This recipe is one of those recipes I really want you to make. Vegan white bean and almond meatballs, served in a wonderful and creamy pumpkin curry sauce. It’s both delicious and nutritious main dish, that you just can’t stop eating. This recipe is vegan, gluten-free and generally contains real, natural ingredients, no substitutes for anything. The preparation is simple, but contains several steps, so let’s get started.

What binds the meatballs together is flaxseed. In addition to all the health benefits of flaxseed (fiber, omega 3 and the list goes on), it functions in this recipe just like eggs. Make sure you buy it from trusted stores since flaxseed is sensitive to heat and humidity. Before using flaxseed, it’s necessary to grind it. The easiest way is by using a coffee/spice grinder. You can buy ground flaxseeds if it’s more convenient. In any case, store it in the freezer, that’s what I do. Add a little water to the ground seeds – 2.5-3 tablespoons of water to 1 tablespoon of flaxseed. Mix and let it sit for 10 minutes. During this time the mixture will become slightly gelatinous.

How to make vegan white bean and almonds meatballs?

Start with cooking the potatoes. Peel and cook a medium size potato (about 9 oz/ 250 gr) until soft. You can either cook it in boiling water, in the oven or in the microwave. Strain excess water if any and let it cool. Then, mash the potatoes with a fork to obtain mashed potatoes with a relatively coarse texture.

For preparing the vegan white bean meatballs use a food processor. Place in the food processor cooked white beans, ground almonds, onion, cilantro, ground coriander seeds, salt and black pepper. Add also the flaxseed mixture. Process until a uniform mixture is obtained. If necessary, stop and scrape the mixture from the sides when needed.

Transfer the vegan meatballs mixture to a large bowl. Add the mashed potatoes (the potatoes shouldn’t go in the food processor), and mix well.

Use your very clean hands, preferably a bit wet either by water or olive oil, and form about 20 meatballs, each approximately 4-cm/ 1-inch diameter. Place the vegan meatballs on a baking sheet lined with baking paper or a silicone mat. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until slightly goldened. Allow the meatballs to cool completely before moving them.

While the meatballs are in the oven start preparing the sauce.

Preparing the curry sauce –

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large deep sauté pan. Add chopped onion and cook for about 5 minutes while stirring. Then add chopped celery, cubed pumpkin, sliced carrot and season with finely grated ginger, chopped garlic, curry powder, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cook while stirring for another 5 minutes. Finally add 2 cups of liquid – I added 1.5 cup of water and half a cup of coconut milk. You can use either more or less coconut milk depending on how creamier you want the curry to be, as long as you maintain a proportion of about 2 cups of liquids in total. Cover the pan with a lid, bring to a boil and cook on a medium heat for 20-25 minutes, until the pumpkin softens completely.

After cooking the curry sauce I like to mash it a bit, possibly with a potato masher. That will get you a thick and creamy sauce without adding additional cream or flour.

Add the vegan white bean meatballs to the sauce just a few minutes before serving. If you prepare it in advance – keep the meatballs and the sauce separate. When needed, heat the curry sauce and then add the vegan meatballs to it. Let the meatballs cook in the sauce for about 5 minutes on low heat, lid on. Don’t play or move the meatballs around too much, they are indeed firm, but over-mixing it could damage it. Garnish with chopped cilantro on top, and if you want, also chopped chili. Serve with quinoa or rice.

Looking for more meat free recipes?

• Quinoa salad with sweet potatoes and carrots
• Vegan sweet potato shepherd’s pie
• Farro salad with cauliflower, fennel and tahini dressing
• Vegan quinoa and beet patties

Print Recipe

Vegan White Bean and Almonds Meatballs

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

serves: 20 meatballs

Ingredients:

For the meatballs –

• 1 cup cooked white beans
• 1 cup ground almonds (100 gr/ 3.5 oz)
• 1 medium size potato (250 gr/ 9 oz), cooked
• 1 medium size onion, peeled and quartered
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons of water, see notes
• 1 cup cilantro, leaves and chopped soft stems only
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• bit of olive oil for forming the meatballs

For the curry sauce –

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 500 gr/ 1.1 pounds pumpkin, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 large carrot, sliced into rings
• 2 celery branches, chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger root
• 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½1 cup water
• ½ cup coconut milk, see notes
• handful of chopped cilantro for serving

Instructions:

• Peel the potato, cut into cubes and cook until soft. You can either cook it in boiling water, in the oven or in the microwave. After that, drain any excess water, if any, and allow to cool slightly. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the potato coarsely. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Prepare an oven tray lined with baking paper or silicone roasting mat.
• Place the ground flaxseed in a small bowl. Add 2.5-3 tablespoons of water and mix. Set the mixture aside for 10 minutes before using.
• In a food processor, place cooked white beans, ground almonds, onion, coarsely chopped coriander and the spices – ground coriander seeds, salt and pepper. Add in the flaxseed mixture and process until a smooth texture is obtained. If necessary, occasionally stop the food processor and scrape the mixture from the sides.
• Transfer the bean mixture to a mixing bow. Add the mashed potatoes and mix well.
• Use your very clean hands, preferably greased with some olive oil, and form from the mixture about 20 meatballs, each 4-cm/1-inch diameter. Place the vegan meatballs on the sheet pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the meatballs are slightly golden. Allow the meatballs to cool completely before removing them from the pan, otherwise they could fall apart.
• While the meatballs are in the oven – prepare the curry sauce. In a deep sauté pan heat olive oil. Add chopped onion and sauté for about 5 minutes, stir occasionally. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan, except for the liquids – pumpkin cubes, carrot rings, chopped celery, finely grated ginger, chopped garlic cloves, curry powder, nutmeg powder, salt and black pepper. Sautee for another 5 minutes while stirring.
• Add the liquids – water and coconut milk, mix and cover the pan with a lid. Bring to a boil and then cook with the lid closed on a medium heat until the pumpkin softens, about 20-25 minutes.
• After the curry sauce is cooked completely, mash it coarsy using a potato masher or a fork, to obtain a thicker texture. Notice there is no need to reach a smooth texture.
• Add the vegan meatballs to the sauce just before serving time. If cooking ahead – keep the sauce and the meatballs separately and combine it when wanted. Add the meatballs to the hot curry, cover and cook on a low heat for 5-7 minutes. Avoid mixing and moving the meatballs too much in the pan.
• Serve with lots of chopped cilantro on top. You can add chopped chili pepper if you like. Serve with rice or quinoa. Enjoy!

Notes:

• You can use either cooked white beans out of can/jar or frozen (I use frozen(. When using frozen bean, please allow 10-15 for defrosting outside the freezer before using it.
• You can either buy whole flaxseed or ground flaxseed. If you’re using whole flaxseed – be sure to ground it before use, either by using a coffee grinder or blender. 
• It’s possible to replace the pumpkin with sweet potato or use only carrots
• If desired a creamier sauce you can adjust the amount of coconut milk and add some more, as long as you maintain a total amount of 2 cups of liquid.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Vegan White Bean and Almonds Meatballs הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Sometimes all you need is a good sandwich, and this one is a goooood sandwich. What makes this sandwich so good is the smoky tofu! Thin slices of tofu with barbecue style seasoning. Call it vegan ham, call it vegan pastrami, it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that it’s delicious.

How to make vegan smoky tofu ham?

For making the tofu “ham” use firm tofu. The first step is slicing the tofu.

Slice the tofu into thin slices – about 2-3 mm/ 1/8-inch. Since the tofu is sliced so thin, there’s no need to dry it before marinating.

Making the marinade

The marinade has barbecue style flavors (not accurate BBQ, more inspired by). The main flavor in this marinade is smoked paprika. I looove smoked paprika, and I really recommend keeping one in your pantry. If you don’t use smoked paprika often – you can store it in your freezer. In addition to the smoked paprika, the marinade also has in it soy sauce, silan (date syrup), tomato paste, wine vinegar and black pepper. If you don’t have silan on hand – sub it with maple syrup or molasses. Mix all the ingredients together to a smooth paste.

After preparing the marinade it’s time to marinade the tofu. Use a shallow container and place one layer of the tofu slices. Next, brush the tofu slices with the barbecue style marinade. Place another layer of tofu slices on top, and again spread the marinade on top using a brush. Repeat for all the tofu. If there is any marinade left at the end – pour it on top. Finally, cover the container, either with a lid or plastic wrap, and let it marinade in the fridge for an hour.

Baking the vegan smoky tofu ham –

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Place the vegan tofu “ham” on a tray, lined with baking paper or a silicone mat. The “ham” slices should be placed next to each other and not on top of each other. Using a brush, spread some of the marinade left in the dish. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove it from the oven and carefully flip the tofu slices to the other side. Spread all that is left of the marinade on the tofu slices and bake for another 10 minutes.

Next it’s just a matter of assembling the sandwich. Use any of your favorite bread (for a gluten-free version – use GF bread) or wrap it in lettuce leaves (delicious!). Apply a spread you like – pesto, vegan mayo, tahini etc. And of course – don’t forget to add vegetables.

Keep the vegan tofu “ham” in an airtight container, in the fridge, for up to a week.

Looking for more delicious vegan recipes?

• Vegan white bean and almonds meatballs
• Green lentil and mushroom soup
• Vegan sweet potato shepherd’s pie
• Green curry with charred tofu, green vegetables and coconut cream

Print Recipe

Vegan Smoky Tofu Ham

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

marinating time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

serves: 12 slices

Ingredients:

• 300 gr/ 10 oz firm tofu

For the marinade –

• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp date syrup (silan), you can sub it with maple syrup or molasses
• 1 tbsp wine vinegar
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper

To assemble the sandwich – your favorite bread, spread and vegetables

Instructions:

• Slice firm tofu into thin slices, about 2-3 mm/ 1/8-inch thick.
• Prepare the marinade – in a small bowl place all the ingredients: soy sauce, tomato paste, date syrup, wine vinegar, smoked paprika and ground black pepper. Mix well to obtain a smooth paste.
• Prepare a shalow container and place in it a single layer of tofu slices. Using a brush, spread the tofu slices with some of the marinade. Arrange another layer of tofu slices on top, and again brush it with the marinade. Repeat for all the tofu slices. If there is any marinade left – pour it into the dish on top of the tofu slices. Cover the dish, using a lid or plastic wrap, and transfer to the refrigerator for an hour (possibly up to 12 hours).
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper or silicone mat.
• Arrange the marinated tofu slices on the baking tray in a single layer (not on top of the other). Using a brush, generously spread some of the marinade on the tofu slices, keeping aside the remaining marinade. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. After, carefully remove the tray from the oven and flip the tofu slices to the other side. Brush the tofu slices again with all the remaining marinade and return to the oven to bake for another 10 minutes. Let it cool.
• Use the vegan smoky tofu "ham" and put together a sandwich according to your preferences. Use your favorite bread or make lettuce wraps, along with a good spead and of course vegetables.

  I used a rustic baguette, mint-cilantro pesto, roasted peppers and lettuce. delicious!
• Keep in the fridge for up to a week in an airtight container.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Vegan Smoky Tofu Ham הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

It’s no secret I have a special place in my heart for lentils… and can you blame me? This delicious legume is full of protein and easy to digest. Also, you can find lentils everywhere, it’s cheap, and comes in a variety of colors. Gotta love it. Lentil patties are also a great thing. Easy to make, can be freezed without a problem, and so many flavor options. This recipe is for vegan black lentil patties. Aside of the lentils, the patties have in it mushrooms, sautéed with onions, walnuts and other good things. No eggs needed, no breadcrumbs needed, a great recipe for any day of the week.

The first step is soaking the black lentils. Soaking lentils (or lengumes in general) help digesting it and promots the secretion of good enzymes. The soaking in this recipe should be long, at least 8 hours and possibly more. Soak the lentils in plenty of fresh water, preferably changing the water at least once during this time. Notice that although I definitely recommend soaking the lentils that long, there is a shortcut. You can soak the lentils for half an hour in boiling water. But – the texture of the patties will be a bit softer. At the end of the soaking time, wash the lentils well and drain excess water.

How to make vegan black lentils patties?

The black lentil patties has in it also mushrooms, that are sautéed toghether with onions. Finely mince the mushrooms and an onion. The small size will help to keep the patties stable. Sautée the onions on a pan with some olive oil for about 5 minutes. When the onions soften and become a bit transparent, add the chopped mushrooms. Season with thyme leaves, crushed garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper. Continue sauteing for another 10 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Ath the end, the mushrooms and onions will be soft and golden. keep aside.

In a food processor palce the black lentis (after soaking). Add walnuts, parsley, date syrup (silan)and season with salt and black pepper. Don’t add the mushroom mixture to the food processor, unless you want a very smooth texture (for exapmle if you intend to serve it to kids). Grind all the ingredients well until you get a sticky paste.

Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the sautéed mushrooms and onions and mix well. Of course, if you added the mushroom to the food processor you can skip that part.

Form out of the mixture flattened patties, about 5 cm/2-inch diameter. I prefer baking the vegan black lentil and mushroom patties, but you can also fry it. If baking- place it on a pan, lined with baking paper or a silicone mat and greased with a bit of olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. If youchoose to fry the patties – prefer to do it in olive oil (yes!), on a medium heat until golden.

Serve with tahini or any other dipping sauce on the side. Enjoy!

Looking for more delicious recipes?

• Vegan sweet potato shepherd’s pie
• Farro salad with cauliflower, fennel and tahini dressing
• Vegan smoky tofu ham
• Sautéed green beans with mushrooms

Print Recipe

Vegan Black Lentil Patties with Mushrooms

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

added soaking time for the lentils8 hours hrs

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

serves: 20 patties

Ingredients:

• 1 cup black lentils
• ½ cup walnuts
• ½ cup parsley
• 3 tbsp date syrup (silan), sub it with maple or agave syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsb ground black pepper
• olive oil for oiling the baking tray

for the sautéed mushrooms and onions –

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 200 gr/ 0.5 pound fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3-4 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
• pinch of salt, pinch of ground black pepper

Instructions:

• Start with rinsing the lentils well. Then, soak the black lentils in plenty of fresh water for at least 8 hours. If possible, it will be best to change the water once ot twice during that time. After that rinse the lentils and drain excess water.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper or silicone mat and oiled with a little olive oil.
• Saute the mushrooms – heat 2 tbs of olive oil in a skillet. Add the finely chopped onions and saute, while stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the onions are slightly transparent and soft. Add finely chopped mushrooms, crushed garlic and thyme leaves. Season with a pinch of salt and a pinch of ground black pepper. Saute on a medium heat for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep aside.
• In a food processor, place the black lentils (after soaking, washing and draining), walnuts, parsley, date syrup (silan), 1 tsp of salt and ¼ tsp of ground black pepper. If you want the patties to be in a smooth texture (e.g for kids) add also the mushrooms mixture to the food processor, otherwise leave the mushroom mixture aside. Grind it until a sticky paste is formed. If necessary – stop occasionally the food processor to scrape the sides.

  If you didn't add the mushroom mixture to the food processor – tranfer the lentil mixture to a mixing bowl, add the sauteed mushrooms and mix well.
• Form out of the mixture flattened patties, about 5 cm/2-inch diameter. Place it on the lined baking tray and bake for about 25 minutes, till the patties are golden and firm. Serve with tahini or any other dipping sauce on the side. Enjoy!

Notes:

• Although I recommand to soak the lentils for the full 8 hours, there is a shortcut for it – soak the lentils in boiling water for about half an hour. Keep in mind that this way the patties will change its texture and will be more dense, though still delicious!
• Make sure to finely mince the onion and the mushrooms – it’s important for the stability of the patties.
• The patties can be freezed easily. Prefer defrosting it in room temperature.
• If desired, it’s possible to fry the patties. Prefer to do it in olive oil, on a medium to low heat.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Vegan Black Lentil Patties with Mushrooms הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

My favorite type of noodles for this summer without a doubt are glass noodles. They are light, tasty, take exactly 4 minutes to make and are great to eat hot or cold. For that (and much more), they are ideal to use in a salad. Glass noodle salad in a delicious peanut butter sauce. It has in it lots of crunchy vegetables, sliced as thinly as possible, all wrapped in a gorgeous sauce inspired by thai cuisine.

Glass noodles (also called cellophane noodles) name so because they get transparent after cooking. It usually made from mixing mung bean starch (or other starch) with water. Glass noodles can be prepared either by cooking or simply soaking. If cooking – 3 minutes in boiling water is enough. After that, immediately rinse in cold water (so that the cooking process stops) and strain excess water. If soaking – soak in a bowl with boiling water for about 5 minutes, and immediately afterwards rinse and strain excess water.

How to make?

The vegetables used in this glass noodle salad with peanut butter sauce are mostly hard vegetables. I used carrots, kohlrabi, red cabbage, radishes, scallions and red chili. In addition, the salad has cilantro and basil, as well as coarsely chopped peanuts. That’s a crunchy salad for you! Slice the vegetables as finely and as thinly as possible. It’s more pleasant to eat and also lets the sauce be well absorbed. Ideally you should slice the vegetables using a mandoline slicer. However, if you don’t have one – a good knife will do the job. Just be careful with your fingers.

The salad dressing is important and dominant. I like making salad dressing in a jar with a lid. Place in a jar the peanut butter, soy sauce, maple syrup, lemon juice, sesame oil and finely grated ginger. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, close the lid and shake until a thick and smooth sauce is obtained. Pour the sauce over the salad and mix well until all the ingredients are covered and well wrapped in the sauce. The salad is kept well in the refrigerator for two to three days. Enjoy!

Looking for more great recipes?

• Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots
• Green Curry with Charred Tofu, Green Vegetables and Coconut Cream
• Sautéed Green Beans with Mushrooms
• White Corn and Miso Soup with Chili Oil

Print Recipe

Glass Noodle Salad with Peanut Butter Sauce

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Salad, Side Dish

serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 125 gr/ 5-oz glass noodles
• 2 medium size carrots
• 1 kohlrabi
• ¼ small red cabbage
• 2-3 radishes
• 3 green onion springs
• 1 red chili pepper, more or less to taste
• ½ cup peanuts
• ¼ cup basil, leaves only
• ½ cup cilantro, leaves only

For the sauce –

• 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger root (about 5 cm/ 2-inch)
• A pinch of salt, a pinch of black pepper

Instructions:

• Rinse well all the vegetables, peel the carrots and kohlrabi. Slice the vegetables as thinly as possible with a mandoline slicer or a knife. The carrots, kohlrabi and radishes are sliced ​​into thin sticks. The red cabbage into thin strips. The green onion and chili pepper into thin rings. The peanuts are chopped very coarsely. The basil and coriander leaves can be left whole or very coarsely chopped.
• Cook the glass noodles either using the stoves or by soaking.

  If cooking on the stoves – place the glass noodles in a pot with plenty of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. At the end of cooking, rinse the glass noodles in cold water (to stop the cooking process) and strain off the excess water.

  If by soaking – place the glass noodles in a wide bowl filled with boiling water. Allow the glass noodles in the boiling water for 5 minutes and then rinse the noodles with cold water and strain the excess water.
• Prepare the sauce – in a jar with a lid, place all the sauce ingredients: peanut butter, soy, maple syrup, lemon juice, sesame oil, finely grated ginger, a pinch of salt and a pinch of black pepper. Mix well until a thick and smooth sauce is obtained.
• Place the cooked glass noodles in a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped vegetables on top (carrots, kohlrabi, red cabbage, radishes, scallions, chili peppers, basil and cilantro) and the chopped peanuts. Pour over the peanut butter sauce and mix well until all the ingredients are covered in the sauce. Enjoy!

Notes:

 

• For a gluten-free version, make sure to buy gluten-free ingredients (eg GF glass noodles, GF soy sauce, etc.)
• You can vary the hard vegetables that are added to the salad and change according to your personal taste. Try using peppers of different colors, white cabbage, cucumber, green beans and beets.
• Adjust the amount of chili pepper depending on the degree of spiciness you like.
• Glass noodles often come in large packages. It is easiest to disassemble the package using sizers.

 

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Glass Noodle Salad with Peanut Butter Sauce הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

There is a wonderful salad, originally from North African cuisine, called Mechouia salad (mashwiya). This salad has in it tomatoes, bell peppers and chili peppers, roasted until practically burned on the grill. It has the most wonderful and spicy flavors, which are enhanced with the (good!) taste coming from the vegetables’ charred peel. This wheat salad is based on it. This is a perfect recipe if you are having a BBQ. Simply pre-cook the wheat at home, and than toss the vegetables on the grill. If you want to make it at home, just bake the vegetables in the oven until perfectly roasted.

How to make?

Cooking the wheat berries –

The first part for the wheat salad is cooking the wheat berries. I used regular wheat, but you can also use farro (spelled wheat). Other good options are coarse bulgur (burghul) or freekeh. For a gluten-free version use rice, preferably whole. Firstly rinse the wheat well and drain the water. Some soak the wheat, from an hour to half a day, in plenty of water. This of course shortens the cooking time of the wheat, which is relatively long. The wheat is cooked in plenty of water, similar to pasta. About 45 minutes after boiling. When finished, strain off the excess water and allow the cooked wheat to cool.

Roasting the vegetables –

The next step is roasting the vegetables. Use ripe tomatoes, bell peppers and chili peppers (traditionally green chili). The amount of chili peppers depends on how much you want it hot. There are 3 ways to roast the vegetables: on a grill, on a griddle pan or in the oven. The vegetables are roasted until they are completely cooked and the peel is burnt, even very burnt. If preparing on the grill or in a griddle pan then turn the vegetables from side to side every few minutes until the vegetables are nicely burnt on all sides. In the oven there is no need to turn because the heat is received from all sides. The tomatoes and chili peppers will be ready before the bell peppers so remove them from the heat before or add them later. After finished, transfer the vegetables to a bowl and let them cool slightly.

After the vegetables have cooled, you can use a kitchen towel or clean hands to roughly peel off parts of the peel. However, make sure to leave some of the burnt peel. It adds the burnt taste we’re looking for. Transfer the vegetables to a cutting board and chop them coarsely together.

The last step is assembling the wheat salad. In a large mixing bowl, place the cooked wheat berries and top it with the roasted tomatoes and peppers. Don’t forget to add all the juices of the vegetables left on the board, they have so much flavor in them. Add 4-5 cloves of crushed garlic and chopped parsley. Season with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir gently until all the wheat is covered in the wonderful juices. Enjoy.

Looking for some more wonderful salad recipes?

• Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots
• Lentils and Roasted Beets Salad
• Farro Salad with Cauliflower, Fennel and Tahini Dressing
• Antipasto Brown Rice Salad

Print Recipe

Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Peppers

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course: Salad, Side Dish

serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wheat berries, well washed and drained
• 4-5 ripe tomatoes, medium size
• 2 bell peppers
• 1-2 chili peppers (traditionally green) , use more or less depending on how spicy you prefer
• ½ cup parsely, chopped
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• juice from half a lemon (2-3 tablespoons)
• ½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste + a teaspoon of salt for cooking the wheat
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

• Cooking the wheat berries – place the wheat berries in a pot with plenty of water and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and continue to cook over a medium heat until the wheat is ready, about 45 minutes. If during cooking the water evaporates – add more boiling water. At the end of cooking, drain the wheat from the excess water and allow to cool. If you choose to soak the wheat before cooking, the cooking time will be shorter (see notes at the end of the recipe).
• Cooking and charring the vegetables – can be done on the grill, in a griddle pan or in the oven.

  On the grill or in a griddle pan: make sure that the grill / griddle pan is very hot. Place the tomatoes, bell peppers and chili peppers on the grates/ pan and roast them well until the vegetables are tender and the peel is burnt. Rotate the vegetables every few minutes so that the burn is done on all sides. The tomatoes and chili will take about 15 minutes, the sweet peppers about 25 minutes in total. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

  In the oven: preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Cut the bell peppers lengthwise in half and get rid of the sting and seeds. Place in a pan with the part of the peel facing up and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, add the tomatoes and chili pepper to the pan and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before the next step.
• Roughly peel off some of the vegetables' burnt peel using a clean kitchen towel / kitchen paper or just very clean hands. Make sure not to completely peel the vegetables and leave some of the burnt peel, it has lots of good flavors in it. Remove and discard the stings of the peppers, as well as the seeds. The seeds of the chili pepper can be left, keep in mind that they are spicy of course.
• Transfer the charred vegetables to a cutting board and chop them coarsely. Keep all the wonderful fluids that come from the vegetables, they have plenty of flavors and we'll add it later to the salad.
• In a large mixing bowl place the cooked wheat, burnt and chopped vegetables and all the juices drained from them. Add chopped parsley, crushed garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir gently until all the ingredients are evenly coated. Taste and add salt if necessary. Enjoy!

Notes:

 

• Instead of wheat you can use farro (spelled wheat), freekeh or coarse bulgur. For a gluten-free version, you can use rice, preferably whole rice. Cooking time will vary accordingly.
• Some people prefer to soak the wheat before cooking. Soaking wheat can be from a minimum of an hour to half a day. The cooking time of the wheat will vary accordingly, and can also be 25-30 minutes for wheat that has undergone long soaking.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Peppers הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

This pasta recipe is all about the umami. That fifth flavor that is a bit salty and a bit sour, and mostly is simply umami. There’s no other way to describe it. This recipe combines pasta with mushrooms, sautéed in vegetable oil, along with a miso-based sauce. The miso is mixed with butter, which greatly refines the strong miso flavors. The result is a delicious miso mushroom pasta, simple to make, special, and one that you just can’t stop eating.

Miso is a seasoning paste that comes from Japanese cuisine. It is (mostly) based on soybeans that are fermented together with koji mushrooms. In Japanese cuisine miso is very common and is used for seasoning almost any type of dish. There are many types of miso, but you can roughly divide them into two – the light miso and the dark miso. The light miso (white / yellow) ferments less time than the dark (red), and therefor less salty. In today’s recipe I use dark miso.

How to make this miso mushroom pasta?

The first step is mixing butter with miso. The butter should be soft (but not liquid), so you should take the butter out of the fridge before starting to prepare the recipe. If it is hot outside – a few minutes will do. However, in the winter, take out the butter about half an hour before start. Beat the butter with the miso until a smooth, uniform mixture is obtained. Set aside.

The next step for the miso mushroom pasta is to sauté the mushrooms. I used portabella mushrooms and shimji. You can use any type of mushrooms that are suitable for sautéing, including button mushrooms. Roughly slice the mushrooms. Grease a wide pan with some vegetable oil (neutral in flavors). Than, sauté the mushrooms for a few minutes while stirring. After a few minutes, add about 3 cloves of crushed garlic and continue to cook for another minute, just until you start to smell the garlic. Transfer the mushrooms from the pan to a separate plate.

Cooking the pasta –

Now you can start cooking the pasta. An important pasta rule is that pasta should be transferred immediately after cooking into an already ready sauce. Pasta can’t wait for the sauce, because it almost certainly will leave us with overcooked pasta. In the recipe I use dry pasta. You can use any type of pasta, just pay attention to the cooking time which varies depending on the type of pasta. Cook the pasta one minute less than the cooking time recommended by the manufacturer. That is because the pasta will continue to be cooked in the sauce for another minute.

The last part of preparing the sauce should take only 3-4 minutes. Time to start cooking the pasta accordingly. You can definitely start the next step about 5 minutes before the end of the pasta’s cooking time, and if you have to wait for the pasta to be ready – lower the flame to minimum heat and wait.

Transfer the miso and butter mixture to the same wide pan in which we sautéed the mushrooms. Add one cup of the pasta’s cooking water to the miso mixture. Mix until a smooth, uniform sauce is obtained. Bring the sauce to a boil and add the mushrooms we sautéed and kept aside. Lower the heat and wait until the cooking time of the pasta is over. Add the cooked pasta into the sauce, stir and continue to cook for another minute. Turn off the heat, stir in chopped green onions and serve immediately.

Looking for more great recipes?

• Wild Rice with Red Cabbage
• Lentils and Roasted Beets Salad
• Sautéed Green Beans with Mushrooms
• Vegan Cherry Crumb Bars

Print Recipe

Miso Mushroom Pasta

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: pasta

serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 250 gr/ 9-oz dry pasta
• 2 tablespoons red miso paste
• 3 tablespoons soft butter (40 gr / 1½-oz), regular or vegan
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil (eg canola, grape seeds)
• 400 gr / 13-oz mushrooms , clean and coarsely chopped. use any kind of mushroom suitable for sautéing (button, portabella, shimji, carmine etc.)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• pinch of salt
• 2-3 springs of green onions, chopped
• for cooking the pasta – a pot with plenty of boiling and well-salted water

Instructions:

• Place the miso paste and soft butter in a small mixing bowl. Whisk the miso and butter together until a uniform paste is obtained. Keep aside.
• Heat a wide skillet with vegetable oil. Add the chopped mushrooms, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of black pepper, and sauté while stirring for 2-3 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and continue sautéing, while stirring, for another minute and no more. Transfer the prepared mushrooms to a separate plate and set aside.
• Cook the pasta in a pot with plenty of boiling and well-salted water (at least one teaspoon of salt). The cooking time depends on the pasta you have chosen to use, but in any case the pasta should be cooked one minute less than the cooking time recommended by the manufacturer. Start preparing the next step 5 minutes before the end of the pasta's cooking time.
• Heat a wide pan, the same pan in which we made the mushrooms. Place in it the miso and butter mixture and add one cup of the pasta's cooking water. Mix well until a uniform mixture is obtained and bring to a boil. Add the sautéed mushrooms that we kept aside and mix. If you have to wait until the pasta is ready – then lower to minimum heat and wait until the pasta is done cooking.
• Strain the cooked pasta and transfer it to the prepared miso and mushrooms sauce. Mix well so that all the pasta is covered in the sauce and continue to cook for another 1 minute. Turn off the heat and add chopped green onions. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

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Please let me know how it turned out!
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הפוסט Miso Mushroom Pasta הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

A very delicious quinoa salad, with sweet potatoes, carrots and red onions, which are baked in the oven. The quinoa and baked vegetables are wrapped in a wonderful dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and date syrup (silan), which compliments the sweetness from the baked vegetables. This is the kind of salad that holds up well. You can definitely make it in one day and enjoy it 3-4 days later. If you want to turn this salad into a meal on its own – add cooked chickpeas (protein!)

How to make?

Firstly, preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Peel the sweet potatoes and carrots and slice into cubes. Slice the sweet potatoes into cubes of about 0.5-inch/1.5 cm, and the carrots into smaller cubes – about 0.25-inch/1 cm. Peel the red onion and than cut lengthwise into eighths. Place the vegetables on a baking sheet, drizzle over olive oil and season with a pinch of salt. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.

While the vegetables are in the oven, cook the quinoa. There are two main methods for cooking quinoa. The first is similar to cooking rice and the second is similar to cooking pasta. I like to cook quinoa like rice – in a suitable pot heat olive oil. Add the quinoa and salt to the pot, and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add water in a ratio of 1: 2. That is, for every cup of quinoa – 2 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. After boiling, lower to a low heat and cook until all the water is absorbed into the quinoa, about 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for at least another 5 minutes.

The salad dressing has in it olive oil, lemon juice, date syrup (silan), salt and black pepper. I love silan – date syrup. It has the sweetness of dates and deep flavors. However, if you don’t have silan on hand, you can replace it with maple syrup. There is a bit of sweetness in the dressing that compliments very well with the light sweetness of the baked vegetables. I like to make dressings in a jar – put all the ingredients in, place the lid and shake until well combined.

After that, the final step in the quinoa salad is to assemble it. Place all the ingredients in a bowl: cooked quinoa, baked cubes of sweet potatoes and carrots, baked red onion and chopped parsley. Pour over the dressing and mix well. Enjoy!

Here are some more great recipes for salads :

• Green Salad with Charred Broccoli and Avocado
• Farro Salad with Cauliflower, Fennel and Tahini Dressing
• Antipasto Brown Rice Salad
• Winter Green Salad

Print Recipe

Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Salad, Side Dish

serves: 4

Ingredients:

For cooking the quinoa –

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the baked vegetables –

• 1 sweet potato, medium to larg
• 2 carrots
• 1 red onion
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the dressing –

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoon date syrup (silan) or maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• pinch of black pepper
• ½ cup finely chopped parsley

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Prepare a pan lined with baking paper or a silicone mat.
• Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into 0.5-inch/1.5-2 cm long cubes. Peel and slice the carrots into 0.25-inch/1 cm long cubes. Slice the red onion ​​lengthwise into eighths. Place the chopped vegetables on the baking pan, drizzle over olive oil and season with salt. Mix gently so that all the vegetables are covered in oil and flatten them into one layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are ready and lightly golden.
• At the same time, cook the quinoa. In a small pot, heat olive oil. Add the quinoa and salt, and sauté for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add 2 cups of water, stir and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil, then lower to a low heat and cook until all the water is absorbed into the quinoa, about 25 minutes. Leave the quinoa pot covered for at least 5 more minutes after the end of cooking.
• Prepare the dressing – in a jar with a lid, place all the dressing ingredients. Close the jar and shake until a smooth dressing is obtained.
• Place all the salad ingredients in a suitable bowl – cooked quinoa, baked sweet potato and carrot cubes, baked red onion and chopped parsley. Pour over the dressing and mix gently. Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

This recipe is one of those recipes that have it all. It’s delicious (that’s the main thing right?), simple, quick to prepare and good for our body – sautéed green beans with mushrooms. The beans in the recipe are frozen, the kind I always keep in my freezer. The mushrooms are sautéed with red onions, garlic and spices. Than adding the green beans, that are cooked shortly in boiling water prior to that. The preparation of the whole recipe takes 10 minutes.

A quick word about cleaning the mushrooms. A well-known rule is that you shouldn’t wash mushrooms in water. Rinsing mushrooms means the mushrooms will absorb water into it and damage their texture. As a rule, most edible mushrooms are grown in a sterile environment and do not need to be cleaned at all before use. But, admit I always clean mushrooms by wiping it with clean paper towel or a very clean kitchen towel. I also pluck the tip of their foot.

How to make sautéed green beans with mushrooms?

Start with the sautéing of the mushrooms. In a wide pan, wide enough to later also contain the beans, heat olive oil. Add finely chopped red onion, a pinch of salt and black pepper and sauté while stirring for 2 minutes. After that, add coarsely chopped mushrooms and sauté for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to sweat. Add chopped garlic, and lots of it, and cook for just one more minute, until you start to smell the garlic.

At the same time, prepare the green beans. In the recipe I use frozen green beans, which have a short cooking time. The green beans are cooked in boiling water with half a teaspoon of salt, for 3 minutes. Start counting the time after the second boil. Then, strain the beans and add it to the mushroom mixture.

Along with the green beans, add to the mushroom mixture soy sauce, sesame oil and lots and lots of black pepper. In my opinion there is no need to add salt beyond what we added, and the soy sauce is salty enough, but taste and check according to your personal taste. If necessary – add of course. If you don’t have sesame oil at home – buy it. Really. It’s a great product. Despite its name, it’s usually not used as an oil but as a spice, and it brings great Asian flavors. A small bottle will last you for loads and loads of time.

Stir the mixture gently for a couple of minutes till evenly covered and that’s it. Already ready. You can eat it hot or cold. See the accurate recipe below.

Here are some more side dish you’ll enjoy:

• Baked Acorn Squash with Harissa and Date Honey
• Cauliflower Rice with Mushrooms
• Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Spiced Chickpeas and Yogurt Dressing
• Wild Rice with Red Cabbage

Print Recipe

Sautéed Green Beans with Mushrooms

Prep Time2 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time12 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 10 oz / 250 gr frozen green beans
• 7 oz / 200 gr button or cremini mushrooms, clean and coarsely chopped
• 1 small or ½ big red onion, finely chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce, for GF please use GF soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil, for GF please use GF sesame oil
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• for cooking the green beans – a pot with boiling water and ½ a teaspoon of salt

Instructions:

• Clean the mushrooms with paper towel or a very clean kitchen towel, and slice them roughly.
• Heat a wide skillet with olive oil. Add finely chopped red onion, a pinch of salt and a pinch of black pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
• Add coarsely chopped mushrooms and sauté for another 2 minutes while stirring. Add chopped garlic and cook for another minute until you can smell the garlic.
• At the same time, cook the green beans. Place the green beans in a pot filled with boiling water and ½ a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes from the moment of boiling. Strain.
• Transfer the cooked green beans to the pan with the mushroom mixture. Season with soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper. Mix carefully until the green beans and mushrooms are evenly coated with the seasoning, and cook for another one minute. Turn off the heat and serve. Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Sautéed Green Beans with Mushrooms הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Dreamy and VEGAN shepherd’s pie with green lentils and chestnuts as the base. I replaced the traditional potato puree with sweet potato puree and it’s soooo good. Delicious, comforting and sweet – a real celebration. This recipe has a few steps in it, but trust me – it’s so worthy.

How to make Vegan Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

This vegan sweet potato shepherd’s pie has 2 layers in it – the lentils layer as the base, and the sweet potato layer on top.

The sweet potato layer:

The first step will be cooking the sweet potatoes. There are lots of ways to cook sweet potatoes. One of my favorite methods is to roast it on a bed of coarse salt. That way, there’s no added liquid to the sweet potatoes, and all the sweet and wonderful flavors are highlighted and concentrated. The method is very simple – after thoroughly washing the sweet potatoes, brush it with some olive oil and poke it with a fork or a knife a few times. Prepare a suitable baking pan, and sprinkle cover it with coarse salt. It should be about 1/4-inch (or 0.5 cm) thick. Place the sweet potatoes on the coarse salt bed. Bake on high heat for about an hour, until very soft.

After the sweet potatoes are cooked, cool and then pill off its skin. The sweet potatoes’ skin should come off pretty easily. Place the cooked and pilled sweet potatoes in a bowl and mash them. Since they are so soft, you can easily mash them using a fork. You can also use a potato masher. To the sweet potato puree add olive oil, finely chopped parsley and season according to the recipe.

The lentils’ base:

While the sweet potatoes are in the oven, you can start making the lentils’ layer that is the base of the shepherds pie. Regarding the lentils – I always soak green (and also black) lentils for at least two hours. Soaking lentils is not mandatory, so it’s absolutely your choice whether to soak it or not. Start by briefly sautéing diced onions and celery. Add raw and finely grated sweet potato, and then the rest of the ingredients as listed in the recipe, like chestnuts, oregano, rosemary and crushed tomatoes. As for the chestnuts, I use ready to use peeled and roasted chestnuts.

Cook the lentil mixture over medium-low heat for about half an hour, with the lid closed . During cooking, the lentils will absorb all the liquids and soften. At the end of cooking, leave the lid on for a few more minutes, before moving on to the next step.

Assembling the dish :

Prepare your 8X12-inch (20X30 cm), or similar size, oven safe baking dish and grease it lightly with olive oil. Place the lentils’ layer at the bottom and smooth it. After that, layer the sweet potato puree over. You can use a fork to smooth down the puree and gently score the top a bit.

Bake the vegan sweet potato shepherd’s pie in the oven for one hour. If you desire to get a golden crush on top (and trust me – you do!), carefully take out the shepherd’s pie from the oven after 50 minutes, drizzle some olive oil on top, and return the dish to the oven for the last 10 minutes of baking.

Enjoy!

Looking for more recipes with sweet potatoes?

• Vegan Adzuki Bean, Kale and Sweet Potato Soup
• Lentils and Kale Stuffed Baked Sweet Potato
• Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Spiced Chickpeas and Yogurt Dressing

Print Recipe

Vegan Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

serves: 1 8X12-inch (20X30 cm), or similar size, baking dish

Ingredients:

for the sweet potatoes puree –

• 3 medium size sweet potatoes – about 2.2 pounds/ 1 kg, well washed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

for baking the sweet potatoes –

• 1 pound/ ½ kg coarse salt
• olive oil for brushing the sweet potatoes

for the lentil layer –

• 1 cup green lentils, washed well and drained. although not mandatory – I prefer soaking the lentils for at least 2 hours
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs of celery (1 cup), chopped
• 1 small sweet potato (1 cup), pilled and grated finely
• 3½-oz / 100 gr peeled and roasted chestnuts, coarsely chopped
• 14-oz / 400 gr crushed tomatoes ot tomato puree
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 springs of fresh oregano, chopped, or 1 tablespoon dry oregano
• 1 sprig rosemary (1 tablespoon), chopped
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup water

Instructions:

• starting with baking the potatoes – preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Prepare a baking pan lined with baking paper or silicone mat and sprinkle a thick layer of coarse salt on it, which will serve as a base for the sweet potatoes. Brush the sweet potatoes with some olive oil and prick them all over using a fork. Place them on the coarse salt bed, and bake for about an hour, until the sweet potatoes are very soft. Allow to cool.
• While the sweet potatoes are baking, start preparing the lentils' layer. In a wide, deep pan, heat olive oil. Add chopped onions and celery and sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add finely grated sweet potatoes and chopped garlic and continue to cook for another 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients – coarsely chopped chestnuts, crushed tomatoes (or tomato puree), oregano, rosemary, sweet paprika, salt, black pepper and one cup of water. Mix well, cover and bring to a boil. After boiling, lower to medium-low heat and cook for 25-30 minutes, until all the liquid evaporates and the lentils are soft. Leave covered for a few more minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C, lightly grease a 8X12-inch (20X30 cm, or similar size) baking dish with a little olive oil.
• Prepare the sweet potato puree – remove the peel from the sweet potatoes, it should peels off quite easily. Transfer the sweet potatoes to a bowl and mash the sweet potatoes with a fork or a potato masher. Add to the mixture 2 tablespoons of olive oil, finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper and mix well.
• Assembling the dish: place the lentil stew on the bottom of the baking pan and flatten it using a fork or a spoon. Place the sweet potato puree on top of the lentils' layer and flatten it evenly. If desired, you can move a fork over the top layer and create a nice shape. Bake uncovered for an hour. If you want a nice brown crust of the top layer, carefully take the dish out of the oven after 50 minutes of baking, drizzle over some olive oil and return to the oven for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Vegan Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Like every year, at the end of last year I made a list of things I wanted to do. I’m a list person. I love lists and therefore have millions of these for any cause or purpose. They help me get focused on what I need to do and actually calm me.

Ironically, my list of goals for 2020 included things like reading more books and making a huge jigsaw puzzle (I know, you should always be careful for what you wish for…), which I obviously marked as checked with no problem. However, it also had in it things like getting to know a new country, which weren’t quite as possible this year…

So this year I decided not to make my annual list. Not because I don’t have such, I actually have, and lots of it. But for some reason I don’t feel like it this year, nor do it seems to fit the spirit of current time.

So instead of a list of plans – I made a strawberry shortcake!

My strawberry cake is basically a light sponge cake, topped with sweet strawberries and then an almond streusel … let me tell you one thing – wow. The batter of the cake has in it both almond flour and yoghurt, which makes the cake especially soft.

There are 2 versions to the recipe – one vegetarian and the other vegan. The vegan recipes follows the vegetarian one. Both are excellent!

May we a sweet year!

Looking for more sweet recipes to make you feel good?

• Vegan cherry crumb bars
• Vegan chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate and pistachio
• Upside down orange muffins with semolina and spelt flour
• Vegan tahini ice cream- no churn

Print Recipe

Strawberry Cake with Almond streusel

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Sweet

serves: 1 20″ round cake pan

Ingredients:

• 100 gr / 3½ Oz butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 200 ml /7 Oz natural yogurt or greek yogurt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup ground almonds
• 10 gr / 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 300 gr / ¾ pound strawberries, washed and drained
• dusting sugar for topping as preferred

for the almond streusel –

• ½ cup sliced/ slivered almonds
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, softened )please see notes(

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 330°F/170°C and prepare a baking pan greased or lined with baking paper.
• Prepare the almond streusel mixture – place all the streusel ingredients in a small bowl. Using your clean hands, process the mixture so that all the almonds are evenly coated. Keep aside.
• Wash the strawberries and slice them vertically in half and / or quarters. Keep aside.
• In a mixer bowl with a flat beater on, place soft butter, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Beat the mixture on medium speed until a creamy and even. Add an egg, continue to process until it is absorbed into the mixture and then add the yogurt. Process until a uniform mixture is obtained.
• Add the dry ingredients – flour, ground almonds, baking powder and a pinch of salt and process until a uniform mixture is obtained. If necessary – stop the mixer and scrape the sides with a spatula so that all the ingredients are mixed evenly.
• Transfer the mixture to a greased pan. Arrange over the sliced ​​strawberries and top it with the almond streusel we kept aside.
• Bake for 55 minutes to an hour, until the cake is completely stable and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out dry. Let the cake cool before you slice it.
• After cooling and/ or before serving, sprinkle the cake with dusting sugar.

Notes:

• The recipe is also suitable for 30 cm/ 12-inch bread pan
• you can substitute brown sugar with regular sugar
• As for the streusel – personally I prefer to use coconut oil (love the flavor it adds), but of course you can also use butter. In any case, it should be in a soft state. If the coconut oil/ butter is solid- heat it in the microwave for a few seconds, and if it is liquidish – put it in the fridge for a few minutes.

Print Recipe

Strawberry VEGAN Cake with Almond streusel

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Sweet

serves: 1 20″ round cake pan

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup ground almonds
• 1 cup brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 10 gr / 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 100 ml / ½ cup coconut oil , in a soft or liquid state
• 125 ml /4½ Oz natural or greek vegan yogurt
• 113 gr / 4 oz apple puree
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 300 gr / ¾ pound strawberries, washed and drained
• dusting sugar for topping as preferred

for the almond streusel –

• ½ cup sliced/ slivered almonds
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, softened

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 330°F/170°C and prepare a baking pan greased or lined with baking paper.
• Prepare the almond streusel mixture – place all the streusel ingredients in a small bowl. Using your clean hands, process the mixture so that all the almonds are evenly coated. Keep aside.
• Wash the strawberries and slice them vertically in half and / or quarters. Keep aside.
• In a large mixing bowl place all the dry ingredients: flour, ground almonds, brown sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt, mix. In a separate bowl, place all the wet ingredients: coconut oil (soft to liquid), vegan yogurt, apple puree, lemon juice and vanilla extract, and mix until well combined.
• Add the wet ingredients mixture to the dry ingredients mixture and mix well until a uniform mixture is obtained.
• Transfer the mixture to a greased pan. Arrange over the sliced ​​strawberries and top it with the almond streusel we kept aside.
• Bake for 55 minutes to an hour, until the cake is completely stable and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out dry. Let the cake cool before you slice it.
• After cooling and/ or before serving, sprinkle the cake with dusting sugar.

Notes:

• The recipe is also suitable for 30 cm/ 12-inch bread pan
• you can substitute brown sugar with regular sugar

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Strawberry Cake with Almond Streusel + Vegan Version הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

The weather forecast at the beginning of the week left me no choice but to declare it’s going to be soup week. I am a huge fan of soups, and can eat soups every day, all day. In a week like this I can easily make 4 XL pots of soup. When the weather outside is as stormy as it is now, and the desire to curl up appears, I automatically think what can be brewed into a pot of comforting soup.

This potato and white bean soup sat in my mind for a while. I wanted some kind of a creamy and light shaded soup but with earthy, non-dairy flavors. The best thing about soups is that you can put all kinds of ingredients in one pot and mix them so that you get exactly the balance of flavors you feel like at that moment.

So I thought and imagined it in my head, and perfected it on the stove and it turned out to be one of the best soups I had in a while. Vegan potato and white bean soup, cooked with rosemary, garlic, hot chili flakes and olive oil. I Finished the soup with a little finely chopped parsley and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Amazing how so few ingredients can produce such a depth of flavors.

One extra note about cooking time. The cooking time is mainly determined by the white bean cooking time. The first rule is not to add any salt while cooking the beans – only at the end. The other element is the freshness of the dried beans (how old they are). The older the beans are – the longer it will take for them to soften. The last thing has to be the soaking time. The longer you’ll soak the beans – the faster it’ll be cooked. Therefore, always buy beans from a place you trust, don’t shorten the soaking time, and don’t add salt until the beans are soft.

Looking to be inspire with more delicious soups?

• White corn and miso soup with chili oil
• Green lentil and mushroom soup
• Red lentil and butternut squash soup with spicy coriander pesto

Print Recipe

Vegan Potato and white bean soup

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

beans soaking time8 hours hrs

Total Time1 hour hr 55 minutes mins

Course: Soup

serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white bean, soaked in water for at least 8 hours – that is 1 cup of dried beans before soaking
• 2 large potatoes or 4 medium potatoes, coarsely sliced into medium-sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 spring of rosemary
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced ​​(not chopped nor crushed)
• ½ teaspoon chili flakes
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 6 cups water, plus more if needed
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

• Soak the beans for at least 8 hours. Make sure to replace the soaking water at least once during this time
• Wash the beans, drain it and place it in a large pot. Add olive oil, rosemary, sliced ​​garlic, hot chili flakes, black pepper and water. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat, with the pot partially covered, for 45 minutes until the beans begin to soften. Make sure not to add salt at this time, as salt will delay the softening of the beans. See also notes regarding bean cooking times.
• Add coarsely sliced ​​potatoes to the pot and cook for another 40 minutes, until the beans and potatoes are very soft. If necessary – add more water while cooking.
• Remove the rosemary branch (s), which have shed their leaves. Add salt, stir and cook together for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add finely chopped parsley and fresh lemon juice. Mix well, taste and adjust flavors if necessary. Serve hot of course.

Notes:

• Bean cooking time depends on a number of ingredients and can vary. The fresher the dried beans, that is – the less time spent in the store – the shorter the cooking time. Also, the longer the soaking time of the beans – the shorter the cooking time. In any case, do not add salt while cooking the beans, and this is true for almost all types of legumes, but only at the end.
• Frozen white beans – can be used, although the cooking time will be significantly shortened and with it the flavors that will develop. If you use frozen beans then you should cook it together with the potatoes from the beginning for a time of about 45 minutes. In any case, add salt only at the end of cooking.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Vegan Potato and White Bean Soup הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

So after a while that life seems as if we are living one long week that started somewhere around March, the weather here is finally changing and that brings something new to life, some change. I wont lie, COVID19 made the last few months difficult for me, as for the rest of the world obviously, and the feeling is that everything is stuck in place. And here comes the rain, and there is something new to look at and suddenly it seems that time does pass, even if nothing else has really changed.

The weather is changing, new winds are really blowing, and I understand more than ever that I have to break away from everything that is happening outside, and try to imagine and build a private world for myself. And in my private world autumn is coming, and there is excitement from all kinds of citrus fruits and an abundance of green vegetables returning to the markets. And in my private world the most urgent thing to deal with is hot stews and comforting soups and challah on Shabbat and in general lots of happy pots to gather my family around.

The first soup I chose to make is this soup – a thick and satisfying green lentil soup, with the most modest ingredients but also those that prove that you don’t need too much to make your house a home. And as the soup boiled and bubbled, a gorgeous smell spread in my home that reminded me the smell in my late grandma Fanny’s kitchen, and no one was happier than me.

The making of the soup starts with the french holy trinity (mirepoix) – onions, celery and carrots. It has mushrooms and tomatoes in it, that add depth. And just like any good soup, it must be finished with lots of green herbs and this time it’s cilantro. The cooking time here is relatively short, and in the end I really recommend mashing some of the soup, whether with a hand blender or a potato masher, which gives the soup its amazing texture. Now for the recipe:)

Crazy for soups just like me? Here are some more great options:

• White Corn and Miso Soup with Chili Oil
• Coconut Vegetable and Tofu Curry Soup
• Red Lentil and Butternut Squash with Spicy Coriander Pesto

Print Recipe

Green lentil and mushroom soup

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Course: Soup

serves: 5

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups green lentils, washed and drained. It's not a must to soak lentils, but I usually soak them for at least two hours.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, sliced ​​into rings
• 2 celery stalks, chopped – about half a cup
• 250 gr/ ½ pound mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped – about a cup
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1½ liter/ 6 cups of water or vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cilantro – leaves only, chopped

Instructions:

• In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion and sauté while stirring until transparent, about 3 minutes.
• Add sliced ​​carrots, chopped celery, chopped mushrooms, chopped garlic and the spices – cumin, turmeric and paprika. Be careful not to add salt at this point but only at the end of cooking (adding salt to legumes delays their cooking and leaves the beans stiff). Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Add to the pot the green lentils (well washed and strained of course), chopped tomatoes and water or vegetable stock. Stir and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat without a lid for about 35 minutes, until the lentils and all the vegetables are softened.
• Carefully remove the pot from the heat. Using a hand blender, mash some of the soup to create a thick and delicious texture. Alternatively, you can use a potato masher or mash in a blender about half of the soup. Return the soup to the stoves, add a teaspoon of salt, or more to taste, stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Stir in fresh cilantro, chopped, and serve.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Green Lentil and Mushroom Soup הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Summer is here and it’s so hot outside! And in honor of the heat, today on the blog is a recipe for ice cream! Vegan, delicious and without the need for an ice cream machine. The base of the ice cream is coconut cream (so yes, there is an accompanying taste of coconut of course) and to get the excellent texture of this ice cream you must use a coconut cream of at least 17% fat. The preparation of the ice cream is soooo easy, but before that you must refrigerate the coconut cream (don’t open the can) in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. At this time the coconut cream splits into 2 separate layers. The top layer, and the one we will use, is a very thick cream, and the bottom layer is coconut liquid. This recipe does not require the coconut liquid but don’t throw it away – it can be used for other dishes or smoothies.

The ice cream you get in this recipe is what is call “an adult ice cream”, which means that it’s not too sweet. You can sweeten it more than the recipe indicate, but please try it first as it’s written. For those who want, you can also vary and add to the mixture nuts or chocolate chips or any other addition you like:)

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Vegan tahini ice cream – no churn

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

prior refrigerating of the coconut cream8 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course: Sweet

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of coconut cream- 400 ml /13.9-ounces each, at least 17% fat and chilled for at least 8 hours in the fridge
• 1/2 cup tahini, pure paste
• 1/4 cup silan (date syrup) or maple
• 6 dates – preferably majhoul, chopped

Instructions:

• Before making the ice cream, refrigerate the coconut cream cans for at least 8 hours. During this time, the coconut cream is separated into two layers – the top layer is a very thick layer of only the coconut cream, and below is a layer of the coconut liquid. For the preparation of the ice cream, use only the top and thick layer. The coconut liquid can be kept aside and used for stews or other smoothies.
• Without stirring or shaking the coconut cans, carefully open it. Using a spoon, remove the top and solid layer of coconut cream and place in a bowl. Using a mixer, beat the coconut cream for 3-5 minutes.
• Add raw tahini, silan or maple and chopped dates to the mixture. Beat again only until a uniform mixture is obtained.
• Transfer the mixture to a relatively flat dish and put in the freezer for two hours. That's it, the ice cream is ready! If you freeze the ice cream for a long time, you should take it out a few minutes before serving.

הפוסט Vegan Tahini Ice Cream- No churn הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

It seems like everybody is outside. Walking around, hiking, going to the beach. As if we’re saying: “Don’t want to sit at home. Enough, we stayed at home enough.” Last week I went to my parents. And the funny car GPS, instead of taking me straight down the main road took me on such a bizarre turn through the country side. And the views are so beautiful, everything is green and blooming, and I suddenly realized how much I missed being outside, and all I wanted was to just stop in every corner, lay out some mat, and let my kids soak up some Vitamin D of early summer.

If you ask me, regardless the COVID-19, I’d rather take a deep breath in the fresh air outside rather then visiting the mall any time. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a day at beach, or a hike in nature or even a picnic in the local park, the main thing is to take advantage of this wonderful weather, which will soon be replaced by harsh heat, and preferably with my much loved family or friends.

And naturally when you go out (or any time for that matter), then food is an integral part of the event. Of course you can opt for the canned corn option… but I’m always in favor of taking things up a notch, and certainly when it comes to desserts. These delicious (!!) cherries crumb bars can be made at home, and if you manage not to finish them all, then you may pack them in a nice box and take it with you. So go out, breath the air, take a walk or a picnic, eat well, and of course don’t forget to clean up after you

Amazing and vegan cherry crumb bars that you just have to make. The filling is short-cooked cherries that turn into a kind of quick and yummy jam, and the crumbs get an extra crunch with sliced almonds. This is one of the most delicious things ever. The cherries can be replaced with other fruits, depending on the season, such as strawberries or plums.

Print Recipe

Vegan Cherry Crumb Bars

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Ingredients:

for the dough-

• 2 cups spelled flour
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt

extra for the crumbs-

• 1/2 cup sliced ​​almonds

for the cherry filling-

• 400-gr/ 14-oz cherries, pitted
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

• Prepare the cherry filling: In a small pot, place the pitted cherries, brown sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook on low-medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If at the end of the cooking it feels that the filling is too liquid add another teaspoon of cornstarch. Let cool.
• In a food processor or in a mixing bowl without a food processor, put in spelled flour, ground almonds, brown sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt and stir slightly. Add vanilla extract and coconut oil. If the coconut oil is completely solid, it can be softened slightly in the microwave. Process until a uniform mixture is obtained.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare a baking pan lined with baking paper.
• Use 3/4 of the dough mixture and using your clean hands, spread it evenly to the baking pan. To the remaining dough mixture, add sliced ​​almonds and process it with clean hands for large crumbs.
• Spread the cherry filling on the dough in a single layer. Sprinkle over the crumbs mixture over the entire filling.
• Bake between 35-40 minutes. Cool completely (important!) Before cutting it to your desired size crumb bars.
• Keep in a sealed box for up to 5 days. On hot days you should keep it in the fridge.

הפוסט Vegan Cherry Crumb Bars הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Today’s recipe is all about wild rice. The first thing you need to know about wild rice is that it’s not really rice. It looks a bit like rice, and that is where it got the name wild rice, but it doesn’t belong to the same family. It is considered a healthy grain, and the bonus is that it’s also super tasty.

Wild rice looks a bit like twigs, but after cooking it opens and swells slightly and the its white inside is revealed. You should always make sure to buy it from stores you trust since it’s critical that it would be kept in cool and dry environment.

Its cooking is very simple – heat a little olive oil in a saucepan, add the wild rice and saute for about a minute while stirring. Add water in a ratio of 1: 3 (for every cup of wild rice 3 cups of water), cover and bring to a boil. Lower to low heat and cook for about 50 minutes plus or minus.

In the following recipe I paired the wild rice to the purple cabbage. Both wild rice and cooked cabbage have deep and earthy flavors and they truly compliment each other, not to mention the purple cabbage gives the dish the most amazing color. Because the cabbage itself contains liquids, the recipe calls for less water then the usually needed for cooking wild rice.

If you like this dish you will love:

• Stuffed Cabbage with Freekeh, Dried Fruits and Pine Nuts
• Antipasto Brown Rice Salad

Print Recipe

Wild rice with red cabbage

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wild rice, well washed and drained
• 1/4 red cabbage
• 2 medium onions or one very large one
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar or balsamic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2½ cups of water
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

Instructions:

• Cut out the core of the cabbage. Then thinly slice the cabbage into thin ribbons or strips. Peel the onions, slice in half and then thinly slice the onions into strips as well.
• Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Add the finely sliced ​​onion and sauté until transparent for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the sliced ​​cabbage, coarsely chopped walnuts, chopped garlic, salt and pepper and continue to cook while stirring for another 5 minutes, until the cabbage is slightly reduced in volume.
• Add the washed wild rice, vinegar and water. Mix well, cover and bring to a boil. Lower to low heat (but not the minimum heat – just low heat) and cook for 50-60 minutes. While cooking, stir the dish occasionally – if at some point the liquids run out, then you can add water up to a maximum of an additional half a cup of water. The stew is ready when the wild rice kernels are burst open and the water evaporate completely. Leave the pot covered for an additional 5 minutes after the end of cooking.
• Sprinkle on the chopped parsley and serve. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Wild Rice with Red Cabbage הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

There is this thing about food, and I hope you nod your head (or at least you will soon) agreeing with me. I mean, food is a necessity, there’s no doubt about it. We must eat, even several times a day. It’s our fuel, like oxygen and sleep. But food is much more than that, food is also joy, or sadness, longing for someone or something, comfort. There is food that can place us in seconds in a different time, different place, food that can remind us of people we had in our lives or even remind us of ourselves at a different point in life.

Like potluck meatballs (and let’s agree meatballs don’t really have to include meat it it…). Because although in definition meatballs are food, it’s much more than that. When I see meatballs, it automatically throws me back to my parents’ house, and in my mind I see this beautiful pot with “red meatballs” (that’s how we used to call it), standing on the stove, packed with flavors and love. And me as a little girl looking at this, imagining the plate my mom would serve me soon. Today, as a parent myself, I also know how satisfied my mom must have been, seeing me eating the meatballs she made with so much love.

And as for the meatballs… a ball full of ingredients. A golden opportunity to put all the food groups into one ball, including ones that would not be accepted otherwise. A good meatball has in it proteins, carbs and vegetables (you must have vegetable in a good meatball!), and everything is squeezed into this delicious ball cooked in sauce, which is of course an integral part of the dish itself. How many vegetables my mom fed me through those patties… so many vegetables I feed my kids through the patties I make for them this days…

I’m sure everyone has his or her private memories of this kind, which is exactly what I mean. Because there is this thing about food, most of the times it’s simply something to nourish the body with, but ones in a while it also nourishes the soul.

Today on the blog – vegan meatballs! that are similar to the meatballs I ate as a child only in sight. Those are not my mother’s meatballs, those are my meatballs, full of plant ingredients that reflect who I am today, and still have in it from the child I used to be. The base of the patties is the adzuki bean, which is a delicious and digestible bean, bursting with things that do well for the body and with a shorter cooking time than the usual white beans, making it more useful in everyday life. The patties are completely vegan, and remain solid and wonderful thanks to prior baking them in the oven and short cooking in the sauce.

Print Recipe

4.89 from 9 votes

Vegan Adzuki Bean Meatballs

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Soaking the beans8 hours hrs

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

serves: 24 patties

Ingredients:

for the vegan meatballs-

• 1 cup adzuki bean (before soaking it), soaked for at least 8 hours, well rinsed and drained, alternatively- use 2 cups of cooked adzuki beans
• 1 medium onion
• 1 medium carrot
• 1/2 cup basil
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup natural oats
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

for the sauce-

• 14 oz / 400 gr crushed tomatoes
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup basil + some to serve, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

• Cooking the adzuki beans – place the adzuki beans in a pot with plenty of water (like cooking pasta). It is very important to remember not to add salt, which will delay the cooking of the bean and leave it stiff. Bring to a boil and cook for 40 minutes. Drain.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare a large oven tray lined with baking paper or silicone roasting mat.
• In a food processor, place all the meatballs ingredients – cooked adzuki beans, onion, carrot, basil, pecans, oats, dried oregano, salt and pepper, and grind well until the mixture is uniform.
• Using clean hands, make the meatball – about 2-inch/ 5 cm diameter. Place them on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
• In a wide sauté pan heat olive oil, add finely chopped onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add chopped garlic cloves and cook for another minute. Add crushed tomatoes, water, basil leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. If you want the patties to have lots of sauce, you can add another 7 oz/ 200 grams of crushed tomatoes and half a cup of water.
• Carefully add the baked patties to the cooked sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes, and no longer than that. make sure you don't add the patties to a boiling sauce (it should simmer gently). Sprinkle with basil leaves on serving.

הפוסט Vegan Adzuki Bean Meatballs הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

It’s really is winter out there. It’s cold, and so windy. In other words, there is no better time for a soup then right now! And there’s no better one than this adzuki bean soup, with kale and sweet potatoes.

People walk down the street like hugging themselves, wrapped in coats, hats and scarves. When you look at the people on the street it seems that they just want to arrive to wherever it is there’re going to. Quickly, without getting too entangled along the way. Just to get to where they need to get, preferably somewhere closed, dry and warm.

I feel like here in Israel we’re not built for winter, and not just because of the infrastructure. Because most of the time it’s sunny here, winter can feel weird… We will change plans, cancel events, wait for weather to calm down.

But above all the food… oh the food. Bowls of soups and stews, so much green vegetables… for me the highlight of winter is its food. Warm, family-friendly, cozy, just the opposite of the weather. As if looking to balance what’s going on outside with what we put into our body.

Vegan Adzuki Bean, Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

This soup is just what you want in a cold winter day – it’s warm, delicious, full with things that are good for your body. I am a fan of soups, and in this weather – soup for me is a must.

At the base of the soup is the Azuki bean. With sweet and nutty flavors, this bean is both healthy and easy-to-digest bean. The adzuki bean cooking time is shorter than the regular white bean. Like most legumes, it should be soaked in water for a few hours, at least 6 hours, before cooking. Also, when I soak beans I always soak much more then I need, and then store the rest in the freezer, in suitable bags/containers each contains 1 cup of beans.

It’s important to remember not to add salt when you cook the beans, because adding salt while cooking legumes prevents them to get soft. That’s why, in this case, you should only add salt at the end of the cooking.

Love soups? Here are a few more for you :

• Vegan potato and white bean soup
• Green lentil and mushroom soup
• White corn and miso soup
• Coconut vegetable and tofu curry soup

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Vegan Adzuki Bean, Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

beans soaking time8 hours hrs

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Soup

serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup adzuki beans, soaked in fresh water for at least 8 hours, well washed and drained. the amount is for the dry adzuki beans before soaking.
• 2 medium size sweet potatoes or one large one, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup kale, without the main stem (about 4-5 stalks)
• 1 medium onion (about 1 cup), chopped
• 2-3 sprigs of celery (leaves included), chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 6 cups water
• ½ cup parsley, chopped

Instructions:

• In a deep pot, over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion, chopped celery, turmeric powder, ground nutmeg and black pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the azuki beans to the pot. Make sure you're adding the adzuki beans after they were soaked in water for at least 8 hours, well washed and drained. Add water, bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes after boiling, over medium-high heat.
• Using a knife or your clean hands, remove the central stem from the kale leaves (the central stem has a woody and unpleasant texture). Cut the kale very coarsely, or tear it into large pieces with your hands.
• Add the chopped sweet potatoes and the chopped kale to the pot. Bring to a second boil and cook for another 30 minutes. If necessary – add more water to the pot. At the end of cooking, make sure that the beans and sweet potatoes have softened and only then add salt and mix. Turn off the heat and add chopped parsley. Serve hot and enjoy.

Notes:

• Note that as with most legumes, the salt is added only after the beans have been cooked and are soft. Adding salt to legumes at the beginning of cooking greatly inhibits their softening.
• The beans should be soaked in clean and fresh water for at least 8 hours. It’s highly recommended to change the water at least once during that time. After that, rinse them thoroughly and filter.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Vegan Adzuki Bean, Kale and Sweet Potato Soup הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

20 new year’s resolutions for 2020:

1. Read more books. I recently started putting it on my “must do” list to read at least half an hour a day. I admit, there are days when I really force myself, but it is important for me to reconnect with this simple activity and the quiet it brings with it. It is also important to me that my children will see me read.

2. Produce less garbage. 2019 has been a year with lots of ecological insights. I gave up on all disposable dishes long time ago, I try to sort all my garbage as I should, we all have reusable water bottles and straws and I even reduced dramatically my disposable wipes consumption. In 2020 I’ll step it up even more.

3. Do a billion pieces puzzle (well it doesn’t have to be a billion but you get the point). It’s a hobby I once had and neglected with the kids and the many screens that entered my life in the last decade… This winter, it’s time to mark this section on the list, plus puzzles are really cheap.

4. Discover a new country. A regular guest in every list and, for me, the most deserving. A really long journey abroad with my family is the pinnacle of my dreams, but will probably have to wait until 2021

5. Fix my fear of flights (and maybe some more on the way…). I have the most horrific fear of flights and must take medication before getting on a plane and even that doesn’t always help. It sucks, it paralyzes, I hate it. It seems to me that it’s time for some professional help on the matter… By the way, I’m scheduled to board a flight to London at the end of this month *alone* for the first time in many years, it will be interesting…

6. Take my dog Kutcher for a few days trip. Kutcher will be 14 years old on March. It’s obvious to me that his time with us is not unlimited. It’s time for a joint vacation that includes his three main hobbies – sunbathing, digging pits, and eating lots of cheese.

7. Volunteer. Take Tamar with me.

8. Drink less coffee. I was unsuccessful in 2019, recycling this new year’s resolution.

9. Get my mom’s recipe for her perfect Harirah soup. A hopeless decision, but I promise to try.

10. Not to get excited about laundry piles. Not to get excited about laundry piles. Not to get excited about laundry piles.

11. Continue to discover new music, kicking music, music not appropriate for my age. Keep going to lots of live shows.

12. Finding the perfect hair product for me. It’s unbelievable the amount of energy I’ve been wasting on this lately …

13. Develop hard copy photos, arrange it in albums. We shoot almost every second of our lives and then those moments remain buried (at best) in messy backup drives. I’m ashamed to say how long this section is in my lists …

14. Choose to laugh more at the nonsense the kids make, less to get upset.

15. Listen to more podcasts in traffic jams.

16. Learn to bake really good bread. My knowledge in that area is minimal, plus I really want the smell of bread in my home.

17. Treat myself for a day nap once a week. Either on Friday or Saturday. Or do I have to decide on a specific day for it to happen?

18. Seeing a really good standup performance.

19. Losing my grip on my kids a bit more. Not like I have a choice. Every day they grow older, they are more and more independent, make more and more decisions for themselves. And me? Most days I just try to resist putting them back in my womb.

20. Not to stick to lists.

Have a wonderful 2020 everyone

It’s a new year, and every new start should begin with something sweet – so we’ll have a sweet year! And I swear these cookies are a wonderful choice. Sweet, with a taste that just getting better and better with every bite, so yummy you won’t believe they’re vegan! Vegan chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate and pistachio, don’t say I didn’t warn you:)

Print Recipe

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with White Chocolate and Pistachio

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Sweet

serves: 20 cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (cane or demerara sugar)
• 1/2 cup muscovado (dark brown) sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil in liquid state (heat a few seconds in microwave if needed)
• 1/2 cup apple puree
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegan white chocolate chips or 100 gr/ 4 oz coarsely chopped white chocolate
• 3/4 cup natural pistachio, coarsely chopped

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare an oven tray lined with baking paper or silicone roasting mat.
• In a mixing bowl, place flour, brown sugar, dark brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda powder and a pinch of salt. Stir.
• In a separate bowl, place the wet ingredients: coconut oil, apple puree and vanilla extract. Stir until uniform.
• Transfer the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until the entire dry mixture is assimilated. Add white chocolate chips and chopped pistachio and mix until well combined.
• Make about 5 cm/ 2-inch cookies balls from the mixture (possible with ice cream spoon or with clean hands). Place on the lined tray and flatten the balls with your hands or spoon to obtain a thick disc of 1-1.5 cm/ 0.5-inch high. Don't overcrowd the cookies as they slightly puff during baking.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven until golden and irresistible. Cool and transfer to a sealed box. The cookies are kept for about 5 days, but there is no way they will last that long.

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out!
comment below or share it on instagram and tag #thehappylentils

הפוסט Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with White Chocolate and Pistachio הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

When it comes to stuffed dishes, I really don’t know what I love the most- eating it or preparing it… There is something relaxing, almost therapeutic in their preparation, like all of a sudden a kind of calmness takes over me and I am all aimed at the end result of a fancy stuffed dish pot.

Stuffed food. What a glorious phrase. Always so beautiful, inviting, as if it holds a promise of delicious, warm, family food. When preparing stuffed food, you should come with a muse. Yes, yes, a muse. After all, you’re about to spend the next hour preparing the dish, and that’s before you even start cooking, so a muse will help. I look at it as a quality time with myself 🙂

So there’s a muse, and time too, and now that winter is at full force, spending hours in the kitchen seems like a legitimate activity. And this time I wanted to fill cabbage. I was thinking about this stuffed cabbage long before I actually made it. I thought about what to fill it with, what size of stuffed cabbage I wanted to make, the nuts and dried fruits I would use. I swear I already knew exactly what it would look like and how it would taste like long before I bought cabbage.

And let me tell you – the actual “event” didn’t disappoint. Bowls and pots were scattered all over my kitchen, music in the background, my hair is pulled up in a messy pony tale and I’m floating between the cabbage leaves and the freekeh mixture, imagining Eyal Shani (an israeli chef known for his poetic descriptions of food) doing commentary in the background. And when I saw my pot getting fuller one stuffed cabbage after another, I thought to myself again how beautiful stuffed food looks, and I remembered how my grandmother would fill the smallest zucchinis, I have no idea how she managed to find such small zucchinis at all, and what she would think about me stuffing cabbage leaves, and even without meat

So… as I implied before, you should approach the preparation of the stuffed cabbage with lots of patience and, of course love. The first step will be to boil the cabbage in water, so that the leaves will soften and ready to be rolled. As for size – I like to make them full and plump, but you can make them as you prefer.

I chose to fill the cabbage with freekeh (durum wheat which is roasted or smoked), along with lots of other goodies like pine nuts, prunes and dried cranberries, sauteed onions, lots of parsley and silan (date syrup), which adds another layer of sweetness to the dish. A real treat.

Print Recipe

Stuffed Cabbage with Freekeh, Dried Fruits and Pine Nuts

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time2 hours hrs

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 medium size cabbage

for the freekeh filling-

• 1½ cups freekeh, washed and drained
• 2 medium size onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup wall nuts
• 1/2 cup natural dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup prunes, pitted and chopped
• 1½ cups parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons natural silan (date syrup)
• 1 teaspoon baharat (see notes)
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• boiling water for the softening of the cabbage and for soaking the freekeh

for the sauce-

• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons natural silan (date syrup)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

• Saute the onions- heat a pan or a skillet over medium-low heat with one tablespoon of olive oil. add the onions, a pinch of slat and a pinch of black pepper and saute it while stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes till nice and golden. set aside to chill.
• Preparing the cabbage for stuffing – using a sharp knife, carefully remove the cabbage core by creating a kind of cone around it with the knife. Prepare a large pot, big enough to hold the cabbage, place the cabbage in it and carefully pour over boiling water till the water cover half of the cabbage. cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes on one side, then turn and cook 10 more minutes on the other side. Drain carefully. There are other methods for softening the cabbage – please see notes.
• Once the cabbage has softened, the cabbage leaves can be easily separated by hand- simply peel them and place it aside on a clean plate. Continue separating the cabbage leaves until you reach the leaves that are too small to fill. Keep what is left of the cabbage – we will use it as a bedding for the bottom of the pot.
• Place the freekeh in a medium bowl. Fill the bowl with boiling water, till the water will pass the freekeh by about 2 cm/ ¾-inch. Soak the freekeh in the boiling water for 10 minutes then strain.
• In a large mixing bowl place the strained freekeh, saute onions, pine nuts, dried cranberries, pitted and chopped prunes, chopped parsley, date syrup (silan), bahert, salt and pepper. Stir well.
• Prepare a wide pot or a saute pan that has a lid. Grease the bottom of the pot with a tablespoon of olive oil. Chop the leftover cabbage coarsely and use it to cover the bottom of the pot. If not enough, chop some onions so that the bottom of the pot is covered completely.
• Fill the cabbage – take one cabbage leaf. Each leaf has a central stem that is too thick to roll, so using a knife either remove the central stem completely or polish the stem enough so that the leaf can be rolled (I polish it). Place the cabbage leaf on a clean surface and put about 2 generous tablespoon of the filling in the center of the leaf. Next, fold both sides of the cabbage leaf to the center and then roll it from the bottom up. Place the cabbage leaf in the pot / saute pan, with the seam facing down. Repeat for all cabbage leaves. If there is any filling left at the end, I like to place it in the gaps between all the stuffed cabbages.
• Make the sauce – mix water, silan (date syrup) and salt and pour carefully on the stuffed cabbage leaves. The liquid should cover the cabbage leaves up to about 3/4 of their height.
• Cover the pot / saute pan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Lower to medium-low heat and cook for about an hour. Enjoy:)

Notes:

• There are other methods for softening the cabbage leaves – my mother, for example, puts the cabbage in the freezer over night, and then the leaves are softened and easily separated. You can also soften the cabbage in the microwave – put it in a closed dish suitable for microwave and cook for about 10 minutes.
• Baharat is a spice blend that has in it cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom, salt and pepper (it may contain other ingredients too). If you don’t have baharat you can use allspice or a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg.

הפוסט Stuffed Cabbage with Freekeh, Dried Fruits and Pine Nuts הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Everyone has these dishes he or she makes almost automatically, dishes you cook / prepare without even thinking about it and that the hands kind of “know” what to do. Sometimes these dishes are the ones we make regularly, and then usually we have all the ingredients at home, or at least on the fixed shopping list. For me at this point in life, the dish I make most automatically is… israeli couscous (can you even call israeli couscous a dish? I think you can!) But it’s without a doubt because of my kids, who could eat israeli couscous for breakfast, lunch and dinner if it depended on them. By the way, along with the israeli couscous, and in the same category, is of course simple white rice.

There are dishes that your hands can make automatically because of a certain cooking style. That is, the ingredients can change but the seasoning and the way you cook them remain the same. Like the Moroccan seasoning paprika-cumin-turmeric or the French onion-celery-carrots or something similar. Sometimes the cooking style comes from home, sometimes it’s something we fell in love with on the way and adopted, it really doesn’t matter.

And than there are the dishes that we do automatically even if we haven’t done them for a long time, simply because they are part of who we are. Just like we will always remember the way to our childhood home or our best friend from school’s phone number. If I had to choose one such dish for me, it’ll probably be vegetable soup, but the classic one, like the Jewish chicken soup without the chicken. This soup, even if I wouldn’t make for two years or even ten years, I’ll know automatically- without any recipe, but with lots of love, to bring together the most amazing vegetable soup. It probably won’t be exactly the same as the one I made before (they never are…), but it sure will be from the same family, and that’s exactly the point.

Here is a dish that really didn’t automatically come to me. I don’t usually buy or cook with corn, but I saw these beautiful white corns at my local vegetables store and I just had to buy them. Cooking the corn with the miso creates an interesting combination (I think miso is general has a genius flavor) and all the other additions – roasted corn, chili oil, green onions and coriander are an integral part of the soup and you shouldn’t give up any of them.

One last thing (which is also in the recipe’s notes) – you don’t have to make chili oil. It is possible to buy or use your favorite spicy sauce (including Tabasco), but I wouldn’t give up a little spice in the soup completely since it gives a good balance to the sweetness of the corn.

Print Recipe

White Corn and Miso Soup with Chili Oil

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Soup

serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 3 cups white corn (I used 4 cobs for it)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup miso paste
• 4 cups water
• 2 springs green onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1½ tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

for the chili oil-

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1-2 dried chili peppers

Instructions:

• In a suitable pot on a medium heat warm up a tablespoon of olive oil. Add chopped onions, salt and black pepper, stir and cook while stirring for about 3 minutes, until the onions are softened and golden.
• Add the miso paste and 4 cups of water. Stir well until the miso is melted completely in the liquid.
• Keep aside for later about 1/4 cup of corn. Add the remaining corn to the pot, stir and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat for 40 minutes.
• During this time, roast the corn we kept aside in a small pan with ½ tablespoon of olive oil for about two minutes while stirring. Keep aside.
• Make the chili oil (see notes) – In a small pot, add olive oil and dried chili pepper. Cook on a minimal heat for 20-25 minutes. Minimal heat is required so that the dried chili pepper won't burn or be fried but only allow its flavors to season the oil. Strain if you like (I do).
• Blend the prepared soup either using an immersion blender or a regular blender. Before serving, stir in the roasted corn, green onions and cilantro and drizzle over 2-3 tablespoons of the chili oil. Enjoy 🙂

Notes:

• Chili oil – as I said, you don’t have to make chili oil. You can buy ready made chili oil or use your preferred chili sauce (including Tabasco). It’s also possible to use chili flakes instead. If you choose to prepare the chili oil then of course the dried chilies you choose to use will affect the taste of the oil. There are many types of dried chilies. There are the bigger ones, which are usually less spicy – in this case I would use two. There are the little ones that are usually very spicy, and then I would use one. Feel free to use any chili oil that is left for any other stews.

הפוסט White Corn and Miso Soup with Chili Oil הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

What a crazy life we live here.

I woke up yesterday morning earlier than usual. Not because of any prophetic feeling, Tamar was supposed to go on her class annual trip to Jerusalem so I got up early to arrange all the things she’ll need. When I opened my phone and got updated on the mess in the south of Israel (at that point it was only there) my heart started pounding hard. Missiles on the south again. An hour later, it was already clear that there was not going to be any school trip or school day, and in general all other plans made for this day were just irrelevant.

What a crazy reality we live here.

Shifting to automatic mode. I know exactly what to do and how to behave. Not to be too stressed, not to be too relaxed. Ready, primed. One side of the brain plays with the children, the other side makes sure there is some open window to hear what’s going on outside, if by chance… telling everyone that “everything is fine” but in my mind I can’t avoid so many question marks. Such a surreal life we live sometimes.

I go into my kitchen. It feels like I have to cook, has to put some normality into everything that’s going on outside. Next week we will all forget again that all this has happened, or at least we will try to pretend so. That, too, is part of our life here.

I love squash. any kind. Squashes are so comforting and satisfying. Roasting the acorn squash,which is relatively sweet, along with the sweet date syrup (silan), combined with the spicy harissa, gives a kind of “kick” to the dish and you get this exciting side dish you just can’t stop to eat.

Print Recipe

Baked Acorn Squash with Harissa and Date Honey (Silan)

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 units acorn squash
• 2 tablespoons Silan (date honey syrup), natural
• 1 tablespoon harissa – I always use spicy harissa
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare a large oven tray lined with baking paper or silicone roasting mat.
• Slice the acorn squashes horizontally into slices about ½-inch/ 1-cm thick. Using a spoon, remove the acorn seeds from the center of the slices.
• In a mixing bowl, put silan (date syrup), harissa, olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix to combine. Pour the mixture over the acorn squash slices and mix so that all the slices are evenly coated.
• Spread the acorn squash slices in a single-layer over your baking sheet/mat. Sprinkle over thyme branches and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the acorn squash is golden and soft.

הפוסט Baked Acorn Squash with Harissa and Date Honey הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

I came to India for the first time almost 20 years ago. It took me less than two hours to decide that it was a huge mistake and to book a plane ticket (!) for the next day to Nepal. Something about the hustle and bustle of Delhi couldn’t connect with me at the beginning, It was almost frightening. After a month in Nepal, I came back to India, and this time I fell in love, and stayed. I stayed a little over six months to be exact. I returned to India twice more since then.

India is like nothing I’ve known before It is colorful and monotonous, noisy and quiet, green and yellow, India is so huge, so different, and for me, it allowed me to be who I wanted to be. There was no other place (or time) where I was so free and self-centered, and probably never will be.

I wish I could tell about all the amazing flavors of the Indian cuisine and how I would watch Indian men and women cook all kinds of things at dahbas along the way, but the truth is that I don’t have much of such stories. Maybe because the experience I was in was different, but too many times I just found myself eating some omelette sandwich, and at that time, for me, the Indian cuisine was limited to only a few dishes.

It was only when I came back home that I fell in love with Indian food in particular and asian food in general. It started out from missing that time and place, but of course it continued because of the excellent cuisine. Obviously there are million types of asian cuisines, even only in India, but for me there is a thread that connects between all of them, spices and herbs that appear again and again and characterize these dishes in taste, smell and appearance. And above all, as always, this wonderful thing called food is much more than just a collection of flavors, it can, in a second, awake and ignite experiences, remind us of places and smells, and almost take us to a completely different time and location than we are at.

This particular curry is more Thai curry than Indian one, just saying. I built this curry from scratch, and although there are so many store-bought curry pastes, and even pretty good ones, it’s fun to sometimes make your own curry and to be able to control exactly the flavors in it, not to mention it’s really super easy 🙂

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Green Curry with Charred Tofu, Green Vegetables and Coconut Cream

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

serves: 4

Ingredients:

for the curry paste-

• 1 red onion
• 1 cup fresh coriander (about a half of a nice bunch)
• 2 green or red chili peppers (please see notes)
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 5 cm / 2 inch piece of ginger
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (please use GF if needed)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

the rest of the ingredients-

• 300 gr / 11 oz firm tofu
• 400 ml / 14 oz coconut cream
• 300 gr / 11 oz broccoli florets, cut into medium size florets
• 150 gr / 6 oz green bean, cut into bite size
• 150 gr / 6 oz peas (about 1 cup), I used frozen peas
• 1/2 bunch coriander, chopped
• 2 stems green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup basil

Instructions:

• Tofu – slice the tofu into medium cubes and place them on a clean towel or a few paper towels. place another clean towel (or a few papers towels) on top of the cubed tofu and press it down gently in order to squeeze the liquids out of the tofu. This is probably the most important thing in the preparation of a good charred tofu. Heat a non-stick pan for 3-4 minutes (if you don't have one- add to the pan one tablespoon of vegetable oil), when the pan is really hot gently place the tofu cubes in it. Let the tofu char well for 2-3 minutes on each side, keep aside.
• – Before starting to prepare the paste, gently crush the cumin and coriander seeds to release their flavors using a mortar and pestle. If you don't have one (buy!) you can use a spice grinder or even a rolling pin. Cut the lemongrass, remove all the tough and woody outer leaves and chop roughly.
• Preparing the curry paste – In a food processor, place all the curry paste ingredients – red onion, coriander, chili pepper, crushed cumin and coriander seeds, ginger, chopped lemongrass, garlic, soy sauce and brown sugar. Feel free to roughly chop the ingredients before placing them in the food processor (see notes). Turn on the processor and grind all the ingredients for a few minutes until you get a uniform curry paste. Make sure to stop the food processor from time to time so you could scrape the sides of the food processor. That's it, you made a curry paste 🙂
• In a deep and wide sauté pan, or a large pan, place the curry paste and heat it for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add coconut cream, mix well and bring to a boil. Continue to cook for another 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add to the pan the broccoli florets and charred tofu, stir and cook for 5-7 minutes on a medium heat. Add the peas and green beans and cook for another 4 minutes. Stir occasionally.
• Before serving, sprinkle generously with coriander leaves, basil leaves and chopped green onions. Serve alongside rice. Bon appetit!

Notes:

• As mentioned, most of the sauce is observed in the vegetables. If you want extra sauce, you can add 1 cup of water or another cup of coconut cream to the pan when adding the coconut cream.
• Chili Pepper – you can use either green or red. The dish is spicy to a medium degree, feel free to add or reduce one chili if you’d like. If you don’t like spicy food you can add the chili without the seeds in it and if you really don’t like spicy food then don’t put any chili in it. 
• Food processor – preparing the curry paste in a food processor makes it really easy. Each food processor has a different strength and there’s no one who knows your food processor better than you so chop and slice the ingredients before placing them in the food processor as needed. You can use a pole blender, but then the ingredients need to be chopped really well, including crushing the garlic and grating the ginger.
• You can use frozen beans.
• Don’t try to taste the curry paste before you add it to the coconut cream. I mean, you can try, but the paste is of course concentrated on its flavors. It will balance in the dish.

הפוסט Green Curry with Charred Tofu, Green Vegetables and Coconut Cream הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

As a child, we used to spend every Yom Kippur in my mom’s hometown city (Nahariya), where most of my mom’s family still lives. I can’t remember exactly if we slept at my late grandmother’s house or at my aunts, and the truth is that it doesn’t really matter, because for the 25 hours of Yom Kippur I couldn’t care less about grownups. Yom Kippur was all about my cousins, hanging out with them, moving from that park to this garden, from one aunt’s house to another, living in a children only world without any adult supervising (or at least that how if felt …).

I remember we were fascinated by the fasting. We constantly calculated how much hours we’d been fasting already (more like minutes…) and how much more we can last. We were little kids, so the fast was pretty much over by the time it was dinner time, 2-3 hours after it began, but that didn’t stop us from giving each other advises on how not to be hungry and getting into epic kids’ discussions about whether chewing gum is allowed on Yom Kippur, since it’s not really food but kinda is..

I remember one Yom Kippur we caught one of my cousins, who was already at the age that you suppose to fast in, eating chicken in his bedroom. For us kids, this was the biggest scandal to say the least, at that time I thought everyone who was old enough fast. We spent all that Yom Kippur deliberating whether to tell his mother and maybe get him into big troubles, or not to tell. In the end we didn’t tell, even though we all thought we should. At the moment of truth, no child was brave enough for the task. Today it’s quite clear to me that of course his mother knew that, how else did a plate full of chicken got to his room, but as a child I didn’t think that far.

When the time came, and the sun began to set, we all gathered in the synagogue’s square. Our kids’ world began, once again, to mix into the adults’ world, and we all looked to find three stars in the sky and hear the shofar, to single us the fast is over. After, we went to my grandma’s house and my dad, who always looked somehow close to god on Yom Kippur, blessed all kinds of things like wine and bread and this good smelling herbs. Then we always ate this very high and delicious orange cake and drink tea.
On the same night, we would return to our home in Kiryat Haim, and on the way back I would dream about the next Yom Kippur, and how maybe, only maybe, this time I’ll be grown-up enough to fast…

This recipe for oatmeal vegan cookies with apples has both oatmeal and granola in it, to help getting crunchier texture. The choice of the granola is important here, and I, of course recommend using my excellent homemade granola

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Vegan Oatmeal Cookies with Apples

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack, Sweet

serves: 20 cookies

Ingredients:

• 3½ oz coconut oil, in a soft to liquid texture (heat slightly in microwave if solid)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 oz apple puree, natural
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup granola
• 1 cut apple into tiny cubes (about a quarter of an inch)

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
• ,In a mixing bowl, place coconut oil in a soft or liquid state (if solid – slightly warm beforehand) sugar of two kinds, and mix. Add apple puree and stir again. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and stir until all ingredients are incorporated into the mixture. Finally add oats and granola and mix until uniform.
• Using an ice cream spoon or just a spoon, make dough balls about 1.5 inch in diameter and place on the baking paper, flatten the cookies to about half an inch high and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Cool.
• The cookies are at their best fresh out of the oven, and can be kept well in a sealed box for up to a week.

הפוסט Vegan Oatmeal Cookies with Apples הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

I received two bags of beets this week. The first one had young and small white beets, the second had inside orange beets that were plump and fresh. All the beets had long stems and abundant leaves, all of them covered with soil, and to me that was very moving. Something about seeing soil on your vegetables automatically makes me believe in their taste and instantly there are like a million things I want to do with them.

I don’t know where you buy your vegetables, but for me it’s something that keeps me busy. For example, I can’t bring myself to buy cheap (and often not that red) tomatoes at the supermarket, just can’t. So I always at the look for good vegetables, and of course that I always find them. I also try to buy vegetables in their season, especially those vegetables that are on the markets for only a short period of time, and I find that it brings me a feeling of festivity to my kitchen and adds tons of interest to the whole cooking process.

This obsession I have with vegetables, or any other ingredient that comes into my kitchen, isn’t just because. It comes from a true belief that when I have love and pride in the food I put on my plate, then not only this food will taste better, it will be more nutritious. Not just from the nutritional values point of view, but in what it does to my soul. And this is without mentioning that when the ingredients are good, so of course dealing with it is much simpler – there is no need for that many spices or any other additions to elevate the taste of the dish, the starting point is already excellent, you just need to allow that vegetable (or any other main ingredient) shine.

One last confession before the recipe – my “plate pride” is severely compromised by my kids’ plates… While I make sure to eat salads of all colors, they prefer the israeli couscous, white bread and all kinds of other beige foods … I personally know lots of kids who eat vegetables, sadly not mine… But I’m not discouraged. I have my methods to make sure they’ll get those vitamins like carefully and meticulously adding zucchini and carrots to a tomato sauce (and of course grinding everything so they won’t notice it), preparing them delicious shakes and smoothies filled with fresh fruit, and in general pretty much willing to try any relevant trick. Once every other day I complain to my mom about their vegetable eating habits, and she smiles while reminding me that I, too, as a child, was a very poor vegetable consumer and look at me today – getting excited about beets covered in soil…

For the beets, that came with soil on them, I had to pair the lentils that for me are like soil. Along with the lentils are fresh roquette leaves, walnuts and feta cheese, seasoned with pomegranate concentrate and balsamic vinegar. The resulting salad is delicious, satisfying, with sweetness and sourness highlighted by both the beets and the pomegranate concentrate. Enjoy

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Lentils and Roasted Beets Salas

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course: Salad, Side Dish

serves: 4

Ingredients:

for the roasted beets:

• 3 medium size beets (I used orange beets but you could use any kind of beets)
• 1 cup coarse salt
• some olive oil for oiling the beets

other salad ingredients:

• 1/2 cup black lentils, washed and drained (I always soak black lentils for at least a couple of hours)
• 2 cups beet greens, coarsely chopped. please divide into stems and leaves
• 3/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup roquette (you can use more if you'd like)

for the dressing:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate concentrate
• 1 tablespoon balsamic cream vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste (at least 1/2 teaspoon each)

Instructions:

• Roasting beets – Preheat the oven to  400°F/200°C . Rinse the beets well, chop the leaves if any and keep aside. Line a small trey or other dish suitable for the oven in baking paper and pour on it the coarse salt, which will be the bedding for beets. Grease the beets with a little olive oil, place them on the coarse salt and bake in the oven for one and a half to two hours, depending on the size of the beets. At the end of the roasting the beets will be squishy and soft.
• In a small pot, place the black lentils and the beet greens, along with a large amount of water (like pasta). Bring to a boil and cook for 20-25 minutes, depending on the soaking time of the lentils. 5 minutes before cooking is finished, add the beet leaves, stir, and continue cooking. Strain the mixture and cool.
• Make the dressing- In a small jar with a lid (or any other utensil) place all the ingredients for the dressing and shake / mix until the dressing is smooth and even.
• Assembling the salad – In a large bowl put the mixture of lentils and beets, walnuts, roquette and feta cheese. Keep some of the walnuts and feta aside, for decoration at the end. Peel the beets, they should be peeled easily, and cut them into large pieces – squares or eighths, and add to the other ingredients. Sprinkle most of the dressing over, keep slightly aside, and gently stir until fully covered.
• Transfer the salad to a serving bowl. Top it with the walnuts and feta cheese that we kept on the side and sprinkled over the rest of the sauce.

Notes:

 

 

• Instead of beet greens you can use kale, without the stems, or spinach.
• The salad can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days, and is also fun to eat cold. If preparing in advance, or preparing a large amount, you should of course add the roquette just before serving.

הפוסט Lentils and Roasted Beets Salad הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

My mom is under pressure. Pesach is coming. Pesach is, of course, the jewish holiday in which jewish people are not supposed to own or eat hametz- any kind of food that has wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt in it. It’s been a month that my parents’ home life revolves around Pesach, that will arrive in three weeks and one day exactly. Pesach is also called the freedom holiday. Well… it doesn’t feel like it when you look at my mom. She hasn’t stopped working for three weeks. She’s busy. Cleaning and throwing, throwing and cleaning. Just working constantly. Now, my mom is not religious. She fasted on Yom Kippur, sure, but there’s no way you can call her religious, her madness for the Pesach cleaning comes from a deeper place. Probably from her home, her childhood, her mother.

Ever since I can remember myself, Pesach is sacred.

Every year since I was a child, life in my parents’ home has been going on like this: one month before Pesach, you don’t buy any new chametz. Three weeks before Pesach, there is only one small shelf in the fridge + one basket on the kitchen counter, and there, and only there, it is permissible to put chametz. Two weeks before Pesach, my mom begins to throw out all of her spices, because of the possibility they’ve been touched by chametz. Throw, not put in a closed box in the upper closet or in the garage – throw. A week before Pesach the chametz doesn’t enter the house and every evening ends with a falafel on the steps outside the apartment. every evening. That’s how it was when I was a child and that’s how it happens today.

My parents’ house, that is spotless every day of the year (cleaning bleach is the smell of my childhood), goes into a constant state of being cleaned, meaning all the chairs are raised, the rugs are sent for cleaning and then rolled back until the evening before the Seder, then they will be spread for the holiday, there is always a bucket and 2-3 bottles in the hall, and mopping cloths everywhere.

But the truth is that it’s all worth it when you get to my parents’ house at noon before the Seder (Pesach eve). The whole house is screaming holiday, the curtains stand proud, there is always some new pillows or decoration that wasn’t there before, of course there are flowers and everything is clean, inviting, quiet, there is no hint of the chaos it has undergone in recent weeks. I love this feeling so much. I enter the house and my soul rises differently from any other day of the year. And in those moments I can not help but wonder if all this madness, all the hard work my mom (and dad!) put for weeks, maybe it just pays off.

Just a small thing before I get to the recipe… Mom, if you read it, despite the magic that happens to the house on the eve of Pesach, my dream is that next year you will take a break from all of it, skip all this hard work for a year, maybe take a trip abroad for the holiday, the spring is a wonderful season

These crackers are so delicious and crunchy that you just have to make them. Packed with so many different kinds of seeds and pistachios, they are an addictive snack but with ingredients that make it a healthy snack. The making of the crackers is a child game – just mix all the ingredients in the bowl, but the trick is in the baking, and to get perfect crackers you should make sure to take the crackers out of the oven only when they are dry and not before because no one likes soft crackers (otherwise they wouldn’t call it crackers!). By the way, my mother will probably say, at this stage of the year, that it is a great recipe for removing chametz from the house:)

Print Recipe

Vegan Spelt Crackers

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

serves: 30 crackers

• 38X32-cm -or- 18X13-in large oven baking pan

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup spelt flour (I use whole spelt flour)
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame (I use whole sesame)
• 1/4 cup pistachios, , coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon nigella seeds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup water
• For salt lovers – 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt to sprinkle over

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare a standard baking pan lined with baking paper.
•  In a mixing bowl, put all the ingredients in the recipe, while keeping aside about a tablespoon of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and pistachios, plus a little bit of nigella seeds, to sprinkle over. Mix all the ingredients with a fork or a spoon until the mixture is even.
  
• Spread the mixture on the baking paper and spread it using spatula or platter in a thin layer to cover the entire pan. Sprinkle the seeds and pistachios we left on the side and coarse salt if desired (optional for those who like their crackers extra salty). Place the pan in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on the oven until the dough is slightly thickens. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and with a knife cut the dough to your desired crackers shape and size (rectangles, squares, whatever you like).
  
• Lower the heat in the oven to 320°F/160°C and place the crackers back in the oven for another 35 minutes, but check after 30 minutes. The crackers are supposed to come out of the oven firm and not soft in any way. Because of the differences between ovens, the baking time at this stage can range from 30-40 minutes, so I recommend checking every 3 minutes the first time you prepare.
  
• Remove and let cool completely. The crackers can be kept in a sealed box for up to 4 days.
  

הפוסט Vegan Spelt Crackers הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Lior and I have a thing in which once every few months we don’t carb for a couple of weeks. Not carbing is the expression we use that means we don’t eat carbs. No bread, no pasta, no potatoes – you get the point. The first time we didn’t carb was a few years ago and we get back to it whenever we feel we need it (summer is just around the corner!). Kind of a restart to the body.

At first we didn’t really understand what we were supposed to eat. What does it mean without rice, without pasta? So with what? After all, carbs, besides being fulfilling and comforting and wonderful, carbs are also the basis we grew up on. Every meal I ate when I was a child consisted of a portion of protein (let say schnitzel), a portion of some sort of carbs (let say mashed potatoes) and vegetables, or a meal in which the carb was the basis, such as pasta in some sauce. But how do you make a meal without carbs?

So this “not carbing” thing brings out wonderful things from the kitchen. Suddenly all meals consist of lots of vegetables, certain legumes, eggs and nuts. Lior and I are fussing around the kitchen, both of us cooking, really make the effort to put together a wonderful meal, a meal that will miss nothing. There is no easy solution such as a sandwich, if you want to eat you have to spend time in the kitchen.

That’s why I’m so excited about this dish. Cauliflower rice, which is actually cauliflower that you pulse in a food processor, or grate in the wide side of a grater. It doesn’t really taste like rice, but it’s super super tasty dish, sooooo easy and quick to make, and tick all the boxes that carbs represents, both in the feeling you get from eating it and the functionality it holds – you can match the cauliflower rice almost to any sauce or topping and get a classic and satisfying meal.

Print Recipe

Cauliflower Rice with Mushrooms

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cauliflower
• 1 pound of mushrooms (I used button mushrooms), sliced to wide strips
• 1 medium red onion, finely cut
• 1 cup celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (use GF is needed)
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup water
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Divide the cauliflower into large florets using your hands or a suitable knife, and place the cauliflower florets in a food processor. Run the food processor in short pulses several times until the cauliflower is finely chopped so it resembles rice. Note that if you process the cauliflower for a longer time then you can easily get rice couscous. Alternatively, you can grate the cauliflower on the wide side of a grater.
• In a wide skillet, that has a lid, heat olive oil and saute while stirring, for about 2 minutes, the chopped red onions, celery, pinch of salt and black pepper. Add the sliced mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2 minutes,then add crushed garlic and chopped walnuts, stir.
• Add the cauliflower rice and stir well. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes, making sure to mix while cooking, so that the cauliflower will be scorched on all sides.
• Add 1/4 cups of water and soy sauce to the skillet, stir and lower to medium-low heat, cover the pan with a lid and let the cauliflower cook for between 10-15 minutes, depending on the desired softness of the cauliflower. After the cauliflower rice is cooked, add the finely chopped parsley and serve.
• Keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

הפוסט Cauliflower Rice with Mushrooms הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

I had my birthday this last Sunday. Usually, the days before my birthday I’m kind of feeling the blues, and this year was no exception. Lots of thoughts about life, the past, the present, what I have but mainly what I don’t have. I don’t know how to explain, it’s as if the day of the birthday is some king of due date for all the aspirations, successes, and achievements I thought I should’ve accomplished by now. And there is no way to pass the test, simply no chance.

Like, there’s so much stuff.

I have to be the best mom there is. Not only have to be, I must. I have to take care of my kids, inspire them, feed them (only nourishing things of course, God forbid something else), be active, be involved, not to interfere, educate for independence, spy on their activities in social media, be their friend, be an authority figure, have quality time, have nonsense and goofy times, know when they need a white shirt for school, drive to classes, drive back from classes, help with homework, not to help with homework, book the dental hygienist in time, track when their shampoo is about to end, buy presents for their friends for their birthdays, be a chaperon on school trips at least once a year … (breath), and that’s only a partial list, of course, and it’s full of contradictory things, I know, but that’s the way it is.

I have to be the best partner to my (amazing and beloved) husband. Not only have to, I want to. I want to love, laugh, accept, support, lean, have deep talks, drink wine, grow with him. But … I also have to be myself, complete, whole, calm, to grow (not in pounds of course ..), exercise, take care of my skin, breath, be happy, be satisfied. And let’s not forget that I also need and want to be a good daughter because my parents deserve it, because they are such good parents to me and it’s important for me to repay them equally because they are part of me, because they are charming and generous people regardless, because that’s how I was brought up. Ah … and career! I must have a career no less than perfect! I have potential! I need to be materialistic, to be appreciated, to move forward, and again to move forward, and again. I have to climb the ladder, there is no time / possibility / excuse to stop for a moment on the way, or even get off, even for a while, from this roller coaster.

Like I said, too much stuff. Too much material. Zero chance to pass the test. And every year, every year, I put myself through this test over again. Every year before my birthday, and I swear I’m trying to change it, I fall and look at what I don’t have, what I haven’t yet accomplish.

Fortunately for me, the weekend before my birthday was packed with many good friends and family, people who are my air. Without noticing, my birthday blues was replaced with feelings of joy, serenity and gratitude. In the evening before my birthday I sat in the living room and noticed that Tamar and Ido were whispering and running between their rooms. I asked what was going on. Ido replied innocently, the way only he can, “we are making you a happy birthday card.” Tamar immediately gave him (and me) a look of “You ruined the surprise” but instead of yelling at her little brother, she just took his hand and sat him down at the table, and then went and brought papers and markers, and together helped him spell what he wanted to write. And there I was, sitting on my sofa, in my home that I love, watching my kids writing me, the luckiest mom in the world, a birthday card. And I realized that I had arrived, that everything is fine, not only with the children but in general, that I am exactly where I should be, that I am exactly where I want to be.

I love green salads. They always feel like a good thing I do for my body, putting pride in the plate. The star of this green salad is the broccoli. The broccoli is first blanched for 3 minutes in boiling water (also possible in the microwave, please see the notes at the end of the recipe) and then transferred to a high heat oven, which gives the broccoli a wonderful scorching and turns this vegetable into something you can’t stop eating.

Print Recipe

Green Salad with Charred Broccoli and Avocado

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

serves: 4

Ingredients:

for the broccoli-

• 1 medium broccoli head (about 250 gr/ 9 oz/ 4 cups), rinsed and cut into bite size florets
• lemon zest from one lemon
• juice from half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• a good pinch of salt, black pepper

the rest of the salad ingredients-

• 250 gr/ 9 oz mixed greens for salad
• 1 avocado, diced into cubes
• 1/4 cup natural cranberries
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

for the vinaigrette dressing (use half the quantity)-

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (see note)
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 2 teaspoons maple / silan / honey (not vegan)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 pinch of salt, black pepper

Instructions:

• Preparation of the broccoli – In a suitable pot, put boiling water with a pinch of salt and broccoli florets. Bring to a second boil and cook for 2-3 minutes only. Drain and dry the broccoli.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C and prepare a medium baking pan lined with baking paper. In a medium bowl, mix lemon juice, lemon zest, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 crushed garlic cloves, a nice pinch of salt and black pepper to taste. Place the broccoli florets in the bowl and mix carefully until all the broccoli is well coated. Spread the broccoli in one layer on the baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove and mix the broccoli from the oven at least once during baking, so that all the broccoli parts will be equally charred.
• Make the vinaigrette – Put all the ingredients of the dressing in a suitable jar with a lid, close and shake until you get a uniform dressing.
• Assembling the Salad – In a large bowl, place all the ingredients of the salad – the charred broccoli, avocado cubes, natural cranberries and pecans. Pour half the dressing and mix carefully. enjoy your meal:)

Notes:

• It’s (always) better to use fresh broccoli. You can use frozen broccoli not in season.
• For the vinaigrette dressing, you can use, as indicated in the recipe, lemon juice or wine vinegar. You can mix between the lemon juice and the vinegar in case you need to (for example, if you use the half remaining lemon from the broccoli).
• You can also use the broccoli stems, there really is no need to throw them away. In such case, peel off the thick, woody stems with a knife, and slice into bite-size rings.
•  If desired, you can cook the broccoli in the microwave. In this case, you should first coat the broccoli with the mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper, place in in a bowl suited for microwave use, and add a few drops of water, literally 2-3 tablespoons at the bottom of the bowl. Cover and place in microwave for 2 minutes. Then, transfer the broccoli to the baking pan and cook in the oven as the recipe indicates.
• As mentioned above, you only need half of the salad dressing to coat this salad. The rest of the dressing can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

הפוסט Green Salad with Charred Broccoli and Avocado הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Can you feel it too? That the winter will end soon? Yes yes, I know, winter is not over yet. We still have many days of rain and cold ahead of us, but still, you can see the end. The first hint that winter is at its end I received a few weeks ago at the grocery store. Next to the register were stacked with strawberry boxes and a sign saying “The celebration started! 2 for 25” (at the beginning of winter one strawberry box can easily cost 25 ILS). Boom. Even though on that day there was a mad rain I realized – we’re nearing the end of winter.

An end is always the beginning of something else, and I love new beginnings (I don’t like endings but that’s a different subject). The potential at a new beginning is always a bit exciting to me. New season, new year, new week, even a new day. If there are those who go to sleep thinking about what was, I belong to those who think about what will be, and almost always positive. Such a hopeless optimist.

So soon the winter will be over. We’re all going to peel off all the layers we’ve been putting on ourselves all these past months. We’ll take off coats and sweaters and boots, and our skin, so covered these days, will feel the sun again. If winter is the time of convergence in ourselves, in our family and friends, then spring and surely summer, it’s time to go outside. Both physically and mentally. Our diet will also change. It’s already changing. Already we look at all the carbs that have warmed us all winter, all the soups and stews, and realize that this kind of eating is starting to exhaust itself. It’s not just a matter of “Prepare your body for summer,” it happens naturally, if you listen to the body.

There is something exciting in the changing of the seasons, it’s like nature’s way to tell us that one period is over, and another time begins, and when the next period is spring then all it’s surely involves feelings of renewal, of change. Soon it will be time to open wide all the windows in the house, store all the heavy blankets and let the body absorb a load full of vitamin D from the sun. Not yet, but soon. And about the strawberries? I love strawberries, strawberries that are great, but nothing beats mango.

I love granola. It’s good for breakfast, for an afternoon snack, it’s always fun having a jar of it at your home counter and the easiest thing is to take a bag of granola for work. I usually have a jar of my favorite granola at home (and if you haven’t tried it yet, you should!), But sometimes you just want some chocolate… This granola is also a bit like the end of the winter – we are signaling to our bodies that soon the days of warm and comforting dishes will end, but soon, not yet.

An important note – this granola is not sweet. It does have strong flavors of cocoa and hazelnuts. If you are interested in a sweeter granola, you may want to double the amount of sugar.

Print Recipe

Cocoa and Hazelnuts Granola

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

serves: 8 cups

Ingredients:

• 4 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup natural hazelnuts, , coarsely chopped
• 1 cup natural almonds, , coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of silan (date syrup) or maple
• 1/4 cup canola oil (or any other healthy oil)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• Pinch of salt

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C.
• In a large mixing bowl, place oats, chopped hazelnuts, chopped almonds, cocoa powder, brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the wet ingredients: silan or maple, oil and water, and mix well until the mixture is fully and evenly covered.
• Spread the mixture over a large baking pan lined with baking paper and bake for about 35 minutes, during which time carefully mix the mixture at least once.
• Cool the granola completely. Then, stir in the chocolate chips (or dark chocolate chopped in the same amount).
• Keep in a sealed container for at least two weeks.

הפוסט Cocoa and Hazelnuts Granola הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Hearing my favorite song on the radio. A sunny day in the middle of winter. Meeting a friend I haven’t seen for a long time. Children asking for seconds at dinner. Puppies. To find a 20 bill in a garment I hadn’t worn in a while. Visiting a bookstore. A rolling laughter of children. When someone tells me that they tried my recipe and loved it. seeing 11:11:11 on a digital watch. Finding parking exactly in front of the entrance.

A red sock in a white batch of laundry. Finding a piece of parsley in the front tooth half an hour after the meal (…). Catching all the red traffic lights. Realizing you stood in the wrong line. Finding a rotten strawberry in the package you just bought. Salting food with the wide opening in the salt shaker. 50% off the expensive shoes you bought two days before.

Moments that can change our mood. Once up and once down. A collection of random moments, moments that could have gone one way or another, so why does it affect us at all? How is it that most of the time those moments dictate our mood?

Health. Love. Family. Friends. Security. Running water. Food in the fridge. The really important things. Our aspirations, our true and fundamental aspirations. We all have part of them, many of us are lucky enough and even have most of them. But it seems as if all these important things are pushed to the bottom of the list in our everyday life and don’t get the recognition it deserves, almost taken for granted, just because some jerk cut us off on the road.

I have this cool habit I picked-up for myself. Before we moved to Tel Aviv and started running in Hayarkon Park along with a bunch of runners who looked like they were taken from an Adidas ad, I ran on the beach in Kiryat Haim in the very early morning hours. And if there’s anything in Kiryat Hayim at the beach in the early hours of the mornings, it’s old people. One day while I was running, I passed a very old man who was walking using a walker, and when he saw me he just stopped and watched me run by. I don’t know how to explain it, but suddenly I felt guilty, and I realized that I should be so grateful. Grateful to my legs, to my body. Grateful for having the ability to move, run, jump. As simple as that. The day will come when my body will no longer move as I want it to, so I must not, I simply can’t let the fact that today my body serves me the way it does to pass by me as if it were nothing. As if it was not the most amazing thing in the world. Since then, I finish every run with gratitude for my body, even in the less successful runs.

And maybe that’s the answer. Gratitude. To try, even if sometimes forcefully, every day to acknowledge and say thank you for all the important things we have. At least once small time.

Sweet potato stuffed with lentils and Kale. A dish that answer both the criterion of a comforting dish and the criterion of a dish that is good for the body. The sweet potato is baked in an oven on a bed of coarse salt, which in my opinion is the best way to bake sweet potatoes at home. The filling of the lentils and the kale is cooked with a pomegranate concentrate, which adds a special sweetness, and if there are leftovers, then you can use it as a very tasty side dish.

Lentils and Kale Stuffed Baked Sweet Potato
makes 4 sweet potatoes

Ingredients:
for the sweet potatoes-
4 sweet potatoes, well washed and scrubbed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound/ ½ kg kosher salt

for the lentils and kale stuffing-
1/2 cup black lentils, washed and soaked ( I used Beluga)
1/2 cup celery stalks, finely chopped
1 cup Kale, without stems, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup green onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons pomegranate concentrate
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Raw tahini for serving (optional)

preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Spread the kosher salt over a baking pan lined with baking paper. Rub each potato with a thin layer of olive oil and poke each sweet potato with a fork or a knife 5-6 times. Place the sweet potatoes on the kosher coarse salt and bake for 40-50 minutes in the oven, depending on the size of the potato, until the sweet potatoes are soft to touch.
2. In a medium pot, heat olive oil and add celery and kale. Sauté while stirring for 2-3 minutes. Add lentils, walnuts, water, pomegranate concentrate, balsamic vinegar and black pepper, stir and bring to a boil. Note that salt is not added at this stage. After boiling, lower to medium-low heat, cover and cook until all water evaporates and the lentils are soft, about 20 minutes.
3. Add to the cooked lentils and kale salt to taste and green onion, stir.
4. Transfer the sweet potatoes, without the kosher salt, to a serving dish. Cut each sweet potato along the length and with a fork, lightly scrap the top layer. Season with a little salt and pepper. Fill each sweet potato with 2-3 tablespoons of the lentil and kale mixture. Top each potato with raw tahini and serve.

Notes:
• Baking the sweet potatoes over s spread of kosher salt is, in my opinion, the best way to bake sweet potatoes. The salt absorbs all the humidity from the potatoes and at the end you get the most yummy and caramelized sweet potatoes you ever tasted. Of course, none of this salt gets inside the sweet potatoes.
• As a rule, there is no need to soak lentils before cooking. Personally, I always soak lentils before cooking (except for red lentils), even if for a short time.
• When cooking legumes, salt is not added during cooking but only at the end. The salt inhibits the softening of legumes.
• As I said, if left of the lentils and kale filling can serve as a delicious side dish in itself. The filling can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days in a sealed container. The sweet potatoes can also be eaten without filling, dripping over raw tahini and silan (date syrup) or maple. yummy.

הפוסט Lentils and Kale Stuffed Baked Sweet Potato הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

I’m a city mouse and a country mouse. Dreaming of a farm in the north and a shack by the sea but also on a penthouse in the city, need the quiet and drawn to the noise. I find inspiration from the people in the streets just as I find it from open and desolate views. I can not decide what I am more, I don’t even want to.

I want my children to grow up and also scared from it at the same time. I work hard to raise them to be strong and independent (or at least to teach them how to hang their own towels in the right place after bath …), but I’m also afraid of that day and of the sense of emptiness in me I know will follow. It’s not contradictory, it’s both, and that’s fine with me.

I love being outside, get to know streets and cities and countries I didn’t know before. I love to breathe and taste different places, but I also love being home, my house is my safest place and I always wait to return to it . It exists in me side by side, two parts of my character, which is one, and it works for me just fine.

We have everything in us, so many sides. There is no point in trying to define ourselves, deciding in advance what we like or dislike. Reality shows us differently all the time. Who said it’s impossible to be both?

Three different recipes for the most wonderful vegetable patties using chickpeas flour, which eliminates the need to use eggs, and still get delicious, light textured, and not at all crumbly patties. So why three recipes? Simply because they are so easy and fast to make so why not? They are also vegan, gluten free, you can either fry or bake them, you can eat them on a plate with some dip on the side or in a pita bread, and of course you can freeze them easily.

Print Recipe

Peas and Cauliflower Patties with Curry

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

serves: 15 patties

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cauliflower head, grated coarsely or sliced to a similar size
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 bunch coriander, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon grounded coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1½ cup chickpeas flour
• 1 cup water
• Salt, pepper by taste (at least 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• Oil for frying

Instructions:

• In a large sauté pan heat olive oil. Add the chopped onion, chopped cauliflower, crushed garlic and spices – curry, turmeric, coriander powder, salt and pepper. Cook while stirring occasionally about 5-7 minutes until the cauliflower slightly softens.
• At the same time, cook the peas: in a small pot, put the peas with boiling water to cover. Bring to a second boil and continue cooking for 5 more minutes. Drain.
• In a large mixing bowl, place the chickpea flour and a glass of water, and whisk well until smooth. Add the cooked cauliflower and onions, cooked peas, chopped coriander, salt and pepper, and mix well. The mixture is a bit liquidish and that’s fine.
• In a skillet, heat oil for frying, about ¼-inch/ half a cm high. with your clean hands, form a 2-inch patty and carefully place it in the skillet. Repeat with the rest of the mixture until the frying pan is full. The patties will puff up so make sure not to overcrowd the pan and leave some space between the patties. Fry for 3 minutes on one side, turn carefully and fry the other side for another 2 minutes Transfer to plate with absorbent paper.
• Serve hot or cold, preferably with side dressing (try it with yogurt and mint)

Notes:

• Oil for frying – you can use any oil according to your preference. I use canola oil. The patties are quite tolerant of the amount of oil, but I think it is best to make half-deep frying for optimal results. You can also reduce the amount of oil if you insist, but then make sure to use a good non-stick skillet.
• I love eating those patties with a dip on the side, for example- yogurt and mint, tahini, tomato salsa, garlic dill, any kind of pesto and so on.
• When baking the patties, I add grounded flax seeds, which help the patties to come out firmer from the oven. Flax seeds are neutral in flavor and super healthy. It is best to store flax seeds in the freezer

Print Recipe

Baked Broccoli and leek Patties

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

serves: 15 patties

Ingredients:

• 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 cup leek, well washed and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 bunch of parsley
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
• 1 cup chickpeas flour
• 3/4 cup water
• Salt, pepper by taste (at least 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• Oil spray

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare a baking pan lined with baking paper. Spray the baking paper with oil spray to prevent the patties from sticking.
  
• In a food processor, place the broccoli, leeks, parsley and ground flax seeds and pulse it into a crumbly mixture.
  
• In a large mixing bowl, put the chickpea flour and water and whisk well until smooth. Add the broccoli and leeks mixture, salt and pepper, and stir well. Form the patties, either using your wet and clean hands or any other preferred method, about 2-inch/ 5 cm diameter. Place the patties on the oiled baking paper and spray them with a little oil spray.
  
• Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Cool.
  

Print Recipe

Swiss Chard and Herbs Patties

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

serves: 15 patties

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of chard leaves, well washed and cut into thin strips
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 cup chickpeas flour
• 1 cup water
• Salt, pepper by taste (at least 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• Oil for frying

Instructions:

• Getting the swiss chard ready: Wash well the swiss chard and cut into thin strips. Then, place the chard in a pot and cover it with boiling water. Bring it to a second boil and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Drain well and squeeze out excess liquids.
• In a large mixing bowl, put chickpea flour and a glass of water, and whisk well until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients- sautéed chard, chopped parsley, chopped coriander, cumin, salt and pepper, and stir well.
  
• . In a skillet, heat oil for frying, about ¼-inch/ half a cm high, over medium heat. Carefully pour a tablespoon of patties’ mixture into the frying pan and gently flatten the patty using a spoon. Continue with the rest of the mixture till the pan is full. Fry the patties for 2 minutes on each side and transfer to a plate with absorbent paper.
  

Notes:

• Oil for frying – you can use any oil according to your preference. I use canola oil. The patties are quite tolerant of the amount of oil, but I think it is best to make half-deep frying for optimal results. You can also reduce the amount of oil if you insist, but then make sure to use a good non-stick skillet.
• I love eating those patties with a dip on the side, for example- yogurt and mint, tahini, tomato salsa, garlic dill, any kind of pesto and so on.

הפוסט Vegan Patties with Chickpea Flour הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Grandma Masuda, may she rest in peace, made the most delicious orange cake I ever tasted. A very high cake, baked in an aluminum mold with a hole in the middle, yellow as the sun, from all the oranges gramma had squeezed into. I can still see and feel its taste. I’ve had some good orange cakes since then, but no one compares to this cake. For years I’ve been trying to recreate her recipe, but I probably will never quite make it. It’s impossible to reminisce about this orange cake and not remember gramma’s apartment, with the old sideboard, and the glass-cabinet on it and inside pictures, including a picture of my grandparents looking straight at the camera. I think the picture was printed on a plate, but the years that have passed may be deceptive.

In front of the living room was a small kitchen, and at the end a stove, always with huge pots on it, filled with various wonderful dishes. No matter when you came, grandma always offered food, and when I say food I mean a crazy meal of a million dishes and salads, and there is no way you will not eat, even a little, because grandma didn’t really let go till you ate. After grandma died, so many people came to her funeral, some of them unknown to us. It turns out that grandma, who lived alone for many years, would walk around in the neighborhood and give out pots full of food to people who she knew needed a hot meal and couldn’t take care of it themselves, I can just imagine her walking around the neighborhood with pots, an old woman with a clear agenda of feeding the world. She saw it as a Mitzvah, and never told anyone about it.

Grandma Fanny, may she rest in peace, was probably the best cook in the world, except my mom. Throughout her life, until she got sick, she would command over huge meals, meals I still can’t decide if they had more participants or more dishes … I remember in great detail the preparations before the holidays, almost like a military operation, the whole house was filled with huge plastic basins, filled with all the market had to offer, and everyone had a different task- cleaning the artichokes, take beans out of its bags, cut the edges off the green beans. Days of preparations for the meal that is the crowning glory of the holiday. Before we would eat, we all sang all the holidays songs, because grandma never demanded anything except to hear us sing before eating, and for a few moments she sat, and only listen to all of the family singing with a little smile on her face.

On the Mimouna (the north-african jewish celebration that marks the end of Passover) we would never see grandma. She was too busy preparing us mofletta (Moroccan-jewish pancake) and barcokesh (dairy couscous) with sacks of flour and semolina that grandpa bought from the Arabs in the wadi at the end of the holiday. I remember as a child sneaking in to her kitchen and looking at the oil-spattered balls lying on the greased worktop just before spreading them one by one for delicious moflettas and then frying them in huge piles in a small frying pan that stood next to the full steaming pot of the couscous. I remember helping her, flattening the mofletta’s balls myself, passing the couscous through the colander, I remember the pride I felt, how I already knew in those moments that it was a great privilege that had fallen into my hands. I would give a great deal to return to those moments, even for a little while, and I’m sure I would ask her a lot of questions.

Grandma Fanny and grandma Masuda were part of a generation of women whose kitchen was (really) their place. Both women were brilliant, intelligent, and sensitive women, the world could enjoy their contribution very much, but the limitations for women at those times made the beneficiaries mostly family and acquaintances. From their small kitchens they fed generations of happy and satisfied people, and even today, years after they died, I can feel the wonderful flavors they have brought to my life. Because that’s how it is with good food, it stays with you long after the meal itself has ended.

Some recipes come from products you see in the market, some recipes pass from generation to generation, some of the most delicious recipes I know came from leftovers found in the refrigerator. This recipe was born out of a picture I had in my head, of the orange coin, like a small sun, on top of the muffins. I tried several versions, but once the semolina came into the picture, I knew I’d found it.

Upside down orange muffins, in a slightly healthier version than usual, and to my taste (much) tastier, with spelled flour, olive oil, ground almonds and of course, orange juice. The oranges at the bottom (or at the top) of the muffins are briefly cooked in sugar water and rosemary.

Print Recipe

Upside Down Orange Muffins with Semolina and Spelt Flour – the VEGAN version

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Sweet

serves: 20 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole spelled flour
• 1 cup semolina
• 1 cup grounded almonds
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda powder
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup apple puree
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the upside-down oranges-

• 2 oranges, sliced into 1/4-inch/0.5 cm coins
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 rosemary branch

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Prepare a muffin tray and oil the cups.
• For the upside down oranges: In a suitable pot, place the sliced oranges, water, brown sugar and rosemary. Bring the liquid to a boil over medium heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Carefully remove the oranges and let cool. Continue to reduce the syrup for another 10 minutes.
• After the oranges have cooled a bit, carefully cut the orange peel around with a sharp knife, making round orange wheels. Place each orange coin in each of the greased muffins tins.
• In a mixing bowl place spelled flower, semolina, grounded almonds, baking powder and baking soda powder. Stir. In a separate bowl place the wet ingredients- orange juice, olive oil, apple puree and vanilla extract. mix until the mixture is well combined.
• Transfer the wet ingredients mixture to the dry ingredients mixture. mix until the mixture is smooth without any lumps in it. The mixture is slightly liquidish and that's fine
• Fill each of the muffins tins with the muffins mixture almost to the end. Bake for 20 minutes and allow it to cool for another 10 minutes. After cooling off, go with a knife around the muffins edges to help the muffins to be released, and then turn over the tray over a cooling net. Pour some of the sugar and rosemary syrup on each of the muffins.
• The muffins are best on the day of baking. It can be kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator for about 4 days.

Print Recipe

Upside Down Orange Muffins with Semolina and Spelt Flour

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Sweet

serves: 20 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole spelled flour
• 1 cup semolina
• 1 cup grounded almonds
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the upside-down oranges-

• 2 oranges, sliced into 1/4-inch/0.5 cm coins
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 rosemary branch

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Prepare a muffin tray and oil the cups.
• For the upside down oranges: In a suitable pot, place the sliced oranges, water, brown sugar and rosemary. Bring the liquid to a boil over medium heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Carefully remove the oranges and let cool. Continue to reduce the syrup for another 10 minutes.
• After the oranges have cooled a bit, carefully cut the orange peel around with a sharp knife, making round orange wheels. Place each orange coin in each of the greased muffins tins.
• In a mixing bowl place spelled flower, semolina, grounded almonds and baking powder. Stir. In a separate bowl place the wet ingredients – orange juice, olive oil, eggs and vanilla extract. beat until the mixture is well combined.
• Transfer the wet ingredients mixture to the dry ingredients mixture. mix until the mixture is smooth without any lumps in it. The mixture is slightly liquidish and that's fine
• Fill each of the muffins tins with the muffins mixture almost to the end. Bake for 17-20 minutes and allow it to cool for another 10 minutes. After cooling off, go with a knife around the muffins edges to help the muffins to be released, and then turn over the tray over a cooling net. Pour some of the sugar and rosemary syrup on each of the muffins.
• The muffins are best on the day of baking. It can be kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator for about 4 days.

הפוסט Upside Down Orange Muffins with Semolina and Spelt Flour הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Of all the house plants I have in my house, I like the Portulacaria afra the most.
Ido brought it from his kindergarten a little over a year ago. He came with it one day, this small branch planted in a plastic bottle that had the upper part cut off, decorated with colorful round stickers and markers. Of course the plant was given to us as a metaphor for our children, and the note that was attached to the plant explained it, saying our children were just like small plants, and if only we water and make sure they have enough light they would blossom and flourish. At that point in my life, I was much more successful with my children’s survival than with any of my house plants’ survival (this days I’m the proud owner to a small jungle in my living room and balcony, but back then I was a bit of a serial house plants exterminator).

Of course, the minute I held this sweet plant in my hands and read the note attached to it, I just knew that I would give this plant so much love and affection that it would flourish to be the most wonderful house plant in the middle east.
And that’s what I did. I put it on the balcony in a place of honor and I watered it regularly at least every two days (!!!), and in between I made sure to give it plenty of “I believe in you” looks. All this would have been great if it wasn’t that Portulacaria afra, which I now know is the most durable plant in the world, can withstand almost everything except… excessive watering. Yes, it turns out that the Portulacaria just wants to be left alone, and I, who wanted so much for it to blossom, almost watered it to death.

But my Portulacaria, fortunately for me and for it, was made of special material, and despite all the mistakes I made, it slowly grew and developed, and I transferred it from that plastic bottle to a larger pot and then to an even bigger pot. In time I learned about my Portulacaria and how to take care of it, and it returned me by growing and flourishing. And although I made some mistakes along the way, it must have felt that I made them out of love.

So what is the conclusion? There are two actually. The first is that if you haven’t been successful in gardening yet then the Portulacaria afra is a great plant to start with, and the second is, that whatever you do – try to do it with love. I have no scientific proof, but I have a feeling that it significantly increases the chances of success.

Between all that soups and carbs winter brings, sometimes the body screams for a good green salad, big and nutritious, and when the markets are full of fresh, huge bundles of different kind of lettuces, herbs and of course avocados, that’s the best time for it.
This green salad is full of all these, along with sun-dried tomatoes, slivered almonds and roasted chickpeas, which makes the salad a complete meal.

Winter Green Salad
serves 4

Ingredients:
10 oz/ 300 gr of mixed greens (Roman lettuce / Arugula / Slanova, etc.)
1 medium avocado, cut into quarters and then sliced
1/2 bunch of coriander leaves (about a cup)
Red onion, finely sliced
1/2 cup silvered almonds
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (store-bought or as listed below)
1½ cups cooked chickpeas (you can use canned, washed)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper

for the sun-dried tomatoes-
1 lb/ 500 gr cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

for the dressing-
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Making the sun-dried tomatoes (if using store-bought sun-dried tomatoes skip this step): Preheat the oven to 100°C/200°F. Place the sliced ​​cherry tomatoes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and sprinkle it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and black pepper. Mix well until full coverage and spread the tomato halves on the pan in one layer, skin side down. Bake for at least 3 hours.
2. Preparation of the chickpeas: Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Place the chickpeas on a baking pan lined with baking paper and drizzle over a tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt and a pinch of black pepper. Mix well for full cover and spread the chickpeas on the baking paper in one layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
3. Preparation of the dressing: in a jar with a lid, put all the ingredients of the dressing, close the jar with a lid and shake it until all the ingredients are mixed.
4. In a large bowl place all the salad’s ingredients: the mixed greens, coriander, sliced avocado, sliced red onions, silvered almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted chickpeas. Drizzle the dressing over and toss gently to combine.

Notes:
• I highly recommend that the mixed greens you’ll use will have arugula in it, the pepperiness of the arugula is excellent. In addition, for those who like, you can add half a cup of finely chopped celery to the salad.
• Instead of silvered almonds you can use walnuts, cashews or any other nuts you think fits.
• In a green salad dressing, it is common to add a sweetening ingredient (maple / honey / silan). Because of the sweetness of the dried tomatoes, I didn’t feel it’s necessary.

הפוסט Winter Green Salad הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

If you have ever heard the local radio traffic reports, you probably already know how important timing is, and what a special honor gets the listeners that report all the traffic jams they notice on their rout in real time.

I can understand why, because I myself am also a timing person.

I’m timing everything, break the day into hours, half hours and minutes. I’m timing when to wake up in the morning, when to take a shower and when to tell the kids to take a shower, I’m timing when to leave the house, of course taking in account all the data that’s relevant to the purpose of leaving the house, like the specific traffic jams in the city for that hour, what’s the parking availability at the destination, and whether or not I have travel partners with me (Tamar gets organized in seconds, Ido needs a few minutes to himself before we leave, and Lior will always changes his shirt at the last minute).

I’m timing when to call a friend so both of us could talk without interruption, I’m timing when to go to bed, I’m timing the exact time I should start cooking the israeli couscous so it will be ready with all the other dishes of the meal. I’m timing and I’m timing… so many times I time, I swear I’ve stopped counting.

Don’t get me wrong, my timings aren’t always right or successful … but somehow I’m always busy with them. I think that with all the uncertainties, the desire for control that shatters at least once a day with a big noise on the floor, this coincidence called “raising children”, the traffic jams, or in short – life, timing gives me confidence, gives me the feeling (or maybe illusion) that I have control. When my timings are wrong, I know at least I tried, and when my timings are right, I just feel, for a moment, for a very timed second, at ease.

When I make dishes of this type, dishes that have lots of ingredients in relative short time of cooking, I like to have (almost) all the ingredients clean and cut in advance. Not only because that makes me feel cool (hahaha), but also because it let me focus on the cooking process itself and on which ingredient should go in the cooking pot and when.

Vegetable curry soup, with coconut milk and tofu, rice noodles, fresh basil and fresh coriander. A delicious and fun soup, time yourself half an hour and it’s ready.

Coconut Vegetable and Tofu Curry Soup
serves 6

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets (about 7 oz/200 gr)
1 medium carrot, sliced into coins
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 medium potato, cut into small cubes
1½ cups green beans (about 5 oz/ 150 gr), cut into 1½-inch/ 4 cm strips
14 oz/ 400 ml coconut milk
4 cups of water
1 tablespoon red curry paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon ginger, grated on a thin grater
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

for the tofu-
6 oz/ 150 gr firm tofu, cut into large cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil

for serving-
2 oz/ 50 gr rice noodles
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/2 bunch of basil

Instructions:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot on a medium heat. Add chopped onion and curry paste and saute for about 3 minutes, while stirring. Add crushed garlic, grated ginger, turmeric, salt and pepper and stir well. Then add the carrot coins, the red bell pepper strips and the potato cubes, mix well with all the spices and continue to cook while stirring for another 2 minutes.
2. Add the liquids (water and coconut milk), stir and bring to a boil. Lower to medium-low heat and cook for 20 minutes.
3. While the soup is cooking, prepare the tofu: Cut the tofu into large cubes. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and, when the oil is hot, add the tofu cubes to the frying pan and cook until golden, about 2 minutes on each side.
4. Prepare the rice noodles in a separate bowl, according to the package’s instructions. Drain.
5. At the end of the 20 minutes of cooking the soup, add to the pot the broccoli florets, green beans and tofu. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Serving: In the soup bowl, put rice noodles and pour over the soup. Serve with a handful of chopped coriander and basil on top. Bon appetite
7. Keep the soup in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.

Notes:
• The rice noodles can be cooked with the soup itself and not separately. Just keep in mind that if you keep the soup for the next day, the rice noodles will soak up a large portion of the liquids and you’ll probably need to add more liquids and adjust the seasoning. This is why I personally prefer to prepare the rice noodles separately and add them when served.
• The basil and the cilantro in the recipe are not garnish, they are an important ingredient in the flavors of the soup. don’t skip it.
• Of course, you can add different vegetables to the soup and vary it, just take into account their cooking time and schedule adding them to the soup accordingly.

הפוסט Coconut Vegetable and Tofu Curry Soup הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

19 New Year Resolutions:

1. Going through an entire week without cooking israeli couscous. For what is worth, I’m the queen of israeli couscous. My kids can eat that for morning (…?!), lunch and dinner. With all due respect (and I do respect) to this lovely carb, it would be a dream to go through a whole week without it. (Of course, this decision bares a hidden wish that instead of israeli couscous my kids will start to like whole rice, but this is really a secret wish and we beter not tell them).

2. Listen to my body. To rest when it’s time to rest, breathe when it’s time to breathe. To nourish my body with delicious and real food, full of things that are good for it.

3. Drink less coffee.

4. Go on a date with Tamar once a month. Only me and her, the girls.

5. To have more patience, especially with the kids.

6. To go dancing

7. Meditation. I start and stop and start again and stop again. Rumor has it that practicing meditation is a key element in a person’s happiness. Will I be able to give myself the gift of a daily meditation practice in 2019?

8. Travel more. That’s a star in every list, isn’t it? To travel in Israel, to travel abroad, to travel with my kids, to travel only with Lior and to travel only with myself. To get to know at least one new country.

9. Buy less. Teach my kids how important it is.

10. Meeting at least one new friend, but the kind of friend that will be around for many many years.

11. Organize all the pictures laying across computers and mobile devices. I swear, this year it will be done.

12. Write every day one thing I’m grateful for. It’s part of a positive self-talk I’m trying to make with myself. I already bought a special notebook

13. Getting a gel manicure. Wait, don’t leave. As a daughter to a hair designer dad and a mom who sells beauty products, there is no better phrase to describe my grooming habits than “the shoemaker’s children go barefoot”… I feel like making one new beauty care habit this year, and stick with it.

14. To take an Indian cooking course. If I don’t get to visit India this year, at least I’ll learn a little more about this lovely cuisine.

15. Dental floss. Every day.

16. Not to go on the scale. At all. All year round.

17. To find the perfect recipe for pizza dough.

18. Continue to make this blog a home. “The Happy Lentils” has been out there for less than two months, and its birth has been such a joyous event for me. I wish more and more guests will come to visit this home this year

19. To live a simpler life. Live simple, think simple, cook simple. To find inspiration in the way my children see the world. The simplicity always makes the things that are really important shine, so this year, let’s make the really important things be the stars.

19s. (what? it’s allowed!) To sit on the 31.12.2019 and see with pride that I have marked all the sections. Nothing is more satisfying, and I say this as an enthusiastic fan of lists, than seeing a list with a small check mark next to each item. It is also just the right moment to start putting together a new list.

Have a beautiful 2019 everyone

A simple, quick, seriously delicious pasta dish. Perfect for a mid-week dinner. Try it today.

Broccoli, Leek and Walnuts Pasta
serves 4

Ingredients:
9 oz/ 250 gr pasta, according to preference
1/2 head broccoli, cut into small florets (about 7 oz/200 gr)
1 cup leek, sliced in half and then into thin strips
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup basil
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. In a large pot with boiling water and a tablespoon of salt, cook the pasta according to the package’s instructions. Add the broccoli florets 5 minutes before the end of the cooking and continue cooking the pasta and the broccoli together. When done, reserve 3/4 cup of cooking water, then drain the pasta and broccoli.
2. In a deep pan, or in the same pot where we cooked the pasta and broccoli, heat olive oil. Add leeks, ground chili, salt and pepper. Toss the leeks, while stirring, for about three minutes. Add the crushed garlic, and cook for another minute.
3. Add to the pan/pot the cooked pasta and broccoli, walnuts and the reserved cooking water. Mix well and cook for about 2 more minutes. Turn off the heat and add in the basil – chopped, torn in the hands or whole.
4. The dish can be kept in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

הפוסט Broccoli, Leek and Walnuts Pasta הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Do you know what tickle massage is? Those nice and gentle finger strokes? So hi, I’m Daniella and I looove tickle massages, preferably hands and back tickle massage. There is even a known story in my family about the time I was a baby and that in family gathering all my aunts would give me this hand tickle massage at turns till I fell asleep. Why am I telling this? One day, when Tamar was still a toddler, Lior came running to me: “You have to see it,” he said, “you wouldn’t believe.” I hurried after him to Tamar’s room quietly, and there she lay, asleep, and in her sleep she raised her right hand, and in her left hand … gave herself a hand tickle massage! while sleeping! exactly like me…

So many times in life we see in our children character traits and behaviors that are just like ours. Far beyond a similar appearance, or expressions they hear from us and follow, things that belong to us, suddenly reflected in our children. Ido has the musical sense that his father has. Lior remembers things in great detail just like his mother. I show love through food like my mother.

And maybe that’s the meaning of eternal life.

But our children are not us, nor should they be. And although it’s very cool to see ourselves in them, it’s even more cool to see them developing their own personalities, building their own special ways in the world. After all, that’s all we basically want, isn’t it? For them to spread their wings and fly away. Wherever they want …

Swiss chard salad is a regular salad at Shabbat dinners for as long as I can remember. It is one of the most humble and favorite salads I know. My mother, who is without a doubt the best cook in the world, always makes sure to show it to me before we sit to eat. “Look,” she says, “I made it for you.” As part of my attempts to make the same salad at home, and because of my need for protein, came the addition of tofu, and it remained there because of the taste and the upscale to its texture. I pack all this goodness in tortillas, and there you have it- a full meal that taste like home.

Swiss Chard and Tofu Wraps
makes 10 wraps

Ingredients:
1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard (about 10 leaves)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, thin slices
6 oz/ 150 gr firm tofu, cut into ½-inch /1 cm cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon harissa (spicy chili paste)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

10 whole wheat tortillas
pesto or other kind of paste for the base of the tortillas (I use coriander pesto from here)
1/2 cup coriander (about 2 stalks per tortilla, leaves only)

Instructions:
1. Getting the swiss chard ready for cooking: wash thoroughly the leaves and stems, remove from the chard’s stems the hard fibers with a small, sharp knife. After cleaning, finely chop the leaves and stalks and place them in a cooking pot with boiled water, bring it to a second boil and cook for about 5 minutes. Drain well from excess water.
2. In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil and saute the chopped onions for about 5 minutes until they begin to turn golden. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Add the chopped swiss chard, harissa, cumin, chili flakes, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Mix well, lower to medium-low heat and cook for another 10 minutes, stir occasionally. Add the tofu cubes, stir and cook for another 3 minutes until all the liquids evaporate and the stems of the chard are soft. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
3. Take a tortilla (you can heat it on a skillet before assembling) and spread a tablespoon of coriander pesto, stack over 2-3 tablespoons of the swiss chard and tofu salad and add about 6-8 cilantro leaves. Roll the tortilla into the roll, you can start folding about a third of the tortilla in and then roll the sides to form a pocket.
4. Store the salad (without the tortillas) in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days.

Notes:
• Instead of tortilla, you can eat the swiss chard and tofu salad with the addition of rice.
• I don’t recommend to store assembled tortillas in the refrigerator – the tortillas will go soggy. If needed, keep the salad apart and assemble before serving.
• Instead of coriander pesto, you can use any other pesto, dried tomato spread, peppers paste or other spreads you like.
• To make the classic Moroccan chard salad, simply don’t add tofu, and continue cooking until all the liquid evaporates from the salad. In this case, the salad can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.

הפוסט Swiss Chard and Tofu Wraps הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Things I hate about winter:
It’s getting dark early. I’m cold. The laundry never seems to dry. To take the kids to and from school in torrential rain. You can’t go to the beach (well, you can go but it’s not the same). No fresh mango. Taking out Kutcher in the rain. When socks get wet through the shoes in puddles. Traffic jams. Flooding. Traffic jams due to flooding. There are always somehow coats lying around the house. Folding umbrellas. Always to remember to turn the heat on.

Things I love about winter:
Beautiful sunsets. You can eat soup every day. The vibe in the house on a rainy day when the whole family is together inside. Scarves. Boots. The possibility to see rainbow. Strawberries. Oranges. Avocado. Chestnuts. Hamin (jewish stew). The smell of rain. Cuddling under a blanket. No need to wash the car. Kids in hats. Slippers.

There are more and more rainy days. Water from the sky that wash the trees and the ground, the streams slowly begin to fill up, there is green all around, thousands shades of green. Winter has come. Even if there are still sunny days from time to time, you can’t deny it any more. We slow down, gather in our houses, with our family and close ones, the cold weather outside and the early darkness make us look for warmth. Physical warmth, warmth between people, and warmth in food – not only actual temperature but also in the ingredients themselves. I must admit I’m not a winter person. I hate when I’m cold, let me spend a day at the beach and that’s all I need, let me see my children at the beach and I’m sure there’s nothing healthier than I can give them. Still, the winter has its magic, and that too is hard to deny.

Because only in winter, when it’s cold outside, we naturally try to create the warmth inside. When the rain knocks hard on the window, there is a feeling that the whole family is more together, and it doesn’t matter if everyone are playing together some board games (oh idyll ..) or everyone are in front of their private screens (hello reality), winter gives us the chance to focus more in ourselves and the people that are close to us, to be attentive, to take the time, because there is really nowhere to hurry and what to miss. When I was little I remember the excitement I had from the first rain, for me it was the most important thing that could happen in the country that day. Today I see the same excitement with Tamar, and what a blessing it is to have children remind us that.

So next time I’m in some kind of traffic jam caused by some flooding in the city, I hope to remember that the winter, just as it came, will also pass, and soon I’ll be able to sit on the beach again and mingle sea sand in my hands, and till then, it’s kinda nice to live more slowly, filling the soul, and also the stomach, with all good things winter has to offer, and mainly wrap myself real good in warm clothes and warm people, to keep from the cold outside.

In the winter I find myself looking for salads with a different character than usual. More fulfilling, warmer, often with some kind of grains added to. This next salad is just that. At the base of the salad is farro, which is an ancient whole grain with roots from Italy, whose flavors are similar to ordinary wheat and are deeper and profound, it is also considered more healthy. I cook it in the same way as cooking whole rice. The cauliflower in the salad is scorched and short-cooked, the fennel gives the freshness to the dish, and above all the tahini lemony dressing. You can eat cold, hot, or any other temperature in between. Here is the recipe

Farro Salad with Cauliflower, Fennel and Tahini Dressing
serves 4-6

Ingredients:
for the salad-
1 cup farro, washed and drained
1 medium cauliflower (about 1¼ lb/600 gr), cut into small florets
1 small fennel, finely chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 bunch parsley (about 1/2 cup), finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 cups water (for cooking the farro) + 1/4 cup water (for cooking the cauliflower)
Salt and pepper

for the tahini dressing-
3 tablespoons raw tahini
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons cold water
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt and pepper

Instructions:
1. Cooking the farro: In a small pot, on medium-high heat, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the farro and fry for about a minute. Add 2 cups water, salt (1/2 teaspoon at least) and black pepper, cover and bring to a boil. After boiling, lower the flame to a minimum and cook for about 45 minutes. Drain the excess water.
2. Cooking the cauliflower: Heat a wide skillet to a very high heat (heat it at least 5 minutes). After the pan is hot, place the cauliflower florets in itt and let it get a nice scorch. After about 2 minutes stir, and then let the rest of the cauliflower florets, which have not yet been charred, scorch (do it again if necessary). Reduce the heat to medium- low heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup water, stir and cover. Let the cauliflower cook for 5-10 minutes, depending on how soft you like the cauliflower, stirring occasionally.
3. The tahini dressing: In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients of the sauce. The sauce is supposed to be thinner than tahini usually is.
4. Making the salad: In a large mixing bowl, place the cooked farro, charred cauliflower, finely chopped fennel, chopped parsley and pine nuts. Pour over the tahini dressing and mix well until all the salad ingredients are fully covered.
5. Store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days.

Notes:
• The salad can easily be used as a side dish.
• You can upscale the salad to a whole meal by adding 1 cup of cooked lentils (not the red or yellow kind). If so, adjust the tahini dressing by using 4 tablespoons of each ingredient instead of 3.

הפוסט Farro Salad with Cauliflower, Fennel and Tahini Dressing הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

When I feel like having a salad that feels like home
a salad like from the old times
I take half of a regular onion,
greenhouse regular tomato
and a peeled cucumber.
I slice the vegetables with a regular knife
and season it with canola oil, a good squeeze of lemon and salt.

True, salad is tastier with olive oil. And cherry tomatoes. Or perhaps some vinegar. And on ordinary days my salads look completely different. But there’s something about this kind of salad, the old days salad, that throws me back to those times and brings up so many feelings, so it really doesn’t matter which salad tastes better, because at that moment, the salad that came from the old times – it tastes better.

Food is amazing in that perspective.

There are many examples and even studies that show that. One of my favorite examples is a 2004 study that compares people’s preference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The experiment had two stages – in the first stage they did a blind taste test between the two brands, where they found that half preferred the taste of Pepsi and half the taste of Coca-Cola. In the second stage, people knew what brand they were drinking, and in this test Coca-Cola won indisputably. The study also showed that this preference didn’t just came out of previous assumptions to those brands, it showed that when people tasted Coca-Cola different parts in their brain, parts that don’t relate directly to taste, were stimulated (for example, parts that associate with memories) and the end result was that people actually enjoyed more to drink Coca-Cola, for them it tasted better.

The pleasure from food, in a charming way, is not just about the taste of it, but about many other things. What a magic. Tamar bragged one time, to quite a few people if I might add, that “my mom makes the best store bought corn schnitzel in the world.” I honestly didn’t know how to react.. all the cooking and baking I do in the kitchen and she takes pride on the store-bought corn schnitzel I make for her… but thinking about it, aside from my toaster oven skills (…), I would like to believe that my corn schnitzel is more delicious than any other corn schnitzel that she ate just because I, her mother, made it for her, with all the meanings that goes with mama’s food.

My mom never made me store-bought corn schnitzels, I don’t know if store-bought corn schnitzels even existed when I was a child and it doesn’t matter. My mom never made us any store-bought food. She always cooked. The feelings that come up in me when I see bunch of cooking pots gathered on the stove are far beyond what’s in those pots. Because for me, cooking pots are like a huge hug, one that tries to bring into it both love and understanding, and fills me with energies that stay with me for a long time, long after the actual hug is over.

This post is a special treat. Onions stuffed with freekeh (freekeh is wheat that was harvested green and then was smoked or roasted) and kale, along with pistachios, silan (date syrup) and mint. A special and beautiful cooking pot, excellent for special occasions, but not only. The sweetness of the caramelized onions, along with the silan, against the earthy taste of the freekeh, creates a celebration of deep flavors in the palate. The making of this dish is a bit of a process, from the brewing of the onions, peeling their layers, and of course stuffing one by one with the freekeh mixture, but I swear all this hard work pays off.

Stuffed Onions with Freekeh and Kale
serves 8 generously

Ingredients:
3 large regular (yellow) onions
3 large red onions
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1½ cups freekeh, washed well and drained
1 bunch of kale, without the stems
1/2 cup natural pistachios, coarsely chopped
1 cup fresh mint, chopped
3 tablespoons silan (date syrup)
1 teaspoon sumac
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
plus- some finely chopped pistachio and mint for garnish

Instructions:
1. Prepare the onions for stuffing- peel 3 regular onions and 3 red onions, and with a knife make a deep from to to root along the onions to their center, be careful not to slice the onions in half. Place the onions in a suitable pot and fill boiling water to cover. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the onions are soft and you can see the onion layers begin to separate. Drain the water and let the onions cool off. While brewing the onions, you can start to prepare the mixture for the stuffing.
2. Prepare the stuffing- in a medium skillet, heat one tablespoon of olive oil and add in a medium onion, finely chopped, cook until the onions are transparent. Chop about 6 kale leaves, without the stems (about a cup) and add to the skillet. Season with salt, black pepper, sumac and cumin and stir. Add the chopped pistachios and the freekeh, and continue frying while mixing for another minute. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and let cool. After cooling, add 1 cup of chopped mint, 2 tablespoons of silan and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and mix well.
3. Separating the onion layers – After the onions have cooled, slowly and carefully peel and separate the onion layers, starting from the outer layers in, so that the onion layers are ready to be filled. Stop separating when reaching the center of the onions and the onion skins will look too small for filling. Don’t throw the remaining onions, we will use them later.
4. Take a large and deep sauté pan, which can also be placed in the oven, and spread in it the remaining onions and the rest of the kale leaves. Fill each leaf of onion with a tablespoonful of the mixture, roll the onion peel around the filling firm but not too tightly, and place in the padded pan seam-side down. In that way, fill the rest of the onions and place them relatively densely. Mix separately 2 cups of water with a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of silan, and pour the liquids on the stuffed onions. The liquids should cover the onions.
5. On medium heat, bring the liquid to a boil. After boiling, cover the pot and reduce the heat to minimum. Cook for an hour. Before the hour is over, preheat the oven to  400°F/200°C. After an hour, remove the lid from the pan and place the pan in the oven for another 10 minutes.
6. Before serving, sprinkle with pistachios and finely chopped mint. Serve with love (and pride!)

הפוסט Stuffed Onions with Freekeh and Kale הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

“Mom, these pants are too small for me, it’s because I grew up.” Ido, 7, tells me almost every morning in recent weeks. And I look – the pants barely reach above his ankles. You can see his entire socks.. How about that, they were too big for him just a while back. “Mom, these leggings are too tight for me,” Tamar, 9, but acting more and more like a 14-year-old, says, and immediately takes them off: “Throw them away”. How could they be too small for her, I refuse to believe and examine her lower body, this pair is one of my favorites, it’s thick and warm, I wanted her to wear them forever..

After a while of putting it off, I finally switched out the summer cloths to winter in my kids closet this last weekend, a really unnecessary operation, if you ask me, since about three-quarters of these clothes shouldn’t have been in their closet long ago, but rather in a donation bag. And the closet is like yelling at me- they grew up, your kids grew up in a year, they’re not as small as they used to be, look at all those clothes, they’re all small on them. And it’s not like I needed a reminder. Every day, even a few times a day, it feels like time slaps me in the face and reminds me how my babies are not so much babies any more. And still, I found myself moving to the higher shelves swimsuits, shorts and tank tops, knowing my kids will never wear them again, simply because I find it hard to part with them.

Last year I organised my entire closet using the KonMarie method. The KonMarie method is basically an approach to organization and decluttering (but goes much deeper then this), founded by Marie Kondo, which she describes in her brilliant book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. The principle is simple- tidying up and discarding of objects so that you surround yourself only with… objects that make you happy, that spark joy(!). And according to the method I spread a-l-l my clothes, including bags and shoes, belts and scarves, and god knows what else I had in my closet. I held every garment in my hands and asked myself: does it makes me happy, does it bring me joy? You can only imagine that I finished the day with 10 (!) garbage bags packed with clothes and other accessories I didn’t need any more and a Japanese-like closet which included a very few items, but items that made me happy.

Organizing my kids closet using the KonMarie method didn’t go quite so smooth.. I did filter out quite a bit of clothes, but at the end of the process, my kids still had enough clothes they could wear every day during the season without having to do laundry even once. Obviously, the reason for this is emotional. The question I asked myself was whether the object brings me joy, and with my children, well, every garment reminds me of something, and separating from their clothes does not necessarily brings me joy, many times it brings me a burst of nostalgia and a sense of time slipping through my fingers. After all, it feels like just a second ago I folded Tamar body clothes from a ballet class and today I fold her girl scouts uniforms, knowing that it won’t be long till I’ll find myself folding other type of uniforms (in Israel army duty is mandatory) makes my heart miss a beat.

When my children were babies I would prepare them the famous babies soup and mash everything together, making sure that every teaspoon they swallow will include protein and carbs, vitamins and fats and minerals, all at once. In this respect (and many others), soup is a wonderful form of food, bordering on peace of mind. Today I spread everything on the plate, all the food groups are placed side by side, and they are the ones who choose what and how much to eat. And I look from the side, hoping that they will eat both from this and from that, not too much of one thing and not too little of another. And like with the clothes, I understand that these are not the pants that are shortening, but the legs that get longer. More and more choices are being passed on to them, the seasons are changing and time is flying by, and soon I’ll climb again to the upper shelves of the closet to put there all the winter sweaters, and then bring down again all the shorts, that will probably be a little shorter than they were the summer before.

I’ve always been in love with soups. Something in this warm, round bowl, which can hold a whole world in it, simply captures me. Red lentil and squash soup is a soup I make in the winter at least once a week, and it never disappoints. The coriander pesto gives the soup a twist, along with the chili pepper – don’t skip it.

Red Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup with Spicy Coriander Pesto
serves 8

Ingredients:
for the soup-
1 medium butter squash (about 600 gr/1.5 lb), sliced to large cubes
1 cup red lentils, washed and drained
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup coriander, chopped
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 cups water (about 1.5 liter/1.6 qt)

for the coriander pesto-
2 cups coriander, including stems
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 garlic gloves
1/2 green chili pepper (optional but recommended)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions:
1. Using a mortar and pestle (or other kind of a grinder), crush roughly coriander seeds and cumin seeds.
2. In a large pot over a medium-high heat, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add the crashed coriander and cumin seeds, and turmeric, stir for about 1 minute to open flavors. Add the chopped onion and squash, stir and fry for another minute. Add the red lentils and then water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add half of the chopped coriander (1/2 cup), reduce to a medium heat and let it cook for about half an hour, until the butter squash and the lentils are soft and ready.
3. Turn off the heat and add the remaining chopped coriander (1/2 cup). Mash the soup into the desired texture – you can use a blender or a potato mash. I like using a potato masher so that the texture of the soup won’t be so smooth.
4. Prepare the coriander pesto- in a food processor place coriander, pumpkin seeds, garlic, green chili pepper, salt and pepper. Processors to a relatively smooth paste texture. Drizzle in the olive oil while the food processor is still running, till you get the desired texture (the pesto should be relatively thick). Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
5. Serve the soup in a bowl with at least one tablespoon of the pesto, and more pesto on the side.
6. You can keep the soup in the refrigerator for up to four days, or freeze in portions. The pesto is kept well in the fridge for up to 10 days, and it is best to pour some olive oil over it to help preserve the freshness.

Notes:
• You can use any type of squash instead of the butter squash. You can also use sweet potato.
• If you don’t have a mortar and pestle or other spice grinder, crush the seeds using a rolling pin or even a tin can, but don’t skip this process, not only for taste reasons but also for texture reasons- it’s quite unpleasant to encounter with whole seeds in your soup..
• Soups, in particular legumes soups, tend to become thicker after a day in the refrigerator. You can add a little water to this out its thickness.

הפוסט Red Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup with Spicy Coriander Pesto הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

(Some thoughts about sunset, reddish and orange tones and what’s in between)

The reddish and orange light that covers the skies is a sign of the day that is over. So much comfort there is in this shade of light. Both joy and sadness, and all because of the tones of light. Isn’t beautiful sunset is something no one can be indifferent to? To the golden light that floods the sky. The Golden Hour. It’s the light that always brings a bit of excitement. Every day eventually ends, even the best day, even the worst day.

Why is Sunset so romantic? Why is it so quiet, on the verge of fragile? What’s in it? How many photos of sunset we’ve tried to take in our life time? And aren’t these pictures (almost) always disappointing? not close to how sunset really looks and feels.

Remember when we were kids, we used to think that the sun leaves at sunset. Well, the night is coming, now the sun will leave and the moon will come to replace it. I remember my children discovering the moon in daylight for the first time and simply in awe of the fact that the sun and the moon live side by side, in the same piece of sky, they didn’t understand how the moon is up there in the sky at day time! I must admit that to this day it’s a bit vague to me that the sun actually revolves around us and “takes a trip” around the world at night, vague and charming. The things the sun sees, so many people and places.

You have to admit it’s a bit weird that this great sun, the source of life, had never seen the night. I mean, of course the sun didn’t see the night (…) but we have this feeling that the sun is always there and it’s all so powerful, but the sun doesn’t know what night is. It feels like it tries to peek, but will never be able to know what night is, what it is to stare at the stars, what a tremendous and amazing thing the moon can be, the moon that the sun knows only as something so pale.

It must be nice for the moon, the night. This is the moon chance to star, seize ownership of the sky, show off a little. I wonder if it bugs the moon that the sun can’t see how beautiful it is, how it also can make hearts skip a beat.

The reddish and orange light that covers the sky is a sign that the sun’s shift is over and now comes the moon’s turn. The sky will be under its control, at least till the next time the sky will get the same reddish hue.

These wonderful quinoa patties are tasty, vegan, baked and also has beet in it. What else can you ask for? They will be excellent with salad on the side, or even just in a pita bread.

Quinoa and Beet Patties
12 patties

Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa (before cooking)
1 medium size raw beet, finely grated and well drained (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped parsley, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
5 thyme springs, leaves picked (about 1 tablespoon)
4 tablespoons raw tahini
1 tablespoon balsamic cream
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
oil spray

Instructions:
1. Cook the quinoa- rinse and drain well the quinoa. There are two main methods to cook quinoa- the first is like rice and the second is like pasta. I cook it like rice- in a small pot put 1 tablespoon of olive oil and toast the rinsed quinoa for about 1 minute. Add water in a 2:1 ratio  (in favor of the water), meaning- one cup of water, cover the pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to minimum and cook the quinoa till all water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Let cool.
2. Prepare the beets- wash and scrub well the beet under warm water and then grate it finely on a hand grater. Squeeze the grated beet well. It’s important to squeeze and drain the grated beets so that the patties won’t fall apart.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. In a large mixing ball place the cooked quinoa, grated and drained beets, green onions, parsley, walnuts and thyme. Add balsamic cream, tahini, salt (at least 1 teaspoon in my opinion but up to taste) and black pepper, and mix well. The texture should be sticky and not crumbly, if crumbly- add more tahini to the mixture.
4. Form 2-inch/5 cm patties from the mixture and put the patties on a baking pan lined with parchment paper, spray the patties with oil spray and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, till the patties are golden and pretty.
5. The patties are kept well in the refrigerator, up to 4 days.

Notes:
• If you don’t have balsamic cream, you can use regular balsamic vinegar- just double the amount. Keep in mind we actually adding liquids to the mixture so balance it with an extra half a tablespoon of raw tahini.
• Taste the mixture before forming the patties to check seasoning.
•  Beet juice is so healthy for you, so when squeezing the beets you should save the juice and drink it :).

הפוסט Vegan Quinoa and Beet Patties הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Back from the grocery store. Unpacking the bags and start putting things in place.

“Oh, I forgot cherry tomatoes … I bought everything and didn’t buy cherry tomatoes… now I have to go back to the grocery store, but when … I don’t have time, well I don’t have time for anything and I need the cherry tomatoes. Maybe tomorrow…I’ll pick up Tamar from school and on the way to pick up Ido, I’ll take 5 minutes in the supermarket. Only tomatoes, it will take me maximum 10 minutes. But Tamar has a tennis class at five that I have to take her to, I won’t make it. Oh, that’s such a mess, how did I get to the state in my life that 5 minutes in the supermarket become such an operation, what happen to me. Man, how could I forget the cherry tomatoes. And I passed by it! And I looked at them! And I knew I needed! But no, I had to do my usual round of lettuce-mushrooms-peppers-cucumbers and only then cherry tomatoes. I’m so fixated on the most stupid things sometimes. And by the time I finished with the cucumbers I forgot about the cherry tomatoes and thought about the dish soap I had to buy. I just had to take the tomatoes when I saw it, I knew it would happen to me. It always happens to me. “

Let’s talk about the conversations we have with ourselves. You know what talks I mean. These can be long or short talks, or even just a sentence. These can be talks that come at the end of the day just before going to sleep, or on the way home from work, or even when you’re just waiting for your turn at the dentist. These conversations, between ourselves, can start as some sort of a checklist, things that we did or didn’t do, things we still need to do. And somehow, at some unclear point, we take some sort of a turn, and in the dialogue we have with ourselves begin to appear a few negative sentences. Suddenly, things that we didn’t get to do in the same specific day become things we didn’t get to do in our life, a coincidence becomes a constant lack of luck and momentary falls (which everyone has!) become in our mind some ongoing self-failure.

Why? Why do we talk like that to ourselves? we wouldn’t dare say these things to anyone else, so why do we say it to ourselves? Why in our everyday life are we nice and empathic and contain all but ourselves? Why don’t we talk nice to ourselves?

What if that same conversation I had with myself was going something like this – “Oh, I forgot to buy cherry tomatoes … What a bummer. Well, with so many things on my mind, no wonder I’ll forget something … At least I remembered the dish soap! I guess I’ll try to go by the grocery store tomorrow, worst case we’ll eat cucumber salad this week. “

It’s time we change the tone of speak we use with ourselves. I think it’s a matter of practice, of noticing when the thoughts that run through our minds suddenly become not so constructive criticism or even a form of lowering ourselves, and then stop and think about what would we say to a good friend about the same situation, and then tell ourselves these things. We deserve to be a little more forgiving with ourselves, most of the time we just try our best in life. Instead of putting under a microscope every little negative thing, maybe it’s time to put under the same microscope some few positive things.

Here is a dish that will make you say only positive things to yourself. Delicious, fresh and full of things that are good and healthy for your body. The kale in the salad gets a special treatment – massage! The purpose of the massage is to soften the kale so that it’ll be easier to chew.

Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Spiced Chickpeas and Yogurt Dressing
serves 2-3

Ingredients:
for the kale-
10 kale leaves, washed and dried (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of salt
1/2 cup slivered almonds

for the spiced chickpeas-
1½ cups cooked chickpeas (you can use canned, washed)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
salt, black pepper

for the roasted sweet potato-
1 medium size (date syrup)
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt, black pepper

for the yogurt dressing-
1/2 cup yogurt (vegan or not, to your preference)
zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
pinch of freshly grounded black pepper

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, toss all the ingredients for the spiced chickpeas, and in a separate medium bowl toss all the ingredients for the roasted sweet potato.
3. Lay the chickpeas and the sweet potato on a baking tray lined with parchment paper in one layer (you can use the same tray for both, side by side), and roast in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, till golden.
4. Treat the kale: remove all the kale’s thick stems with a knife, cut or rip by hand the kale leaves into roughly bite-size pieces. put the kale in a medium bowl, add olive oil and salt, and start massaging the kale- literally rub the kale leaves with the olive oil and the salt with your hands, for about 2-5 minutes. The longer you message the kale the softer it’ll get (just be careful not to overdo it and make it mushy).
5. In a small bowl, add all the ingredients for the yogurt dressing and mix well.
6. Put the salad together: in a large bowl, put all the prepared ingredients: the massaged kale, almond chips, spiced chickpeas, roasted sweet potato and yogurt dressing. Mix well until all ingredients are evenly coated with the yogurt dressing. Serve and enjoy.

הפוסט Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Spiced Chickpeas and Yogurt Dressing הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

It happened at the grocery store, next to the onion stand. Out of nowhere, a tear came down on her cheek. She got startled a bit, since she didn’t quite understand where this tear came from, but before she could figure it out, she felt another one, and this time it was joined with a kind of pain in her throat. a choking. Immediately, almost out of instinct, she put her sunglasses on. She thought it’s better people think she is weird rather than sad.

The next day she was on her way back from work and it happened again. More tears, and again a choking feeling in her throat. Then it happened while she hung up the laundry, and then when she folded the laundry. Then it happened while she was on the phone with her mom, and when she was walking her dog, and when she put her kids coat on. Before she could understand why it was happening, tears appeared almost at any moment of the day, and always without a warning.

It was clear to her that the tears were coming from a real place of sadness. But sadness about what? And more importantly, she thought, how can she make those tears go away?

She thought about not sleeping enough, about working too hard. She thought about not doing what she thought she was supposed to do. She thought about being by herself a lot, much more than she would’ve liked, she thought of the love that hurt her once so much, the friends she neglected, the routine life and the emptiness it brings. She thought of many things that were really very sad, but she didn’t quite know if they were the reason the tears came down.

One day there was a knock at the door. She looked at the peephole and didn’t see anyone. She opened the door and saw a sack of onions lay on the floor. She thought it was very odd that someone left her a sack of onions by the door, and a bit scary too, but she took it in because it was only a bag of onions. She looked at the bag for a few minutes and didn’t know what to do with it, but she felt she had to do something with it. She took a knife from the drawer and began peeling one onion. And then she peeled another onion. And another one. Until she peeled off all of the onions in the sack so that she had a large pile of peeled onions on her kitchen counter. She felt she hasn’t finished, so she began to cut the onions. First one length cut then strips across. Slicing the onions brought tears to her eyes. many tears. burning tears. The more onions she sliced, the more tears came down her eyes. But this time there wasn’t a sore throat. No choking. When she finished cutting all the onions, and looked at the pile of onion strips on the counter, she noticed that so many tears dripped down, that they wet her shirt, and there was even a little puddle of tears on the counter, but because she knew onions were supposed to shed tears, she wasn’t scared. Instead, she smiled.

Baked Camembert Cheese with Onion Jam

Onion jam
for 2 cups

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large red onions (about kg/2 lbs), thinly sliced
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
7-8 thyme springs, leaves picked (about 1½ tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. In a large sauté pan heat the olive oil for a minute over medium heat. Add the onions and salt and cook for about 10 minutes, until translucent. make sure to stir occasionally.
2. Add sugar, red wine, balsamic vinegar and thyme. Stir and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce to low heat and let the mixture simmer until the jam becomes thick and almost all of the liquid is absorbed- about an hour. Mix occasionally.
4. Take off the heat and add freshly ground black pepper. Chill, and store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks (even longer if you are strict and use only sterilized jars and clean silverware).

Baked Camembert cheese

Ingredients:
1 pack of Camembert cheese, in its box (250gr/9oz)
1 tablespoon honey
4 thyme springs

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
2. Remove the Camembert from its plastic wrap and place it in its box again (if the Camembert box is not suitable for the oven, place in in a ring or other suitable baking pot).
3. Score the top of the Camembert in a crosshatch pattern. Drizzle the honey on top, and place the thyme springs above.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, until the Camembert is golden and melted in the middle.
Serve with good bread and the onion jam of course. High level indulgence..

הפוסט Baked Camembert Cheese with Onion Jam הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

There is an episode in “Seinfeld” in which George Costanza comes to the conclusion that every choice he ever made in his life was wrong, and all these wrong choices brought him to his current dismal state. And since every choice he ever made in his life was wrong, he is going to do exactly the opposite of what his instinct tells him to do. And suddenly everything goes great for him, even amazing, suddenly everything he does is a success. The episode is called “The Opposite”. I believe there isn’t anyone who watched this episode and didn’t think: “What if I will also start doing the exact opposite of what I think I should do?”, with no real reason, just to try, to see where the opposite choices from what we used to do lead us. It’s funny how we doubt everything we have in a second ..

Do you ever think such thoughts? I’m not talking about doubting every decision you’ve ever made, that’s quite extreme … but yes, ask yourself what could have happened if in some cases you would behave in the opposite way to your normal behavior, where could it have taken you, what doors could it open? I mean, let say every day on your way to work you would be stuck in traffic for 10 minutes because of a garbage trunk on your route, wouldn’t you try to pass through a different street?

With most of the decisions I’ve made in my life I am quite complete, even with the less successful ones. If every action and decision I ever made brought me to where I am today, then I live in peace with it. I’m fine with where I am. I don’t need, like George, to behave exactly the opposite of what I’ve done so far. I think I have to improve on spontaneity, to get out of my box sometimes. Looking back, some of the craziest and most amazing experiences I had in life came after I made a decision that isn’t necessarily characterize who I am and what I usually do. Some “yes” I said in places I always say “no”.

And it’s not easy. It’s not simple to decide to do the opposite of what you are used to, what you always do. But maybe, if there is an area in life where I feel that my actions don’t bring me to where I want to be, then maybe that’s not a bad idea to change these actions, to see things differently. Perhaps these new decisions will lead us to some place different, closer to where we want to be.

I know, I know, falafel is made out of chickpeas. I also know falafel is fried. And still, you can make it a bit different, and it turns out tasty and fulfilling and fun.

Lentil Falafel
16 falafel balls

Ingredients:
2 cups green/brown lentils, washed and soaked for at least 12 hours
1/2 bunch parsley (about 2 cups loosely packed)
1/2 bunch coriander (about 2 cups loosely packed)
1 green chili pepper (with or without seeds depends on desired heat, can be left out if preferred)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon raw tahini
2 bread slices, soaked in water for 1 minutes and then squeezed (use gluten free bread for gluten free falafel)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cumin
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
oil spray

Instructions:
1. Soak the lentils in water for at least 12 hours. Change the soaking water at least once.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
3. In a food processor, place the drained lentils, parsley, coriander, chili pepper and garlic cloves and blend into a crumbly mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients (except from the oil spray) and blend till creamy and moist texture. If the mixture is dry, add 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice or water.
4. Use a cookie scoop or your clean wet hands to form a 1-inch falafel balls. Place the falafel balls on a baking pan lined with parchment paper, spray the balls with oil spray and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes.
5. Serve immediately, with or without pitta bread, but with tahini for sure.

Notes:
• The falafel is best when coming out of the oven. When making extra falafel balls you can freeze it, preferably before baking.
• You can eat the lentil falafel inside a pitta bread with israeli salad and tahini, or any other preferred extras, or serve as a main course in a plate. You can also use the lentil falafel balls as the protein in a joyful buddha ball.

הפוסט Lentil Falafel הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

I remember those minutes of leaving the house in the mornings a few years back when Tamar and Ido were still in kindergarten …

We are all set to go. I take my bag, then her bag, and his bag. In my right hand I pick up my lunch bag, and my keys. With my free hand (free?) I put on my sunglasses.
“Come on, let’s go to the kindergarten.”
They run and cling to the door, waiting to charge…
“Wait, be careful, stay away from the door, I open it”
I open the door carefully.
“Tell Kutcher (their four legs brother) goodbye”. “Bye Kutcher.” “Bye Kuti”. “Bye Kutcher.”
We leave the house and I lock the door.

Tamar orders the elevator. Ido runs to turn on the light. He stands at the switch and raises his hands up. “Light .. Light ..”. I pick him up so he can turn the light on. He becomes heavy the little fellow… The elevator doors open up and Tamar enters. I run quickly with all the bags and block the elevator doors so that they won’t close suddenly without us. Even though the elevator is here, Ido also presses the button to call it and then enters. Everyone is in.

Tamar presses the button to the ground floor. The elevator doors close. Without thinking twice Ido jumps and presses the button to the second floor, the floor we’re in. The doors open again. I give him the look, adding a little smile, and the doors close again. He jumps again to the elevator buttons and presses again on the second floor button. The doors open again. “Ido no, not now”, I mumble.  I corner both of them physically and block the elevator buttons. The doors close again. The elevator begins to go down, I clear the way to the buttons and Ido runs and presses again on the second floor (too late ..), and on the minus one floor …

We made it to the entrance level. The little ones run out in a frenzy. I wonder why is it and don’t know if to tell them to stop or smile for the naivety it represent. Tamar is first to the entrance door and pushes it. I rush quickly and hold it before it will be slammed on Ido and he passes me without noticing there was ever any danger. They continue their run outside, to the car, Tamar to the right side of the car, Ido to the left.
I open the door to Tamar and move to the other side of the car while she’s climbing to her chair. “Mum, buckle me up first!” “Of course”. I open the door to Ido and he begins to climb to his seat. I follow him with my eyes and come back again to Tamar’s side. I fasten her seat belt, and give her a kiss. “Do you want to close the door by yourself?” Slam. I Move to back to Ido’s side, open the passenger front door, and put down my lunch bag, then Tamar’s bag, then Ido’s bag, and then my bag and close the door. Then I go to Ido’s door and fasten his seat belt. a kiss. “Do you want to close the door by yourself?” Slam.
I return to the driver’s side of the car. Suddenly there is silence. They’re both safely in the car, I’m out. I Open the driver’s door, get in and start the engine. I open the air conditioner, turn the radio on, and put the car in reverse. “Mom.. don’t forget to put your seat belt on!”

A few years have passed since then. Tamar and Ido walk on foot to school. They don’t need my help to turn the light on or call the elevator, they also carry their own bags (most of the time). And still, those minutes, the minutes when you leave home to start a new day, always carry a certain feeling of frenzy, and in this sense they seem to repeat themselves every day.

These muffins can be used as a great breakfast. They are tasty, pretty, have oatmeal and whole wheat flour in (as far as I’m concerned, that’s a check on upgrading to a healthier version) and you can eat them on the way in the days you don’t really sit down to eat breakfast. When I prepare them I immediately freeze almost all the amount, and then when I wake up, take a few from the freezer – a few minutes outside and they defrost great.

For the tahini and silan (date syrup) spread use a store-bought spread that I live in peace with. I tried to make a kind of homemade paste with raw tahini and silan and the truth is that the muffins were really ugly. When the children were small I made them with Nutella spread instead of tahini, and also these days, most of the time, I make some of the quantity this way.

Banana Muffins with Tahini and Silan Spread
for 12 muffins

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
1½ cups whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup natural brown sugar (demerara or cane)
2+1/2 teaspoons baking powder (10 gr)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120 gr/4.5 oz tahini and silan (date syrup) spread (a teaspoon for each muffin, I use this)

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C, line a 12 muffin pan with muffin tins.
2. In a medium bowl combine all the dry ingredients and stir.
3. In a small bowl beat egg, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Add the mashed bananas and stir till well combined.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl and stir only till combined.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin tins. Add to each muffin a teaspoon of the tahini and silan spread, and with a toothpick or a knife cut the tahini spread into the batter making some sort of a star.
6. Bake between 17-20 minutes, till the muffins are golden and stable. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack.
7. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days, or in the freezer up to 3 weeks.

Notes:
• As said, you can use Nutella spread instead of the tahini spread. You can also combine the two spreads (1/2 teaspoon each from both spreads) and it will turn up yummy.
• For those who like the flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the mixture.

הפוסט Banana Muffins with Tahini and Silan Spread הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

I wanted to dress up.

I didn’t have an actual reason to dress up, there wasn’t any special occasion, it was just another ordinary day and I was on my way to work, but I wanted to. I felt like looking at myself in the mirror and to see myself looking at me back a little more pretty and sparkling than usual. So I stood in front of my closet and gazed at it, like waiting for some dress or a blouse that hid there to jump at me, something that was exactly what I wanted to wear. A kind of non-existing garment, that has everything I wanted in (except from the part of being an actual garment in my closet…), and if not that imaginary garment, then I was looking at least for something I haven’t worn in such a long time that it will feel new. Because I also wanted to be renewed. To dress up festive and to be renewed. It’s a feeling I have lately, but for now I’ll settle for that in a piece of clothing.

So as things tend to get with imaginary clothes.. I didn’t find exactly what I wanted, but I did find something. Truth be said, it wasn’t the most festive garment there is, it was actually my worn and beat up jeans I wear at least 3 times a week…, but I managed to find a blouse I haven’t wore for a really long time because there was never really the right opportunity, and I decided today it is. Not because there was anything special in that day, it really was just like any other ordinary day, but precisely because of that and due to my festive unexplained feeling I had, I felt like the opportunity had come. And just to add to that dress up vibe I had, I put on a pair of socks I once bought and cost me a fortune during an optimistic spree in London, despite the fact (and maybe because of the fact) no one will see them but me.

I looked at the mirror, and though in any other day I could find many negative things to say on the one reflecting to me in the mirror, I chose to smile and be content, and with that feeling I left the house. And then something happened. This ordinary day that was about to happen got a pinch of sparkle. The way to work was as usual, but then the radio played a song I didn’t hear in a long time and really liked, and that made me feel good. At work, I was complimented at least 3 times on my blouse and I just said “thank you” and smiled and didn’t make any other comment, and when I was making myself my usual salad I eat for lunch, a colleague that was making her own lunch next to me offered me some green onions and basil leaves she had that up-scaled my normal salad. It was still an ordinary day. I still drove my kids to and from school, I still went to the office and spent hours in front of excel sheets, and yet, it felt a bit better than usually. Is it because of what I wore? Of course not. Is it because I decided to dress up festively? Absolutely.

What a fun salad. Supposedly a simple rice salad, but combined with so many fresh and tasty ingredients that decorate it and gives it the extra sparkle;). Roasted peppers and zucchinis, spiced chickpeas, kalamata olives, feta cheese, mint and parsley- bold flavors mixed together into a celebration in the mouth. You can use the highway on this recipe and buy some of the roasted ingredients, but if you roast everything yourself be sure to make an extra batch and save it in the fridge- those ingredients will happily decorate and upscale any salad or pasta dish you’ll make and even will be great just as a snack. And oh, it’s just a great salad to take to work!

Antipasto Brown Rice Salad
serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 cup of washed and drained brown rice
2 cups water (for the rice cooking)
2 red bell pepper (or store-bought roasted bell peppers)
2 zucchinis (or store-bought roasted zucchini)
1 cup cooked chickpeas (you can use canned, washed)
12 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
2-3 green onions, chopped
1 bunch of mint (1/2 cup), finely chopped
1 bunch parsley (1/2 cup), finely chopped
5 oz/ 150 gr feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon wine vinegar (red or white)
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt & ground black pepper to taste

for the roasted chickpeas-
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
a pinch of salt & ground black pepper

Instructions:
1. cook the rice- in a heated pot, fry the rice with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over a medium heat for about one minute. Add 2 cups of water, salt and freshly ground black pepper and bring to a boil. cover the pot with a lid and cook on a small heat for about 45 minutes, till all water evaporate. let the lid on for at least extra 5-10 minutes, and let the rice cool to room temperature.
2. Roast the sweet peppers (if you use store-bought skip this part)- preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. lay the peppers on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and roast for about 30 minutes, turn them a couple of times during cooking. Remove from the oven and let them sweat a bit more- either in a ball with plastic wrap on it or a sealed plastic bag, for about 20 minutes. Then, remove the stem and the seeds, and peel the skin (that should be easily done). Cut into wide straps.
3. Roast the zucchini (if you use store-bought skip this part)- preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Slice the zucchini into 1/4-inch (1/2 cm) rounds, toss it with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt and ground pepper. lay it on a baking pan lined with parchment paper in one layer and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, turn them halfway through, till the zucchini starts to brown. Leave to cool.
4. For the spices chickpeas- preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. toss the cooked chickpeas with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper, lat on a baking pan lined with parchment paper in one layer and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool.
5. Combine the salad- in a large mixing ball put all the salad ingredients (rice, roasted peppers and zucchinis, spiced chickpeas, olives, green onions, chopped mint, chopped parsley and crumbled feta cheese), toss with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, wine vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper. Be careful with the salt since the salad has the olives and feta cheese in it.
Store in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Notes:
• Add a couple of cucumbers to the salad for an extra crunch and freshness. Of course, once you put in the cucumbers you can’t store the salad.
• The salad can be easily veganize by replacing the feta cheese with tofu.
• You can absolutely roast peppers, zucchinis and chickpeas at once, just pay attention to the different roasting time.

הפוסט Antipasto Brown Rice Salad הופיע לראשונה ב- The Happy Lentils.

Lately I have this big urge to get clean. Something about the changing of the seasons, the end of the Jewish holidays marking the new Jewish year, and other personal matters, make me feel that something has ended and something new is about to begin. And something new means renewal, and I want to get to that renewal clean. As clean as I can get, body and soul. Tabula rasa. I want to get to this new thing that is about to start as if (and only as if) nothing has ever stuck to me, as if I have no previous fears or any past baggage, as if I were seeing things for the first time.

But it’s not just the feeling of wanting to clean the mind, it’s also a feeling of wanting the physical cleanliness. It starts with a tremendous desire to throw all the clothes I have in my closet and never wear them again (not necessarily wanting to buy new clothes, more like not wanting to wear the clothes I wore till now). It continues with the physical need for cleaning – peeling masks to remove dead skin layers, face scrubs, nourishing hair masks (which is so needed after this summer), cleaning the house ..! Recently, I have this desire to open all the windows in the house and let the air in after months of constantly using the air conditioner.

And then there is the cleaning that comes from the outside in (or is it from the inside out?)- the desire to nourish my body with things that are good for it, stimulate it, and make it essential and healthy, food that will circle through my body and replace all the bad things I’ve been filling it with until now (I’ve mentioned the holidays before…). We are what we eat, I’m a strong believer in that. When I see on my plate food that I consider as good for me, I immediately get a sense of pride in the plate (especially if I made it!), and real joy that this is the food I chose to feed my body with this time.

So lately I have the desire to get clean, and though I would be happy to go on a two weeks vacation in some secluded retreat that serves amazing vegetarian food and has yoga classes all day, my reality is a bit different, so I try to make as many small choices as possible that will suit me and these feelings I have and it’s actually going pretty nice. Perhaps this desire to cleanse is the main part of the renewal, and I wish to be able to accept this desire and reach the new season that comes without any strings from the past, clean, complete, ready.

Isn’t pesto is the greatest? Small jar full with so many possibilities! You can use it to upscale a simple vegetable salad, pasta, baked potatoes, sandwich and many more, all you need is a tablespoon of pesto and you’re done. So pesto is good, but kale pesto- that’s just excellent. You can enjoy all the pesto goodness and nourish the body with something super (wink wink) healthy. The pesto kale is also a great way to introduce kale into your life (if you haven’t already did) for someone who finds it a bit difficult to deal with the strong cabbage taste.

Unlike most pestos, in kale pesto you don’t want to use the stems, simply because their texture is a bit woody. Other than that, it’s easy to prepare and done entirely in a food processor.

Print Recipe

Kale Pesto

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

serves: 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (120 gr/ 4 oz) kale, without the stems
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, (50 gr/ 1½ oz)
• 2 garlic cloves
• zest + juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• In a food processor, place all the ingredients, except from the olive oil, and blend into a paste texture.
• While the food processor is running, add the olive oil gradually until you reach the consistency you prefer. If you want a more thin pesto, add more olive oil. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
• Transfer to a jar and refrigerate for up to 10 days. To maintain the pesto bright green color, add a little olive oil to the jar after each use, making a layer of protection from the air.

Notes:

• You can veganize the pesto by excluding the parmesan cheese. In that case, I would mix the walnuts with cashews or other kind of nut for more deep flavors.
• If you find the taste of kale alone too strong (or if you just want to vary)- swap half of the kale for basil. tasty.
• For kale pest pasta- just mix the pesto in a pan with about half a cup of the pasta cooking water on medium heat for about 2 minutes, then add the cooked pasta and mix until full cover for another minute. You can scrape more parmesan over the serving.