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Tag Archives: passover recipes


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For Passover: Healthy + Kid-friendly + Matzah-free Dishes

Those celebrating the holiday of Passover can rejoice: you’ve made it halfway through the holiday eating one food group–Matzah.

With a few days left, here are some snack and meal ideas to change it up.

Healthy 2-ingredient pancakes

Gosh I just love these pancakes, and I make them year-round. They are fluffy, sweet, yummy, and nutritious. Best of all, they’re made of two natural ingredients: bananas and eggs. There’s no reason to save these for breakfast: with protein, fiber, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals, these are great for lunch and dinner, too.

The recipe is simple: Mash 1 ripe banana and whisk two eggs. Mix eggs and banana together and fry away, just as you would any pancake. I sometimes add 1/4 tsp vanilla for flavor (and you can also add chocolate chips, or whatever you enjoy in your pancakes). Easy? Yes! By the way, they’re so sweet they don’t need a topping, but we enjoy adding honey and berries.

Fish (or eggs) in a boat

Again, a year-round favorite. This is basically a substitute for wraps and sandwiches. Wash a romaine leaf and fill it with tuna fish salad, egg salad, babaganoush, guacamole, or whatever your kids enjoy. That’s it. I usually cut off the leafier top part, because my kids enjoy the crunchiness from the bottom half of the leaf.

Cauliflower rice

These days, you can find riced cauliflower in a bag at Trader Joe’s or make it yourself using a food processor. Cauliflower rise is simply a cauliflower minced up into rice-sized morsels. A simple sauté in oil with onions, plus some salt and your favorite spices is all you need to make this yummy. Add herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice if you so choose. If you want a specific recipe, this one is simple and great.

Spaghetti squash

I totally convinced my kids that spaghetti squash was actually a form of spaghetti. This is yet another easy, healthy option. I cut a spaghetti squash in half, remove the seeds, drizzle on some oil, and roast at 425 degrees (flesh-side down) until tender (usually about 30-45 minutes). Remove from oven and scoop out the flesh, which will come out like spaghetti.

Then, all you gotta do is add tomato sauce like you would on pasta, spices to taste (I add garlic), and you can top with shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese (which you can melt for 30-60 seconds in the microwave. Done, nutritious, and yummy! If you want to get fancier and cheesier, here’s a riff on baked ziti using spaghetti squash!

Healthy chips

Healthy chips do exist. Don’t forget these year-round goodies. Kale chips (or try spinach chips–make them the same way you would kale chips) are awesome. Also, try to make chips with your favorite fruit, like these banana chips, which you can also do with strawberries or apples. The key with fruit chips is to keep the oven on a very low temperature, around 200 degrees, simulating a dehydrator. (Of course, if you have a dehydrator that is kosher for passover, use that instead!).


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Almond-Butter & Almond-Pulp Recipes

Almond-coconut macaroons

Almond-coconut macaroons

There are so many uses for almonds! I previously posted about how to make almond milk. If you follow the proportions I suggested, you’ll end up with nearly 3 cups of almond pulp. Waste not, want not: there are many great things you can make with the pulp! I’ve found that almond pulp lasts about 3-5 days in my fridge. So, if you don’t expect to use your pulp soon, just freeze it for later use. I’ve done this many times before and it works great!

Before I get into some ideas of what to do with your almond pulp, I wanted to briefly discuss making your own almond butter. Almond butter is a staple in my house. We just love it on waffles or toast with a sprinkle of honey or sliced bananas on top for breakfast. It’s also great in a sandwich with jelly. You can use it as a substitute for peanut butter in recipes.

Why eat almond butter instead of peanut butter? Well, apparently, almond butter has 25% less saturated fat, plus 26% more Vitamin E, 3% more Iron, and 7% more Calcium than peanut butter. It’s higher in magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and antioxidants (source; please note: I have not fact-checked this myself). Also, almonds are alkaline and peanuts are acidic. (Balancing your body’s ph with alkaline foods is supposed to promote overall health. This will be the topic of a future blog post!)

Here’s the super-easy “non-recipe” for almond butter: place one or two cups of unsoaked almonds (preferably raw and organic) in a food processor with the S blade. Process, scraping the sides down frequently. This could take about 10 minutes or more, but you’ll soon witness your almonds going from a flour-like consistency to a smooth spread. Add sea salt to taste. Store in the fridge. Apparently it can last for a few months. Yum!

Now, for the long-awaited almond pulp recipes!

I haven’t found and tried too many almond-pulp recipes. There are many baked goods that you can make with almond flour, which is NOT the same as almond pulp. But, you can make almond flour out of your pulp if you wish. I’ll tell you how, below, and give you some easy and tasty ideas of what to do with the pulp.

Almond flour recipe: if you have a dehydrator, then place the almond pulp on a teflon-lined tray and dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4-8 hours. Most of my readers probably don’t have a dehydrator. Instead, you can use your oven: set it to the lowest temperature possible, line a baking tray with parchment paper, and spread out the pulp. You will need to let it “bake” for about 3 hours. If you don’t have little ones running around, keep the oven door slightly open to let the air circulate better. Once the pulp is completely dried out, put it in your food processor to make it into a fine flour and store in your freezer. Use as needed. You’ll find tons of almond-flour recipes online.

Almond-coconut macaroons: I adapted this Martha Stewart recipe. The macaroons I made were more like almond-coconut balls, probably because the original recipe uses crushed almonds, which are dry, whereas almond pulp is a bit damp.

Ingredients:

2.5- 3 cups of almond pulp (i.e. yield from my almond milk recipe)
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup coconut nectar, agave, or maple syrup
6 egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla

Preparation:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk together eggs and sweetener. Stir in remaining ingredients.
  3. Form into mounds. I use a measuring spoon (1 tbs size) to capture a heaping scoop of the dough, then rolled it into a ball, and placed it on the parchment paper. Keep the balls 2 inches apart.
  4. Bake until macaroons are slightly browned around the edges, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Variations:

  • Lemony-coconut macaroons: Add 2 tbs lemon zest into the mixture,
  • Chocolate surprise: Stick a chocolate chip into the middle of each ball.
  • Chocoholics anonymous: Drizzle finished product with melted chocolate. You can refrigerate so the chocolate sauce hardens.

Zucchini-Almond Hummus: A found a recipe for this on a blog I like to read. I adjusted it slightly.

Ingredients:

2 cups almond pulp
2-3 large zucchini, chopped
1 clove garlic
3 tsps cumin powder
1 tsp salt  or to taste
Black pepper to taste
Juice of 1 large lemon
Fresh herbs (parsley, dill, cilantro, etc.; whatever you have on hand)
Water

Preparation:

  1. Place all ingredients into high-speed blender. Use tamp to push down the mixture so it blends well. 
  2. If mixture is too thick for blending, add water or vegetable broth, tablespoon by tablespoon, until ingredients blend well.
  3. Blend well and adjust seasonings and herbs to taste.

Banana-Chocolate Freezer Fudge: I have not yet tried this recipe, but it looks too good to pass up. Once I try it out, I will update the post.

Please, feel free to offer an feedback/tweaks to the recipes provided here, or suggest new ones, in the comments section.