fbpx

GET HOME DELIVERY! CLICK HERE »

ADVERTISE
pick up locations
HOME DELIVERY
donate

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

August 13, 2013

Hadassa Margolese, fighter for religious tolerance, quits Beit Shemesh

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Two years ago, Hadassa Margolese became a symbol of resistance to Charedi Orthodox domination after she allowed her 8-year-old daughter to tell an Israeli reporter how religious men had spit on her as she walked to school.

The report made headlines around the world and cast Margolese into the spotlight as a defender of the rights and values of the Modern Orthodox community in Beit Shemesh, a city of approximately 75,000 just off the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv with a growing Charedi population.

Now Margolese has departed Beit Shemesh — driven out not by the Charedi Orthodox with whom she once clashed but by members of her own Modern Orthodox community.

In May, Margolese published a column on the website of the Israeli daily Maariv detailing the degrading treatment she had endured during her monthly visits to a public mikvah, or ritual bath, a practice required by religious laws on marital intimacy. But rather than rally around her as it did in 2011, some in the Modern Orthodox community turned on Margolese, subjecting her to a steady stream of online vitriol.

“I was airing our own dirty laundry as opposed to before, when I was airing another community’s dirty laundry,” she said. “I hear from so many women about their negative experiences [at the mikvah]. I thought people would say, ‘Yes, let’s change this.’ ”

Margolese, 32, is something of a reluctant activist. Unlike many Israeli social reformers, who aggressively seek media attention and speak in confident tones, Margolese is quiet and unassuming, cautious of offending friends and guarded when it comes to her personal life.

She assumed the protest mantle two years ago, she says, mainly out of necessity. And from the time that conflict died down until the mikvah column, she largely retreated into private life, visiting Beit Shemesh’s Charedi neighborhoods only when necessary.

“I really have very mixed feelings about it because I want to make whatever changes I can possibly make, but on the other hand, being a public figure isn’t so simple,” she said. “Really the only way to change things is by being public. If you’re not public, nobody cares what you have to say.”

Born in Los Angeles, Margolese came to Israel at 2. A self-identified feminist, Margolese says inequalities between men and women in Judaism have bothered her since she was a child, when she began to question why Orthodox men bless God each morning for not making them women.

Now she is living a more tranquil life in a town of secular and Modern Orthodox families she prefers not to name. Margolese plans to continue to be active on the mikvah issue, though in a more circumscribed way, conducting low-key meetings with activists and politicians, and confining her writing to her blog.

“I’d like to be a social activist,” she said. “I don’t think I have a thick enough skin to be a politician.”

In her mikvah column, Margolese described the way mikvah supervisors would question her Jewish observance and stare at her as she entered and left the water naked. An attendant would interrogate her about how thoroughly she cleaned herself and demand that she return to the sink for another wash.

“I’m supposed to feel clean after the mikvah,” Margolese wrote, “but instead I feel degraded and dirty.”

Soon after the column was published, Margolese was at a meeting of the Knesset Caucus for the Advancement of Women. She planned to stay afterward to meet politicians sympathetic to her cause, but shaken by a stream of negative comments being posted to her Facebook wall — some of them by friends — she left early.

“The humiliation I felt from these individuals was worse than all of my negative mikvah experiences all put together,” Margolese wrote on her blog. “I knew about the gossip going on around me. I cried for days. I couldn’t breathe. I stopped leaving my house other than to go to work. I decided that it is time to move.”

Margolese’s departure comes as tensions between the Modern Orthodox and Charedi residents in Beit Shemesh continues to flare.

Last month, a group of Charedi men reportedly smashed the windows of a bus after a women refused to give up her seat and sit in the back. This week, police arrested 14 Charedi rioters who blocked a major street and set trash bins on fire to protest construction at a Beit Shemesh site that once may have been a burial ground.

Such clashes are not the cause of Margolese’s departure, but they have led other families to ditch Beit Shemesh in recent years, according to City Councilman Shalom Lerner.

“I’m sorry she’s leaving, but it’s her right if she feels better elsewhere,” Lerner said. “Hadassa isn’t the first one to leave and is not the only one thinking about leaving. The past five years haven’t been good.”

And they aren’t necessarily going to get better.

Though a number of initiatives aimed at promoting coexistence in Beit Shemesh were launched in the wake of the incident with Margolese’s daughter, the city is still wrestling with its identity. An acrimonious mayoral campaign is underway, pitting the Charedi incumbent against a Modern Orthodox opponent.

Activists say the result will determine the city’s future. But whatever the outcome, Margolese will be watching from the sidelines, not the trenches.

“If I still lived in Beit Shemesh, I would still be trying to change things in Beit Shemesh, like the separate sidewalks [for men and women] and the signs saying to dress modestly,” she said. “But I don’t live in Beit Shemesh anymore, and there are not issues like that in the place where I live.”

Hadassa Margolese, fighter for religious tolerance, quits Beit Shemesh Read More »

Hocus Pocus

Leave a Comment / Food, Is Featured?, Mobile, News /

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, I am always fascinated by the exotic foods that I discover in Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. This week, I am focusing on an ingredient that is not very exotic for most Jews, but the way that I am preparing it is unlike any traditional Jewish recipe. Often times, chefs talk about their “bag of tricks”. This represents an arsenal of ingredients and techniques that chefs use when they want to impress people. Sometimes these tricks are complicated and convoluted, and other times they are incredibly simple. This week, I am revealing one of my favorite simple tricks, purées.


From borscht to chrain, beets are a fundamental ingredient in Asheknazic cuisine. This week’s recipe showcases beets in a new way. I am making a beet and orange purée. The procedure is very straightforward. First, peel the beets and simmer them in a mixture of orange juice and vinegar. When they are very tender, purée the beets in a blender or food processor with olive oil, salt and pepper. File this recipe next to mashed potatoes and kugels, as it goes along with any meal just the same. It is a pareve, healthy, starch substitute that has incredible color and a lively flavor.


Cooking is a craft. In order to develop and mature as a cook you must explore new techniques with common ingredients. I love borscht and chrain as they are, but part of being a chef is finding new ways of presenting the same ingredients. My ability to work with unusual ingredients was put to the test when I competed on the Food Network’s Chopped. I invite you to watch and see what I create on the show this Sunday, August 18th when my Chopped episode airs (titled “Keep on Trucking” Hocus Pocus Read More »

Young U.S. Jews feel closer to Israel, studies find

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, Lead Story, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, United States /

Young American Jews have closer ties to Israel than ever before, while Israelis who have moved to the United States are raising the Jewish consciousness of all Jews in the New World.

Such upbeat conclusions may run counter to more prevalent pessimistic pronouncements, but they are bolstered by three new research studies.

Results of these studies were presented by American academicians at the recent annual conference at UCLA of the Association for Israel Studies.

The meeting brought together some 300 scholars who participated in 80 panel discussions centering on Israel’s international relations, history, politics, law, economics, literature, film and other visual arts.

Most of the participants were from Israel and the United States, with a respectable number of professors from German, British, Chinese, Canadian, Dutch, Australian and Palestinian universities.

Matthew Boxer, a senior research associate at Brandeis University, set the hopeful tone in a session aptly titled “Young American Jews and Israel: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom.”

“The trajectory of relationship between young American Jews and Israel is one of growing strength,” Boxer proposed, even in the face of an array of negative factors.

“Despite the high rate of intermarriage, despite mismatches between liberal young American Jews and a more right-wing Israel government, despite the inadequacy of the Jewish education system, we are providing young American Jews with more and more opportunities to develop a personal connection with Israel,” Boxer said.

Taking the long view, he argued that past surveys show that young Jews have always felt less attached to Israel than their elders but draw closer as they age.

That “lifecycle effect” has held steady over the decades, barring “some external force with the power to effect generational change,” he said.

Just such an external force has been the Taglit-Birthright Israel program, which, since its inception in late 1999, has sent some 340,000 young Jews between the ages of 18 and 26, from 62 countries, on free 10-day organized trips to Israel. Among them were 240,000 young men and women from North America.

Citing a survey of Americans and Canadians who participated in three Taglit (Hebrew for “Discovery”) trips between 2010 and 2012, Boxer said that participants were three times more likely to affirm they were “very much connected to Israel” than nonparticipants.

The impact of the trips holds even in follow-up surveys conducted six to11 years after early participants returned, and a high percentage of Taglit alumni have gone on to become leaders of their AIPAC, Hillel and J Street campus chapters.

To those who argue that a 10-day program is too short and superficial to have a lasting impact, Boxer pointed out that the experience comes when participants “are at an age when they figure out who they are and what they believe in.”

Indeed, it is the emotional factor that ties young Americans to Israel, rather than purely intellectual, ideological or historic considerations, according to David L. Graizbord of the University of Arizona.

Graizbord, an associate professor at the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, has been interviewing 22 young North American Jews (and plans to talk to 18 more), all of whom are self-declared Zionists or profess a close attachment to Israel.

Although warning that his study is in the embryonic stage, Graizbord cited 10 conclusions from his “snapshots” of Generation Y members as they explore their relationships to Israel.

Some of his key findings, not necessarily in order of importance, were:

Similar to Boxer’s study, Graizbord concluded that political leanings, biblical history or intellectual reasoning play hardly any role in developing a pro-Israel attitude.

The strongest bonds are emotional, he emphasized, fed by a sense of “the relative thickness and naturalness of Israeli Jewishness, as compared to the relative cultural thinness of Jewish life in North America, outside of Orthodox circles.”

While some tourists may be put off by the perceived brashness and prickliness of Israelis they meet, the impact is quite different for participants in Graizbord’s study.

One young American, who volunteered to work with Israelis in an immigration absorption camp in the Negev, put it this way: “I found myself really connecting with the Israelis,” he said. “I liked the openness of their society and their sense of humor … and the communal aspects of their lives.

“I thought, this is the kind of place I want to raise my family … I decided that some way, somehow, I’m going to make aliyah.”

Another student summed it up by noting that his Israeli contemporaries had “their heads on straight and they’re headed in a very specific direction.”

Although Jewish history, including the biblical era, does not seem to play much of a role in shaping young Americans’ attitude toward Israel, there is one aspect that does impact them, and that is the Holocaust.

When Graizbord asked his subjects, “Why should a nation-state of the Jews exist?” the answers always referenced the Shoah, he said.

As one young woman put it, “What I feel when I think of Judaism is just … that [Jews] are a small people and they were persecuted for so long, and they need a place to call home.”

Israeli expatriates in the United States exert an important influence in maintaining the “Jewishness” of the American Jewish community, according to history professor Marianne Sanua of the Jewish studies program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

The actual number of Israelis who now make their home in the United States is a matter of never-ending dispute, with estimates ranging from 140,000 to close to 1 million.

Sanua puts the figure at between 500,000 and 550,000, if one includes native-born Israelis, Israelis born elsewhere in the Diaspora, spouses (often American-born), children and students or visitors who ignore visa limitations and continue to stay on in the United States.

Initially demeaned and scorned by the Israeli government and Jewish-American organizations as weaklings and traitors to the Zionist cause, the “yordim” are now generally accepted as a permanent and important “sub-ethnic American-Jewish immigrant group,” as the Florida academic put it.

Taking the lead in the United States in reaching out to the newcomers was Chabad, which has established 25 Chabad centers for Israelis over the past 30 years.

Among the first was the Los Angeles center, which serves more than 20,000 children and adults annually, according to Executive Director Rabbi Amitai Yemini.

The main concern shared by American-Jewish organizations, Israeli authorities and the expats themselves is to transmit their Jewish identity and connections to Israel to their children and future generations.

Sanua believes that this effort has been largely successful, in the process revitalizing the native-born American-Jewish community.

According to her research, the Israelis “speak Hebrew, they belong to synagogues and Jewish community centers, and 75 percent are married to other Jews,” a much higher rate than for American Jews.

By all other criteria, the expats are more “Jewish” than native-born Jews, including number of visits to Israel, sending their kids to Jewish schools, going to Jewish museums, attending Jewish cultural events and observing Jewish rituals.

In addition, it is estimated that one-third of the teachers and 20 to 40 percent of students in L.A. Jewish day schools are Israelis or children of Israelis.

“In many ways, when so many American Jews are being lost to assimilation and intermarriage, Israeli-Americans are seen as having a vital role to play in maintaining American-Jewish communal life,” Sanua concluded.

She cited Los Angeles as “the best example in creating Israeli-American organizations for children and youth” in the United States, with the local Israeli American Council (IAC, formerly the Israeli Leadership Council) setting the pace, Sanua said.

IAC’s three main missions are to support Israel, strengthen Jewish identity among young Israeli-Americans, and build connections between the Israeli-American and Jewish-American communities.

Other Israeli-oriented youth organizations in Los Angeles, many supported by the IAC, include the Tzofim (Scouts), B’nai Akiva youth movement, the MATI Israeli Cultural Center, and such educational institutions as the Ami School, Hebrew High School, Hebrew Discovery Center and Kadima Hebrew Academy.

San Diego offers an example of a small but innovative Israeli community; an Israeli Cultural Center was founded there in 2006, Sanua noted. Partly supported by the local Jewish Federation and the Israeli government, the center offers children of expats full-scale immersion programs in Hebrew, Israeli culture and Jewish identity.

The latest and perhaps most surprising development is the launching of Hebrew-language charter schools, which are state-funded but privately run by independent boards.

The first of the so-called Gamla schools opened in Hollywood, Fla., in 2007 as a nonsectarian, nonreligious institution. The concept has now spread to other Florida cities, as well as to Washington, D.C.; New York City; Los Angeles; and San Diego, Sanua said.

Adding another perspective was respondent Samuel Edelman, a former professor at California State University, Chico, and now executive director of the Center for Academic Engagement, affiliated with the Israel on Campus Coalition.

He emphasized that today’s Western Jews still retain their ethnic roots in the Middle East, despite a 2,000-year history in Europe and a 350-year experience in North America.

He posited that the emotional attachment to Israel by Diaspora Jews is largely fueled by their historic Middle Eastern identity.

However insightful the research papers and a Q-and-A session, the attitude of young American Jews was perhaps best expressed by a student interviewed for Graizbord’s project.

“I think it’s all about reality,” he quoted her in part. “The reality is, as of today, that there’s a State of Israel. The reality as of today is that there are also Palestinians.

“As of today, there’s a lot of internal strife, and my biggest concern is, I’m not going to focus on history. I’m not going to focus on ‘ifs,’ ‘ands’ or ‘what ifs?’ I’m going to focus on ‘OK, what is the current, realistic situation, and what do I do with it?’ Responsibility, that’s what it’s all about.”

Young U.S. Jews feel closer to Israel, studies find Read More »

Jewish leaders react with shock to fall of longtime anti-poverty activist William Rapfogel

Leave a Comment / Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, United States /

The New York Jewish communal world reacted with shock this week to news that William Rapfogel, longtime head of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and a major player in New York’s Jewish community, had been fired for alleged financial improprieties.

The Met Council, which provides a range of services to poor Jewish households in the New York area, announced Monday that it had removed Rapfogel from his positions as executive director and chief executive officer after discovering “financial irregularities and apparent misconduct in connection with the organization’s insurance policies,” the organization’s board said in a statement.

Rapfogel, 58, had headed the organization since 1992 and was considered a major power broker in the city. His wife, Judy, is chief of staff to Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, one the most important figures in state government.

Many communal figures declined to comment Tuesday, but those who did expressed shock that Rapfogel, long a highly regarded figure, could be caught up in a financial scandal.

“I was very outraged and shocked,” said Masha Girshin Pearl, executive director of The Blue Card, a New York-based organization that provides emergency funds to impoverished Holocaust survivors nationwide. “For the Jewish community and all the organizations working tirelessly to really do good, it just puts a dark cloud over the Jewish community and the good work that so many organizations like The Blue Card have been doing.”

Rabbi Menachem Genack, the CEO of the Orthodox Union’s kosher division, was honored by Met Council in 2010 at the annual Kosherfest food showcase. Genack told JTA he considered Rapfogel a friend and was impressed by his concern for combating Jewish poverty.

“I consider him a good person,” Genack said. “Sometimes good people make huge mistakes. I hope things work out as best as possible considering the circumstances.”

Exactly what Rapfogel is accused of remains murky.

The New York Daily News, citing an anonymous source, reported Tuesday that Rapfogel is suspected of purchasing insurance policies at inflated prices and then pocketing the difference.

The insurance firm, the Long Island-based Century Coverage Corp., has made tens of thousands of dollars in political donations, raising the possibility that Rapfogel may have used the scheme to enhance his political clout.

In a statement issued Monday through his lawyers, Rapfogel apologized and appeared to acknowledge the accusations against him.

“After 21 years at the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, I deeply regret the mistakes I have made that have led to my departure from the organization,” Rapfogel said in a statement. “I apologize to our dedicated officers and board, our incredible staff and those who depend on Met Council. I let them all down.”

Rapfogel also asked for forgiveness and promised to “do everything possible to make amends.”

With a budget of $33 million, more than half of which comes from public state and city sources, the Met Council is a major force in the Jewish social service world, working with Jewish groups throughout the city to provide emergency relief and other services to low-income households.

Rapfogel also was known for his political involvement, hosting an annual breakfast that drew many influential political figures. Prior to his role at the Met Council, he worked as an assistant New York City comptroller and as an aide to Mayor Ed Koch.

“I am stunned and deeply saddened by this news,” Silver said in a statement sent to JTA. “While there is still much that we don’t know, we do know that the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty has given tens of thousands of New Yorkers of all faiths and backgrounds lifesaving help over the past four decades. Met Council also played a critical role helping our communities recover from Superstorm Sandy, and its work should in no way be diminished by these developments.”

A statement from the Met Council’s board said there has been no evidence that any other current employees were engaged in wrongdoing.

The matter is under investigation by the New York state comptroller’s office in cooperation with the state attorney general’s joint Task Force on Public Integrity, a spokesperson for comptroller’s office confirmed.

Jewish leaders react with shock to fall of longtime anti-poverty activist William Rapfogel Read More »

Muslim Brotherhood says police fired on Cairo march

Leave a Comment / Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Worldwide /

The Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday that Egyptian policemen dressed in plain clothes opened fire on one of its marches in Cairo, wounding five people in violence that risks worsening political turmoil.

A security source said seven protesters had been wounded but added that it was not immediately clear who had opened fire.

The shooting could further inflame political divisions as the Brotherhood stages protests, marches and sit-ins to demand the reinstatement of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

Supporters and opponents of Morsi earlier battled in the streets of the capital, showing Egypt remained dangerously split six weeks after the army overthrew him in response to mass protests against his rule.

Aside from the violence, an initiative by Al-Azhar, a top religious authority, to resolve the crisis appeared to inch forward.

The Nour Party, the second biggest Islamist group, forecast that Al-Azhar-backed talks would happen very soon, while Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood signaled it was ready to take part as long as they were on the right terms.

Morsi's backers stood firm in protest camps in Cairo's al-Nahda Square and around Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.

No police crackdown appeared imminent despite frequent warnings from the army-installed government that the protesters should pack up and leave.

Interim President Adli Mansour swore in at least 18 new provincial governors, half of them retired generals, reversing Morsi's appointment of civilians.

The “April 6” pro-democracy youth movement, which played a prominent role in the revolt that brought down long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011, was among those criticizing the appointments as a step backwards.

“Holding on to the old faces that contributed to ruining political life before the revolution is a new failure for the current administration,” it said on its website.

Writing by Angus MacSwan in Cairo; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Robin Pomeroy

Muslim Brotherhood says police fired on Cairo march Read More »

Bar mitzvah video boy’s mom: ‘He’s got friends at Neiman Marcus’

Leave a Comment / Culture /

For most boys reaching bar mitzvah age, donning a prayer shawl is exciting enough. But Sam Horowitz of Dallas knew he wanted more.

Horowitz, the star of a newly viral bar mitzvah video (the bar mitzvah actually happened last year), donned a sparkly white suit for the occasion and descended from the ceiling inside a massive chandelier in the lavish ballroom of the Omni Hotel in Dallas.

Sam first came up with the idea after seeing the Cheetah Girls in concert at age seven, according to his mother, Angela Horowitz. The performers descended from the ceiling at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. “He said right then, ‘I wanna do that at my bar mitzvah.’ And he held me to it.”

The bedazzling entrance required no small amount of engineering. A stuntman descended in the chandelier with him, a requirement of the production company, according to Horowitz. The surrounding dancers, expressing their passionate bar mitzvah joy in flapper-style minidresses, were local talent, including cheerleaders for the Dallas Mavericks.

According to Angela, this is the first of many times Sam expects to see his name in lights. “Sam wants to be famous in the entertainment industry,” she said. “He loves to sing and dance. He’s a really passionate kid.”

Sam already has an agent and has appeared in several commercials and on “Barney the Dinosaur.”

Horowitz also emphasized the family’s prominent role in Jewish philanthropy. Indeed, in Sam’s bar mitzvah invitation video, set to the pop hit “Call Me Maybe,” he can be seen dancing in front of the JCC of Dallas, endowed by his grandparents, Steve and Carol Aaron.

So what’s next for Sam? He’s heading to New York City Fashion Week in three weeks. “He loves fashion,” says his mom. “He’s got friends at Neiman Marcus.”

Bar mitzvah video boy’s mom: ‘He’s got friends at Neiman Marcus’ Read More »

As prisoner release begins, rockets fired at Israel

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

Rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel as Palestinian prisoners being released by Israel were being transported to the border.

One rocket fired Tuesday night at Sderot fell short of its target and is believed to have landed inside Gaza. A second rocket landed in the nearby Sha’ar Hanegev region in an open area.

A day earlier, a long-range Grad rocket was fired at Eilat and intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.

In the prisoner release, 26 Palestinians were transported in vans to crossings into the West Bank and Gaza. They are scheduled to cross the borders at midnight.

Israel agreed to release the prisoners in order to bring the Palestinians back to the peace negotiating table.

The Hamas leadership in Gaza has ordered the rival Fatah party to refrain from holding celebrations welcoming home the prisoners, saying it would hold an official ceremony later in the week.  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will meet with the prisoners returning to the West Bank.

Eventually 104 prisoners jailed before the 1993 Oslo Accords will be released in phases over the next eight months, pending progress in the renewed peace talks.

The talks are scheduled to resume Wednesday in Jerusalem following a three-year freeze, but the Palestinians have threatened to skip the meeting in protest over the order in which the prisoners are being released as well as the announcement of new construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, according to reports.

As prisoner release begins, rockets fired at Israel Read More »

4 Easy Recipes With The Perfect Protein

Leave a Comment / Food, Is Featured?, Mobile, News /

Eggs dishes are one of those meals that can either provide perfect nourishment (reference the picture above), or deliver an abundance of calories, fat, and cholesterol (think eggs benedict, or the classic diner dish of bacon, hashbrown and eggs).

The truth is that you don’t need the added unhealthy sauces and sides to make eggs interesting. Eggs can deliver amazing flavors, tons of nutrition and be prepared with little effort.

Be sure when you are buying eggs that you purchase “cage free” so that you are eating eggs from healthy chickens who were able to roam free and eat food that lacks hormones and which is natural to them.

Why should you be eating eggs as part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle?

  1. All the protein found in eggs can be absorbed and used by the body. (Not all protein sources have 100% bioavailable protein like eggs do).
  2. A great source of B-Vitamins, nutrients and protein which may lower risks of heart disease.
  3. A low calorie and inexpensive way to get tons of nutrition.

The debate between egg whites v. whole eggs: A whole egg contains 50-80 calories while an egg white contains 10-30 (depends on size of egg). The yolk contains healthy fat and holds most of an egg’s nutrients.

If you aren’t worried about your cholesterol, go ahead and eat the whole thing!

4 Creative Recipes with the Perfect Protein

The following recipes can be served on toasted, thick, crusty, whole wheat bread or sans. I recommend the big 1/2 loaves sold at Trader Joes.

Sunny Side Up with Spinach (the creamy yolk runs into the crisp spinach and soaks into the bread….yummmmmm!)

  • 1 egg handful of organic spinach leaves
  • 1/2 tablespoon, olive oil garlic
  • salt and pepper

1. Heat 1/4 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Carefully crack egg into pan without destroying the yolk. Allow to cook until whites are set. About 5 minutes.

2. While egg is cooking, drizzle bread with remaining olive oil. Lightly sprinkle with garlic salt. Toast until browned.

3. Arrange Spinach leaves on bread. Place egg on top. Sprinkle with pepper.

4. To maximize deliciousness, pierce the yolk so that it runs all over the spinach and soaks into the bread before eating.

Eggs Nicoise (flavors inspired by the French classic)

  • 1 hard boiled egg
  • 2 tablespoons, goat cheese
  • 1/2 tablespoon, capers
  • 1/2 roasted red pepper (Fire Roasted Peppers in the jar from Trader Joes)
  • 4 nicoise olives, halved fresh basil

1. Lightly drizzle bread with olive oil (optional). Toast bread until browned. Spread goat cheese on toasted bread.

2. Top bread with peppers, capers, olives and hard boiled egg. Tear basil and garnish.

Caramelized Onion, Asparagus, Parmesan Egg White Frittata

  • 16oz carton egg whites
  • 1 cup caramelized onions (watch my video below for instructions)
  • 8 asparagus spears, roasted
  • 1/4 cup goat cheese
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 10 grape tomatos, halved
  • handful of fresh basil, torn
  • salt and pepper

1. In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, pour olive oil. Make sure the olive oil spreads around the edges. Allow to heat.

2. Pour contents of egg white carton into skillet. Evenly distribute caramelized onions in egg whites. Arrange asparagus in the skillet (like pie slices). Drop dollops of goat cheese in the skillet. Arrange tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Allow frittata to cook on stovetop until the edges brown. As the edges become brown and you are able to pull them away from the pan, sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.

4. Place entire skillet under the broiler until the center sets and the cheese starts to brown, about 3-5 minutes.

5. Garnish with basil. Wait 10 minutes for frittata to cool before cutting.

6. While frittata is cooling, sprinkle bread with light amount of parmesan and toast bread until browned. Place frittata either warm or cold on top of bread.