Author Archives: Sarah Newman

Break-Fast Berry Tahini Smoothie

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Berry Tahini Break-Fast Smoothie

This is a quick post to share a really easy, nutritious post-fast dish. Personally, I don’t like to go to “all you can eat” break-fast meals filled with bagels, kugel (even if vegan), raw salads, desserts, etc. after a day without food and water. I need easily digestible foods that are nourishing and gentle on my body. I’m sharing a recipe for an easy berry-tahini smoothie that can easily be made within minutes of the fast ending. It is a thick smoothie/bowl that is meant to be eaten with a spoon (again-this is better for digestion). The tahini adds creaminess and fat while the tofu is good for protein. If you’re looking for more break-fast recipes, I included previous years recipes at the bottom. Wishing you an easy and meaningful fast. Continue reading →

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Rosh Hashana: Beet Carpaccio

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I love this beet carpaccio recipe! I first enjoyed it at a serene Shabbat dinner at my relative’s house during a glorious pre-Covid spring in Jerusalem. The flavors of the roasted beets are enough alone but topped with a lot of delicious ingredients that delicately balance both tangy and sweet flavors makes the beets the star of a rich, dramatic dish. It’s also a “one pan” dish that is simple to make. It’s perfect as an appetizer or side dish during a Rosh Hashana meal. Also, check the links below the recipe for more of my sweet and savory Rosh Hashana recipes. Shana tova! Continue reading →

Couscous, preserved lemons, with roasted zucchini and tofu

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I love the abundance of zucchinis available in the summer–patty pan, crooked neck, endless shades of yellows and greens. They’re so beautiful and I love the range of delicate flavors of them, depending on the variety. I love cooking but have gone through phases during COVID where I’m simply tired of my own food or just don’t have the energy to make much besides a smoothie. I am not a complicated or fussy cook and try to keep the number of ingredients to a minimum. This dish is perfect for a summer Shabbat dinner or lunch. Continue reading →

Spring Foraging for Berries

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yogurt, granola and foraged berries

While last spring was remarkable because the world had shut down, spring this year is remarkable as parts of the world start to slowly re-emerge. It was a collective, tragic, exhausting hibernation the past 16 months. When things dramatically stopped last year, my senses became more acute to the subtle, beautiful things in my life, such as wild flowers sprouting from sidewalk cracks, the remarkable shades of green leaves in the forest behind my home, and the symphony of birds that awoke me early every morning.

The covid winter was challenging in many ways but I was very fortunate to always be in good health. On the food front, I became uninspired in my daily cooking and my diet devolved into mainly smoothies, popcorn, and salads. My sole cooking inspiration was to bake breads and cakes for friends and family and the ingredients that were exciting were the ones that I foraged.

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Very berry charoset

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Very Berry Charoset

I created this charoset recipe to use one of my favorite flavor combinations, along with many of the dried berries and fruits I love, such as goji berries, barberries, cherries, elderberries and raisins. But, you could really use any combination of  your favorite dried fruits. If you can make this in advance and let it soak overnight, the flavors become more pronounced and the berries plump. Continue reading →

Purim Treat: Vegan Orange, Tahini, Olive Oil Cake

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Orange, tahini, olive oil vegan cake

The best thing I bought during the pandemic was a bright yellow Le Creuset loaf pan. The pan is so versatile and I’ve used it to make bread, cakes, truffles and polenta. I love giving people loaves of cake and bread as Covid gifts. And, with Purim starting in a few days, I think that in addition to hamantaschen, loaf cakes would be a delicious addition to mishloach manot this year. Loaf cakes are a simple, unassuming and easy. I also love using tahini and will find any opportunity to use it in a recipe. I adapted this recipe to make this light, moist, not overly sweet cake. Below the recipe I also included links to my other Purim recipes. Continue reading →

Malawach and Jachnun

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Malawach with date syrup

I am late to the party but finally joined the Covid baking club. I’ve got my sourdough starter, a fridge filled with a variety of flours, and a lot of time this winter to bake! I recently listened to a podcast interview with Israeli chefs Gil Hovav and Einat Admony (love the food at her veg restaurant Taim) and they talked about so many of the incredible Yemenite foods they grew up eating, which humbly inspired me to try to make some, including two breads, malawach and jachnun. Continue reading →

Vegan Malabi with Roasted Fruit

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Malabi is an amazing, delicious Middle Eastern dessert that is popular in Israel. I used to go a little cafe with a few wooden tables near Shouk Hacarmel in Tel Aviv for vegan malabi (not sure if the place served anything else besides vegan malabi and coffee. Its malabi was so good that it could perhaps get by with just serving it). It came in a little glass jar topped with a dollop of jam and was a perfect small sweet treat.

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Fall Foraging: Mushrooms

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I have had the great opportunity to trample through the woods and fields just outside Rock Creek National Park to forage for edible plants, berries, flowers and mushrooms this fall. Foraging aside, I have spent endless hours during Covid inside Rock Creek park. I joke that it is my second home but it really is: I don’t start any morning now without hiking or biking in it, no matter the weather, and end many days with a quick jaunt on trails. Spending so much time in Rock Creek has made me keenly aware of the subtle changes every day to the spectacular landscape from the multitude of distinct shades of green leaves in early spring to the trails disappearing afoot as they become layered with leaf cover in the fall. And, my connection to the land has deepened as I have learned about the myriad edible plants and mushrooms living in it.

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Sukkot: Roasted Apples and Yams with Barberries

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Roasted apple and yam with barberries

Like everything else, this is an unusual Sukkot. But due to my COVID routine, I have had the privilege for a deeper physical and sensory connection to the holiday’s harvest themes. It includes more time to tend to edible plants on my balcony and long hikes in woods filled with mushrooms and other edibles. And while the holiday celebrates an agricultural harvest, I like to more broadly think of it as a way to celebrate all of our food sources, whether foraged or grown on a farm. Last weekend, I went on a guided foraging trip just a few miles from my house. In a mere mile long walk, we found more than a dozen edibles, including black walnuts, shiso, sorrel, burr cucumbers, American persimmon, and turkey tail mushrooms. We nibbled little bits of each plant along the way but left everything there for birds and other creatures to enjoy. Continue reading →