Meal Plan 4.9.17

Happy Passover!

This year my show schedule has worked out better for the holiday than last year, so I won't be in tech rehearsals while keeping kosher for Pesach. I also will have a bit more time at home to do all the cooking and baking prep, which I'm happy about.

So, what will we be eating during Passover?

Sunday: finish off the last of the leftovers

Monday: Seder with friends (I'm bringing 4 dozen veggie kugels)

Tuesday: roasted leg of lamb, charoses, another vegetable

Wednesday: salmon and spinach cheese balls

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Passover potato quiche and salad

Saturday: Passover cheese blintzes (from the New York Times Jewish Cookbook)

Weekly Meal Plan 4.24.16

It's both Passover and my second week of tech rehearsals this month. Should be an interesting week, since I'll be packing dinners each night. My plan is to do some cooking during the day, before I head off to rehearsal. We shall see how well it works!

Here's what we're planning to eat:

Sunday: Rosemary and Garlic Leg of Lamb and charosets, maybe another vegetable

Monday: Passover Potato Quiche

Tuesday: Paleo Slow Cooker Chili (minus the bacon for Passover, of course)

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: steak with roasted Brussels sprouts

Friday: dinner out before opening night

Saturday: leftovers

Weekly Meal Plan 4.13.14

Happy Passover!

The holiday to commemorate Moses taking the Israelites out of Egypt is celebrated by a week in which we eat no leavened bread. As a kid, this sometimes seemed like a hardship because there were no sandwiches for lunch, and I couldn't eat any of the Easter candy my friends would bring to school (since Easter often occurs during Passover). As an adult, however, Passover has become one of my favorite holidays because it is full of delicious food we eat only once a year. There are the traditional foods, like charosets and gefilte fish, and then there are family traditions like spinach cheese balls! All of it is wonderful and extra special because it only happens once a year.

And without further ado, here is this week's menu.

Sunday: eat up the last of the leftovers!

Monday: Passover Seder at my parents' house

Tuesday: potato quiche (from Design Megillah last year - loved this one!)

Wednesday: Passover beet salad & leftover lamb from Seder

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: cheese soufflé and salad (using matzah cake meal in place of the flour for the soufflé)

Saturday: spinach cheese balls

my artsy picture of spinach cheese balls from last year

Passover Spinach-Cheese Balls

Well, this post on Passover cooking is rather delayed, but I guess it's better late than never!

While there are many foods that my family traditionally makes during Passover, the one recipe I look forward to year-round is spinach cheese balls! (The original recipe calls them Gnocchi di Spinaci, but that's not we called them as kids, and the Americanized kid name stuck in our family.) Sure, I could make them other times of the year, but it's nice to have unique dishes for Passover that we look forward to.

The recipe is adapted from an old cookbook, but I'm sharing it as rewritten by my mom.

Ingredients:

1 package frozen or about 2 bunches fresh spinach

1 cup ricotta cheese

3/4 cup grated Parmesan

1 egg

3 tablespoons potato starch

nutmeg

salt

Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Defrost frozen chopped spinach. If fresh, wash, steam lightly, then chop fine. Both kinds, squeeze out the juice.

Combine the spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, potato starch, dash nutmeg, dash salt.

Wet your hands and form mixture into balls about the size of a walnut. There should be about 24 balls when you're done.

Place into an oiled or greased baking dish (about 9 x 9) and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.

 (What you see here is a doubling of the recipe, so I used a 9x13 dish)

Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for about 30 minutes.

Makes about 4-5 servings in our house, although the original recipe says 6-8. They're that good!

 

Here's the recipe all together, for easier printing:

Ingredients

1 package frozen or about 2 bunches fresh spinach

1 cup ricotta cheese

3/4 cup grated Parmesan

1 egg

3 tablespoons potato starch

nutmeg

salt

Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

1) Defrost frozen chopped spinach. If fresh, wash, steam lightly, then chop fine. Both kinds, squeeze out the juice.

2) Combine the spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, potato starch, dash nutmeg, dash salt.

3) Wet your hands and form mixture into balls about the size of a walnut. There should be about 24 balls when you're done.

4) Place into an oiled or greased baking dish (about 9 x 9) and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.

5) Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy! More Passover recipes and meal ideas to come next year!