Light Summery Lentil Vegetable Soup

Light Summery Lentil Vegetable Soup

Nutritionnix

I made this Light Summery Lentil Vegetable Soup on Sunday to break the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, but I've been enjoying the leftovers ever since. And my husband has had it for lunch with pasta added to make it more filling. It's labeled "light," because the orange lentils cook quickly and disintegrated, unlike peas, rice, barley or pasta.

Since I didn't measure the ingredients, I'll just list them. My cooking is very flexible. Measuring is very rare. 

• orange lentils
• onion 
• carrot
• squash
• pumpkin
• mushrooms
• a bit of vegetable oil, coarse salt and coarse pepper
• water, of course

Cooking was in two steps. First I poured boiling water over the lentils, covered and waited over an hour. Then I added the cut up vegetables and the oil. Once it was boiling, I added more boiling water, plus the salt and pepper. Once it's boiling nicely, lower the flame to simmer for 35 minutes to an hour depending on your pot.

You can add other vegetables or leave some out. Generally I add some dill or parsley-- dehydrated is fine, but since I was fasting my mind wasn't fully there.

This is a very easy to make soup. Enjoy.

Orange Season, Now's The Time to Eat Them

Our tree's oranges are already bright orange

Perfect catch for "Orange" challenge, 52Frames

After almost a half a century in Israel, a unique country that is simultaneously agricultural/nature oriented and high tech, I religiously buy my fruit and some of the vegetables seasonally.

Years (decades) ago I read that fruits and vegetables are healthiest in the season they ripen. And as I remember the article stated that if you try to get around it, cheat, by eating imported fruit from a country in the opposite hemisphere, it won't have the same benefit.

Way back when, when one of my summer babies was a few weeks old, we got oranges very cheaply, so I ate a lot of them. Oranges are a winter fruit. Here in Israel I've learned not to buy them until a couple of weeks after the first rains, so they'll be sweet. The oranges were sweet, since they had been stored well. Suddenly I noticed that my baby had a terrible rash. None of older children had ever had a rash like that. Since the baby was fully nursing, I guessed that something I was eating must have been triggering the rash.

I experimented by cutting out oranges from my diet. Like magic the rash cleared!

In addition, we don't drink juices, even fresh juice. And I certainly don't drink orange juice. One of the last times I drank orange juice was a summer when visiting New York. I had orange juice in the break fast meal after the 25 hour fast of Tisha B'Av. I felt such awful burning in my mouth that since then I'm unable to have raw fruit when breaking a fast. But that's another story and the reason I try to make a good vegetable soup...

Easy Filling Vegetable Lentil Soup

Why do I post so many Vegetable Soup recipes/posts?

That's because, they're all a bit different, and I never follow an exact recipe!

Yesterday afternoon, while observing the Tisha B'Av fast, an important event on the Jewish Calendar, I realized that I had better start preparations for my fast-breaking vegetable soup. Since I wanted a nice hearty soup with lentils and brown rice, it needed time.

Ingredients- Quantities aren't holy, just recommendations:
1/3 cup brown rice (I used round brown)
1/3 cup orange lentils
1/3 cup brown lentils
1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots cut
1 large squash cut
1/2 sweet potato (you can use a whole one) cut
pinch plus of coarse salt
coarse black pepper
1/4 cup dehydrated dill
vegetable oil
boiling water

Step #1
Check the rice and lentils. Add to a large pot, pour in boiling water to cover plus, cover and leave for at least an hour.

Step #2

An hour or more before you want to serve the soup, add the rest of the ingredients. Water should not reach more than a couple of inches from the top of the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the flame to simmer. Cook covered.

Step #3

Stir periodically. You may have to add a bit more water. Turn off heat when the lentils and rice are nice and soft. Keep covered until serving. Yes, that's it. Very easy and simple to make. You can add other vegetables, seasonings etc. 

Surprisingly Simple Low Carb Vegetable Soup

Today was a fast day according to the Jewish Calendar, the (delayed/postponed*) 17th of Tammuz. As is my custom, I made a vegetable soup for the fast-breaking meal. Personally, I feel better eating soup after a fast. Raw vegetables "burn" my mouth. I eat a few bowls of soup after drinking lots of water. Since the only lentils in the house were these quick-cooking orange lentils, that's what I used. They are perfect for soups, especially when you don't have much time, which was the case today. I slept away too much of the afternoon and started my cooking much later than usual. Orange lentils cook very quickly, barely ten minutes, which was perfect.

Ingredients, sorry but you don't need exact quantities

1/2 cup orange lentils
3 medium carrots
1 large onion
2 small squash (light zucchini)
generous handful of dehydrated dill
a bit of oil, coarse salt and pepper
water

Preparation

1. check lentils for stones, bugs whatever
2. cut onion rather small
3. add onion to pot with lentils and a bit of vegetable oil
4. heat on medium flame for a few minutes
5. add boiling water to cover
6. cover pot and lower flame to simmer
7. cut carrots and squash into bite size pieces
8. add to pot along with the dill, salt and pepper
9. add more water, but not too high in the pot
10. medium flame until boiling, then simmer
11. It should be ready in 15-20 minutes, though you can cook it longer. Just check if the vegetables are soft.

You can add more vegetables and seasoning in you want.

ENJOY!  And tell me how yours came out, how your varied it etcetera.

*The actual date 17th of Tammuz fell on Shabbat when we don't fast, with the exception of Yom Kippur. So the fasting took place on Sunday the 18th of Tammuz

Pre/Post Yom Kippur Meal

Since we have a rather empty nest, just my husband and myself, I don't need to cook as much as before when the house was full of kids and guests. And we still have lots of big pots.

Don't get me wrong; we do have guests, but not as many as in the past. Also, nowadays, my cooking experiments aim more for efficiency than impressive. That's why I decided to try a Pre/Post Yom Kippur Meal, serving (almost) exactly the same meal before and after the Yom Kippur 25 hour fast. Of course, this dish is perfect any time you want an easy hearty one-pot meal.

I don't have many real Jewish Food traditions, especially as pre/post fasts or Succot and Shavuot, which weren't at all celebrated by us. I didn't grow up with kreplach, which is what many Jewish families eat as Pre/Post Yom Kippur Meals.

For some strange reason, as I was trying to figure out what to serve Tuesday night before Yom Kippur, barley popped into my mind. The experts say we should have a complex carbohydrate as a main part of the pre-fast meal. I decided to cook up chicken with barley and vegetables, a one-pot meal, which can even be a soup.

Before the fast, I served it with a salad, and breaking the fast I heated up some ratatouille, I had in the fridge. I also served myself some of the liquid with a bit of whatever came along as a soup, while my husband had his chicken soup. It was delicious, satisfying and so easy to make and serve. I tried to calculate cooking exactly what we needed for the two meals. In the end there's some barley left over, which can be "recycled" into a new soup with added vegetables.

Ingredients:
chicken, I cut it into large serving size pieces
about a cup of barley
onion, cut
2 carrots, cut large
2 large squash, cut large
seasonings, paprika, black pepper, garlic, parsley, a pinch of salt
water, of course

Instructions:

1. add all ingredients to a large pot, leaving a good inch before top, so it won't boil over
2. bring to a strong boil and then turn down flame to simmer for an hour or so
3. Yes, that's it!

Nothing Better than Vegetable Soup

Yesterday afternoon I made myself a much too full pot of vegetable soup full of brown lentils, onion, carrots, ginger, squash, garlic and finely sliced mushrooms. Yes, that's all the ingredients, plus a bit of oil and water, of course.

Cooking on my new gas stove top is such a pleasure. One advantage is that it heats and cooks so quickly. I no longer have to boil water in the electric kettle for cooking purposes. The old electric hotplate I had been using was so slow, I was always supplementing with the kettle, whether for pasta, soup etc.

To make this soup, I started a few of hours early and put the lentils in the pot, added water to cover, plus, and then boiled it for a few minutes, turned off the flame and covered the covered pot with a towel to keep in the heat.

Then, about an hour or more before I needed to eat the soup, I cut up all the vegetables and added them to the lentils, topping with some cooking oil, and began to cook it all on a high flame. As soon as it began to boil, I added more water until about an inch, 2cm from the top of the pot. Then I had it reach boil again and lowered the flame to simmer. Actually, I moved the pot from the double-flame to a weaker one.

When the soup looked almost cooked, vegetables were soft, I added some coarse salt and coarse pepper. It's better to add less than you think would be good, since people can always add more, but you can't reduce salt and pepper in cooked food. About ten minutes later I turned off the flame and let the food continue cooking on its own. It didn't need more than a total of forty minutes of cooking time.

This, easy to prepare, vegan vegetable soup is a full meal. If you eat dairy, you can put a slice of yellow cheese on the bottom of your bowl before serving for an extra tasty protein treat.

Enjoy!

Low-Tech "Blended" Vegetable Soup

I don't have a stick blender. I did have one many years ago, and since I didn't use it, I passed it on to one of my daughters. She loves it, and I'm pretty sure that by now, that cheap one I got as a bonus, when buying something else, has been replaced at least once.


To be honest, I can't even remember when I last used the potato-masher. It may have been decades ago.

Yesterday's Vegetable Soup was very easy to make. It's my basic one-pot recipe, which I've made before. I don't measure; there's no need to.

Ingredients

• dried peas
• onion
• garlic
• carrot
• squash
• pumpkin
• dehydrated parsley
• whatever vegetable oil you like
• coarse salt and pepper to taste
• boiling water, time-saver rather than tap

Directions

1. Check peas, put in pot, add boiling water to cover plus.
2. Cover and leave for at least an hour.
3. Cut vegetables.
4. Add vegetables and oil to pot.
5. Start cooking on high flame/heat until boiling, then lower to simmer
6. Add more boiling water, no higher than 2", two inches from top of pot. 
7. After half an hour add parsley, salt and pepper. 
8. Cook for at least 10 minutes more. Turn off flame, and let it "sit" for another 10 minutes.
9. Mash optional, and serve.

PS You can always add more vegetables or leave out the pumpkin or squash. And of course you can cook with fresh parsley. I almost added some sweet potato but wanted to cut our the carbohydrates, so added an additional squash. If you want a heartier soup, then add barley or rice to the peas.

Pasta-Chickpea Salad, Pre and Post-Fast Meal

One of the popular suggestions for pre-fast meals is to eat complex carbohydrates, which take longer to digest. The experts consider that a good idea before fasting. So, on Friday I decided to make a Pasta-Chickpea Salad. Of course I had to make sure I had enough time to soak and cook the chickpeas, which I did. You can "cheat" by getting a can of them.

Cooking Chickpeas
First I leave the chickpeas in a covered pot full of boiling water for a couple of hours. Then I pour out the water, add new boiling water and simmer on the stove until chewable. Leave covered for another hour or so.

Pasta-Chickpea Salad Ingredients

• cooked pasta, drained
• cooked or from a can chickpeas, drained
• cut tomatoes, large diced
• diced onion
• olive oil, coarse salt and coarse pepper
• optional other salad vegetables and leaves and/or grated cheese

Mix all of the ingredients together. Yes, it's that simple. It's a simple "one-pot" summer meal. Which additional ingredients do you add? I'd love to hear.

PS for the post fast, fast-breaking breakfast meal, I heated up the salad, since my husband prefers warm pasta.

Sweet Vegetable Soup Sans Sugar

Yesterday was a fast day on the Jewish Calendar, the postponed 17th of Tamuz, which commemorates the beginning of the loss of Jerusalem and destruction of the Holy Temples. It's a daylong/light fast, beginning with the first light of dawn and ending in darkness. Being that (in the northern hemisphere) we're in early summer, when day's are longest, it feels like it goes on forever, and we finally eat after my usual dinner time. I like to break fasts on vegetable soup. And I enjoy spending the last few hours of a fast puttering in the kitchen preparing homemade vegetable soup.

Before I left for a morning's learning in Matan, Jerusalem, I left some chickpeas to soak in boiling water for the soup. Chickpeas take a long time to prepare, unlike lentils. But I figured that the day would be long enough for the chickpeas to soften.

A few hours before the fast ended, I decided it was time to go to the kitchen and turn the chickpeas into a soup. My soups are never the same. I don't measure, and I rarely plan.

Since I knew there was plenty of pumpkin and sweet potatoes in the fridge, I decided to base my soup on those ingredients. In Israel it's very popular to make an Orange Soup, which then gets blended into a creamy sweet soup. But I don't have one of those blender sticks, and I davka like to chew...

I added more boiling water to the chickpeas and put it on the stove to cook. Then I cut up onion and garlic and added them to the chickpeas.

Next I took out the pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, squash and some ginger root, which I store in the freezer.

I cut up all the ingredients and added them, too. Now, I do have a system when it comes to cooking different sorts of vegetables together. There is a big difference in cooking times between carrots and pumpkin, for instance. Carrots take the longest to cook, so they go in first. After that the sweet potato, squash, ginger and pumpkin.

I added some vegetable oil and boiling water, covered and then lowered the heat to a simmer. Once I could see that the vegetables had begun to soften I added a bit of coarsely ground pepper and some coarse salt. That was it.

The soup cooked for about 40 minutes. And then I left it to finish by itself, no flame. It was absolutely delicious, very sweet, not savory.

This Year's Purim Soups, Yes Two 2

I feel best breaking fasts on vegetable soup. The Jewish Calendar has a number of fasts in the year, and one of them is the day before Purim. My custom is to spend the afternoon making soup. That's what I did yesterday afternoon.

Since I no longer have, nor usually need, a supersized pot, I made two pots of soup. Another reason was that I had lentils and peas I wanted to use up. So instead of mixing them into one soup, I made two different ones.

Lentil-Ginger Soup

The Lentil-Ginger Soup ingredients:

lentils
onion
fresh garlic
carrots
sweetpotato
fresh ginger
parsley root and leaves
a spoon or two of vegetable oil
salt to taste, or a just a bit less

Instructions:

• A few hours before I plan on cooking the soup, I put the checked lentils in a pot and add boiling water to cover and then cover the pot.
• Afterwards I cut all the vegetables, add them, except for the parsley leaves, to the lentils, add the oil and some more boiling water. 
• Cover, start cooking on a high flame, then lower it to simmer for at least 45 minutes.
• Add the parsley and salt.
• Cook a few more minutes, and then let it sit covered.

Enjoy!

Simple Pea and Carrot Soup

The  Simple Pea and Carrot Soup Ingredients:

onion
garlic
carrots
squash
parsley
root and leavesvegetable oil
coarse black pepper and salt "to taste"

Instructions:

• A few hours before I plan on cooking the soup, I put the checked peas in a pot and add boiling water to cover and then cover the pot. 
• Afterwards I cut all the vegetables, add them, except for the parsley leaves, to the lentils, add the oil and some more boiling water. 
•  Cover, start cooking on a high flame, then lower it to simmer for at least 45 minutes. 
• Add the parsley and salt. 
• Cook a few more minutes, and then let it sit covered.

Enjoy!

After sampling both soups, I decided to try them mixed/together. 

I hope my neighbors like the soups they'll be getting for mishloach manot, Purim food gifts as much as I did.

Perfect Vegetable Soup

Yesterday I was home, sort of "chilling," totally relaxing and cooking a bit. It was a Jewish fast day, the 10th of Tevet. Luckily I'm not one of those "taste as I cook" people. I go by "eyeball" and smell. In the morning until early afternoon, besides lounging on the couch all I did was to take about a cup of dried peas, put it in a pot and pour boiling water over them. I covered the pot and let it all "sit." The peas cook best, get nice and mushy when prepared that way. You also need less time on the stove.

Ingredients, plus the peas and
a chunk of pumpkin

About three hours before the end of the fast, I felt energetic enough to start the soup. I took out the ingredients you can see on the right, plus the peas and a nice chunk of raw pumpkin. You can use an acorn squash or something similar if you can't get the pumpkin. I only cook with fresh vegetables.

The quantity I made was good for a pot of about 3-4 quarts or liters. I don't measure. By the time I put in all of the ingredients, the pot was pretty full to make a very nourishing soup. My Vegetable Soup is a meal, since the peas provide protein, and after fasting I can't eat raw vegetables.

Ingredients:
large onion
fresh garlic
mushrooms
carrots
green squash, zucchini would be fine, too
fresh pumpkin
dried peas, lentils can be substituted or combined with the peas
1T vegetable oil of your choice, optional
coarse salt and coarse ground pepper "to taste"
When in doubt under-season, since it's easier for people to add than to get rid of oversalting etc.

Instructions:
pour lentils/peas in the pot and cover-plus with boiling water
cover pot also with a thick towel to keep in the heat
after at least an hour, even 6 or more, add cut vegetables, except for the pumpkin
add the oil
start cooking
add boiling water to about 2 inches, 5cm, from top of pot
when boiling, lower to simmer
add pumpkin, since it cooks much more quickly than the other vegetables
season with salt and pepper
when it looks soft, turn it off and again cover with a towel until serving

Post Fast Vegetable Soup Simmering on Stove

As I had written on Shiloh Musings, it's a fast day today. I like breaking the fast on a nice freshly cooked vegetable soup. Yes, it's on the stove right now.

I trust it will be fully cooked in time to eat it right after the fast.

This is a very easy to make soup. The peas have been soaking for hours in boiling water, which has since cooled. Then before cooking I added fresh garlic, onion, carrot and squash. On top of that I poured a bit of oil and sprinkled some dill.

After it came to a boil, I lowered the heat to a simmer. Thanks to the facebook friends who helped me remember the proper word which didn't come to my fuel starved mind. I'll probably add some more water, boiling so as not to slow down the cooking and also some salt and pepper.

The delicious cooking aroma of the soup is driving me mad...

B"H the fast is over in less than an hour.

Just adding a picture. Here's the soup. I had a few bowls...

My Vegetable Soup, Always Perfect and Easy to Make

Above you can see my second giant bowl of vegetable soup,lentil to be exact. Yesterday was a traditional Jewish fast day, Tisha B'Av. After twenty-five hours without eating or drinking, it's really important to have something nourishing and easy to digest. For me that's Vegetable Soup. It doesn't matter which vegetables I include or the exact quantities, it always tastes good. That's one of the beauties of Vegetable Soup.

Years ago, I made it richer and heartier with carbohydrates like barley, wheat and rice. But as the house emptied and my weight increased, I found it necessary to tweak the recipe a bit. This is what I made:

Ingredients:
brown lentils
onion
carrots
squash
garlic
oil
salt, pepper and some parsley flakes
lots of water- I add boiling water to cut down on cooking time.

Instructions:

• check the lentils for rocks, bugs etc
• pour boiling water over it, to cover plus, and cover pot
• leave for at least half an hour
• add the onions, squash, carrots, garlic and oil (better less than more)
• add more boiling water, at least a few inches higher than the veggies
• cook on high flame until boiling, then simmer on low flame for between 40-60 minutes
• towards the end of cooking time add the salt, pepper and parsley
• always cook in covered pot
• turn off flame and leave in pot for at least 15 minutes before serving

Variations:

• replace carrots with mushrooms, or just add mushrooms to the classic recipe
• ditto with cauliflower, but since the cauliflower cooks more quickly, add later during the cooking
• substitute barley or peas for the lentils

Let me know how you've made the soup. Thanks.

I Must Admit...

Now, I'm going to be perfectly honest and say something that some people may find shocking. I hate fast days. On the Jewish Calendar we have just too many. And for me one is too many, too.

On a fast day we can't eat or drink, unless we have some medical condition that requires it for life-saving reasons. And thank Gd, I'm healthy.

I'm just a terribly lazy kvetch without my food and drink, especially water and coffee in the morning.

And today is a fast day. Fast days go so slowly... It's Ta'anit Ester, the Fast of Esther which leads into the Holiday of Purim.

I quite often cook on fast days. I love to break the fast on vegetable soup, so I make some. Today I'll make a lot of it, because I'm giving containers and jars of it as Mishloach Manot, the food gifts one is commanded to give on Purim to friends.

So, that's my rant for the day. Sorry...

Hit The Spot Lentil Soup

For decades, I've broken fasts on vegetable soups. My kids remember them, too. I'm not quite sure when I started cooking them, but now it's automatic. So on Tuesday, while fasting to commemorate the Tenth of Tevet, I took a bunch of brown lentils, checked them first bit by bit on a white plate to make sure there were no stones or worse, and then I put them in a large pot, added boiling water, covered and let them sit.

I started a good few hours before the fast was to end, so the final cooking with vegetables shouldn't take long. When I checked softness and wasn't satisfied, I added more boiling water and boiled them on the stove a short time. After again letting it sit, I could easily see that they were soft and ready.

Then a couple of hours before I wanted to serve the soup, meaning break the fast, I added cut up:

• onion
• carrots
• squash
• a generous "splash" of vegetable oil

I boiled, then simmered it on the stove. And then I added cut up sweet potato and some dehydrated parsley. Salt and pepper were added close to the end of cooking. About a half hour before serving I turned it off, and then when it was time to eat, we had a feast. 

All I needed to fill me up after fasting was this soup, bowl after bowl. The lentils tasted like honey especially with the small chunks of sweet potato.

Yom Kippur: Pre and Post-Fast Menu a Success, B"H!

Yesterday before Yom Kippur I posted about my meal plans for before and after the twenty-five 25 hour Yom Kippur fast. Planning ahead is extremely important, because it's forbidden to cook or day any food preparation on Yom Kippur. It's an otherworldly holiday when we are supposed to pray to Gd begging that He forgive us and grant us life in the new year.

Simply described, I cooked double, so that there would be enough to eat before and after the fast. I made a fairly traditional chicken meal.

• chicken soup with (brown) rice
• re-cooked the chicken with vegetables
• kasha and mushrooms
• baked vegetables

Chicken Soup

• Boil cleaned chicken in water about half an hour a few hours (or day) before you plan on serving the soup.
• remove chicken from soup
• Cool liquid in fridge, best in different container.
• An hour or more before serving, skim off any fat or whatever from top of cool soup.
• Add (checked) rice and vegetables-onion, carrot and others to soup pot; add soup liquid and cook until seems ready, about 40 minutes. Season with a bit of salt and pepper just before turning off heat. (Do not serve immediately.)

Chicken with Veggies

• Place cooked chicken and cut vegetables in a pot, cover. 
• I used onion, zucchini, sweet potato and carrots.
• Add a bit of oil.
• Cook on low flame until vegetables are soft.
• Serve half before the fast and half after.

Kasha and Mushrooms

• Saute onions and mushrooms in pot. 
• Add checked kasha/buckwheat.
• Add water* and cover.
• Turn off heat when there is almost no water. And leave covered for 20 minutes.

Baked Vegetables

• I just layer a variety of vegetables, such as onion, squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and more. 
• Add a bit of oil on top
• And bake until it looks ready.

I also made a big salad, which was finished after the Yom Kippur fast. Yes, cooking was easy, and heating it up was easy too. The soup and chicken were heated on the stove, and the kasha and vegetables were in the oven. 

*The ratio of water to buckwheat is 1 cup buckwheat, to 1.5 cups of water. You can try a 1 to 2 cup ratio, but the buckwheat may be more mushy, or have a longer cooking time. How to Cook Buckwheat (Kasha)

Yom Kippur: Pre and Post-Fast Meals

We're only human, so when it comes to fasting, being without food, it seems like all we do is think of food, what to eat. Even before and after the holiest day on the Jewish Calendar, Yom Kippur, which is not only a fast, but it has the restrictions of Shabbat, meaning on cooking along with others, what we eat (and drink) before and after can be crucial to a healthy and comfortable fast.

There are those who cut out caffeine for days before fasting, but to be honest, here I am less than ten hours before the fast will begin, sipping my usual second giant mug of coffee. But, like most days, all my coffee is drunk in the morning, after my two giant mugs of water. I don't continue drinking coffee throughout the day.

That's the toughest thing on all fast days, starting the day dry. The liquids clear my systems for action and alertness. Yom Kippur and Tisha b'Av are really hard, because not only can't I drink first thing in the morning, but I forbidden from having my two giant mugs of water before going to sleep. That means that during the day of the night the fast begins I must make sure I've had enough water to drink. Yes, water, and not tea, coffee or juice. Juices can be almost as bad as tea and coffee because the truth is that juice is no more than sugar and food coloring. Coffee and most teas have caffeine which push out the liquids; that's the meaning of diuretics. And I disagree with those who say cut out all salt. Cut down if you use a lot, but everyone needs some to keep the liquid in.

Last night at work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin, even total strangers asked me what I'm serving to break the fast. I guess they figured that if I know how to fit shoes, I should know what to serve after fasting twenty-five 25 hours.

Before the fast I've always served a typical Jewish chicken plus soup and vegetable meal, with a salad and starch. When the kids were little and lived at home, I'd prepare easy to heat kugels and vegetables with cheese for the breaking the fast meal. I remember one year about twenty-five 25 years ago when the electricity went out on Yom Kippur and I couldn't easily heat up the post-fast meal, since my ovens have always been electric. Luckily I was able to send the food to a neighbor who had a gas oven.

Now that it's just me and my husband home, I'm just going to serve the same basic meal for both.

I'll cook up the chicken in the soup and then remove it for the meal. I should do that soon, because I like to give the soup a chance to let the fats move to the top, so I can skim it and then cook in the vegetables.

Easy to make and impressive looking vegetables

For the starch, I plan on making kasha, and as you may know I make lots of vegetables. And there will be a fresh salad, too. I'll have everything before the fast, but after the fast I'll pass on the kasha and salad.

The reason I won't eat the kasha is because I've been keeping my carbohydrates minimal for the past years. That diet change helped me lose a lot of weight and keep it off.

For some reason I find raw food painful in my mouth after fasting. That started many years ago during a trip to New York when I broke the fast on American orange juice. Suddenly I felt like my mouth was painfully burning. And that pain returns if I have raw food too soon after a fast.

That's one of the reasons I prefer a good vegetable soup. On all the other fast days, I spend the last couple of fasting hours making a soup. But we can't do that on Yom Kippur.

What are your favorite pre and post-fast menus and foods?

May you all have a wonderful year.

Gmar Chatima Tova!