Shabbat Morning smoothie

This morning I wanted to try out a new recipe I found for pancakes but somebody didn't want to wait and was aching for cereal yet again. Fine, another smoothie morning for me! So I decided to try peanut butter and chocolate this time. I didn't have any syrup or cocoa but chocolate chips did the trick. It's nice to sometimes eat (or slurp up) a little extra chocolate from the bottom of the glass! I also threw in there a decadent teaspoon of cherry jam. 

Cherry Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie

1 cup of milk
1 handful of chocolate chips (that's all I had, but 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup will mix better I think)
1 teaspoon of cherry jam
1 tablespoon of peanut butter

Blend together til smooooth.

(I'll get better with the pictures as I go, I promise!)

... and now, another cool article from iGoogledIsrael - 10 Interesting Facts


~Marina

Mixed Berries

I love all kinds of berries. They are just to fun to eat and each has a distinct flavor. In an attempt to keep up with Smoothie Breakfast Mornings I wanted to make a berry smoothie this time.

I was all set to make this Berry- Banana Smoothie, freezing the banana and 6 strawberries the night before. One mistake I made late in the night was to forget to take off the banana peel and green tops off the strawberries before freezing them. Needless to say (and I'm a lil embarrassed), it was just not possible to peel the banana and get the strawberries into peices this morning.

Oh well, at least I had another idea!!

1/2 fresh (not frozen) banana
1 cup of greek yogurt, plain flavor
2 handfuls of frozen mixed berries (from a package of cranberries, raspberries, red and black currants, strawberries, gooseberries, etc.).

Blend all this together and voila! A frozen ice creamy smoothie consistency. Sweet, creamy, a little tart and sour but SO good! I saved the extra for a nice treat later!

I enjoyed it in a nice short glass with a spoon in a warm room. Winter here in Israel can be brutal with constant winds and occasional downpours making it bone-chilling-ly cold.

Evan and I have been living here in Israel for 1 year already. What a year it has been, so many people have come and gone, while a good group of constant companions remains. 

This winter already has brought a large amount (by Israel standards) of rain and a nice snow storm. Speaking of rain, check out this great article from iGoogledIsrael:  "Thanks to all that rain over the last few days, the level of the Dead Sea (as well as the Sea of Galilee) has risen by some 10cm - the biggest rise in over 10 years!"  -  Floating in the Dead Sea  

Yessss - now there's even more water to float in! 

~Marina

Chiquita Banana Morning

Here is another smoothie for breakfast recipe. Banana - Oatmeal Smoothie adapted from Chiquita Banana.

1 banana
6 almonds
4 teaspoons of yogurt (I used peach yogurt instead of Greek yogurt because we had an open container)
1/4 cup of cooked oats
1 handful of crushed ice

Blend til smooth!

It turned out really yummy, I just wish I had a bigger blender.

(sorry for the photo, I took a couple sips before remembering to take a picture)

~Marina

Strawberry- Banana smoothie breakfast

Plain and simple but delicious.

Strawberry- Banana Smoothie

makes 2 servings

1 ripe banana
6 strawberries
1 cup milk
Blend together til smooth!

~Marina

Roast chicken over Pita bread

Tonight I made dinner following a recipe that Evan sent me from HAARETZ.com. It was so good!

Roasted Chicken over Pita Bread- 
A Middle Eastern-style recipe adapted from the Slim Peace website.

Serves 3

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large onions, chopped
Pepper, turmeric, salt, cumin and cinnamon, to taste
2 chicken breasts (about 10 oz.) chopped very thin
3 whole wheat pita breads

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottom pan and cook onions until they are golden. Add the salt, spices and chicken breasts, and cook while stirring until the chicken is fully cooked.
3. Spread the chicken and onions evenly on the pita breads and transfer to the oven for a few minutes.

We paired it with buckwheat kasha and had a nice dinner watching Cheers!

~Marina

Jerusalem by Snow

As the city awakens, cries of joy are heard throughout the streets.  Yesterday it rained and hailed all day and it was pretty nasty out (yay for no work and cancelled classes!) and overnight the entire city was blanketed in 5 inches of snow!! 

This morning Evan and I woke up at 7:30 and went out to play before everything melted!  More than 2 hours later it is still coming down hard!  Here are a few pics and more are up on Facebook!

 ^ From Tsahal Square, the Old City, a view in the direction on Jaffa gate.

 Date palm trees covered in snow.

Our street, Agripas.

~Marina

**Holiday Greetings** Part 2- New Year 2013

Hello folks

We sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas

I wanted to conclude this seasons posts with one on how people celebrate the New Year here in Jerusalem

well...they really don't. Since most of Israel follows the Jewish Calender, we celebrated the New Year during Rosh Hashanah in September. Happy 5773!!

Most restaurants and bars will be open with special deals and whatnot so is another reason to go out and party. Tel Aviv is one place that is serving up some fun. Read about it here: Celebrate Silvester.

My cousin Roman is here in Israel leading a RAJE trip and I'm really happy to see him. He brought us lots of presents from Mom and Dad (like warm Patagonia sweaters, slippers and warm long underwear, very important to have in an apartment with no heat). Thanks Mom and Dad!

Also, wanted to thank Mark and Cindy for all the goodies they "got" us! Sweaters for Evan, pea coat for me, hoodie jacket for Evan, etc.

 

I decided to make a veggie stir-fry for lunch.  Here is my recipe:

End of the Year Sweet Paprika Stir-Fry

 

1 yellow pepper (thin slices)

2 baby eggplants (thin circle slices)

2 long carrots (thin circles slices)

1 small head of broccoli (and some of the stem)

1/2 can of sweet corn

1.5 tbsp EVOO

2 tsp sweet Moroccan paprika

drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette

1/2 tsp of Kirkland kosher salt

1/4 tsp of Italian seasonings

Really easy from here on. Toss all the veggies and seasonings together. Heat and add a little EVOO to the wok and then saute all the veggies, covering them from time to time to steam the broccoli. That's it! and it turned out great and I had leftovers! =)

NYE dinner was great at Sushi Rehavia
(Thanks Mark and Cindy)

(Salmon Tempura, Sunshine Roll, Avocado Roll and one other one, I don't remember)

Then we went to Abraham Hostel for their New Years Eve Celebration and then out with Roman and his RAJE group! The evening was a success and we'll post pictures some pictures on Facebook soon. 

Hopefully it won't be 5 months until the next blog, so as we say here, see you later, Lehitraot!

Happy New Year 2013

 

~Marina