Sunday, June 30, 2013

Menu Plan for the Week








Sunday
Lunch: Pasta with sauteed veggies, Pita crisps (wedges toasted with olive oil and spices)
Supper: Grilled cheese sandwiches (baking fresh bread), carrots and cucumber sticks, 

Monday:
Lunch: PB&J Sandwiches, cut veggies
Supper: Whatever is left from Shabbat!

Tuesday:
Lunch: Pancakes, apple crisp
Supper: Stuffed Peppers (with roast veggies, burgul, and lentils), Baked Potatoes with cheese

Wednesday:
Lunch: Bagels if I have the energy, otherwise sandwiches, salad
Supper: Pizza, salad, French fries

Thursday:
Lunch: All the leftovers from the week or if there aren't any, ???
Supper: No idea yet.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Eggless Whole Wheat pancakes!

We've decided to go more or less egg-free. 

I've got no problem making most foods egg-free, but for some reason, I had a lot of trouble with pancakes. They just were NOT coming out right!

Some kind person pointed me to this vegan pancake recipe, which inspired me to try again. I discovered that my biggest problem was probably my lazy measuring - sometimes when I cook I am too lazy to pull out a measuring cup. That does not work well for pancakes!

So, here's my egg-free but dairy pancake recipe. It was a big hit!

2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tsp. sugar
2/3 cup of whey or orange juice
1 cup milk
2 tsp oil

a bit of oil for the pan

 
First, mix dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add liquid ingredients and stir briefly. It can be lumpy.

Coat your frying pan with a very light layer of oil, and heat to med-high heat.

Make pancakes!

Enjoy!

We served these with maple syrup.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

We love our Kindles


Living in Israel, I sometimes find it difficult to get my hands on certain books in English. New books are exorbitantly priced - from what I've heard, local bookstores are controlled by some sort of cartel that sets prices artificially high.

Used books are priced high, too. There is no such thing as a used book for a quarter here (oh, how I miss those deals). Every so often I buy a book at the local secondhand shop for 10 shekels, but most of the time, used books in English are priced at 20 shekels and up. And internet shops with free shipping, like BetterWorldBooks.com and Book Depository are great, but lately their prices have been creeping higher. Globally, prices for nearly everything have been creeping higher.

Enter the Kindle .

My boys were gifted Kindles - the really simple kind - about a year ago. While we have had a little bit of bad luck with breakage, Amazon customer support has been amazing! Now we download lots of books - usually the cheap or free ones, but once in a while something new and popular too! We now have an endless supply of reading material available (just not for Shabbat)! And we don't have to wait for a shipment to arrive.

So yes, perhaps I spend a lot of time searching for worthwhile free books on Kindle (they come and go really quickly), but I have been very very happy to do it.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Current Sales

I was looking thru sales ads and just wanted to share some good grocery deals I noticed.

Yesh: whole chickens are 9.99/kg thru Thursday, max 3 kg per order, with a 75 shekel purchase in the store. Cabbage, beets, carrots and onions are 1.99/kg thru Thursday, max 6 kg, with a 75 shekel purchase in the store. They also have toilet paper, 32-roll pack, for 19.99, valid thru July 1.

MegaBool: Eggplant, carrots, potatoes, for 2.99/kg, plums, nectarines, and granny smith apples, for 7.99/kg, valid thur July 1, with a 1 shekel purchase from the store's other items. Limit 5 kg per item.

Shufersal Deal: their best sales vary by region, but they have a lot of items for 5 shekels right now. I noticed that they have 6-packs of granola bars for 5 shekels! Other 5 shekel items that caught my eye: gnocchi, couscous, rice, Heinz ketchup, pasta sauce, baby corn, wissotsky tea, aloe vera gel, Colgate toothbrushes, 150 pack paper napkins, and more!
Don't forget to print your cereal coupon, too!

That's all I had time to look through for now, please share the deals you've noticed!

Printable Coupon (Israel)!

Right now, you can print a coupon for a box of Shufersal brand cereal (Inugei Pecan) for 10 shekels!




Here's what you need to know: to redeem, you must be a member of Shufersal's "moadon". Coupon valid June 25, 2013 - July 8, 2013. You can buy up to 2 boxes of cereal with this coupon, for the special price. Coupon valid at Shufersal Deal, Shufersal Deal EXTRA, and Shufersal Sheli.




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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Smoked Salmon Recall (Israel)

The Ministry of Health announced another smoked salmon recall, due to possible listeria contamination.

This time the smoked salmon products being recalled are produced by Maadanei Miki:

Refrigerated Smoked Norwegian Salmon, vacuum sealed, with expiration dates of 9.7.2013 and 10.7.2013

Frozen Smoked Norwegian Salmon, vacuum sealed, with expiration date 4.2.2014

The contaminated products are being removed from store shelves.

Consumers who have purchased these products are asked not to consume them, and should contact Maadanei Miki to arrange for a refund or replacement, at 1-700-50-55-40, or 03-9616283 or email SERVICES@MIKIDELI.CO.IL

If you found this post informative/useful/important, etc, please follow this blog (links on the right!) and find us on Facebook!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Shabbat Menu

We are now about 5 weeks away from moving.

Seriously, we MUST use up the food in the house. We have been doing random pantry-challenge type meals this week, but I don't really want Shabbat to feel like a pantry challenge!

BUT we also had a broken sink for the last couple of days (it was just fixed at 2:30 pm on Friday!), and we went on a tiyul on Friday as well.

So here's our plan for Shabbat, we'll use up some of the food from the freezer but we'll still have some freshly made food!


Challot from the freezer
Soup from the freezer (I think the container says split pea soup)
Roast chicken (bought some sale chickens at Yesh, we'll use the last of the freezer stash another week)
Roasted vegetables - we have potatoes, kishuim, and beets. They'll each get roasted in their own pan.
Bulgur with mushrooms (baked, too)

Cut vegetables - cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots

Watermelon for dessert!

What are you making? Are you also moving this summer? I know so many people end up moving in the summer!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Another awesome book sale!

Not to be outdone by BWB's Flash sale, Book Depository now has their 25 hour, 100 book sale!

A different book will be offered on sale every 15 minutes!

Always free worldwide shipping, too!


So, go on, take advantage of the awesome savings and get your summer reading!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Flash sale at Better World Books!

Looking for books?

We ALWAYS are. We homeschool, and in addition to needing educational books, we are HUGE readers here.

So, for a very limited time - Shop the Better World Books Flash Sale and save big on 5 or more used books, all with Free Shipping Worldwide! 

Have fun book shopping!

a very small sampling of our used book collection


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Friday, June 14, 2013

Smoked Salmon Recall (Israel)

The Ministry of Health has announced a recall of the following product, due to possible listeria contamination:






"Delidag" brand smoked salmon, 100g packages, barcode  7290008340618

Production dates of 26.5.13 and 27.5.13, with expiration dates of 26.6.13 and 27.6.13





Consumers who have purchased this product are advised not to eat it, and should call 1-800-40-50-40 to arrange a refund or replacement.

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Friday, June 7, 2013

Shabbat Menu!


I cannot believe it's Friday again! It's my husband's birthday today, AND my mother in law is here for a 2-week visit. It's a bit busy around my house, but I'm trying to pull together a nice Shabbat in honor of it all.

Here's my Shabbat menu... 

Whole Wheat and Oat Bran Challot

Vegetable soup

Oven-fried chicken

Potato Kugel

Stuffed Peppers

Butternut Squash (roasted with maple syrup)

Fresh veggies 

Brownies

Peanut Butter Fudge

Not sure what we'll have for seudah shlisheet, but we'll come up with something.

Also making some sort of breakfast cake.

Shabbat Shalom!

What are you making for Shabbat?


Thursday, June 6, 2013

Free Shipping PLUS 5% off your order at iHerb!

For the month of June, you'll get free shipping on your iHerb order to Israel (and presumably all international destinations, but I'm not 100% sure about that), PLUS complementary VIP status! Free shipping applies to orders $40 and up.


VIP status will get you great extra discounts:

5% --if your order is less than $60.00
6% --if your order is from $60.00 to $69.99
7% --if your order is from $70.00 to $79.99
8% --if your order is from $80.00 to $89.99
9% --if your order is from $90.00 to $99.99
10% --if your order is from $100.00 to $199.99
12% --if your order is from $200.00 to $399.99
14% --if your order is $400.00 or more

In addition, if you order $200.00 or more during the month of June, your account will be upgraded to permanent VIP status! 


Go ahead, give it a try. First time customers who use my link (or enter my referral code at checkout - QEJ101) will get $5 - $10 off your order!

Sweet Whole Wheat or Spelt and Oat Bran Challah Recipe -With Vegan Option


I change up my challah recipe sometimes, and my kids have definitely expressed a preference for the times when I make them *sweet*. No real surprise there, though!

So lately, I've been making this version. It's been a hit with my family. If you make it, I'd love to hear your feedback!



Sweet Whole Wheat or Spelt and Oat Bran Challah

8 cups whole wheat flour (or whole spelt flour)
1 cup oat bran
2/3 cup ground flaxseed
1 T. salt
1/2 cup sugar

3 cups of lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry yeast

1/2 cup honey or vegan honey (optional)
1/2 cup oil + a little more for oiling the bowl

Directions:
1. Mix 1 tsp sugar with the water. Add the yeast. Allow to proof for about 10 min

2. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, oat bran, flaxseed, salt, sugar)

3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add liquid ingredients. Mix well. Then knead. 

4. coat the dough with oil and flip over a couple of times, so the bottom and sides get oiled too. cover with a tea towel to rise till doubled. On warm days, this can be about 1 hour, on cold days it can take a lot longer!

5. Punch down. Shape your challot. Cover with a tea towel to rise for about 1/2 an hour. (I usually make 3 challot out of this size batch, so I often double it!)

6. Optional: glaze your challot. I never bother, especially since I've basically gone vegan for baking! Bake for about 30-40 min at 350 F (175-180C)

Allow to cool before you devour them. For some reason, these cut much better when they've cooled properly.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Great Free Service

I just thought I would share this info, in case it helps anyone out.

I recently had to send a fax to someone in the USA. I don't have a fax machine. But I JUST KNEW there was a good way to do this, without spending money and without having to mooch off someone.

So here's what I found out: You can send perfectly free faxes to numbers in the US & Canada using GotFreeFax!

There is a limit of 3 pages at a time. But, they say they don't put ads on your fax! They claim to just make money from ads on their site and ads in the emails they send. (If you use their free service, you MUST confirm the fax from your email - they send you a link to click on - before it will be sent out.)

GotFreeFax emailed me a confirmation that the fax went through, and the recipient also let me know it was received.

Overall, a great free resource!

If you need to send a fax in Israel, here's a service that allows you to send a one-page fax for free.



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Bottled Water Recall (Israel)

Maayan Meron is recalling their 1.5 liter bottles of water, following a malfunction in the filtration system at the bottling site. There may be algae in the product.

The affected bottles have production dates of 11/4/13 thru 29/4/13 and have expiration dates 11/4/14 thru 29/4/14.

Customers who have these water bottles in their possession should call Maayan Merom's customer service line at 04-6987079 to arrange for a replacement.

If you found this post informative/useful/important, etc, please follow this blog (links on the right!) and find us on Facebook!   

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Cheap Chicken

Everyone seems to be talking about how chicken seems pricier than usual right now...

Well, just in the nick of time, Mega Bool is offering fresh, whole chickens for 9.99/kg!
Minimum purchase requirement of 100 shekels to get this sale, and max of 4 kg of sale chicken per purchase. (thru the 10th)


(You card holders only - but it's free to sign up for a You card, so go ahead!)


Other sales at Mega: Ground beef (from frozen beef) 2kg/55 shekels (thru the 10th)

Produce for 2.99: lettuce, eggplants, melon, red onions, potatoes, corn, light green peppers (thru the 10th)


They also have cherries for 2 containers for 30 shekels, but I do not know how large the containers are! (thru the 7th)


Happy deal-hunting! Let me know if you find a great deal somewhere!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Free Matmid Club membership

Right now, you can join El Al's frequent flyer club FOR FREE! Your membership will never expire, so it can't hurt to sign up, right?

(This usually costs $25)
(If it doesn't automatically show up as "free" please add campaign code AOW24483828)

And then you can book your flight to Israel to visit me...


Click below to get to El Al's site!

 


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Sunday, June 2, 2013

VAT has gone up

Okay everyone. The day has arrived. When you go out to buy something, your purchase will be subject to the new VAT rate. And that is now 18%..

The new rate even applies to price controlled items, so do not be shocked to see higher prices even on those items. You can be dismayed, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Here are some of the new rates for price controlled items, when the full list is published, I will update!
(It's 2 am and I cannot do math at 2 am, sorry)

Milk - 1 liter bag, 3% - 5.28
Milk - 1 liter bag, 1% - 4.95
Milk - 1 liter carton, 3% - 6.54
Milk - 1 liter carton. 1% - 6.11
Eshel - 200ml cup, 4.5% fat - 1.66
Gil - 200 ml cup, 3% fat - 1.52
Sour cream - 200 ml cup - 15% fat - 2.47
Butter - 100g - 4.08
Emek cheese - 45.96/kg
Gilboa cheese - 43.72/kg

Eggs:
size M - 11.90/doz
size L - 12.90/doz
size XL - 14.00/doz