creative jewish mom

Hexagon Orange Juice Bites

This Passover we are enjoying the simplest yet oh so delicious treat, hexagon orange juice bites, frozen of course! What can I tell you? Passover is the time for eating fresh and basic food, and with many opting not to purchase processed food, or the bare minimum, squeezing your own juice and making some shaped ice cubes truly fits the bill! I had been saving my hexagon silicon molds together with the Passover dishes, as I figured it would be a great time to use them, though now I'm thinking I'd like to start making these delicious little popsicle bites in a range of colors to serve for shabbos desert, so the trays may just be left behind when we pack away all the dishes! And then I'll have an excuse to get some more in a different shape! Keep on reading to see the molds I used......

Origami Pyramids Passover Centerpiece

Passover is around the corner, and now is the time to start thinking about how to make your holiday meaningful for the whole family. The telling of the Passover story via the Passover seder is first and foremost in order to pass on the tradition ot our children, so a fun Passover table is a must for creating great memories! Origami pyramids in all sizes can look great on any table, just use colors or patterned papers that will match your table, be it super elegant (go for metallics) or modern (go for brights.) Once you get the hang of making these simple pyramids, you can make a whole bunch to march them down the table. And maybe even keep it a surprise until you set the table, they can be stored flat until then!

I made these colorful versions four years ago, but am now revisiting this idea myself as my kids are interested in origami these days, and so am I. I'm thinking about trying these in large sizes, wouldn't it be great to have some to put on the floor around the table? Kids could certainly use them to re-enact the Passover story, right?

DIY Key Napkin Ring Craft For The First Shabbat After Passover!

I am re=posting this craft from a time when my kids were much younger (7 years ago!) and I made an extra effort to make each special shabbat special. (Today I made each shabbat special with the specific traditional family foods they love) I was looking for my images of key shaped challah, and came across this, so I thought I'd dust it off. Enjoy!

To honor this special shabbat, namely the first one after Passover in which we traditionally prepare challah in our homes once again, I just came up with a quick little key napkin ring craft as I'll be making bagels instead the traditional key shaped challahs that I have made in previous years!

And after all, the whole tradition isn't really about the key, but rather about the idea that when a Jewish woman makes challah, and makes the appropriate blessing over the dough before it is baked, she is bringing blessings into her home, which has the power to open all kinds of gates!

Chocolate Almond Date Balls Are No Bake And Healthy As Can Be!

Passover  is sadly coming to an end, and we have one last shabbat (those outside of Isreal have 2 days of holiday) to enjoy matzo (we enjoy it!) with all the homemade Moroccan salads that taste especially amazing on Passover. I'm  looking in my  pantry and I discover that i bought tons of dates, in order to make almond date balls, so what am I waiting for? All the teens in the family have gone on outings with friends today, so I guess it is time to get off the computer and into the kitchen, shabbat is coming! The chocolate date balls are truly delicious and can even be passed off as junky dessert, so maybe keep it to yourself! Or on the otherhand, maybe just keep them for yourself to pull out when everyone else is eating the junk?

Passover Pyramid Craft From A Cereal Box!

 
With Passover arriving this coming Saturday night, now is the time to fit in some last minute crafting in anticipation of this wonderful holiday, and possibly keep the kids busy with a crafting station so you can finish, or continue all the holiday preparations! The essence of the holiday is to tell the story of the Jews deliverance from Egypt to the children, so getting kids involved with decorations and hand made items to celebrate and absorb this game changing history of the Jewish people is really really important!

I have been wanting to make cardboard pyramids for a few years, and while I didn't quite realize my dreams this year, I did at least make one artful cereal box pyramid, which by the way depicts the plague of hail, which was both fire and ice, so hail can certainly be pink! I love the results (though it was questionable at first) and I wish I had time to make more. Next year I'll have to make them in January! Nothing says Egypt and slavery like the pyramids, so be sure to include them in your holiday decor. A line of pyramids running down the table would be stunning! Okay, time is of the essence, lets learn how to make some of these, pronto!

DIY Paper Vase For Spring Makes An Amazing Gift!

When it comes to making a DIY paper vase, there are literally so many ways to go, though for me, the idea of using not successful artwork is a lightbulb moment that happened one evening. I was going to use an abstract pattern to create a vase, and in the same pile as that absract pattern was this sweet landscape that I liked, but didn't love. As a vase however, it is fabulous! And friends, when you are in the groove of making lots of art, a way to use up anything you wouldn't want to see on someone else's wall is like gold! Even when painting on paper the pile starts to get out of control, so pick the ones you aren't loving and then make a wonderful artful vase! While I wouldn't want to give someone my mediocre painting, i would give them my mediocre painting turned into a vase, because it is just so charming! Okay, want to see the painting before I cut it up? Keep on reading......

How To Make Moroccan Mufleta Immediately After Passover: We Did It!

History has been made in our family,! For the first time ever we were able to pull off the beloved (by Moroccans and their non-Moroccan friends and neighbors) Moroccan tradition of making mufleta, and throwing a mini-Mimouna party, in our very own home. Wow, I almost can't believe it! You see for years it was just me cleaning up in the kitchen as soon as Passover had ended, (around 8:30pm) and by the time everything was washed and packed up safely, before bringing any flour into the kitchen, well it was very late and I was not up for more cooking, especially when the family was already asleep! Nonetheless, I do remember saying that just as soon as I had help cleaning up and packing up the Passover kitchen, I would love to make mufleta and of course play some festive Moroccan music and get my hands all sticky from the honey, who wouldn't? (We did enjoy mufleta made by others in their homes.) Flash forward, with three teens on hand to help, we finished cleaning and packing up by 10:40 pm, and my daughter quickly made some mufleta dough, and actually took upon herself to make the mufleta, for the first time ever, and let me tell you, it was the most delicious mufleta ever, truly!

Isn't it funny that I imagined that I'd be making the mufleta, but the next generation already took over, LOVE it, and I know my daughter enjoyed it much more than I would, so yippee. Plus she made a huge amount, 2 kilos of flour worth, so we sent plates full of mufleta to the neighbor across the way who assumed we'd be making some on account of husband's Moroccan roots, and one for the Ashkenazi son in law of the French Algerian neighbors who don't eat any flour products until tomorrow, and a plateful to my daughter's friend two flights down whose father came home and requested that she find some mufleta from a neighbor! Want to give mufleta a try? Keep on reading......

Splitting Of The Red Sea Passover Kid's Craft

I am reposting this krias yom suf, splitting of the Red Sea craft that I made with my kids ten years ago! Those kids are now teens, and I am so happy to have a virtual record of all the things we did when they were much younger! We don't do crafts during the week of Passover, so I wouldn't be able to make this today, but it is a cute reminder of something I made before Passover, once, and of course honors the holiday within the holiday that we will be celebrating tonight and tomorrow. This holiday is called Shevii Shel Pesach, the 7th day of Passover, the day on which the Red Sea split and the Jews were delivered from slavery in Egypt. Tonight we will also be thinking about how to really be free from all those things in life to which we are enslaved, physically, mentally and spiritually, as we crunch on the matzo of course! Ah yes, and we will be giving thanks for all the good that we do have! Okay, gotta run, still lots to do. Here is the intact post from years ago when I was still a Mom of little ones, my time flies!

Simple Wildflower Centerpiece For Passover

This year everything about the Passover holiday has been much simpler (except the cleaning which was more intense than ever) due to limited shopping, and not going out unless absolutely necessary, which meant no buying pretty flowers from the florist to fill the three little vases we bought last year when celebrating Passover in Jerusalem. Not to worry, my resourceful daughter decided she'd fill them with wild flowers, available on the side of the road or just up the block, and in this case, wild mustard and wild snap dragons! The flowers made a lovely addition to our Passover Seder table, which I've shared here, and were perfect for this year's seder. Keep on reading to see a few more photos, and catch a glimpse of what is actually hanging over those flowers!

Welcome To Our Passover Seder Table!

Wishing everyone a peaceful, restful and joyful Passover holiday! We are now on the 5th night of the 7 (8 outside of Israel) night holiday, so there isn't much time left to really enjoy this special holiday despite everything going on in the world around us! While I do love Passover, as of today my teens are officially going a bit stir crazy, and once the holiday is over we'll be able to do things that we don't do during this time, like crafting and painting and gardening, which will help keep everyone busy and hopefully occupied. If not, I have a whole basement and an attic that needs organizing? The government law right now is that one is not allowed to go out of their homes or further than 100 meters except for shopping or great need, so that rules out hiking sadly, which would be great right now, as early Spring is here and the green fields are filled with wild mustard and other early bloomers.

Lest I digress, this year's Passover seder was just the smallest version of our immediate family, 3 teens and husband and I, and it turned out to be really nice, just us, no guests to worry about and for me MUCH LESS clean up and food prep. Truthfully this has been the most restful and relaxing Passover ever, and that coupled with the absence of visitors and car traffic in our neighborhood means ahhhhhh, just quietness, and a beautiful view, for which we are very grateful. The weather has been rainy and uncharacteristically cold, which makes staying indoors much easier, though we are all itching to go on more than just a short walk in the neighborhood!

This year's seder table was all about using things we had on hand as there was no shopping for the prettiest little this or that, and it turned out to be just as lovely as ever, let's take a look!