Fruit Salad Discovery
by jillbcooks 4/1/2010 8:28:00 AM

Last weekend my husband and I went out for brunch.  When we got out to eat, we often use the time to figure out plans for travel or holidays or coordinating our schedules for the week.  I knew that I wanted to figure out what we were making for Passover seder.  I love menu planning, but I do find Passover a bit challenging, since my favorite cakes and pies are not kosher for Passover. My husband had a simple solution to my dessert quandary.  He said just serve fruit with a bit of whipped cream.  I had just been up to the brunch buffet where we were eating and passed on the fruit—huge chunks of cantaloupe and honeydew.  I don’t love honeydew...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: Passover, Seder, dessert, brunch, fruit salad, honeydew

Transporting Food This Holiday
by jillbcooks 3/26/2010 4:33:00 PM

You might be headed to a Seder or to Easter brunch or dinner and are bringing a dish to share.  Transporting perishable food requires care.  Cold Foods: Should be wrapped tightly or be in a container with a very tight fitting lid (especially foods that are especially liquidy).  If your journey is in warm weather or your travel time is more than 30 minutes, pack your dish in a cooler with gel freezer packs or plastic bags of ice cubes.  Or, save some plastic bottles, fill them three-quarters of the way full of water and cap to make your own cold packs.  This ...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: Easter, food safety, Passover, Seder, perishables, leeks au gratin, layered yogurt fruit salad

Passover Isn’t About Deprivation
by jillbcooks 3/24/2010 5:38:00 PM

One of the aspects of celebrating Passover is avoiding chametz, or leaveners, in food as a way of acknowledging the flight of the Israelites from Egypt.  The Israelites did not have time to let their bread leaven once Pharaoh finally released them from bondage, or as my husband puts it, they didn’t want to wait around for Pharaoh to change his mind.  If you’ve never refrained from chametz during Passover, it is a little bit difficult to wrap your mind around.  No flour, no breadcrumbs, no pasta, no bread, no pizza, no cookies, no cake, well, you get the idea. The foundation “starch” at Passover is matzoh.  Using matzoh meal (finely ground...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: chametz, Matzoh, Passover, coffee cake, banana nut bread, Pesach

Post Passover Cookie and Cake Party
by jillbcooks 4/16/2009 9:09:00 AM

Learning about different holiday traditions can be fun and can inspire new ways to celebrate at home.  When it comes to traditions for the Jewish holidays, especially food traditions, they vary widely based on where people live.  One of my favorite holidays is called the Mimouna, and is associated with the Jews of North Africa.  As the week of Passover draws to a close at sundown on the last day, the Mimouna begins.  The celebration is all about enjoying the leavened foods that are avoided during Passover, where people have open houses featuring buffets of treats. What could be better than harkening spring by eating cakes, cookies and candies? These would be fan...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: Lemon Bars, Open House, Party Cake, Passover

A Twist on the Classic Meringue
by jillbcooks 4/15/2009 3:08:00 PM

Don’t get me wrong, meringue cookies can be very good, especially if you make them yourself, but some commercial ones are simultaneously cloying and tasteless.  Long associated with Passover because they do not include flour, meringue can be a versatile component of a dessert, serving as a base as in a Pavlova, as a topping as in lemon meringue pie, or, my favorite, as an edible dessert bowl.  This twist—making the meringue into a bowl—is not only a smart way to present a substantial dessert that is kosher for Passover, but a show-stopping one as well. I love chocolate as an ending to any meal, and the ...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: desserts, ice cream, meringues, Passover, Seder

Passover Meal Solutions
by jillbcooks 4/14/2009 7:56:00 AM

The challenge of cooking during Passover is avoiding food with leavening agents in them, and that category of ingredients is quite large and includes flour.  Variety is often sacrificed for the same meals of meat and vegetables.  Get out of the rut and try to incorporate variety with this recipe for Asian Lettuce Wraps.   Using lettuce rather than bread or tortillas is a fun and chametz-free solution.  Asian Lettuce WrapsServes 4 16 Boston Bibb or Romaine lettuce leaves1 pound ground beef1 large onion, chopped2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced1 cup red and green bell peppers, sl...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: Asian Lettuce Wraps, chametz, Passover, Taco Salad

Passover: The Festival of Spring
by jillbcooks 4/13/2009 2:07:00 PM

Passover is also known by another name, Hag ha-Aviv, which means Festival of Spring.  The timing of the holiday shifts, as it is based on the vernal equinox and the cycles of the moon and the Hebrew calendar.  If the month of the holiday (called Nisan, and Passover begins the 15th of Nisan) arrived and spring had not, an additional month (called an intercalary month) would be added to the calendar to delay the coming of Passover until it was truly springtime.  One way to celebrate Hag ha-Aviv is by eating fresh, seasonal foods.  This helps counterbalance the heaviness of some other traditional Passover foods like baked goods without leavening agents.  Pass...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: spring, Matzoh, Nectarine Salsa, Passover, Salmon

Matzoh Brei Is a Great Weekend Breakfast
by jillbcooks 4/10/2009 9:25:00 AM

If you have ever attended a religious school, like parochial school or a Jewish day school, you might know a little something about watching the clock tick during morning prayer.  I was a teacher at a Jewish day school, which had a compulsory prayer period every morning.  As you can imagine, some students took it very seriously, some were present and indifferent, and some were truly misbehaved.  The administration of our school recognized that students might be more engaged if they had some meaningful activity related to Judaism instead of traditional prayer.  A fearless young teacher, I volunteered for the program’s pilot and was assigned Jewish Cooking, wi...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: Matzoh, Matzoh Brei, Melon Cucumber Salad, Passover

Passover Recipe: Shepherd’s Pie
by jillbcooks 4/9/2009 11:55:00 AM

One of the staples at my house during Passover is crustless Shepherd’s Pie.  I love meat pies and have a special fondness for tourtiere, a family favorite that is a nod to our French Canadian heritage. My husband lived in England for a year and quickly became enamored with traditional pasties, dough pockets with meat and vegetables in them.  While we love the flaky crust of a chicken pot pie, we also love a simple Shepherd’s Pie, which is a dish of meat, gravy and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes.  While a dish with a baked potato topping is sometimes called Cottage Pie, the name Shepherd’s Pie is particularly appropriate at Passover because...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: Kosher, Passover, Shepherd's Pie

Kids in the Kitchen: Charoset
by jillbcooks 4/8/2009 1:31:00 PM

Much of the Seder is about the bitterness and sorrow of life in Egypt under Pharoh.  While charoset looks like the mortar that the Israelites used to build Egyptian cities, it tastes sweet to celebrate being freed from Egypt.  Making charoset is a great activity for children, since it is simple and uncooked.  Even small children can help with mashing the apples.  Older children can practice measuring and following directions.  When cooking with kids, it is often easier to use gadgets designed for convenience.  Peeling and coring apples is made easy with a ...

[Keep Reading]

Tags: apples, Charoset, Gadgets, Haroset, Passover