The search for Chametz

Asher and Max made a great team for the search for chametz and had a great time.

The following is a little explanation on what this search is: during the week of Passover, it is prohibited for Jews to own any chametz (leaven). Therefore we search and destroy chametz before Passover. In most homes the process of cleaning begins weeks before Passover. The house is scoured from top to bottom to remove all traces of chametz.

The final "search for chametz" is done the night before Passover with the light of a candle (a flash light can also be used), in order to look in all the nooks and crannies.

There is a custom that ten pieces of chametz are "planted" in the rooms to be searched. The ten pieces remind us of the ten plagues. The following morning the pieces of chametz are then burned.

Spinach Quiche with Whole Wheat Matzo Crust

• 2 sheets of whole wheat matzo
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained well
• 1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) grated Monterey Jack
• 1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) grated Parmesan
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon dried dillweed
• optional: 8 sprigs of fresh dill
  

Preparation

Soak the matzo sheets in a bowl of water for 8-10 minutes.

Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add spinach and stir until spinach is dry, about 3 minutes. Cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter quiche dish or pie pan. Line the pan with sheets of matzo, patching up any holes with smaller pieces of matzo. Sprinkle both cheeses over bottom of crust. Top with spinach mixture and if using the dill, lay the dill sprigs evenly over the spinach. Beat eggs, cottage cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and dillweed in large bowl to blend. Pour over spinach. Bake until filling is set, about 40-50 minutes. Cool slightly. Cut into wedges and serve.

Chewy Amaretti Cookies for Passover

Yield: About four dozen cookies, or half as much if you sandwich them

1 (7-ounce) tube pure almond paste (not marzipan; 3/4 cup)
1 cup sugar
Pinch of Kosher salt
2 large egg whites at room temperature for at least 30 minutes

Preheat oven to 300°F and place racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven. Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper.

Pulse almond paste, sugar and salt in a food processor until broken up, then add egg whites and puree until smooth. Transfer batter to pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch tip and pipe 3/4-inch rounds (1/3 inch high) about 1-inch apart in pans. Dip a fingertip in water and gently tamp down any peaks.

Bake, rotating and switching position of pans halfway through, until golden and puffed, 15 to 18 minutes.

[When you rotate the pan midway through baking, you'll wonder why you left so much space between the cookies. Suddenly, at 15 minutes they'll puff up and you'll be happy you left that space!]

Let cookies cool almost completely in their pans. Once cool, they’re much easier to cleanly remove from the parchment. You can make them into sandwich cookies by spreading some jam between them or ganache (3 ounces of semi-sweet chips melted with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream, then left to thicken a bit would be enough to sandwich the whole batch).

Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or two or frozen up to one month.

Quinoa Chili for Passover

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 16-oz can black beans (if you're Ashkenzic you can just omit black beans and double the amount of quinoa during Passover)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp curry powder
1tsp cumin
2 diced scallions
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 avocado, diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of 1/2 lime
splash of balsamic vinegar

What Moises did in San Diego while "working"...

Moises was in San Diego recently for work. The CEO of this particular company owns and flies this L-39 Albatros Czech fighter jet and offered to take Moises for a ride. He had no idea what he was in for, thinking they'd just be zipping through the air making some sharp turns and stuff. Well, they ended up doing barrel rolls, nose dives, and flying right up next to the canyons, barely skimming the ground. He said he almost blacked out of couple of times from the g-force. He called me as soon as he landed (reassuring me he was still in one piece) still trying to catch his breath and digest what had just happened.







Here is a video clip to give you an idea. The ratcheting sounds you hear is the g-suit in action and the shouting/yelling is Moises.

Matzo Factory

This Sunday, I took Asher to the "Matzo Factory" event at the Chabad House. The kids got to see and learn the whole process of matzo making by actually making their own. Asher enjoyed eating the dough almost as much as eating the actual matzo. But his favorite part was throwing the flour everywhere and seeing how much he could get on his clothes. I had to haul him outside to brush him off!

With Asher's...

...obsession with big trucks, cars, tractors, and all other things "boy" we know we don't need to be concerned here.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

The best birthday present a mother could receive! (Please excuse the shaky camera)

Okay Mommy, let's go!

As I was getting us ready to run errands I said to Asher, "Okay let's get ready to go in the car!" And so he scrambles to get as many cars and buses he can possibly fit in his little arms to take along for the ride and says, "Let's go in the car!"

Making Challah at last week's "Mommy and Me"

Every other Wednesday morning, Asher and I go to the Chabad house for "Mommy and Me". This time we made challah.

Kisses for Max

The "Cookie" (Tickle) Monster is Coming!

I found Asher reading The Tickle Monster is Coming to himself. It's one of his many favorites and has it memorized.

Here is what he is saying or trying to say...
"shut all the windows and doors!"
"climb into bed, pull your sheets over head"
"cookie monster is coming"
At the end he says "hug" because the tickle monster finally gives a hug and wiggles under the rug.

Hamantaschen

Yield: About 22 2-inch cookies

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Various jams (we used raspberry, blackberry and apricot, but my favorite is this stuff) or prepared fillings (such as poppy seed or prune pastry filing)

Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and mix for one minute longer, then egg, vanilla extract, orange zest and salt, mixing until combined. Finally, add the flour. The mixture should come together and be a tad sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour.

Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

To form the hamantaschen, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter (3 inches is traditional, but very large; I used one that was 2 1/2 inches), cut the dough into circles. Spoon a teaspoon of you filling of choice in the center. Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed. Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Cool on racks. Resist the urge to try a still-hot one unless a jam-burnt tongue is as much of your Purim tradition as are these cookies.

Purim Party!

Asher had two Purim costumes this year; one for each of the Megillah readings. The one of above is a torero that Aunt Becky sent him from Spain. This is what the matadors wear for bull-fighting.
Here at the Purim party wearing his green dinosaur costume.

Asher is famous!

We were mentioned in an article of our local newspaper about the Purim party we were at on Sunday. I will post the pictures we took along with more details later. In the meantime, click here to check out the article!