During the Passover/Easter weekend I did a lot, a lot, A LOT of cooking — which also meant a lot of eating. when I was planning the menu I wanted healthy and spring dishes.
Here are two bright, colorful, and healthy winners – Roasted Carrots with Parsley and Lemon Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower.
We’re just days away from two major holidays, Passover and Easter. I grew up celebrating Passover and Mark’s family celebrates Easter and together we practice our family’s traditions and have created some new ones that are now all our own.
For us, the root of our traditions centers on our love of food. Food brings people together, it sparks conversation, and it inspires people to learn more, share more, and love more.
This year for Passover, we’ll be doing a quiet Seder at home and we’ll be hosting a spring brunch on Sunday that will feature elements of both traditions.
As I do my menu planning, I continue to debate (with myself) what to make. The trouble with tradition, or perhaps the reason for tradition, is that so many of the “traditional” foods are no longer part of our regular diet – dishes like low and slow cooked brisket, oversized matzo ball soup, kugels, honey cakes, are once, twice, maybe three times a year specialties. But, that is what makes them special – heavy too – but always special.
Does a departure from the traditional Ashkenazi (Eastern European) menu in favor of a Latin/Asian/Sephardic (North African) inspired meal mean I am losing my traditions? What would Tevye say? Or is it a fun and inspired way to add new culinary skills to a millienia old meal?
These oil laden dishes are really most worth savoring because of the stories of the parents, grandparents and great grandparents that made the same dishes in their own kitchens once upon a time.
In the end I think I will continue to slowly and very subtly make adjustments to our menu, but one thing is for sure, we’ll eat lots and lots of matzo.
If you’re invited to a Seder or just want to have a sweet Passover friendly treat try this recipe out:
For Matzo Toffee – or Matzo Crack, depends on who you ask! 4 to 5 pieces of matzo*Sometimes you just have to do your sweet tooth a favor, and by favor, I obviously mean indulge its cravings and drown it out in chocolate. That’s pretty much the deal with anything that is triple chocolate, like these triple chocolate cupcakes. I made them for a family gathering, because I wanted to accommodate everyone’s dietary restrictions, even if cupcakes typically fall outside of a diet. And, the beauty of these cupcakes is that, even though they are dairy and gluten free, they are awesome!
Triple Chocolate CupcakesIngredients
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup vegan chocolate chips
¼ teaspoon kosher sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup agave nectar
Set oven to 375 degrees
Here’s the thing, with gluten free baking you might come across ingredients that seem a little “ehh” or just plain weird. Frankly that is how I felt about the coconut flour, mainly because the smell and taste of coconut reminds me of a bottle of Banana Boat, but this high in fiber flour has no such smell or taste. So fear not!
Moving on… In a medium size bowl combine the coconut flour and coca powder, salt and baking soda.
In a separate and larger bowl, blend the oil, eggs and agave. Then slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, and add the chocolate chips.
Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into muffin wrappers and bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure they are done and fully baked.
While the beautiful and very chocolatey cupcakes are cooling, get to work on the frosting.
Vegan Chocolate FrostingIngredients
3/4 cup dairy-free spread (Earth-Balance is also soy-free)
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
6 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
In a medium sized bowl mix 
the coca powder, and powdered sugar over the spread with a spoon. Add the vanilla and then use a blender to fully incorporate and achieve the soft, whipped consistency of butter cream, you know without the butter.
Pour yourself a big, BIG glass of milk/soy milk/rice milk/almond milk and enjoy!
Happy Passover!
Posted in Easy Recipe, Jewish Holidays, Passover
Tagged chocolate, Dessert, Easy Recipe, Jewish Holidays, kosher, matzah, Passover
On Monday night our family will come over for a Passover Seder. I am excited to start cooking and have been assembling a menu for weeks.
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| via The Daily Batch |
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| via The Daily Batch |
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| via Smitten Kitchen |
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| via Bon Appetit |
Posted in Her Kitchen, Jewish Holidays, Passover
Tagged brisket, Jewish Holidays, Jewish menus, matzah, menu planning, Passover menus
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Posted in Her Closet, humor, Jewish Holidays, Passover
Tagged meet the inlaws, Passover, rent the runway, what to wear to seder
5 eggs
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| Cooled vegetables with the Swiss cheese on top |
P.S. Mark and Carly secret: During a bridal shower game I had to guess what Mark’s favorite food was that I made. Not lasagna, or crab cakes, or cookies, quiche.
When you want an authentically Jewish brisket recipe, (not barbecue brisket, or pulled brisket, just you the familiar brisket found on Hanukkah, Passover, and Rosh Hashanah tables), you’ll probably need to call a mom, or grandma or aunt. If you want a different variation, visit Food and Wine.
When you unwrap the pan, you slice against the grain. You can let it cool completely and remove the fat, or you can go authentic, and keep the fat on. It’s a holiday, its going to be okay. Enjoy the sauce, the carrots will be full of a sweet and tangy flavor and the meat will be very tender.
Happy Hanukkah!
To be fair this is not so much of a “recipe” as it is a suggestion.
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| Enlarged to show flavor intensity detail! |
Posted in Christmas, Comfort Food, dinner, Easy Recipe, fall, Halloween, Hanukkah, healthy, Her Kitchen, Holiday Food, Jewish Holidays, Passover, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, Seasonal, Thanksgiving
Tagged easy dinner, Easy Recipe, easy side dishes, fall recipes, gluten free recipe, healthy recipe, roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables
I like cookies, brownies, cakes (in slices and in cups) but sometimes, I want to take a break from the butter and sugar, and eggs and go a little bit more natural. By natural, I don’t mean baking with agave or honey, which I have done, or using whole wheat flour, which I do more and more, I mean just eating fruit.
The Daily Batch 