Jewish Vegan

Tricks for an Easier Yom Kippur Fast

October 5, 2016 by Emily Segal

Never in a million years, would I have thought that the number one question people would ask me upon learning that I’m a nutrition and health coach, would be “Do you have any tips for making the fast on Yom Kippur any easier?” But there ya have it. Numero Uno.

We are currently one week away from Yom Kippur 5777. For those who are not familiar, Yom Kippur is a 25-hour fast required of all Jews except those with health issues and special permissions, that occurs shortly after our new year, Rosh HaShana. The fast begins at sundown and continues to sundown plus one hour, the following day. Jews around the world spend much of the day in the synagogue in prayer, or in private contemplation, or as many do here in Israel, riding their bikes through the completely deserted streets and highways.

Although the Jewish calendar contains many fast days, Yom Kippur is considered the Big Daddy of fasts. It falls at the end of the summer, but at many locations the world around, including where I live, it is still quite hot. Due to the fact that not even water may be consumed during the fast, combined with the heat and the vigorous nature of the day’s prayers, many of which involve long periods of standing, the Yom Kippur fast is difficult and taxing for most.

Thus, all the questions to me about how to make it easier!

The biggest reasons that fasting is painful for most people are:

1. withdrawal from caffeine

2. low blood sugar

3. dehydration.

The following steps attempt to address these three factors:

Stop drinking coffee and cola NOW

You have one week to wean yourself off of caffeine. Every year I remind myself to start cutting back a month in advance, but I always procrastinate until this last week. People, it is better to have a headache today, when you can take some advil or eat a snack, than on Yom Kippur itself when you have to stay mentally focused and physically energized. When the fast is over you can go back to coffee, or use the fact that you are free of it, to see what the decaffeinated life is like.

Stop eating sweets TODAY

Honestly, I am sorry for the bold and caps, but I definitely am yelling! You all asked me how to make the fast easier and I am answering by telling you that suffering a little now will make that one day easier. Maybe that’s a bad bargain, but it’s my honest answer.

If you are in the habit of eating sweets regularly, it will be a painful withdrawal to go without them. You might get a severe headache, suffer from terrible cravings and hunger pains, have very low energy, and a negative mood. Use this week between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur to clean your physical, as well as spiritual house. If you need tips for overcoming sugar addiction, they are in my free Cravings Buster E-Book. But if I had to sum it up in one tip, that would be to eat fruit whenever you crave a sugary treat. That will help wean you off the ~~crack~~, I mean sugar.

Carb-load the day before

I don’t mean you should stuff yourself, as that might backfire (the more we eat, the more we want to eat!). But where I usually push clients to make sure they are getting enough protein, the day before Yom Kippur, you can go ahead and eat some extra carbs. Carbs contain water, while protein requires water for digestion. It’s a small advantage but it all adds up. Like an athlete before a big event, by making sure your muscles are loaded with glycogen, you will make the physical demands of the day (all that standing!) easier. Healthy choices would be white or sweet potatoes, rice, whole grain bread, quinoa, and oatmeal.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate

Drink a lot of water each day, starting about 3 days out. Not soda, tea, gatorade or anything else, just water. Aim for 1 1/2 – 2 liters per day. If you live in Israel or anywhere else hot, you will get dehydrated on Yom Kippur. Move slowly, take it easy, and if you feel like you are going to faint, sit down with your head between your knees. (Trust me, I’m a fainter!). If it ends up that you have to drink, then you have to drink. Life and health are always more important.

How not to binge your face off when the fast is over

That should be a post in and of itself! It is quite common to be SO hungry that you end up consuming upwards of 3000 calories from 8 -11pm post-fast! These are your post-fast instructions. As soon as the fast is over:

Drink a glass of water. Lots of people go for juice here or coffee, but get that glass of water in FIRST. It will quickly help to start rehydrating you. A sugary drink is just going to start up that blood sugar roller-coaster.
Eat an actual meal. Most people go for sweets right away. If you want to not spend 4 hours binging, don’t do this! Eat a meal that is balanced with protein, fat and carbs. Americans tend to go for the tuna or egg salad on a bagel deal. If you want vegan versions of those delicacies, I have them here. Make them ahead of the fast so they are ready to be eaten right away. Include some fresh veggies and finish with a piece of fruit. If you want coffee or tea, NOW you can have it.
If you are still hungry after eating, set a timer for 20 minutes. If you are still hungry after the timer rings, then either have more real food, or have a bowl or two of soup.
Remember that you do not need to make up for 3 lost meals. Your body can do without food for many weeks. It cannot go without water though, so priority number one is hydration.

I hope these tips will help you all have an easier fast. If you go through the trouble of weaning yourself off of coffee and sweets, I would humbly suggest that you just keep going like that. Let the High Holy Days be the beginning of a wonderful, new health endeavor!

I wish the best for you and your families in the New Year. Gmar Hatimah Tova.

The Vegan Start Passover Cookbook

April 13, 2016 by Emily Segal

I have ANOTHER Vegan Cookbook to share with you lovelies! This one is specifically for Passover. How exciting to have all these new vegan resources for Jewish food, right??

But before we get into that, I want to thank you all for entering the Jewish Food Hero Book give-away. The winner of the free book has been notified, so if it wasn’t you, you can pick up a copy of the book for only $9.99, right HERE.

On to the Vegan Start Passover Cookbook!

You may remember that I shared this book with you last year (HERE) along with a sample recipe from it for Vegan Matzo Balls. But the book has since been updated with a bunch of new recipes and has been completely reformatted. There is also now a print version that you can buy on Amazon for those of you who don’t like ebooks. How cool!

Let me turn it over to author Rena Reich to tell us about her book:

Thank you, Emily for giving me the opportunity to share one of my favorite Passover recipes!

I’ve been vegan for over 5 years now. During the year, I really don’t think about what I’m going to eat. There is a lot of vegan fare to choose from. Passover limits my choices a bit. Over Passover, my main source of protein is nuts. During the year I gravitate more to seitan and soy products. Even though there is kosher for Passover tofu, I don’t do soy on Passover. My family is Ashkenazi and we don’t eat kitniyot (legumes) the whole week.

As a kid, I ate practically everything. My mother loved the fact that when other kids turned their noses up to liver, I would devour it. My tastes haven’t changed, but my diet has. Mock chopped liver is one of my favorite things to make. It’s really easy and it tastes so good. The main ingredient is walnuts, so it’s also an excellent source of protein. My kids love it as much as I used to love the its non-vegan brother. We eat it all week long.

During the week of Passover, we enjoy spending family time, especially going on hikes with our kids. Mock chopped liver is always my go-to food for them. It makes a great matzo sandwich stuffer.

In general, I’ve found my groove for what to make on Passover. I’ve created a vegan, kitniyot-free cookbook to share my recipes and tips for eating vegan and well on Passover. You can check it out on my website Vegan Passover or order in paperback or kindle format from Amazon HERE.

For vegan recipes all year long, visit my blog, Vegan Start .

I wish you all a Chag Kasher v’Samech!

~Rena

Vegan Mock Chopped Liver

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups mushrooms
2 large onions, chopped
oil for frying
1 cup walnuts
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in fry pan
Add onions and mushrooms and cook on a medium heat until caramelized. Add oil as needed
Put walnuts in a food processor and process
Add caramelized onions and mushrooms and process until smooth
Mix in salt and pepper to taste
Enjoy!

http://triumphwellness.com/the-vegan-start-passover-cookbook/

Recipe and Photos © Emily Segal www.TriumphWellness.com

GIVEAWAY! Jewish Food Hero Vegan Cookbook

April 7, 2016 by Emily Segal

As so often happens in my world these days, I met Kenden Alfond through the internet. Kenden is the founder of Jewish Food Hero, a website dedicated to nourishing the minds, bodies, and spirits of Jewish women around the globe. She offers vegan recipes which give a modern twist to traditional Jewish meals, as well as resources to support greater health within the Jewish community.

Obviously she is my twin sister, separated at birth.

Kenden’s journey began in 2012 while Googling recipes for a family Purim meal. All the recipes she found seemed dated and stodgy, unhealthy and old-fashioned, and were not reflective of her or her daughter’s more health conscious generation. She wondered if poor health and weight gain were the “price to pay” for engagement in Jewish life. (Listening to most of my clients struggle with healthy eating on Shabbat and holidays, I often sadly wonder the same).

Kenden decided to create menus for every Jewish holiday that better reflected her family’s healthy values. The Jewish Food Hero Cookbook is the result of her creativity and dedication.

I was given a copy to review and wow! First of all, this is a very beautiful ebook. The photographs by Matkonation are drool-worthy and inspiring. The recipes are creative and fresh. Every major Jewish holiday has it’s own menu and each comes with background and an intended mood and theme. The Jewish Food Hero Cookbook will inspire the Jewish home cook, as well as emboldening us to step out of our culture’s current unhealthy, heavy, and over-the-top indulgent holiday meal paradigm, and into one that has everyone leaving the table with a smile on their face and a spring in their step.

Kenden writes, “Cooking healthy holiday meals can be a form of creative expression, self-care, and love. I see a different food future for the Jewish people. I’m so glad you’re here and part of this vision.”

Below I am sharing a sample recipe from the book that Kenden was so generous to share with us. It is from the Passover section and is perfect for your seder table. The recipe is vegan and does not use kiyniyot.

In addition to the recipe, Kenden has generously offered to give one copy of her cookbook away to one of my readers. To be eligible for the give-away just comment below, or on this post on FB, or send me an email to Emily@TriumphWellness.com with your return email so I can contact you. The winner will be chosen by Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Contest is international – this is an ebook delivered via the internet.

To order a copy of the cookbook for yourself, a steal at only $9.99, go to the Jewish Food Hero website HERE. This book would also make a lovely holiday gift.

Enjoy the sample recipe!

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

Mashed potato topping

3 pounds red skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 cup almond milk
Pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sea salt

Pie filling:

2 cups diced onion (from about 2 medium onions)
3 cups sliced mushrooms (from about 1/2 pound whole mushrooms)
3 cups vegetable broth (not low sodium)
1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced
2 cups, peeled and sliced carrots (from about 2 carrots)
2 cups cauliflower florets (from about 1 small head)
3 tablespoons potato starch
1 teaspoon sea salt
Pepper to taste

Garnish

Steamed carrots, yellow summer squash, and zucchini (cut into rounds) **If you eat kitniyot during Passover, you can also use peas and thin string beans here.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F
Place the prepared potatoes in an extra large soup pot, and cover with at least 1 inch of cold water. Boil, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, sauté the onion and mushrooms in 1/4 cup vegetable broth or water for 10 minutes, adding more broth if needed.
Add the sage, thyme, and carrots, and sauté for another 5 minutes
Add the cauliflower and cook for 5 more minutes
Add the vegetable broth to the vegetables in the skillet, reserving 1/4 cup to mix with potato starch
In a small bowl, combine the potato starch with the 1/4 cup reserved vegetable broth. Mix well.
Add the potato starch mixture, sea salt, and pepper to the vegetables
Stir until thickened. Set aside.
Drain the cooked potatoes and mash them, adding the almond milk, pepper, and sea salt.

Assemble the dish and bake

Pour the cooked vegetables into a lightly oiled 9 x 13-inch glass casserole dish
Top with the mashed potatoes and smooth the surface with a spoon
Bake for 30 minutes

Prepare the garnish:

While the casserole is cooking, chop the vegetables for the garnish, paying attention to maintaining a uniform and delicate shape
Steam the vegetables for the garnish just enough so they retain their beautiful color and a bit of crunch.

Arrange the garnish and serve

Arrange the warm vegetables on top of the casserole in a design that inspires you
Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.
Serve family style on the table.

http://triumphwellness.com/giveaway-jewish-food-hero-vegan-cookbook/

Recipe and Photos © Emily Segal www.TriumphWellness.com

All photos in this post are by Matkonation.

Vegan Kubbeh

June 11, 2015 by Emily Segal

Kubbeh are an Iraqi/Kurdish semolina and/or bulghur dumpling, stuffed with meat and served inside of variety of soups. Among many varieties, there is the extremely popular Kubbeh Hamousta, which is a sour green soup. There is also Kubbeh in Pumpkin Soup, Kubbeh in Beet Soup, kubbeh, kubbeh, kubbeh.

Yesterday afternoon, while trying to think of something to make for dinner that would be comforting, nourishing and easy to digest for my husband, sick with a tender tummy, I thought “If I were an Iraqi mama, I would have a pot of kubbeh bubbling.” (Yes, I often pressure myself for not living up to the standards of glorified stereotypes). I surfed through my pinterest boards and found this recipe (in Hebrew) for vegan Pumpkin Kubbeh stuffed with a mushroom stuffing. Well, as these things usually go, I didn’t have pumpkin and I didn’t have mushrooms, so I had to get a little creative.

The end result was delicious, but I have to tell you, the kubbeh were a little too firm. I looked at some other recipes online and all of them say to mix half semolina and half bulghur, so I am going to suggest you try that. Or use all semolina, as I did, but don’t pack the balls too tightly when you are forming them. Despite the hard balls, the soup was deeply perfect, soothing and divine.

Here is what they looked like on the inside:

Vegan Kubbeh

Ingredients

Kubbeh:

250g Semolina (Solet in Israel)
250g Bulghur (or use all semolina)
1 cup water
1 tsp salt

Filling:

1 tsp oil or spritz of spray
1 onion, chopped
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup walnuts
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste

Soup:

1 tsp oil or spritz of spray
1 onion, chopped
5 large carrots, peeled and chopped (Or you can use pumpkin, peeled and cubed)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp brown sugar, coconut sugar, molasses, or silan (optional)
5 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Kubbeh

In a bowl, mix ingredients thoroughly.
Set aside while you prepare the filling and the soup

Filling

In a large soup pot, saute the onion until soft
Add the chickpeas and walnuts and stir fry until starting to brown
Add the spices and mix thoroughly.
Put into food processor and process until smooth.
Set aside.

Soup:

In the same bowl you made the filling in, saute onion and carrots until soft.
Add remaining ingredients.
Bring to a boil, lower heat to simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
With an immersion blender, blend about half of the soup until smooth. You want to leave some texture. (This step is optional).
Keep soup simmering while you assemble kubbeh.

Assembly:

With wet hands, take scoops of the dough and roll into ping pong size balls.
With wet hands, flatten a ball, add about 1 Tbsp of filling and pinch ends up around to completely enclose the filling so it won't open in the soup. Just be careful not to compress the balls too tightly as I think that's what made mine so tough.
Gently drop each filled kubbeh into the simmering soup.
Stir a few times gently to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Cover the pot and simmer for another 20-30 minutes to cook kubbeh through.

http://triumphwellness.com/vegan-kubbeh/

Recipe and Photos © Emily Segal www.TriumphWellness.com

Vegan Shavuot Recipes

May 17, 2015 by Emily Segal

Shavuot is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the giving of the 10 commandments to the Israelites at Mt Sinai. For various reasons that I won’t get into here, it has become associated with a dairy-laden feast of blintzes, cheesecakes, quiches and pasta-dishes. (It is also the last feast-based holiday in the Jewish yearly calendar, until Rosh HaShanah rolls back around in the Fall. For those of us watching what we eat and constantly challenged by our religion’s obsession with dietary indulgence, this is a real hallelujah! Yay!)

If you are a vegan, or are having vegan guests, have lactose intolerance, or just want to incorporate some dairy-free dishes into your Shavuot meals, I have assembled several options from my very own blog, plus a few others. Enjoy!

Please Note: Just because something is vegan does NOT automatically mean it is more healthy! Some of these recipes contain white flour, sugar, margarine etc (although I tried to pick healthier recipes overall). If you are working at weight loss, healing a sugar addiction, diabetes or other health issue, some of these recipes might not be for you.

Appetizers, Starters and Sides:

Baked Almond (or Cashew) Cheese

Pizza Roll Bourekas

Tofu Mini Quiche Cups

Creamy Eggplant and Mushroom Bourekas

Sunchoke Potato Soup with Chives

Sun-dried Tomato and Pesto Bean Spreads

Mains:

Isa’s Vegan Moussaka

Swiss Chard Quiche with Sesame-Oat Crust

Spanikopita with Nut Feta

Cheezy Kale

Creamy Spinach Tagliatelle and Mushrooms by Vegan Miam Spinach-Stuffed Shells (no nuts!)

Artichoke-Hazelnut Cannelloni with Lemon-Soy Bechamel Sauce

Desserts:

Coconut Cardamon Rice Pudding with Rose Water and Pistachios

Raw Cashew Cheezecake by My New Roots

(by the way, cashew cheesecake is like 100 times easier to make than dairy cheesecake and will fool everyone!)

Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie by The Gentle Chef

Blueberry Lemon Pie Bars by Namely Marly

For MORE vegan Shavuot recipes, including some real dietary indulgences, see my pinterest boards as follows:

Vegan Cheezes, Vegan Pizzas, Vegan Pastas, Vegan Sweets

Happy Holidays!!

Review: Vegan Start Passover Cookbook

March 18, 2015 by Emily Segal

Today we have a review, guest post and recipe sample all wrapped up in one! Rena Reich of the VeganStart blog, has written a very special e-cookbook of Vegan, Non-Kitniyot Passover recipes. Before I hand it over to Rena, I wanted to say a few things: First of all, although there is an affiliate program for this book (ask Rena for details if you are interested in that), I am NOT enrolled and not receiving financial reimbursement for sales. I did however, receive a free copy of the cookbook to review as is customary. (Just wanted you to know I have pure intentions in recommending this book).

The second thing is that although every year I put up a post or two directing readers to vegan Passover recipes, I have not shared my own recipes for a very particular reason. The whole vegan, plus kitniyot-observant, plus Israeli issue is complicated and I am uncomfortable discussing it. I figured my Jewish readers already know what I’m talking about and my non-Jewish readers probably don’t care. But maybe I presume too much so let me explain the issue here briefly: for a food to be kosher for Passover, it cannot contain leavening of any sort. But there is an additional prohibition for some people based on one’s ethnic heritage, and that is against Kitniyot, which includes all legumes, and other some other non-wheat seeds and grains like rice and corn. So that means, a vegan Ashkenazi Jew (that’s someone who identifies as from predominantly European heritage), who follows their tradition’s prohibitions, cannot eat any beans, rice, corn, soy or derivatives of those during the week of Passover. So for instance, they cannot have hummus on their matzoh, nor can they spread it with peanut butter or tofutti cream cheese, or pretty much anything else save for jam. The only proteins this person can eat for the week are quinoa, non-legume nuts, and vegetables. While, no one in a developed nation will die of protein deficiency from one week of low protein consumption, for someone like me, who feels like ca-ca without a substantial amount of vegan protein daily, it makes for a long, hungry, and sad week. Personally I found my own “unauthorized” solution (I have adopted Israeli/Sephardic tradition and eat kitniyot) but for many, that is not an option.

What Rena has done with this cookbook then, is to throw many vegan Jews a life-line. She has created some very creative vegan Passover recipes for those who do not eat kitniyot. If you are in this boat, or know someone who is, honestly, this cookbook is going to give you hope. She’s got mayo and spreads, and kugels, desserts, and even matzo balls! Nothing uses strange ingredients or things not readily available in a supermarket. Most of the recipes are quite healthy, others, like some of the desserts, less so. Here are the details:

The cookbook is in e-format only.

You can download a kindle version from amazon HERE.
Or the PDF, MOBI or Epub versions from Rena’s website HERE.
The PDF version is 95 pages.
There are seder tips, suggested seder menu and seder recipes, then additional recipes for the intermediate days.
Recipes include: Matzo Meal Pancakes, Matzo Brei, Chopped “Liver”, several salads, soups, spreads, kugels, “meatballs”, burgers, gnocchi, and desserts such as Turtle Bars, Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Almond Mousse and several other cookies and cakes. Yes, ALL vegan and all kitniyot-free. It’s a little mind-boggling actually!
Not just for Passover, as these recipes are naturally gluten-free, these would also be great for gluten-free vegans year-round.
The price is only $4.99 (some readers have told me it comes up as $6.99 from amazon for those ordering from Israel).

Now, let’s hear from Rena herself and get that sample recipe!

Hi, I’m Rena. I’m so happy that Emily has given me the opportunity to write a blog post on Triumph Wellness about my new Vegan Kosher for Passover Cookbook. Let me tell you where this brain child came from: I became vegan after reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, about 5 years ago. There are some books out there that have a profound effect on your life. This was definitely one of them. I grew up with animals all my life. I’ve even built a website completely devoted to pet knowledge. It’s just one of my things. Once I had the knowledge of how our food was treated before it made it to the table, I stopped eating animal products cold turkey (I see the irony here).

When I became vegan, it was just starting to become a thing. You couldn’t go out to a restaurant and get more than a salad, and even then you had to ask them to hold the cheese and eggs and salad dressing. I can’t tell you how amazing it is now to be able to go out now and get a good meal, feel full, and not have to ask what’s inside it. Those of us that are in the know, are in the know.

Because being vegan wasn’t as popular as it is today, there was really no place to look for vegan Pesach recipes that had no kitniyot (legumes). I thought about asking my Rabbi for an allowance to eat kitniyot, but that really wouldn’t help me all that much – I still needed to make food for my family. Even if I got the OK for myself, there was no way that my children (who are vegetarians) or my husband (who is an omnivore) would be able to as well. I was not willing to cook twice – food for me and food for them. I had to come up with another solution.

That’s where my blog (Vegan Start) and cookbook have come in. All the recipes in my book are completely kitnyot free and Ashkenazi friendly. I like to call what I’ve put together Jewish Soul Food. They are mostly recipes that I have grown up with, with a vegan twist.

Passover is my favorite holiday. I hope that everyone has a fun and stress-free time. Perhaps now you will also know what you are making before the holiday starts. I hope that this recipe and my cookbook give a good place to start.

I want to wish everyone a Chag Kasher v’Sameach. ~ Rena

Here’s one of my more popular Passover recipes that I’d like to share with you:

Vegan Kneidlach – Matzo Balls (Kitniyot free)

Ingredients

1 cup matzoh meal
3 tablespoons potato starch
1/4 cup oil
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together
Refrigerate for 1/2 hour
Roll into balls and place in boiling soup
Simmer in soup until they grow (about 20 minutes)
Take out of soup with a slotted spoon and let harden for 30 minutes to 1 hour (If you don’t take the balls out of the soup, they will fall apart. Taking them out gives them a chance to get firm. Once they have firmed up, you can put them back in the soup without any fears.)
Put the balls back in the soup about 1/2 hour before it's ready to be served to heat up
Serve

http://triumphwellness.com/review-vegan-start-passover-cookbook/