicy sauce using honey and hot peppers as a base)
Spicy Roast Sweet Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Roasted Kishuim and Zucchini
Tomato-Basil Salad
Roasted Bell Peppers (I have green, yellow, red, and orange) - or maybe I will cook them in the grill pan for a change!
Fruit Salad
Chocolate Cake

Seudah Shlishit - banana cake, apple crisp, hard boiled eggs, carrot sticks, and more

And now I need to go to sleep, so I can do all of this tomorrow!
What are you having for Shabbat?

2 shekels/kg for these!

If ever I needed to cut back on spending, it is RIGHT NOW. See, my washing machine died. It was less than 3 yrs old, and I had not planned to replace it so soon. So we have this sudden unexpected expense of a new washing machine!  It is time to sock some money back into savings to cover that "emergency expense".

Anyhow, I always shop pretty frugally, and find myself looking over the sug bet produce pretty frequently, but so far this week I have taken an extra couple of walks past the makolet to see if they'd put anything decent into their sug bet boxes. And they had.

Here's what I found for 2 shekels/kg:

(I actually had already used about 4 red peppers, 15 cucumbers, and 4 kishuim before I remembered to take this picture of my cheap produce)

So we've got carrots, cabbage, red peppers, hot peppers, kishuim, eggplants, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apples, pears, melon, apricots (sadly, just 2 of those), and now-mushy bananas for baking, all for 2 shekels/kilo! I think altogether I spent about 25 shekels on my sug bet purchases. I left the rotten potatoes there, and did not bother with the past prime parsley. But I'm sort of kicking myself for not picking up the garlic -- although I've had bad experiences with past prime garlic in the past, so that's why I skipped it.

Have you found any really great deals to share?

Kosher Casual Deal

Just wanted to let you all know that Kosher Casual has Free Shipping right now on all orders over $99, no coupon code required!

So - get some summer essentials and save!


(And of course, if you're like me you always hit the "sale" section FIRST!)

Let me know if you find something great there!

Click here to shop at Kosher Casual

Weekly Meals

Somehow, my supplies are beginning to run low!

I'm out of oats, black beans, split peas, and sugar. Almost out of pasta, rice, green lentils, honey, and chick peas.

I wasn't actually planning to do much shopping this week, so I guess we'll be "making do"

One day this week I plan to make some food for a  friend who just had a baby, so I'm sure I will end up buying a few supplies to make her a nice meal! (Thinking of making her a lasagna. Or maybe not. I will have to see what I have on hand when I actually get around to cooking! She's a fish-eating vegetarian.)

Here's the plan:

Lunches will be sandwiches and soups and leftovers from supper

Suppers (just listing the main components)

Sunday: Pasta with tomato sauce and veggies and goat cheese


Monday: Whatever is left from Shabbat, supplemented with a fresh potato kugel

Tuesday: Cornbread and Scrambled Eggs (will improvise for the egg allergic daughter)

Wednesday: Baked Potatoes, Something with frozen peas

Thursday: Celebratory post-dance recital meal out ?

Do you plan your weekly menu? Let me know what's on yours this week!

Smoked Salmon Recall

Routine tests have revealed listeria contamination in "Aldag -Eliezer Landau Fish" smoked salmon slices, packages of 100g and 200g. (sold frozen)


The affected products have best by dates of 1.11.14 thru 8.11.14 and from 22.11.14 thru 26.11.14

These products are being removed from store shelves.

Consumers who have already purchased these products are advised not to eat them, and to call the company at 03-923-0402 to arrange a refund.

Click here for the Ministry of Health's press release about this.

Shabbat menu! (and Oven-Fried Chicken/Shnitzel Recipe)

Time to plan for Shabbat!

With a chag in the middle of the week, do any of you also feel like doing a really minimalist Shabbat?

I know I do, and I don't think I have much choice - my carpenter will be dominating my kitchen tomorrow installing the new kitchen cabinet doors and drawers!

(When they are in, I'll post some pics for everyone to see, if you want me to!)

So here's my minimalist Shabbat menu - everything I'm cooking can go in the oven at the same time about 1 hr before Shabbat!

Challot (from the freezer)
Split Pea Soup (intentional leftovers from Yom Tov)
Baked Shnitzel (recipe below)
Oven Baked Rice
Apple Crisp
Roasted Carrots
(Black Bean Cholent?)
Make-your-own-salad

Seudah Shlishit will be more salad, sandwiches, and whatever else I scrounge up

We have a banana breakfast cake in the freezer, and lots of watermelon and other melon and peaches.

So we're good to go!

How about you?

Recipe:
Baked Shnitzel

mix equal parts whole wheat flour and yellow corn meal with spices (I usually use black pepper, cayenne pepper, parsley, and granulated garlic) in a "ziploc"-style bag, or in a bowl.

Coat shnitzel pieces with mixture. 

Arrange in a well oiled baking pan, and bake, covered, at 200 C - coating will get all deliciously crispy. Usually done in about 25 min, but I don't use super-thin shnitzel. 

I do the same with cut up pieces of chicken, only those cook for much longer! I usually leave those for about 1.5 hrs.


This is the very same recipe that I served to my next door neighbor in Florida one Shabbat. The good Southern Rabbi ate some and exclaimed,  "You make good southern fried chicken!"

I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't fried. :-)
 
 

Creamy, Cheesy Potatoes (Goat cheese version)

I wanted something decadent and cheesy this Shavuot. I'm not eating cow's milk right now, but I've been having some goat milk or goat cheese in small quantities without adverse reactions. A friend was asking about scalloped potatoes, so I was inspired by her to make a goat cheese version.

Here's what I did: 

8 or so thinly sliced potatoes

milk (I used goat milk)

1 cup water mixed with 1/8 cup flour, and salt and pepper (I used about 1/2 tsp salr plus a dash of pepper)

olive oil

garlic

goat's milk feta cheese


Place potatoes and enough milk to basically cover them in a saucepan, heat gently, then simmer about 10 min.

Prepare casserole dish by spraying with olive oil (misto-type sprayer is amazing), then sprinkle granulated garlic over the pan.

Pour flour/water/seasoning mixture into pan. Pour potatoes and milk into pan (carefully, they are hot!). Top with crumbled goat feta.

Bake for about 45 min at 200 C. Let stand 10 minutes before serving warm.

It helped me a LOT with my cheese craving!

Granola Cookies

I am posting this recipe because the people who were over and tried it really wanted to have the recipe! So, for those of you who requested it, be sure to make the cookies, share them, and then pass this link along to your friends! :-)

So, here goes!

Granola Cookies
 
2 T. ground flaxseed + 1/2 cup hot water (or 2 eggs) (mine are eggless)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour (I used "white whole wheat" - yes, there is such a thing in Israel too!)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups granola (I used homemade granola, but you can use any granola you like)

optional mix ins - raisins, dried cranberries, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, anything you think will taste good!
(I used 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup chocolate chips, plus about 1 T. shredded coconut)

 



Mix together eggs or flaxseed/water mixture, vanilla, oil, sugar. Fold in dry ingredients. Add mix ins at the end.

ready to go in the oven!

To bake, wet hands and form cookies - flatten them somewhat - and place on cookie sheet.

10 min later, they are ready!

Bake at 190 C for about 10 min. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.








Enjoy! (Watch them fly off the plate!)

Shavuot Snacks

Shavuot in Israel is just one day. It is SUCH a short, sweet holiday...

We tend to stay up late into the night learning and talking and noshing. For some reason, NO ONE ever stays up late learning without noshing. (In our family, we usually do not stay up through the night, for a number of reasons.)

So I figured I'd share some of the noshing things I will be keeping around...

This year will be a little different than previous years, primarily because I'm not eating cow's milk, but I'll probably still get some Ben & Jerry's for the rest of the family.

Other noshing menu items:

Caramel Popcorn, lots and lots of caramel popcorn (this stuff flies!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Homemade Crackers

Vegetable Sticks

Chummus

Watermelon

And anything else I find myself inspired to make. I'm leaving my oven on for yom tov, so I'll bake even on a whim!

What are your favorite snacks?

Shavuot Menu

I started planning my Shavuot menu over a week ago but got completely sidetracked, so now it seems very last minute! Oops


I'm actually a little disappointed, because I'm off cow's milk for health reasons and Shavuot usually showcases lots of dairy...

I can eat small quantities of goat cheese, but I'm not planning to serve a whole goat cheese-fest for Shavuot. It's actually quite expensive, so I'm nixing that idea before I give it any more thought. This IS supposed to be a frugal food blog, after all! And I am still trying to keep to my monthly grocery budget!

I want it to be a nice chag, in many ways. Foodwise, of course, and familywise too. So, I'm trying to do what I can to keep everyone in the holiday mood!

Foodwise, I bought some fish on sale. Not everyone in my family eats fish. But some do.
Fish without additives is hard to find, and quite pricey too. But it will get eaten, so I splurged, so together with the goat cheese, it's turned into a pricey chag for a one day event! But it's once a year, and even frugalistas need to know when to spend a bit more and just enjoy!

So here's the plan:

Shavuot night:

Challot
Split pea soup (requested by the 6 yr old)
Broccoli Quiche (made with goat milk and cheese)
Couscous with roasted garlic
Salmon with herbs and carmelized lemons
Butternut squash (not sure how I'll prepare it)
Salad - whatever vegetables we manage to get cheaply today.

Dessert -- see the post about Shavuot night!

Shavuot Lunch

Challot
Goat Cheese Lasagna with eggplant
Salmon and couscous from the night before
Salads

Sorry folks, no cheesecake here this year. But I'd love to hear about yours, I won't get sick from some vicarious cheesecake enjoyment!