A recent ad campaign for an educational program at my work asked: “What would you do if you had time to think?”

I now find myself faced with that same question, as I enjoy some time off before starting a new job on  July 1st. Faced with the luxury of time, laid out before me in all its splendor, I do what any sane person would do, I write lists.

First, a list of jobs I have been putting off – many of which I intended to do when I was on maternity leave almost a year ago, but obviously never got around to, as I underestimated the whole ‘maternity’ factor of the maternity leave.

My initial list looked something like this:
1. Fix damp in bathroom
2. Buy plants at nursery
3. Sweep garden and clean balcony floor
4. Make photo albums of last year
5. Frame pictures that have been sitting around for more than a year
7. Swim, blog, photograph, cook,visit friends on maternity leave
9. Buy iron and ironing board. Iron (!)

I won’t bore you with the whole list but it goes into the double digits.

Obviously, this list is a dynamic thing, it grows and shrinks as time passes, and is decorated with scribbled annotations and afterthoughts such as, ‘Buy tomatoes!’ and ‘Call Grandma!’. Then of course it gets too messy and a neat version must be written.

I don’t want this time to be too busy. I want to be productive (my life obsession) and tick things off my list but I also just want time to read, take my baby out for fun days, gather my thoughts, and prepare myself mentally and emotionally for this next phase in my career.

I was mulling this over today when out walking. Several times a week, I stride down an avenue lined with trees which shed plump pink flowers. Every day, a different tree shrugs its shoulders, and with a sigh, allows its flowers to drift off in the wind. This delicate shedding creates a carpet of striking pink flowers on grey pavement, which I always try to avoid stepping on. Within a day, the flowers lose their former perfection, turn an unattractive shade of brown, and are swept up by a friendly municipal worker. He must hate those trees and their magic carpet-weaving abilities.

I always want to photograph the flower-carpets, but I have to keep pounding the streets, and obviously, don’t bring a camera with me when power walking. ‘One day’, I repeatedly threaten myself, ‘I’m going to come back and take pictures.’

Today, the same thought went through my head, until I realized today I could do it, I had the time. So I rushed home, got my camera and took some beautiful pictures. For moments like these, I am extremely thankful.

So, I’m fascinated – what would you do if you had time to think?

Welcome back to me after an eleven month  hiatus from these pages.  Hello Readers. Are you still out there? I’m back. I’m back but things have changed around here. I’ve changed. Last time I wrote I was absorbed in a muffin-making frenzy, preparing for an onslaught of extreme expected hunger. I’m now the proud mama of a ten-month old baby boy. Indeed, I baked all of those muffins, I ate all of those muffins, I eventually got rid of the excess weight caused by those muffins and I’m still here to tell the tale.

I’m not sure how to write this post. I’m not even sure that I should be writing this post. Shouldn’t I be making dinner, or finishing a report for work? Perhaps doing some much-needed cleaning, working out, or even spending some time with my husband? Perhaps. Perhaps I should be doing any number of the above activities, but for some reason I’m not yet sure of, I feel like blogging. I have thought a lot about my new identity over the past few months and how best to divide my energies between my child, my work  and myself.  Time is what you make of it - there will never be enough time. But it has has taken longer than I thought it would to get to this place – to feel my old energy returning, to feel like being creative and productive again.

True, gone are the days of spending hours in the kitchen cooking, tweaking and photographing dishes for these pages. But I think I can still do it – these pages might just live to eat, love and jump again.

In honour of my first post in eleven months, and with a little free time in hand, I went to the supermarket  this morning to see what I could find. My guiding principles for a recipe were: something healthy, easy on the pocket, and not too time-consuming.

I bought some round zucchini (so pretty!), otherwise known as Ronde de Nice Squash, read about different ways to stuff them, and  made up my own version.

Time Saving Tip: Buying frozen spinach saves all the rinsing and trimming

 By the way, in case anyone mistakenly gets the impression we eat like this all the time, know that we had toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight!

Stuffed Rond de Nice Squash
Adapted from Deb at Smitten Kitchen
Serves 6

Ingredients
6 rond de Nice squash
1 cup rice
Salt
1 tablespoon, olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
Handful frozen spinach (defrosted)
3 – 4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp each of dried basil, oregano, thyme
A handful chopped parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pot cottage cheese
A handful walnuts, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cut a small slice from the bottom of a rond de Nice squash so that it sits flat. Cut the top, about 2-inches from the stem end, leaving a nice wide hole. Using a spoon, scoop out the insides, leaving a 1/4-inch thick wall of squash on all sides. Trim the top of the squash. Set the squash flesh aside. Repeat with the remaining squash. Season the inside of each squash with salt and turn upside down onto a plate. (The salt will draw out the moisture.)

2. Cook the rice, according to your usual method (I flavour mine with garlic and chilli). When done, set aside.

3. Meanwhile, in a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over low heat. Add the onion, garlic and a pinch of salt and cook until tender.

4. Chop the reserved squash flesh and add it to the onion. After a few minutes add the spinach. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for a minute or two longer, until some of the liquid has evaporated.

5. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl, if there is  excess liquid, leave it in the skillet. Stir in the rice, cottage cheese, walnuts and parsley and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

6. Turn the squash right-side up and stuff them with the filling. Spread a teaspoon or two of olive oil at the bottom of a baking dish big enough to hold the squash snug, place them inside, and cover the dish. Cook in the oven until the squash is tender when pierced with a knife, about 45 to 60 minutes.

The squash can be served immediately or cooled, in or out of the oil, and reheated later.

8-Ball Zucchini Stuffed With…
More suggestions from The Kitchn Recipe Round Up:

• Rice, Basil, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, from FatFree Vegan Kitchen
• Veal, Celery, and Watercress, from La Tartine Gourmande
• Rice, Boursin, and Olives, from A Veggie Venture
• Ground Beef, Rice, and Red Pepper, from Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Spinach, Tomato, and Parmesan, from Cooking Light

People keep asking me: “What’s happened to your blog? Why have you stopped writing?”

I don’t really have a good answer, but I suspect that so much energy has gone into baking a certain little bun in the oven, I haven’t had much left over for kitchen experimentation. We relied on old favourites and comfort foods to get us through the winter and now it is summer, I’m reveling in salads, gazpacho and quiches, and a wonderful husband who has been doing ALL the washing up for the last three months, if not longer.

So, now with just a few weeks to go until my life changes forever, obviously, my thoughts return to food. I have prepared and frozen in neat, flat packages: pea soup, Bolognese sauce, turkey burgers, mocha bars, and quiche. There isn’t too much point filling up our small freezer, as we are blessed with a wonderful family and friends who will probably take great pleasure in feeding us when we’re up to our necks in dirty nappies. However, there is one thing I still want to bake and freeze in copious amounts.

MUFFINS. All different types of muffins: easy-to-defrost, fruit-packed, bite-size snacks;  sweet treats masquerading as ‘something healthy’ because they will all contain BRAN (smug smile). When browsing a forum for new mums, I found some great advice that spoke right to my heart. Several wise women suggested never sitting down to nurse without a snack in arm’s reach. Imagine: you settle into your comfy chair, your baby starts feeding,  and then WHAM, serious hunger pangs attack and you are pinned down by a tiny little bundle for the next forty five minutes with NOONE TO BRING YOU SOMETHING TO EAT. Nightmare on Elm Street. Other new mums joked about the crumbs they left in their newborn’s hair as they munched on muffins while they were nursing. That’s when I realized – I need to fill my freezer with muffins.

So I began ‘Operation Muffins’ today. This recipe in its original form is for a loaf cake called ‘Oogat Chaylaim’ in Hebrew, or ‘Soldier’s Cake’. The woman who gave me the recipe used to make it for her sons when they were in the army because it keeps well, and although it tastes delicious,  it  actually contains all the ingredients to keep you healthy and ‘regular’: Bran, dried fruit, wholewheat flour and Vitamin C.  There isn’t even any oil, butter or margerine in the recipe. Just eating them makes me feel smug…hence the new name, Smug Muffins.

Smug Muffins
Makes one loaf cake or 12 muffins

1 cup All Bran
1 cup orange juice (or milk)
1 cup wholewheat flour
1 cup dried fruit (apricots, prunes, dates, raisins, etc. or nuts)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
Grated lemon/orange peel

1. Leave bran to soften in orange juice (or milk) for 8 hours.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and bicarb soda
3. Mix flour with the soaked bran, egg, sugar and grated lemon peel
4. Add dried fruit/nuts (I used apricot, raisins, cranberries, dates and walnuts). The mixture will be think and sticky.
5. Pour into muffin tin and bake at 180 for about 15 minutes, or until cocktail stick comes out clean. If using a loaf tin (line with baking sheet) bake for about 40 mins.

Et voila! So easy, so healthy, and so little washing-up involved. What more could you ask for?

I’m off  to make my next batch, much less healthy, banana and white chocolate chip muffins. Yum!

Just because I write a food blog, do not be fooled into thinking I actually know what I am doing in the kitchen. Oh, how I dream of being one of those elegant Bree Van de Kamp types, who effortlessly breezes through the kitchen, leaving behind her nothing but sparkling work surfaces and delicious simple French desserts. Alas, this is not what our creator had in store for me. I am one of those ‘bull in a china shop’ type of cooks (and people generally). It is rare that I make it through a recipe without breaking, spilling or burning something. As I crunch sugar across the kitchen floor, sweep up broken glass, or try to render a burned cake edible, I sometimes find it amusing that I write a food blog, and some people seem to think that I’m a whizz in the kitchen.

Most of the time the end result is fine and what I lack in skill (and luck) I can usually make up for in presentation and creativity. This is why simple recipes, those which limit opportunities for disaster, always appeal to me, and ultimately win me over.

And so, when I saw the recipe for these vanilla petits pots de crème, I was tempted by the purity of the ingredients, the nonchalance of the instructions, and the elegance of this little unassuming French dessert. It was probably something to do with  Béa from La Tartine Gourmande‘s   description of eating these little pots of goodness as a child growing up in the French countryside.

Simplicity aside, I still managed my usual quota of kitchen disasters including breaking my favourite  glass jar and successively undercooking and then overcooking the petits pots de creme. However, the brave remnants were actually quite tasty. After cooling in the fridge for the required few hours (how I hate recipes that don’t allow you to pounce and devour immediately) these little desserts were  smooth, cool, and refereshing. They were, perhaps, a tinge too eggy for me, and not something I would make again and again.  But a nice change from a  flour-based pastry, cookie or cake. Made mainly from eggs and milk, they are not excessively rich – in fact, I had my first little pot at eleven this morning.

Vanilla Petits Pots de Crème
(for 4-6 ramekins or small jars, according to size)

Recipe adapted from La Tartine Gourmande

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1/3 cup blond cane sugar
2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split open and seeds scraped out

1. Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the vanilla bean and seeds. Bring to a boil and then stop the heat, cover and let infuse for 30 minutes. Filter.
2. Preheat your oven to 320 F.
3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolk with the sugar, then add the hot milk slowly while beating.
4. Pour the vanilla cream into small ramekins or jars — make sure to remove the foam that might have formed on top — and place them in a dish filled with hot water, so that they are half immersed.
5. Place in the oven and cook for betweem 35 to 40 minutes. Check regularly after 30 minutes. The middle of the creams should still be moving a little — they will settle once they cool down.
6. Take the jars or ramekins out and let them cool down. Cover with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge to rest for a few hours before eating. I tried to eat it while still warm but it was a waste. Be patient. This is meant to be a cold dessert. Enjoy!

Vanilla pod in milk

My glass jar collection, now depleted.

Creams in the jars, before baking.

Jars immersed in hot water, ready for baking.

Enjoy and devour away!

Oatmeal, however, is decidedly wintry. No one wakes up on a hot summer’s day and makes themselves a steaming bowl of oatmeal (or what we English call porridge), do they? So in my head, oatmeal cookies retain that same association and are very fitting for a blustery, stormy, or even a sunny winter’s day. Today the skies are depressingly, determinedly grey – quite unusual for Israel – and I have comforted myself by munching on oatmeal cookies and sipping mug after mug of fruit tea.

The apricot twist on the regular oatmeal and raisin cookies was inspired by my exotic, wonderful and wise friend Colette, who was visiting Israel last week en route to India. As we chatted, she effortlessly (without measuring cups!!)  threw together one of the most delicious banana breads I have ever eaten. It was made only from wholesome ingredients and was jam-packed full of healthy surprises including organic dried apricots, fresh ginger, lemon rind and pecans. I was so excited by the ingredients that we went to the market and bought me some of those delicious apricots, and some other sugar-free dried fruit.

I have already put those apricots to good use, making Colette’s banana bread, and a few days later these oatmeal cookies, into which I chucked some chopped apricots and cranberries for a fruity twist. I am pleased with myself as they came out very nicely indeed if I say so myself…

What was even more fun is that baking cookies gave me an opportunity to try out some lovely gift bags from Japan which my friend Dannii recently gave me. Dannii is queen of all things kitsch, creative and cupcake, and she knew that I would love these little bags, perfect for giving away home-baked cookies and sweets. So thanks Dannii and thanks Colette!

Oatmeal, Apricot and Cranberry Cookies
Adapted from Sweet Amandine’s Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 30-40 large cookies

1 cup  butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp all spice
½ tsp salt
3 c. oats (I used Quakers Quick Cooking)
1 cup (or more) chopped dried apricots and cranberries

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. Beat together the butter and the sugars until creamy. Add the eggs and the vanilla, and beat well.
2. Stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl. Then, add the combined dry ingredients to the butter-sugar-eggs mixture, and mix well. Stir in the oats, and the dried fruit.
3. Line a cookie sheet or two with baking paper and drop the dough (which is quite firm) by rounded tablespoonfuls.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the cookies to a wire rack. They will be quite soft when you remove them from the oven, but will harden as they cool.

‘Tis the season to be jolly….yes, even in Israel, wintry festiveness has settled upon us (in the form of Channukah, festival of lights) and we are indulging in donuts, latkes, and other seasonal delights. Personally, I find myself missing the mince pies…

Happily, these pears went some way towards fulfilling that craving. Warm, spicy, rich and comforting, a perfect dessert for a chilly winter’s evening. Suprisingly easy to prepare, the best thing about them is the steaming mulled wine left over once you have served the pears.

Poached Pears
Serves 4 (Adapted from ‘Healthy Eats’, Ed. Gina Steer)

2 small cinamon sticks
125g sugar
300ml red wine
150ml water
thinly pared rind and juice of 1 small orange
4 firm pears
frozen vanilla yoghurt or ice cream to serve

1. Place the cinnamon sticks on the work surface and with a rolling pin, slowly roll down the side of the cinnamon stick to bruise. Place in a large heavy-based saucepan.
2. Add the sugar, wine, water, pared orange rind and juice to the pan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Meanwhile peel the pears, leaving the stalks on. Cut out the cores from the bottom of the pears and level them so that they stand upright.
4. Stand the pears in the syrup, cover the pan and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the pears to cool in the syrup, turning occasionally.
5. Arrange the pears on serving plates and spoon over the syrup. Decorate with orange slices if you wish, and serve with ice cream or frozen yoghurt.

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Time. Time is a mysterious and magical entity. It speeds up and slows down at whim, making minutes seem like hours and months seem like days. How is it that waking from a short nap can feel like emerging from underwater, yet a night’s sleep can leave you struggling to understand how it is already morning when you just lay your head down on the pillow.

Some of my favourite words ever written contemplate time:

“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven;
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace.”
(Kohelet [Eccelesiastes] 3: 1-8)

This is a strange season for me, a time for readjustment and new beginnings. As autumn descends for some, here the heat continues, and as the sun blazes overhead, I have spare time on my hands after three busy years. What will I do with these hours? Does all time spent need to be productive? I feel  it run through my fingers like sand, unsure what to do with it…

This week I enjoyed peaceful, unhurried time in the kitchen – trying new recipes, experimenting with spices and admiring  autumnal colours. I found an interesting but simple recipe for tandoori chicken kebabs, intended for a barbeque, which I grilled in the oven instead. I couldn’t resist buying pumpkin in the supermarket, which I combined with red onion and carrot and roasted slowly with herbes de provences and fresh rosemary.

 I love how certain flavours are associated with particular seasons…somehow it all comes together: russet apples, pumpkins, leaves falling from the trees of my imagination…just as there is a time for all things, so it seems there is a time for relishing these flavours.

TANDOORI CHICKEN KEBABS
Adapted from a recipe by chef Oren Giron
Serves 6

3 large chicken breasts cut into chunks
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon of each of the following: Dried coriander, cardamom, nutmeg, cumin, caraway, cinammon
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1.5 lemons
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt

1. Mix the spices in a bowl, add the other ingredients and chicken cubes and mix well.
2. Place in the fridge for at least four hours.
3. Put the chicken cubes onto bamboo or metal skewers.
4. Place the skewers on the grill and cook for 4 minutes on each side, taking care not to dry out the meat.

 ROASTED PUMPKIN, CARROTS AND RED ONION 

This is too easy for instructions but good for inspiration. Mix cubes of carrot, chunks of red onion and pumpkin with fresh rosemary, herbes de provence, olive oil and freshly ground salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes to an hour, until golden and crispy in places. Enjoy the colours.

A new post for a new year (Jewish calendar), a new home and a new phase in my life. I have neglected you, dear readers, over the past few months, as I have worked hard to close several chapters in my life and open several new ones. Over the past six weeks I have finished my Master’s degree, completed a course to become an Aerobics Instructor, packed up our lives and possessions into neatly double-taped boxes and moved home.

We naively  under-estimated the amount of  schlepping necessary to move our wordly possessions, and in an attempt to save money moved without any professional help. Driving home at 4.30am after a night spent heaving boxes together was actually a strangely bonding experience for Ninja and I, reminding me how well we can work together, despite spectacularly irritating one another throughout the rest of the moving process.  

We have been in our new home, in the city of Shoham, for about a week and have unpacked all but one box but have not quite found our feet yet. So you understand why I haven’t had much time for cooking, and even less for writing. I have thought wistfully about this blog over the last two months. It is one of the things I looked forward to getting back to after the craziness had passed (along with healthy eating, regular exercise, and lazing about in my pyjamas).

So here I am. Its nice to be here. To ease myself back into things, I will share an easy and supremely delicious recipe for roasted garlic spread, which requires a little time and a little patience…. 

And remember, garlic may make your breath smell, but it is very good for your health, and wards off vampires (as well as undesirable interested parties). Recipe below.

ROASTED GARLIC SPREAD

1. Take 9-10 bulbs of garlic and top and tail the cloves, leaving the fine skin on.
2. Chuck in a roasting tin with generous amounts of olive oil and sea salt
3. Roast for an hour or so, until the cloves are golden brown and can be easily squished by a fork.
4. Remove from the oven, pop out the soft inside from the skin and mash together with any oil that remained in the roasting tin.
5. Enjoy, it is addictive. Can be served warm or room temperature.