Roasted Root Vegetables with Date Honey & Balsamic Vinegar

Ok, I will admit it.

I sometimes (often, perhaps), buy vegetables that my family doesn't like.
Particularly root vegetables - turnips and radishes are very often available for 1-2 shekels/kilo,and are also often on the "sug bet" rack. But they're hardy, and even the ones that are "sug bet" are totally fine inside, even if the outside is not the prettiest:

But despite being so affordable and the fact that they are storable for a long time, my family doesn't really like radishes, turnips, and the like. So I HAD to find a way to make them tastier. I often put them in soup, and I like them that way, but some people in my family will poke and prod at them and eat around them...

Today I decided to roast them. I've done it before, and they're ok roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper, but not delish.

This time, I chopped up a bunch of turnips, radishes, carrots that needed to be cooked, onion, and garlic.

I tossed them with olive oil, a large dollop of date honey, balsamic vinegar, some salt, and some crushed black pepper. And put it in the oven to roast at about 220 C.

It started to smell really good, and when it came out, I snuck a few tastes and decided THIS is what I'm doing with those root veggies from now on!

Roasted Vegetable "Gazpacho"

I was really in the mood for gazpacho. Unfortunately, most of my family disagrees with me about gazpacho. Something about pureed raw vegetables really doesn't agree with them.

Then, I had my "aha!" moment. I would mix cooked and raw vegetables in my gazpacho variation. Traditional gazpacho, as far as I know, is all raw. But I am not a traditionalist...

Here's how I made Roasted Vegetable "Gazpacho":

2 tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, sliced
2 green peppers, sliced
3 kishuim (summer squash), sliced
4 cloves of garlic, peeled

Toss all of the above with olive oil, arrange on a large cookie sheet, and roast in your oven at 425 F (220 C), till it's all nicely browning but not burnt.

Remove from oven. Allow to cool somewhat before continuing.

Place roasted vegetables in a large bowl.

Add:
2-4 chopped raw tomatoes (depends on the size and how much raw tomato you want in the soup)
1 diced raw carrot
1 diced raw kohlrabi (or whatever other vegetable you feel like throwing in)

Add water as needed, and puree with an immersion blender.
I added balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste.
Chill well before serving.
Enjoy!

Shabbat Parashat Miketz, Shabbat Chanuka, Dec 23-24, 2011

I am posting a Shabbat menu very late! So sorry for doing that! It has been an amazingly busy beginning of Chanukah... I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday as much as we are enjoying ours!

Here's a quick rundown of our Shabbat Menu:

Homemade Challah (anyone know how to get a shiny crust without an egg-wash? I am trying to figure out the perfect eggless challah!)

Vegetable Soup (with some wild sorrel from my yard)

Honey-ginger soy sauce Chicken (Fri. nite)/Shnitzel (lunch - from the freezer)/Honey-ginger soy sauce Tofu

Stuffed Peppers (from the freezer)


Roasted Kishuim

Roasted Carrots

Carrot Kugel (from the freezer, my 4 yr old is back on her carrot kugel kick!)

Split-Pea Barley Stew in the crock pot

Avocado and tomato salad

If I have time, a cinnamon-oatmeal bread as a breakfast treat. I can't imagine I will get to any baking though, so we'll have some fresh fruit for dessert!
Shabbat Shalom and Have a wonderful Chanukah!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Still cold out, and it's supposed to rain. Not just rain, maybe even a thunderstorm. THAT makes me want to crawl back under my covers! So, here's a menu for warming us all up:

Creamy tomato soup - saute onion (in butter) with salt and allspice, till onion is translucent and fragrant. sprinkle in 2 T. flour and cook 5 min more, while stirring. Add chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh - with fresh, you'll have to cook it longer, but it gives it a really great flavor if you have great tomatoes) and 1/4 t. baking soda. mix the pot and allow to simmer for about 30 min. (but watch it and stir it occasionally) Add water as needed, honey, black pepper if desired. Add a bay leaf to the pot.  Continue to simmer (about another 10 min.). Remove the bay leaf before you add 1 cup of milk or half and half (add it slowly). Don't bring to a boil after adding the milk, just gently reheat and serve (with croutons!)

Grilled cheese sandwiches


Steamed or roasted vegetables (depends what I find in my fridge!)

Shabbat Parashat Eikev, Aug. 19-20

I am back in the business of cooking for my family! The oven is here, and is ready to use.

Here's our Shabbat menu (sorry, I ran out of time to write up recipes!):

Gezpacho
Some sort of Baked or Roasted Chicken
Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Vegetables (I had onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes for this)
Corn Bread
Rice
Fresh Fruit
Chocolate Cake

I also made chocolate chip banana bread, for a Shabbat treat.

What's on your menu?

Tuesday Night, July 12, 2011

Still trying to avoid the supermarket! How much longer can we do this!?

I know that if I don't go buy some fresh fruit tomorrow I will have a mutiny on my hands...

In the meantime, using foods we have here in the house, here's the supper plan:

Cornbread

Rice and Lentils

Roasted Eggplant and Zucchini (have a couple of these hanging out in the fridge that MUST get used!) (served cold)

Spinach Quiche (I have a bag of frozen spinach hanging out in the freezer; this may end up being a crustless quiche. depends how busy the day gets!)

Wednesday night - May 11, 2011

Wow, what a week. I am EXHAUSTED. And exhilarated. This was our first post-aliyah Yom Ha'atzmaut (well, at least for the rest of the family, I DID have a few of those after the time I made aliyah almost 20 yrs ago...). It's so great to be able to celebrate Israel's independence here in Israel!

But now it's back to regular life. Homeschooling is obviously never QUITE ordinary - there are so many things that happen on the spur of the moment (think science experiments and outside-of-the-box art projects all over my kitchen) - but still, we'll say tomorrow will be an ordinary Wednesday... (although that's Art Day, so, there will be mess...)

I feel like I need to plan tomorrow night's supper right now, or we'll end up eating cereal.

On the way to the table:

Black Bean, Tomato, and Lentil Soup (don't forget to soak the black beans overnight first! And if you add ginger to the pot of soup, it helps with the digestive issues beans sometimes cause) - this is going in the crock pot - chopped onion, diced garlic, diced celery, 1/2 c. black beans, 1/2 c. lentils, 5-6 chopped tomatoes, soup stock, ginger, salt, and pepper)

Crustless Broccoli Quiche (I have a bag of broccoli in my freezer from the time I found them on a buy 2 get one free sale)

Roasted Tomatoes, Peppers, and Mushrooms (just toss them with olive oil and roast them in the oven) - using the produce that's hanging out in my fridge - this will be heavy on the tomatoes this time since I bought a ton of tomatoes at 45 agurot/kilo...

Couscous (whole wheat of course) - what could be easier than boiling some water, adding some couscous and seasonings, cover and turn off the flame. let stand for about 5 min...?

Melon - I am so tempted by the peaches and nectarines and all those summer fruits (I keep eyeing those starfruits) coming in, but at 12 NIS/kilo and up (grapes are 30!), I opted for the melon that was 2.89/kilo.

Wednesday night - April 27, 2011

Everyone is craving chametz and kitniyot around here! It was only a week, but they are acting like it was a month! Is your family behaving the same way?

I didn't want a carb overload, but I did want to indulge their cravings a bit, so here's what we  had:


Corn soup (saute onion, garlic, red pepper in olive oil. add frozen corn niblets and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Turn off flame, and puree with an immersion blender. Add some milk, salt, pepper, and fresh chopped scallions (just the green part). Reheat, but don't boil again. Yummy, and easily vegan if you use soymilk or ricemilk...)

Spiral Pasta (whole wheat) with roasted veggies and homemade tomato sauce (we also served plain spiral pasta, and had shredded mozzarella on the table for topping it, for the pickier palettes) Today I roasted onions, red peppers, and zucchini with fresh chopped garlic - the veggies that were just hanging around waiting to be used up!

Make your own salad - lots of lettuce (Yesh has nice, large, crisp heads of lettuce for 1.25 NIS), cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots (all at Yesh for 1.85 or so per kilo), and sliced olives. Served with homemade ranch dressing (still working on the perfect recipe!).

The salad was in my pretty bowls that my 6 year old loves, and thinks are so fancy. She's really into "fancy" things right now, so she ate lots of salad!