Shabbat Menu

So for all I saved buying produce for 2 shekels/kg this week (see the 2 shekel/kg post - and I've bought more since then), I ended up splurging when I found out I could get organic corn on the cob. I find regular Israeli corn on the cob starchy and unpleasant to eat, but last time we got corn on the cob (last summer) we tried the organic ones. And guess what?

They are sweet. And wonderful.

So when I heard I could get some, I went ahead and spent about 50 shekels on it. That's more than I spent on all the other produce I bought this week from the sug bet bins! (So far I've spent about 32 shekels on sug bet produce this week -- and today I found papaya and REAL dark skinned zucchini in the sug bet stuff!)

I guess I wiped out my savings for the week buying corn. 

Oops.

Anyhow, so my Shabbat menu. It's going to be very heavy on the vegetables, as I have a bunch to use, and almost no grains or beans in the house.

Fresh Challot
Vegetable soup
Black Bean Cholent for lunch
Chicken in Honey-Teriyaki marinade
Vegetable lo mein with tofu
Eggplant ? (thinking of making a sweet and spicy sauce using honey and hot peppers as a base)
Spicy Roast Sweet Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Roasted Kishuim and Zucchini
Tomato-Basil Salad
Roasted Bell Peppers (I have green, yellow, red, and orange) - or maybe I will cook them in the grill pan for a change!
Fruit Salad
Chocolate Cake

Seudah Shlishit - banana cake, apple crisp, hard boiled eggs, carrot sticks, and more

And now I need to go to sleep, so I can do all of this tomorrow!
What are you having for Shabbat?

2 shekels/kg for these!

If ever I needed to cut back on spending, it is RIGHT NOW. See, my washing machine died. It was less than 3 yrs old, and I had not planned to replace it so soon. So we have this sudden unexpected expense of a new washing machine!  It is time to sock some money back into savings to cover that "emergency expense".

Anyhow, I always shop pretty frugally, and find myself looking over the sug bet produce pretty frequently, but so far this week I have taken an extra couple of walks past the makolet to see if they'd put anything decent into their sug bet boxes. And they had.

Here's what I found for 2 shekels/kg:

(I actually had already used about 4 red peppers, 15 cucumbers, and 4 kishuim before I remembered to take this picture of my cheap produce)

So we've got carrots, cabbage, red peppers, hot peppers, kishuim, eggplants, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apples, pears, melon, apricots (sadly, just 2 of those), and now-mushy bananas for baking, all for 2 shekels/kilo! I think altogether I spent about 25 shekels on my sug bet purchases. I left the rotten potatoes there, and did not bother with the past prime parsley. But I'm sort of kicking myself for not picking up the garlic -- although I've had bad experiences with past prime garlic in the past, so that's why I skipped it.

Have you found any really great deals to share?

Kosher Casual Deal

Just wanted to let you all know that Kosher Casual has Free Shipping right now on all orders over $99, no coupon code required!

So - get some summer essentials and save!


(And of course, if you're like me you always hit the "sale" section FIRST!)

Let me know if you find something great there!

Click here to shop at Kosher Casual

Weekly Meals

Somehow, my supplies are beginning to run low!

I'm out of oats, black beans, split peas, and sugar. Almost out of pasta, rice, green lentils, honey, and chick peas.

I wasn't actually planning to do much shopping this week, so I guess we'll be "making do"

One day this week I plan to make some food for a  friend who just had a baby, so I'm sure I will end up buying a few supplies to make her a nice meal! (Thinking of making her a lasagna. Or maybe not. I will have to see what I have on hand when I actually get around to cooking! She's a fish-eating vegetarian.)

Here's the plan:

Lunches will be sandwiches and soups and leftovers from supper

Suppers (just listing the main components)

Sunday: Pasta with tomato sauce and veggies and goat cheese


Monday: Whatever is left from Shabbat, supplemented with a fresh potato kugel

Tuesday: Cornbread and Scrambled Eggs (will improvise for the egg allergic daughter)

Wednesday: Baked Potatoes, Something with frozen peas

Thursday: Celebratory post-dance recital meal out ?

Do you plan your weekly menu? Let me know what's on yours this week!

Smoked Salmon Recall

Routine tests have revealed listeria contamination in "Aldag -Eliezer Landau Fish" smoked salmon slices, packages of 100g and 200g. (sold frozen)


The affected products have best by dates of 1.11.14 thru 8.11.14 and from 22.11.14 thru 26.11.14

These products are being removed from store shelves.

Consumers who have already purchased these products are advised not to eat them, and to call the company at 03-923-0402 to arrange a refund.

Click here for the Ministry of Health's press release about this.

Shabbat menu! (and Oven-Fried Chicken/Shnitzel Recipe)

Time to plan for Shabbat!

With a chag in the middle of the week, do any of you also feel like doing a really minimalist Shabbat?

I know I do, and I don't think I have much choice - my carpenter will be dominating my kitchen tomorrow installing the new kitchen cabinet doors and drawers!

(When they are in, I'll post some pics for everyone to see, if you want me to!)

So here's my minimalist Shabbat menu - everything I'm cooking can go in the oven at the same time about 1 hr before Shabbat!

Challot (from the freezer)
Split Pea Soup (intentional leftovers from Yom Tov)
Baked Shnitzel (recipe below)
Oven Baked Rice
Apple Crisp
Roasted Carrots
(Black Bean Cholent?)
Make-your-own-salad

Seudah Shlishit will be more salad, sandwiches, and whatever else I scrounge up

We have a banana breakfast cake in the freezer, and lots of watermelon and other melon and peaches.

So we're good to go!

How about you?

Recipe:
Baked Shnitzel

mix equal parts whole wheat flour and yellow corn meal with spices (I usually use black pepper, cayenne pepper, parsley, and granulated garlic) in a "ziploc"-style bag, or in a bowl.

Coat shnitzel pieces with mixture. 

Arrange in a well oiled baking pan, and bake, covered, at 200 C - coating will get all deliciously crispy. Usually done in about 25 min, but I don't use super-thin shnitzel. 

I do the same with cut up pieces of chicken, only those cook for much longer! I usually leave those for about 1.5 hrs.


This is the very same recipe that I served to my next door neighbor in Florida one Shabbat. The good Southern Rabbi ate some and exclaimed,  "You make good southern fried chicken!"

I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't fried. :-)
 
 

Creamy, Cheesy Potatoes (Goat cheese version)

I wanted something decadent and cheesy this Shavuot. I'm not eating cow's milk right now, but I've been having some goat milk or goat cheese in small quantities without adverse reactions. A friend was asking about scalloped potatoes, so I was inspired by her to make a goat cheese version.

Here's what I did: 

8 or so thinly sliced potatoes

milk (I used goat milk)

1 cup water mixed with 1/8 cup flour, and salt and pepper (I used about 1/2 tsp salr plus a dash of pepper)

olive oil

garlic

goat's milk feta cheese


Place potatoes and enough milk to basically cover them in a saucepan, heat gently, then simmer about 10 min.

Prepare casserole dish by spraying with olive oil (misto-type sprayer is amazing), then sprinkle granulated garlic over the pan.

Pour flour/water/seasoning mixture into pan. Pour potatoes and milk into pan (carefully, they are hot!). Top with crumbled goat feta.

Bake for about 45 min at 200 C. Let stand 10 minutes before serving warm.

It helped me a LOT with my cheese craving!

Granola Cookies

I am posting this recipe because the people who were over and tried it really wanted to have the recipe! So, for those of you who requested it, be sure to make the cookies, share them, and then pass this link along to your friends! :-)

So, here goes!

Granola Cookies
 
2 T. ground flaxseed + 1/2 cup hot water (or 2 eggs) (mine are eggless)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour (I used "white whole wheat" - yes, there is such a thing in Israel too!)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups granola (I used homemade granola, but you can use any granola you like)

optional mix ins - raisins, dried cranberries, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, anything you think will taste good!
(I used 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup chocolate chips, plus about 1 T. shredded coconut)

 



Mix together eggs or flaxseed/water mixture, vanilla, oil, sugar. Fold in dry ingredients. Add mix ins at the end.

ready to go in the oven!

To bake, wet hands and form cookies - flatten them somewhat - and place on cookie sheet.

10 min later, they are ready!

Bake at 190 C for about 10 min. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.








Enjoy! (Watch them fly off the plate!)

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!