Tag Archives: Vegetarian

by | 2012/10/28

Quick (Asian) Pear, Almond & Cake – Parve & Gluten-Free

Life sucks when you are intolerant to dairy. I have no doubt that my life could have been ten times better and sweeter if  I could just eat some stinky cheeses or buttery pastries, without having to pay the price.

Creativity and improvisation in the kitchen are the name of the game when dealing with allergy restrictions and frustrations. (God, how I envy those people – like my husband – who can drink their lattes with milk, and can eat a big bowl of cereal, minutes before bedtime, then sleep through the night without snoring or going through an entire package of tissue!)

Three days ago, an amazing cake came out of my hideous frustration. I swear, you would never guess that there is olive oil in the cake instead of butter (NEVER margarine or any other poor substitute). I know olive oil sounds like a turn-off, but, believe me, it blends in very well. (So does coconut oil.) None of the people who ate this cake suspected that it’s non-dairy.

For a while now, I’ve been fantasizing about a real pear pie, with butter and cream, like Karin Goren’s recipe, but I know that it would cost me my health, so I give up. Luckily, this improvised cake came out just as good as the one in my fantasies, and managed to calm my taste buds and the frustration.

Again, Alex’s help made the cake magical and yummy. Just as good as the muffins he made two weeks ago. Continue reading →

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by | 2012/10/21

Warm Mangold Salad & Baked Eggplant Salad with Red Onion & Tahini

Every few months I become vegan for a month or so. Currently I’m in a vegan month: no meat, no chicken, no eggs, and no dairy products (as usual, for allergy reasons). And no meat/dairy substitutes. I hate all those soy/tofu products! I can only enjoy the real thing. Instead I eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes. Yes, I do look like a bird by the end of the month.

Usually the first two weeks are easy. There are endless vegetable dishes I can make. I have this magnificent book called Plenty, Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi – it’s all vegetable-based recipes. Written by Yotam Ottolonghi, an Israeli chef/restaurateur/food writer who lives in London, the book is highly recommended. When I go through the pages of this book I think to myself that I could easily become a vegetarian forever if not for my terrible craving for meat. I have nothing against meat if it’s organic and grass-fed, and eaten only once in a while, not every day. My body needs meat every now and then. No matter how much broccoli I eat or how many shots of wheat grass I drink, without meat my body feels weak, as if I’m about to faint. The best grass-fed meat in my opinion is sold at Whole Foods at a reasonable price.

This week I was enjoying all the vegetable dishes I cooked for my husband and me. (Both of my opinionated sons won’t eat cooked leafy greens and vegetables, such as chard and eggplant). Here are two yummy salads/dishes that I quickly made yesterday for lunch and served with quinoa. They can also be made as a side dish.

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by | 2012/10/11

Root Vegetables Salad

Here is the most popular salad among the children in my family, Saba Zion’s Salad. “Saba” means grandfather in Hebrew. My father, who is a brilliant cook and a master of seasoning, managed to make his grandchildren fall in love with raw vegetables.

It’s a marvelous sight to see a bunch of kids attacking a bowl of salad full of unusual vegetables as if it were a cookie jar. Then, after they gobble it up, they fight over the juice left in the bowl. The lemon in this salad plays a major role. Not only does it add lots of zesty, yummy flavor, it also pickles the vegetables a bit, softening them and giving them extra flavor. So if you don’t have a good lemon on hand, don’t bother to make this salad.

When Leo’s friends ask him what is so good about this salad, he says, “It’s sour and crunchy and awesome, all at the same time.”

My father prepares it with many different kinds of vegetables – bell peppers, cucumbers, fennel, kohlrabi, carrots, celery, radishes, cauliflower, turnips – but it can also be made with just one or two. I usually make it with fennel, kohlrabi and radishes. I also pack a small portion in a container or a zip-lock and add it to their lunch boxes as a snack or a side to the sandwich. It makes a great snack! Continue reading →

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by | 2012/10/08

Toast With Avocado – Illustrated Recipe

Recently I discovered that not only I can cook I can also draw. It’s so fun and relaxing. I wish I had more time for my new hobby. Anyway, it was very flattering and exciting to discover that other people beside my husband and kids like my illustrations. As I mention at my last post, Nate & Salli at They Cook and Draw love them! Included my latest recipe for kids or anyone, who is new to the kitchen. Enjoy Toast with King Acavado. Check it out, http://www.theydrawandcook.com/recipes/toast-with-king-acavado-by-shelly-gilad

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by | 2012/10/03

Orange Semolina Muffins with Dark Chocolate (& Pad Thai)

There are days when I am like a Moroccan grandmother. I spend all day in the kitchen. Last Monday was one of those days.

After preparing a nice little breakfast for the kids (a banana raspberry smoothy and toast with avocado) and a lunch box (whole-wheat pita bread with omelet, grape tomatoes & sliced cucumber on the side), I sent them to school and went to the West Hollywood Farmers Market. I bought two big bags packed with a large variety of beautiful produce.

When I got back home from the market, I went straight into the kitchen to continue with the Idli Rava preparation I started the day before. Idli Rava is an Indian breakfast dish that my lovely neighbor, Satya, introduced to me. After I tried it at her house a few times and fell in love with it, she taught me how to make it. I am still debating if I should publish the recipe on the blog. It’s not exactly quick-quick, but  it’s definitely yum-yum, and it’s also very healthy (it’s mostly protein).

After I finished making the Idli, which took a bit of time, I took a short break to drink my morning tea (rooibos) and eat a few Idlis as a late breakfast, with a tomato chutney I made while the idlis were steaming in the pot.

Later I emptied the bags from the market, and tidied up the refrigerator and the pantry. While organizing the pantry, all the noodles reminded me that Leo and Alex had been asking me for a while now to make Pad Thai. So that’s what I prepared for lunch.

In the afternoon, Alex the Sugar Junkie asked me, “Can I have something sweet?” As if the strawberries he had earlier were not sweet. The truth is that I was also craving something sweet, so I didn’t mind making something. This clumsy stubborn little boy insisted on doing everything himself, including a big mess, some flour and egg that never made it into the bowl. Never mind the mess. What’s important is that, somehow, his baked goods come out delicious every time. Seriously, everything he bakes is amazing. The muffins were excellent. These poor kids, who always complain, “How come we never have sweets in our lunch bags?” were finally happy to find these muffins in their lunch box the next day.

Of course, that wasn’t even the last thing I made that day. Later on, I made a light dinner, starting with a big healthful salad from all the veggies and herbs I had gotten at the market, and a lovely omelet of freshly picked free-range eggs, also from the market. Continue reading →

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by | 2012/09/04

My Mother’s Moroccan Style Pizza

My mother has always been liberal and pretty open about almost everything, yet when it comes to food, she is as old- fashioned and conservative as an old lady. All through my childhood – and until this day – my mother has cooked every day, and everything from scratch. Until we moved to the big city of Tel Aviv, my mother even used to make amazing pastries and lavish birthday cakes, which made me and my siblings very proud and happy. Although my mother is Moroccan, and not Italian, her pizza recipe is my favorite. I am willing to endure my allergic reaction to dairy for a single slice. Her recipe is made with fresh sliced tomatoes (the beefy ones, like Roma tomatoes), a drizzle of olive oil mixed with sweet and hot paprika – instead of the usual tomato sauce. Then she tops it with onion rings, black olives and canned tuna! Even after all those years living in New York City, surrounded by excellent pizza, I still prefer my mother’s Moroccan Style Pizza. Continue reading →

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by | 2012/09/02

Homemade Granola Bars

The idea of making this wickedly good snack came from Nature Vally. A couple of days ago, when I picked up the kids from school, I took the neighbor’s kids, too, and one of them pulled a Nature Valley granola bar out of their backpacks. Although they shared it with my kids, Alex wasn’t satisfied.

“It’s not fair! We never buy real snacks.”

“Those are not real snacks,” I said, “and they’re not very healthy.”

“Yes they are! It says 100% natural!”

Before I could respond, Leo, who hates it when Alex whines, snapped at him. “100% natural doesn’t mean anything! It can be 100% natural crap, don’t you know that?” That’s my boy!

When we got home, Sophia, the neighbor-friend , who is Leo’s age (9), and is always willing to cook something, asked if we can make something. I knew exactly what we should make.

“How would you like to make real granola bars? Less sweet and healthier than the one you had in the car.” I could see she was happy to make them, but a bit skeptical. For her, it was like making cereal. How the heck do you make homemade cereal?

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