Nir Etzion now has ready-made vegetarian meals, prepared with soy instead of meat. The pasta Bolognese tasted quite good, and could pass for the "real" thing. Another vegetarian dish is stuffed peppers with soy "meat" and potatoes. The Nir Etzion dishes are available in Supersol and Coop Blue Square stores; a 900-gram box of the pasta Bolognese is NIS 25, while the stuffed peppers are NIS 22.
If you want to prepare a sandwich for the kids with something a little healthier than regular chocolate spread, try the cream-cheese spread with chocolate or hazelnut flavor by Machlevana; you can find them in the refrigerated foods department of your supermarket for NIS 12.79.
If you're looking for something tasty but not too greasy to put on your barbecue, Tirat Zvi is offering you meat that contains less fat (than the previous version, that is). New are the company's hot dogs, hamburgers, and kebab, which contain only half of the fat (8% for the hot dogs, 9% for the hamburgers and kebab). Also new is a series of pastrami options containing half the amount of sodium; a 400-gram pack of the new chicken hot dogs is NIS 12.50, one-kilogram is NIS 25.90, the kebab and the hamburgers are NIS 16, and the reduced-sodium pastrami is NIS 26.90 for 360 gr.
A new version of the Shugi squares breakfast cereals is filled with nougat cream and cinnamon added to the oats. The Shugi squares are supposedly a good source of dietary fiber; a 500-gram box is NIS 18.
Osem has a new barbecue sauce and a new spicy tomato sauce that will make the preparation of certain dishes easier. The barbecue sauce can be used as a dip for schnitzels or hamburgers, and it is tasty on chicken, noodles, rice or vegetables, too. The spicy tomato sauce could serve as sauce for meatballs, pasta, or as a basis for shakshuka (a tomato dish with vegetables and eggs); a 290-milliliter bottle is NIS 9.50.
Ice creams that provide fun long after they are eaten are Strauss' arrow-shaped ice creams on a stick. The stick can also serve as a mini-frisbee, and Strauss has launched a frisbee game on the Internet (www.shesh.co.il). The winner - the person who collects the most frisbee sticks - can win a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The price for a frisbee ice cream is NIS 4.90, and a box of four is NIS 19.90. Other new ice creams for kids are the Graffiti (NIS 4.20) and the Cornetto cone filled with Elite "cow" chocolate (NIS 5).
A new Nestle ice cream that will be enjoyed by adults is the Nok Out chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream with cookies. Also enjoyable is the chocolate ice cream with hazelnut; this sinfully delicious treat is NIS 7.40.
Especially for the summer season, Danone has come up with some new yogurts with exotic fruits. The new flavors are strawberry-litchi and figs (both containing 1.5% fat). New diet yogurt flavors are banana-passion fruit and strawberry cake. The price for a small tub is NIS 3.23.
Petit beurre biscuits are a common ingredient for cheesecake, something you will probably bake (or buy) next week for the Shavuot holiday. Osem now has petit beurre biscuits made out of whole wheat. They're also good to eat simply as a snack, of course. A 230-gram package is NIS 6.45.
