I remember sitting at lunch one day at a restaurant on the corner of 3rd and Harper in Los Angeles with my peeps, Keeli and her husband David (hi, Wolkin!) when Keeli ordered a dish I had never heard of before—chilaquiles. When the word left her mouth I was like, “Umm, do what now?”. For a Jewish lady born and raised in Marietta, GA, I had never heard of chilaquiles before. I was a bit embarrassed because I consider myself a pretty ‘with it’ individual, especially when it comes to food, but I had never heard of chilaquiles until that moment. See now, Keeli was born and raised in California so homegirl was aware of all the best SoCal foods. So when the dish was delivered to the table and I realized it was basically a Mexican version of shakshuka (if shakshuka was made with pita chips, which, by the way, we should make happen), I was in.
As with a lot of dishes, chilaquiles varies amongst regions. You can make it with green or red sauce and I chose red for this one though I think a green sauce would be awesome as well. While I made this recipe with a cast iron skillet, you definitely don’t need to though I do recommend a frying pan that can go straight from stove top to oven. The recipe for this can be found on Interfaithfamily.com. Happy Passover!
Not all quinoa is created equal—at least that’s the case when it comes to finding Kosher for Passover quinoa. It was only recently that this healthy rice/noodle alternative became a hit amongst healthy eaters and though it’s not as popular as it was a few years ago (every fad must end, no?) it absolutely it still embraced every year in my household come Passover. I remember a few years ago, the Trader Joe’s brand of quinoa was one of the few brands that the Orthodox Union had certified as kosher for Passover and you best believe Jews were throwin’ some ‘bows to get their hands on boxes of the stuff. I mean serious, it was like black Friday at a Wal-mart. You’d think they were giving the stuff away from free the way we hoarded it but no, it’s just that it was a better option, FINALLY, than those Kosher for Passover noodles we ate year in and year out (if Jew keep strict kosher during Passover, then Jew know what I’m talking about). Quinoa came at a time where, if I had to look at one more bowl of sad, soppy potato noodles during Passover ONE MORE TIME, I was gonna lose it. The certification process for quinoa is insane and basically, if the OU deems it worthy of it’s Passover certification well, let’s just say it’s like one of my students getting into the Ivies . . . it’s a big deal and it’s very validating. And so, I bring you a list of recipes from some of my favorite food bloggers out there to help broad your quinoa horizons, whether it being during Passover or any time throughout the year. I hope you enjoy! Just 11 more days until Passover . . .
I’m currently sitting in bed. I’m sitting in bed and I’m trying to take care of myself. It hasn’t been easy lately. Every since having our second baby, I feel like I’m in a constant game of catch-up. I know this sounds crazy, but I’m not sure why having the second kiddo destroyed me as much as it did. OK, “destroyed me” is a little dramatic, but I can’t seem to stay awake past 9pm, which means I average a decent night sleep. And, thank Gd, my kids are pretty decent sleepers. So why am I so tired?
I’ve decided there are tons of answers to this question. Maybe it’s the fact that I over-schedule my day, just like most every other person I know. It also probably has to do with not exercising as much as I should but mostly I think it has to do with the amount of stuff I have reeling around in my head. I appreciate the feminist movement and I consider myself a feminist but I’m not sure the feminist movement of the 70s knew what it was getting into when it rallied for fair and equal employment opportunities for women. But, I am grateful. I used to work in a school whose administration over-valued stress and exhaustion. People were heralded for working long hours; the bags under their eyes their little red badges of courage. Now I work for a school where taking a ‘mental health day’ is understood. I have a boss who openly talks about why she doesn’t want us answering texts and phone calls after working hours — the boundary of work and life firmly in tact and celebrated. But still, I get home after picking up the girls and I still struggle with balancing all my responsibilities. When beloved friend and co-author, Sarah at The Patchke Princess started her Sheet-Pan Dinners Instagram handle, I started following immediately. She’s a lot braver than me when it comes with experimenting with sheet-pan dinners, but nevertheless, she has inspired the recipe in this post. We eat meat at least once a week, aside from Shabbat, and being able to throw it on a sheet pan, combine it with roasted vegetables and the perfect seasoning without having to clean anything else makes me so happy. I mean seriously, it is the little things and no additional cleaning is to be celebrated as a big ‘little thing’. Consider this sheet pan chicken a blank slate for which to experiment for further dinners. I hope you enjoy.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 400°F. Place a large 9 x 13″ rimmed baking sheet in the oven while the oven is heating. While that’s heating, combine Ranch dressing mix, mayonnaise, kosher salt and black pepper into a medium-sized bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Clean chicken and dry well. Using a spatula or spoon, coat the chicken in the Ranch mayonnaise mixture. Place the chicken skin-side down on the pre-heated baking sheet. Let that cook for about 10 minutes.
While the chicken cooks, combine all the vegetables into a large bowl. Add olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper to the bowl and stir until well-combined. Once the chicken has cooked for 10 minutes, add the vegetable mixture to the sheet-pan, making sure that none of the vegetables overlap, and cook for another 20 – 25 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
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