Challah from Heaven part 1 (the healthy version)

...According to tradition, the three Sabbath meals (Friday night, Saturday lunch, and Saturday afternoon and two holiday meals (one at night and lunch the following day) each begin with two complete loaves of bread^. This "double loaf" commemorates the manna that fell from the heavens when the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years after the Exodus from Egypt The manna did not fall on Sabbath or holidays; instead, a double portion would fall the day before the holiday or sabbath... so says Wikipedia. This we call Challah

Every week in Jewish households around the globe, women are making their own challah. Not only is this one of the three special Mitzvot given to women, (the other two being, lighting Shabbos candles and keeping the laws of family purity), but it is a very satisfying experience to bake and eat challah from your own hands.

I have a friend who finds it hard to tolerate white bread, so when she recently joined us for Shabbos lunch I dug around for a wholewheat version so she wouldn't miss out!

Ok I admit I cheat by letting the bread machine do the hard work, but I do the rest!

 Remember to put the ingredients in the machine as per your machine's instructions.

Wholewheat Challah

1 1/2 cup warm water
1 egg
1 egg white
2 tbspn olive oil
3 tbspn honey
1 tbspn sugar
3 3/4 cup flour
2 tspn dry yeast
1/8 tspn salt

Put machine on dough setting which usually take 1 1/2 hours.

When dough is finished, remove from machine. This recipe will make 2 medium challahs or 4 small round challah rolls.

Divide and shape the challahs either by plaiting or coiling. Let rise in a warm place for 30 mins. I like to brush the tops with egg yolk before putting into oven. Bake on 180c/350f/G4 for  30-35 mins.

The Only Good Beet is a Baked Beet!

Beets. A vegetable I will absolutely not tolerate! I don't like the way it stains everything, I don't like the way it smells and I definitely don't like the way it tastes. When I was a child I was subjected to watching my father, who is of Russian extraction, eat heaving bowls of borscht (beetroot soup) with  great dollops of sour cream. I must have taken after the Polish side of my mother's family as I would never go near the stuff.

Recently, a friend brought me a caterer's sized box of cooked, cubed beetroot. I politely said thank you, closed the door and thought 'Grief!', what on earth am I going to do with this! Think out of the box here, Sam! I have to be able to bake this into something, 'cause I'm sure as hell not going to eat it any other way!

Well, lo and behold I remembered a recipe I once saw for chocolate beetroot cake. Chocolate can make anything better, right? I dragged it up from my memory banks and 'Taaa Daaa' the most delicious, moist chocolate cake I have had near my mouth for yonks! Try it out the next time you get a box of beets you'd rather not waste!

Chocolate Beet Cake

250g pureed beetroot
3 eggs
1/2 tspn vanilla
250ml vegetable oil
300g caster sugar
225g flour
1 1/2 tspn bicarb of soda (that's baking soda for you Yanks)
1/4 tspn salt
6 tbspn cocoa

1. Grease and flour a 9x13' tin and preheat the oven to 180c/350f /G4.
2. Combine beets, egg, vanilla, oil and sugar. Mix until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, bicarb of soda, salt and cocoa.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the beet mixture and mix well. Pour into tin.
4. Bake for 25-30 mins.

I like to sprinkle top with icing sugar.