creative jewish mom

Baking Challah After Passover— Schlissel Key Shaped Challah

Baking schlissel challah, the key shaped (or baked with a key) challahs is an Ashenazic Jewish custom which I'm happy to say I have been doing for quite a few years. And the time to do this custom is NOW! Namely when one is baking the challahs for the first Shabbat after Passover. Schlissel means "key" in yiddish, and as far as the meaning of this custom, well you can certainly consult google on this one, but I'll just say that the key is about bringing blessing into our homes and specifically the blessing of livelihood.

There are a few ways in which one can make schlissel challah, and this year I'm doing the three ways I know of in order to cover my bases, and hey, maybe this blog will even start bringing in a little income! I'm putting the key in the photo under one challah, I'm pressing a key into another challah to leave the imprint in the dough before baked, and I've made an old fashioned key shape from challah dough, not the most beautiful key you've ever seen, but my seven year old thought it was great, so that's good enough for me!

And since your next question may be "what recipe do you use?" Well I'll be happy to share that with you soon, so stay tuned!

p.s. The key shaped challah actually turned out nicer looking than I expected, so here it is! And let me tell you, it was delicious too. The exact same recipe that I bake almost every week, but it had a little extra something in it. It even reminded my husband of his grandmother's Moroccan shabbat bread, go figure!

All Natural Banana Ice Cream Made From.....Only Bananas!

Did you know that you can make "ice cream" from just one ingredient — bananas? I first learned this little secret here, and when my husband brought home two huge bunches of bananas for Passover, I had a feeling I'd need to use some of them for some kind of treat. And just when those bananas started to look a little brown I remembered the banana ice cream idea!

Now I have to say, this won't go over well as an actual substitute for those who want to eat real ice cream, but for those avoiding sugar or who happen to be vegan or just love super healthy fare, well this one is for them. And for those of us who enjoyed lots of matzo and other delicious foods during the past week of Passover, ahem, this one is also for us! Though I made it plain, I do think it could be quite delicious with some chopped walnuts, ground coconut, chocolate chips or shaved chocolate (for those not avoiding sugar....), or even some peanut butter mixed in! Have fun experimenting with this and you might even want to make some in an ice cube tray to have some little treats on hand, or as popsicles.

How To:

Slice some bananas and freeze on a plate. After about 2 hours, place them in your food processor or blender and watch in amazement as something that resembles coffee ice cream forms before your eyes! Eat immediately or refreeze, just you'll need to defrost it a bit before re-serving.

Note: The only electrical appliance that I have in my Passover dishes is actually a soup blender, and that worked just fine well!

Gorgeous DIY Fabric Flower Table Decor For Every Occasion!

These elegant and artful stacked organza fabric flowers, (made by melting polyester organza or chiffon fabric circles with a flame), and which I posted about with a tutorial here, will make your table look just amazing! I had originally planned to use them as napkin rings, but after I found this coordinating wired floral ribbon in my stash, I decided to simply wrap the ribbon around the salad plate. Our seder table looked so beautiful with this simple addition, which I'll be sure to use again and again! I'm sure these flowers will be used as actual napkin rings at some point, and at the moment I've got them hanging out tied around one of my empty Moroccan frames, where they also happen to look lovely

One note, the fabric I used is a polyester satin organza, though one can and should try using chiffon which is slightly sheer and looks really great using this technique. And I have to say, the fact that my table was adorned with flowers all slightly different, looked much more interesting than if they were all the same, so have fun making a bunch of varieties.....wouldn't these be wonderful for a DIY wedding or sheva brachas? Get together a group, teach them how to make these flowers, and enlist their help. Sounds like a great time to me!

Shelf Lining Paper With A Simple Decorative Edge!

Got some plain shelves that could use a little decorative touch? (This is a shot of my kitchen shelves after they were thoroughly cleaned, and before the Passover dishes were placed on them.) So my crafty friends, how about lining those shelves, whether open or in a closet, with reverse-scallop- edged paper that you can quite simply make yourself? I'm so glad I took the extra time to make my kitchen look extra cute this year, as it really wasn't so difficult once I figured out the best technique. And best of all, it makes me happy while I'm in the kitchen, which will certainly be quite a bit over the course of the Passover holiday!

You'll Need:

• wrapping paper or any shelf lining paper (for longer lasting liners, this could also be done with oil cloth, or plastic table cloth material, and the edge would be cut by hand rather than punched)
• a circle punch, I used a 3" diameter one
• a tape measure (optional)
• clear tape

How To:

1. First determine how your circular punch works with the paper you'll be using. In my case, the wrapping paper was much too thin to produce nice results, and I found that I needed four layers of paper for the punch to work properly.
2. Measure your shelf width and depth, keeping in mind the depth of the shelf.
3. If using wrapping paper, cut a piece that measures twice the depth by the width.
4. Fold this piece in half vertically, such that the resulting size is the size you'll need for one shelf.
5. Fold this piece in half again horizontally (you'll now have four layers)
6. With the folded edge side facing you, roughly eyeball how many circles you'll be able to punch along the length of your paper, and space your punching accordingly.
7. Hold the circle punch upside down so that you'll see now much paper you're inserting into the punch, and insert the paper half way into the punch.
8. Using a sharp scissors, cut any joined pieces, and unfold.
9. Lay on shelf and adhere with clear tape, or on the backside with double-stick tape.
10. Enjoy!

Slice Of Life: Passover, The Chocolate Spread Holiday!

It's now Passover, and we've just finished celebrating the first day of our beloved 7 day (8 days outside of Israel) holiday. Though we eat matzo to remind us of our liberation from slavery in Egypt, we also happen to love it! The hand-made round matzos that we generally eat, arrive in very large boxes, since the matzos themselves are about 14 inches wide, much larger than the machine-made square matzos that most people recognize (and that my daughter is eating in this photo taken 6 years ago.) One of the pre-Passover activities that my kids enjoy every year, is a visit to a local hand-made matzo factory to witness the process of making the matzos which amazingly enough must be done within a time period of 18 minutes from start to finish!

And now, I'll get to the point of this post. It just so happens that the majority of Israelis don't share my concern for healthy eating and give lots of sugar filled un-healthy fare to their kids on a regular and sometimes daily basis. In order so that my kids wouldn't feel deprived of these foods that their friends unfortunately eat all the time, I decided that we'd eat these foods on the holidays, with each holiday having its special treat. On Rosh HaShanah we have chocolate milk, on Succos we have honey cookies, on Hanukkah we have chocolate, on Purim we have junk food that the kids receive from friends, on Passover we have chocolate spread, and on Shavuous we have diary pudding (the kind that come in yogurt-like containers, and are very popular in Israel.) One of the funniest statements that I remember from my five year old happened last Rosh HaShana. He saw one of his friends eating a pudding for breakfast and he came to me and said very emphatically: "Mommy, Yaakov is eating pudding, doesn't he know that it's Rosh HaShana?" (And he therefore should be drinking chocolate milk, not eating the treat for Shavuos, got it?)

I am very happy to say, that this little plan of mine has worked amazingly well, and my kids never beg for these foods! Tonight we opened the first container of chocolate spread, and my daughter said about the neighbors "oh those poor things, they don't get to enjoy chocolate spread on Passover since they eat it all year!"

Every holiday is a wonderful opportunity to build family traditions, and I wish you all a wonderful Passover!

Slice Of Life: Getting Ready For Passover!

We're almost there! Tonight begins the week long holiday of Passover, and we've been working very hard preparing for this special time on the Jewish calender. The silver has been polished, (and in particular our large goblet for Eliyahu), nuts have been cracked (in our case using a hammer covered in a plastic bag!), three hundred eggs have been washed (yes, that's right, three hundred, and no we won't be eating that many eggs, but some of my neighbors who have large families and lots of guests just might go through that many between the ice cream, the mayonnaise and the flour-free cakes....)

The regular dishes have been put away and the Passover dishes have been placed in the newly cleansed kitchen—a few purchases have been saved for first time use on Passover, like these mugs which I'll then incorporate into my regular dishes, since once again we've gone through more than a whole set of mugs in the past year. (Not that this upsets me terribly, the broken mugs go the the mosaic pile!)

And the pigeon? Well he wandered in through the front door, providing a little added interest to the day. My husband was actually able to catch the little guy, who posed so nicely before we set him free. And at the end of a very long day, we finally performed the bedikas chometz ceremony, wherein the kids hide ten parcels of leavened food (very well wrapped in plastic) around the house, and we go on a search for them by candlelight, and traditionally using a wooden spoon and a feather to sweep up any crumbs that are found in the process. Now there are pots on the stove and lots of laundry to tend to, among many other things, so I'll just skip off in the wee hours of the night right now, and try to cross some more things off my list. All the best to you all, and have a wonderful, joyful Passover!

Make Plastic Crafting Elements From Recycled Ice Cream Container Tops!

Recycled ice cream container top crafting? Why yes, and I'm just stopping by for a moment to share a little recycled crafting insight I thought of as I was about to reluctantly toss a pile of stray plastic container tops. I had them in my hand and I said to my daughter, "Wouldn't these be great frames for some project?" I was actually thinking mosaic or something, since our tops tend to be oval shaped. And then it occurred to me that the plastic could be used unto itself! And so here you have it, the first step in an as yet to be determined spring/Passover crafting project. I made a template for the goblets from a piece of cereal box cardboard and then traced around it on the the wrong side (the other side that has printing on it), and then simply cut out the shapes with regular scissors. The flower and the butterfly were achieved by tracing around some simple cookie cutter shapes.

One could do this over a period of time and collect quite a nice bunch of shapes to use in so many different ways. They'd be great for some waterproof bunting banners to hang outdoors, near the pool, or especially for those of you who live in areas with summer showers! As for the fate of my plastic shapes, well, I will be sure to keep you posted!

 

Passover Kid's Craft: Decorate Pillowcases For The Seder!

A super simple and fun Passover crafts for the kids: seder pillowcases! With all the fancy art supplies out there, it's really important I do believe to also incorporate some not so perfect looking crafts into the family repertoire, and to praise them. This year my three little ones will have their own custom pillow cases for the seder, and when we recline while drinking the four cups of wine (grape juice) they'll feel especially proud, and that after all is what the Passover seder is all about!

You'll Need:

• old pillowcases
• fabric crayons (I used Pentel brand)
• fabric paint (if desired)
• hebrew letter stencils, optional

How To:

Insert a piece of cardboard into the pillowcase, or back the inside with a piece of freezer paper, ironed on.
Outline the design with a pencil and then apply the color with fabric crayons and fabric paint. Apply heat as specified by the product you use, and enjoy for years to come!

Passover Kid's Craft: A Dancing Wine Goblet Paper Chain!

A simple and cute Passover craft to decorate your home—a dancing wine goblet paper chain! You do the cutting and let the little ones do the decorating with markers or even glue and collage materials. I love the results however I must tell you that given the light-weight paper I used and the pattern I cut, the chain is top heavy and can't be hung from just the two ends as I'd hoped—whaah.  Maybe you have more experience with paper chains and can come up with a more balanced design? It may just be that the arms have to come from the cups themselves to solve the problem. So as not to waste my daughter's efforts, I'll probably take a needle and  fish line and sew through the tops of the cups to hang this one properly. And of course, this lttle project would be so cute combined with other paper bunting flags, or any spring decorations, so have fun!

Passover Kid's Craft: The Ten Plagues Placards: Part Two!

This Passover craft for kids is just too cute and really quite simple—and after the seder kids can use them as props for playacting the story of the Jew people's trials and tribulations as slaves in Egypt. Of course they'd actually make a really cute centerpiece for a table as well, placed in large vase or stuck into a container of some kind with a styrofoam insert. For my first post showing the first four plagues, as well as basic instructions, click here.

These four placards depict from left to right, death of the wild beasts, boils, darkness and death of the firstborn. I know many parents aren't so comfortable doing projects with a death theme, but for those of us who live in Israel, all aspects of life, including death, are a part of our daily existence. And even the beautiful view from our living room includes an ancient cemetary, so we are reminded daily of the inevitable. The historic events which include death are not disturbing to my chidren, but of course every parent has to gauge their own children's sensitivities, even when it comes to crafting!

And yes, we're still missing placards for two more plagues, hail and locusts! Things have moved into high gear around my house and the house is literally turned upside down for our Pesach cleaning, so sitting down to do crafts isn't exactly the priority right now. But not to worry, I'll sneak a few projects in there when no one is looking!