I...I...

I did it.
I decided to make a new blog to share my ideas about yummy healthy inexpensive food.
I hope that it goes well and will help and inspire others.
Check it out!
Healthy Cheap Eats

healthy cheap eats

Saving every last penny or i guess agura in our case, is what I've been doing. Everyone is shocked when they hear how little we spend on food a month. So this got me thinking, maybe I should teach a cooking class on how to make healthy yummy food for little money. I had thought about teaching a healthy cooking class for a while now, and I was also thinking of making lots of yummy food and serving lunch once a week for a good price. But again something else I haven't gotten around to doing.
I mentioned this new class idea to a friend who also taught some cooking classes, but she said I should forget the classes and I should write a book. That is definitely an interesting idea but seems like a lot of work. So all this got me thinking and well then I thought of having a weekly e-mail, but then I thought maybe just write a blog on the food I make. Or maybe I should just do it here on this blog. Soo many ideas!!! Thoughts anyone? Anyone? Bueller?!

Hot Hot Hot

We are having a heat wave and it is SO HOT!!! I don't usually drink coffee but this just sounded so good and refreshing.

The electric company requested that people don't use their air conditioning between 12-5. I wonder how many people actually did that in this 100+ degree weather. We are in summer!

The Best Zucchini Bread On The Planet!

This is the best zucchini bread I have ever had! Sweet Zucchini Bread with Citrus! I have made it a few times and every time I make it everyone raves about how good it is. The best part of this recipe is the orange peel, it adds such a sweet and yummy flavor. Once I may have tried it with both orange and lemon peel, I'm not sure though. But I definitely did use less sugar this time 1 1/2 cups instead of 2 and I think I could even take it down to 1 or less and it would still be fine. I also use all whole wheat flour and it comes out just delicious!
Enjoy!

Not your mom's split pea soup

Looking for a great soup to warm up those winter nights? This is not your regular split pea soup!

I found this recipe a while back and have made it a couple of time now. A great twist on regular split pea soup and even better it is vegetarian! Yum Yum Curried Split Pea Soup.
Enjoy!

Lemony Lentil Soup with Cilantro

Since I found this amazing Lemony Lentil Soup with Cilantro it has become one of my favs! I use more lemon and well probably more cilantro than the recipe calls for but I am not sure since I don't always measure while I am cooking. I love lentils but even people that don't like lentils or the usual lentil soup will like this one. The lemon and cilantro add such a different taste to the lentils and it is really refreshing!

One of the best things about this soup is it i quick and doesn;t use very many ingredients. I actually don't use the allspice and I don't blend anything just saute the onion and add in the lentils water and veggie stock, then when it is almost done add in lemon juice and finely chopped cilantro and serve!

Enjoy!

tut tut it looks like rain

Winter has arrived, two days ago it was still hot and I was still wearing sandals and now today it is so cold and wet I needed to wear my new winter coat. There doesn't seem to be fall here, it really just goes from summer to winter, same with spring, it never seams to arrive it just goes straight from winter to summer. I never seem to live in a place with 4 seasons. now I just live in the extremes, but I guess that's Israel for you, always extreme! for now I am just going to try and stay dry and warm and keep drinking my new favorite tea, bedouin chai with a little agave nectar and soy milk, yum yum!

a far way to have come in a year

Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of my first date with my amazing husband! Wow!
It is hard to believe that it has only been a year since I made aliyah and met my husband.
Just 5 days after arrived and officially became an Israeli I went on my first date with my husband.
To celebrate last night I made yummy black bean burgers and then we went out for ice cream. After enjoying my cone of Ferrero Rocher and Mint Chip we walked past Cafe Hillel, the site of our first date. My husband thought I was cheesy, but I don't care I thought it was cute, and was delighted that he even remembered exactly where we sat.

A year can be filled with so many surprises!

Apple Honey Cookies

I woke up 2 days before Rosh Hashanah wanting to make apple cookies. I didn't really know what this meant so i searched on line for recipes and didn't really find anything too exciting so I decided to make something up based upon what I saw and with a little help from my mom here ya go...

Cream together:
1 cup of suagr
1 cup of honey
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick of margarine

Add:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1-2 diced apples

Drop by spoonful on to foil covered cookie sheet, do not grease.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

They came out pretty good and are kind of a mix between a cookie and a muffin, yummy!
Enjoy!
L'Shanah Tova U'Metukah!

Life

Wow so life has been crazy since my Aliyah. I have started ulpan which is a pretty intense experience. I am learning Hebrew from 8:30am till 1pm. Then from 4pm-6:30pm I am helping this amazing family. I also just got offered a job working for a center for at risk teens in Jerusalem. I will be teaching an art chug (class) and going out on teh streets witha social worker one night a week to reach out to these english speaking teens. This is going to be a very challenging job but I am excited for the challenge and I know that it will make me grow.

I can't belive that it is Rosh Hashanah again! I feel like it was just Rosh Hashannah, the years pas so fast. I decided that I am going to try and make oatmeal apple honey cookies for Rosh Hashannah. I found a couple recipes for appleish cookies that looked kind of good so I am going to combine and well kind make up my own. I'm not sure how they are going to come out but hopefully yummy.
L'Shannah Tovah U'Metukah!!!

Hanging In San Francisco

My second day in the Bay Area I spent the day in San Francisco just hanging out. I walked around tons and then spend the majority of my time sitting, relaxing, reading, and people watching in Dolores Park. The park was full of interesting people just enjoying the sun and the beautiful day. On my way back to the East Bay I stopped at Bi-Rite Creamery and had a cup of homemade ice cream, I had Orange Cardamom and Honey Lavender, such unique flavors!

my bro and my new cousin

where my brother lives


new cousin, 7 months

Birthdays...

It was my birthday and I decided to make Green Tea Cupcakes. I have been wanting to bake with Green Tea for a while but hadn't been able to find Matcha Green Tea in Israel. I think that maybe I just didn't know what to look for but now I do so hopefully I can make yummy Green Tea baked goods. I found this recipe for Green Tea Almond Cookies that I really want to make. For my birthday I ended up making a Green Tea Cake recipe but made them into cupcakes, they are kind of a mix between a cupcake and a muffin though. I also used dried cranberries inside of them. But whatever they are they are vegan and yummy!

So besides the baking my birthday was pretty uneventful, I wasn't really in the mood to do anything too exciting so I didn't do much of anything. My mom and my step-dad and I went out to lunch to a raw restaurant in The Camp and it was pretty good.

My mom is now eating raw so I basically have been too since I have been home for the summer. We usually have a salad everyday but sometimes we get extra fancy and make fun raw food that we "cook" in the dehydrator, food can be heated to 118 degrees without being considered cooked. I have made "lasagna" and "pizza" and "cheese sticks" and it has all been amazing. It was all inspired by this cookbook RAWvolution. I have eaten at the restaurant by the same name on a date once and it was pretty good. The date didn't end up going anywhere but the food was definitely memorable! I don't know if I could eat a completely raw diet but almost raw is pretty ok. The food definitely has flavor and can be very fun to make. I might even continue to eat this way when I get home. I had tried a basically raw diet before after reading Eat To Live but it was hard to do since well as a Jew Shabbat roles around every week and one is required to eat bread (challah) during at least 2 meals, and when you eat with others it is rare to get whole wheat challah, which itself barely fits into the Eat To Live diet itself, but well I guess all any of us can do is teh best that we can to try and live a healthy life!
L'Briyut! (To Health!)

The Event & The Activities

The Event: My Best Friend's Wedding

I of course was late to the wedding, I knew I was going to be late to start out but as I set off in my mom's new Prius I was driving for only 5 minutes when I got pulled over by a cop. I had apparently forgot to turn the lights on. So after the cop handed me my ticket and I said, "This is a great way to say welcome back! Know I know why I moved," I continued on my journey to the wedding. The wedding was great I saw some of my BFF's that I have not seen for almost a year all who of course are married now. It is just so interesting to see all these friends as wives now, to see what has changed and what hasn't.

The event concluded with a back yard barb-q. Apparently they had a whole lamb on a spit, but I only saw a picture and then everyone eating kabobs. There of course was a lot of food, Greek style and friends again. I am so excited for my BFF and her now new hubby, they look so happy and are just beginning this amazing life together. May we all be so lucky to find our soulmates and have the opportunity to gather our friends and family form near and far and feed them!