Monday Night, May 17, 2011

So, what's this Healthy Eema going to do? I'd been buying whole wheat pasta at Yesh for about 4.50 NIS per package, and it's a lot more expensive in other places. But now it seems Yesh isn't carrying whole wheat pasta anymore! And I don't think my family will just give up their macaroni and cheese addiction, and I am not switching back to white pasta. So - please, dear readers, if you are in Israel, please tell me which supermarket chain carries whole wheat pasta for under 5 NIS per package (500 g package, that is)!

In the meantime, we have to have a pasta-free menu...

So, Monday night's menu will be:

Vegetable soup (leftover from last night)

Lentils - prepared very simply so reflux girl will eat something

Artichokes - I think I've mentioned how psyched my younger children are about artichokes, and I found them for 4 NIS/kilo today...

Eggplant baked with a creamy-smoked cheese sauce

Tomatoes with basil and olive oil

And something else that the kids will eat instead of eggplant (usually it would be macaroni and cheese) but I don't know what that will be... wish me luck and creativity!

Wednesday night - Feb. 9, 2011

I'm very disappointed with this week's grocery sales. Have you found any good sales lately? I have a Rami Levy, Yesh, Mega, Kimat Chinam and Supersol near me...

Luckily, I still have plenty of produce in the fridge. Time to get creative! I'm not sure my family likes it when I get creative, since that means they have to try new things. But that's the point, so they try new things! How do you get your family to try out new foods?

On the way to the table tonight:


Split pea soup
Mock Garlic Mashed Potatoes (let's see if I can get the kids to eat the cauliflower!)
Polenta topped with roasted veggies and black beans (and some cheese for picky eaters)
Lettuce, Purple Cabbage, Honey Cinnamon'd Oranges, Cucumber, and Avocado Salad

Some notes:
Mock Garlic Mashed Potatoes - I'll puree cooked cauliflower with roasted garlic and other seasonings as the mood hits me, and serve it like mashed potatoes. Rumor has it it's pretty good like this. We'll see how it goes...

Polenta is pretty easy to make. I make it kind of runny so I can pour it into a well greased quiche pan. Then, I top it with all sorts of things - right now I have lots of tomatoes and red peppers, so that will be most of the topping, along with black beans. Then bake it for about 20 - 25 minutes... I have a feeling I may have to melt some cheese on top for my picky eaters!

Once again, I'm serving the salad "salad bar-style". Everybody wins!

Tuesday Night (Feb. 8, 2011)

I'm a little under the weather, but I still need to run my household. I hung out a couple of loads of laundry today, even though it's raining (I put the drying racks in the covered part of my mirpeset). (I have no dryer)
I didn't think of putting on a coat for that task... I'm cold.

If you have great warming foods to serve, please tell me! I could use some creative and different ideas.

My kids are wondering why I've been serving soup so often lately. Don't they notice it warms them AND fills them?

Here's tonight's menu:

Minestrone Soup
Cheesy Baked Cauliflower
Rice
Roasted Beets
Tomato and Chick Pea Salad

Some notes about this menu:

Minestrone Soup is very forgiving - you can really use all sorts of veggies in it!

I'm experimenting with the cheesy baked cauliflower. I bought a whole lot of cauliflower  for 1.99 NIS/kilo. Now I hope I have the energy to clean and check it... I know cheese is not the most frugal food, but you can stretch it pretty far with enough ingenuity.

I will make oven-baked rice, since I'm roasting beets also, and I'll probably bake something else since the oven will be on already. Date bread? Chocolate Cake? Cookies?

I cooked a lot of chick peas the other day, and now we need to be sure to eat them... so we're having a salad repeat. Especially since tomatoes were 1.99 NIS/kilo...

Let me know what you're making for supper!

Sunday Night

It's going to be a busy week, so I've begun my planning already now that the kids are in bed (ok, only the younger ones).
Tomorrow, we plan to be out and about all afternoon. And I still have plenty of those 1 and 2 NIS/kilo veggies, plus the Bulgarian Cheese that was on sale at Kim'at Chinam.

Here's the menu for Sunday evening:

Black Bean & Tomato Soup (crock pot)
Embellished Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Salad - Lettuce, Tomato, Avocado, Bulgarian Cheese, and Olives(w/ a splash of olive oil)
Fruit for dessert (we have tons of oranges and pomelit right now)

A note about the soup: be sure to used pre-cooked black beans! (It's another one of those chop and toss recipes that I love: chop onions, garlic, celery, red pepper, a small potato, and 2 tomatoes. Place in crock pot with cooked black beans, tomato paste or crushed tomatoes, and 1 c. frozen corn. Cover with water or soup stock, season to taste. Let your crock pot cook it all day!)

Embellished grilled cheese means everyone gets to put their own "toasted" sandwich together. We usually offer a variety of cheeses, tomatoes, olives, and roasted peppers. But, of course, you can be as creative as you like!