Hotel deals and Restaurant Deals!

Kosherfrugal.com and Janglo have teamed up to bring you Groupon deals (and sometimes others) that you may have missed! Check them out below:

(Some links in this post are affiliate links; I may get paid a commission when you make a purchase using these links. Thanks in advance for your support!)

Pesach is on the horizon, so this week's deals are all about making this holiday season easier for you!
It's not too late to book a hotel for this week or next! Here are some last minute deals for you to check out:

Hotel and Getaway Deals:

Looking for a deal for a hotel at the Dead Sea? Start here! Note: this site quotes prices for "one person in a double occupancy room" as the price. Your total will reflect the price for 2 people in a double occupancy room, for the number of nights you're booking. Some hotels are available for short one night getaways, and others require a minimum of two nights.

Looking for a last minute hotel deal for Pesach, or part of it? These deals all include breakfast. Check them out!

If you are looking for a zimmer getaway, check out Groupon Zimmer deals (a few of these even allow you to bring the kids along, but most are for couples).

Restaurant Deals:

No matter HOW organized you are, the week before Pesach leaves everyone scrambling for food at times. So here are some deals!

PIZZA:

Pizza Cheese in Modiin - best deal is TWO personal pizzas with a topping and a drink for 27nis.

Pizza Francheska in Kiryat Ono - family size pizza deals for 40nis!

Pizza Don Fredo in Kiryat Ono - personal pizzas for half price!

Pizza Del Mondo in Petach Tikvah - 2 pies for 59nis!

Pizza Portabello in Bat Yam - pizza deals starting at 19nis!

Pizza HaGesher in Be'er Sheva - "Giant size" pizza for just 29nis!

Pizza at Casa del Papa in Herzliya - Get 2 Large pizzas for 49nis!

ASIAN STYLE and SUSHI:

China Bay in Haifa (I've heard GOOD things about this place, but it is a bit of a splurge!) - 85nis for one, 159nis for two

Special Sushi (Kosher branch) in Ohr Yehuda - sushi for 2 for 79nis

Bamboo Restaurant in Rishon - dinner for one for 30nis, or dinner for 2 for 59nis

Sushi Plus in Petach Tikvah - deals start at 39nis

Frangeliko in Jerusalem (kosher branch) - Sushi dinner for 2 for 88nis

Frangeliko in Yagur (kosher branch) - Sushi dinner for 2 for 88nis 

The Sushiya in Afula - sushi dinner for 2 for 79nis (or a party platter for 199nis!

Takeout Food:

Jerusalem Delights - 100nis voucher for 50nis!

"Wedding Club" (Jerusalem) - 100nis voucher for 50nis!

"Bishulim" in Petach Tikvah - 50nis voucher for 25nis, or 100nis voucher for 50nis! 

"Minei Gan Ochel Muchan" in Netanya - 100nis voucher for 50nis!

"Machbuz" in Ramat Gan - 60nis voucher for 30nis!

Ben's takeout in Kfar Sava -  100nis voucher for 50nis!

If you're looking for a different kind of restaurant voucher, please let me know - I'll see what's out there for you! 

You can find other kinds of deals here

My Shabbat-Chanukah menu!

It's still one of the shortest Fridays of the year this week! I'm giving myself a "pass" and buying challah this time, because I know I have way too much to do tomorrow.

This week's menu is going to feature the produce I managed to pick up for 2-3 shekels/kg, plus some of our regular favorites! (Some of the types of produce I got for 2-3 shekels/kg are: onions, potatoes, kishuim, baby beets, kohlrabi, green peppers, and cabbage. I also found sweet potatoes and carrots for 4 shekels/kg)

Here's the plan:

Split Pea Soup (for Friday night)
Oven-fried chicken
(tofu shnitzel for our resident vegetarian)
Roasted Kishuim (light green summer squash)
Roasted Baby Beets
Sweet Potato and Carmelized Onion Kugel
Stir-Fried Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Carrots, and Green Peppers
Apple Crisp
Black Bean Cholent (for lunch)
Make-your-own-salad
Dessert - whatever I manage to pull together!

After Shabbat, I'm planning a latke-fest, if my kids will help with all the prep! I'm sure they will, because they really want latkes! (Have you made latkes? Anyone else out there delay until the seventh night like me?)

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Chanukah and a "Chodesh Tov"!

Shabbat & Rosh Hashanah Menus

We'll be eating lots of apples this holiday!

It's almost here. The not-quite-three-day-yom tov!

First it will be Shabbat, then Sunday is Erev Rosh Hashana, and then comes Rosh Hashana, which, even in Israel, is 2 days of course. So it's quite intense and I imagine Sunday will be a panicky sort of day if you don't plan well in advance. That's why I've done almost all the shopping for the holiday already (I do plan to fill in a few things on Friday, assuming the skies have begun to clear). Have you shopped?

Lots of time will be spent in shul, davening, hearing shofar, praying for the dust storm to leave, and more.

Yes... dust storm. We are blanketed in fine particles of sand... it actually looked like it was snowing the other night - the glow of the lights on the particles of sand drifting through the air really made it look like snow! But the fact is, we are running the air conditioning, so snow it is NOT.

So here's my plan: (mostly, it's cook in an air conditioned kitchen!)

Shabbat Menu:
I'm not cooking for Shabbat. We are taking food out of the freezer. I know there's a pan of chicken in there plus a few kugels and some rice with vegetables. That should work! I figured I deserve an easy Shabbat with all the cooking I need to do for the holiday!

Rosh Hashana:
Night meal 1:
Honey Challot
Apples and Honey
Pomegranate Chicken
Garlic Roast Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli
Israeli Salad

Day meal 1: (plus guests)
Honey Challot
Salads - whatever I get around to preparing 
Oven Fried Chicken
Apple Kugel
Butternut Squash Kugel
Corn?

Night meal 2:
Honey Challot
(New Fruit - still have to buy one)
Split Pea Soup?
Salmon steaks cooked in lemon and herbs
Spinach and Cheese pie
Rice with stir fried veggies

Day meal 2:
Honey Challot
Any leftovers we feel like eating (most likely the chicken and sides from those meals will be left)
OR if for some crazy reason there's nothing left, I'll cook a simple meal, like omelets or macaroni.
I'm keeping a flame going so I can light the gas stove if I need to, and the oven may or may not get left on.

Baking: Honey Cake, Cinnamon Cake, Chocolate Cake


We're hosting a shiur (class) at the house on the second day, so I'm setting aside a honey cake for that. 

And that is how I am planning Rosh Hashana through my dust-filled foggy brain...
What about you? 
(As you may notice, I'm not doing much in the way of "simanim" this year. Do you do them? Do you do them every year? Is it an important family tradition of yours?)

Shabbat and Shavuot

Tomorrow night is Shabbat, and then we go straight into the Holiday we've been counting up to - Shavuot! Shavuot here in Israel is a mere one day long, and that means it is actually a drop too short (wait, not sure I should say that!). Some people have a tradition to stay up late into the night, or all night, learning Torah. That makes for some very tired people come morning.

In my house that means everything is topsy-turvy, and people choose to eat and sleep at various times throughout the day.

So my day meal plan needs to be very flexible... and accommodating for those of us who can't eat dairy, AND those of us who love to eat dairy! Should be interesting.

We're having guests for Shabbat lunch, so it's not overwhelming. We're really looking forward to this Shabbat and Shavuot!

Here's the plan:

For all meals - Fresh Homemade Whole Wheat and Oat Bran Challot (and rolls for Shavuot morning, so people can make hamotzi whenever they are ready)

Friday night:

Vegetable Soup
Roast chicken (not sure how I'm spicing this, I usually decide on the spot)
(and something for the vegetarian, not sure what)
Potato Kugel
Roasted Broccoli and Kohlrabi
Cabbage Salad
Vegetable sticks

Shabbat Lunch (us + 7 guests)

Vegetarian Liver
Cabbage Salad
Vegetable Sticks
Chumus
Black Bean Cholent
Potato Kugel
Oven fried chicken
Apple Kugel
Roasted Broccoli and Kohlrabi
Whatever other vegetables I feel like cooking

Seudah Shlishit will be random snacks and baked goods

Shavuot Night

Salads
Lasagna
Macaroni and cheese
Non dairy Eggplant "parmesan" (with nutritional yeast instead of cheese)
Salmon (baked, with herbs and lemon)
Rice with roasted garlic 
Roasted Kishuim
Cherry Tomato and Avocado Salad (if I buy avocado)

Shavuot Lunch

leftovers from Shavuot night, as needed

Baking:

Apple Muffins
Brownies
Chocolate Chip Cake

NOW I need to get to work on this!
I am planning to give my kids a LOT of work today and tomorrow!

End of Pesach Menu Planning

We have a rare "2-day chag" coming up here in Israel! I know I've really gotten used to one day of chag at a time, but I'm sure we can muster up our strength for the 2 days looming ahead of us.

The last day isn't actually Pesach anymore, but we obviously will still be eating Pesach food. We're not even bothering to go out of our way to eat kitniyot, even though we could. I am sure that Sunday we'll find plenty of chametz and kitniyot to lead us back into the more complicated menus of the rest of the year, so we'll just stick with our usual Pesach fare.

Here's the plan:

Meat Meals:

Vegetable soup with lots of garlic and ginger and kneidlach
Honey-garlic chicken
Shnitzel
Potato Kugel
Apple Crisp
Vegetable Kugel
Quinoa with stir fried vegetables
Make your own salad

Dairy Meals:

Fish Fillets cooked in lemon and herbs
Quinoa "Pie" - quinoa topped with vegetable-tomato sauce and goat feta cheese, baked
Broccoli-Cheese Pie/Broccoli with pine nuts for those who don't eat cow's milk
Garlic-Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Zucchini and Peppers
Make your own salad

For dessert, we have brownies and mandel bread
Also planning to make a batch of rolls for noshing. 
We have plenty of fresh fruit on hand, as well as chocolate, which means we'll be FINE.


What's cooking in your Pesach Kitchen? 

 

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!

Cooking for chag

It's that time of year, when every week there is a special Jewish holiday, requiring lots of food preparation. Not to mention the other preparations of getting a lulav/etrog set (or 3!), and building a sukkah! And decorating a sukkah, which requires lots of patience and creativity...

I'll try to post about our decorations later, but for now, I will write about my food prep plan.

I'm cooking today for my sukkah building crew plus a family with a new baby.

Chag is us plus some guests.

Today: 

Garlic Foccacia Breads (making it the Quick Bread way) 
Pasta two ways (with tomato sauce, veggies, and cheese, and with macaroni and cheese style) 
cut veggies - we have cucumbers, carrots, kohlrabi, peppers... 

Planning to make enough to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow too. (Just how many bags of pasta do I need to have enough for a total of 18 people...?)

For Chag:

Challot
Vegetable Soup
Vegetarian Chopped Liver
Roast chicken with rice
Tofu lo mein for the vegetarian
Potato Kugel 
Apple Crisp
Salads (whatever I manage to pull together)
Brownies
Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'd love to hear how all of your holiday preparations are going!

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?

Shavuot Menu

I started planning my Shavuot menu over a week ago but got completely sidetracked, so now it seems very last minute! Oops


I'm actually a little disappointed, because I'm off cow's milk for health reasons and Shavuot usually showcases lots of dairy...

I can eat small quantities of goat cheese, but I'm not planning to serve a whole goat cheese-fest for Shavuot. It's actually quite expensive, so I'm nixing that idea before I give it any more thought. This IS supposed to be a frugal food blog, after all! And I am still trying to keep to my monthly grocery budget!

I want it to be a nice chag, in many ways. Foodwise, of course, and familywise too. So, I'm trying to do what I can to keep everyone in the holiday mood!

Foodwise, I bought some fish on sale. Not everyone in my family eats fish. But some do.
Fish without additives is hard to find, and quite pricey too. But it will get eaten, so I splurged, so together with the goat cheese, it's turned into a pricey chag for a one day event! But it's once a year, and even frugalistas need to know when to spend a bit more and just enjoy!

So here's the plan:

Shavuot night:

Challot
Split pea soup (requested by the 6 yr old)
Broccoli Quiche (made with goat milk and cheese)
Couscous with roasted garlic
Salmon with herbs and carmelized lemons
Butternut squash (not sure how I'll prepare it)
Salad - whatever vegetables we manage to get cheaply today.

Dessert -- see the post about Shavuot night!

Shavuot Lunch

Challot
Goat Cheese Lasagna with eggplant
Salmon and couscous from the night before
Salads

Sorry folks, no cheesecake here this year. But I'd love to hear about yours, I won't get sick from some vicarious cheesecake enjoyment!