<p>We would have made it out of Egypt fine but once we’d eaten the manna, we would have skipped most of the rest of the Exodus until the singing.</p>
<p>Yeah, we always get delayed on our journeys when we stop for food…
Think I will make my spinach casserole tonight.</p>
<p>Used the Pesach table runner last night (see icon). I couldn’t bear to sell it, so I decided that since we have never used any of my fabric art (aka the cobbler’s children have no shoes), I should simply say, this piece is mine and I’m putting it on the table.</p>
<p>It made me very happy.</p>
<p>I actually made the spinach casserole last night. My vegetarian FDIL really likes it, as do the rest of us non-vegetarians.</p>
<p>plan to try your spinach casserole recipe Countingdown, looks great. I tried these spinach potato nests, everyone loved them at our seder last night and they look like little nests, present well. </p>
<p><a href=“Not-Just-For-Passover Spinach Potato Nest Bites”>http://mayihavethatrecipe.com/2012/03/26/not-just-for-passover-recipes-part-2-spinach-potato-nest-bites/</a></p>
<p>Also made matzoh crunch–toffee and chocolate recipe, it’s actually a weight watchers recipe that I lightened up further with light butter and splenda brown sugar. yum, as were the homemade macaroons with chocolate covered almonds. Usually don’t do homemade desserts as there’s so much work with brisket and matzo ball soup but decided to try them. </p>
<p>Here’s another approach to Pesach (OMG): <a href=“Is It Passover or Spring Break? For Some Affluent Observers, It's Both - WSJ”>http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304058204579495611660156956</a></p>
<p>Been using a brisket recipe from a fundraising cookbook for grandma’s long-defunct synagogue. Recipe is probably older than me, but man does everyone love it. Meat is seasoned and seared in onions, then simmered in 7-Up or Sprite for a couple hours and removed to cool. Add ketchup, brown sugar, and raisins, and cook into a great sauce. Slice and add back the meat. Best served a day or two later after all the flavors meld.</p>
<p>Also munching too many of mom’s farfel cookies. Blend of matzo meal, cake meal, farfel, and chopped walnuts, tastes a bit like oatmeal cookies. Original recipe adds raisins, but they’re even better with chocolate chips. When I was in college, back in the day, mom used to ship these up to me. Even my goyish friends couldn’t get enough.</p>
<p>lindz, have you posted those recipes here?!? </p>
<p>SlitheyTove, oy vey iz mir! I do not understand that mindset…</p>
<p>CountingDown, I cannot afford that mindset! :-)</p>
<p>Should we have concluded the seder with “Next year in South Beach”?</p>
<p>We pretty much did. Next year at cousins who just bought ocean front condo in Hollywood , FL - connected to the Diplomate Hotel. </p>
<p>So a good many people in my community are away for the holidays although not all at a resort in Cancun. This is a relatively new phenomenon over the past 10-15 years I would say but is becoming a lot more than driving up to a kosher hotel in the Catskills or the Jersey shore or even Israel. My across the street neighbor with four kids(okay 3 kids and 1 baby) left Sunday to spend the holiday at a resort in CA. They were responsible for plane fare but the husband’s grandmother picked up the tab for everything else for extended family. My next door neighbor with 4 kids left on Monday to spend holiday with family at hotel in the Catskills. I think this has evolved so family who cannot travel on the first two days and the last two days which are also Yom Tov can be together but also to avoid the work of kashering the house, a huge task involving thorough cleansing of all appliances, discarding all chametz, emptying dish cabinets and drawers to be replaced with kosher for passover dairy and meat dishes, kosher for passover dairy and meat pots and pans, silverware. I did not come from a religious background but DH did so when we started having seder with his parents, I had no idea where my MIL and FIL kept all these sets of dishes and pots and pans in their 2 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. My MIL replaced all vases and decorative items in living room with K for P replacements vases. Religious women now discard all make-up in favor of K for P make-up and shetels… There are special cleaning services who will come to your house and take apart your furniture and remove your car seats to check to make certain not one crumb still lurks.
So with all that… my commuter train this morning to NYC was like a ghost train between those observing Passover away and those away for school vacation as well. </p>
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<p>And there are folks who swap out their children’s toys for KLP toys. bookmama, the replacing all the vases etc is a new one on me! </p>
<p>On a serious note: because of increasing levels of attention to cleaning, there’s been a growing trend in some Jewish communities of folks not eating at each other’s houses during Pesach because of concerns that the other household hasn’t properly kashered for Pesach. Some rabbis issue minimum levels of what must be done in an effort to restore a sense of community. If there’s an increasing trend to just throw our hands up and go off to a resort during the holiday, what does that do to the community? “Let all who are hungry come and eat”, indeed. :-(</p>
<p>Slithey, that is sad news to hear. </p>
<p>Our shul does a Second Night Seder, which fosters the community part. We go up to my BIL’s in Bayonne for a seder, which is generally the weekend during Pesach. My SIL is a serious neatnik, but they are not really observant. OTOH, my FIL, his brother, and my SIL’s dad live nearby and are able to attend, so it’s nice to have all the generations there. </p>
<p>Besides, there is a prayer to say the morning Pesach begins that absolves one of any chametz still lurking…since when is that not sufficient, as long as one made a good faith effort?</p>
<p>bookmama, the WSJ did an article on this phenomenon this week: Is It Passover or Spring Break? For Some Affluent Observers, It’s Both</p>
<p>worrywart, I posted a link to the article a page back. Hence, the discussion. ;-)</p>
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<p>Well, exactly!!! There was the year we had to call the appliance repair folks because we’d removed an appliance door in order to scour out some chametz and couldn’t figure out how to get it back on. The repair guy clearly thought we were idiots, but it took HIM a good part of an hour. Makes replacing vases look like child’s play. ;-)</p>
<p>I feel like now I have to post a recipe to atone for the somber tone I introduced. Here, some quinoa recipes from the NYT. One toasts cooked quinoa to make crunchy little “crumbs”. The other takes cooked quinoa, mixes it with a few flavorful things, then has you shape it into patties that get panfried. Both are great for the regular year or now. <a href=“http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/magazine/just-when-you-thought-quinoa-couldnt-be-crunchier.html?from=dining”>http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/magazine/just-when-you-thought-quinoa-couldnt-be-crunchier.html?from=dining</a></p>
<p>I forgot to check this thread before my seders! Just haven’t been on CC much because my baby is now a college freshman. But I thought of all of you last night as I made a spinach casserole with a recipe I got from this thread a few years ago. </p>
<p>So I wanted to share a few new recipes I tried this year that I really liked. I didn’t go through the whole thread again so I apologize in advance if these have been posted.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.joyofkosher.com/recipes/parmesan-and-sun-dried-tomato-crusted-tilapia/”>http://www.joyofkosher.com/recipes/parmesan-and-sun-dried-tomato-crusted-tilapia/</a></p>
<p><a href=“Not-Just-For-Passover Spinach Potato Nest Bites”>http://mayihavethatrecipe.com/2012/03/26/not-just-for-passover-recipes-part-2-spinach-potato-nest-bites/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/168901/martha-stewarts-recipe-for-matzoh-smores”>http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/168901/martha-stewarts-recipe-for-matzoh-smores</a></p>
<p>My carrot souffle (recipe posted earlier in this thread) remains a staple!</p>
<p>I must remember to visit with all of you again next spring. Always great ideas here!</p>
<p>And the quinoa will help the Eagles win.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recipes. The spinach looks very interesting and you can never go wrong with smores… </p>
<p>We did serve quinoa this year as one of our side dishes. Everyone enjoys and helpful for vegetarians and vegans.</p>
<p>Am at my BIL’s. He asked me about the spinach casserole. I figured he had plenty of food already and I was going to make it for us to have at home tomorrow. Can’t win…but I made a flourless chocolate torte that looks fabulous. Will let you know how it came out later today!</p>
<p>I made farfel yesterday and it was really really good! Boiled the farfel in chicken broth instead of water until tender…then drained. While that was cooking, I sautéed the onions and mushrooms in butter. When they were nice and soft, I added the cooked farfel to the frying pan, and cooked for a few minutes to mix. Delish!</p>
<p>Had it with brisket, potatoes and carrots. </p>
<p>And everyone in my family liked it.</p>