Passover was different for me as a kid than it is for me as an adult. With the best of intentions and tradition at heart, my mom set out to make sure we celebrated and observed Passover as best she could. There was no looking for chametz and certainly no mysterious final search complete with feathers and a candle (Do me a favor and try to explain that tradition to someone who isn’t Jewish. “Oh, we go around the house with a feather, a candle and a paper bag looking for pieces of bread that we’ve intentionally laid to be found. It’s totally normal.”  Trust me. We don’t. seem. normal).

But anyway, I digress. My point is we didn’t grow up with a lot of observance but we definitely grew up with a lot of tradition. For example, as a young kiddo, my beloved grandpa would say, in a clear, booming voice, “LO! This is the bread of affliction!” He was so loud that I’m positive our Christian fundamentalist neighbors heard us (and loved it!). But, as we got older and our grandparents couldn’t travel, that job fell to my brother. The Seder meal food was always the same. Every year, every attendant received  an elegant dish full of the saltiest water and one hardboiled egg, which at no other time in life seems good but during an incredibly long Seder seems akin to eating a bagel and lox. It’s that good (and Seder is that long).

My beloved brother and my girls

But now that I’m an adult and living a bit more of an observant life and my oldest is finally old enough to actually have memories and like, keep them and stuff, I’ve been thinking a lot about what Passover memories she’ll take with her as an adult. Maybe it’ll be that time last Passover when we drove from Asheville, NC to Atlanta to visit family and had to stop at a local mountain gas station so that I could make us a Kosher for Passover meal of egg salad and matzah (the locals thought we were craaaaaaaaaay). Or maybe it’ll be this year as she sits through her first Seder (or at least some of her first Seder). Who knows? Whatever those memories are though, I hope they bring her happiness as mine do for me.

My little loves. What memories will they take with them?

So, the recipe! One glorious thing that the health food world has given us is quinoa and though the Rabbis TRIED to take it away from us by deeming only certain kinds of quinoa Kosher for Passover, I have clung to it like white on Sephardic rice. The recipe for this post can be eaten with or without the matzah crunch. I just LOVE sushi with tempura crunch so thought, why not matzah!? Fry it up in some butter and let those bad boys sing! Also, Kosher for Passover nori DOES exist so before you write me telling me it doesn’t, know that I’ve done my research.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:25]

Friends. I’m going to be real honest with you. Every year there are unspoken latke and hamantaschen ‘wars’ between Jewish/Kosher food bloggers. And yes, I have fallen victim to these ‘wars’ ever since starting this blog. I’ve tried to create the next great latke or the next great hamantaschen. I’ve spent hours carefully crafting, photographing and editing posts int he name of this ‘competition’. It was kinda fun, but mostly exhausting. This year, however, I just wanted to make some cookies with my kiddo for no other reason then it’s fun and we like cookies. Plus, this year there are some AMAZING hamantaschen out there like this one and this one. Oh, and THIS one! The savory ones are really having a moment. It’s awesome. So, in the name of the kiddo’s latest obsession, pixie dust, we made these guys. They are tasty and they have TONS of sprinkles on them, but they aren’t the prettiest hamantaschen I’ve ever made.

I’m not quite sure what started her new obsession with pixie dust but it is deep and it is real. We even made pixie dust necklaces one Sunday, which was just a little bit of pink sand in a tiny glass bottle ona sparkle lanyard. It’s funny the obsessions that preschool-aged children have and how they come to be. Be it wanting to wear the same shirt every day or watch the same episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates or wanting the same book every. single. night, there is a comfort in the familiar for this age. I work very hard on being mindful of just how much newness she’s encountered with on a daily basis being on 3 years old. It’s hard as a parent; you get so sick of all the redundancy. But they need the familiarity of it all. They’re little brains are taking in so much newness that the safety they find in the familiar is an easy and necessary comfort. And so, armed with every ounce of pink sprinkles and edible sprinkle hearts we had in the cupboard, we set out to make ‘pixie dust’ hamantaschen (which I later decided would need a name change for fear that if I advertised a recipe for ‘pixie dust hamantaschen’, I might get some seriously confused readers looking for a different kind of cookie, ifyouknowwhatimean). #saynotodrugs.

Cooking with my ladies.

Our pixie dust necklace — 1 tiny glass jar + pink sand + super glue + shimmery gold lanyard string.

My assistant being extremely intentional with every. single. sprinkle.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:23]

Look at all that free stuff

Friends! It’s a giveaway day! My girls, Amy, Sarah and Liz, and I have teamed up to bring you the ultimate Passover giveaway and I couldn’t be more excited to tell you about it.  Let’s get down to the nitty, gritty; the free stuff.

1.  Our E-cookbook – THE #1 selling book in kosher and holiday is by us, your 4 bloggers!  Entitled, 4 Bloggers Dish Passover: Modern Twists on Traditional Flavors, our E-cookbook contains 50+ kosher for Passover recipes.  It’s our ‘how-to’ guide for all things Passover and the best part? The recipes are so delicious you will want to cook them all year-long!

2. Matzah Cell Phone Case from Sealed with a Case – Made to order, they are available for the iPhone 4/4S, and 5, as well as the Samsung Galaxy – and they are available with black, clear, or white sides.

3. Passover Pillow Case by Esther O. -Bring order and elegance to your Seder table with these gorgeous and practical Pesach pillowcases. With two unique styles to choose from, these pillowcases are a cotton/poly blend with embroidery and rhinestones, and fit standard-sized bed pillows.

4. Tea Towel from the What Jew Wanna Eat, The Etsy Store – A $12 values, this sweet little tea towel is designed by our very own Amy Kritzer from What Jew Wanna Eat and is our little gift for you to use all year round!

So, how does one enter to win these glorious items? By clicking on the Rafflecopter link below.  You have 15 ways to enter, including the option of a daily tweet about the giveaway (which gives you another chance to win each time you tweet)!

Finally, we’d like to collectively thank Amanda from Sealed with a Case and Esther from Esther O. designs for generously supplying us with their fabulous goods to giveaway.  Now go forth and enter!  And remember, just because it’s only 3 weeks until Passover doesn’t mean you’ve got to panic.  We’ve got your back.

a Rafflecopter giveaway