Bring on the Rain this Cheshvan, Jewish Mamas

[imnottelling]

Gonna do this right and link on the old thread

Magelet wants to know cholent recipes...

[SaraFR]

A gutten chodesh! (Wishing a good month!)

[smeisnotapirate]

:

[mombh]

Good Chodesh mamas!!!!

[merpk]

[tikva18]

Hi
Someone asked for a cholent recipe.

Saute an onion
put it on bottom of cholent pot
Add:
potato (someone told me figure one potato/person - I do less)
beans (I try to remember to soak them) and I'm afraid my measurements aren't great as this is a mishmash of dif. recipes - so the beans come from my friend's dh - "a couple of man sized handfuls of beans...
brown rice - I do the same amt as I do beans

Water to cover
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1T paprika
less salt
even less pepper
maybe 1/4 tsp chile powder (I like it without)

I sometimes add a sweet potato (yum!)
If you were to do meat, then I'd put that under the potatoes.

[Magelet]

wow, its cheshvan already? time flies too fast. good chodesh imas.

hmmm interesting. thank you. Cholent has always been this mystical unknown thing for me, in which I have absolutely no clue what it really is (but its mysticalness is spurred by once having read in a cookbook that it involved a pot inside a pot, and then multiple types of food (braised, steamed, baked, etc) in said pots and etc. lol) and thus it takes on a certain... imaginative fancy. sort of like cassoulet. (a mystery that I will master in a kosher way someday lol).

So basically its long cooked carbs with a little meat? I'd love to see some other recipes (particularly ideas for lower carb, since we try to not eat really carb heavy, though we do love carbs).

thank you.

[SeattleRain]

Hey guys! I'm joining in!

I don't do cholent, I do pot roast since we're big meat eaters and beans haven't worked well for us.

[tikva18]

Originally Posted by Magelet

wow, its cheshvan already? time flies too fast. good chodesh imas.

hmmm interesting. thank you. Cholent has always been this mystical unknown thing for me, in which I have absolutely no clue what it really is (but its mysticalness is spurred by once having read in a cookbook that it involved a pot inside a pot, and then multiple types of food (braised, steamed, baked, etc) in said pots and etc. lol) and thus it takes on a certain... imaginative fancy. sort of like cassoulet. (a mystery that I will master in a kosher way someday lol).

So basically its long cooked carbs with a little meat? I'd love to see some other recipes (particularly ideas for lower carb, since we try to not eat really carb heavy, though we do love carbs).

thank you.

I guess so... we don't usually put meat in it - most people I think use barley not rice. There are tons of different recipes for cholent - some people swear by ketchup, for instance. Some cholents don't have beans, some have hard boiled eggs (in the shell) - it just depends.

[Magelet]

I'm sorry, tikva, I in no way meant to dis your recipe. I was merely startled, for some reason, I always thought there was more to a cholent. Onions, garlic, beans and paprika are a delicious combination. I bet it tastes great. (I love the "several man sized handfuls of beans" as a way to measure beans. Food lore things like that are so interesting, and I far prefer them to "2 c. beans")

Do you do it in the crockpot? I feel like it would probably be delicious (and I like doing things the traditional way) to do it in the dutch oven, but I worry about the cost of the gas for running the stove that long. We've done a couple long cooked stews and they are reflected in our bills. Is it cheaper to do a crockpot? Does it work well? I haven't got one, but I suppose I could try to find one if it would be cost effective.

Thank you for sharing your family recipe.

[jul511riv]

OT:

We picked up some nasty virus a couple weeks ago. At 6 months pregnant and after a miscarriage, I am SOOO not comfortable with this! UG!

Anyways, Refuah Shalima to all of us...it seems that its some sort of flu type situation.

[Nickarolaberry]

Rivka, refua sheleima!

Cholent recipes are kind of like kugel recipes. Everyone has a slightly different one and somehow they all work...and every family's is the 'definition' of kugel or cholent for that family!

(When I was 'taught' to make cholent by a rabbi at Aish HaTorah, where I was working at the time, he said....put onions, meat, beans, barley, potatoes, ketchup, and onion soup mix in a crockpot bag. shake it up, add water and paprika. cover and put on low. presto...cholent. This recipe works, although every week it has a slightly different consistency and I tweak it with other things from time to time).

Dh's job sitch...FUBAR. We are investigating one other possibility and then, I don't know what. Meantime, I have a job interview today. Wish me luck.

[mombh]

R"S julriv,
I hope you are feeling better. probiotics and digestive enzymes can help a lot especially when you are starting to recover. A good easy to digest loaded with minerals soup would be good too. You probably don't have the koach to make it....maybe you can have dh, or a good friend make some....
raw honey...as is or in warm tea or water


nicole good luck, hope things work out well!

re; cholent, it's true that every family kinda has their own version and you need to find what works for you.
I love my crock pot, but you could use a dutch oven just as well.
we use meat and bones but skip the beans and we don't do barley since we are gluten free, but we do short grain brown rice

[imnottelling]

The best thing about cholent is you can make it how YOU want. No need to follow a recipe. Want to go easier on the carbs and heavier on the protein? Feel free!

Slow cooking in a crockpot works well for most people; the ingredients and proportions are up for grabs

[Kmelion]

subbing for now.

[flminivanmama]

cholent

I love anything with beans and meat and cooked for a long time though.... in fact last night's dinner was chili.

so. good.

[Magelet]

Refua Sheleima, Rivka.

We do stew that sounds like it ends up being a lot like cholent pretty regularly in fall, but I'd love to have a special shabbat one (we usually end up trying to make it for friday night since it is special with so much meat, and then eating it for the next 4 days, since there are only two of us). Its really important to me to develop a bunch of shabbat traditions that our (future) children will then grow up with.


Gosh, I am so tired. I'm really ready for a day off. Today was my 9th day in a row between my old job and my new one, and that included one double shift. I work tomarrow before having a day off on thursday. And I've been big time procrastinating practicing for choir, which I need to do because the concert is in just a couple weeks. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get off work (its a flexible schedule. I hate that. it ends up being flexible for my boss but means that if I want to schedule anything in advance, I feel like I'm asking for a vacation. grrr) for my cousin's wedding! What on earth am I to do if I have to work on my cousin's wedding? In my family, no matter what, for things like weddings, you go. I'd rather miss the family holiday celebration than my cousin's wedding. I know he would move hell or high water to get to my wedding, and I'm worried that I won't be able to go to his. (I know one of my collegues also asked for the same days off, before I even got the job.) I need the job, so anything that would cause me to lose it isn't an option, but I need to go. I'm majorly freaking out about this.

Mostly, I'm overtired. I'm so looking forward to a little relaxation.

(I was amused and liked it today that a customer at work asked me if I was jewish because of the headcovering. (we then had a coversation about that). Of course I work in a jewish deli, so its not that far a leap that a lot of customers would get it, but I liked it.)

I have the first torah discovery class tonight. (well the second one but the first one I had to work on. It's five classes, each on one book of torah. I'm sad to have missed genesis, but it is what it is, I had to work. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm so tired. I wish it were some other time when I was rested.)

Sorry if this is long winded, rambling, or completely incoherent. My thoughts are completely incoherent from exhaustion at this point.

[Kmelion]

A common addition to chulent is Kishke (both vegetarian and meaty) and making a potato kugel that is heated in the pot, right on top of everything.

[jul511riv]

thanks, all.

Okay, I'm going to hijack and rant a little bit. I'm going to put this here because I think it pertains to this group in a couple of ways.

1. as Jewish women, this is part of our spiritual and moral comprehension of the world.

2. it deals with living in Israel, particularly when everyone else is abroad.

3. I realize this is a very, VERY selfish rant. Basically, I am putting off the conversation about cholent and other pleasentries to talk about a deeper meaning and cry for help in the community. Yes, it's mine, but it also must speak to others outside of me. And I'm really trying to gain some perspective here about what it is that I'm supposed to expect out of life. About what reality is or should be.

So, for anyone who does NOT want to hear about someone who is suffering and struggling with an issue...

for anyone who does not want to hear any negativity associated with living in Israel or any negative perspective on Israeli culture or the Aliyah process

Please stop reading here and just skip the rest of my post.

For those who read and take the time to respond, I truly thank you cause I really am asking for the advice and guidance from the other wise women on here. Thank you for allowing me to be self-indulgent.

Okay, here goes:

yk, maybe it's just me, but I feel sometimes like I'm living in an alternate reality that no one else is living in. Is it just me?

I find myself, again, very pregnant, very sick and very alone. ONE of our neighbors offered to help...but I feel just terrible to ask her to do what I REALLY need done, which is someone to watch my kids while I take a nap in the afternoon. I mean, my kids seem to be okay, now...but what if they aren't? I don't want HER to get this flu thing and pass it on to her children and her family. If it were something simple like making a soup, then fine. And maybe I'll ask that. But yesterday I totally over extended myself. I got up, made oatmeal. Made fish patties. Made some banana muffins and then half way through I couldn't stand anymore. I ran to the bathroom with diarrhea and then I was so cold and shaking I just laid down and called my husband and he was like 'well call the neighbor who offered to help" but the truth...really...would YOU feel comfortable asking a neighbor to come over and sit with you when you are sick and be with your kids who still might be sick? I mean, I'm just not.

Calling my mom would be one thing. Calling family...any of my family...I just EXPECT that they will drop everything to help each other out. But neighbors with their own families? I just feel like I"m on everybody's periferal. And I don't see how that is going to change unless I embrace the family I DO have and bring them back into my life. And the only way to do that is to be closer to them...to move back to the USA.

After 4 years of living here, and having gone through these times of need probably only as much as I could count on one hand...I'm really starting to think that it might be worth it to move back. Even for those emergency times.

I know that here, in Israel, other's seem to form some kind of community...but will it EVER be a community that will come over and sit with you when you are sick. Sit in your sick house and love and play with your kids the way a grandmother or an aunt or uncle would or could? To be there to give the children love and you love when you need it?

I feel like I've tried to be a part of this community in the ways that I know how. By watching other people's kids when they need help...by bringing food to community members when there is a baby born or a death in the family...but I'm just not feeling that it is recipricated.

Maybe I'm not doing a good enough job of asking for help? But then again, when I DO ask for help, I just see that no one wants to sit with a sick stranger and watch their kids who may or may not be sick. No one will put my family before their own...except, perhaps, my own family.

And I wonder how much of this is romanticisim. I mean, dh's family totally puts themselves above everyone else. They do not behave like this at all. I'm wondering if I have a romanticised picture of the world...like, maybe everyone really will fend for themselves and you really can't trust anybody...hell, even dh is pissed that he has to stay home from work for a SECOND day while I heal. Again, why couldn't I just call a neighbor? We had a huge blow out fight. Dh says "we need the money". I say "I'm pregnant and very sick!!!" It reminds me of the time I told him the same and he basically said "so what, you'll live." and then I had a miscarriage.

I don't feel that I'm overreacting when it comes to issues of health. In fact, I'm one of the coolest headed people I know about health related things. I am the village "wise woman". People call me from far and wide to ask for my help in issues of medicine. Many of times the kids have been sick and my dh as been in a panic "we need to take them ot the hospital..." and I"m saying "no, I really don't think we are at that point yet. it's all going well. relax." When I am sick, yes, it's hard, espically since I don't have anyone I can call for me but I try to keep a calm head and heal myself. After 24 hours of diarrhea (ever 15-20 min...while 6 months pg), yes, I was getting awfully concerned. In the 24th hour I was crying. I told dh that I'm very concerned at this point of endangering the baby in utero. He was disturbed with me. Perhaps I'm over reacting. He went to work the next day, I over extended myself, and now he's back home. He wavers between total fear for my life and total denial that anything is wrong with me. In the meanwhile, I see that he is also developing flu like symptoms, so I know that there is a very good chance that he wil be next, which means that I need to heal, and FAST so that I will be able to be tehre for him.

I know I've mentioned this in zillions of places, but I'll say it again and then drop the issue. DH's family lives 30 min from here. They are aware of the situation and have NEVER ONCE offered to help. Not drop by. Not bring a meal. Not play with the children. Nothing. This has ALWAYS been the case. I used to think they were just a little thick and we needed to ASK for help. But when we asked them, we were met with utter ugliness...basically they told us that they have lives. They don't want to get sick. They have jobs. If we are that sick we should just go to the hospital. When I mentioned that we'd need someone to be with our children they said, well, you can bring them over here. When we said that they might be sick they said "well take them to the hospital, too." I'm so over this mentality that we, their own children (well, dh is their child and our children are their grandchildren) are only welcome over to bring THEM food when they are sick and to help THEM with their issues. But when WE need help...well, get thee to a hospital.

WHen I've talked with neighbors about help, I get the same answer "well, this is why you should put your kids in a gan." It's amazing. I suppose that argument wouldn't work if the kids are puking and have diarrhea, like they have had, I mean, I ASSUME everyone would agree that they COULDN'T be in gan then...but now that 24 hours have passed and they are feeling better...and I"m the one who is still feeling terrible and need a rest...I'm quite certain that the answer would be "well they are feeling fine now, put them in gan and you'll get your nap." It's like someone else should do it. It's not MY responibility.

Is it about money? I'd be happy to offer any neighbor money (and I HAVE offered AND PAID them money to watch my kids on a very RARE occasion...say...once a YEAR) even though they have NEVER offered money to me in return for watching/feeding/caring for their kids. I just don't understand.

I just feel so utterly alone. So totally alone and jaded. And I really, really wonder if we move back to be near my family, if we won't get burned there, too. I'm just tryign to figure out what the reality is for some people so that I know what CAN be possible and then try and work from there, make some decisions from there.

Anyways, thanks for listening.

[Ruthla]

Jul I'll respond more carefully when I have time to read your whole post- right now DS is kind of needy.

I could use some brachot for my mom- she had knee replacement surgury on Thursday and she's not recovering as well as they expected- she's got some breathing problems (possily fluid in the scar tissue from her car accident 8.5 years ago) and the surgical wound is healing very slowly due to her diabetes. Her Hebrew name is Zelda Bracha bas Yetta.