Lunch on Passover

I find, one of the biggest challenges of Passover is lunch.  The food in the house is different and what I normally would throw together is not available.  I usually resort to eggs since we have lots of them.  When, I went to take out the eggs, I spotted a small container of shredded carrots and a small bag of potato cubes (cooked) and a piece of raw onion.  No challenge here, I would put them into the egg but that is so mundane.

Instead, I pulled out the mini processor and threw everything in, plus some garlic, 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and blended it together.  I cooked it in a skillet and presto, I had breakfast.  The carrots shined through and gave a slightly sweet tinge to the egg mixture.  I liked it a lot and would like to play around with this, using different vegetable and different amounts.

Ingredients: (These are approximate amounts. )

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup potato chunks

1 medium onion chunked

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

2 eggs

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

cooking spray

Procedure

In a blender or food  processor, put all ingredients, except parsley and blend until you have a smooth mixture.

Grease a medium-sized skillet and pour in mixture.  Sprinkle with parsley.  Cook on one side until it is a light brown.  I cooked on low for about 3 minutes.  Turn and cook other side for another 3 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve and enjoy.

This is linked to  Real Food Wednesdays   Pennywise Platter Thursdays

Passover Blondies with Chocolate Chips

The first two days of Passover are over and frankly, I am exhausted.  They were wonderful days, filled to the brim.  We had our youngest son with his little ones, over and they happily dominated our days and most important the seder.  To see such little kids know so much about what is done and participating is heartwarming.  The youngest, not yet two fell in love with the potatoes.  Every time, she came into the living room, she had a raw potato in each hand.  This was cute until her 4 year old brother threw a potato at her.   It didn’t faze her.  No more potatoes for a while.

The seders are always enriching.  Going through the rituals do bring us to a closer understanding of what our ancestors went through and how brave they were.

Right now, I am ready to go to sleep although, I doubt that is going to happen.  I will be back, hopefully with some  more of the dishes, I made.  We did eat well.

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The kids ate these up with gusto and so did we. 

Pesach Blondies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup potato starch
3/4 cup ground almonds .
1 cup chocolate chips (I added more)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9x 13 pan.

Mix eggs, sugars, and oil together. Add  vanilla, potato starch and baking powder.

Mix until each ingredient is incorporated into the batter.

Add chocolate chips and mix into batter.  (Mine went to the bottom.)

Pour into pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a sharp knife comes out clean.

Cool completely.  Cut into squares.  I made  32 squares.

I guess these can be iced but they are rich and easy to pick up and stay clean.  That is a consideration with little kids all over the house.

This is linked to Sweet Temptations      

Soup Vegetable Muffins

After making two giant pots of chicken soup, I had lots of soup vegetables, left over.  Rather than throw them out, I put them in the refrigerator, hoping I would think of something to do with them.  My husband is the hero and suggested patties and offered to get the muffin tins, for me.  Silly me asked him which he wanted, vegetable pancakes or muffins and he started to say the pancakes until I frowned and said, “They’re fried.”  Muffins of a type is what we got and they were definitely baked.

I am going to do my best to re-create this recipe .  It was one of those that I put ingredients in, as I thought of them.

Soup Vegetable Muffins

Ingredients:

About 3 cups of assorted soup vegetables – carrots, onions, sweet potato, turnip, celery and parsnip.

1 cup potato starch

1 cup ground walnuts

(no seasoning since the soup had plenty)

2 eggs  (add more potato starch if you think the mixture is too wet.)

1-2 teaspoons dried parsley to sprinkle on top

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 35o degrees F.

Take cooked soup vegetable and put them through the food processor until you have a smooth blend.  There will be liquid from the soup even though you should drain it, first.

After removing it from food processor, drain again and put in a large bowl.  Add potato starch and eggs and mix well.

Spray muffin tins with olive oil and pour muffin batter into cups.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Believe it or not, you end up with a little wet but delicious “muffins”.  You can add anything you want to the recipe.

This is linked to  $5 Dinner Challenge       Real Food Wednesday

Passover Cabbage Potato Cakes

I decided to audition a few recipes before the holiday.  Since, I printed this up, a few weeks ago, and have kept looking at it, saying, “I must make this,” I decided to do just that.  This is a good recipe to multi-task.  While the potatoes cook, chop and brown your vegetable. Everything can come together, at about the same time, in that way.  These were a success and I am going to make them in smaller tins for my grandchildren.  I think, they will enjoy, their own little potato cabbage cakes.

Passover Cabbage Potato Cakes

Ingredients:

1 cup cabbage, shredded and then chopped smaller

3 potatoes, peeled and boiled and mashed

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 large onion, diced

1 egg

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup potato starch

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray muffin tins with cooking oil.

Chop onions and carrots in a food processor.  I used my mini processor from my immersion blender to get small pieces, not as tiny as in my full sized food processor.  If you do not have this option, I suggest, chopping by hand.

Peel potatoes and cut into quarters.  Place in a boiling pot of water. (carefully)  Cook for 15 – 20 minutes until soft enough to mash.

While potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in skillet and saute onions and carrots until onions are softened.

Add cabbage to carrots and onions.

Drain potatoes and mash.  Add other vegetables to potatoes.

Add dry ingredients and mix into potatoes.  Add wet ingredients and mix well.  Add eggs and oil and combine with potato mixture.  Add salt and pepper and mix in.

Using a quarter cup, scoop the potato mixture into the muffin tins.  Top with a little chopped parsley.

Bake for 25 minutes until lightly browned.

I think, you will really enjoy these.

This is linked to Real Food Wednesdays   Cast Party Wednesday – Link Party #34     Pennywise Platter

Honey and Pecan Crusted Chicken – Passover

This is a recipe, from last year, one which everyone enjoyed.  The recipe comes from Passover by Design by Susie Fishbein.  She uses matzah meal in the recipes.  The celiac in the family caused me to use potato starch.  I love potato starch in coatings.  I use either ground/chopped nuts or potato starch and this year, I was thinking of using potato flakes.  A mixture is usually the best.

Honey and Pecan-crusted Chicken:

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded flat to an even thickness

non stick cooking spray

½ cup honey

¼ teaspoon  ground black pepper

1teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 cup potato starch

¾ cup fine chopped nuts  (I think I used walnuts but pecans would be better, in my opinion.)

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a shallow baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the honey, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine.

In a shallow dish, combine the potato starch and ground pecans.

Brush the chicken cutlets with the honey mixture and then dredge in the pecan mixture.

 Place in a single layer in the prepared pan; spray the tops with cooking spray.

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes.

Gallery of Favorites     A Little Birdie Told Me

Apple Fritters for Passover

The Jewish holiday of Passover is coming closer.  For me, this is the most demanding holiday, as well as the most rewarding.  We clean our homes not just for dust and spills but for every bit of leavening, in the house.  This means, no regular cakes, cookies, breads, pasta, rice (unless one is Sefardic) and lots of prepared items.

 The kitchen is transformed.  The Passover dishes come out as do the Passover pots and pans, flatware and baking tins.  I love my dishes and since they are used only once a year, they are particularly special.

Some people feel deprived on Passover but I don’t understand this.  I love our food and the challenge of cooking and baking without leavening.  Some recipes fail and some are fabulous.  We eat well and that is what counts.  I will  share some of the really good recipes with you, if I can find time.  I would like to get them here before Passover comes so others can make them, if they choose.  These are recipes, you can use all year.  I keep them for the holiday.

This is something I made, last year.  The photo is not great but the recipe was.

Apple Fritters

The last two days of the eight days of Passover are also holidays.  That means four festive meals with matzah, fish, soup, salads, meat or poultry, sides and desserts and whatever else, I may be forgetting.  I have decided to stay up tonight and get as much cooking done so I can rest tomorrow (ha!) and enjoy the holidays.  Let’s see how I do.  I also, want to make different recipes than I had for the first two days and Sabbath.

I use a lot of apples during this holiday.  It is a versatile fruit.  I wanted to try banana fritters but the majority wants apples and even I like apples better than bananas.

Apple Fritters – Passover Style

Ingredients

4 apples, sliced, chopped or shredded  (My preference is chopped.)

4 eggs

1/2 cup of sugar (I am not sure what you can use in place of sugar on Passover, if you do not use it, normally.)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup potato starch

oil to fry in

Procedure

Place oil in large skillet (12 inch).

I tried slicing the apples first because I like the fritters to be chunky but they would not fry consistently so I changed over to putting them in the food processor with the eggs, beating the eggs and chopping the apples, at the same time.  I am going to try cutting them into chunks, again, this year.  They will look bumpy but you get the bite into the apple and the flavor spreads throughout your mouth.

Add sugar, potato starch and cinnamon to to egg mix.   Mix well.

 Drop by tablespoons or if you have a cookie scoop (small) use that and drop batter into hot skillet. Brown on both sides.

Remove onto paper towels to drain.

Eat or place into baking pan for later use.

Serve with apple sauce, cinnamon sugar or sour cream.

This is linked to Pennywise Platter Thursdays   Frugal Food Thursdays