roasted potato and leek kosher soup jewhungry

 

 

I’m having a love/hate relationship with food lately. By ‘love’, I mean, you know, I want to eat yummy food all the time.  By ‘hate’, I mean I don’t have the energy for it any more. And this isn’t just a  post-high holiday thing. This is all about trying to find the time and energy to feed a two year-old every. single. day.  And I only have one! Good LORD! One of my closest friends has 2 toddlers and 1 baby! How the hell does she do it!?

 

Roasted potato and leek soup with jalapeno oil jewhungry kosher

 

For those just joining me in this weird journey, I’m currently living a life of temporary single parenthood.  It’s important to note that this set up of mine is, in fact, temporary. I have the privilege of having a supportive and loving husband.  We call each other, he offers me emotional support and he comes to visit every so often (more on why I’m in this situation here).  The parts of this temporary single parent status that I expected to stink (time has become my most sought after currency. I got up at 5:30am PST just to finish this post) but the part of this situation that I didn’t expect is the effect this has had on our meal times.

For more on this story and the recipe for my roasted potato and leek soup with jalapeño oil, run on over to The Nosher.  Click here!

 

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London broil Jewhungry kosher blog

Hello from the West Coast! It’s been quite a while since my last post but I’m so grateful for those who keep coming back! Thanks you! I’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to find the time, or rather, motivation to go through the whole process of cooking, taking pictures, editing pictures and then editing it a post. It’s strange because lately I’ve been seized with a very strong urge to craft that the food blogging process is not really satisfying. It’s not helping that my Instagram feed currently contains a hodgepodge of super creative women who somehow have the time and money to craft like there’s no tomorrow. My beloved friend, Jessie, and I have created a semi-weekly holiday of “Wine Down Wednesday”, which consists of the following activities:

1. Watching the latest episode of The Mindy Project.

2. Drinking (cheap) wine — no box wine is too good for us!

3. Dreaming up crafting projects that most likely will never happen (our current project is what is called a “silent book”, an activity book for the kid made entirely of felt),

4. Waxing poetic about the state of the world.

5. Drinking more wine.

Jewhungry kosher London food blog

London kosher jewhungry food blog

 

 

London kosher Jewhungry food blog

It’s these little made up holidays that are getting me through this time and helping me remember that I gotta take care of myself by giving myself little outlets that allow me to be me and not just “mom” me or “school counselor” me. And yet, the biggest news in my world is not the invention of the greatest mini-holiday ever (aside from Fancy Coffee Friday). Nope, the biggest news is that, at 34 years of age, I have finally established and am living on (and understand!) a real budget. Friends, there are many things I can say that I’m good at however, money is not one of them. Without getting too personal or divulging more than my genteel Southern upbringing would allow me, let’s just say that money managing has never been my strong suit. That being said, this year of paying for 2 lives and Jewish Day school has meant that my family has no choice but live on a very strict budget and damn it but if it isn’t the strangest mix of freedom and restriction I’ve ever felt. I now have visions of sipping coffee with Suze Orman and discussing the development of a teen girls money managing campaign where we teach teenage girls (as they are the population who are most targeted by the advertising world and thus more likely to spend, spend, spend as they try to buy their confidence rather than develop it internally). There’s so much freedom and privilege in having money and knowing how to manage and maintain it. I get it now it (Mom, are you listening! It finally happened!)

 

London Jewhungry kosher food blog

 

So speaking of budgets, another way in which budgeting has helped me is by forcing me to get creative with grocery shopping and cooking. My favorite thing to do is to make one focus in a meal (like roasting a London Broil) and then remixing it in several different ways.  Thus, this recipe. I made Jamie Geller’s Balsamic London Broil recipe for her latest cookbook, “Joy of Kosher: Fast, Fresh Family Recipe“, for lunch on Sukkot. I then remixed it on the Sunday following that Shabbat and made it into a sumptuous open face sandwich for my husband and the salad featured in this post for myself.  The salad dressing I made for my salad was also used as a delicious sauce for the hubby’s sandwich. The dressing consists of only a few simple ingredients and ultimately costs me way less than if I purchased bottled dressing.  The recipe is very Shabbat-friendly and kid-friendly too. Plus, you know, it’s really delicious. Have a great week!

Autumn Balsamic London Broil Salad with Non-Dairy Ranch

Recipe and instructions for London Broil found here

Dressing Ingredients:

1/2 Cup mayonnaise

1/2 Cup almond milk

Handful of fresh dill, finely chopped

3 Tbsp of finely chopped chives

1/2 Tsp salt

1/2 Tsp pepper

1 Tsp garlic powder

Dressing Instructions:

Combine dressing ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix very well.  Add more mayo or almond milk based upon your preference of dressing thickness.

Salad Ingredients:

3 Cups of kale, chopped

2 sweet potatoes, chopped small and roasted (I roast mine seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper at 400 degrees for 40 minutes)

1/2 Cup shredded carrots

Roasted garlic and onions from broil

1 Cup of green beans, blanched

Several slices of London Broil, sliced to 1/8 inch thickness (which basically means sliced thin enough to chew but not too thin that you can’t find it in the salad).

*Assemble salad ingredients, pour on that dressing and enjoy!

 

 

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