“I see the word nosh as something that you just can’t stop eating,” chef Micah Siva, author of “Nosh: Plant-Forward Recipes Celebrating Modern Jewish Cuisine,” told the Journal. “It’s just so easy to eat and to snack on and there’s always room in your stomach.”

As a vegetarian, Siva, founder of Nosh with Micah, specializes in plant-based cooking. She is a registered dietitian, recipe writer and food photographer. Siva also wrote the children’s book, “1, 2, 3 Nosh with Me” with her husband Joshua.

“[It’s] centered around counting Jewish foods,” she said. “Everything I do is food related.”

When asked about her “Nosh with Micah” branding, Siva said she just loves the word. It’s also the way she eats!

“I work in the kitchen and so having three square meals a day isn’t exactly something that I do,” she said. “I’m always tasting something that I’m working on.”

Even when she hosts dinner parties with friends, noshing comes into play.

“It’s not like we’re having one main course, two sides and we’re done,” Siva said. “I’m making 10 plus different little dishes for us to snack on; that gives me the feeling of abundance and excitement and  deliciousness.”

“Nosh” is filled with lots of, but not all, nutritious recipes. Siva believes noshing can be a healthy thing; it depends on your preferences.

“I’m a new mom, and I’ve learned, more than before, that I don’t have time to sit down for lunch or my husband and I have to take turns eating dinner and feeding the baby,” she said. “Sometimes it’s easier just to grab a little thing here and there and be conscientious and mindful of those bits and bits of food that I’m grabbing.”

Rather than reach into a bag of tortilla chips, Siva has a well-stocked fridge and cupboard of things that will make her feel good as she is noshing.

In addition to Siva’s favorite noshing recipes, which are in her book, she says she’s a “popcorn with olive oil and sea salt” and “apples dipped in peanut butter” person.

“What’s so beautiful about the world of food is that there are no rules,” she said. “There shouldn’t be rules unless you’re allergic to something, of course. And it’s just such a beautiful place to have fun and listen to your body and listen to what you like and honor your cravings when, when you need to.”

If you want to uplevel your noshes, get creative with spices and oils; find different ways to flavor things that you already love. For instance, Siva will put something as simple as cinnamon on her apples or use tahini instead of peanut butter and then sprinkle a little bit of halva on top.

One nosh Siva says she cannot keep her hands off of is her halvah granola. Recipe is below.

“I have it on yogurt, I have it in my hand, I have it with milk,” she said. “And I love the little flakes of halva that you get in there.”

It has pistachios, it’s spiced with cinnamon and cardamom and it’s tossed with tahini to help form the oat clusters. It’s nice for gifting or just for eating by yourself at home at night.

“A general rule of thumb, a life hack, is always make [a double] recipe, because you’ll just find yourself noshing on it all day,” Siva said.

Learn more and get more recipes at NoshwithMicah.com and follow @NoshwithMicha on Instagram.

For the full conversation, listen to the podcast:

Halvah Granola

Serves: 10 to 12

On the table in…1 hour 10 minutes

My grandparents loved halvah, a sweet confection made with sesame butter and sugar, because it reminded them of their time spent in Israel. Individually wrapped halvah candies could always be found in the depths of their candy drawer. Despite halvah being a sweet confection, sesame seeds are incredibly nutritious and can be a part of healthy breakfast, so it inspired me to toss halvah into my granola in place of dried fruit, for a granola that pays homage to my grandparents’ candy drawer and tastes a whole lot better than the raisin-filled granola of my childhood.

3 cups rolled oats, (gluten-free, if preferred)

½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

¼ cup chia seeds

¼ cup sesame seeds

⅔ cup pistachios

⅔ cup raw cashews

⅓ cup maple syrup, honey, or agave syrup

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp tahini

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cardamom

Pinch sea salt

¾ cup crumbled halvah

Preheat the oven to 275°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, chia seeds, sesame seeds, pistachios, and cashews.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, olive oil, tahini, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until combined.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared sheet pan and spread it out in an even layer. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the halvah. Let cool on the sheet pan.

Transfer the granola to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 10 days.

Note: If you want to add dried fruit to your granola, toss it in as soon as the sheet pan is removed from the oven. The heat from the granola will soften the dried fruit and help it stick to the pieces. Don’t bake the dried fruit with the nuts and seeds, though, because the high sugar content of dried fruits will cause them to burn.

Variation: Add an egg white to the liquid ingredients in your granola to make it even crunchier with larger clusters. Egg whites act as a binder, and the addition can help the components stick together. Love cardamom? Add an extra ¼ teaspoon!

Substitution: I use pistachios and cashews in this granola, but feel free to substitute any nuts you have on hand, such as almonds, walnuts or pecans.

Debra Eckerling is a writer for the Jewish Journal and the host of “Taste Buds with Deb.” Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Email Debra: tastebuds@jewishjournal.com.