A long-time reader of The Jew and the Carrot, it’s easy for me to see the importance and power of conversations within the Jewish community regarding eating, nutrition, food politics, and sustainability. However, the Jewish imperative for justice does not allow us to stop at environmental or personal levels. Rather, we have to continue our pursuit of justice to ensure that everyone has access to fresh, seasonal produce, healthy food options, and the skills to prepare healthy meals. The Nourishing Kitchen of New York City is an organization working to do just that for the East Harlem community.

Founded in 2008 as a “healthy soup kitchen,” The Kitchen is the only emergency food organization providing nutritionally balanced food for immune-compromised individuals struggling with diabetes, obesity, and malnutrition. East Harlem has one of the highest rates of hunger as well as the highest rate of obesity in New York City, with 62% of the population reported overweight or obese. The East Harlem community also has the densest concentration of diabetes in any borough. These apparent contrasts can be explained by the heavy presence of affordably-priced yet nutritionally void fast food and the scarcity of affordable fruits and vegetables.

The Nourishing Kitchen has expanded its mission in an effort to incorporate healthy eating into clients’ everyday lives. In addition to a hot meal service, The Kitchen offers a food pantry, produce distribution, nutrition classes, and yoga classes – all free and open to the community.

A foundation stone of The Kitchen is not just providing food for low-income clients, but connecting an otherwise marginalized and underserved community with the green movement. As the only certified green soup kitchen in the country, The Kitchen does this primarily through the use of a number of community garden plots. The produce harvested in these plots is served in our hot meals and distributed in our Urban Free Produce program. The Kitchen also runs educational programs and events that expose the community to recycling, composting, seasonal eating, and growing their own produce at home.

One of The Kitchen’s most important projects is the Junior Chef program, a summer program that takes kids ages six to thirteen and gives them hands-on culinary and nutrition workshops. This program was created to connect underserved and undernourished youth to the culinary arts while educating participants and their families on issues of nutrition and wellness. In addition to direct training, participants receive ingredients and recipes to prepare meals at home with their families, plus a local gym membership to engage in physical activity. Through this curriculum, participants learn how to protect themselves and their families from the threat of diabetes and obesity raging in their neighborhood while having fun and gaining comfort in the kitchen.

I’m writing about this organization today because The Nourishing Kitchen (specifically the Junior Chef program) needs your help. The Kitchen is currently a finalist in the national Post Grant for Good Health for $25,000 to support and expand the Junior Chef program. The catch is that it all depends on votes. Each person can vote once per day until July 12 and the winner will be announced on July 22. It takes less than a minute of ‘e-volunteering’ a day, just one click and you are on your way to pursuing food justice for all. Click here once a day to help.

Trans fats, an invention of the 20th century, permitted the development of such synthetic food-like products as margarine and coffee whiteners.  Neither of these products existed around the time my great-grandparents caught their first sight of the Statue of Liberty.  Nevertheless, as a result of focused, sustained, and wildly successful marketing campaigns to gain their recognition and acceptance, they became an integral part of what is now considered “traditional” kosher cooking.  In 1912, for example, after Procter and Gamble of Cincinnati launched a nationwide campaign for Crisco, its new vegetable shortening, it enlisted the support of American orthodox rabbis, notably Rabbi Moshe Zevulun Margolies (the “Ramaz”) of New York, to endorse Crisco as ritually pure.  P&G advertised that “the Hebrew Race had been waiting for 4,000 years” for a solution to its shortening problems.  Mazola worked with the Hebrew Ladies’ Aid Society in Fargo, ND, to teach interested parties how to use their product, and made contributions to the local women’s burial society for every unit sold.  Other examples abound.

I went to my local supermarket to check out the ingredients in pareve margarine and coffee whitener.  Mother’s lists “liquid and partially hydrogenated soybean oil” first.  Fleischmann’s lists partially hydrogenated soybean oil second, after liquid corn oil.  The first three ingredients in original Coffee-Rich are, in order, water, corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil.  The first three ingredients in fat-free Coffee-Rich are, curiously, identical.  “Partially hydrogenated” means trans fats.

What’s wrong with trans fats?  The problems are numerous, diverse, and well established.  Trans fats cause heart disease.  They increase insulin resistance, which causes diabetes.  Trans fats decrease good cholesterol and increase bad cholesterol.  They suppress the immune response, interfere with reproduction, and decrease the nutritional quality of milk.  They alter the properties of cell membranes.  They enhance deposition of abdominal fat.  In a famous study of 85,000 women conducted by Harvard University, individuals with heart disease were found to have eaten significantly higher amounts of trans fats.

Trans fats have been banned in other countries, and in several cities throughout the U.S., but they have yet to be banned across our nation.  What the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has mandated is that food containing less than ˝ gram of trans fat per serving may be advertised as ”trans-fat free.”  That’s not good enough.  In the case of Coffee-Rich, a serving is 1 tablespoon.  This morning I felt like making my coffee extra light, so I put 4 tablespoons, or ź cup, of milk into the mug.  If I had used Coffee-Rich, that would have added up to almost 2 grams of trans fat.  Just for the first cup.  So it would be easy, on any given day, to consume quite a bit of trans fat solely from trans-fat-free food.  That’s a problem.

What are our alternatives?  First and foremost, skip the coffee whitener.  Drink your coffee black, or choose tea with honey or lemon.  Try coconut, almond, soy, or rice milk if you’d like.  Bake pareve as our foremothers did for a thousand years, with coconut oil, which stays solid below 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  Decline to make recipes that call for pareve margarine.  Don’t use it in place of butter; make different recipes.  We vote every time a bar code passes over a scanner, so don’t buy margarine or coffee whitener for your home, office, or synagogue.  There is no place for synthetic trans fats in a healthy community.

Check out this great article in the L.A. Times about the Progressive Jewish Alliance organizing a tour of food deserts in Los Angeles. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Jewish community groups aim to broaden the growing local and national campaigns to attract more supermarkets to poor neighborhoods, where limited access to healthful food has been linked to obesity, diabetes and other diseases. Programs are sprouting up in Louisiana, New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania.”

Read more here.

Soda.  Pop.  Coke.  S.S.B. (sugar-sweetened beverage).  Whatever you wanna call it, it’s bad for you.  Or so argues Mark Bittman, the New York Times‘ “Minimalist” columnist and prominent foodie in this Sunday’s New York Times.  This phenomenal article poses the question of whether soda may be the next tobacco.  He interviews proponents calling for a special excise tax on soda to fund obesity prevention programs, as well as other measures to curb the intake of these empty calories in a can (or bottle).  The article comes after Michelle Obama’s appointment to lead a national campaign against childhood obesity, which some believe is linked to an excessive consumption of soda and candy.

Though I am no longer a child and do not suffer from obesity, I am embarrassed to admit that I am a near-daily consumer of soda – specifically, Dr. Pepper (ahhh…).  Therefore, this article was of personal interest to me.  Would an extra tax on soda, or the appearance of a cigarette-esque warning label on soda, deter me from feeding my addiction (and I do believe it is an addiction) to the stuff?

I am envious of friends that are naturally repulsed by soda, and who are likely healthier due to their avoidance of it.  It is a vice that I would gladly live without, though as with any addiction, it is not easy to quit.  Of course, my addiction is not helped by the ubiquity of soda advertisements in our society.  Indeed, the soda marketing people usually are successful at targeting those receptors in my brain that displace the long-term goal of being healthy and avoiding diabetes with the short-term goal of chemically-induced instant gratification.

Perhaps, though, I have found a happy medium that will wean me off of soda for good.  A friend and fellow soda “junkie” turned me onto a sodium- and calorie-free drink sold at Target and CostCo.  It is called “LaCroix Water,” and is essentially carbonated water with several fruit-flavor options.  Furthermore, they sell it in a 12-oz. can, which provides the same gratification as holding a cold 12-oz. can of Dr. Pepper…but leads to a healthier result.

Although human beings are conscious individuals with the ability to make informed decisions on what to consume, we also have areas of weakness (even Superman could be brought down by Kryptonite).  Unfortunately, Big Food – as Bittman calls the soda and snack food industry – knows this, and they depend on it for their revenue.  If the government can help empower individuals (especially children and their parents) to make healthier decisions and avoid these unhealthy chemical substances, then I will be grateful.

Indeed, if I hadn’t been introduced to Soda as a child, my affair with the dark sugary liquid would not have lasted as long as it has.

Photos by Phil Mansfield

Every once in a while I feel sorry for myself because my kids won’t eat my lovingly prepared meals; for comfort, I seek out one of my fellow mom’s, specifically those with teen-agers. Invariably they look at me with a withering ‘well let me get you the violins and a stiff drink fast, your poor thing’ stare, reminding me that I am a mere amateur at kitchen rejection. When I hear their tales of trying to feed their teens, my load somehow seems lighter, more manageable. Snarky, picky, and sometimes downright nasty, it is no easy task to manage teens at the table.

Enter Rozanne Gold and her new book, Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs. I sat down with the author and discovered that the book’s appeal to teens is as organic as its recipes. Gold recently adopted a teen-ager and for the past few years they have been coming together as a family, in and out of the kitchen. Her daughter was one of five teen chefs engaged to prepare and test each recipe. Their collective industry and obvious enjoyment is evidenced throughout the book with hands-on pictures depicting their efforts.

“Something a little quirky is that everyone, everyone is talking about childhood obesity and overeating and diabetes and getting back to the table – no one wrote a book. Someone forgot to write the book.” She correctly assessed that the literature includes many books about cooking, kids, and healthy eating, but few if any that feature well known chefs who have cross referenced their work with a nutritionist in order to serve the teen audience. This gap as well as her family changes prompted her to write the book and have nutritionist Helen Kimmel review and validate the recipes. Coupled with her teen chefs’ participation and stamp of approval, the book has a tremendous sense of leading-edge authenticity.

“I like being the first to do things”, says Gold. A food pioneer, she graduated  from Tufts and and did graduate work at NYU. With no formal culinary training, Gold beg, borrowed, and stole experience, and at 23 became the Executive Chef at Mayor Koch’s Gracie Mansion. “I catered the first seder ever at Gracie Mansion. It was a great experience. The Mayor told me to put Perrier (instead of seltzer) in the matzo balls which I had never done before. I did a traditional seder for his family. Holiday favorites included anything with garlic, as well as brisket with vermouth, onions, and a bay leaf.” Many books and restaurants later, she has become a well known force in the food world.  Just this week, she broke boundaries by having her book referenced in the New York Times Health blog, as well as featured in the Science section for its unique approach.

Gold does admire others in the industry attempting to improve school and home meals for children, including Bill Telepan, Ann Cooper , and Lynn Fredericks. But for this book, she felt she had to pave a new path.  “Setting criteria for what eating fresh food means was a process. Working with the nutritionist, we definitely decided not to go the route of calories or counting, but to come up with some broader way of expressing healthy food. The original title was Ketchup Ain’t A Vegetable.”, laughed Gold.  “I’m not doctrinaire about this at all. There is so much discussion about good food and bad food. My solution, my definition is eat fresh food. Which is also a way of saying no processed food or very little processed food. That became my benchmark. The basis of every recipe is that a vegetable or a fruit has to be the star of the dish. You will find this in every recipe. That is my bottom line. The fact that there is very little meat in there is cognizant of the fact that kids are serious about wanting to be vegetarians; 80 – 90% of the book is suitable for vegetarians.”

Gold is very interested in sourcing.  As a restauranteur (The Rainbow Room) as well as a home cook, she is very aware of the power of purchasing. “I am interested in local but fresh is more important. We had the best peach we ever had in our life 2 years ago in March from Costco. I don’t know where it came from, I don’t know how it got there, but it was extraordinary. I’m not sure that is a bad thing. I understand the eco-system of farmers and sustainability and fresh, and we need to be very supportive of that. But I shop in a variety of places. I shop at Key Foods sometimes out of necessity. We have a wonderful farmer’s market here on Saturdays, and we’re always there buying wonderful things. And I am always in the city on Wednesday at the Union Square market.”

“It’s really exciting to be there at the farmer’s markets; if you are interested in trends and what’s happening, that is where the trends are happening today. That is so different than 20 years ago when trends happened from fancy chefs and from kitchens. Today, trends are happening by what you see at the farmer’s markets and that’s fabulous. Just to see the micro-greens…what the farmers are doing now, that’s where most of the creativity is coming from. I remember just a few months ago I walked by one of the stands at the farmers market and there were 10 different colors of radishes. 6 different colors of carrots. It was just breathtaking. Chef’s are very inspired by it.”

That being said, she also recognizes the challenges of urban life and trying to grow your own food.  “I do have a window box. It is hard to run a kitchen and run your garden. If a home cook has land to grow a garden, that is wonderful. I always grew up in and around the city, so it was never practical. I remember once when I was in college I was at my boyfriend’s house and I looked out the window and said, ‘Look, someone threw an eggplant out the window.’ Little did I know it was growing in his mother’s garden! I knew nothing about farming or sustainability – it was not the language at the time. I think it is exciting that it is now.”

The majority of recipes in this book are vegetarian, but there are few vegan offerings.  I asked Gold for her perspective on the movement. “I believe in culinary history and gastronomy.  My religion is much more in classic cuisine and less about anything doctrinaire. I believe in doing everything and eating everything and trying everything. In balance. Vegans would have to work really hard to have a well-balanced, nutritious, healthy diet. And that’s OK because they believe in something else like not eating animals of any kind – that is a different belief system.”

The book reads nicely with lush photography. It includes interesting and fun recipes such as sweet carrot jam, ginger scallion brown rice with scallions, fish tacos, and mac and cheese with cauliflower and red pepper sauce. And of course olive oil chocolate chip cookies, below for you and your teens’ enjoyment.  Who knows, you might end a meal with a smile, or at least a nod.

Want to win a copy of Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs.? Leave a comment below about cooking for/with teens. Last date to post comments is 12/21/09. The winners will be notified on 12/22/09.

Courtesy of Rozanne Gold. All rights reserved.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24

2 cups self-rising flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 extra large eggs
½ cup olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
6 ounces miniature chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Put the flour and sugar in the bowl an electric mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, olive oil, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms. The mixture will be slightly crumbly and a little oily.
3. Knead several times on the counter. Form into 24 balls and then shape into small ovals that are 1 ½ inches long and ž inch wide. Roll the tops in miniature chocolate chips. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat pad. Place the cookies 1inch apart. Bake for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan. Remove with a spatula.

This blog is not the right place for it, but still, Roger Cohen has really gotten on my nerves over the last year or so.  His ranting about how wonderful Iran is and how great it is for the Jews there made me question my devotion to the New York Times.  His  piece “Advantage France,” in Sunday’s paper, about some of the differences between the French diet and the American diet, may have me beginning to change my mind.  I’ve only spent a few days in France, and only in Paris, but I’m guessing he’s exaggerating somewhat.  Nevertheless, the idea of Americans adopting any diet (or lifestyle, really) that required not only combining the ingredients and cooking them, but processing them to begin with (filleting the fish, making the pasta, etc) does sound beautiful and absurd.  The idea of connecting to food on a “gut” level and a geographic one far predates the terroir of which Cohen writes, at least in Jewish tradition.We learn from the early medieval tractate Avot de-Rabbi Natan (Version A, ch. 30, appears as ch. 31 in Vilna Shas edition) that “Rabbi Ahai ben Yoshaya says ‘One who gets grain from the market: to whom can he be compared?  To an orphaned child who is taken around to all the different wet-nurses but is never satisfied.  One who gets bread from the market: to whom can he be compared?  To one who digs his own grave and buries himself in it.  One who eats of his own [stuff, work, field?] is like a child who grows at the breast of his mother.’”

רבי אחאי בן יאשיה אומר הלוקח תבואה מן השוק למה הוא דומה לתינוק שמתה אמו ומחזירין אותו על פתחי מיניקות אחרות ואינו שבע. הלוקח פת מן השוק למה הוא דומה כאלו חפור וקבור. האוכל משלו דומה לתינוק המתגדל על שדי אמו

The standard commentary, Binyan Yehoshua by R. Yehoshua Falk,  indicates (in addition to the above-mentioned question of to which chapter the teaching belongs) that the problem with buying grain, at least, from the shuk is that it may not have been properly tithed, etc.  He reads R. Ahai’s words ritualistically, probably because he did not want the insult applying to his own community, which likely didn’t always farm, mill and bake all for itself and to which the laws of tithing no longer applied.  But let’s re-read it ourselves.

Unlike Roger Cohen, Rabbi Ahai makes no real comment about health in his aphorism.  Today we concern ourselves mainly with what our food will and won’t do to our bodies.  Rabbi Ahai’s concern seems instead to be about what our food will and won’t do to our souls, to our identities, to our selves.  Similarly, today we are concerned mainly with what the food will do to us after we eat it.  In contrast, Rabbi Ahai makes comparisons based on how people are already eating.

Let’s review the comment in reverse order.   The one who eats of his own land, work, stuff… this guy’s supposed to be the ideal, but the one to whom he is likened (one who grows at his mother’s breast) is mundane, even common.  The second part is super creepy.  Rabbi Ahai, and I guess Roger Cohen would agree, links this aspect of lifestyle to health.  We often hear people say things like ‘smokers are digging their own graves,’ etc.  But buying bread?  This seems exaggerated, to say the least.  Finally, the first clause has what would be regarded, especially after Camus, as a Sisyphean quality.  No matter where the orphan goes, his thirst cannot be sated.

I think Roger Cohen is being extreme and a little bit silly.  I also think he’s being unfair–it’s easy to wax nostalgic about France when you have a job that gives you the money and the time to go to France and have the kind of experiences he describes.  But I also think he has a point.  Disconnection from the sources of our food, according to Tradition, leads, in the best-case scenario to disconnection from our (or any other) land.  Many of the spiritual and communal goals we seek will likely go unfulfilled, no matter how hard we try to achieve them.  Scarier still is Tradition’s (and, l’havdil, Cohen’s) implication that not only what we eat, but even how we get it, may lead to poorer health and premature death.  And the silver lining doesn’t sound so great: it just means we get to be “normal.”

I don’t think we should all be farmers and I don’t even know if Rabbi Ahai was one. But still, I ask Roger Cohen, I ask Rabbi Ahai and I ask you:  how do those of us who don’t grow wheat, who don’t have access to a mill, who live in the city and who live in the diaspora (where it seems that, to Jews, there is a clear disconnect from the land and its bounty) save ourselves?

Mostly I keep returning to that Myth of Sisyphus.  (What can I say?  I buy my grain at the market… er, co-op.)  At least with regard to disconnect from our food, from getting dirty, from engaging with what keeps us alive, Camus is right.  Our lives have become absurd.  Although he was French and, according to Cohen, shouldn’t have to worry about such things, Camus says the only ways out are revolt or acceptance.  Those sound extreme.  I am about to walk to the co-op.  Tuv Ha’Aretz offers another way to get more connected to the source of food.  Education like that offered in posts here helps, too.  Hey Roger, on my way back from the co-op, I may have a baguette sticking artfully out of my bag.  No beret though.

Many years ago, I escorted some at-risk urban youth to a park. Blinged and tattooed, these kids’ gestures stiffened into armor and their faces hardened into leather expressions of defiance and danger. Then they spotted the recently picked apples that had been brought along for a snack. They lunged, giggling and pushing to get their hands on those apples first.  When a butterfly passed overhead the boys tore into a chase, yelling, “A butterfly! A butterfly!”.  They held onto their bitten-into apples as they ran.  Can urban lives be changed one piece of fruit or vegetable at a time? Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s urban food movement is counting on it.

When Stringer surveyed the quality of life in struggling neighborhoods he expected to find asthma and other environmental problems.  He didn’t anticipate that that there were hardly any places to purchase healthy food. The local fast-food chains far outnumbered the vegetable stand, a fact that was at least partially responsible for the rising obesity epidemic. A study by Columbia University and the University of California/Berkley correlated a school’s proximity to fast-food chain restaurants to rates of obesity among students. Further, a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry links poor nutrition to behavior problems.

Stringer said of the study, “When you see the statistics in writing it shocks you.”

Of the nutritional realities he encountered when visiting local neighborhoods he concluded, “When you see it in people’s eyes, it terrifies you.”

Scott Stringer decided that he and his administration had to do “all that we could to prolong life using every tool we had, and that meant rethinking how we view the food and sustainability movement.”  Even in a borough of great wealth people were suffering from malnutrition and obesity.

By jamaxfer

From that declaration in 2008 to now, the Borough President has promoted a number of initiatives that connect what’s being served at the kitchen table to everything from healthier citizens, to better parenting, to stronger education, to tighter communities and to a more robust economy.

According to Stringer, his plans are to “bring New York City to the forefront of the new national debate on food production and distribution” because “we now have the perfect storm of opportunity: a president who understands that sustainability is good economics, a grassroots infrastructure to bring sustainability into local neighborhoods, and the science to back us up.”

Stringer’s initiatives include reforming tax incentives. “There is no reason that KFC’s, Burger Kings and McDonald’s should be benefiting from tax incentives not available to those who distribute nutritious foods,” he insists. And Stringer is also supporting the creation of a “foodshed,” a network of local farms that grow healthy food from whom government food purchasers will buy a certain percent of their vegetables, dairy products and other items.

Finally, Stringer has proposed the development of a FoodStat program that monitors nutrition and healthy food availability in all our neighborhoods. Stringer implores, “It is time that we as individuals and as a community start taking more control of how and where our food is produced and distributed. We must also do more to bring healthy food choices to neighborhoods with a glut of fast food joints and a shortage of supermarkets.”

Stringer pauses, then his voice rushes out when describing one of his favorite programs, “This one I’m in love with.”

Children awarded health bucks can redeem them at the new farmer’s market in Echo park in the Bronx for bags of vegetables.  Stringer almost coos, “These kids get to take brown paper bags filled with vegetables back  home to the kitchen table.”  Kids bringing vegetables to the table in East Harlem? That sounds like a real meal, changing lives one apple, squash, or even carrot, at a time.

The Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice. It’s an unwieldy name, but to the point. They are an interdenominational umbrella group of clerics andorganizations working at translating environmental consciousness into social justice. Based out of NY, and working mostly in and around the city, the group is co-chaired by NY Faith and Justice (a largely Christian organization) and We ACT for Environmental Justice, but includes a number of representatives from interfaith groups, including our very own Hazon. They host talks, run initiatives and are dedicated to improving the lives of those in lower income communities in the five boroughs.  They take the wild and crazy position that these communities foot the bill for our collective enviro-sins. See? It’s not just about saving baby seals…

Because really, why should you care about the some dead sea mammals? I’ve had to justify my tree hugging to many a smug cynic, so allow me: because an unbalanced ecosystem affects poor humans first. Impoverished communities the world over are dumping grounds for toxic waste, corporate BS and predatory capitalism. These communities suffer from disease and malnutrition (both physical and, subsequently, emotional) that leaves traces for generations. And guess what? Eventually that trickles up. Any imbalance in the social ecosystem affects the whole: that is why, my dear, you should care about the baby seals.

But in order to fight back, you need good organizational skills. Groups like FLEJ have the clever idea of using the sturdy social framework of churches and other religious institutions. Think about it: who makes a better community mobiliser than a religious cleric?

In the field of calorie and fat reduction (the work I do for Rhode Island’s Public School System) we follow a four step system to make recipes healthier. Remember it is not necessary to eliminate all of the ingredients considered harmful. Small amounts of fat, sugar, salt, and cholesterol can actually be good for your system, so we are just looking to decrease the amounts of each, not remove them completely.

1. Identify the problem ingredients; look for nutritional issues like more than one egg per serving, or lots of oil and salt.

2. After you have listed the problem ingredients figure out what they do in the recipe. For example eggs may be used for leavening, or thickening. Don’t try making custard without the eggs, it may be healthier, but it won’t be custard. You can safely remove half of the egg yolks in almost any recipe; just replace every other yolk with one white. Look at the use of sugar, if it is for taste alone then it can be replaced or reduced, but if it is for moisture retention in baking, or for caramelization like in butterscotch there are very few things that will react like sugar so it may be best to leave it alone.

3. Modify the recipe, substitute other ingredients for the problem ones, or reduce them. Also, at this stage people will add spices and other flavor-enhancing foods to keep the food tasting good, even though fat and cholesterol have been reduced.

4. Evaluate the recipe, see how well it works. Does the finished product look, smell, sound, feel and taste good? If it does then you did it! Your family will have a delicious and healthy meals this Passover.

Here are two of my own Passover recipes that I have modified; these offer a good balance of pretty healthy and very tasty.

Austrian Mocha Peach Torte – yields 12 portions

7 egg whites

Three egg yolks

1 cup sugar

4 ounces margarine

1 Âź semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate

2 teaspoons instant coffee

½ cup white chocolate chips

3 ripe peaches cut in thin wedges

1 fresh lemon

1. Preheat oven to 325. In a mixer bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form then add ½ cup sugar slowly while whipping to stiff peaks.
2. Melt margarine and semisweet chocolate together whisk in coffee, orange juice and sugar.
3. Remove from heat and add egg yolks one at a time to bowl, and then fold in egg whites.
4. Pour into an ungreased 10” spring form pan. Melt white chocolate in double boiler and pour over batter, cutting in with spoon to “marble”
5. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove to cooling rack. The center will fall when cooing.
6. Use a paring knife around the edges to release from the spring form pan and unmold.
7. Arrange fresh peach wedges on top and brush with fresh lemon juice.
8. Melt the remaining semi sweet chocolate chips and drizzle over the peaches.

Refrigerate before serving.

Spinach Mushroom Tomato Matzo Bake – Yields 4 entrĂŠe size portions

Requires overnight in refrigerator

1 pound of frozen spinach (thawed)

1 cup ricotta cheese

Âź cup fresh dill

salt & pepper to taste

at least 4 matzos

1 pound fresh mushrooms

2 tablespoons extra virgin first cold press olive oil

2 large ripe tomatoes

1 large egg

½ cup milk (skim is fine)

½ cup shredded cheese (cheddar works well)

1. Spray a casserole dish with non stick cooking spray
2. Squeeze water from spinach and mix with ricotta, dill and salt & pepper
3. Cover bottom of dish with matzos, breaking them to fit if needed
4. Spread spinach mixture over matzos then add a second layer of matzos
5. Sautee mushrooms with olive oil and place them on top of matzos
6. add another layer of matzos
7. slice the tomatoes very thin and use all of them for the third layer
8. Cover tomatoes with remaining matzos
9. Whip together the egg and milk with at least 1/8th teaspoon salt and pepper until blended and pour over all the ingredients in the baking dish
10. Top with cheddar cheese and refrigerate overnight
11. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for one hour until golden brown and firm in the center.
12. Serve warm!