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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Very simple chocolate yeast cake (vegan)

It's baking shortcut time!

Who loves chocolate yeast cakes (think: Chocolate Babka and the like)?!

Well, we're big fans of them around here, but sometimes I have no time or patience for kneading and rising. 

That's where this super simple, cheater version of a chocolate yeast cake comes in!

It's so easy and I even avoid making dirty bowls -  I just mix it AND bake it in a baking pan!

Recipe:

1 3/4 cups flour (I used white spelt)

1 Tablespoon dry yeast

4 Tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt

2.5 Tablespoons oil (I used sunflower oil)

3/4 cup warm water

Your favorite chocolate spread (small jar - I use anywhere from 1/2 - a full jar, depending what I have in my pantry)

1/3 -1/2 bag chocolate chips/chocolate chunks

oil for the pan

What you do:

Oil a 9 inch round baking pan or something that holds a similar amount (there are medium size - long but narrowish, not as narrow as "English cake" disposable foil pans - that work) - I used sunflower oil spray.

Place flour, yeast, sugar, and salt into the pan and mix. Make a well in the middle and add water and oil. Mix everything together with a spoon until well combined - it will be a very sticky dough. Spread it out in the pan. Scoop chocolate spread on top of the dough and then use a spatula or spoon to swirl it into the dough. Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips.

Put the cake into a cold oven and then turn the oven to 175 C. Bake for about 30 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting it!

Enjoy with coffee and please let me know if you try it out. I love to hear from you!

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Recipe: Pesach Brownies (GF, Pareve)

What is Pesach without brownies?
I mean, this year we are all home in our houses, no guests, and feeling a little out of sorts... It's a very different experience that Pesachs past. (I'm sure one day we'll tell our grandkids about the Pandemic Pesach of 2020, right?) So we needed something to jazz up our day - and I decided it would be a new brownie recipe!

I know that we are the lucky ones, we're not alone - there are six of us living in this house. So there's always someone to talk to when you don't want to feel alone. On the other hand, there's also always someone right there - even when you need some space! I'm sure you understand.

Anyway, brownies have always been a favorite in this house, so for the chag, we had brownies for dessert to help make sure everyone was feeling the holiday cheer! And they were a hit, so I'm sharing the latest variation with you.

Pesach Brownies (gluten free, non-gebrokts, pareve)

4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp pesach vanilla (optional)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup potato starch
1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Optional: chocolate frosting (I used part of a jar of pareve chocolate spread) or chocolate chips to mix in to the batter

Mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. In a second bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the wet mix. Mix well with a wooden spoon. If you want to use one bowl, you can, but you'll probably find this needs to be mixed with an electric mixer, rather than a wooden spoon. (Optional: mix in 1/2 package of chocolate chips)

Pour into a large pan (I used a lasagna size pan), and bake at 180 C for about 25 min. I actually baked these in my "Shabbat mode" oven on 140 C (the highest I can leave it on Shabbat mode. I know, that's very strange, but that is what it is) for about 35 or 40 minutes, and it was perfect. But not everyone leaves the baking for the chag, so if you're baking on a weekday, go ahead and bake it at 180 C for 25 min!

Allow to cool before frosting.

Cut. Serve.

YUM. Chocolate craving solved.

Hope you are managing this Pesach, and please know that you're not alone, we're really all in this together. Hang in there!

Whole Spelt and Oat Bran Challah - Vegan

--- Retrieved from http://www.kosherfrugal.com/2013/06/sweet-whole-wheat-and-oat-bran-challah.html --I change up my challah recipe sometimes, and this is our latest favorite version! It's been a hit with my family. If you make it, I'd love to hear your feedback!



Whole Spelt and Oat Bran Challah

8 cups whole spelt flour, sifted
1 cup oat bran  
2/3 cup ground flaxseed  
1 T. salt  
1/2 cup sugar
2.5 cups of lukewarm water*  
1 tsp sugar  
2 tsp dry yeast
1/3 cup oil + a little more for oiling the bowl (I use olive oil most of the time)

 *I find that the amount of water needed varies a lot - depends on the temperature and humidity in my kitchen on a particular day, and different batches of flour behave differently

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! (In the winter I usually make the dough Thursday night before I go to sleep)
 
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. Bake for about 30-40 min at 350 F (175-180C)
Allow to cool before you devour them. These cut much better when they've cooled properly.


Enjoy your Shabbat Challot!

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!

Making "Kiddush"

We're celebrating another learning milestone. This time it is our daughter's turn to complete a seder of mishnayot, so we're making a kiddush. This has become somewhat of a tradition for us to make a kiddush when the kids reach these milestones. I still remember the first one. We sponsored the Kiddush at the Young Israel of Hollywood (FL) Youth Minyan... Now it's about 7 years later, and we are seasoned kiddush-makers! We may not do birthday parties, but we sure do Siyum Parties!

So here's the plan for this one:



Cherry Jam Cake

Cinnamon Cake

Chocolate Cake

Banana Coconut Cake

Granola Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Egg Salad

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Chumus

Crackers

Vegetable platter

Fruit Platter

And then drinks!

I think I have to get to work on this!

Do you ever make kiddushim? I'd love to hear what you do!

Dishwasher Detergent Substitute!

I was running low on dishwasher detergent.

Normally, I use Ecover Dishwashing Tablets (I buy them locally when there's a sale, or I order them from iherb when there's a sale), and I'm generally pleased with them. But it works out to something around a shekel per tablet even with a sale.

So I decided that maybe I could cut back the cost.

I experimented a little, and now I use 1/2 a tablet per load, and it really works just as well as a whole tablet. In fact, I think it may work better!

Overall, I was really pleased with this discovery. It allows me to buy less detergent and use up fewer of those little plastic wrapped tablets. (Each one is individually wrapped, which irks me, since Ecover is supposed to be an environmentally friendly company. I'm not sure it makes sense to wrap them like this from an ecological viewpoint, but I digress...)

But now I was running low, as I didn't stock up enough the last time there was a sale. So, it became experiment time again!

I tried all sorts of combinations - baking soda, citric acid, regular dishwashing detergent (only a drop), washing soda, etc. In the end, I have found a formula that works just about as well in my dishwasher as the Ecover half-tablets do!

I'm so happy to report that all I have to do is put a small amount of 2 ingredients in my dishwasher detergent container and we are good to go!

Yes - I just used baking soda and a bit of fruit and vegetable cleaner! The one I last bought has a spray bottle and I just spray two little spurts on top of 2 tablespoons (give or take) of baking soda. Really simple and I don't have to measure carefully! And best of all, it so simple and it WORKED!

Have you ever found a successful hack for a common household cleaner you were out of?
I'd love to hear about it!

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?

Getting back on track after Pesach

I hope you all enjoyed your Pesach! Ours was a whirlwind of guests - friends and family - and activity. It was great!
Now that the Pesach stuff in my house is packed away, I figured it's time to do a Post-Pesach get back on track "exercise".

I'm going to try to figure out if there is anything we learned about our food consumption from Pesach - either about foods we can live easily without, or foods we can easily substitute with homemade versions...

So I've decided to focus on Ketchup this morning.

My kids love ketchup. My husband does too. I eat it with a few random foods.

I almost always buy ketchup on sale, but this Pesach I went back to an old practice of mine, and I made my own ketchup! And you know, everyone loved the homemade version, as they used to. But sometimes they like the squeeze bottle convenience, as do I, but right now, I think I have to toss that "convenience" thing out the window!

And it's easy (if you take the shortcut and use prepared tomato paste), and costs a lot less than buying processed ketchup.

I know, Ketchup is just a drop in the bucket, but I'd love to hear what kinds of things you find you can live without or make yourself!

This is what's left of our Pesach ketchup. The container started out FULL.

Homemade Ketchup:

Tomato paste ( a can of 28 Bx - cost me about 4 shekels for 560?g)
sugar or honey (just a little)
vinegar (maybe 1/4 cup? I use either apple cider or balsamic)
salt, pepper, onion powder (when I'm out of that, I use a pinch of granulated garlic)
water as needed

I just guess and mix it all together till it tastes right and add water till I get the consistency we like best. Next time I make some, I'll measure it out!

Of course, you can make it with fresh tomatoes and onions and cook it for many hours, but I'm being realistic here - I don't usually have time for that. Plus this way, I don't have dirty pots. I just mix it together in a container I can store in the fridge. Only thing to wash is a spoon!

Pesach Carrot Muffins

I really wanted to make something yummy to share with a gluten-free guest the other day, so I decided it was the perfect time to try out my idea for carrot muffins.

They ARE really yummy.

But, since it's a Pesach recipe, there is one odd instruction - do not try to remove them from the muffin papers until they are COMPLETELY cool. Just trust me on this one!



Carrot muffins - non-gebrokts

2 cups cooked carrots, mashed with a fork (reserve the water you boiled them in for your soup or something else)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla, if you have KLP vanilla
1 c. potato starch
1/2 c. ground nuts
2/3 c. shredded coconut
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

First I mixed together the liquid ingredients (plus the sugar), then I folded in the dry ingredients.

Line muffin tin with paper baking cups. Fill each cup about 1/2 - 2/3 full. I decided to make them small, so I made 18 muffins.

Bake at 175 C for 35 min or so. (They seemed to take longer to bake than my regular muffins.)

Allow to cool completely before serving, or they will stick to the paper, even though they'll taste good!

My 5 yr old ate at least 4 of them today...

Today's Loaf

I was so proud of how my bread came out today, I just had to share a picture!

I used my usual whole-wheat-oatmeal-flaxseed bread recipe, and after the breads were shaped and risen, I brushed water over the tops and sprinkled oats and seeds on them.

Maybe all of you make bread like this, but I don't usually!

Crackers

Just a quick reminder about snack foods!

If you really want to stretch your shekels, don't buy snack foods.

I know, you still need to feed the kids snacks, and fruits and veggies are not the only thing they want to eat.
And you don't want to serve cookies or muffins every day. Too much sugar.

So what do you do?

Go ahead! Make your own crackers! It sounds hard, it seems intimidating, but really it is simple.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
Click here for the recipe 

 

Guest Post - Lachuch Recipe

 Laurie Rappeport has lived in Safed for over 25 years and worked at the Tourist Information Center in the Old Jewish Quarter for 13 years. She continues to be involved in a wide range of projects which are aimed at bringing visitors to Safed to enjoy the religious, historical, cultural and artistic sites and experiences that the city has to offer.

Safed has never been known for its fine cuisine but things may be changing.

The small northern town is recognized as the area where the study of Kabbalah flourished in the Middle Ages, earning Safed the title of the "City of Kabbalah" by which it is still identified today. It is a growing tourist center where people wander the lanes and alleyways of the Old Jewish Quarter and the Artists Quarter, visiting the ancient synagogues, cemetery and mikveh as well as the dozens of art galleries which display Judaica and other types of Israeli art.

But until recently, the eateries in the city were relatively mundane. There are several nice coffee houses in the
center of town, a bagel shop with REAL American bagels and toppings, a vegetarian health food eatery and some meat restaurants which generally serve a typical Israeli meal of salads, meats and chips.

Several years ago a new resident, Ronen, decided to open a restaurant that would offer the kind of Yemenite
food that he loved to eat in his own home growing up. Ronen's "Lachuch" can now be found in the center of the Old Jewish Quarter, along Alkabetz Street directly across from the Tzfat Tourist Information Center.

Ronen started out by serving a number of different dishes at his restaurant. He experimented with jachnun and sahlab and even served gat -- the Yemenite chewing plant -- but in the end, his lachuchs were so popular that he built his eatery around the hot, savory pancake-like dish.

Ronen's lachuchs are a work of art which he creates while standing in the restaurant's open window as he allows customers to watch while he makes each lachuch individually, according to the customer's order. Lachuchs can be rolled up and eaten on-the-go or can be served on a dish with an accompaniment of vegetables and olives.

It may not be possible to duplicate the exact texture of Ronen's lachuchs which he cooks in a cast-iron frying
pan at a very high heat but lachuchs are a healthy, low fat option for breakfast, lunch or dinner and can be easily prepared at home.



Lachuch Recipe:

Yeast mixture
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
Warm water
Proof the yeast by mixing the yeast and sugar in a cup of warm water. When it starts to
bubble, it's ready to use.

Batter

1 cup whole wheat flour (or half whole wheat and half white)
1 tbsp salt
2 cups of warm water
Mix these ingredients together. You want to end up with a runny mixture that's roughly the
consistency of eshel -- runny yogurt -- so if you need to add more warm water, do so.

Pancake

1 tbsp olive oil
Batter
Grated cheese or egg
Slices of tomato, purple onion, mushrooms and chopped parsley
Zaatar spice (hyssop) and Hawaj spice (Yemenite spice)

Heat the pan and add olive oil. The pan should be hot but not so hot that the pancake will
immediately cook when it's poured into the pan. Once the batter has been poured you're going to
need a minute to "set it up." Pour approximately ¼ cup of the batter into the pan and spread it around the pan.

Lay slices of tomato, onion and mushroom around the batter as it cooks. Use any or all of these
vegetables as you wish. Sprinkle the chopped parsley on top.
Sprinkle the zaytar and hawaj over the vegetables. If you don't have either of these spices, it's fine,
but they do add a nice taste to the lachuch.

Sprinkle grated cheese (Ronen uses grated goat cheese in his lachuch for a nice salty taste) over
the cooking pancake or spill in a scrambled egg and spread it over the pancake so that it will cook
on top of the pancake and the vegetables/spices. You can also leave it to cook without any cheese
or egg.

Cover the pan with a lid to allow it to cook evenly.

When the pancake is firm, turn it over. (Ronen flips it...go ahead and try it if you have a good stick-
free pan)

Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top (optional)

Cook the second side for a minute or two.

Lay it on a plate and eat it rolled, in a napkin, or with a fork and knife.

Whole Wheat Challah

I can't post a recipe for my challah. I'm so sorry about that. I have completely stopped measuring when I bake bread. I was inspired by all sorts of stories of traditional cooks who don't use measuring cups and spoons. Instead the just take a fistful or a pinch or pour what looks right...

I make whole wheat challah, and on occasion whole wheat and oatmeal challah. I tried to get rid of the eggs, and the result was fine. So I'm fine with making eggless challah, although to be honest, there are certain members of the family who noticed a textural change when I got rid of the eggs.

So now, I make a low-egg version of challah. But those of you who don't eat eggs can safely leave them out.

Here are my challot this week.
My family prefers challah that is just ever so slightly underdone.

The basic ingredients of my challah are:

2 kg whole wheat flour
ground flaxseed
vital wheat gluten
salt
sugar
2 eggs
oil
yeast, proofed in sugared water (just a bit of sugar) - a lot of water. I add more until the dough gets the right consistency. I find this changes with the seasons... This was one of the reasons I stopped measuring in the first place - the water content of the recipe just never seemed to be quite right. And I'm pretty good at eye-balling my measurements, I think. After all, if there ever is a time when I don't have time to bake challot and there aren't any left in the freezer, EVERYONE complains... So something must be right! (Sorry for bragging...)

Do you ever cook without measuring cups? What do you think of this old-fashioned methodology? 

Making Kefir in the Summer

I must confess. I love where I live. We chose this house because we love the outside more than the inside, though... (we're renting, so at some point I am sure we will have to re-evaluate this issue!)

The kitchen leaves much to be desired, in my opinion. It has an impractical sink - it's a double sink, but the second side is really shallow. (It must be designed for fruit and vegetable washing?) The fridge and the dishwasher both open into the same space (they are at a 90 degree angle to one another) and I find that completely impractical. Imagine cleaning up after a meal, you're trying to wrap up perishables and stash them in the fridge, while the kids are loading the dishwasher, but only one of them can open at a time! It's like a see saw, up and down, up and down, open and closed, open and closed...

The only oven in the room is directly above the dishwasher, so it also opens into the same space as the fridge, and it is smaller than most of my baking pans. It is also one of those weird combination microwave/convection ovens. I had to buy an oven that is big enough to accommodate my baking pans, and I put in the laundry room - that's down one full flight of stairs! And that combination oven? I don't use it.

One more thing - no trisim on the windows! So in the late afternoon, if you are standing at the stovetop or using the counter (say, chopping up vegetables), you get blinded by the sun. (I guess I could go get shades, but that would mean I would have to actively do something to fix the problem, and I'm just not there yet!)

Oh. And no A/C unit in the kitchen. Can you say HOT?

I mean seriously, it is too hot for making kefir in the kitchen. Kefir is supposed to culture at room temperature. But I think they mean normal room temperature. Not 95 degrees Fahrenheit, as far as I know! A few kind readers gave me some tips, but I'm not installing an A/C unit and running it just to keep my Kefir going, and I don't have any cabinets that would qualify as "cool".

As I told you previously, I decided to use the cooler bag with an ice pack to maintain a somewhat steady temp for my culturing jar, until I figured out a better solution.

But that IS the solution! I have been getting perfectly wonderful Kefir, ready in 24-36 hours using this method. My grains are even growing! So, my temporary solution has become my permanent solution. No more stashing the culturing jar in the fridge, unless we are going away (ha! when will that happen?!)

And in case you were wondering, we don't love plain kefir. But we love smoothies, so we blend up kefir with any less than perfect fruit we want to use up, and then everyone enjoys a healthy smoothie! I love being able to feed my family healthy food that they think is a treat (and probiotic rich foods like kefir as really great for your body!)

Whole Wheat (or other grain) and Flaxseed Crackers (vegan)

I haven't been buying crackers. My cracker standards are high, meaning I expect a good cracker to be all natural, made of whole grains, and free of trans-fats. I can't find any affordable crackers that meet these requirements. I had been bending the requirements for a while, but lately I decided it just wasn't a good decision. Expensive AND unhealthy.

So I stopped buying crackers.

And the complaints haven't stopped. I didn't realize just how often my boys were eating crackers dipped in or shmeared with something.

I had to fix the problem, just because I was sick of hearing, "there's nothing to snack on!"
I don't want to hear it anymore...

So we tried making homemade pretzels. Delicious! But a lot of work. Too much for me, in fact.

The cracker requests haven't stopped, but I was intimidated by all the cracker recipes I found. It seemed they had to be unhealthy and a lot of work in order to taste good. And then, I discovered this recipe, that made it sound like healthy crackers could be easy!

So of course I changed the recipe a bit, as I can't get whole wheat pastry flour here. And it seemed like it was missing something. And I wanted to cut back on the oil... In other words, I totally changed the recipe!

Here's what we did:

2 cups stoneground whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup water
somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 cup olive oil

Mix well, but not for a long time. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough out thinly to cover (I made 2 pans with this recipe) baking sheet and cut into squares/whatever shape you want with a knife. Bake at 190 C for about 12-15 min.
My oven baked them slightly unevenly. Oops

But they were delicious. We'll be making more!
Tip: You can use other kinds of flour, they work really well with spelt flour, or with a mix of various grain flours together! Find your favorite and let me know what you do!

Shared with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop on June 5, 2012

Homemade Cashew Butter

Several years when we lived in the US, I was able to purchase Kosher L'Pesach Cashew Butter. It was a splurge. But worth it, especially when I was still completely vegetarian.

My son is a vegetarian and I know he needs more protein now that he's 13 and growing like crazy. He has a fake peanut allergy, but he's willing to eat cashew butter.

I searched high and low, and could not find any Kosher l'Pesach cashew butter in Israel! (Well, I didn't really leave the North...)

Then my friend mentioned she was making her own almond butter for Pesach. After a little consultation, I decided to give homemade cashew butter a try!

I used 1 bag of roasted cashews and added a bit of oil during the processing...

Homemade...

Today my kids laughed when they saw our meal out on the table.

Here's what we had:

Homemade Whole Wheat Pitot (Shortcut version)


Homemade Chumus (made with lemon juice from a lemon *just* picked from our tree)

Fresh Vegetables


Lentils (leftover from last thursday - time to use them up)

Homemade French Fries


Felafel balls

They asked when I was going to learn to make homemade felafel balls. They figured that would be so much better than those frozen store bought ones I've been serving.... One day...

Tuesday, Jan 3, 2012

Oops... I meant to post yesterday's menu yesterday!
Well, better late than never!
Here was supper -


Rice (brown rice)

Sweet and Sour Black Bean Non-Meat Balls (they fell apart in the sauce but were really yummy, I will post a recipe as soon as I can figure out how to get them to hold their shape a bit. Basically it was black beans pureed with onion and garlic (sauteed till carmelized), ground flax seed, oat bran, salt and pepper...) The thing about making these is I really need to know the night before, in order to soak the black beans

Cucumbers

Some people supplemented with the leftover homemade whole wheat pitot and chumus (homemade and soo yummy!) from lunch!

Monday, December 26, 2011

We are hosting some old longtime friends tonight, for a Chanukah visit to the Northern part of Israel. I'm told that their 4 children can be somewhat picky, and I had no idea how to handle the list I was given. So, sorry dear friends, I ignored it, and figured your kids will survive if they have to try something new, or we'll find something to placate them with...

Here's my menu for tonight:

Homemade Oatmeal-Flax Bread

Vegetable soup

Stuffed Baked Potatoes (and a few plain ones, as 2 of my children won't eat them stuffed)

Make your own salad

Apple crisp

I feel like I'm missing something, so I might make something else, not sure yet. Ok, have to get back to preparing for guests!

Chanukah Sameyach!