"One Pot" Meal, Fish and Vegetables

There was a time when I planned on writing a cookbook. I thought of calling it "The Lazy Cook Cookbook," because I don't like complicated food preparation. This "One Pot" Meal of Fish and Vegetables served over simple cooked salad is so typical of the my sort of cooking.

This "One Pot" Meal of Fish and Vegetables can actually look quite impressive if you bake it in a nice dish. The colors can be stunning. Use any of the following ingredients or others. There's no real "right or wrong." Not all the ingredients are included in this version. Please let me know how your version came out, thanks.

Ingredients: 
fish, filet or whole fish
onion
sweet potato
squash
pumpkin
eggplant
potato
fresh garlic
cabbage
beets
zucchini
lemon or just some juice

Layer in your baking dish. To keep the fish moist, cover with onion or squash. Dribble a bit of vegetable oil before baking 190 Centigrade/380 Fahrenheit. 

Check that vegetables are soft and fish fully cooked before taking it out of the oven. Enjoy

Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh, Perfect Outdoor Site for All Ages

Kenes Shiloh #9

Rosh Chodesh Av

This week I was at Biblical Shiloh aka Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh twice. It's walking distance from my house, although the trek uphill from there to my house isn't easy. Yes, sometimes even I take rides. Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh is an outdoor archeological site with indoor and outdoor activities, plus shaded areas. It's the actual Biblical location of Shiloh, where Chana prayed for a son, and the Tabernacle stood for close to four hundred years.

Sunday afternoon/evening was the 9th Kenes Shiloh, Shiloh Conference. Attendees came from all over the country, though fewer than usual.

As usual it began with an archeological tour of Tel Shiloh. Even this year when the foreign archaeologists and their crews weren't able to dig, there were still home-grown archaeologists, and we got reports.

The second section of the program was streamed online for those who couldn't attend in person. And those of us who did attend had the choice to sit indoors or outdoors.

This morning I went back down to Tel Shiloh, since it's Rosh Chodesh Av, the beginning of the Jewish Month Av. I've been organizing Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh for many years. This time we were surprised to find a group of man just finishing off their prayers. Since Tel Shiloh is outdoors the permitted number of attendees is larger than in a synagogue. They finished just as we were about to say the Hallel, which we sing out loud.

Our attendees were both live on site and via zoom. I have a feeling that even when these restrictions are over, speedily in our days, people will still request to attend by zoom, since it's convenient for those not able to travel.

Rosh Chodesh Ellul will be two days, and I'll publicize exact time etc as soon as we decide, Gd willing.

On our way out, we discovered another outdoor prayer group. I'm very happy that people are coming from all over the country to doven/pray here in Holy Shiloh.

For more information about Biblical Shiloh aka Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh Phone: 02-5789122,  Fax: 02-9948011,  visit@telshilo.org.il or click here.

Rosh Chodesh Av, Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh

Please wear masks, thanks.

Next week is Rosh Chodesh Av. Because of the heat, we'll be starting a bit earlier than usual, at 8:15am. We hope you can join us for our traditional Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers.

תפילת נשים ראש חודש אב

שילה הקדומה, תל שילה

יום ד' 22\07 8:15 בבוקר

כולן מוזמנות

WOMEN'S ROSH CHODESH AV PRAYERS

Ancient Tel Shiloh

Wed. 22\07 8:15am

All Invited

We sing Hallel out loud together and say the rest of the dovening quietly on our own.

Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Tel Shiloh is a beautiful archeological site which interests all ages. You can arrange special tours and more. For more information:

Phone: 02-5789122
Fax: 02-9948011
visit@telshilo.org.il

Easy to Make, Healthy Salad, Mostly From Cans

Yes, I call this salad "Easy to Make, Healthy Salad, Mostly From Cans." And it's not an oxymoron.

It can also be titled Corn, Bean and Tomato Salad, Corona Lock-down Recipe #4, because the canned food was delivered to us as part of the senior citizen care package at the height of the corona lock-down. Following are the first three recipes I developed with canned food from the carton:

• Cooking With Canned Beans, Corona Lock-down Recipe #1
• Cooking With Canned Pineapple, "Apple-Pineapple Compote," Corona Lock-down Recipe #2
• "Sauerkraut Salad," Corona Lock-down Recipe #3

If you had inspected my pantry before getting these COVID-19 "care packages," you'd have found almost no cans, not even tomato paste. The few cans would have been "food gifts" from the Purim mishloach manot. But suddenly I found myself with all sorts of canned food and decided to make up recipes.

This salad is also a great vegetarian-vegan "one pot meal." It contains protein plus raw and cooked vegetables. Of course you can substitute different types of beans and vegetables and add more fresh salad. Just looking at it you can probably guess almost all of the ingredients:

canned corn
canned white beans
diced tomato
diced onion
coarsely ground pepper
dehydrated dill
dressed with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice

Yes, that's it. Think of the recipe more as inspiration than an exact recipe. Try it, and tell me how yours turned out and how you varied it. Enjoy in good health.

FINALLY! The Pool is Open

Totally heavenly.

That's how I felt after 50 minutes activity in the local swimming pool. Our usual summer pool season is three months, but this year we had a late start. That's  because all the government corona COVID-19 restrictions had our local council in a tizzy. They were too afraid of investing money to begin the process of opening the pool. What if the government wouldn't permit pool openings?

The biggest difference is that this year there isn't a kiddy pool, since even in regular, will we ever return to those days, years the kiddy pool is usually an infection problem.

Chlorine is a disinfectant, and the pool is full of it. That's why I'm not afraid to enter the pool. To be extra careful, I'm sticking to the early morning hours.

Our local Shiloh Swimming Pool only has "separate hours," meaning males and females swim at different times. The pool is also fenced in so people can't watch us.

As you can see, I wear a "modest" bathing suit, which doubles as a skin protector.

Actually, the pool opened yesterday, but women's hours were at night. I took a one hour fitness walk, instead of swimming. The water was perfect temperature this morning. I was surprised. It usually takes a few weeks to get so warm.

Thank Gd for the swimming pool. I don't need to go away for a "vacation." My "vacation" is right here in Shiloh.