Recipe - Homemade BBQ Sauce

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You've probably stumbled across this blog post because you're trying to save money, or because you love Israel, and I'm so glad you're here - welcome!

Here we are, in late May of 2025, and I can't possibly be the only one noticing those grocery bills creeping higher, right?

It seems like each week I have to adjust my expectations - item after item, prices are going up, and I adjust my shopping. And I'll be honest, I don't want to spend every moment of my day doing food prep, but I also don't want to spend more than I've budgeted, and I don't want to have to give up too much to stick to the budget! It's a tough spot to be in.

So while I've always made some things from scratch, I have begun to make a few more things from scratch.

This week, I made a large batch of chummus with a high percentage of techina, and stashed a lot of it in my freezer packaged in convenient portions for single-meal use. And you know what? I really don't think I'm going back to supermarket chummus - this homemade stuff is so much better (and healthier!), and the hardest part is remembering to put some chickpeas up to soak the night before. 😆

But this post isn't about chummus, it's about another favorite that I have stopped buying: BBQ Sauce. The supermarket options that are affordable have ingredients I don't actually want to eat, and we didn't love the way they taste, either. So I decided to make my own.

Using tomato paste, brown sugar, maple syrup, spices, and vinegar - I think it came out good!

Here's what I did:

Take out a mixing bowl and silicone spatula. Put the following in the bowl:

240g of tomato paste (this is the larger tub option in the supermarket, not a big can) half a cup of water 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 2 teaspoons maple syrup, but you can use honey if you prefer 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper 1.5 teaspoons granulated garlic pinch of salt (or more!), to taste hot pepper flakes and/or smoked hot pepper, to taste All amounts are approximate, and can be adjusted!

Mix well. If you're using this as a marinade before cooking, you don't even need to heat it up before using it. If you want to serve it as a sauce at the table, I recommend heating it in a pot on the stove until it's been heated all the way through. Don't use a high flame, it will bubble and make a mess! You can throw in a pinch of baking soda when warming it if you want to reduce the acid a bit.

Use a silicone spatula to help scrape it out of the pot into a jar or bowl for serving or storage.

Enjoy!

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Weekly Menu plus Recipe for Black Bean Meatballs

It's been pretty crazy around here lately, and my family has been eating a lot of sandwiches and pasta dinners. It'll do in a pinch, but I was getting pretty sick of this survival strategy, even if it does the trick.

So this week, I was determined to serve "real food", and I decided to try out that old method I'd abandoned a while ago - the "prep a bunch of basics on Sunday so I have things to work with during the week" strategy.

This week, I made a huge pot of rice, a pot of chick peas, a pot of black beans, and a large pot of split pea soup to start the week. These pots were all cooking while I was getting other work done.

Then, the challenge is to make simple meals using the food I prepped!

 So far, we've had rice with chick peas and roasted veggies one night, and rice with black bean meatballs and tomato sauce, with corn on the side, another night, and both those suppers began with split pea soup.

I'll be making tomato-rice soup (using the rice, roasted veggies, and tomato sauce that is left from those other meals) for breaking the fast Tuesday night (I'm sure the family will want other food to go along with that, so we'll probably make scrambled eggs and some spelt rolls also. And fruit for starters...).

Wednesday night we'll have to use up whatever is left of the chick peas (chick pea fritters maybe?), and serve that with whatever else is around, say, the corn that is left, a salad, some baked potatoes...

And then, I can cut myself some slack and make pasta for Thursday night, right?

I definitely find it much easier to plan my meals when I've got a few basics ready to go! Do you ever do this?

I figured I'll share the recipes for those vegan meatballs - hope you like it!


Black Bean "Meatballs" (Vegan) Recipe

2 cups cooked black beans, drained
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
3 Tablespoons ground flaxseed
Flour to bind (optional)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in food processor bowl, and pulse till you have a relatively smooth paste.

Line a baking pan with baking paper, and form the mixture into balls and place on pan. Spray with a fine mist oil sprayer.

Bake for 25 min at 200C (about 425F)



Serve hot, with your favorite sauce!