Reviewing: “Family Friendly Mediterranean-Style Cooking: With a Groundbreaking Guide to Weight Loss, Weight Control and Cardiovascular Health,” Feldheim. 2018. 286 pages. ISBN: 9781568716244. $24.99.
In his new book, “Family Friendly Mediterranean-Style Cooking: With a Groundbreaking Guide to Weight Loss, Weight Control and Cardiovascular Health” (Targum Press), Dr. Arnold Slyper offers up the Israeli version of the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle. Arnold Slyer, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist, cleverly combines family-friendly recipes with nutritional guidance, helping you serve up healthier meals.
The Mediterranean diet is a super-healthy diet for numerous medical conditions, in large part because of its antioxidant content. Traditionally, this diet is low in animal products. The Israeli Mediterranean diet includes moderate amounts of dairy, meat and eggs, and is a practical solution for many Western families. Slyper’s family-friendly cookbook contains delicious Mediterranean-style recipes to get you started on this program.
The first section of his book contains 190 delicious, family-friendly recipes in an Israeli-Mediterranean style. This is a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and olive oil. It also contains moderate amounts of full-fat dairy, eggs, fish, poultry and some red meat.
The second section of Dr. Slyper’s book focuses on a health guide that explains why the Mediterranean diet prolongs longevity and improves health, why the nutritional control of excessive hunger is an essential first step in weight control and how successful weight loss can be achieved by “regulating” carbs (this is not very low-carb dieting). He explains why restricting total and saturated fat and eggs for cardiovascular disease and obesity prevention is a total myth, why eating plenty of natural, plant-based antioxidants is essential for cardiovascular health, and how attention to glycemic index can improve elevated blood sugars in diabetes and pre-diabetes.
Arnold Slyper discovered the Israeli Mediterranean diet while strolling through the Mahane Yehune market (the famous fruit and vegetable market in Jerusalem), eating in friends’ homes in Israel, eating at restaurants in Jerusalem and looking at what people were eating as he walked past the numerous restaurants lining Jerusalem’s streets.
Slyper writes: “Israelis eat a somewhat Western-style diet. They eat a fair amount of eggs. Red meat is not eaten as often as it is in America since it’s expensive. Nevertheless, chicken and limited amounts of red meat are often part of Israeli meal planning. Israelis eat a significant amount of dairy in the form of milk, cheese, leben (soured milk products) and yogurt.”
He continues: “The diet of health-conscious Israelis is also very Mediterranean-like in that it contains lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts and spices. Many Israelis eat their meals in a very Mediterranean way, with veggies and fruits mixed together with grains and meat. Fresh fruits are bought in season. Plates of vegetables are often served as hors d’oeuvres, and olive oil is used extensively for salad dressings and cooking, including for roasting vegetables.”
Dr. Slyper strongly believes that a good quality Israeli Mediterranean diet is a wonderful model for how Mediterranean and Western culinary cultures can be blended together.
“Family Friendly Mediterranean-Style Cooking” includes the following chapters: Mediterranean-Style Eating, Experimenting With Grains, Jazzing Up Vegetables, Classy Cold Salads, Breakfast—an Essential Meal, Snacking to Health, Satisfying Soups, Encouraging Fish, Tasty Desserts, The Israeli Mediterranean Diet—Debunking the Myths and Moving Forward, Preventing Excessive Weight Gain by Controlling Your Hunger, Lose Weight by Regulating Carbs?, Go Mediterranean and Save your Arteries—and your Life, Improve Your Blood Sugars Using Low-Glycemic Carbohydrate, The Carbohydrate and Fiber Content of Groups of Foods and References for the Scientifically Curious.
In addition, you’ll find family-friendly, Mediterranean-style recipes for Split Pea and Barley Soup (below), Couscous Chicken (below), A Really Delicious Cholent (below), Quinoa With Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Leeks & Slivered Almonds, Turkey Meatballs, Lentils and Mint, Middle East Vegetable Tacos, Pasta Ratatouille Bake, Rice and Lentil Pilaf (Majedra), Mushroom Kasha Pilaf, Quinoa With Black Beans, Mushroom Barley Casserole, Shakshuka, Turkish Salad Dip, White Bean and Meatball Soup, Honey Salmon, Spanish-Style Fish, Apple Muffins, Fruit-Almond Crisp and Zucchini Carrot Cake with Oats.
Enjoy the Israeli version of cooking family-friendly Mediterranean-style meals. Bitayavon—eat in good health!
Cooking Time: 70 minutes
Serves 9
This is an irresistible soup—and kids and adults will love it. It’s also very filling.
In a large saucepan, combine the split peas, onion, carrot, celery, garlic and 6 cups of broth, and bring the ingredients to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer the mixture in an uncovered pan for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If the liquid gets too low, add more water to prevent scorching.
Meanwhile, in a small, covered saucepan, cook the barley in the remaining 1 cup of broth plus 1 cup of water over a low heat for 40 to 60 minutes or until the barley is tender.
When the vegetable mixture is done, purée it using an immersion blender.
Stir in the barley, herb seasoning and white pepper.
Heat the soup over low heat, stirring often before serving.
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 25 g total carbohydrate, 156 cals, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 9 g fiber, 761 mg sodium
Tip: Serving soup as a first course is an excellent way for providing satiation from a main meal and preventing after-meal snacking. Soups also make nutritional snacks.
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
With its mixture of vegetables, grain and chicken, this tasty dish is Mediterranean-style to the core. Couscous is a form of pasta. Like pasta, it is often made from semolina and durum wheat and therefore has a low glycemic index.
In a large frying pan, sauté the onion and garlic in hot oil until tender but not brown.
Add the chicken, carrots, celery, chicken stock, salt, cumin, turmeric and red pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the zucchini, tomatoes and garbanzo beans. Cover and cook for 10 minutes more or until the vegetables and chicken are tender.
In the meantime, prepare the couscous according to the packet instructions. (Once the pot of water is boiled, this takes just over 10 minutes to cook.)
Serve the chicken dish over the couscous.
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 87 g total carbohydrate, 558 cals, 9 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 12 g fiber, 546 mg sodium
Preparation and Cooking Time: Marinating of the beef overnight, and cooking of the cholent overnight.
Serves 4
Cholent is a traditional dish made by Orthodox Jews especially for the Sabbath. Jewish law does not permit cooking a raw dish on the Jewish Sabbath, but it is permitted to keep food warm on a slow burner overnight. A crockpot plugged in on Friday is also permitted. Many cholents contain barley and potato. This one contains wheat berries, potato and chickpeas. This combination congeals less than barley and the leftovers taste just as delicious during the rest of the week as they do on the Sabbath!
Marinate the beef stew overnight in the beer.
Place the meat and the beer in the crockpot together with the other ingredients.
Cover with water to fill the crockpot and cook on low overnight.
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 53 g total carbohydrate, 643 cals, 25 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 8 g fiber, 429 mg sodium
By Norene Gilletz
(reprinted from Canadian Jewish News)
Norene Gilletz is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada. She is the author of 12 cookbooks and divides her time between work as a food writer, food manufacturer, consultant, spokesperson, cooking instructor, lecturer and cookbook editor. Norene lives in Toronto, Canada and her motto is “Food that’s good for you should taste good!” For more information, visit her website at www.gourmania.com�or email her at [email protected].
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