Happy Passover y’all! How’s everyone’s holiday going? How were your sedarim?  I survived my first Seder.  I not only survived hosting my first Seder but I also really enjoyed it. Our first night didn’t go as originally planned and it ended up just being my wonderful husband and I, so we enjoyed our cups of wine and we may have even rapped the Four Questions so even though we were by ourselves the first night, we still nailed it.  Our second night was pretty awesome as well.  We hosted lab mates from my husband’s PhD program (he’s a marine biologist).  No one was Jewish but it didn’t matter.  There was wonderful conversation, folks participated, I printed our visual aids for the order of the Seder and the 10 plagues, and I gotta say, it was really a lovely night.  I made WAY too much food and actually ended up sending folks home with goodie bags of meatballs and charoset, which is definitely normal, right?  I mean, who wouldn’t want a goodie bag of meatballs and charoset?  I’m thinking of giving that out as party favors for the kid’s first birthday in a couple of months.  You know, something for the kids.

Anyway, I’m currently in Atlanta visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their wonderful kids.  I flew solo with the baby, which was an Exodus in its own right (read: people do NOT like babies when flying.  People do not like you AND your baby when flying. It does not matter that your baby slept the whole time and didn’t make a peep, you will be ostracized from your plane-community and glared at for deeming to leave the comforts of the ground and flying with your baby.  And it’s Passover so there is no enjoying a coffee during my 8AM flight with the baby nor is there any enjoying a Bloody Mary either . . . which I would definitely not drink with the baby.  Definitely not. ).  But anyway, I digress.  We’re in Atlanta, I miss my amazing husband but I feel like I passed through a mom-hurtle with this solo traveling with baby and I’m gonna pat myself on the back for that.

Image

Solo Flight Success

This week’s recipes once again feature the deliciousness that is Temp Tee.  When organizing the menu for our Passover week I tried really hard to only include fresh vegetables and fruit and lay off the starches.  I wanted to go light in the afternoon knowing that dinners would be a little more filling.  I also wanted to save money because Passover, though a favorite holiday of mine, is draining on the wallet.  As a result, I settled on a gravlax and herb cream cheese recipe that could be eaten for several breakfasts/brunches as well as an eggplant and baby portobella mushroom saute with an avocado and Temp Tee crema.  Recipes can be viewed on the Joy of Kosher website.  Simply click on the recipe titles below (Gravlax can be found after eggplant pictures) and enjoy!  Chag Sameach and Happy Easter to our readers who celebrate!

*This blog post is sponsored by the fine folks at Temp Tee, but all opinions and recipes in this post are my own.

Eggplant and Portobella Saute with Temp Tee and Avocado Sauce

Image

Getting Ready to Make Some Magic

Image

The Flavors of Miami

Image

The Flavors of Miami Meet the Flavors of Passover!

Image

Everything is Better with Sauce

Image

The Final Product. Delicious!

Gravlax with Herbed Cream Cheese

Image

Fresh Herbs

Image

Fresh Herbs and Temp Tee = Partners in Tasty Heaven

Image

Fresh Fish, Herbed Cream Cheese — What More Could You Ask For?

image_pdfimage_print

Hey gang.  This month’s Kosher Connection round-up theme is Passover-friendly desserts.  This initially intimidated the crap outta me.  I tried (and failed) at cashew/almond brittle but then it hit me.  While most of the Jews of these great United States will be celebrating Passover in frigid temperatures, us Miami Jews will be living it up in this balmy spring/summer weather.  And what’s better than a cool, delicious popsicle in this Miami heat!?  And of course, nothing (to me, at least) says “Jew” and “Passover” much like an egg cream.  That classic combination of chocolate syrup, milk and seltzer—-all of which have nothing to do with eggs or cream (OK, maybe the milk is kinda like cream).  Plus, and let’s be honest, I’m overwhelmed and can’t imagine baking desserts on top of all the cooking I have to do for my very first Seder! That’s right y’all, I’m hosting my first Seder.  Heck, I’m hosting two Sedarim and a lunch!  I’m overwhelmed.  I may or may not have cried a little last night trying to think about how to figure out to cook, clean, take care of my little one and go to work full-time.  So, rather than get into a story from the week or some new neurosis I’m working on I’m asking YOU for stories and advice.  HELP! What advice do you have for a first-time Seder hostess? What have you learned through your own experiences?  What made a Seder memorable for you (positively or negatively)?  Tell! Tell!  Please feel free to leave stories, advice, etc. in the comments section of this post.  It’s appreciated.  Yours,

Whit

Ahhh, the union of chocolate, milk and seltzer.

Ahhh, the union of chocolate, milk and seltzer.

Egg Cream Popsicles (the recipe is based on how many popsicle holders you have use of—just make sure that there’s a little less seltzer than milk as seltzer needs diluting in order to freeze).

WHAT!?

~4 Popsicles

* 1/2 Cup seltzer
* 1 Cup Milk

* 3 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup

* Handful of Chocolate Chips

How’s That Now!?

Pour 1/2 inch of cold milk into a tall soda glass.

Add seltzer or club soda to within 1 inch of the top of a 2 cup glass measuring cup with a spout; stir vigorously with a long spoon (this will cause it to foam/bubble, which you want!).  Very gently pour 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup slowly down the inside of the glass; briskly stir with a long spoon only at the bottom of the glass where the chocolate sits. The resulting drink should have a dark brown bottom and a 1-inch high pure white foam top.  When assembling in popsicle holders — put chocolate chips in first (about 1/4 in full) then add liquid up to the top.  Freeze and enjoy!

We're getting serious now

We’re getting serious now

This is very serious business :)

This is very serious business 🙂

**Please excuse no finished product picture. It’s dark and the light in the apartment stinks so I’m just not doing it. 🙂

image_pdfimage_print

ImageSo I had a moment with Girl Scout Cookies recently.  By moment I mean…a friend of mine back home in Arkansas was selling them for her daughter.  So what.  Everybody is selling Girl Scout Cookies.  Well, my moment consisted of typing these words:  I’ll take a case  of Samoas.

A case, y’all.  That’s like 24 boxes, I think?  A case.  I couldn’t just be a normal person and say, “I’d like 3 boxes.”  No.  I’ll go ahead and have my waist line commit suicide and take as many cookies as I can get in one easy to manage giant box.  I know what you’re thinking.  Give them away.  Sell them.  Put them in the freezer.  What I’m saying is…I don’t share Girl Scout Cookies, selling them would be like having a baby and then leaving it on someone’s door step and putting cookies in a freezer is wrong because cookies don’t wear coats.  I love Samoas.  They are my favorite cookie.  So, whatever, y’all.  Tikkun Olam.

And then they attacked me.  One day after I ordered the cookies I actually had 2 boxes of them for dinner.  I had a box for breakfast.  I ate a couple of boxes of Samoas while watching GIRLS.  I was spiraling out of control.  Cookies for breakfast.  Cookies for a mid morning snack.  Cookies in the car.  I was a mess.  I noticed that my cute little corduroy pants weren’t fitting so well.  I kinda freaked. 

Then I went into “captain of the Titanic mode.”  What’s that you say?  That’s when you see that a giant ship is going down and you grab your tiny little bucket and start scooping water and throwing it over the side of the boat.  That consists of me trying to cut sugar out of my life, refusing soda, trying to cook things that are good for me and making better choices if I go to restaurants.  We’ll see what happens.  At least maybe I’ll feel better, like I’m doing something for myself.  Let’s hope I wake up 20 pounds lighter.

Anywho, one of the things I’m trying to do is to cook whole foods that I’ve never tried before.  This week I went to the store and got my usual Tilapia fillets.  I wanted to pick a vegetable to go with them that I’d not cooked in it’s natural form, that is…I wanted to cook something that didn’t come from a can.  After staring at the produce for about 10 minutes, I decided to go with Beets.  That seemed like a pretty easy choice.  I googled “Ina Garten Beet Recipe” and decided I was up for the challenge.

So, I got the beets, I followed the directions, I cooked them.  Easy.  Wonderful.  So delicious.  They were really wonderful.  Food that doesn’t come from a can really does taste better.  It feels like you’re a magician.  So amazing.

Then?  The beets hit my system.  Now, maybe I should zip it so that you experience this on your own someday, but I’m not very good at keeping my mouth shut.  All food that isn’t in your produce section clearly goes through some sort of a process.  Even canned veggies.  I have eaten beats several times.  I love them.  I’ve added a little balsamic to them and tossed them with blue cheese.  I’ve eaten them right out of a can.  They’re delicious and good for you.  BUT.  I had never made them myself right from the produce section.

The morning after roasting the beets I got up to go to the bathroom as usual.  YOU GUYS.  I had the most gorgeous fuchsia urine the world has ever seen.  It took me a minute to get to appreciating it though.  When I first saw it I was sure that I was dying.  I stared into the toilet wondering what awful disease the Girl Scout Cookies had given me.  Then I realized what was going on.  It was the beets.  Later on my way to work I get this text message from my husband, “I have purple pee and poop, disturbing yet beautiful…”

So…consider yourself warned.

WHAT

12 beets
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
Juice of 1 large orange

HOW?

 
Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the tops and the roots of the beets and peel each one with a vegetable peeler. Cut the beets in 1 1/2-inch chunks. (Small beets can be halved, medium ones cut in quarters, and large beets cut in eighths.)

Place the cut beets on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, thyme leaves, salt, and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, turning once or twice with a spatula, until the beets are tender. Remove from the oven and immediately toss with the vinegar and orange juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve warm.

image_pdfimage_print
image_pdfimage_print
%d bloggers like this: