Free Gift Cards and more - one way to get them

I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you really appreciate FREE stuff! Sometimes, the only free things you can get are pretty useless junk, but sometimes there's actually something really worthwhile out there!

If you're a Clalit Mushlam member, there's a way to get points towards a VERY WIDE variety of free things that you may be currently missing.

So if you are, indeed, a member of Clalit Mushlam, you're paying a monthly premium for the plan. This plan gives you discounts on things at Clalit pharmacies, and some health-related perks, like the ability to see a private doctor for a copay that is much less than the cost of going fully private. So here's a perk you might not have heard of:

Clalit Active. This is Clalit's healthy lifestye app, where you accumulate points for completing health-related goals. You can redeem those points for rewards. We've gotten health-related items, like a Mi swartwatch, exercise equipment, and a massage gun. We've also gotten gift cards for stores like MegaSport, and even Lenovo earbuds. You can also redeem them for things like discount admission to pools, and health clubs, wipark admission, electric toothbrushes, smoothies, shakes, high coverage swimsuits, discounts on Clalit Mushlam complementary health services, and more (the list changes from time to time).

Now, everyone knows I'm not exactly a big exercise buff, but even I go walking and eat things and drink water, so it's pretty easy to get points! And redeeming them is fun and rewarding!

Want in on it? Just click here:

https://clalitactive.onelink.me/jrj9/ from your phone to get it! And if you use referral code DS2I5SGF, you'll get a 600-point sign-up bonus - there's a section called מישוש חבר מביא חבר where you enter the code - find it when you tap on the menu a the bottom far left of the app screen. Be aware that you may have to put the code in on the same day you activate the app to get the bonus. When you use my code, I'll also get a bonus, so thank you in advance for using it!

So, do you want to start getting more things for free? Join and start today. And please share this post with anyone you know who might want to join!

30% off Select brands at iHerb

This post contains affiliate or referral links. This means if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

עברית למטה

iHerb is doing something. It's big. It involves discounts. Lots of them. And they change pretty frequently.

Right now, there's this sale: Get 30% off iHerb brands this weekend - CLICK HERE to load the discount into your cart!

If it doesn't load automatically, enter these two codes (one at a time!!) into your cart before you checkout for maximum savings: rewards code QEJ101 and promo code WEEKEND30.

CLICK HERE to see all iHerb Brand items

Need some ideas for your iHerb order?

Here are just a few things I recommend - several of these are eligible for this 30% discount! I'd love to hear what your favorites are:

Lip balm 

Specialty sea salt grinders 

Witch Hazel Toner

Concentrated Laundry Detergent 

Unscented Compostable Dryer Sheets

Witch Hazel Cleansing Pads 

Stridex acne control pads 

Cocoa Butter Lotion 

Dental Floss 

Pain Relief Cream (the athletes in my house like this one a lot)

Makeup Remover

Aquaphor

Maple Syrup Granules 

Wild Caught Pink Salmon 

Made Good Granola Bars

Your order of $60 and up will usually qualify for FREE Global Air Locker shipping!

Don't forget these important, basic principles of shopping online from Israel:

• Keep your order under $75 to avoid paying VAT!!
• Spread out your orders. If you want to buy more than $75 worth of items from one website, and you have the option of splitting your order - DO IT. BUT don't order more than $75 worth on any given day to the same shipping name/address/ID. If you do, customs may combine your orders and charge you. Give it about 3 days between orders. Best to ship to a different name using a different ID for customs, so you can order it all on the same day.
• Always look for the free shipping option - usually it's to a pickup spot.

I was so excited when my order came to $74.64 after the discount was applied, and with free delivery! Talk about maximizing savings while avoiding import taxes! I hope you're just as successful!

Enjoy and happy savings!

יש לכם הזדמנות עכשיו לקבל הנחה על כל האתר של אייהרב! התחילו את הקנייה עם הקישור למטה, שמקודד להעלות לסל שלכם 2 קודים שיתנו לכם ההנחה המקסימלית!

קבלו 30% הנחה על המוצרים במותגי הבית של אייהרב עכשיו - וודאו שהקודים QEJ101 וגם WEEKEND30 עלו לסל שלכם!

(ולרוב גם תקבלו משלוח חינם עם גלובל אייר לוקר עם מוסיפים מוצרים כדי שסכום הרכישה

יגיע ל$60)!

תהינו!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Vegan/Pareve)

What do you do when you find mushy bananas on the sug bet rack selling for 2 shekels/kg, when sug aleph bananas are currently selling for about 14/kg?

BUY A BUNCH of course!

And then, make muffins. (I peeled and froze some for future use, but used a lot of them today on these muffins)

Today's banana muffins featured spelt flour and chocolate chips... yum!

Here's what I did:

6 small overripe bananas, mashed well 1/2 c. sugar 1/3 c. oil 1 tsp vanilla extract 4 T. ground flaxseed 2 c. water + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 
Mix all together, combining well
Add: 4 c. whole grain flour (I used spelt, but if you eat wheat, whole wheat flour is perfect) 1/2 tsp salt 1.5 tsp baking powder Mix well 

Last, gently fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup shelled raw sunflower seeds

This made 12 oversize muffins, or make 24 smaller muffins.
Bake at 350 F/175  C for 25-30 min for muffins

Enjoy! Let me know if you try them!

Budget-Friendly Snacks

If your kids are anything like mine, you'll hear "I'm hungry" a LOT this summer. It seems the business of being a kid really works up an appetite!!

So I'm trying to figure out how to keep our snacks healthy and filling, and inexpensive.

I find this much more difficult here in Israel than I did in the USA. There, I'd find healthy-ish crackers, pretzels, granola bars, and other convenience foods for truly ridiculously low prices - I used coupons, shopped sales, shopped at Big Lots and the "scratch n dent" food store. I always, always checked Target's clearance shelves (and almost always found an amazing deal - yes, even in the grocery section), and was not embarrassed to stock up on foods at Walmart when there was a great sale. When we lived practically next door to Aldi - I shopped there. Never once did I bump into anyone else from our little Jewish community at Aldi, though. I guess there was a stigma I did not care about, I preferred 19 cent deals!

But here - well, to be honest, the deals are harder to find. TRULY hard up here in the Golan with limited shopping options.

But - despite that, we still need to eat and most importantly, we need to feed our children!

So here's what we try to keep around for when the kids start the "I'm hungry" chorus:

Fresh fruit - we try to only buy the less expensive ones, so right now, pickings are slim. But since this varies week to week and season to season, we usually manage to keep somewhat of a variety of fruit around (right now we have apples, watermelon, and cantaloupe in plentiful quantities, other summer fruits are still a bit pricey).

Carrot sticks - carrots are usually one of the least expensive vegetables, and require no cooking. They can be dipped in something like techina or chummus or some other dip, or eaten plain

Cucumbers - same deal as the carrots, only they tend to be a bit more expensive than carrots.

Popcorn - we have a Popcorn Popper  so it's super easy to pop up a bowl of popcorn, and a bag of popcorn should cost less than 10 shekels/kg. I'm sure I paid 8 for a kilo last time I bought it. (I've seen some great deals at The Hut on small appliances like popcorn poppers, be sure to check them out!)

Homemade Crackers - very yummy, but a bit of work. Much less expensive than store bought crackers

Roasted Chick Peas - these are an amazing snack. Just toss chick peas (cooked and drained) with olive oil and spices. Place on a baking pan and roast in the oven at 200C till they are crispy. They are super-addictive, so don't say I didn't warn you!

Roasted lentils - same idea as the chick peas above, and even cheaper! I like the chick peas better though.

Banana chips - in general, dried fruits are pricey here, but I'm finding banana chips to be surprisingly affordable. And since I can only eat bananas that have been cooked, it's one of the few ways I can enjoy a banana!

Muffins, of course. I buy fruit from the sug bet rack regularly and make muffins. Lately I've been getting kishuim from the sug bet rack too, and we really like muffins made with them!

What are your go-to snacks? I'd love to hear!

Vegan Black Bean Crumbles (Ground Beef Substitute) or "meatballs"

I used to buy the soy-based ground "meat" substitute to make all sorts of things - and one of my favorites was a pasta sauce that we could top with cheese.

I stopped buying that stuff for a number of reasons, but today I wanted to make that "meaty" tomato sauce.

So here's what I did:

2 cups cooked black beans, drained
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
3 Tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
salt, pepper, dried parsley flakes to taste

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, and saute onion, red pepper and garlic, till fragrant and beginning to brown.

Combine all ingredients in food processor bowl, and pulse till you have a relatively smooth paste (you can do this in a mixing bowl with an immersion blender if you don't have a food processor).

Spray olive oil on an 8" baking pan, then spread black bean mixture in the pan.

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

Allow to cool. When cool, crumble the mixture into tomato sauce, heat, and serve over pasta or rice. This can be used to make a taco filling or sloppy joes too. It's really versatile!

Note: You can also shape these into "meatballs" or patties for "burgers". Just shape them and place them on a cookie tray (greased or lined) and bake at 200 C for about 15-20 min, but watch them to be sure your oven isn't faster than mine!

I'll try to take a picture next time I make this! I didn't have the camera handy today, sorry.

UPDATE: Here's a picture of this recipe, made as meatballs:

 

Flavorful Lentil Patties

I wanted to make lentil patties with a lot more zing! to them. My old standby recipe was just not doing it for me anymore. Especially because my kids had gotten completely bored by them. But THESE were eaten happily!

So here's my new take on lentil patties:

Ingredients:

oil for the pan (I used a small amount of olive oil)
1 large onion, diced
1 large red pepper diced
2-4 cloves garlic, diced
1 cup cooked green lentils
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 T. sesame seeds
1/8 - 1/4 cup flour (this will vary depending on the size of your onion and how "wet" your lentils were, and the humidity in your house... you want the mixture to hold its shape once you've made it into patties!)
salt, pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet, and saute the onion, pepper, and garlic until softened and a browning.

Transfer onion, pepper, and garlic to a mixing bowl (if you have a stick blender) or the bowl of your food processor. Add lentils, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds. Blend or process till you have a sticky mixture. It's ok if you still see pieces of things. Mix in flour, salt and pepper, using a large spoon.

Heat more oil in the pan. Shape the mixture into patties and lightly pan fry on both sides.

Or, if you want to bake them, form patties and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet and spray the tops with oil from your olive oil sprayer . Bake at 200 C  till done (I haven't timed it, sorry!)

Enjoy! 

p.s. I serve these with rice, or in a bun, or any which way. You can crumble leftover patties, if you want, and mix with a tomato-based sauce for a great vegetarian "meat" sauce for pasta.

Shavuot Snacks

Shavuot in Israel is just one day. It is SUCH a short, sweet holiday...

We tend to stay up late into the night learning and talking and noshing. For some reason, NO ONE ever stays up late learning without noshing. (In our family, we usually do not stay up through the night, for a number of reasons.)

So I figured I'd share some of the noshing things I will be keeping around...

This year will be a little different than previous years, primarily because I'm not eating cow's milk, but I'll probably still get some Ben & Jerry's for the rest of the family.

Other noshing menu items:

Caramel Popcorn, lots and lots of caramel popcorn (this stuff flies!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Homemade Crackers

Vegetable Sticks

Chummus

Watermelon

And anything else I find myself inspired to make. I'm leaving my oven on for yom tov, so I'll bake even on a whim!

What are your favorite snacks?

Banana Coconut Oat Bran Muffins

I was hanging around my house in the crazy heat today, feeling like my brain was fried. I just wanted to go to sleep.

So I got myself up and into the kitchen, threw the window wide open (just hoping it would bring a cool breeze), and baked some muffins. They smell amazing so if they don't get eaten NOW, they'll be part of our break the fast meal after Yom Kippur!

This recipe came about because I didn't have much sifted flour left on hand, and I had a LOT of mushy bananas (note to self: stop buying too many bananas!)

Banana Coconut Oat Bran Muffins

6 overripe bananas, mashed well
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 T. ground flaxseed
1.5 - 2 c. water + 1 tsp vinegar (or whey from kefir cheese making, or you can use half water/half orange juice to give it an interesting extra flavor)
combine well.

Add:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat bran (finished off my stash)
1.5 cups oat bran 3/4 c. shredded coconut                                                                                     
1/2 tsp salt
 2 tsp baking powder
 Mix well
 

This makes 12 generous muffins.
Pour batter into muffin tin lined with paper cups. Bake at 350 F/175  C for 25-30 min

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!

Is good food too expensive?

Israel now has a dubious distinction: we have become the country with the highest rate of diabetes-related deaths. Diabetes-related deaths are now the 3rd leading cause of death in this country, after cancer and heart disease.

I don't know WHY Israelis are dying from diabetes-related issues.

But I do want to discuss a theory that has come up - that more people are dying from diabetes-related issues because good, nutritious food is not affordable.

Is this true? Is it not possible to eat well and not spend a lot of money?

If it is true, I may as well shut down this blog. After all, I focus a lot of energy on finding ways to feed my family nutritious food without overspending.

Yes, some foods are incredibly expensive here. Fresh fish is out of reach for many, and most red meat (the kind not processed with soy fillers) is very pricey. So are cheeses that are not price controlled! (I'm thinking of that Cheddar cheese I saw, that can easily cost about 80 shekels/kg, and some cheeses were labeled with prices over 100 shekels/kg.)

And depending upon the season, some produce may be incredibly expensive.

So what do we do about it?

The latest study shows that the average family of 6 (like mine) spends about 3100 shekels/month on food (I lumped all the different food categories together). But I think that's high. I'm going to share some personal budgeting numbers here, in the interest of being REAL...

We set a realistic grocery budget - no more than 100 shekels per week per person in my family. So on average, we spend 600 shekels per week on food. Some weeks we spend a little more - I've at times done HUGE 750 - 800 shekel shopping trips, but this evens out later in the month when we'll spend only 200-300 another week, because during the HUGE shopping week we stocked up on all the rice, lentils, split peas, flaxseed, popcorn, corn meal, etc that we need for the month. We actually try spend a little less than 600 shekels/week, on average. Our monthly totals lately have been hovering around 2100-2200 shekels on food expenses, including any iHerb or Vitacost orders I might make.

I don't plan my shopping trips very well - I usually have a rough list of what I need to buy. I will write down general categories to help me stay focused, but to be perfectly honest, I am a price sensitive shopper. So even if I wanted red peppers, I won't buy them when they are 9.99/kg. No matter how badly I wanted them.
I may have wanted red apples - my children love red apples - but if yellow apples were on sale for half the price, we get yellow apples instead.

You get the idea.

One thing we don't do: we don't stock up on junk food. I won't say we never buy a bag of junk, but when we do, we do it knowing that it is a treat, an out-of-the-ordinary splurge that is not necessarily a healthy choice. But we try to practice moderation. We don't gobble up our treats. We try to practice self-control. And enjoy them a bit at a time.

I have a year's supply of chocolate chips on hand, but I use each bag as if it was the last one I had, so that we don't go overboard and use them too quickly.

But we DO eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. And homemade treats like muffins and my famously easy crackers. And for meals, we eat vegetarian food most of the time, as regular readers of this blog probably know by now. Vegetables are far cheaper than animal proteins. If you feel you MUST eat more animal proteins, you can find ways to stretch them. This will help you eat more plant-based foods, and will stretch your meat/fish/egg budget even further. We do, however buy chicken for Shabbat, a few dozen eggs/month, and a certain amount of cheese every week (enough to keep everyone happy. This family loves cheese. And pizza. And grilled cheese. And... I believe you understand now!).

So I would venture to state that I believe that healthy food is available, and is not out of reach. No, we don't eat everything available, there are foods we never purchase, we rarely eat out, but we eat good, tasty, nutritious food. And we spend less than 600 shekels per week doing that, for our family of six (including a teenage boy!). I think we may be able to do even better, but it is not always prudent to chase the sales. Gas for the car costs money, and time is limited.

We could certainly do better if we had a little garden, and my girls have started to lobby hard for that. I'll keep you posted if we ever follow thru on that idea! (My allergies make that difficult, but I would absolutely LOVE to grow some veggies one day...)

What do you think? Is eating healthy food too expensive?

Easy Vegetable Soup

When making a vegetarian vegetable soup, I always saute all the veggies (I use a lot of vegetables!) in extra virgin olive oil, then cook, covered, to reduce, for 10-15 min. before adding any liquid. I don't know, I just think it tastes better this way in the end. I use onions (2 medium), garlic (5+ cloves), celery (2-5 stalks, depending on my mood), carrots (I often use as many as 8), zucchini/kishuim (2 or more large), and other veggies as the mood hits me. I season it with loads of fresh parsley and fresh dill, and freshly ground black pepper and salt. It's a really easy soup.

I often add egg noodles to make a vegetable-noodle soup.
This is one of my family's favorite ways to eat tons of vegetables.

Shabbat Menu

I need to make sure I get it all done tomorrow, so I'll share my Shabbat menu here!

This way, I know where to look when I get completely sidetracked and don't remember what I still need to make...

We're having a quiet Shabbat, but with 6 of us in the family, including a teenage boy, that hardly means minimal cooking!

Here's the plan:

Homemade Whole Wheat and Flaxseed  Challot
Split Pea Soup (Friday night) - using up the last of my split pea stash, must get more!
Vegetarian Cholent (lunch) - also finishing up the black beans! Add those to the list!
Oven-fried Chicken (I mix equal parts whole wheat flour and yellow corn meal with spices of my choosing - usually black pepper, cayenne pepper, parsley, and granulated garlic. Coat chicken pieces with mixture. Arrange in a baking pan, and bake, covered, for about 2 hrs at about 200 C - coating will get all deliciously crispy)
Rice
Carrot Muffins
Potato Kugel, if I tovel the food processor blades! (otherwise, more roasted potatoes. I got potatoes very cheap this week...)
make-your-own-salad (we have cucumbers, red peppers, tomatoes, avodado...)
Apple Crisp
Chocolate Babka - made with- gasp! - white flour! can you believe it?

Also making:
maple-cinnamon breakfast bread or muffins


What are you making?