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A Gluten-Free Pesach

By the end of Pesach, I sometimes envy people who eat a very simple diet of matzah, boiled chicken, potatoes and carrots during most of the holiday. But then I realize how boring it would be. I'm much too used to a wide variety of food and new recipes. Besides, my family would rebel if they had to eat boiled chicken all week long!

Fortunately, I'm one of those women who enjoy cooking for Passover. Really now - it's only a week, and there's plenty of fresh produce to choose from. Here in Israel we're lucky to have hormone-free kosher chicken and many varieties of fresh fish. If the weather's still chilly, I make vegetable soups like sweet potato, potato-leek, asparagus and zucchini. In warmer weather I prepare salads with lots of vegetables or fruits (fresh or dried) and nuts.

Special diets can add to the challenge of Pesach cooking, but they shouldn't keep anyone from eating healthy and tasty meals. If you're gluten intolerant (unable to fully digest gluten - a component of wheat, rye, barley and other grains), you'll have to forgo matzah balls as well as baked goods and kugels made with matzah meal. Forget most of those store-bought cakes and cookies. (Here are two gluten-free cookie recipes from my blog.) 

Passover noodles and soup almonds made with potato starch are usually fine for a gluten-free diet, but check labels carefully. Many macaroons are made without matzah or cake meal, and they should be allright as well.

What about matzah? That's certainly a challenge if you can't eat gluten. For the seder, try gluten-free oat matzah. Very expensive, but as far as I know, they are the only ones acceptable for fulfilling the mitzvah of eating matzah at the seder.

After the seder, I suggest Gluten Free Matzo - an Israeli product produced by the Yehuda company. It's made from tapioca and potato starch, palm oil (not great, but you're only eating it once a year), egg yolks and honey. I gave out samples to several people - some gluten-intolerant, others not. Everyone found them crisp, flaky and very tasty. In fact, their taste is closer to potato chips than regular wheat matzah. They are certified Gluten-Free and O-U parve. (The brachah is "shehakol".) If you can't find them locally, order them on line at GlutenFreeMatzo.com. Use their code GFM979 to receive a free box of matzah with your order.

Gluten Free or not, enjoy a happy, healthy and kosher Pesach!

Rosh Hashanah No-Knead Challah

Most of us have plenty of cooking and baking to do for Rosh Hashanah, so an easy-to-do Challah recipe is much appreciated.

Mix the dough with a spoon, form it into a loose ball with your hands, let it rise and then braid it.  Relatively high in eggs, sugar and oil (healthy olive oil!), this recipe produces a sweet, cake-like challah especially appropriate for the chagim. If you prefer honey to sugar, cut back on the amount of water in the recipe.

1 package (2 ½ teaspoons) instant dry yeast                                

1 tablespoon sugar

½ cup warm water

2 eggs

½ cup warm water

⅓ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

⅓ cup mild-flavored extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups white flour

Handful of raisins (optional)

Mix the yeast, sugar and water in a large bowl to soften the yeast. After a few minutes, add the eggs, remaining ½ cup of water, sugar, salt and olive oil. Mix well, and start adding the flour, one cup at a time. When all of the flour is mixed in, add the raisins and mix with your hands to form a loose ball of dough.

Let the dough rise for about 2 hours, or until double in size.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and shape into equal parts to braid or twist. Make one large challah, two smaller ones or lots of rolls. This dough tends to spread rather than rise in the oven, so I like to bake it in a pan with sides. That way there's less spreading space and there's no where else for the dough to go than up!

Bake at 325 F (165 C) for 20-25 minutes, depending on the size of your challot.

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy and quiet New Year.

Frozen Fruit Treats for Shavuot

Beer Sheva finally has a farmer's market.

We've always had a shuk – the traditional produce market overflowing with vegetables and fruits of the season. But the farmer's market features local produce, gourmet baked goods and chocolate, artisanal cheese, beer and wine, ice cream, nuts and (of course!) pickles.

At one of the tables I found juicy, fresh-picked tangerines long after the official citrus season was over. A "mom and pop" bakery had a tasty assortment of biscotti-type cookies made with whole grains, nuts and seeds. The chocolate bars, though expensive, were hard to pass up.

My biggest motivation for returning to the market every Friday morning is the strawberries. Locally grown in hanging planters, using bio-insects in place of pesticides, these are some of the tastiest berries I've eaten. And they're still growing several months after nearly all other Israeli-grown strawberries are gone from the market.

After enjoying strawberries in our morning granola, in fruit salads and just plain as dessert or a snack, I decided to try Strawberry Frozen Yogurt. I adapted a recipe that called for whole-milk yogurt, and substituted "Greek-style" 3% fat yogurt instead. Deliciously refreshing, with the wonderfully bright taste of fresh strawberries!

Meanwhile, apricots are now in season. There seems to be an abundant crop this year, and they're big, juicy and delicious. Knowing that their season is very short, Apricot Sorbet is next on my agenda.

Both of these frozen desserts would be a light and refreshing way to finish 

your holiday meal on Shavuot.

Chag Sameach and B'teavon!

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

1 pound (500 gm) fresh strawberries

½ cup sugar

1 cup plain Greek-style low-fat yogurt

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Wash the strawberries and slice them. Place them in a bowl with the sugar and mix well. Cover and let sit at room temperature for an hour, stirring occasionally.

Put the strawberries, their liquid, the yogurt and lemon juice in a food processor and process until smooth. (Some pieces are fine.)

Refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour and then freeze in an ice cream maker.

Makes about 1 quart (1 liter)

Apricot Sorbet

2 pounds (1 kilo) fresh ripe apricots

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

2 drops pure almond extract or 2 teaspoons Amaretto liqueur

Pit the apricots and cut each into 4-6 pieces, depending on their size. Cook the apricots and the water for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft. Stir in the sugar and let cool to room temperature.

Puree the mixture in a food processor and add the extract or liqueur. Chill the mixture until it's very cold and freeze it in an ice cream machine.

Makes about 1 quart (1 liter)

* Frozen desserts, especially the lower-fat ones, tend to become quite solid when they're stored in the freezer. Let them sit out for a short time before serving, and for best flavor, don't store them for more than a week or two.

Hidden Benefits

Can you actually eat more, eat healthier and still lose weight? Does it sound too good to be true?

It's not a "miracle" diet or a weight-loss pill.

It's a matter of eating more vegetables and fruits. I often suggest starting a meal with a vegetable salad or soup. Research shows that this simple step curbs your appetite, so you end up eating fewer calories over all.

Earlier this year, a small but intriguing study found another way that vegetables can be used to reduce your total caloric intake.

Researchers added vegetable purees to main course casseroles and desserts. The purees added additional bulk to the food, while reducing the total amount of calories per serving.

Participants who ate the "manipulated" food ate 200 to 350 fewer calories per meal than those who ate the same food minus the vegetable puree. Their daily vegetable consumption also increased significantly. None of the research subjects were told about the added vegetables. They didn't notice a significant difference in taste or satiation when they were finished eating.

Should you cut calories by adding pureed zucchini and cauliflower to your favorite macaroni and cheese recipe? It's not a bad idea. It may even help get finicky youngsters (and adults!) to eat vegetables that they might otherwise spurn. (On the other hand, you'll want to introduce whole "real" vegetables to your children so they'll develop a liking for them at an early age.)

I suggest serving as many whole vegetables as possible, and adding vegetable purees when you think it might be helpful to your family's diet. If you're trying to lose weight, adding purees to casseroles, soups and desserts is certainly a good strategy.

It's easiest to add vegetable purees that will either appear "hidden" or will enhance your favorite foods. Spicy dishes like chili and hearty pasta casseroles take well to added vegetable purees. Tomato puree adds a rosy touch to macaroni and cheese (see my recipe), while cauliflower puree blends in with the color of the cheese sauce. Pureed squash, pumpkin, applesauce, bananas, carrots, zucchini and pineapple all work well in baked goods, especially cakes, quick breads and muffins using cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and other hearty spices.

Here's a delicious cupcake recipe chock full of vegetables and fruit:

Carrot Cupcakes (Parve)

1 can (8 oz/227 gm) juice-packed crushed pineapple*
1 cup grated carrots
½ cup pitted prunes
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 whole egg
1 egg white
½ cup sugar
¼ cup canola or light olive oil

Preheat the oven to 325F/165C. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Drain the pineapple in a strainer and reserve ¼ cup of the juice. Heat this reserved juice until it's hot.

Using a food processor, grate the carrots and measure 1 cup. Remove them from the processor and set aside. Put the prunes and the hot pineapple juice in the processor and process until smooth.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger in a small bowl and set aside.

Whisk together the egg, egg white, sugar and oil. Whisk in the prune puree. Add the dry ingredients and then the pineapple and carrots.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 20-30 minutes, until they spring back when lightly pressed. Let them sit in the pan for a few minutes, then cool completely on a cooling rack.

Makes 12

* I've never found crushed pineapple in Israel. (Even though Dole brand is sold here, they seem to just bring over slices and tidbits.) I use whatever is available, drain it and puree it in the food processor after I've grated the carrots.

Yom Ha'atzmaut Sameach!

Low-Lactose Fresh Milk Now in Israel

Are you lactose intolerant?

Fresh, lactose-free milk has been sold in the US for years. And now it's finally available in Israel. Tnuva's low-lactose 2% milk, packaged in their familiar liter cartons, is now in the dairy case of most stores. It contains only 1 gram of lactose per cup (200 ml), which makes it nearly lactose-free.

Until now, I've been buying lactase drops (from Canada) and treating every liter of milk that we buy. Since I'm extremely intolerant to lactose, I was a little hesitant to try "low-lactose" milk.  But I can drink it with no problem at all. And it tastes normal – not like the low-lactose 3% milk that's sold here in shelf-stable boxes.

This is a welcome treat for those of us who enjoy drinking and/or cooking with cow's milk, or don't particularly enjoy soy, rice or almond milk in our coffee. It's also another good source of calcium for those of us who might not be getting enough.

By the way, even if you're lactose intolerant, you may still be able to eat some dairy products, like yogurt and hard cheese. Start by eating just a little. Or try eating dairy products together with non-dairy foods. You'll have to try different dairy foods in various amounts to know what you can tolerate.

Tnuva lists a number of their dairy foods that are low in lactose. The follow contain no more than 1 gram of lactose per 100 ml/gm:

Diet Yoplait

Yoplait 360 (probiotic drink)

Pirius Bulgarit 5% (hard white cheese)

Emek 9% Cheese

Emek  cheese "fingers"

Shock 20% less sugar (chocolate milk)

Unless a company markets the fact that their products are low in lactose, it's hard to know if they might agree with you or not. I know, for instance, that I can easily digest Activia yogurt, while other yogurts sometimes cause bloating and discomfort. 

If you've shied away from dairy because you're lactose intolerant, this may just be the time for you to try the new low-lactose milk and some of the other low-lactose dairy products now being sold in Israel.  

After-Pesach Muffins

I'm a big muffin fan.

Muffins are an easy way to pack fruit, nuts and fiber into a few easy-to-make delicious bites. They make a quick snack and are perfect with fresh fruit and tea on Shabbat morning.

How did I end up with muffins after Passover this year? Normally we eat home-made granola for breakfast. But immediately after Pesach, that's a problem. I usually make granola in large quantities – enough to last a month or so, and who has time and energy to do that right after Passover?

So we bought a box of muesli to tide us over. Muesli is the unbaked version of granola, without sweetener and oil. Ours had rolled oats, wheat, bran and lots of raisins.  It was fine for a few days, until I was ready to make my own granola. Then I was left with almost a full box of muesli. Here's what I made:

Muesli Muffins (Dairy)

1¼ cups muesli

1¼ cups low-fat buttermilk

¾ cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup canola oil

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

Combine the muesli and buttermilk in a bowl and set aside for 30 minutes.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C) and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

After the muesli has softened in the buttermilk for 30 minutes, add the oil, egg, brown sugar and flour mixture and gently mix everything together. Don't over mix.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. These do not rise much.

Remove to a baking rack to cool.

Makes 12 muffins

Passover Banana Coffee Cake (Parve)

This recipe is healthier than the original in several ways: I reduced the amount of sugar and fat by cutting the amount of streusel topping in half. I added walnuts for fiber and heart-healthy fats. Instead of margarine or butter, I substituted liquid oil (mild olive oil, canola or walnut oil) Given the sweetness of bananas, I used less sugar in the cake itself.

Streusel Topping

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup matzah meal

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons oil

Cake

6 large eggs, separated

½ cup white sugar, divided

4 large ripe bananas

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 2 packages vanilla sugar)

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup matzah meal

½ cup potato starch

13 x 9 inch (33 x 23 cm) baking pan

Preheat the oven to 325 F (165 C). Oil the baking pan or line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir together all of the topping ingredients.

Using a food processor, process the yolks with ¼ cup of sugar until they're thick and pale. Slice the bananas and add them to the yolk mixture along with the vanilla, salt, matzah meal and potato starch. Blend until smooth and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Gradually add the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, beating until the whites hold stiff peaks. Fold ¼ of the meringue into the banana mixture to lighten it. Gently fold the rest of the meringue into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and sprinkle with the streusel.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack. 

Chag Sameach V'Kasher to Everyone!

My 5771 Dietary Guidelines

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently published their 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  These guidelines, revised every five years, are vague. They advise us to "eat less salt, trans fat and sugar" and "eat more whole grains, dairy products, fruits and vegetables".  

Why can't the USDA be more specific? Why, for instance, do they not come right out and say: "Don't drink soda pop and don't eat fatty meat"? 

It has to do with conflict of interest.

The root of the problem is that the USDA is a "bi-polar" agency. While it's mandated to encourage healthy eating, it's also mandated to promote American food industries, regardless of the type of food they produce. So any dietary guidelines it publishes must not be overly offensive to industry lobbyists, such as the influential meat and sugar lobbies.

I'm not indebted to the food industry, either in the US or here in Israel. (When Coca Cola sent promotional coupons to Israeli dietitians, mine went straight into the recycling bin.)  With that in mind, I offer you my straightforward and simplified dietary guidelines,  including what to eat and what not to eat this Passover.

5771 Dietary Guidelines

Do:

Eat home-cooked food

Eat plenty of colorful vegetables and fruits every day

Choose whole grains instead of processed grains

Use olive and canola oil

Drink water

Eat fish, poultry and low-fat dairy foods

Eat real food

Don't:

Rely on catered, take-out or restaurant food for most of your meals

Buy commercial baked goods high in sugar and saturated fat

Eat highly processed foods

Drink soft drinks

Eat fatty meat

Eat foods that contain trans fat

Passover Guidelines

Pesach presents its own set of dietary challenges. Eating whole grains is the hardest, unless you eat quinoa or kitniot. But there's still plenty you can do to eat right during Passover.

Stay away from highly processed Passover food

Eat fruit for dessert instead of candy, cookies and cake. When the occasion calls for a cake, bake your own using nuts, fruit and eggs. (Try the recipe for Banana Coffee Cake in my next blog.) Reduce the amount of sugar called for in your recipe by at least a quarter. Stay away from cake mixes and store-bought baked goods. Most of them are high in sugar and trans fat.

Drink water. Just because Coke is kosher-for-Passover, you don't have to buy it.

Use olive oil as your cooking, baking and salad oil during Pesach.

Make your own matzah balls instead of using a mix. It will only take a little longer, but you'll be getting a lot less salt.

Spread matzah with mashed avocado, fruit-only jam or low-fat soft white cheese instead of margarine or butter. Go easy on the matzah altogether.

Snack on fresh and dried fruits, vegetables, nuts and low-fat yogurt and cheese.

Plan holiday meals using lots of vegetables (think soup, salad and vegetable-based main courses); Serve a small amount of low-fat protein, like chicken, turkey and fish and go easy on the potatoes, knaidlach, kugels and matzah.

Eat real, home-cooked food!