Mondays through Thursdays at 5:00 PM EST, we will showcase the best food / kitchen deals of the day. We hope you find them useful. We present to you today’s round up of deals from across the web – including a coffee maker, ceramic knives and a Ninja Blender.

Housewares Deals: M by Mikasa® 8 Piece Red and White Wine Glass Set. Reduced from $144 to $49! Deal Ends Midnight Tonight EST. This Mikasa M 8 Piece Red and White Wine Glass Set is a stunningly sophisticated stemware collection. Each piece is injected with magnesium, which results in glasses resistant to breakage, scuffs and scratches. These stylish glasses are perfect for either the novice wine drinker or the connoisseur. Set includes four 14-1/2 ounce chardonnay glasses and four 22 ounce cabernet glasses. Dishwasher safe.

Amazon: Ninja Kitchen System Pulse Blender. Reduced from $129.99 to $79.99. A complete system to inspire and simplify healthy living for your active on the go lifestyle! Ninja Pulse combines the function of many kitchen appliances into one for OPTIMAL performance. Pulsing provides consistent evenly processed & blended ingredients every time. Crush ice into snow, blend delicious drinks, process fresh ingredients evenly, juice whole fruits & vegetables, and knead dough!

Pfaltzgraff: Farberware® 6 Piece Ceramic Knife Set with Cutting Board. Save $21.07 off MSRP. This Farberware 6 Piece Ceramic Knife Set with Cutting Board equips your kitchen with crucial cutlery accessories. The ceramic Santoku knife, paring knife and Euro peeler will retain their cutting edges and will not rust, stain, or oxidize. Each has a soft grip handle for comfort, and the sheaths protect the blades of the knives when not in use. The polypropylene cutting board features nonslip accents and is reversible to double a chef’s workspace. 6 piece set includes: 5 inch Santoku knife with sheath, 3 inch paring knife with sheath, Euro peeler, and 8×10 inch cutting board. Santoku knife, paring knife and peeler are dishwasher safe, top rack only. Cutting board is dishwasher safe.

Groupon: $29 for an NFL Original ProToast ($39.99 Value). The NFL Original ProToast emblazons team logos across the face of fans’ favorite starchy sustenance. The ProToast’s twin slots sear team loyalty onto multiple slices of bread, and its adjustable settings ensure grains with no team spirit also toast to perfection.

Walmart: Keurig Elite B40 Gourmet Single-Cup Home Brewing System. $119.00. The Keurig Elite B40 Single Cup Coffee Maker is every coffee lover’s dream come true. Featuring two serving sizes, the Keurig B40 Brewer provides more options with less fuss. This convenient single cup coffee maker has a removable 48-ounce reservoir, providing you with hot water on deck at all times. It’s perfect for those mornings when you’re in a hurry. The gourmet single-cup brewing system has Keurig’s signature single button descale indicator light and plastic drip tray. Just pop in a single-serve K-Cup of your favorite blend, choose your size, and brew. You can enjoy a fresh brewed cup of coffee every morning with this amazing coffee maker. This versatile home brewing system provides a fast and easy cup with no mess and no fuss. This elite coffee maker has an easy programmable on and off feature. The Keurig coffee maker includes a 12 count K-Cup variety pack.

In this week’s parsha, Yistro, the Israelites stand at the foot of Mount Sinai.  We witness thunder, lightning, smoke and the sound of the shofar and experience the declaration of the 10 Commandments.  This week’s Shabbat menu will also come as a revelation to many.  It did to me.  I attended a cooking class in Italy and learned a traditional Libyan recipe that is said to resemble Mount Sinai and is frequently served on Shavuot.  I thought it was a most appropriate dish to enjoy this Shabbat.  It is rustic and comfort food in the middle of February.  And you might just hear the following ten utterances from your guests: Please can I have some more this dish is delish!

Ten Commandment Salad

Bazin

Cider Glazed Vegetables

Creme Brulee

Categories: Shabbat Menu sidebar

Categories: Shabbat Menu sidebar

Categories: Shabbat Menu sidebar

When Michelle Obama decided to plant a garden on the South Lawn of the White House it was part of her campaign of getting children to eat healthier. Mrs. Obama is trying to get children to eat healthier and she is certainly showing the way by planting a huge vegetable garden in the White House. She’s called this campaign “Let’s Move”. This campaign pushes for healthier school lunches, easier access to healthy foods, and aims to get children more involved in physical activity.

Presidential Chef Cristeta Comerford uses the produce from the White House garden in her cooking, and gears her menus towards seasonal foods. The garden isn’t just a small little vegetable patch. There are several “hoop houses” – similar to greenhouses – that allow many vegetables to be grown year round, making use of the sun’s rays even in the deepest of winter.

Comerford admits that today’s menus are definitely different from the dishes she served as chef forPresidents Clinton and George W Bush. Home grown vegetables are just as much of a main part of the meal as the protein.

The Obama’s daughters are being brought up understanding the health benefits of fresh vegetables. The first lady has noted that her daughter Sasha recently started eating tomatoes, a food she’d long ignored, due to an introduction in a school cooking class.

Mrs. Obama recently encouraged Jay Leno to eat healthy, making him let go of a long held aversion to healthy foods. She fed him apples, sweet potato fries and a very healthy vegetable pizza. Leno had previously claimed to have not eaten an apple since 1984 or a vegetable since 1969.

What are the measures being taken at your children’s schools to provide healthier meals? What do you do at home to encourage healthful eating?

Sources:

Kansas.com

Khou.com 

On Purim day, this year falling on March 8th, 2012, we all sit down to a big feast, a Seudah.   This festive meal is a great time to experiment and have fun.  In the Purim issue of Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller, Jamie shares 4 new creative salad recipes to start off your seudah either on their own or even as a salad buffet.  We have even more salad recipes here on JoyofKosher.com it is hard to sort through them all.  Since a lot of us like to go global with our Seudah menus I figured I would showcase 5 salads from around the world. I hope you find one or more that you like.

If you are in the mood to travel to Italy, you can try this White Bean Salad given to us by Chef Jeff Nathan of Abigael’s.

You might choose to go to Japan with this Easy California Roll Salad.

India is a really fun choice starting with this Cabbage Chana Dal Salad.

You can start off a German meal with this Warm Red Cabbage Salad.

If you decide to go to France you can try this Lemony Lentil Salad with Salmon.

Chopsticks were developed about 5,000 years ago in China. The pieces of food were small enough that they negated the need for knives at the dinner table, and chopsticks became staple utensils. It is also thought that Confucius, a vegetarian, advised people not to use knives at the table because knives would remind them of the slaughterhouse. Chinese chopsticks, called kuai-zi (quick little fellows), are usually 9 to 10 inches long and rectangular with a blunt end. By 500 CE, chopstick use had spread from China to present-day Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. In Japan, chopsticks were originally considered precious and were used exclusively for religious ceremonies. The earliest chopsticks used for eating looked like tweezers; they were made from one piece of bamboo that was joined at the top. By the 10th Century, chopsticks were being produced in two separate pieces. Japanese chopsticks differed in design from Chinese chopsticks in that they were rounded and came to a point; they were also shorter (7 inches long for females and 8 inches long for males). The Japanese usually made their chopsticks out of wood.The Japanese were also the first to create disposable wooden chopsticks (called wari-bashi), which appeared in 1878.

Five fun facts:

1. In Chinese the word for chopstick –  筷子 means quick little bamboo fellow.
2. The English word “chopstick” was apparently derived from the Chinese Pidgin English words “chop chop” – which means fast.
3. In Japanese, chopsticks are called hashi.
4. Chopsticks are traditionally held in the right hand, even by left-handed people. Although chopsticks may now be deployed by either hand, left-handed chopstick use is considered improper. This practice prevents a left-handed chopstick user from accidentally elbowing a right-handed user seated nearby.
   
5. It is a huge breach of chopstick etiquette to impale a piece of food with one.

Recipes to eat with chopsticks:

1. Tempura Sushi rolls- This is my go-to dinner when I haven’t gone grocery shopping. Who doesn’t have seaweed in the pantry and imitation crab in the freezer? Some people think of sushi as an appetizer, but this is a complete filling meal. I use homemade panko (my leftover challah processed) for the breadcrumbs.
2. Tuna Stir-fry Over Whole-Wheat Vermicelli - Using cubed tuna in a stir-fry is unusual in a fantastic way. Combined with fresh veggies, edamame and whole-wheat pasta, this dish is teeming with nutrients and fiber. Because small batches are made at a time, stir-fries are a great way to cook for one, four or eight.
3. Cool Soba with Citrus Chicken and Spinach- Refreshingly light and slightly sweet with a splash of sesame over soba—this is not your grandmother’s pasta dinner.
4. Spicy Thai Beef Salad- This crunchy salad is nice light way to use leftover beef. Cut down on your chopping prep time by using shredded cabbage and carrots.
5. Crispy Seitan Stir-Fry for Two - A flavorful sauce and lots of crunchy vegetables make this seitan stir-fry a quick and healthy choice for dinner tonight!

Click for more Asian recipes.

Nutrition Facts per Vegetable Egg Roll:

Calories:  153
Fat: 4  g
Carbohydrates: 25  g
Cholesterol: 0  mg
Sodium:  438 mg
Protein: 5  g