Fresh (no-cooking needed) Spaghetti Sauce and Getting Back-to-the-Basics and Eating Right!

This is going to be your NEW favorite spaghetti sauce!  We all know, pasta always makes a great year-round side dish.  My fresh, no-cooking-needed, sauce is pareve, quick, easy, fresh and points-friendly and perfect for our still-hot-days-to-come!

Yochi's Fresh (no-cooking needed) Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

1.   Whole wheat spaghetti. Half a box of uncooked spaghetti makes four to six portions of cooked spaghetti.   

2.   Large pasta pot

3.   Hand-stick blender

4.   Tomatoes (either two large tomatoes or ten or more cherry tomatoes)

5.   1 medium onion

6.   2-3 fresh cloves of garlic, (depending on how "garlicky" you want the sauce)

7.   Mushrooms

8.   Garlic powder

9.   Freshly ground pepper

10.                Paprika

11.                Chopped fresh parsley

12.                Oregano (fresh or dried)

13.                Basil (fresh or dried)

14.                Thyme (fresh or dried)

15.                Water

16.                PAM

How to work:

1.   Preparing the spaghetti: I'm sure you've heard this a million times: to make good el dente spaghetti you need to start with good quality spaghetti (in our case, whole wheat spaghetti), a large pasta pot and lots of water.

2.   Fill the pot with water, a little bit less than three-quarters full.  This should be enough water to cook the spaghetti.

3.   Bring the water to boil.  I no longer add oil or salt to my boiling water to prevent the spaghetti rom sticking; I shpritz the water with PAM before adding the spaghetti. 

4.   Measure out half of the spaghetti from the box and add a quarter or half that amount to the boiling water at a time, to avoid sticking.  Stir and then add another quarter or the second half of the spaghetti.  Stir gently to avoid further sticking.

5.   Cook the spaghetti until it is el dente: pliable, but not soggy. 

6.   Once the spaghetti is cooked; immediately take it out of the cooking water and strain; so it will STOP cooking.  You can rinse the spaghetti with warm water if you wish or just leave it as it is. Try to prevent the spaghetti from cooling completely. If the spaghetti gets too dry, spritz with a bit of PAM or pour hot warm over it.

7.   Now begin to make your sauce.

8.   Clean the tomatoes, onions and garlic and blend to a semi-chunky-saucy consistency using a hand-stick blender.  The consistency depends on how you like your sauce.  Ask yourself: do you like a sauce with pieces of vegetables or a smooth sauce? Blend to the consistency you like.

9.   Working with the mushrooms: you can either slice them and add them to the sauce “as is” or gently sauté the mushrooms in a bit of PAM and then add them to the no-cook vegetables.

10.                Add all the spices to the sauce.  If you are using fresh spices, I warmly suggest you mince the spices by hand and then add them into the sauce. Mincing the spices with the stick blender may turn them into a paste.  The spices should add a fresh aroma and distinctive taste to the dish.

11.                Mix the sauce completely and pour over the warm pasta.  Gently toss and serve.

Remember that portion control is the name of the game – watch your portion and you’ll watch your weight!

Portion size:

Spaghetti is a tough dish to portion out as tablespoonfuls.  I suggest using the plate method: a quarter of a plate, NOT PILED HIGH, is a sufficient amount.

How to store:

Always store in a closed plastic container in the fridge. 

Be’Tay a’Von and Chag Sameach!

Getting Back-to-the-Basics and Eating Right

I was recently talking to a close friend who wanted to lose weight and had heard about and tried just about every diet program out there.  She heard how much Sid and I lost weight and she wanted to UNDERSTAND how we did it.  Not the points – but the how we did it.  I began by explaining the general idea to her; but that was not enough for her.  She wanted and needed to hear the exact details – the “hows” and the “whats”.  I knew with whom I was talking: I know her lifestyle, how she thought and how she felt.

I told her exactly what I ate for each main meal and then what I ate for the small meals.  Except for the Chagim, I eat just about the same foods/combination of foods every day (including similar Shabbas menus). 

Then I got down to the basics and the emes - it was simple - you must never be hungry.  Your mind and your body must know that it will never starve.  Once that lesson is internalized, your body will not store fat and you can lose weight!   As I said this statement out loud, I realized it really made sense TO ME and I had internalized the message:  three main meals and the two-three small middle meals keep me at an even keel and a good weight. 

I told her that I eat breakfast EVERYDAY.  I don’t “wait” to eat until I am starving.  I make the time to eat.  I eat lunch on Fridays!  Believe me, each of these little steps is a minor miracle. 

I shared with her another important step: portion size.  I explained to her that a tablespoon of food is one tablespoon – not two, not two and a half and not some kind of rough measurement. That you need to treat losing weight and changing your eating habits as a semi-religion where you set the rules and framework and you work within it.  Not following your framework – only hurts you.

Exercise is another big step.  I always exercised, but if you never did or do not at this moment, then it is time to introduce yourself to the concept.  Start moving.  Start walking up and down stairs.  Start walking around your neighborhood. 

I know that there is a common theory that walking/exercising with a partner is a great way to exercise and I say – maybe – it depends on your exercise buddy.  If you choose a friend who is - how should I put this – as exercised-challenged as yourself - you may never get into the “shvung”.

So listen to Tante Yochi: find an exercise that suits you, that is: it's reasonably easy to do on a long term basis.  I warmly recommend WALKING.   Walking suits everyone and every body shape, take music along as your exercise buddy and just get out there.  No excuses.  Your body will thank you!

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NEW! Want to change your eating habits and change your lifestyle? I now provide one-on-one weekly mentoring meetings and weekly group classes.  Learn to cook healthy meals, set your own goals and learn to love yourself! Contact me today!

yochi.eisner@gmail.com     052-3413249

A great summer side dish: Cold zucchini salad and Surviving the Chagim!

I realize that I have not given you any really good, cold, summer side dishes, so here is my new favorite:  Cold Zucchini Salad! 

I had the pleasure of tasting and then learning how to prepare this dish at the hands of its ‘father’, the up and coming young chef: Shlomo Weinglass.  Shlomo is the chef at Morgens Café in Jerusalem.  We were fortunate enough to taste all of Shlomo’s yummy food when we recently spent a wonderful Shabbat at his parent’s home in Nokdim. Every dish was scrumptious and, well finger-licking, but as is many things in life, not always beneficial to a diet.  This cold salad, however, is both delicious and points-friendly!

Shlomo has kindly given me permission to include his recipe in my blog.

By the way, we also had a great meal at Morgens Café – a great milchicks restaurant in my favorite part of Jerusalem - Emek Refaim.  Wonderful!

Back to the salad: This a great summer salad and with Rosh Ha’Shana just around the corner (gulp!), this is an appealing salad to serve for Chag!  This cold salad is fast and easy to prepare – what more could you ask for?

Shlomo’s Cold Zucchini Salad

Ingredients:

·        Zucchini, sliced on the diagonal (for more information and explanations on how to cut vegetables, including the French names for each of these cutting techniques, see below *)

·        Onion

·        Fresh mushrooms

·        Balsamic vinegar/soy sauce

·        Lemon juice

·        2-3 cloves of garlic (or more)

·        Kosher salt

·        Parsley

·        Pepper

·        Olive oil (for taste only)

·        Grilling pan with grooves

·        PAM

What to do:

·        I use the greenest, longest and most firm zucchinis I can find.  Four large zucchinis made enough salad for about six two-tablespoon portions.

·        Slice the zucchini on a diagonal.  Slices should be thin, but not paper thin.  Do not peel the zucchini – first of all because there is never a need to do this and secondly, the peel helps keep the vegetable “together” during cooking.

·        During the cooking process, you cannot leave this dish unattended, it needs to be watched at all times!  I recommend you prepare this dish either before you cook other dishes or once you have finished cooking all your other dishes.  You can definitely prepare this dish a day in advance, it will only improve the taste!

·        Cut all the zucchini before you begin to cook.

·        Put your grilling pan with the grooves on the stove and turn the burner on high.  I use my middle, largest burner, so I get a good even heat throughout the pan.  Spritz with PAM.  I recommend you use the olive oil flavored PAM for this dish.

·        Once the pan is HOT, add a single layer of zucchini.  The zucchini should not overlap – each piece should be exposed to the groves of the pan. You should hear the sizzle!

·        Once the vegetable starts to turn a bit translucent/golden around the edges, turn over one piece to see if that side is browned by the groove marks.  If it is, turn over the entire batch. 

As the pan gets hotter, cooking time with quicken.  But be careful – you do not want to overcook these slices!  You can turn the slices over a third time if you need to.

If the pan gets too dry the slices will burn, so spritz the pan every so often.

A slice is considered done when it is golden brown, browned by the grooves and a bit translucent. Never soggy or overdone.

·        Once all the slices are done, remove them to a large metal bowl. 

·        Next begin to prepare all the rest of the ingredients to add to the bowl.

·        Thinly slice onions and mushrooms and add to the bowl. One medium to large onion and a half to three-quarters of a container of fresh mushrooms should be sufficient for this dish.  You can increase or decrease these amounts depending on how much you love/loathe onions and mushrooms.  Actually if you loathe mushrooms, this is not a dish for you, sorry dear!

·        Peel two to three cloves of garlic and either chop finely or put through a garlic press. I love garlic, so I add about five or six fat cloves.  I also like to see the garlic pieces in my salad.  Add the garlic to the bowl.

·        Finely chop parsley and add to the bowl.

·        Add about a cap and a half (about a tablespoon and a half) of lemon juice.  Yes, I used bottled lemon juice, but it was a great brand!

·        Add about a tablespoon and a half of balsamic vinegar.  I also added about half a tablespoon of soy sauce.

·        Add in freshly ground pepper.  I omitted the salt, since I added soy sauce to the dish. 

·        Add about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Again, I omitted the olive oil and added a spritz or two of PAM olive oil.

·        Mix well, but gently.  Transfer to a plastic container with a lid and put in the fridge. 

·        Shake this dish in the plastic container before serving.  This dish tastes great right away and will taste even better the next day!

Portion size:

Two tablespoons is one serving.

How to store:

Always store in a closed plastic container in the fridge. 

Be’Tay a’Von!

* How to cut vegetables: Follow these links to learn how to cut vegetables:

 http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Formal-Vegetable-Cuts

http://www.lhj.com/recipes/easy/cut-vegetables/

Surviving the Chagim!

Well, they are finally here, almost here: the CHAGIM.  Big as life and lasting F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  I do not have to tell you that this year, Rosh Ha’Shana is THREE DAYS LONG!

 

As far as I am concerned it is four days long: lasting from Erev Chag on Wednesday all the way through to Motzei Shabbat.  Then we have Yom Kippur on a Shabbat – which is psychologically insane for me – it’s something about fasting on Shabbat that does me in.  Then Succot – oh, I don’t even want to think about that.  So let’s just start with one chag at a time.

How can we survive Rosh Ha’Shana?  Eating tuna sandwiches and carrot sticks for four days comes to mind.  But let’s get real. We have six meals to survive.  You can plan to eat just a “little” of each of the goodies during each of those meals.  If that works for you – more power to you.  I prefer to work on the “one on-one off” method – that is I will eat one traditional meal and enjoy it (almost to the fullest) and then at the next meal I will eat better, more points-friendly choices and in the correct proportions. 

I have to say that in the past, during Rosh Ha’Shana in our house, honey was considered a beverage.  I kid you not.  So this year, alongside the traditional favorites: gefilte fish, honey with apple, challah with honey, honey with honey, heavy meats and kugels; I will also make skinless chicken and light salads. One good old fashioned-heavy meal then one lighter meal.  And somehow we will get through this chag – just in time for the next one!

Shana Tova and Chag Sameach!

The Five-Minute Fish Dish – Perfect for the Nine Days and for the long hot summer days ahead and Surviving the Pre-fast and Post-fast meals!

It’s the Nine Days and I want to give you my PERFECT Five-Minute Fish Dish for the Nine Days and for the L-O-N-G hot summer days ahead.  

The truth is that once you make this dish, you will want to make it every week! This dish contains THREE ingredients that you can keep on hand all year long!

Yochi's Five-Minute Fish Dish

Ingredients:

·        Cheap filleted fish: cod, sole or any cheap, skinless (obviously boneless) fish. 

·        Broccoli

·        1-2 small onions, sliced

·        PAM

·        Water

·        Garlic powder

·        Freshly ground pepper

·        Paprika

·        Grilling pan with grooves

Portion size: Two pieces of fish and two to three heaping tablespoons of vegetables.  You can have a small serving (one to two tablespoons) of whole brown rice on the side.

How to work:

1.   I buy a big bag of filleted sole or cod – which has some 10 – 15 pieces of fish.  I usually prepare two fish fillets per person/per portion.

2.   When do you defrost the fish?  I am so glad you asked.  I used to take out the fish an hour or so before I planned to cook it.  However this fish is small and thin, so you can even place it in the pan frozen.  The water that will be released as the fish defrosts will help the cooking process.

3.   Cut the broccoli and the onions into the same size pieces – long and thin or chunky.  Slice in a way that is appealing to you.

You can use frozen broccoli flowerets, if broccoli is no longer in season – but be careful not to overcook and kill the innocent broccoli.

4.   Spritz the grilling pan with grooves – my personal favorite – with PAM and turn on the heat.

5.   Once the pan begins to sizzle, throw in the onions and the broccoli and toss/mix gently with a wooden spatula.  In this recipe the wooden spoon protects not only the fish and vegetables, but also the pan from scratches!

6.   Once the broccoli begins to turn a deep green add the fish.  You have to be a bit careful with this step, as the cold/frozen fish has a habit of curling up on itself as it gets heated. 

I put the fish in the pan and GENTLY hold it flat with the wooden spatula, as it heats and then place the vegetables on top of it – so it will not curl.

7.   Add the spices and another spritz of PAM.

8.   Gently move the vegetables around the pan, being very careful not to cut or mash the fish.

9.    After a few minutes of cooking, you can turn the fish over. I usually turn the fish over twice.  You can add a bit of water if the dish is too dry.

10.                Once the fish turns a light golden brown the dish is ready. The vegetables will be crisp and the fish will be light and luscious.

11.                You can serve over a small portion of whole brown rice.

Be’Tay a’Von!

Surviving the Pre-fast and Post-fast meals!

Fasts are an interesting issue when it comes to a diet.  Sometimes the “old way” of thinking and eating kicks in as we plan the pre-fast (seuda mafseket) and post-fast meals. 

Planning is still key here but somehow, the long fast does something to our thinking.  Yes, I am aware that the fast is exactly as long as Yom Kippur, but somehow the long summer day seems to make the day seem longer.

So how do we handle this situation?  I am sure that by now, you know that I will tell you that you can just go with the flow and get back “on the wagon” or should I say “get back on the scale” after the fast.  But I believe that our new eating habits should help us survive the fast better than our old eating habits. 

All our low-sodum (ok, no sodium), high fiber and protein food choices should help us feel full longer, maybe less thirsty and give us more energy throughout the fast.

What to eat before the fast:  Well there should be no surprises here: whole brown rice, fish, vegetables and fruits that are soft and satisfying.  No heavily spiced foods that will leave you thirsty.  Also try to keep yourself hydrated with plenty of water and coffee-free (gasp!) for two days before the fast.

Sometimes, I feel that the problem is not the pre-fast meal, but rather the post-fast meal. Sid and I used to break our fast on fattening cakes/ Croissants, orange juice and yogurt.  We would wait half an hour or so and then I would inevitably make blintzes and we would eat them with sour cream and top that little repast off with ice cream. 

This year I plan to break the fast with something sweet, like one of my cakes, and some orange juice and coffee (I need it, honestly!).  Then we’ll either have a light meal of either fish or eggs and salad.  Enough protein to feel good, but also light enough to be able to rest and go to sleep on a not-too-full stomach.

Wishing everyone a Tzom Mo’eyl!