A Great Resource!

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Have you heard about this new book, Organized Jewish Life, by Rebekah Chaifetz Saltzman? I'm really excited to let you know about it. This book is truly a really great resource -- Rebekah is an organizer extraordinaire and really knows her stuff!

If getting ready for holidays or other Jewish Life events sometimes feels overwhelming, this book is for you. It breaks down everything you need to prepare to live Jewishly without the stress! You'll get clear instructions and tips for making sure you've dotted all your i's and crossed all your t's in your preparations.

It's worth every penny you'll spend, but even so - right now it's about 60% off the regular price, making today the perfect day to get it. Also, it's the #1 new release in Amazon's "Jewish Life" category! 

Click here to go to Amazon and check out Organized Jewish Life: The Essential Guide for Planning Jewish Holidays, Events and Every Day

Enjoy!

Tips from the Trenches: Hosting Guests with Food "Issues"

Some people love hosting guests and make it seem effortless. And really, I think that's amazing. Hosting guests is one of our Jewish traditions - we follow in the footsteps of Avraham and Sarah when we invite guests into our home. It's special, and it gives all parties a sense of involvement and satisfaction. And yet, I know that sometimes hosting guests is HARD.

Sometimes we're tired, stretched thin, have tight budgets, and other complications. But I do believe that there is something to be gained when we spend time sharing our homes with friends, neighbors, and relatives.

We try to host guests for meals regularly. We invite neighbors and relatives often, though not all the time, because we believe it enhances our shabbatot and chagim and our lives in general.

Sometimes these guests have food issues that can range from vegetarianism to allergies to celiac disease, and we're almost always able to accommodate. However, lately I have heard from a few people that they're intimidated and therefore, do not invite people over who have special food needs.

As a person with some food related issues, and a family full of people with special food needs, I just wanted to share a little secret with you. Even with our food issues, we feel good when we receive the occasional invitation. Sometimes we'll have to turn it down because of our circumstances, but other times, we'll accept, and being invited makes us just as happy as it makes you when you're invited! (And of course, inviting others and having them accept makes us happy too!)

I always offer to bring food when we are invited out - not only because of special food needs (some of us have allergies to specific foods, one of us is a vegetarian...), but additionally because I know that hosting an extra six people, at least 4 of whom eat like adults, can be a lot of work. And since I like cooking anyway, it makes me happy to help out.

I almost always accept when my guests offer to help cook - certainly if they express a concern about a special food need. I want my guests to feel comfortable in my home, and if bringing along a dish they know they can eat makes them feel comfortable - that is great!
Despite the fact that we accept help when offered, there are some things we regularly do so that our table is accommodating to people with allergies, sensitivities, or strong preferences:

I do not make one-pot meals, and the only food that I make that has meat/chicken in it is the meat/chicken! This way, my side dishes are all vegetarian-friendly and I don't find myself scrambling to make something special for vegetarians. This is also good if you discover that one of your guests can't eat a particular food - let's say, potatoes. This way, the potatoes are confined to the one dish I made with potatoes! It's definitely easier this way.

If you have a guest, like me, who is allergic to nuts, please check with them first if it's safe to have nuts on the table if you are used to serving food with nuts. If it is, go ahead, your guest will just manage by avoiding the particular dish with nuts in it (although I did have one time where the hosts put nuts in all of the dishes, thinking I would be able to just take them out.  That wasn’t safe for me, so I wasn’t able to eat. Everyone felt awkward about that.). If it is not safe for them, please remember that the joy you are giving them in being invited out may be worth the inconvenience of avoiding your favorite dish just that one week, for the sake of their safety.

When your guest has celiac disease, it's a little more complicated. We handle this by trying to make sure that the only food on the table that has gluten in it is the challah and we remove the challah from the table after we've all had some, before we bring out the other foods. So we'll serve simple vegetable dishes and salads, chicken, rice, potato kugel, and fruit for dessert if we have a guest with celiac disease (just a sample menu). It's easy to be accommodating if you know in advance that there are foods to avoid.

If your guest has a soy allergy (or another food allergy like sesame, corn, eggs, etc), things are admittedly complicated (though not as complicated as celiac disease!) - a lot of store bought food has common allergens in them. I recommend you talk to your guest about how to handle this. We handle some allergies by never putting salad dressings into the salad (we'll put the bottle on the side and let everyone choose to take dressing or not). We also make simple chicken that doesn't use fancy store bought sauces. And of course, if something we love to make just won't taste right without soy sauce or another allergen, we warn the person with the allergy that this particular food is not safe for them. It's usually no big deal, as long as it's not the only food on the table.

Finally, if inviting your special foods guest is still intimidating, talk to them. Tell them you'd love to have them over but you don't know how to accommodate their food needs. Most likely they will offer to bring something along, but you can also ask STRAIGHT OUT for their help. I am sure your guest will graciously agree, because ultimately it is nice to be included, especially for people with food allergies (and sensitivities) who often feel left out.

Thinking about costumes!

 *this post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

It's time to shop for costumes!

I know, we just lit the first chanukah candle, and here I am, talking to you about Purim. Sounds crazy?

Bear with me.

You see, if you don't want to have to pay premium local prices for your kids' favorite costumes, it's time to order them RIGHT NOW - unless you were super organized and ordered them right after Halloween.

But I'll assume you're more like me, and you just might not have gotten around to it a month ago...

Well, I'm here to tell you that you STILL have time to order costumes and they'll get here in time for Purim, assuming delivery times are the way they've been from China lately.

And I KNOW that ordering from Aliexpress (carefully checking prices and seller ratings, of course) will end up saving me money if the alternative is buying locally right before Purim. So don't wait! Figure out those costumes today, place your order, and you should be all set!

Egg-free Honey Cake for a Crowd!

I decided to try out baking a large batch of honey cake, as I was taking one to an event and then another to another event the next day.

It worked out really well, even though some people say making large batches of cake isn't the best idea.

WARNING: this cake is not exactly healthy, and not exactly frugal either. But it certainly is festive and appropriate for the season, so I figured I'd share!


 


Honey Cake for a Crowd, Egg-free
makes 2 9"X12" pans

4 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1.5 cups hot water
1/2 cup oil (I used this palm oil, but you can use any oil you like - neutral flavors work best)
2 cups honey
2 cups demerara sugar, or other dark sugar
1.5 cups warm (not hot) coffee (can be decaf!)
2 tablespoons orange juice
4 cups whole wheat flour (this recipe works fine with white flour, I just don't keep any in the house and I like to pretend my cakes are healthy)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
dash of ground nutmeg
dash of ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Note: if you are mixing this by hand, you'll need two bowls. If you are using a mixer, one bowl is fine!

Mix together flaxseed and hot water and oil, and let sit for 10 minutes
Add the other liquid ingredients to the flaxseed mixture.
If using two bowls, combine all the dry ingredients in the second bowl, and make a well in the center.
Slowly add liquids to the dry ingredients, and mix very well to combine.
Pour into two 9"X12" baking pans
Bake at 180C for 1 hr, 15 min.
Allow to cool completely before covering tightly, it is best served the next day. 


Wishing you all a Gmar Chatimah Tovah!

Shavuot Menu!

I must begin by thanking my husband for helping me make it through the entire sfirat ha'omer this year! I counted every night with a bracha. And, honestly, it's been a long time since that happened. You see, he used to count when he davened and then at some point in the evening, he'd casually remind me to count. But I was always busy with something and just never could remember to count each night!
But this year, he made a big change. He didn't count when he davened maariv. Instead, he waited a bit and we all counted together. Each night. So I made it, with his help. I wouldn't have done it without him, really!

And now Shavuot is nearly here.

And in Israel, it's such a short chag!

So I'm making a random menu and I'm pretty relaxed about it... haven't started cooking yet, but I have decided it IS worth leaving the oven on for Yom Tov. So I can cook some things on the chag, if I want to.

Here's my plan, same menu for the night and day meals. I'm just realistic that I won't have time to make two menus!

Chocolate bread? Or challah. I'll poll my kids in the morning.
Cajun-style fried fish
Spinach and Feta cheese quiche (making my quiche eggless, so maybe it should be called a pie?)
Roasted kishuim (summer squash)
Carrot muffins
Make-your-own-salad
Apple crisp
Ice cream for dessert
(and cookies if I get to them)

Yes, you saw correctly. No cheesecake. Most of my family won't eat it, so I am not making one this chag. Will someone out there PLEASE share a piece of yours with me? (I love cheesecake)

Menu Planning

So some of us are fasting today, and I am trying to figure out what we'll break the fast on, so I realized it's time to plan a "week-end" menu.

Here's the plan:

Thursday night: Lentil and vegetable stew, pasta for those who want, toast for those who want, fresh fruit, lemonade, granola bars

Friday lunch: the bane of my existence usually! we have hard-boiled eggs, apple muffins, anything in the fridge that needs to get used up

Shabbat:
Homemade Challot
Split Pea Soup
Vegetarian Cholent
Some sort of roast chicken
sides from the freezer
fruit, chocolate cake from the freezer

Purim night, melave malka: completely up in the air! This is also when I plan to finish up any last minute Purim baking that didn't get done!

Purim seudah:
Chocolate Bread, with chocolate-hazelnut spread
Split Pea Soup
Spinach and Feta Quiche
Broccoli Quiche
Eggplant Lasagna
Salad
Rice
Milkshakes
Various desserts

Ok, I totally have my work cut out for me. I must get back to the kitchen even though I am SO hungry right now!

Have an easy fast!

Holiday Budgeting

It's less than 2.5 months till Pesach. I know that Pesach always costs more money than a regular week. We eat differently, and buy matzah (which is expensive) and use lots of wine, grape juice, and even some exotic items. And before Pesach, comes Purim, and I need to make room in the budget for Mishloach Manot, Seudat Purim, and most importantly, Matanot L'evyonim.

So since I know that Purim takes a bit of a bite (I like to splurge a bit for the Seudah, and I like to be as generous as I can with Matanot L'Evyonim), and the week of Pesach usually costs me at least twice as much as a regular week, I think it's time to do a little bit of cutting back so there is room in the budget. (You can check out my article on Joy of Kosher about this, too!)

Lucky for me, I have a freezer full of I don't know what. My kids hate surprise freezer food, but if I plan this far in advance, we only have to use a little bit each week!

My goal is to cut my grocery spending by at least 15% this month. If last month I spent 2100 shekels, this month I want to spend less than 1800 shekels.

It should be doable. Who else is in?

The Chagim are coming!

It's Elul, and that means a few things.

1. Time for some introspection.

2. Time to mend our ways.

3. Time to start a new "school" year.

4. Time to start thinking about the chagim.

I guess before I can really plan my menus, I must solidify my plans. Whether we'll be away at all, who is coming over when... those silly details!

But I can start planning my menus anyhow!

Are you planning yours?

So far, I have a list of things to bake (this is for all the chagim, I plan to fill up the freezer!):

Round sweet challot
Honey Cake
Brownies
Banana Cake
Cornmeal and Molasses muffins
Molasses Cookies
Apple Pie

More lists coming in the next few days!

(And I will try to post recipes over the next two weeks)

I'd love to hear what you are making!