Salad Days in Israel

One of the things I love about spending time in Tel Aviv is the diet. Every meal has salad.

Israel has one of the highest longevity rates of Western Countries, especially for men. Despite military service and the obvious stresses of living in a country that phases in and out of war and nuclear threats, Israel is right up there with Sweden, Iceland, Italy and Switzerland.

According to studies, several factors account for this long life: great national health care available to all, tight and cohesive family and community, varying migrant genetic mixes in the population, low alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet.

But I believe the daily consumption of fresh vegetables is key. The salad come as a side with every restaurant meal, and the open air markets practically beg you to buy fruits and vegetables with their abundant and beautiful displays.

And when I come back from time spent in Israel, I always start off making more fresh salads for my family. Starting off, yes, at breakfast.


Unfortunately this focus fades after a few weeks of being back, but this weekend I am trying to remind myself and reanimate our diet.



 One of my consistent sources of inspiration is my mother-in-law Shulamit's table. No matter what time of the day we pop in to say "hi," there is always a bowl of fresh fruit or some steamed artichokes or other vegetable dish just waiting to be eaten.  Here is a sample of side-dishes from a Friday night meal we had over winter break:

 Vegetables triumph! So back to the cutting board for today's dinner salad...

Father's Day

Today we had a Father's Day Brunch for my Dad.

Sunlight speckled table, all three children along with husband Irad, and my mother. My father's phone buzzing as my four siblings called in one by one.

How lucky my children are to have all four grandparents a part of their lives, and how lucky I am to have wonderfully supportive parents, who always want to be with us!

My Dad is a big part of our lives because he is ALWAYS happy to drive my kids around. He always drove all five of us around, too—we are talking about a great deal of driving—a little sideline to his successful career as a physician. I still remember back in the day when patients would send gifts home with him! He finally retired at age 78-yrs-old.

My parents have enabled so much of my own career-travel by staying with my kids, and assisting with driving and baby-sitting (especially when kids were young) to help us fill in some of the blanks that Irad's intense travel schedule created.

The food at brunch wasn't bad either:
Fresh-brewed cardamom coffee,
Home-made Belgian Waffles with mixed berries, syrup and whipped cream,
Fresh bagels (arrived still hot) with cream cheese, butter and lemon jelly
Kale, mushroom and onion frittata
Irad's Home-made Hummus (click here for recipe) with Crudités

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Baking at Home: Cowboy Cookies and Luscious Lemon Cake

Part of our home culture revolves around baking. This goes back to baking with my sisters growing up. It was a great way to procrastinate doing homework. We often felt we liked the batter better so once we made Toll House Cookies and decided not to bake them, just leave the bowl of batter in the fridge. We were never able to finish it and eventually threw it out—so now I understand that "tasting" the batter is completely legal and there will always be something left.

My oldest is a master baker. I mean that quite seriously. At 12 yrs. old he wanted to be a pastry chef and would concoct amazing confections for us: Dobisch Torte, Cinammon Buns, Apple Pie, Lemon Merinque Pie, German Chocolate Cake.

The other day he graced us with Vegan Cowboy Cookies, from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats


As usual he made them with incredible care

 and they came out perfectly! These cookies have completely supplanted Toll House Cookies in my heart, by the way - richer, denser, more texture and variety in the mouth feel. Cowboy Cookies are the Toll House's older, more sophisticated big brother.

For more pictures of Amnon's fabulous vegan cookie skills, check out the article on my vegan cooking blog: http://tofucrossing.com/2011/01/11/an-ode-to-vegan-cookies/



Lately Fat Rabbit is going through her coming-of-age baking explorations. She has been very interested in an old cookbook I have from my grandmother, the old Better Homes cookbook with the red plaid cover which still exists as Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 15th Edition: Gifts from the Kitchen (Better Homes and Gardens Plaid). This weekend she perused it for the perfect cake and chose the Luscious Lemon Cake recipe

And then she chose this frosting recipe.

The results were pretty delicious. But what I was most proud of was our own adaptation. The top layer stuck to the bottom of the pan (couldn't find second layer cake pan!) and so the icing got all tracked with crumbs—we decided to garnish with candied lemon circles to cover the damage, and working out of my head we figured out how to do this: Slice lemons, lay them in a pan, cover with water and sugar, and bring to a boil. We boiled the sugar water and lemons for about half an hour and then removed a set of delicious lemon circles.

As we worked on decorating the cake, and then on tasting it, we forgot about the lemonized sugar water in the pan. It was fun to discover it had turned into a delicious bitter lemon jam, with a lovely clear golden color, which we then ate on toast, and packaged the rest in an airtight container.

The final results: the cake and the lemon jelly

Colorful Fall Salad

This is a colorful and simple salad with a high "wow" factor.

Julienne dinosaur kale, red cabbage and carrots (I use a hand grater to quickly grate the carrots,) mix with a splash of olive oil and the juice of one lemon. Add kosher salt. Slice an avocado over the top, mash it in and mix it all together. For added punch throw in some toasted sunflower seeds.

The result is an incredibly tasty, highly colorful and very nutritious raw salad that will complement any meal. Or pair it with crusty, fresh baked bread for a light lunch.

For more recipes from our vegan household, please visit my vegan cooking blog.