Thursday, December 29, 2011

Shabbat Parashat Vayigash, December 30-31

I am going to push myself to cook for Shabbat on Thursday night for real this time! It is just too busy around here on Fridays, and impossible to get it all done unless I work hard Thursday night too...

Making a very simple menu though, because I don't want to be up all night cooking - so everything can be done in just one or two steps. no fussing over food... but still making a variety so that everyone will feel his or her preferences have been taken into account...

Vegetable soup (my usual, only with lots of kishuim - my youngest's favorite - bec. I found those for 3 NIS/kg today, when usually I pay at least 6, and most times more than that) - for Friday night

Vegetarian Cholent - for Lunch

Chicken marinated and baked in BBQ sauce


Rice


Carrot Kugel (the end of my freezer stash of carrot kugel. I guess next week one day I will make a whole bunch to freeze again~)

Roasted Cauliflower (I have been thinking about making this for a while, but until I found cauliflower today for 3 NIS/kg, it wasn't feasible)

Roasted Beets - my son requested we revert to plain ones, though

Make your own salad (we have cucumbers, tomatoes, red/yellow peppers, oranges from our tree, carrots)

Apple crisp (probably the most labor intensive part of this menu!)

Chocolate Chip Cake, and Banana Bread for breakfast

Ok, gotta run and start cooking! Shabbat Shalom!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Monday, December 26, 2011

We are hosting some old longtime friends tonight, for a Chanukah visit to the Northern part of Israel. I'm told that their 4 children can be somewhat picky, and I had no idea how to handle the list I was given. So, sorry dear friends, I ignored it, and figured your kids will survive if they have to try something new, or we'll find something to placate them with...

Here's my menu for tonight:

Homemade Oatmeal-Flax Bread

Vegetable soup

Stuffed Baked Potatoes (and a few plain ones, as 2 of my children won't eat them stuffed)

Make your own salad

Apple crisp

I feel like I'm missing something, so I might make something else, not sure yet. Ok, have to get back to preparing for guests!

Chanukah Sameyach!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Chanukah! We haven't had lots of oily food (though I would say it is probably enough), so it's time to pay homage to the miracle of oil that lasted 7 extra days.

Tonight we'll have Latkes!

However, my girls don't like latkes, and my stomach doesn't like latkes (the oil doesn't agree with me)...


So here's our compromise:

Leftover split-pea barley stew from Shabbat

Latkes with sour cream or applesauce

Stuffed Baked Potatoes
for those of us with latke-issues


Make-your-own-Salad (we have tomatoes, greenish/yellowish peppers, avocado, carrots, and honey-cinnamon'd oranges - oranges from our tree)

Chanukah Sameyach! Enjoy your latkes!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Shabbat Parashat Miketz, Shabbat Chanuka, Dec 23-24, 2011

I am posting a Shabbat menu very late! So sorry for doing that! It has been an amazingly busy beginning of Chanukah... I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday as much as we are enjoying ours!

Here's a quick rundown of our Shabbat Menu:

Homemade Challah (anyone know how to get a shiny crust without an egg-wash? I am trying to figure out the perfect eggless challah!)

Vegetable Soup (with some wild sorrel from my yard)

Honey-ginger soy sauce Chicken (Fri. nite)/Shnitzel (lunch - from the freezer)/Honey-ginger soy sauce Tofu

Stuffed Peppers (from the freezer)


Roasted Kishuim

Roasted Carrots

Carrot Kugel (from the freezer, my 4 yr old is back on her carrot kugel kick!)

Split-Pea Barley Stew in the crock pot

Avocado and tomato salad

If I have time, a cinnamon-oatmeal bread as a breakfast treat. I can't imagine I will get to any baking though, so we'll have some fresh fruit for dessert!
Shabbat Shalom and Have a wonderful Chanukah!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Printable Coupon!

New-Pharm just put some more printable coupons up.

Click here to print them! (They expire Dec 25 - so hurry!)

They are for wipes (moadon 365 only - 4 pack for 9 NIS), Oral-B electric toothbrushes (70 NIS), and paper towels (6 pack for 7NIS)

Chanukah!

It's Chanukah, and that means we all feel compelled to eat fried foods, right?

My plan for this afternoon is to try out making sufganiyot with my kids. I found this pretty easy-looking recipe on King Arthur Flour's site. I love their site, they have great baking tips and some awesome recipes (just some - others can be full of pricey, obscure ingredients that are not found in my kitchen!).

Here's the recipe we'll be using! I'll try to post our review later...

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Printable Coupon!

Facebook fans of Shufersal can print out a coupon for their new private label flour. (Just in time to try out that King Arthur Flour recipe for sufaniyot!


How refreshing to find a coupon for a basic, staple ingredient, not some prepared junk! Coupon is good through Jan 9.


Printable Coupon!

Mega recently introduced a new line of private label cookies, and right now you can print this coupon and try them for 4 NIS off the introductory price... Coupon good through Dec 24, so hurry!

I'm not one to buy cookies often, I believe home baked are usually better, but once in a while it makes sense to serve store-bought.


Monday, December 19, 2011

Printable Coupon!

I have decided to include coupons even for items I personally don't get, if you haven't noticed...

Here's another one that expires soon. Good at superpharm, for Johnson's baby shampoo:


Coupons on your phone?

Has anyone ever used this site -Smss.co.il ?
I think you click on a coupon, send it to your phone as an SMS, and then you can use it at the store...

I'd love to hear from someone who has done this successfully!

Thanks

Printable Coupon!

Nursing? I know that some of you are, or plan to be. Sometimes you just need a little lanolin to soothe those sore parts.

So, if you plan to buy some Mommy Care lanolin cream at SuperPharm, here's a coupon that's good thru the end of the month:


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Just taking a break from hunting down coupons to write up our supper menu!

It was super simple:

Whole wheat spaghetti (I buy this at Yesh, where it is 4.79NIS/500g bag. best price I have found)

Primavera sauce (my version - saute onion, pepper, mushrooms in olive oil. when onions are soft, add lots of diced tomatoes. cook till soft. add liquid if necessary and spice as desired. This time I added a 100g package of tomato paste to hurry the process along) - I got onions, peppers, and tomatoes cheap in the last couple weeks. The mushrooms were the end of my stash of frozen sliced mushrooms. Now I need to find a reasonable source for mushrooms... any ideas?

Shredded mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top - use this sparingly, as mozzarella cheese costs about 70 NIS/kg right now. We used about 15 NIS worth, for the 6 of us.

Carrot sticks - got carrots really cheap a couple of weeks ago

Avocado - got avocados really cheap a couple of weeks ago and they are slowly ripening. we've been sharing a couple among us every day. we all (well, almost all!) love avocado just the way it is.

Printable Coupon!

New-Pharm just put out a few more printable coupons!
This seems to be the week of the Israeli printable coupon... have we entered a new era, or is this just an end of the calendar year thing?

Click here to go to New-Pharm's Facebook page and print the coupons

(The coupons are for formula (this one is only for members of moadon 365), bleach, and Dove liquid soap - these latter two are good for everyone)

Coupons expire on Dec 25th


Printable Coupon!

Facebook Friends of Shufersal can get 3 free sufganiyot with this printable coupon:
(Hurry - this coupon is only good thru Dec. 20th!)





Printable Coupon!

Do your kids need new shoes? Once in a while that happens, I know!

Usually I just go to the local Naalei Hakibbutzim store, but once in a while, we can't find the right style or size, so we end up somewhere else. And what's more Israeli than shopping at Gali?

Here's a discount coupon, good thru the end of the month (December 2011), at Gali:


Thursday, December 15, 2011

Shabbat Parashat VaYeshev

I'm trying to get my cooking mostly done on Thursday night this week - here's hoping!


Split pea soup with vegetables (I make mine with onions, garlic, celery, carrots, and sometimes other veggies too)


Mushroom barley stew (lunch)

Shnitzel (baked, not fried - first I coat the chicken in a mixture of mayo and ketchup with some added spices. I add cayenne powder. Then coat with a mixture of corn meal and either flour, bread crumbs or even matzah meal, with some added spices. The corn meal seems to be essential for the texture and flavor that my family loves!)

Roasted Beets (yes! already made!) Peeled and sliced and roasted in the oven with a little bit of orange juice and maple syrup. Those are not necessary - just an experiment I'm trying out!

Spicy Roast Potatoes (toss potatoes with olive oil and spices. sometimes this is garlicky, sometimes mustardy. depends on my mood and can be varied according to your favorite flavors!)

Stuffed Peppers (underway) (I stuff them with a mixture of rice, sauteed vegetables and tomato sauce. A little bit of extra work but it pays off)

Broccoli Kugel (yes! already made!)

Make-your-own-salad

Brownies

Apple Cake

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I didn't really make supper tonight - too busy! So I'll share my lunch menu instead!

Enjoy!

Toasted Cheese Sandwiches (I must admit, I bought expensive whole wheat bread, I couldn't muster up the energy to bake my own)

Red Lentil Soup with onions and red peppers (I actually took my leftover red lentil sloppy sams from the other day and made it into soup. It worked!)


Tomato Slices (got tomatoes cheap last week - bought unripe ones that are now ripe)

Honey cinnamon oranges (oranges from our tree, but they are cheap everywhere right now, so enjoy them!)

Printable Coupon!

This week, Mega has a coupon for Facebook fans, for what looks like a deli sandwich (maybe a wrap?). I don't buy these things, but I thought some of you out there may appreciate the coupon! Offer good through Dec 17, 2011.


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Printable Coupon!

Today's coupon is for TEA (yes, more tea! By the way, did anybody's free samples arrive? Mine haven't shown up yet.).
Just like Shufersal on Facebook, and you can get a coupon for Tulsi organic tea. Cost with coupon - 5.99 NIS for a box. That's pretty good, considering what a box of tea usually goes for around here! Coupon expires Jan 9, 2012

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

It's that time of the day again - when I must figure out what's for supper. I wish I could say my kids are all happily playing and learning but that would only be a half-truth. A couple of them are spending their time fighting... so I'm having a hard time focusing on any tasks at hand.

I think tonight's menu will look something like this:

Carrot muffins (I got carrots last week for a great price)


Red lentil soup (onions, garlic, sliced carrots, red lentils, vegetable stock, and seasonings)

Make your own salad: Avocados (found them for a great price last week), Red peppers, Tomatoes, and whatever other salad-worthy vegetables I find (I think there is still some purple cabbage in the fridge!)

I can't decide if this is enough, or not. If everyone eats the soup I think it will be fine, as it's a thick, filling, nutritious soup. If someone doesn't - well I guess they'll have to figure something out!

Homemade Mini-Pitot

I cannot believe how fast these homemade mini-pitot fly off the plate in this house!
This is all that's left, of about 40 that I made just before lunch:


And yes, I served other food for lunch, omelets and carrot sticks and chumus to go along with these pitot. But really the pitot are a big hit!

This is a really simple recipe - it uses baking powder instead of yeast, so you don't have to plan too far in advance. And if you have a cast iron skillet, that's the perfect place to make them!

Making whole wheat pitot yourself is so worthwhile. They are insanely expensive for what you get when you buy them at a bakery or supermarket. This recipe will save you a lot of money, but it does require a little bit of time and effort.

Here's what you do:

2-3 c. whole wheat flour (start with 2 and add more to get the right consistency. Flour varies in its ability to absorb water, so you'll find this measurement can change drastically from one time to the next)
1.5 T. baking powder
1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1-2 t. olive oil
1.5 c. warm water.

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then mix in the oil. Then add water, slowly, stirring to combine. Add more flour as needed. Remove from bowl and knead on a floured surface for a couple of minutes, then roll out and make circles (I use my circle cookie cutter and then roll the circle again to make them a drop thinner).
Bake them in a cast iron frying pan (very lightly greased), that you have preheated over a medium flame. They will puff up and begin to brown. Cook on both sides till they are just slightly browned - don't overdo it!

This post was shared in the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop on December 13, 2011

Monday, December 12, 2011

Traffic Light Soup

Sometimes I make up silly names for soups - hoping it will get my kids to eat a new food! This one worked out pretty well (although to be honest, my 4 yr old refused to even TRY it). So here is my recipe for red, yellow, and green soup!




Ok, so it's not the best picture, sorry! Anyhow - here goes:

Olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 coarsely chopped tomato
1.5 c. frozen corn
water or soup stock to fill the pot
salt, pepper, parsley to taste

Heat the olive oil in a pot, and cook (stirring) the onion, garlic, and peppers until the onion is soft and translucent. (The house should already smell amazing!) Add tomato, corn, and water/vegetable stock, stirring. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 - 15 min, until the corn is soft enough to puree. Partially puree the soup using an immersion blender. Season to taste , and serve hot.

Soup experiment!

Tonight I'm making traffic light soup. It is red, yellow, and green. IF it tastes good, I will post more about it!

(I made the onion soup earlier in the day and had nothing to serve for lunch, so that became lunch!)

Monday, December 12, 2011

I am bored with our food choices. I feel like we have hit another rut. My kids are happiest with pasta...

Today I decided to improvise an onion soup (got onions cheap last week).

But I have no idea what to make with to go it!

We'll probably have rice and red lentils...

Ideas are appreciated!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sunday, December 11, 2011

This was a busy day. We went on a hike! What a great experience, even though I am soo not into hiking!
Came home, and of course, the house was colder than it was outside, so we had to come up with a quick warming supper!

Here's our menu:


Vegetable soup (leftover from Friday night. I always make a double soup for Shabbat so we can have the leftovers early in the following week)

Toasted cheese sandwiches

Tomato slices with basil and olive oil (found tomatoes cheap last week!)

Purple cabbage (still had purple cabbage left from when it was cheap a couple of weeks ago. cabbage stays well in the fridge, uncut)

Red pepper slices (found red peppers cheap last week!)

Hot cocoa (major splurge. cocoa got SO expensive. Please tell me the cheapest place to buy cocoa!!)

What's on your menu?

Friday, December 9, 2011

Shabbat Parashat VaYishlach, December 9-10, 2011

Today's post is quick and to the point:

Here's my Shabbat menu:

Homemade Challot


Vegetable Soup

Chicken in BBQ Sauce

Rice

Apple Kugel

Broccoli

Carrot Kugel

Vegetable Stew for lunch (My crock pot broke, so I am trying out the pot on the platta method. wish me luck!)

Chocolate Cake

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Today turned into one of those errand running days, and it rained and rained, and then when the rain cleared we found ourselves surrounded by a crippling fog! By the time we got home, everyone was wishing we had just gone out to eat! (And they were all whimsically recalling the fettucini alfredo they had at the restaurant the last time they were treated to one!)

So for supper tonight, I quickly pulled together the following:

Garlic bread (on baguettes from the supermarket)

Spaghetti Alfredo

Pasta with tomato sauce

Sauteed vegetables (Eggplant, Peppers, and Garlic)

Boring, but definitely a crowd pleaser. And FAR less expensive than getting pasta at a restaurant! No surprises, no whining. Sometimes I need a day like that!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Soups

What's your favorite soup?
I'd love it if you share your favorite soup recipe! Tonight I'm thinking of making a carrot soup, but I'm not sure how the family will react. Hmm. Maybe I'll just fall back on the tomato, roasted pepper, fennel, and rice soup from last week, since everyone loved it!

Feel free to link up to your favorite soup recipe in the comments!

A little off-topic...

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with food. And not really anything to do with saving money, either, although perhaps sort of...

This post is about my shopping experiences in this country. By and large, I have found that if I want to bargain hunt I have to put on a suit of armor and have an extra healthy dose of humor at the ready, to deal with the unpleasant experiences that invariably accompany shopping. Whether it's feeling like I'm being ripped off, salespeople who ignore me, other customers who push their way in front of me in line, or whatever, I have not enjoyed shopping much here. That's not to say that it's all bad. There is that great little arts and crafts store in the Industrial Park at Ramat Yishai, where they were so helpful. And the shoe store (Naalei Hakibbutzim) where the saleslady took me to heart when I told her not to show me anything above price X. The shoe store in Tiberias that we found had decent shoes at decent prices was much less pleasant, but not terrible either.

So ... recently my son had his Bar Mitzvah. We had some Judaica books we still wanted to get for him after all the gifts were opened, and in addition he is beginning a new chapter of his learning, so he needed to get books for that. I took a chance and ordered these books from a website -  "Hamefitzim" - they had what I was looking for, at good prices, and offer free delivery to my door with a large enough order! (Oh, and a special for chanukah - a free book from a list of 5 choices with a large enough order)
I had trouble signing up for an account on their website though, so I called in my order. And it arrived, 2 days later. Delivered to my door. So now, I am recommending them to all of you. This is an unsolicited recommendation, and I get nothing if you shop there. I just figured we could all use help finding good vendors from time to time.

Please share your gems with me, too!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011

I am not in the mood to make dinner... How do you handle that? I didn't plan what's for supper, and I'm running kind of low on EVERYTHING since last week's pantry challenge hasn't actually ended yet - I didn't venture to a supermarket today.

Here's what I'm scrounging up:

Leftover soup from Friday night

Spaghetti with optional tomato sauce

Sauteed vegetables - I have eggplant, green pepper, fennel, and onion. Yummy with spaghetti.

What are you cooking?

Printable Coupon!

This time I found a coupon from Yellow - those convenience stores that I never venture into.
Right now, through Jan 2, 2012 you can use this printable coupon to get an energy drink for just 1 NIS. I know that some people drink these, so enjoy!

Click here to get this coupon - exclusively for Yellow's fans on Facebook!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Printable Coupon!

Mega's coupon of the week for their Facebook fans is for their store brand frozen Jachanun. You can get it right now for just 9.99 NIS for a 1 kg package.
Coupon expires Dec. 3, so act fast! (Tip, if your local mega is open on Saturday night - mine's not - you can get an extra 10% most items for shopping then! This offer is for "You" card holders)

Click here for the Jachanun coupon

Shabbat Parashat Vayetze, Dec 2-3, 2011

This Shabbat we are having our usual style Shabbat menu for Friday night, but we're having dairy for lunch. This just kind of HAD to be. You see, I broke shattered the ceramic crock from my pareve crock pot this week. And I wanted to serve soup for lunch, so practically speaking, I HAVE to use my milchig crock pot until I replace the pareve crock pot...

So here's what we're having - it's been a pantry challenge week. I bought almost nothing, yet we are still pretty well stocked. (My salad pickings are pretty slim, though!):

Homemade Challot (from the freezer)

Vegetable soup (my standard one) - with whatever vegetables I have. I think we're out of kishuim this week, though. I believe we have onion, garlic, carrots, fennel, broccoli stalks, and butternut squash. Seems like it should combine to make a decent soup! - for Friday Night


Crock Pot Split Pea Soup - for lunch

Rice - I made a large batch and separated it into 2 containers already so I'd feel organized. It's for both meals, so I wanted to keep it in 2 separate pans.

Carrot Kugel - also separated already so one half can be served Friday night with chicken, and one half for lunch with dairy!

Chicken with honey-ginger-soy sauce - for Friday night

Tofu with honey-ginger-soy sauce - for Friday night, for my vegetarian son

Broccoli Pashtida (cheesey casserole) - for lunch

Whatever fresh vegetables I have - I think we're down to carrots, peppers and maybe 1 cucumber left

We still have pomelit, and I found a cinnamon cake in the freezer, so we're set!

Shabbat Shalom! What are you serving this Shabbat?

Thursday, December 1, 2011

I've been doing well with the pantry challenge so far - we bought milk (as predicted), bananas (do your kids eat bananas like mine do?), and fresh yeast. And we're keeping a list of all those things we discovered we're out of and we've been making do and improvising!

Tonight we are having another hearty soup! I love serving soup. While cooking, it warms up the kitchen, and while we're eating it, no one is asking me to turn on the heater! (They may ask right before and right after, but not while they are actually eating it!) And if it's a thick soup, it fills everyone up and I can cook fewer dishes and wash fewer dishes, too. Win-win!

So here's the menu:

Homemade dinner rolls

Lentil soup with rice (I'm posting the recipe and pics soon!)


Carrots, cucumbers, green peppers

What's on your table tonight?

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Free Downloadable cookbooks

Looking for new recipes?
You can download some free cookbooks for your Kindle (or your e-reader on your PC. I don't have a Kindle, either...)!






E-cookbooks.net offers a variety of PDF files with recipes

Here's a free 5-ingredient cookbook!

Note: many of these cookbooks contain recipes that are not kosher. If you want help with a recipe makeover, comment on this post - giving me the recipe (or link to it) and I'll see what I can do!

Printable Coupon! (well, sort of)

I have been SEARCHING and SEARCHING for printable coupons for you. I do often find some. They are for products I would never buy in a million years - like fabric softener. Or scented detergent. Or potions to stop your hair from thinning. Do you want me to post them?

This time, I found a deal from a baby product website. It's not really a coupon. It's just an offer to buy their "seconds" at a reduced price. For 99 NIS, you will get a silicone bib, one of those funky "magic bowls" that doesn't spill, 4 baby spoons, and a toddler sippy cup with handles. And it will all be delivered to you, with no additional charge for delivery. Personally, I can't decide if it's a good deal or not. I'm not in the market for baby items right now, so I'm not so well versed on the prices for baby products in Israel. Let me know what you think!

Click here for the offer!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Tomato Soup with Roasted Red Peppers, Fennel, and Rice



I bought lots of fennel last week. I used up a bunch of bulbs grilling them, and even adding them to my potato soup, but I still had those stalks hanging around. I was determined to use them. After all, fennel is a really healthy food.

I planned to make tomato soup for supper. It was supposed to be a sort of chunky soup, with lots of diced onion, red and green peppers, garlic, and rice thrown in. As I was preparing the onion, I remembered those lonely fennel stalks. I grabbed a few. Chopped them. Added them to the onion that was in my pot... And the result was delicious.

Here's the recipe:


1-2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
3 fennel stalks, diced
1 red pepper, diced (I actually used 1/2 a red pepper and 1/2 a green pepper this time)
olive oil
tomato paste (I used about 500 g. It depends on the size of your pot)
water or soup stock
1/2 c. brown rice (or more, if you want)
salt, pepper, basil, oregano, or whatever herbs and seasonings you like best. Maybe one day I'll pick some rosemary from our yard and try that!

Saute the vegetables in olive oil, till the onion is soft and the garlic and pepper are very fragrant and softened as well. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil. Simmer for at least 30 min - make sure your rice is fully cooked before serving. Enjoy!


This post was linked up to the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop on 11/29/2011

Healthy cupcakes?!

Nope. Cupcakes are not health food. Cupcakes are never going to be health food - at least not if they are going to taste good at all!
So my daughter wanted to share cupcakes with friends for her birthday. I don't have a ton of junk in the house - no powdered sugar, margarine, white flour... so I made cupcakes with what I have around! They are not healthy. They are not low-sugar. They are not low fat. But they ARE slightly less guilt-inducing than your standard cupcakes, and they went over very well!

Here's the recipe - I adapted a very unhealthy recipe and came up with this:

4 T. ground flaxseed + 1 1/4 c. boiling water
1 cup oil (I used canola, use what you want)
2 cups raw sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. soy milk
1.5 c. whole wheat flour
1.5 c. cocoa
1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking powder

First combine the ground flaxseed with boiling water. Mix it well and let it rest 5-10 min. Add other liquid ingredients (+ sugar) and mix really well. Then add the dry ingredients. Mix well.
Fill up 24 muffin/cupcake cups (I use silicone muffin cups. works perfectly). Bake at 350 F for about 25-30 min. When done (test with a toothpick), remove from the oven and dot the top of each cupcake with a square of chocolate. Tent the pan with foil, and allow the chocolate to get soft. Spread it around the top of each cupcake. Allow to cool and serve!
Enjoy, and don't feel so guilty about serving them. They are whole wheat, after all. Just NOT health food.


Tuesday, November 28, 2011

It's bound to be a busy day, so I need a supper plan early so I don't get stuck.  I would love to use up some of the odds and ends around the house... (I'm doing a sort-of pantry challenge this week. Only sort of because I'm unwilling to commit to not going to the store. But I'll try not to. Does that work? Is anyone joining me?)

Here's the plan:

Tomato soup with rice

Fake quesadillas (made with pitot instead)

Avocados, Carrots, Green Peppers

Monday, November 28, 2011

Money Saving Tip

Sometimes, even frugal families need to get out and DO SOMETHING. While there is a lot to do that is free (more on that some other time), some things just aren't free.

My kids have been asking to go ice skating. I'm not a big fan of being cold, but they find something about ice skating alluring. I have been trying to plan an outing for them, so I figured I'd share the discount coupon with all of you!

Click here for a discount to "Merkaz Canada". For those of us who live up in the Northern part of Israel, it's not THAT unreasonable a drive. On the other hand, if you live in Eilat, you may need a coupon for a Tzimmer to go with it!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Tonight's menu was a little too starchy, but just helped me use up things we had around the house. I'm wondering if I can get by this week with only buying milk. What are the chances?!


Potato soup (with fennel hidden inside of it. Too late, family who is reading this after the fact, you ALREADY ATE IT!) - dice and saute large amounts of onion, garlic, fennel bulb, and potato. When the onions are translucent, add water, salt, and pepper. Bring it all to a boil and cook till the potatoes are soft. Puree the whole thing and serve with croutons or your favorite soup addition.

Pasta with cheese sauce / Pasta with tomato sauce

Cucumbers, Avocados, Purple Cabbage

What to do with Fennel

Last week, fennel was one of those super-sale vegetables. I bought some, figuring I'll experiment with it.

Here are some ideas:

Grill it, and eat it plain

Grill it, and eat it tossed with a citrus-based dressing (really delicious!)

Cut into cubes and toss with olive oil and salt, and roast in your oven till nicely browned

Saute in olive oil

Slice thinly, soak in ice water, and use in fresh salads (the ice water makes it really crisp) (seems to go well with citrus)

Use in soups

Use in quiche (saute or roast it first!)

Cook in tomato sauce and serve over rice or similar

Here's a list of a wide variety of recipes that use fennel (note: not all the recipes in this link are kosher)

Here's another interesting list of fennel recipes (note: not all the recipes in this link are kosher)

Personally, I think I'm up to trying a creamy fennel soup! sounds great!

What will you be making with your fennel?

Free samples!

Wissotsky Tea is giving away free samples of their new green tea flavors.

Click here to choose your 3 favorites, fill out some information, (make sure to click on the tab on the page that says "טעמי הסדרה והזמנת דוגמיות") and some free tea samples will be on their way to you in the mail!

Stay warm and let me know what flavors you get!

Free samples!

Wissotsky Tea is giving away free samples of their new green tea flavors.

Click here to choose your 3 favorites, fill out some information, (make sure to click on the tab on the page that says "טעמי הסגרה והזמנת דוגמיות") and some free tea samples will be on their way to you in the mail!

Stay warm and let me know what flavors you get!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Shabbat Parashat Toldot, Nov 25-26, 2011

Shabbat is so early this week! I kind of already posted my Shabbat menu when I posted my Thanksgiving menu but I'll give a quick recap and a few adjustments!

Here's what I made:

Fresh Challot

Lentil-vegetable soup (Fri. nite)

Lentil stew (in the crock pot, for lunch)

Turkey legs

Pomegranate chicken

Rice

Stuffed peppers

Grilled Fennel

Roast Potatoes

Breaded eggplant with tomato sauce

Avocados

Citrus Fruit salad

Chocolate Chip Cake

Want recipes? Leave me a note.
Shabbat Shalom!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

My Thanksgiving Menu

I'm really serving my Thanksgiving menu on Friday night, instead of Thursday. Pretty standard practice here among the ex-pats, I think!

Here's what I think I'm making:

Vegetable soup (heavy on the carrots, since they are 2 NIS/kg at mega!)

Roasted Turkey Legs

Pomegranate Chicken

Grilled fennel (in my stove top grill pan) (2 NIS/kg at mega!)

Roasted potatoes (2 NIS/kg at mega!)

Stuffed peppers (green peppers are on sale for 2 NIS/kg at mega!) - stuffed with rice and vegetable pilaf

Breaded Eggplant with tomato sauce (eggplant is on sale for 2 NIS/kg at mega!)

Avocado - my kids like them plain, and all the ones that were left from that sale a couple of weeks ago are suddenly ripe!

So - in short, our Thanksgiving dinner is a celebration of all the local in season produce I can find!

Printable Coupon!

Here is a printable coupon for Yogurt



I'm not really sure what Yoplait Shtuzim are. Can someone tell me?
Anyhow, this coupon is good at Mega until the middle of next year.
Enjoy!