What Will be on the Menu?

The three weeks first begin today but some of us are already thinking ahead to Tishe Ba'Av, basically because of the way the taanis begins.  This year we go from Shabbos into the taanis, and the question has come up as to what is going to be served at that last meal on Shabbos that will get people through the fast day comfortably.  Keep in mind also that many men will not be at home  right before the fast, able to eat their meal then, so their pre-fast meal is going to extend that fast day by a couple of hours, since they will be eating earlier.  Hot food will probably also be a problem.

So, what type of meal, types of foods are you planning for the taanis?  Have you used these types of meals before, and were people "full enough" to get through the taanis comfortably?  Please, share.

Yet Another Shortage

Today it was reported that the two countries in Asia which are the world's suppliers of vanilla pods have had a severe reduction in the crop.  They cannot afford to absorb any losses, so prices for basic product are going to go up.  What this means is that products which contain vanilla are going to cost more, and vanilla will be scarcer in our stores and markets.  There is an estimate that vanilla ice cream, for instance, may see price hikes of 10 to 20 percent.  You can also expect to see those price hikes in commercial bakery goods and in the manufactured baked goods sold in stores--cookies, snack foods etc..  You will also see it in the vanilla available for sale for baking/cooking purposes.  Vanilla is also used as a flavor enhancer in many products where we may not be aware that there is any vanilla, products like ready-made drinks and sodas, cake mixes etc..

Oh joy, yet something else that is going to cost more.

Something Fishy

Our local Pathmark had a new product I hadn't seen before. The brand is Cape Gourmet Wild Salmon fillets. It's a one-pound package. Each package has four pieces in it, individually vacuum sealed. The bones and skin have been removed, so it's pure fish fillet counted for the weight. It's under the Chof K. The package was being sold for $5.99 for the one-pound package. The fresh fish counter had wild salmon at $11 a pound, pre-frozen and thawed, skin still on--obviously the frozen package represents a bargain.

I tried the fish and it was delicious. And it really is convenient to be able to take out only as many servings as you need. If you like salmon but don't like the price of the fresh wild salmon, you might want to look and see if your market carries the brand.

One for Now, any Number for Later

I'm certainly not the only woman who has been spending a lot of time in the kitchen thanks to yom tov and Shabbos coming out connected. In addition, like many others, I have been preparing some items that I don't cook all that often during the year, mostly because of time constraints or the amount of work involved. And then there are the items that I do use a lot of during the year as well as for yom tov but that can take hours of prep time and can be messy as well. And once again my freezer comes to the rescue.

If you're still not sure that frozen food tastes as good as fresh, it may be time to get over that idea. With some items there is simply no way to tell the difference, and in some cases the frozen food actually tastes better.

For one thing, plain chicken broth, to be used as a basis for any type of soup desired, has zero noticeable difference from the fresh broth. I made up about 30 quarts of the concentrated broth, about half of which were frozen plain, a few weeks before yom tov. The others I made up into three kinds of soup--traditional vegetable chicken, split pea and barley and winter squash and vegetable soups. I purposefully make them thicker so they take up less space in the freezer and can have liquid added after defrosting. No boredom over yom tov as I have three different soups for variety. And there's plenty of broth ready prepared which will cut down on prep time for soups after yom tov, when the Friday's are shorter.

Now lasagnas. Here I actually prefer the frozen variety. I don't freeze the lasagnas already cooked, just ready to bake. I find that the frozen variety gives a slightly softer noodle when baked, with no dry spots at all. And for those who don't freeze lasagna because those lasagna-size pans may work for a holiday crowd but give you too much for regular meals, here's some ideas. If your family is only 2-4, try using the 8x4 small aluminum loaf pans available. One lasagna noodle fits in just perfectly lengthwise. Keep layering and you have a lasagna loaf that will give you the amount you need without leftovers that might go to waste. If you need a bit more, then try an 8x8 square aluminum pan, which will hold two noodles side by side. If some in your family like only the traditional-type of lasagna and some like variations such as vegetable lasagna, making them in the loaf tins allows you to please everyone's taste.

I made kokosh for yom tov, and any bakers out there know that making yeast dough can be a pain in the neck and mess up the kitchen. As long as the kitchen was going to get messy anyway, I made double the amount of dough needed and froze away packages of the dough in one-cake portions. Way easier to defrost one piece of dough, roll and fill and bake then to have to handle all the dough at once. And no, no one is going to be able to tell from the taste or texture that the dough was frozen. I also froze away readymade cakes and I got zero complaints when they came out to be served. If you bake any type of milchig cakes, such as cheese cakes, making extra and freezing them saves a lot of time as well. I have only one oven, so cleaning and turning it so I can use it for milchigs and then cleaning it and turning it back for fleishigs is time intensive.

No matter how careful you are, you are liable to see leftovers that you just aren't going to be able to use up immediately. If those leftovers are chicken or meat, remove the skin and bones, tear the meat into small bite-size pieces, put into a baggie or container with a few spoons of the cooking juices and freeze away. With cold weather coming, a paprikash or stew makes for a welcoming dinner. Just pop the contents of one of those baggies into a pot with your starch of choice and with some veggies and spices, and cook up an appetizing dish in less than half the time.

There are lots of other dishes that freeze well and which are appreciated when time is short and people are hungry. You're doing all that work now anyway, so why not let that work and your freezer save you some time later on.

A Shared Summer #2

Those out there who like to bake are frequently on the lookout for new sources for recipes and baking tips and hints. Let's face it--cookbooks are more often than not very expensive to purchase. Add in that, unless and until you've gone through the book page by page, recipe by recipe, you don't really know how much of a particular cookbook you will actually end up using. Spend $30-40 on a cookbook containing recipes for 50 different baked goods, and assume you will make all 50 recipes, and you are initially spending about 80 cents per baking recipe. But most people do NOT make every recipe in a cookbook; in fact, they make relatively few of the recipes. Let's say you only try 1-10 of those recipes. Now the price per recipe is way higher--anywhere from $4 to $40 per recipe.

So, what cookbooks that are out there, whether kosher or not, have you found particularly useful? Why? Is it the illustrations, is it well-written instructions, is it the general hints and tips that make it useful? Please post your choices in the comments.

Now to online sources for bakers. There are certainly many sources available online. One that I find particularly useful--and gorgeous to view--is baking911.com. There are hundreds of free pages to browse through. In addition, a premium membership to the site costs $19.95 per year and gives you access to thousands of recipes--fully illustrated--as well as individual help and baking forums. For instance, ever wonder just how much frosting you need in order to correctly and evenly frost various sizes and types of baked goods? The free pages have a chart that gives you the amounts for virtually any kind of baked goods you could consider frosting. And referencing that recipe to cookbook cost I gave above, $20 gets you 2000+ recipes. This is far more recipes for far less money than you will find with a conventional cookbook. It's a great site to browse through even if you're not considering joining it. Again, take a trip over to
baking911.com

Any other online sources you'd like to share with us? Again, please put those sources--and your reasons--into the comments section.

Bon appetit!

There's A Sucker Born Every Minute

I don't usually write postings that take to task other communities for their culinary habits. I am sort of making an exception with this posting. My offspring sent me a copy of a Kosher Koupons offer--pay only $99 instead of the regular price of $125 for the "incredible" package described below. The deal is for a kosher restaurant in the NJ area, not south but north. The restaurant describes itself as being "middle fancy."

Deal Overview
Here's a Shavuos meal that you can proudly admit that you didn't cook yourself.
How much would you pay for:
2 Large Egg Challahs
2 Water challah twist rolls
1 Large Broccoli Quiche 9"
1 Tray Penne Alla Vodka (feeds 8-10 people 9"x13" half tray)
1 Par Baked 12" Marguerita Pizza
1 Large 7" cheesecake
1 Litre of Rieme Lemonade (Made in France)

Go ahead shoppers and cooks out there--tell me just how many meals and of what variety you could produce given $99 to go shopping with? Shall I mention the total inbalance of nutrients in this meal? How about that the portion sizes are seriously out of whack--penne that will feed 8-10 but nothing else that matches that number in the other dishes.

And personally speaking, the day will never arrive when I proudly admit I didn't personally cook a meal for yom tov.

For a community where the school tuitions average out at about $15K per child and everyone is yelling that tuition is too high and they can't afford it or it is seriously straining their budgets, perhaps they should look at their eating habits a bit more closely. If this represents a desireable bargain (and I'll assume the restaurant knows its customer base), please don't tell me what expensive in this area looks like.

Yes, there's a reason for why I personally feel that everyone should learn how to cook--the offer above is part of that reason.

No, You Couldn't Make This One Up

My cousin sent me an email about a new dining sensation, located in Taiwan. I really didn't want to believe that we've come to this point in so-called creativity, but well, see for yourself. Gives new meaning to having a bowl of something. At least it's not in Flatbush or Teaneck.

http://www.qualitybath.com/blog/interest/marton-the-worlds-first-toilet-themed-restaurant/

National Creative Frugality Week - Week Four

In case you've been following the calendar postings, this week marks a week that everyone could/should be getting into the spirit of--National Creative Frugality Week. Not by accident that this week happens to fall in National Save Your Money Month. We talk a lot about cutting down and cutting out, but sometimes and for some people that is easier said than done.

What are some ways that we can be creatively frugal? Obviously one way would be to substitute less expensive ingredients for more expensive ingredients in our cooking. But a straight substitution of that less expensive ingredient for the more expensive one usually will give you a change of taste as well. What do you do if you want the taste of the more expensive ingredient while you want the cost of the less expensive one?

Okay, one suggestion. Ground beef is way more expensive than ground turkey is. Yes, there is a taste difference between the two. So, take one one-pound package of ground beef and one one-pound package of ground turkey and mix them together well--this may take a few minutes. The resultant mixture will taste like ground beef (beef has the stronger flavor and the flavor will dominate), look like ground beef, but will cost less than a pure beef package will cost. As an added benefit, it will have less fat than the pure beef would have. This works for straight grilled hamburgers and is particularly useful when the beef is sauced, such as in spaghetti with meat sauce or in meatballs.

Let's say you are preparing those ground meats for freezing. Let's also say that you have four pounds of the ground meat. That should mean four packages for the freezer, right? Nope, that will be five packages to the freezer. Reduce the amount in each package--five meals for the cost of four. If you feel the bulk will be missing in the recipe you will be using the mixture for, add in some frozen or fresh vegetables into the sauce and the bulk returns while still giving you beef flavored sauce. You can also add in some beans to bring up the volume--red-colored beans work particularly well with beef dishes.

So, a savings all around: a lower cost per meal, less fat, more vegetables in your diet, more fiber (if you add the beans), ready-mixed packages waiting in the freezer with no more work than defrosting the package.

A lot has been written about how the amounts recommended on laundry products are far more than is necessary to use. It has been recommended that for both detergent and softener you can use half the amount suggested. It's still too easy to overpour these products or to forget to halve them. Instead, when you empty a bottle of detergent, rinse it out and then take another full bottle and pour half into the empty bottle. Now, add water to both bottles. Now you can go ahead and pour that full cap in without having to wonder if you've put in too much or too little. Do the same for softeners. This works particularly well when there is more than one person doing laundry in a house--one person may remember to halve the products and one might not. This way no remembering is necessary.

What ways have you found to be creatively frugal? Please share.

Yeah, I Have Oil on the Brain

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a proponent of using sprayed oil instead of poured oil wherever possible in cooking. Less oil used equals less fat calories consumed. For Chanukah this year I decided to get everybody into the spray oil mode but with a difference: I bought for the couples who would be in my home for Chanukah and for the singles living on their own stainless steel spray bottles made for spraying oil. It's funny how many didn't know that such bottles were available or who were meaning to buy such a bottle but never got around to it.

Sure, Chanukah has passed, but there are still many gift giving occasions during the year where this type of bottle would be a great gift. And if you need a more expensive gift, buy that person a couple of bottles. Some of us use more than one kind of oil in our cooking. And then there is Pesach, where such a bottle comes in handy as well. I bought extras to use as hostess gifts. Unlike a bottle of wine that is here today gone tomorrow, these bottles are the gifts that keep on giving.

Note: these bottles work equally as well in spraying the various types of vinegars people might use. To find the bottles, head on over to Amazon.com

Doughnuts?

Chanukah may be over but the memories of latkes and doughnuts linger on. One of my foreign students and I were having a discussion about Yiddish this week and some of its perceived foibles. Then he asked me, "What's the Yiddish word for doughnut?" Okay, searched my memory and the best I could come up with was "doughnut" said with a decided Yiddish accent. Later on my mother informed me that she had never seen that item we refer to in the US as a doughnut until she immigrated here. Having no referent for it, she called it by its English name. My student, from Antwerp, remembers hearing the word "pontchkes" referring to small balls of fried dough--neither doughnut nor Israeli sufganiyot. And is sufganiyah truly a Hebrew word or did it, too, get borrowed from elsewhere?

Oh come on, admit it, you are now dying to know just where that word came from and why we call those jelly doughnuts sufganiyot. For a discussion on the origin, please go to http://www.forward.com/articles/14883/

What are the Schools Serving?

My posting on budgetting and nutrition took a detour into the area of the school lunches provided by yeshivas for their students. I've been in a fair number of yeshivas during the lunch hour and I was underimpressed to say the least. For many of the schools, eating school lunch is mandatory. There are still a few where that is optional, but they are in the minority.

So, I decided to see what I could find out about the school lunch menus without leaving the comfort of my chair. Amazingly enough there was information to be gotten online. Some yeshivot have websites on which they post their monthly school menus. This much I can tell you; there is a huge difference among the menus posted. I'm posting links to the sites I found so you can see for yourselves. Only one of the sites actually stated that school lunch is optional.

Granted, a lot of yeshivas were not online with their menus (or with anything else--they don't "believe" in the Internet). I suppose if I were being l'chaf z'chus I'd say that those yeshivas not represented online must be fine exemplars of nutritional meal planning--however, telling a lie is even a worse aveiroh, so I won't say it.

The following is a sampling of what I found online, both for NY and out of town. A few of these schools fall into the mega-expensive range so you'd think their lunch menus would reflect that. Some of the schools are more modern in outlook than others are. One of the schools is a Sefardic day school, so you'd think they would differ considerably in their food offerings. I've given a bit of info on all the schools presented as well as a link to see the complete menus offered.

Now granted, this is only a handful of schools but just how different do you think all the others are? And if this is the state of the nutrition offered to our children vis a vis the lunch meals, there is room for vast improvement.


Manhattan Day School: fleishigs one day a week, fresh fruit offered daily; Bread, Whole or Lowfat Milk & Tuna offered on Dairy Days; Bread, Apple Juice, & Tuna offered on Meat Days

http://www.mdsweb.org/content.php?pg=lunch_menus&ID=250


Yeshiva of Manhattan Beach (Brooklyn): fleishigs two days a week; fruits appear to be mostly canned and appear every day but Friday; Bread, Whole or Lowfat Milk & Tuna offered on Dairy Days; Bread, Apple Juice, & Tuna offered on Meat Days.

http://www.yeshivaofmanhattanbeach.com/lunch-menu/

Yeshiva of Flatbush: pre-school through high school. Menu offerings for lunch all seem to come from local Brooklyn restaurants. Fleishigs is available once a week. Pizza is available up to three times a week. A salad is a choice only once a week. The first link is for the 1-8 menu, the second for the nursery/kindergarden menu, which differs from what I have described above.

https://www.flatbush.org/Content/misc/Publication/1-8GrLunchOct-Nov10.pdf

https://www.flatbush.org/Content/misc/Publication/A3s_Nurs_KindOct_Nov10Lunch.pdf

Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim Baltimore: elementary school for first link; middle school and high school for second link. There is no fleishigs on the menu.

http://www.talmudicalacademy.org/upimagesta/11-10-lunch-e.pdf

http://www.talmudicalacademy.org/upimagesta/11-10-lunch.pdf


Yeshiva Har HaTorah (Littleneck); fleishigs twice a week, pizza once a week; Milk is provided on all dairy days. Juice is provided on all meat days. Always available:Whole Wheat Bread, Jelly, Eggs, Tuna, Pasta

http://www.hartorah.org/share/files/uploads/295_November%202010.pdf


Lubavicher Yeshiva Academy (Springfield): school has two options to main school lunch, one of which is lunch brought from home: menu at link is not expansive but does say "All meals are served with a minimum of 2 vegetables, 2 fruits or 1 of each. Milk is served on non meat days and 100% juice is served on meat days. Every meal is served with either bread, roll or pita bread."

http://www.lya.org/media/pdf/478/bREp4784962.pdf


Hillel Yeshiva of New Jersey: Interesting to see the distinctions between the various divisions; the first link is for the pre-school, the second for the lementary/middle school menu. Fleishigs twice a week sort of. Can't describe this one--go see for yourselves.

http://www.hillelyeshiva.org/ourpages/auto/2010/8/27/51613131/ELC%20Food%20Menu.pdf

http://www.hillelyeshiva.org/ourpages/auto/2010/8/27/51613131/Elementary-Middle%20School%20Menu.pdf


Tashbar Torat Hayim Hebrew Academy (Los Angeles): This is a sefardic day school. I mention this only because a great deal has been said online about how Sefardic eating habits are better than Ashkenazic ones. Not judging by this school's menus they're not. Fleishigs 3-4 times a week and pizza once a week and not one fruit offering ever. The first link is for the pre-school, the second for the Pre-1 through 8.

http://tashbartorathayim.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69:pre-school&catid=40:hot-lunch-menus&Itemid=94

http://tashbartorathayim.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67:pre-1-through-8th-grade&catid=40:hot-lunch-menus&Itemid=95


SAR Academy: menu covers preschool through high school and is only served Monday through Thursday. Fleishigs Twice a week. Available Daily:Fresh Fruit,Salad Bar,Oil, Vinegar;Choice of Dressings Include: French, Italian, Creamy Italian and Russian. Nursery-2nd grade students are served fresh cut vegetables,Whole Wheat Bread. Available On Dairy Days Only:Cottage Cheese, Milk (1% and Fat Free),Yogurt,Tuna Fish


http://www.saracademy.org/menus/Academy/AcademyMenu2010-11.pdf

7 Reasons to Love Chocolate Once Again

It's been one of 'those' weeks and really nice news has been scarce. In addition to everything else, nutrition and healthy eating has been on my mind. I was pleased as punch, therefore, to read the following. At last, someone speaking up in defense of chocolate!

http://healthyliving.msn.com/article.aspx?id=24476582&source=MSNeditorial&GT1=25037

Consumer Recall--Kelloggs

For those who use Kelloggs' cereals, please go to the link below for some information on the recall of some of those cereals.

http://www.kashrutnews.com/2010/06/recall-kelloggs-corn-pops-honey-smacks.html

See It, Don't Spend It

An article in the local paper discussed and gave the notes from a seminar/workshop that was given at a community center. The seminar dealt with the visualization of spending. One of the points the seminar leader made was that using plastic and checks is one way that people overspend. When all you are doing is writing your name and the amount to be paid on a check or on a credit card slip there can be a disconnect between the amount being spent and what is being purchased. Perhaps intellectually we know that there is a connection between $216.44 and the items in our wagons, but that knowledge does not give us pause--we sign on the dotted line. On some level our expenditures don't count as "real money" going out. One recommendation that was made was to decide how much you can afford to spend on groceries and take that amount--no more and no less--with you to the market.

During the seminar participants were not given credit cards or checkbooks to use during some of the participation exercises; they were given play money in ones, fives, tens and twenties. The seminar leader mentioned that some studies have shown that people who handle actual money when making purchases feel more connected to the money and look at those purchases with more attention.

I also found of interest an exercise that was done that was called the empty wagon syndrome. Apparently some people feel they are getting their money's worth only if they see a full wagon. Wagons with only a few items in them are seen as too meagre. During the seminar participants were shown three shopping wagons. One wagon had relatively few items in it--perhaps only 1/8 to 1/4 full. The second wagon was about 1/2 full. The third wagon was full to the brim. First, the participants were asked to rate the wagons on a scale of satisfaction--how pleasing did they look to the participants. With only 2 exceptions out of some 50 participants, the full wagon was given the highest marks for being pleasing and the least full wagon was given the lowest marks. Then the participants were asked to state which wagon was worth more than the others. Here all the participants picked the wagon that was most filled. [Interesting note: the cost of the items in the wagons was not mentioned, only the fullness of the wagons. The seminar leader mentioned in the article that this could be one of the reasons why people tend to overspend in the market. If there are too few items in their wagons they are somehow sure they have not done enough shopping and look for other items to put in until the wagon "looks right."]

What was in those wagons? The least full wagon contained a variety of fruits and vegetables, both fresh and frozen. It contained spice bottles and ketchup and mustard. The fullest wagon contained drink mixes, soda bottles, pretzels, potato chips and a variety of jarred and canned nuts. It contained boxes of crackers and cookies and jars of dips.

Some interesting food for thought in the article. There's an old saying: "stop eating with your eyes." Simple pshat: we see and therefore want more than what is necessary for health and nutrition and satiation. More is better, at least visually. Apply that to grocery shopping (or a whole lot of other types of shopping) and what we get is that empty cart syndrome: we're only fully satisfied if the cart is full, never mind what that might cost us.

The Arts and Crafts of Cooking

A posting on Orthonomics quite a while back on a completely different subject engendered a whole discussion thread about cooking versus buying out. Some of the commentary actually centered around the number of minutes it takes to make lunch/dinner or cook/prepare various items as opposed to what could be done with those minutes if you ate out. There was also mentioned that clean up time after a cooking activity needs to be factored in. And what was also mentioned, more than once, was that not everyone knows how to cook, so having restaurant food available is a necessity.Oh boy, where to begin here.

Not everyone knows how to cook? That's not a terminal condition, nor is it one about which something can't be done. And then the term "cooking" needs to be defined. Are we talking here about any and all dishes that one could wish for and that would gladden the heart and stomach? No, it is quite possible that not all people know how to cook on the upper levels of cooking. But if we define cooking to mean the preparation of food that can be eaten, then there is virtually no one living who can't be taught how to cook. Do we think of a three-year-old as being capable of cooking? We can, if by cooking we mean pouring milk over cereal, or spreading peanut butter on a slice of bread, or unwrapping a slice of cheese and placing it on bread. And if a three-year-old can do it, an adult can surely do it.


I spent some time timing myself as I was cooking various meals to be served to my family for weeknight suppers. The average length of preparation time for a midweek supper? 7 minutes. When a food like chicken is involved which requires longer cooking time in the oven, that does not count as actual time the cook is involved. During the 45 minutes the chicken is ensconced in the oven I am not sitting there talking to it and watching it go from raw to cooked. I can be busy elsewhere doing things I have to do or want to do. It takes longer to get into the car, drive to a restaurant, park, go in, possibly wait on line, finally be seated and place an order and then finally get served. (And this is not counting the return trip home.) What fell into this seven-minute category? Broiled and baked/roasted chicken or fish including any spices or toppings to be used, vegetables to be steamed, potatoes to be baked, putting up the water for rice or pasta to be cooked, draining said rice and pasta and pairing it up with a topping or sauce. Yes, somewhere in the a.m. I took an additional 13 seconds to go to the freezer and take out food to be defrosted for that night's supper and to put it in the fridge.

Cooking something that requires more than 7 minutes of prep time? Let's make it 20 minutes. That's still shorter than that round trip for the restaurant. In addition, if you are making something that is time-intensive, the smart cook doubles or triples the recipe: one for now, and two to pop into the freezer for two meals at some later time that will only "cost" the cook the 13 seconds to take out of the freezer and pop into the oven. Divide those three meals into the 20 minute prep time and you're back to seven minutes per meal to prepare.

Now to clean up. First of all, are we talking about families here? If we are, the cleanup time should be divided by the number of people who were sitting and eating that meal. Everyone ate? Everyone helps to clean up. Even very young children can carry a plate to the sink. Even very young children can carry items to be put into the fridge. Mom does not equate to maid in the English language. Washing dishes? A whole lot of people have electronic dishwashers, and loading those dishwashers is not an evening's activity. Washing by hand? Go ahead, set a timer and see just how much time that takes--not.

There's also this: that prep/clean up time is not considered by some as time that can be spent "bonding" with our children. Say what? Of course it can be considered bonding time. A parent spending time helping children to learn life skills is not bonding time? Talking while cleaning up or doing dishes is not bonding time? Giving our children a sense that they are important, contributing members of the family is not bonding time?

I will grant you that there are some times when it is simply not possible to get a meal on the table, and eating out or bringing in may be necessary. But not knowing how to cook is a paltry excuse at best; it's rationalizing rather than real. You don't know how to cook? No problem. Make an appointment to see me and in less than two hours I'll give you enough of the basics so that you will never be able to make that statement again. (And I'm more than willing to bet that G6 could give you those same lessons as well.) Nope, I'm not going to teach you how to pull strudel dough during those two hours, nor how to make challah. I'm not going to teach you the intricacies of making homemade sushi, although I might. But you will surely get more than enough to never again be able to say "I can't cook."

Let's at least be honest here and say what we really mean: it's not that some people can't cook--it's that they don't want to cook, a wholly different thing.

A Dozen Holes Please

You know those strange "official" days I've sometimes reported on? Well today is National Doughnut Day. You have to love a place where a food fetish is raised to observance status. And trust me, this day will get observed. The doughnut providers are looking to help you celebrate. For one, Dunkin Doughnuts is offering a free doughnut when you buy a cup of coffee. And to borrow a phrase from one of our other food fetish advertisements, I bet you can't eat just one.

Just a wry observance--Memorial Day and National Doughnut Day both fall in the same week. Which one do you suppose more people will have observed?

About those oil spray bottles

Lion and others have asked me about which bottle to buy to use for spraying oil. The ones I have don't have a brand name on them and were purchased at a local hardware store. I do know that Home Depot occasionally sells the bottles as well as the garden supply stores. The key is to get one that has a mist setting, not just a spray setting. The bottles run in price from $1.99 to about $6.

However, bottles made expressly for food oil purposes are sold online also. They are not quite as cheap as the plastic bottles but they are manufactured specifically for food oil so there is no problem with clogging of the nozzle. Those prices run from about $10 for the bottle up to the sky is the limit for the "fancy" designer-named bottles. For the $10 bottle please see http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=oil+sprayer&tag=googhydr-20&index=garden&hvadid=2883883881&ref=pd_sl_322cckshis_b

Before you dismiss the $10 price, keep this in mind. Those ready prepared spray oil cans sold in the supermarkets cost from $2.99 to $5.99 per 3-ounces of oil. At the lowest price that is $33 for a quart's worth of oil. Buy that $10 bottle from Amazon and buy a quart of oil for even $4 and you have already saved yourself $19. And the empty bottle that you buy is reusable. If you should use 3-4 quarts of oil a year? A savings of $57 to $76 a year. And let's not forget that using the sprayer allows you to use less oil in food preparation.

Addendum to the Original Posting: In doing some checking on the commercial spray oils I found that soy lecithin is a standard ingredient. While there are some health claims made for the addition of the lecithin and a few references to the non-stick qualities of the lecithin, most cites referred to the fact that the lecithin is used to thin down the oil so that it will spray correctly. However, the spray oils available for Pesach DO NOT contain the soy lecithin for kashrut reasons, nor any substitutes for it, and they spray every bit as well as the non-Pesach products do.

A Further Word About Kugel

My Friday posting was about kugel and how to make it in a healthier way. I'd just like to add a couple of historical footnotes here to broaden our knowledge of what was cooked and when in "the old country."

There seems to be an assumption that kugel, potato kugel in particular, was a staple of Shabbos eating in der heim. Was it? Let me begin by asking how many of you who enjoy a piece of kugel on Shabbos would also enjoy it if it could only be served cold or room temperature? We, today, have available to us, to all of us, the means for keeping food hot on Shabbos. Our stoves can remain on over Shabbos, providing us with ovens/warming drawers. We have stove tops over which a blech can be put. We have a large variety of crock pot type of cookers that can be on over Shabbos. We take hot food on Shabbos for granted. This was not the case for large segments of the European frum population., certainly not all year round.

Stoves in pre-War Europe were coal fed or wood fed. The more time you spent in cooking, the more fuel you had to feed that stove. Those home stoves could not be fed fuel right before Shabbos and remain hot until after the mid-day meal on Shabbos. Some people, those with more money, would have special niches built into the side of the fireplaces they used for heating their rooms, niches that a pot could go into to stay warm. Those fireplaces were larger and before Shabbos wood could be added and the fire banked so that there would be warmth throughout the night and into the next day. That was during cold weather. When the weather turned warmer, such that the house was not being heated, there was no fireplace niche to keep food warm.

Some people would rely on a local bakery for warm food for Shabbos. The fireplaces in these bakeries were oversized, resulting in large baking slots above the fireplace. Many people would bring their pots of food to the bakery before Shabbos to be inserted in one of these slots to keep warm over night. There was a charge for this bakery use, and not everybody could afford it.

Kugels were not wrapped up in foil paper as many are today--ask your grandmother if she had foil paper at home in Europe. The kugels were placed into the cholent to keep warm, for those who had cholent. They were not the consistency of the kugels we see today.

And yes, another method of keeping things warm was to take a hot pot right before Shabbos started and wrap it up in a feather bed. Also not available to everyone, because a feather bed, certainly an extra feather bed, was a luxury.

So, did our ancestors in Europe eat kugel every Shabbos, and we're just continuing their custom? Not likely. Some may have eaten it on Shabbos during cold weather, or maybe not. The "kugels" that ended up inside of a cholent pot for Shabbos did not resemble what we call kugel today, and many of those cholent kugels were not made with potatoes at all, but with flour. The wealthy or well to do had some options that whole swathes of the rest did not have. And in the hot weather months cold food on Shabbos was the rule and hot the rare exception.

Yes, kugel was made in that Europe of long ago, but it was not the "rule" to serve it on Shabbos and more people didn't have it than had it.

And speaking of cold food, let's keep in mind that they did not have today's modern refrigerators to keep food in. Those with money would have ice boxes--metal boxes into which slabs of ice were placed to keep food from spoiling until it could be eaten. And getting that ice cost money. Some, outside of the large cities, had underground storage cellars into which produce could be put. So even cold food on Shabbos might be a misnomer. A lot of what our ancestors ate was room temperature, and limited in scope.

Funny how in der heim so rarely resembles in fact the stories so many tell about it, people who were never there.

Dispelling the Kugel is Bad for You Myth

There has been a lot said about how potato kugel, considered a "typical" Jewish food is reallllly, realllly unhealthy. Well, it's time to clear the air about those kugels. Here's the deal: some of those kugels are prepared in a way that defeats the nutritional benefits available in potatoes and some aren't.

If you are pouring in globs and globs of a plain vegetable oil, you are adding in mega fat calories that cancel out the nutritional benefits. But prepared correctly, those kugels are not only not going to be bad for you, they are going to be good for you.

First a word or two about potatoes, that much maligned vegetable. First, the glycemic content. Keep in mind that healthy individuals with no underlying medical condition that would require limiting glycemic content aren't going to get in trouble ingesting potatoes. Even those who have to chart their glycemic intake can still include a potato during the day if they plan right. Yes, a medium sized potato has a score of about 29 on the glycemic index, with 100 being the maximum to be ingested in one day for those needing to watch intake. So plan ahead.



Now, the nutritional benefits of a potato.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 potato (148g/5.3 oz)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 110
Calories from Fat 0
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g
0%
Saturated Fat 0g
0%
Trans Fat 0g
0%
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 0mg
0%
Potassium 620mg
18%
Total Carbohydrate 26g
9%
Dietary Fiber 2g
8%
Sugars 1g
Protein 2g
Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 45%, Calcium 2%, Iron 6%, Thiamin 8%, Riboflavin 2%, Niacin 8%, Vitamin B6 10%, Folate 6%, Magnesium 6%, Zinc 2%, Phosphorous 6%, Copper 4%
*Percent Daily values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

What goes into a potato kugel? Basically potatoes, eggs and spices/flavorings. If you are worried about cholesterol then use an egg substitute or use only egg whites--no loss of flavor for the kugel. The addition of some grated onion or of onion powder and/or pepper is not going to cause any health problems.

Salt has been pointed to as one of the "evils" of potato kugel. There are still a whole lot of ways to solve that problem. 1) Use less salt. 2) Use a low-sodium or no-sodium type of salt. It is the sodium that is the problem for some people, such as those with high blood pressure. I have for years being using a salt substitute for when I want salt on food and no one, that's NO ONE, has ever been able to tell the difference between that substitute and "real" salt.

Now back to that oil. What is the purpose of oil for a potato kugel? It's two-fold: to keep the mixture from sticking to the pan and to produce a nicely browned crust. To achieve that purpose it's not necessary to use huge amounts of oil. First, instead of those general vegetable oils use an oil with health benefits, such as canola, grape seed or olive. Second, instead of using poured oil straight out of the bottle, use spray oil, either from purchased cans or from a sprayer you purchase and fill with oil. A few quick sprays and your pan is coated, and those few quick sprays might, if you overspray the pan, contribute about 1/2 teaspoon of oil to the kugel. Third, heat the oiled pan in the oven before putting in the kugel mixture. This ensures that when the kugel mixture hits the hot pan it will immediately be seared, preventing sticking, preventing absorption of any further oil, and providing for a browned bottom crust. Next, smooth the top of the kugel mixture and give a couple of sprays of oil across the top. This will ensure top browning of the kugel.

It's not potato kugel that is the problem--it's preparation method. Prepare the kugel with healthy eating in mind and it's no worse for you than any other type of food product you ingest.

And while we're at it, let's remember that kugel doesn't mean potato; there are any number of other items that can be made into a kugel--sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, rice, pasta, lentils etc.

When Did It Die?

Lots of conversations about Purim this time of year, at work, in the community, online. Some of that conversation centers around the excessive lists for shalach monos giving that have become prevalent for large parts of Klal. Some of it is about giving more for matonos l'evyonim and less for shalach monos. Some of the conversation is about the cost of all these shalach monos packages purchased ready made from bakeries, stores, schools and organizations.

But with only two exceptions in my forays around online or in my questions in "real" conversations has anyone mentioned that they are preparing their own shalach monos, that they are baking. Last year SL at Orthonomics mentioned that she does her own preparation. And G6 at Guesswho'scomingtodinner already had pictures up last week of some of the home baked goodies that are going to be given out for Purim.

How, when, why did baking come to be looked at as unnecessary, as burdensome, as old fashioned? When I first got married EVERYBODY baked for Purim, and for other times as well. Sure, some people did a better job of it than others. Sure, some items were better tasting than others. But they were all home made. And then suddenly the tide turned and home baking was passe, from another time period, out of favor.

One reason that occasionally raises its head has to do with kashrus. Okay, here is the thing. I don't give shalach monos to strangers, and every single one of the people on my list has eaten meals in my home. No one is going to be questioning my kashrus regarding the shalach monos. Then someone piped up that they give shalach monos to every one of the rebbeim, moros that their kids have and have had in yeshiva and you can't send home baked goods there. I'll leave this particular "custom" to a different rant.

So why aren't people baking any more? It's not even just the Purim baking that isn't happening--it's baking in general. Give it another generation or two and baking is going to be just another strange, very strange hobby, practiced by a few. I have seriously been asked why I still bake when bakeries are plentiful in New York. Okay, I may not be the biggest maven when it comes to baked goods but I'm big enough, and across the board I've eaten from a whole slew of kosher bakeries here and in other parts of the country. Yes, on occasion there have been some well prepared, tempting pastries provided. But in general the bakery baked goods are just average--nothing special to write home about. Why are we so willing to settle for mediocre when much better is available for only a little effort?

So, why aren't people baking for Purim anymore? Why aren't they baking in general?