Blood Orange Waldorf Salad
My older sister and I always exchange recipes. She also spends many hours in the kitchen. Like me and the rest of my family. She gave me the recipe for this salad. I didn’t have a pineapple so I used…
Chickpea & Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
When I was a kid my mother made this chickpea soup once a week during the winter. It doesn’t snow in the Negev, the desert of Israel but it is freaking cold. I always say that the winter in New…
7 Plant-Based Mains For Cold Days
Here are our most favorite, plant-based main-dishes for puffy-coat weather or semi cold swather weather. They’ll keep you warm, cozy and nourished. Except for the slow-roasted eggplant, the rest of the dishes are kid friendly (well, my kids and their…
Smoky Eggplant & tomato Mezze
My friend brought this mezze over for Shabbat dinner (Friday night). Her Kurdish-Iraqi grandmother used to make it. It’s teenager friendly. My 13 year-old son, who’s an adventurous eater but eggplant hater, loved it. You can serve with other mezzes…
Wintery Fruit Salad With Rosemary
I remember the day and place my husband and I discovered the combination of fruits and rosemary. It was in 2010 when we moved to Los Angeles from Israel, at Sage vegan bistro in Silver Lake. It was a revelation.…
Sfenj with Cardamom
Sfenj (or “Sfenj”) are Moroccan yeasted donuts which my family and I eat on Hanukkah. They’re similar to beignets but better. Better because they’re fluffy and addictive like their sisters but don’t contain butter, milk and eggs. They have mercy…
5 Easy Thanksgiving Vegan & GF Sides
Every year for Thanksgiving, I let my American friends to be in charge of the holiday traditional’s dishes while I’m in charge of cooking a few vegetable sides and plant-based mains. The recipes below aren’t fussy or fancy but they’re…
Sweet Potatoes, Tahini & Tomato
As much as I love desserts and sweets, for some reason I am not a big fan of sweet potatoes on their own. They’re too intense for me. I love them only when their sweetness is balanced with acidic and…
Epic Baba Ganoush
According to Wikipedia, Baba Ganoush is a Levantine dish. According to me, it’s Shabbat at my mother’s. She has been making it every Friday for Shabbat dinner since I was a kid. Some people make their baba G with tahini…
Grain-Free Vegetables Buns
I wonder what was more fun, making them or eating them. I also wonder where I adapted the recipe from. If you make these buns, do me a favor, don’t mention anything about gluten-free unless it is necessary. My husband…
Indian Style Okra & Zucchini
Even as a recipe developer I sometimes don’t know what to make for dinner. When nothing comes to mind I start rinsing and peeling the vegetables I have in hand. And while doing so something interesting happens. I start cooking…
Yeasted Gluten-Free Bread
Everyone should learn how to make bread even if you live above a Boulangerie. When I made my first loaf at age 24 I had the same sense of freedom and achievement as when I pass the driving test at…
Indian Style Yellow beans
We, my immediate and extended family and I, live on side dishes. Instead of making a main dish with a side dish, we make two or three vegetables dishes with a condiment on the side or a bunch of mezzes…
African Stew with Peanut Butter
I adapted the recipe from Mark Hayman’s cookbook What The Hell Shall I cook? Mark adapted it from Hugh Jackman. I googled the recipe to see where it originally came from; Central and West Africa but I was wondering who’s…
Moroccan-Style Carrot With Harissa
Carrot isn’t the most exciting vegetable, right? But when you steam it lightly, to soften it just slightly, then mix it with homemade harissa (or store bought) and lemon juice it becomes the sultan of the garden. So make a…
Wild Rice With Vegetables & Herbs
I don’t like leftovers. I don’t like to eat them nor put them in a container, knowing that I would end up throwing the food away and wasting more by washing the container. My husband loves leftovers though he rarely…
Moroccan-Style braised Vegetables & Chickpeas
This dish is based on a Moroccan fish recipe which my mother and grandmother used to make only on weekdays. God forbid if you made it for Shabbat dinner. Moroccan Jews can be very particular about weekday food vs. Shabbat…
Baked Nectarines, Peaches & Plums
I intended to make a fruit crisp but I accidentally over processed the nut mixture into a sandy mixture. So I mixed it with 1 egg to fix it and the crust came out chewy, like nougat. It was tasty…
Slow Roasted Eggplants & Shallots
I’m crazy about eggplants. Especially when they’re roasted for a long time until their meat is very tender and sweet. The way they melt in the mouth and their umami flavor remind me of meat’s fat. The longer they cook…
Roasted Eggplant, cauliflower, Zucchini & pumpkin Over Couscous
In the hot summer days, when I can’t eat anything but vegetables, I like to roast any vegetables I have in hand and serve them with some sort of a grain, such as rice or couscous, cilantro parsley or dill,…