Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Food Recall (Israel!)

The Ministry of Health and "Williger Foods" have announced the following recall:

960g cans of Poseidon label tuna in oil (small chunks) Barcode number 7920002657408, with production date 4.2. 15, good for use thru February 2019.

Elevated levels of histamine were found in the affected products, and these cans are being recalled and removed from store shelves.

Consumers who have purchased this product are advised not to consume it.
To arrange a refund/return, please call Williger foods at 1-800-50-40-50

Please share this announcement with your friends and family who may have purchased this product!


Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Free attractions and Museums on Pesach 2015!

If you are looking for current information, please check out the updated post for 2016! 

*Please note that I put a lot of effort into this post, tracking down websites in English for your convenience. I know the Bank Hapoalim info is available to the public in Hebrew, but this blog  post has added benefits for the English speaking community. Because it was so much work, I request that if you plan to share this info, you link back to my site. Thank you for this common courtesy.

Bank Hapoalim does this wonderful service for the country:  They sponsor free attractions all around the country for Chol Hamoed, and the country loves it!


--- Retrieved from http://www.kosherfrugal.com/2014/03/free-attractions-for-pesach-2014.html --


 










Here's the info for this year: The participating attractions will be open to the public for free on April 5-9 and you will need to check with the attractions regarding their individual hours of operation.

Here's the list of free attractions for this year. I have linked to websites in English, whenever possible. I hope you find this list helpful, and that you get to have some super-frugal fun over Pesach!


Please leave a comment with your favorite place to visit (from this list)!

If you haven't already, please like my Facebook page so you don't miss out!



North:
The Ghetto Fighters' House Museum 04-9958052  
The Galilee Sculpture Festival in Maalot 04-9578871 
The Deer Forest  0508723920  
The Golan Antiquities Museum  04-6961350  
Park Qatzrin 04-6962412
The Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery  04-6315257  
The Wilfrid Museum of Israeli Art  04-9899566  
The Robotic Dairy 054-4962656  
The Museum of Art at Ein Harod    04-6485701

Haifa and the Northern Valleys:
The Museum of the First Aliyah (in Zichron Yaakov) 04-6294777  
The Janco-Dada Museum (Ein Hod) 04-9842350
The Haifa Zoo - 04-8372886 (open 10am - 3pm)
 
The Haifa City Museum 04-9115888  
The Mane Katz Museum 04-9119372 
The Herman Struk Museum 04-6359962
The Treasures in The Walls Museum (of Acco) 04-9911004  


Central Israel:
Tel Aviv Museum of Art 03-6077000 
Beit Hatfutsot 03-7457808
The Igudan Visitors Center 03-9555222
The Khan Museum of Hadera 04-6324562
The Nachum Gutman Museum of Art 03-5161970  
The Museum of Israeli Art in Ramat Gan 03-7521876
The Communications Museum at IDC Herzliya 09-9522795  
The Herzilya Museum of Contemporary Art 09-9551011  
The Rishon L'Tzion Museum 03-9598862  
The Rabin Center Israeli Museum *4585 
The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center 03-5339278


Jerusalem:
Yad LaShiryon at Latrun 08-9784302  
The Bible Lands Museum 02-5611066 
Hasmonean Aqueduct Tour *6033  
The Temple Mount Sifting Project *6033  
The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens 02-6794012  
The Old Yishuv Court Museum 02-6281266
The Shai Agnon House 02-671-4876  
The Menachem Begin Heritage Center 02-5652018  
The Ariel Center -Historic Jerusalem (First Temple Period) 02-6286288

South:
The Ashdod Art Museum Monart Center 08-8545180 
The Corinne Mamane Museum of Philistine Culture
The Museum of Water and Security at Kibbutz Nir Am 050-9672874
 
The Joe Alon Center for Bedouin Culture  08-9913322
The Air Force Museum at Kibbutz Chatzerim 08-9906853
 
The Negev Museum of Art  08-6993535 
The Eilat My City Museum 08-6340754


Have a great time! 
p.s. Please share this with your friends, so everyone can plan a fun and frugal Pesach!

Friday, March 20, 2015

Shabbat Menu!

We are continuing with our Pre-Pesach Pantry Challenge this Shabbat.
I am happy to say I hardly bought anything this week besides milk, a few fresh fruits and veggies, and some pitot!

Anyhow, here's the Shabbat plan (actually, my family is really under the weather, so this is assuming we're up to cooking and eating, which is actually not a given):


Challot (I still have flour to use, so we'll have fresh ones!)
Vegetable Soup with "Magen David" (Star of David) pasta (I love those cute whole wheat Magen David pastas!)
Chicken with Rice from the freezer
(Vegan Cholent for Shabbat lunch, with vegan kishke if I get to it)
(Tofu shnitzel (from the freezer) and plain rice for the vegetarian)
Roasted Veggies (whatever is left here - cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes...)
Make your own salad
Potato Kugel
Fresh fruit for dessert, cake if I find one in the freezer

I'll also make some hard boiled eggs and other things for easy seudah shlishit (pasta for pasta salad, and other simple foods)

How's your pantry challenge coming along?



Monday, March 16, 2015

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Upcycle Mesh Bags!
I really want to save the planet.

Really.

But I find it difficult to get away from buying things with plastic wrappings, containers, etc.
So if it's coming into the house anyway, I think it's best if we find a way to reuse some of this plastic before we throw it out. It definitely makes sense from an environmental standpoint, and from an economic one as well.




So here are some things we reuse or repurpose:

Plastic seltzer bottles (we have not yet bought a Soda Stream, as I'm not convinced that we drink enough seltzer to balance out the cost) - We fill these with water and stick them in the various crevices of our freezer to freeze. This way, we've always got ice for the cooler and the freezer will work more efficiently if it's more full, from what I understand.
Of course, we can't do this with every seltzer bottle, but at least we can stick the unwanted ones in the plastic bottle recycling cage down the block! 

Glass jars (from honey, jam, and similar) - I wash and remove the labels and then store various pantry staples in them. (They now have a purple glass recycling container down the block, so we can also recycle them, but I find that enough people want glass jars and I can usually find someone to take the extras off my hands!)

Potato Bags - yes, those mesh bags are actually made of plastic! I use them for washing dishes on Shabbat - Just scrunch 'em up and you're good to go! You can use a rubber band to keep it scrunched up, but I don't even bother. They work just as well as any Shabbat "sponge" I've ever tried, and this doesn't cost me any extra!

Plastic containers from shredded cheese - I reuse these to store leftovers, as I actually have very few dairy storage containers. These are an easily stackable size and work well for sending salads to work with my husband, as well! And when they are cracked or stained, I don't get very sad over a ruined investment...


Cottage Cheese containers, Peanut Butter Containers, etc - I use these for my kids craft projects - for watercolor painting, we fill these with water. We use the larger containers to store various crafting materials, too.

Wrapping paper - when we receive a gift, I'm one of those people who carefully removes the wrapping paper so it can be reused! I really don't buy wrapping paper, and we have a stash to choose from when it's our turn to give a gift! Would you believe that some of the paper and gift bags we have dates back to... oh, never mind, I won't tell you when it's from!!

Old towels, t-shirts, etc become rags. Old jean skirts often become tote bags. We've also made decorative pillows and other small items out of fabric that was no longer useful in its original form. Some clothing we actually sell (if it's still in excellent condition), others we give away. Still others (things that no one seems to want) we bundle up in a bag and give to H&M for their recycling program and get a voucher towards our next purchase there (we buy something there once in a blue moon, it may as well be with a coupon!).

What do you reuse or upcycle? I'd love to hear your ideas!




Friday, March 13, 2015

Shabbat Menu

I'm a little overwhelmed this morning. I woke up with a nasty headache, a disaster in my house, and too many things to take care of. 

I'm still debating at 8:45 whether I've got to put some challah dough together right now, or if I will cave and buy a couple of challot to get us thru Shabbat.

But let's assume I will take the lazy route, since at the moment I cannot find my kitchen counter... (It has been a crazy week)

So here's the plan for Shabbat:

Challot
Mushroom Barley Soup (friday night)
Black bean cholent with vegan kishke (lunch)
Oven fried chicken and shnitzel
Baked Rice
Roasted Vegetables - I have kishuim, cauliflower, turnips, peppers, and more. I plan to roast each in its own pan.
Tomato and Avocado Salad
Lettuce salad with honey cinnamon oranges

Dessert is whatever cake I find in the freezer, I know I saw something in there the  other day!

What's doing in your kitchen?

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Amazing Reading Resource!

I know so many English speakers in Israel struggle to find reading material for their kids. Many of us live in out of the way towns with small libraries and tiny English language sections (I really should take a picture of the 4 tiny shelves of kids books in English we have in our library!).

And downloading Kindle books can get really expensive.

Lucky for all of you out there, and anyone, really, who wants access to more childrens books, I just found this amazing resource, Farfaria, that people are calling the "Netflix of kids' books"! And it's available right now for $19.99 (regular price is $39.99, you'll save 50%!), and works on both Android and iOS.

It's great for when you want to encourage your child to develop their English reading fluency! There is a "read to me" option, or a read alone option, and this program has some really great features. Generally, the age range is 2-9, so the books are for beginning readers.

I'm sure you're going to love it!

But hurry! This deal ends soon!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Exclusive Coupon for Coffee Lovers in Israel!

Do you love coffee?

I recently found out about this small, mom-and-pop coffee roasting business here in Israel with excellent coffee. I've been brewing their coffee for the past 5 or so days, and it is GOOD, really good!

This is specialty coffee roasted to perfection in small batches. They offer a variety of roast profiles, and you are sure to find one you love among them! While not all varieties are certified organic, these are "chemical-free" coffee beans.



You are also going to be pleasantly surprised with their pricing - online prices are 70 shekels for 500g, or 130 shekels for 1kg. (Compare that to the prices I saw at the specialty coffee roaster in one of the malls in the Galil a few weeks ago - over 150 shekels/kg - and that was a "sale"!)  

Choose from single origin roasts or a blend. The owners will be happy to discuss flavors and blends with you to be sure you get the perfect coffee for you!

Before you order though, I just have to share this exclusive coupon with you, making this an even better deal! Use coupon code "Save10" to get 10 shekels off the current price! Just place your order by email or phone - send a note to zehcoffeeco@gmail.com or call 054-682-6103 or 058-484-5071, and be sure to specify coupon code "Save10".

Not sure which one you want? You can ask for a 5 shekel sampler, and try out a few different roasts! 

You can find them at  Zeh Cafe Coffee Co. on Facebook, so go visit them and give them a like, and support a small business in Israel.

So go ahead, enjoy your coffee! Let me know which blend or variety is your favorite!

And for those who were wondering, yes, all of Zeh Cafe's coffees are Kosher for Passover (כשר לפסח)!

(sponsored post)





Monday, March 9, 2015

Pumpkin Soup! (Vegan/Pareve)

I found pumpkin (or it's cousin - dala'at) on the sug bet rack in surprisingly good shape, so today I made Pumpkin soup. Some of it went to a friend, and we'll have the rest with our supper tonight.

It's so simple to make a yummy pumpkin soup! And the best part is that most of the ingredients for this soup were bought for 1-2 shekels/kg (even the garlic, which I found on the sug bet rack as well)! I used my smaller soup pot this time, so it's not a huge soup, but you can easily double this and make a large pot.

Ingredients:


olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, diced
1 granny smith apple, chopped (core removed, but I did not bother to peel it)
2 large chunks of dala'at (pumpkin like squash), peeled and cut into chunks
water
salt, pepper, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, to taste

Heat the oil (about 1 tablespoon is good) in soup pot, and add onion, garlic, and apple. Stir frequently while cooking them till soft. Add the pumpkin chunks and continue to cook, stirring frequently. I added in cinnamon at this point. Once soft, Add water and bring to a rolling boil. Lower flame and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from flame, puree (with an immersion blender is easiest), and season to taste.



Enjoy!

(I'm serving this with grilled cheese for the kids, rice and roasted veggies for the adults, I think)

BONUS: This recipe is kosher for Pesach (Passover) as well!

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Food Recall (Israel)!

The Ministry of Health and Willi-Food announced a recall of the following product:



Hahne brand Cornflakes, 750g boxes with barcode 7290010259694, expiration date 25/12/2015, with production codes L14-05285 and L14-05286

The cornflakes may be tainted with a fungus, and consumers who have purchased this product have been instructed NOT to eat them.

Please call Willi-Food customer service at 08-932-1017 to arrange a refund.



Please share this announcement with your friends and family who may have purchased these cornflakes!

Be sure to find me on Facebook!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Planning for Pesach!

Purim is now behind us, so we have less than one month to go until Pesach. It's time to plan, so that the week before the holiday is not crazier than absolutely necessary, and so that we can manage to make the holiday without spending way too much money.

So first I am announcing a pantry challenge, with modifications.

This week, the only grocery shopping we'll be doing is fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, and any pesach items that we see for a great price, or chicken if there's a great sale, because most of the chickens I've seen are already sporting "kasher l'pesach" on their tags, and we can stick it in our freezer. If there is no sale, we may just make it a chicken wings Shabbat, and keep our whole chickens in the freezer for Pesach.

So who's up for a pantry challenge?

This week will not be difficult for me, because I'm actually super well stocked, but next week you may see me getting a little more "creative".

I'll try to post our menus soon!

In the meantime, here's a glimpse into my messy, overstuffed, disorganized pantry. I'm sure none of you out there are jealous of my lack of organizational skills!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Food Recall (Israel)

E.Y.N Food Industries ltd. and the Ministry of Health have announced a recall of "Teva Ha'aretz" brand "Natural Tofu" because they may be contaminated with e.coli.

The recall includes all Teva Ha'aretz Natural Tofu with all expiration dates currently on shelves thru 23/4/2015.

Consumers are advised NOT to eat this product. Please return to the store where purchased.

You can reach the manufacturer at 04-6378450 with questions.

Please share this post with your friends and family who may have purchased this tofu, and be sure to follow me on Facebook so you don't miss updates!