zucchini "pasta"

In my (seemingly) never-ending quest to be the poster child for health and wellness (or, more realistically, offset those crazy days), I'm always on the lookout for interesting healthy meals. 

Enter: vegetables masquerading as pasta. 

Now I know some lend themselves better to the task (like spaghetti squash, an obvious choice as the name would suggest), but I like to make things difficult. Zucchini? Without a mandolin? Why not?

While cutting zucchini into thin strips may be an annoyingly tedious and time consuming process, it was absolutely, totally worth it. As someone who loves her carby carbs, believe me when I tell you that you won't even miss the pasta.

Now, don't go in expecting the zucchini to taste like pasta, because that would be delusional. But, it makes for a pretty decent substitute, as a veggie with a relatively low flavor profile. 

I used my zucchini pasta as a sub in my previously-posted pasta with sautéed leeks and mint (link to come later if you don't feel like searching, but I can't figure out how to get a link in when posting from the good ol' iPad), which made for a very Springy green dinner. 

So. Gather thee thy patience and a good sharp knife, and a few zucchini (duh), and make some pasta without the guilt!

                              

Zucchini "pasta" (1-2 zucchini per person, depending on size (of the zucchini, not the person))

Cut off the ends of your zucchini. Slice it lengthwise to about 1cm thick (aka thin - you'd be crazy to think I used a ruler). Slice each piece into matchsticks. Bring a pot of shallow water to a simmer, and simmer the zucchini for about 4-5 minutes. The zucchini should be cooked, but not soft and mushy like it can get (think al dente). Strain out water and toss zucchini with whatever sauce you're using. I threw it into the pan with my leeks and sautéed for a couple minutes, for reference. Enjoy!

warm summer corn salad

I'm not quite sure where the idea for this came from, but I was so happy to have my dad around as the cook for dinner that first night we had the corn salad. I mean, popcorn tossed with browned butter is one of my favorite comfort foods; is it really such a shocker that I would fall in love with fresh corn off the cob tossed with browned butter?

The answer would be no, if you were wondering, or don't know me at all. 

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best, and this is a good example. I could probably eat this salad (if you can call it a salad) every day if i had an infinite supply of corn, and could even figure out where to store said infinite supply of corn. Corn takes up a lot of space, yo!

Anyway. 

Butter. Shallots. Corn. Tomato. Get in my belly, pleaseandthankyou. 

Warm Summer Corn Salad

1 ear of corn per person

1 plum tomato per ear

2-3 tablespoons shallots/red onion per ear

1-2 teaspoons butter per ear

Steam corn in a pot of simmering water (1-2") for 8-10 minutes. Slice corn off the cob. In a pan large enough to hold the corn you made, melt butter with shallot/red onion. This helps the onion cook slowly and soften, instead of browning. Once the onion is translucent, add corn and tomato and give it a good stir. The corn is already warm and tomato shouldn't cook long, so this is really just to mix the flavah! Salt and pepper to taste. Try not to eat it all straight out of the pan. Unless of course you only made enough for one (and/or have no intention of sharing). In that case, go crazy. 

this one time, in Israel...part 3

Yes, I fully realize that says "part 3" instead of "day 3". Since we got to sleep in until 10:30 on day 3 because of Shabbat, we basically lost half a day. Basically.

Saturday was pretty tame.

OMGSLEEPIN.

Talk about Jew stuff, learn that growing up as a Jew in the States is totally different than growing up as a Jew in Israel.

OMGNAPTIME.

Singing in a circle for 20 minutes closing out Shabbat.

Dinner in Tiberias, aka OMGNOTTHEKIBBUTZ.

Lebanese side dishes

Meat Platter - literally a plate of meat

Sunday, we were up and at 'em to start the first super duper long trek (aka roughly two hours) from the Golan Heights to Tel Aviv. First stop, Tzfat!

We found it mildly hilarious that the speakers on these boxes were shaped like Jewish stars.

Tzfat was a pretty neat place, and I was fortunate enough to go back after the Birthright trip ended to check out all the galleries we didn't have enough time to see the first time around. Remember, you have just enough time in each place to make you wish you had just a little more time!

The highlight of the day was probably visiting the Tzfat Gallery of Mystical Art, which is run by an aaaaaawesome guy named Avraham. Whose actual name is Robert. He's from Michigan, but you wouldn't know it, thanks to an impressive beard he totally fits in with the ultra-orthodox population. Avraham spent about foooour thoooooousand yeeeeears explaining the amaaaaazingness of Kabbalah (did you know it's a sect of Judaism? Because I had no idea until this trip). I haven't silently giggled so hard since middle school.

                                                

After leaving Avraham and the did-I-just-smoke-something-without-knowing-it? atmosphere, we continued towards Tel Aviv, stopping next in Jaffa (Old Tel Aviv).

Where we decided it would be fun to take a picture in the middle of the street.

When a bus decided to drive up the street.

best.photobomb.ever.

Then we talked about our goals and dreams while we watched the sunset, and a few weddings, and a parasailer, and a baby or two, plus some puppies. Did I mention we're easily distracted?

That night was what at least the vast majority of the group had been looking forward to for the three-days-that-felt-like-a-million: a night out in Tel Aviv! Have fun guys, but make sure you're back at the meeting point in two hours. 

You can imagine what the next two hours looked like. What you might not imagine is the singing of Happy Birthday to one of our group members, at midnight, in English, on some street corner in downtown Tel Aviv.

Not a bad way to end the night!

stay tuned for part 4...

easy peasy roast chicken

Some days, I'm lazy.

Are you surprised?

Problem is, if I'm too lazy I don't eat. Finding a compromise that allows me to do minimal prep while still eating well has been quite a challenge, but I'm getting there.

Enter: roast chicken.

This has become one of our favorites lately. Season it with whatever makes me happy that day, throw it in the oven, and just over an hour later we have dinner! Bonus points for having a batch of rice or veggies ready to go in the fridge.

Buy a whole chicken. Preheat your oven to 375*. Place chicken in a pan, legs up/wings down. Season to your Geary's content! Go simple with salt and pepper, or get schmancy and go all out. Cook for 75-90 minutes, depending on the size of the bird. To test for doneness, the internal temp should be 165*. Alternately, wiggle one of the legs. If it pulls off easily and the juices run clear, you're good to go.

Let the chicken rest out of the oven for at least 5 minutes, and carve away!

Yesterday's was slathered with Dijon mustard, then seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt an pepper. I think I've outdone myself.

(Pictured bird seasoned with: garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and paprika)

matzoh-crusted honey mustard pork tenderloin

Resourceful.

That's how I feel right now.

I was so proud of myself, taking the pork tenderloin out of the freezer last night in preparation for the inevitable we-have-nothing-to-eat whine fest that tends to happen when we're in desperate need of a grocery trip, and yet too lazy to actually go to the store.

This morning, I realized I had no idea how I would actually cook the meat. No marinades in the fridge. Not much in the way of herbs or spices. Salt and pepper is boring.

A ha! Mustard! I always love pork chops roasted with mustard, so why not pork tenderloin? I'll just coat it with mustard, roll it in panko for some crunch, and call it a day. Easy peasy.

But only if I actually had panko. Apparently that's just one of those ingredients that I always think I have, until I go to use it and realize that I almost never have it. Probably because I used all of it last time and forgot to buy more. Damn you, chicken tenders.

As I was mixing up the mustard, resigning myself to the fact that the tenderloin would not be crusted, I saw a box of leftover matzoh sitting on the counter. I mean, it's crunchy. It breaks into pieces without you even trying (my fellow Jews know what I'm talking about). Maybe it could be used in place of panko/breadcrumbs?

Let's do this!

While I still wish I had panko, this turned out decently! And now I have a fun recipe for next year's Seder.

Matzoh-crusted Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin (serves 3-4)

1ish lb pork tenderloin (we used one packaged tenderloin from Trader Joe's, about 1.2lbs)
1/4 cup your favorite mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons mayo
2 matzoh boards, or about 1 cup panko (definitely go with panko if you have it, obviously)
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425*. Whisk together mustard, honey and mayo in a bowl large enough to fit the tenderloin. The flavor really should be from the mustard and honey, with the mayo in there to help keep moisture in the meat (I personally haaaaate overcooked pork). My pan didn't really fit the tenderloin, so I cut it in half. This also made it easier to serve, but you certainly don't have to do that!

If you happen to be using matzoh, crush it into little pieces and mix in some salt and pepper. If you're using panko, measure it onto a plate you can roll the tenderloin around on, and season with salt and pepper. Pat the tenderloin dry before covering it in the mustard mix - it'll help the stuff stay. Once it's covered in mustard, roll it in the panko.

Place your tenderloin on a pan of your choosing. Drizzle with olive oil if you so choose (I did about halfway through the cook time, because the matzoh was charring a bit - you can see it a little in the picture above). Cook for about 30 minutes, or until the tenderloin reaches an internal temperature of at least 140*, then remove from the oven and let it sit for at least 5 to rest. Slice up and serve!

so this one time, in Israel...day 2

When the alarm went off at 7am, I thought for sure I was still at home and about to get up for work. Who wakes up this early on vacation? The correct answer would be that I do, when I'm on a trip where we set out to accomplish roughly 13938571 things in the span of 30 hours (there are 30 hours in a day, right?).

After breakfast, we drove to the site of our next "walk".

"See those fences surrounding us? Can you read the signs?" asked Iftach, once it was too late to turn back.

Danger! Mines!

The number of hours we had known him had increased to about 30 at this point, so clearly we knew we were in good hands. Either that, or we had all resigned ourselves to the fact that we might not make it home. Or we were still partially asleep, jet lag finally catching up, and were rendered temporarily illiterate. Take your pick.

Once we had been assured that we would most likely not blow up, we set off on our "walk", which amazingly felt like a walk for the first 10 minutes or so, if you don't count the stream we had to cross. It really would have been quite easy, we were told, had we been there before the rain flooded the stream, taking down all branches that may have been some assistance to us.

After crossing the stream, we stopped in a clearing.

To play an ice breaker game.

In the middle of a land mine field.

This was the second time out of 394857132 we were told to hold hands, but this time it was for a human knot exercise. My team was...special. We somehow managed to form two linked circles, meaning there was no possible way to win. After what felt like an hour, we gave up, but not before our fearless leaders Sarah and Ariana (and of course Iftach) had gotten plenty of "butts in faces!" pictures. Lucky for us, they caught another team cheating first, so we were spared the sheer horror of performing a dance in front of everyone else.

Photo from Whitney, one of the awesome photographers on the trip. I was probably still tangled.

And then, we "walked" some more.

Three streams, a bat cave, and a stairway to heaven the parking lot later, we were back on the bus, headed for OMGSHWARMAFALAFELOMNOMNOM. We were just a little excited.

In transit, we learned the only two words in the Hebrew language that will matter the entire rest of the trip: sababah (it's all good / cool) and balagan (mess / hot mess). 

Our day out and about ended early due to Shabbat (wait, what day is it?), so we were back on the kibbutz mid-afternoon to give us an opportunity to shower (!!) and/or sleep (!!!!!!) and/or prepare for Shabbat services even though we (in the Victorian sense) had been to fewer than five Shabbat services in the history of ever. It was definitely a fun learning experience though, and now I can say I helped lead a Shabbat service in Israel! I feel so special.

After evening programming, we were perfect little angels and went to bed right away, obviously. Isn't that what you would do if you were told you were allowed to sleep in until 10:30 the next morning?

...stay tuned for day 3!

so this one time, in Israel...day 1

"Everyone make sure you're in comfortable clothes and good shoes, we're going to go for a nice walk straight away!" Said our tour guide Iftach, who we had met about 5 minutes earlier and were trusting with our lives.

Two hours later, we were scaling down a mountain.

Welcome to Israel! Where the rare use of the word "hike" should instill a certain level of fear.

Two weeks later, I learned that the route we took down the mountain is typically one which people take up the mountain, and it was, in fact, a lot harder to descend than ascend.

Lesson 1: Don't tell the Taglit kids what they're getting into, otherwise they may chicken out. If the bus drops them off at the top of the mountain and drives away before they realize what's happened, there's really no other option.

Once we made it safely down Mt. Arbel, we were told to gather in a circle and hold hands with our new best friends who we had just met 24 hours earlier, 12 of which were spent sleeping on the flight over. This was probably the least awkward of all the ice breakers. It also proved quite a challenge. Who knew a bunch of 20-somethings would have so much trouble forming a circle? Little did we know, we would have plenty of opportunities to hold hands in circles over the course of the trip.

"Now, turn 90 degrees to your right, and put your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you."

Are we going to dance in a conga line? 

"Begin moving your thumbs in a circular motion..."

Are we really massaging the shoulders of complete strangers? *giggle giggle* this is so awkward and hilarious!

"Now tap the person's shoulder in front of you, and say to them "You are a good person."

Well, I'm not really sure about that, I barely know these people

Disregard the fact that the first person I had to tell this to was my brother. I'd rather tell that to a complete stranger! (Just kidding, Jarrad. You are a really good person)

Once we had all rather unsuccessfully told the people in front of us they were good people (seriously, how did we never figure out that 50 people leaning forward and talking at the same time would make it rather difficult to effectively talk to each other?), we were told to turn 180* and do the same thing to the person who up until that point had been behind us. After our kumbaya session, we headed to the kibbutz where we would be spending our first three nights where we learned quickly that cats in Israel are akin to squirrels in the US; they're cute to look at, but they're wild and may or may not carry diseases. Everyone, put down the cats you just picked up.

Rest time (something I learned not to take for granted) was spent bonding with my first two roommates (they moved us around at each new location) over how sore our legs were and how good it felt to lay on our beds with our legs resting against the wall. I thought about how I had lucked out with the rooming assignments, given that I had to spend the next 3 nights with the same people, like 'em or not.

After dinner we learned that it's very windy in Israel. As each person on the trip had maybe 3 friends, including their roommates who they had really just met (has it really only been 12 hours?), we were forced to play several rounds of never-have-I-ever-musical-chairs (aka "the wind blows") in order to increase the chances we would end up sitting next to someone we didn't know.

At this point, it was probably time for count off number 1 of so-many-I-lost-count. Everyone remember your numbers! ...or forget them, because remembering one number for 10 days is really, super hard.

After the evening's activities, everyone gathered on the porch of the common area of the kibbutz to socialize...with everyone back home because this was the first wifi we had been graced with since we left New York. And then we went to sleep, because we had effectively been awake for two days...

Stay tuned for day 2!