The Real Life Cooking Strategy Guide Blog: Easy recipes from Ancient Israel

Farm Worker's Breakfast
Grape Juice
Bread
Cheese
Olive Oil
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
No Marinating needed.
The modern Israeli breakfast is a large breakfast of eggs, salads, olives, cheeses, Israeli bread, juice, and coffee. However, in Ancient Israel, everyone didn't eat breakfast, only the farm workers, who rose early in the morning to work, ate a small breakfast. Everyone else ate their large first meal around 11AM in the morning, and then a small dinner, and that's all. This is what was often in a farmer worker's breakfast, (they got 3 meals a day.)

Ingredients and Shopping List:
A couple of slices of Bread (Preferably whole wheat)
A couple of slices of Cheese (goat or sheep cheese or any kind)
A glass of Grape Juice (really watery wine, but grape juice is healthier for the brain.)
1/4 cup of Olive Oil

Equipment:
No equipment needed.

Instructions:
Put cheese and bread on a plate. Get grape juice and olive oil.

To eat the bread, spread olive oil onto the bread and dip it into the grape juice; or dip it into the olive oil, and then dip it into the grape juice.

Eat.

Note: The brain foods in this meal are olive oil and grape juice.

Everybody's Lunch
Grape Juice or Water
Bread
Fish
Roasted Grain
Olives
Figs
Raisins
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
No marinating needed.
Remember the little boy in the Bible with the five loaves and two fishes? Well, his sack lunch may have started out something like this one, but by the time Jesus asked to borrow his lunch, he had eaten all the fruit and olives, so all that was left was five loaves and two fishes. The fruit in the lunches changed with the seasons. Many Ancient Israeli males spent their days away from home because work was away from home in the fields outside of town (the fields were not near the homes), fishing, working a trade, working in the synagogue. So, many first meals of the day were sack lunches. Females stayed in the home making flour, bread, cheese, and soup etc... from scratch, which took all day.

Ingredients and Shopping List:
4 or 5 Slices of Bread (Preferably whole wheat)
1 cup of Grape Nuts (or Whole Grain Barley Tea, or Roasted Barley Grains if you know how to make them)
1 cup of Olives
½ cup of Figs
½ cup of Raisins
1 small package of Tilapia fillets (fish) or Red Belly Tilapia fillets (Tilapia is the kind of fish caught in the Sea of Galilee. They also ate other kinds of dried or salted fish imported from other countries. If you don't want to cook you can use canned tuna or sardines for this meal).
¼ cup of Olive Oil
1 Crushed Garlic Clove or 1 tablespoon of Crushed Garlic
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Water or Grape Juice to drink

Equipment:
Microwave
Paper wax paper or microwave-safe lid for covering microwaving food
Microwave-safe cooking dish for fish
Cooking brush or paper towel
Wax Paper or microwave-safe lid

Instructions:
Put olive oil in the microwave-safe cooking dish. Place the tilapia in the dish, so that no one fillet is on top of the other. Spread olive oil and garlic all over the fish with a cooking brush or paper towel. Cover the fish with the wax paper of microwave-safe lid. Microwave for 2 minutes. Turn over. Microwave for 2 more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put all of the bread, grape nuts, fish and everything on the plate. To eat the bread, spread it with olive oil and dip it into the grape juice; or dip it into the olive oil and then into the grape juice.

Eat.

Note: The brain food in this meal are tilapia fish, olives, raisins, garlic, olive oil, and grape juice.

Note: The story about the little boy with the five loaves and two fishes is in the Bible, in the Book of John, Chapter 6:1-14.

Picture of modern-day Red Belly Tilapia aka S.t Peter's Fish served with french fries and coleslaw courtesy of Etan Tal.

Dinner
Yogurt Drink or Kefir
Honey
Bread
Lentil Soup
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
No Marinating needed.

Modern day raw honey courtesy of akarlovic.

Ingredients and Shopping List:
1 bottle of Drinkable Yogurt or Kefir
1 carton of Lentil Soup without any meat in it
a few slices of Bread
Honey or Raw Honey (Raw honey should never be eaten by any child under 1 year of age, nor anyone with a compromised immune system, including the elderly.)

Equipment:
Microwave
Paper towel or wax paper for covering microwaving food.

Instructions:
Cover soup with paper towel or wax paper. Heat up the soup in the microwave in the microwave-safe bowl for about 3 minutes.
Spread the honey on the bread. (The honey really would have gone into the yogurt drink, but modern drinkable yogurt is already sweet, so let's just put the honey on the bread. Honey is very nutritional for the brain, especially if its raw).

Eat.

Note: The brain foods in this meal are drinkable yogurt and raw honey. Raw honey should never be fed to children under 1 year of age, or people who have a compromised immune system. Yogurt is one of the most healthy foods of all foods and is an excellent food for the elderly.

Note: If you would like to make your own drinkable yogurt, mix or blend in blender 50/50 water and yogurt. If you use plain yogurt you can add honey or raw honey to the mix. The quickest way it to just pour the water into the glass first, then pour in the yogurt and mix well with a fork. You can also use 50/50 yogurt and milk if you like for a richer taste, but for those who are lactose intolerant (and for those who are weight loss resistant and on a strict low glycemic diet)a 50/50 water and yogurt mix is better. The flavor with the water is fine.