Shana Balkin

Shana is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind @saladtherapy and saladtherapy.com, a blog sharing whole-foods-plant-based recipes. She is a professional writer, editor, and consultant, as well as an Orthodox Jewish woman living in Houston, Texas with her husband and three little ones.  

She started Salad Therapy as a way to help people of all ages learn to love incorporating nutritious plant-based foods into their diets, instead of eating them begrudgingly or avoiding them entirely.

Developed with “normal” people in mind – and for even the pickiest of eaters – every dish is made to maximize flavor and nutritional value, without animal products, oil, refined sugar, or highly processed ingredients. In addition to the more obvious salads and smoothies, you’ll find all kinds of nutritious takes on old favorites – from frosted chocolate cake, to lasagna, to ice cream sandwiches, and so much more. 

Salad Therapy was inspired by substantial changes in Shana’s own life and by her desire to share the benefits that she saw in her life by taking on a plant-based diet with others. Not wanting to give up variety or taste she developed recipes that are satisfying and nutritional. In addition to the recipes, the website contains tons of free resources to help viewers on their plant-based journeys. This includes an extensive online shop filled with the highest quality kosher-friendly food products and supplements vetted over the course of nearly a decade, plus other must-haves for all your plant-based, natural, and holistic needs.

While Salad Therapy provides ample tools for those who are very strict about their diets, it is equally a judgment-free zone for those who just want to make little improvements as they’re ready, without changing everything about how they eat. Even for those who don’t want to go vegan, Salad Therapy provides insightful ideas to help people make significant changes to their diets, with the help of an open mind, and less effort than you might think. Shana is very responsive on social media and loves interacting with followers. Don’t hesitate to DM @saladtherapy on Facebook or Instagram if you want to learn more about Salad Therapy or about going plant-based.

Here is a link to Shana’s Blueberry Pie Hamantashen; they are plant-based, refined sugar-free, and gluten-free. 

Sina Mizrahi

Sina is an author, photographer, and the recipe creator behind Gather a Table, a vibrant website that reflects the beauty of the foods included in the recipes she creates, as well as her Sephardic background. Sina is also a wife, mother and avid Farmer’s Market shopper. She and her family live in Jerusalem, Israel.

She started her blog as a way to collect the recipes she was making, with some thoughts and stories behind them. One can’t help but notice her Sephardic roots peeking through assertively in some of the flavors. Some of the more involved recipes are those that she serves to her family and guests at her own Shabbat and Holiday tables.

Growing up in Montreal and then living in New York and Los Angeles gave her a strong foundation in cooking. Life in LA helped to round out her general philosophy on food. She believes that good food should be simple, whole, fresh, vibrant, with lots of herbs and full of bright, seasonal produce. Uncomplicated, and appreciated in its natural splendor. As Sina says on her website, “Sometimes all it takes is a good roast to poke the flavors out to enjoy something a little extraordinary. Essentially, food is a gift from G-d to take pleasure and sustenance from. The sweet juice dripping from a ripe peach, a well composed salad, even the flaky salt topping in a bite of chocolate, or a bite of something utterly decadent, it’s all here to be enjoyed, in good measure, together.” 

‘Together’ is undoubtedly a huge foundation of what food and cooking means to Sina and she sincerely shares this with her readers; whether in the two self published e-books she offers for sale on her website or in her recipes themselves. Visit her site and scroll through her evocative recipes and find inspiration. But whatever you do, she hopes you ‘gather a table’. Here is a link to her recipe for Za’atar Sumac Focaccia Bread. Enjoy this with your friends or family, and add a really good olive oil or some delicious homemade hummus. Sina can also be found on Instagram.

Vicky Cohen and Ruth Fox

This inspiring pair are not only sisters and the team behind the website May I Have That Recipe? They are also the co-authors of “Tahini & Turmeric Cookbook, 101 Middle Eastern Classics, Made Irresistibly Vegan”. Originally from Barcelona, where they were raised, they are of Lebanese descent and both of them currently live in what they call “a small East Coast town in the USA”.  They have a third sister whom they occasionally mention on the blog and she resides in Israel.

Coming from a home where food was so much a part of their daily lives, living in a strange country, in an unfamiliar city, made them yearn for the flavors of home. In Spain the food was infused with flavor, spices and homemade. Rather than pine away for the foods of home they began cooking them and sharing the recipes because all of their guests couldn’t stop asking “May I have that recipe?”. 

The recipes on the website and in their cookbooks are infused with their passion for the meals they prepare as well as a connection to their Lebanese andSpanish roots. The herbs and seasonings are fresh and the smells can transport you to a Middle Eastern shuk (outdoor market). The recipes also happen to be vegetarian and vegan, yet they are filling and nourishing to both the body and soul. A great example of one such recipe is Eggplant Meatballs with Pomegranate Molasses. Follow them on Instagram as well.

Here are a few others you should look for online, on Instagram or YouTube:

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