Pesach @ MindSay

It's tough enough finding things you like to eat when you are a kid, even more so when you are a kid whose diet consists primarily of soy based products and it's Passover.  In past years it was tough for him to adjust.  No french toast sticks or Eggos for breakfast.  No Morningstar.  No goldfish snackers at school.  We always send a long memo to his school with all the do and don't and ask them to call  if they are unsure of anything. 

Last year though the tide turned though during snack time, when Av started to get upset that he had a different snack from all the other kids.  His teacher at the time (who happens to be Muslim) took him aside and explained to him how wonderful it was that HE got to eat matza.  She went on that Passover is such a special holiday and it is so great that we get to celebrate it every year.  She made him feel so much better, that apparently he was strutting around the classroom telling all the other kids that HE got to eat a special Passover snack.

This year we tried to prep him a bit more.  Lucky for us he loves matza.  We also got him to eat scrambled eggs last year which was a big accomplishment.  We started a we ago talking about no toast or waffles or Morningstar.  It got to the point where he would just cut me off and say "I KNOW Mommy!  It's Passover!"

Yesterday he was holding his lunch bag while the kids were all getting ready to go into their classroom, and one of the other boys pointed at it and said "What is THAT??"  Av replied proudly "That's my Passover snacks!"  Today however was a real test - there was a birthday celebration at school.  I gave Av a quick reminder when I dropped him off about not having a cupcake and the teacher agreed to save one for him for Sunday.  When he got home he told me all about the pretty pink cupcakes and how he didn't have ANY because you know Mommy, its Passover...  Go him.  So that is why my kid is super-awesome.  He's learning, he's understanding, and he has way more will power than some grownups I know...

To all my MOT friends out there - Happy Passover!

To everyone else - enjoy your pasta, bread, legumes, corn and corn by-products.

Eight crazy days and nights of eating Passover food -- and the holiday is over tonight!  No more matzah! Woo hoo!

And with that -- a positive declaration about bread. Rye, wheat, white, sourdough or challah.

Challah is great.



(Image courtesy of Jewlicious.   Buy a t-shirt...)

I like to make food into other food.  It's fun, and of course quite satisfying in the end - oh, and you get to lick the bowl.  With it being Passover and all, our usual carb-o-licious diet is put to the wayside for the week.  As Av said to me last night "I'm tired of special Passover food."  So on this wonderful day off o'mine - on this almost mid-April weekend on which we are expecting snow flurries(!) - I cooked and baked.  First off some brownie cheesecake - for the boy.  He said "I think that cheesecake would make my yuckies go away and make me feel so much better."  Next I made a mushroom-garlic dip (for me).  It's my sister-in-law's recipe, and one that I enjoy every time she makes it.  It tastes so good on matzah.  Last up, I made my annual batch of spinach gnocchi for Shiny.  I also have on deck a blue cheese-pear salad and artichokes stuffed with smashed potatoes.  Oh, and Av wants me to make blue and purple matzah balls.  That should be fun!  Those however will have to wait until tomorrow when I have the energy to do more cooking. 

Our fridge is stuffed with food and ingredients.  But no longer stuffed with the leftovers from Thanksgiving, which had been pushed to the very back and we had been putting off cleaning the bowls out because of the worry that it would be fuzzy stinky nasty.  Oddly enough, the largest dish, Shiny's aunt's artichoke potato salad (sans mayo) looked perfectly fine.  Fine to the point that I thought "Hmm... that would be a yummy Pesach dish" as I stuffed it down the garbage disposal. 

I always worry about what Av will eat, since he normally lives on veggie burgers and veggie chicken.  While we were out of town, he subsided primarily on cheese, yogurt, fruit, matzah and french fries.  Shines found Passover chicken nuggets, which Av was happy to eat since they looked just like (and taste just like) his regular nuggets.  Yesterday was a challenge, as it was the Spring Party at his school.  Poor thing loves cupcakes and brownies, and I told him to do his best, and what he could eat.  He came home in good spirits, and told me he had fruit salad and cheese at the party.  He also asked that I not send Passover cereal for snack anymore.  Totally understandable.

He'll be disappointed that he can't have the cheesecake until tomorrow, but excited for his Popsicles.  Shiny and I however have the ultimate treat waiting in our freezer for after Passover - Jello Pudding Pops!  Oh yeah!

"Passover pasta" -- such as the box of elbow macaroni I made, looks and feels just like regular pasta.

That is -- when it's dry.  When you boil it, however, it's an altogether different story.

It's made from potato starch. Hardened potato starch. Which is all fine and dandy when it's dry.  But put it in a pot of boiling water and it... well, dissolves a bit.

I had forgotten about this last year and it came back to repeat history for me again.  I didn't put any oil in the water. After all, I don't do this with pasta normally. And draining out all of the water from my cooked pasta? Mirky potato starch water.  Thick. Ew.

The pasta didn't taste too bad when i melted cheese over it. But still -- quite an experience.

And for those of you who are celebrating a certain other religious holiday this weekend which isn't Passover -- I heard an interesting statistic today that would make our friend thesolidrock smile: Three times as much fake blood is sold around Easter than it is around Halloween.  'Tis the season for reenactment, I guess.  Hey -- I think it's fine if it helps make the holiday more meaningful and it doesn't encroach upon anyone else.

The irony of fake blood being bought (by people who are not Jewish) during Passover, however? Priceless... ;)