The final three hours of Pesach preparations are approaching… and I actually have some down time now to blog! I am happy to say that it’s been a group effort amongst my family members to get to this point in time. Between the shopping, shlepping boxes from our basement with Pesach dishes upstairs to our kitchen, preparing our kitchen, to cooking, and to preparing all the necessary items for the Seders, I feel lucky to have time now to post about my cooking preparations.

 The last thing I just prepared were the traditional matzah balls for my mother’s traditional chicken soup. We didn’t have a mix, but I was grateful that Manishevitz had a recipe on the back of its matza meal canister. I haven’t made them in a few years, so I hope they come out ok; they smell great! I discovered a Pesach friendly recipe for apple crisp, which just replaces matza meal for dry oats. If you’re interested, check out my previous post where I listed my crisp recipe and feel free to just use matza meal instead.

On that note - it’s amazing how a number of the kosher companies have aimed to make a number of their products taste exactly like the “chametz” parallel products (even though I didn’t personally invent the Pesach friendly crisp recipe!). It’s understandable, though I feel like it’s a whole new industry nowadays compared to when my parents grew up. Each year, more products are coming out with a Pesach kosher certification. I remember last year, or the year before that, the hot new product was terra chips (just make sure that it has a Kosher for Passover certification on the package). I am not in the “know how” this year to know what’s the new and exciting product.

However, I think with such an emphasis on feeding us food to help us forget that it’s Pesach, we can lose the sensativity from appreciating what the purpose of this lovely holiday is all about. We celebrate to remember all of the amazing miracles that God performed for us as we left Eygpt, and we are grateful for the different freedoms He has given us, collectively and individually. Of course this question is somewhat idealistic (and sometimes our physical desires for yummy food win), but why should we put ourselves in a situation where this social consciousness is removed from our minds? I postulate these thoughts as I run back to the kitchen… feel free to share your thoughts! I wish you and your family a Chag Kasher V’sameach - a happy and healthy Passover!