Chag Samaech - Passover

To those Celebrating, if you are the firstborn, may you have a good fast.

Today is Passover and at sundown it is time to celebrate with a family Seder. I wish all who are honoring this ancient tradition of our Journey out of bondage a sweet and meaningful Chag Sameach!

My heart cries out that this may be true - L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim!

This year I was smart and didn't wait until the last week to find parsley which if you wait too late it becomes almost impossible. In the one store I shop in I had barely taken notice of some herbs near the tomatoes and across from the temporary Passover isle. But last week while shopping again I took notice. They were ORGANIC! and they had Parsley! So I grabbed one and shall have fresh parsley for my table tonight.


And for those of you who barely take a bite of it while dipping in the salt water, here's some info that might make you eat up the whole thing and ask for more!

More than just a garnish, parsley if full of wonderful things (I even take a Kosher supplement of garlic and parsley from Frieda). Parsley is not only the worlds most popular herb it is one that once established in your garden will come up year after year. I even have some growing in my shady yard in a pot and it comes up each year, although sadly not in time for Passover!

Here are some nutritional facts, per 2 tbls

It is full of Vitamin K (something very important to those who have trouble with blood clotting) well over the RDA.

It also contains Vitamin C, A, Folate and Iron, all for a mere 2 calories!

But there's more! A sprig of parsley can provide much more than a decoration on your plate. Parsley contains two types of unusual components that provide unique health benefits. The first type is a volatile oil component of myristicin, limonene, eugenol, and alpha-thujene. The second type is flavonoids-which include apiin, apigenin, crisoeriol, and luteolin. You can read what this means here.

And don't forget the freshness it gives your breath after a meal or between courses!

So don't leave it on your plate as a garnish, that's not the only reason it's there! I even make cool beads with it!

Spring Cleaning for Passover

Chag Sameach Pasach!

How is it we forget year to year what a pain Cleaning for Passover can be? I guess it is partly my fault, I start with cleaning, then that turned into organized, downsizing, labeling, etc. and what should have only taken about 10 minutes to clean out my spice drawer took over an hour. Not only that but I shifted it's place in the kitchen.



One thing I do like, when I first moved in I didn't use regular drawer liner paper. I went to the local bargain outlet and got some high end wallpaper, a nice big heavy roll of it, that is meant for a bath or kitchen, and looks like marble, and used that. It's a snap to wipe clean and very pretty to look at when you catch a glimpse of the bottom of the drawer.

It is such a good feeling when you are done. Exhausted, but done. The house is clean, crumb free, the kitchen is spotless, but now you are afraid to cook in there, afraid to make the slightest mess. Now if it could only stay that way! But soon I will have to make noodles which will probably boil over on me and now that my oven is clean and sparkling, I have to bake my matzoh. I have to bake my own because I have celiac disease and can't eat regular matzoh. I have come up with my own recipe that only takes 9 minutes from start to finish! Cutting the 18 minute time limit in half!

Now if you suddenly found out that you have more guests coming or that Uncle Nathan invited his new girlfriend and her three kids and they are coming early, here is one of my favorite recipes that takes about 5 minutes to prepare with things on hand. I developed this myself as a healthy organic spread to nosh on and it's been so popular, I've had to double the recipe many times because the bowl always gets scraped clean!

I will give you the regular recipe for 1 cup, you double or triple or whatever for your needs. We usually have it with veggie chips but it will go just as well with matzoh!

Spring Fresh Spinach Garlic Dip!

1 brick of cream cheese
2-3 garlic cloves ( depending on the size)
2 tablespoons of a red pepper ( don't worry about chopping too much it will be later)
3 handfuls of fresh spinach, freshly washed

Add cream cheese to processor by cutting it into 1 inch pieces. Next add your garlic and peppers. Pulse and stop occasionally to scrap down sides and move cheese around. When it looks slightly blended ( the red pepper will start coloring the cheese pink), then add your spinach, you should be able to cram it down , if not do it in two phases. Now pulse until spinach is chopped up and incorporated into cheese. Again you may have to stop and with a small spatula, push un-chopped spinach down. Do this until smooth, only takes a couple minutes total. Scrap into nice bowl, put on platter with broken matzoh boards surrounding it. As long as you wash your spinach, it will be creamy enough to dip into. If not, leave a little appetizer spreader knife in it. Don't make room for leftovers, there won't be any!

I love this, and you might need a lift right about now. Matzoh Man Enjoy!

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