making charoset

 This recipe is inspired by Passover. While I do not celebrate the holiday of Passover, I have many fond memories from my childhood spent table-side at the many Seders I attended with my best friend. Oh how her mother would cook up a storm. And oh how we patiently waited through the service and questions and dippings and prayer until her brisket was served. One of my favorite flavors from Passover was the charoset (or haroset) that was served as a symbol of the mortar the enslaved Jews used to anchor bricks together as they worked at the mercy of the Egyptians. 

I was surprised to find many of my non-Jewish friends unaware of the traditions steeped in many of the Jewish holidays and so I thought I would share a few memories, a recipe I created and a few links you can follow to learn more about Passover (also called Pesach). One thing you might be surprised to find is that in the hierarchy of holidays, Passover is more important than Hanukkah and is often observed for eight days (and sometimes for seven). Depending on each person's faith, there are a number of dietary restrictions involved which most importantly call to refrain from food goods that use leavening such as everyday sandwich bread, and/or baked cookies and other cakey-sweet treats. That is why you may see an abundance of matzoh showing up in your recipe feeds, and/or super market aisles.

All of the foods on the seder-plate symbolize elements from the Passover story. A Passover Seder (dinner) can last for many hours, or longer than you thought possible (that's my ten year old perspective there) but it isn't at all boring and even involves a little hide and seek when it comes time to hunt for the afikomen. If you ever receive an invitation to attend, I recommend you do so. This world is vast and full of differences that at their core holds the pureness of heart. What better way to grow, than to share?

Here is an easy child-friendly recipe for charoset. Keep in mind that if you are Jewish and hold dietary restrictions for the holiday, you will know what is best to substitute. This is recipe is my way of sharing some insight with those who are new to Passover and to encourage you to cook and/or prepare food with your children. There are all sorts of neato-keen developmental elements hidden in this recipe from using small motor skills, to math, and reading. Children take pride in sharing and enjoying something that they made. Recipe following builds autonomy, prepares children for kitchen safety and is super fun!

Spiced Pear & Pecan Charoset

*2 soft pears of your choice

*1 cup pecan meats or pieces

*2 T butter

*3 T brown sugar

*pinch of cayenne pepper

*1/2 t cinnamon

*1/4 pear juice

*1/4 cup diced red onion (optional)

*plastic or butter knife

*melon baller

*food chopper (optional)

*skillet

*vegetable peeler

*bowl

*wood spoon

*fork

*matzoh for eating

If your pecan meats are whole you will need to chop them up. If you have a press food chopper, you can have your kiddo get to chopping (supervised of course). If you do not have a chopper, toss nuts into a sealable bag and have your kiddo mash em with a rolling pin. While nuts are getting chopped up, add butter to a skillet and turn on medium/high heat to melt. Once nuts are melted and butter is melted, reduce heat and add nuts. Give them a stir to coat and add two tablespoons of brown sugar and a pinch of cayenne pepper to the pan and mix away with a wooden spoon.Remove from heat after five minutes or so and allow to cool.

Have your kiddo give the pears a good washing and then remove the skins with a vegetable peeler. You are the best judge to know if your child is capable of this, if not, peel the pears yourself but allow your child to cut them. Pears are soft and easily cut with a plastic or butter knife. Have your kiddo cut each pear in half and then use a melon baller to scoop out the seeds in the center. They can then cut the pear up into smaller pieces as they see fit. Place pear pieces into a small mixing bowl.

Pour a bit of pear juice into a easily pourable container that your child can hold. Allow them to measure out 1/4 cup of juice. I used a pear cider from Trader Joe's. If you cannot find pear juice, you can use apple or pomegranate or even a little wine if you wish to go the traditional route. A little juice goes a long way as the pears themselves will release a lot of juice during the mixing process. Add the measured juice to the bowl and then have your kiddo measure out the remaining tablespoon of brown sugar and the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Add onions as well if you are using them.

 Add the candied nuts to the bowl and mash/stir it all up with a fork. You can give it an easy swirl to keep it chunky or give it a good mashing so that it is more akin to applesauxe. It's up to you and your kiddo. 

Transfer to a serving container and use as a dip for matzoh or other water crackers. It is surprisingly delicious! Find more recipes and Passover fun over at my pinterest board.

make a matzoh s'more

 Passover is approaching and my local grocery stores have their kosher products out in full force. Remembering the awesome Passover-safe camp out food we had with friends a few years ago, I picked up a box of salted matzoh to make this sweet treat.

Now, you know far better than I what foods are appropriate for your observances. Either way, whether you celebrate Passover or not, might I suggest a matzoh s'more? There is something quite delicious about the thin salty cracker mixed with the ooey-sweet of the marshmallow and chocolate. Our friends preferred a dark chocolate in their mix, their kiddos (and I) preferred a milk. Don't forget the salt, it brings out the flavors of the whole shebang.

If you have access to a fire-pit or campfire, whip out the roasting sticks and make them the old fashioned way. You can also use a s'mores kit, or if you are like me and a wee bit impatient, the good old stove top makes a nice replacement. If you are not partial to the toasty goodness of an almost burnt marshmallow, pop your layered treats in the microwave for a quick melt-down. Enjoy!

Make Name Cards for Passover

There is no end to the many different ways you can make place cards for your Passover Seder. This idea uses up those plastic baskets that strawberries and other fruit may come in. My original idea was hoping that they would shrink like shrink plastic does alas they do not but this is still fun and it allows for some marker time and most kids do love marker time!What you need:
*scissors
*plastic fruit containers, washed & dried
*permanent markers (I know, I'm sorry but Crayola won't stick)
*foil
*cookie sheetscrumdilly-do it!

Wash and dry your plastic containers. Your kidlets can do this, easy peasy. If you can, remove the label from the container so that you can use both the top and the bottom. Each container will give you two place cards.

Cut apart your containers so that your wee ones can doodle-up the tops and bottoms. Save the sides for other fun but usually they are too bumpy to write on. You can even cut each top and/or bottom piece into two pieces for smaller place cards.
Have your tots use the markers to decorate each piece and then place on a sheet of foil on a cookie sheet and pop into a low temperature oven or toaster oven. 200 degrees or under is good.
The plastic doesn't shrink, but it does curl up quite a bit. You may choose to weigh it down with a cast iron skillet or other heavy oven safe pan. It goes without question that you are to do this part and NOT your tots! After about ten minutes, the plastic will curl and be pliable. As quickly as possible, remove pieces, one at a time and gently shape into a wave so that the place card can stand on its own. The plastic cools very fast and becomes rigid. And yes, it does get a might bit stinky.Viola! You are done! You may want to experiment with your kidlets and let them color up all bits of the containers and then see how wonky they will curl. Call it sculptural art!

Afikomen envie!

If you have less time and/or supplies, here's an Afikomen envelope project that you can do with what you have on hand!

What you need:

*large manila envelopes

*crayons and pens

*adhesive of your choice

*scissors (whichever style is age appropriate for your kidlet)

*magazines that kidlest can cut up

scrumdilly-do it:

Lay out your supplies and have your wee ones go on an alphabet treasure hunt! Write out the letters that spell AFIKOMEN on a sheet of paper. Pass out the scissors and magazines and let them have a go at it! 

Once they have cut their letters out they can arrange them on their envelope and glue when ready. They can then add any other razzle dazzle they like. 

Viola! A custom made Afikomen envelope!

The cool thing about this project is utilizing your wee ones hand eye coordination, small motor skills and letter recognition! Don't need to stop at Afikomen. Kidlets can make their very own artists portfolio and hunt out the letters to their name to glue to the front! Kidlets who can recognize letters if not read them can do this also! They will love it and it will give you at least 20 minutes of "you" time! Don't forget to add your pictures to scrumdilly-did!

It's Afikomen time!

Okay, not yet but soon and what better way to protect that piece o' Matzoh than to make a super special envelope/bag for it? I have two styles in the works for you and hope you can use them as a jumping off point for your kidlets. Paper is perfect for the younger kids while sewing would be grand for the older (loose weave burlap can be stitched with a plastic needle!) or perhaps, they can decorate a piece of fabric and you stitch it all together for them.

Afikomen envie number one is made from two sheets of construction paper. You can use any kind of paper you want but this is what I had on hand. It is super easy, can be made quickly and your wee ones will have a glorious time glue glue glueing all kinds of extra bling to their envie. This project allows for creativity, lettering & language skills and small motor skills as they weave their "binding" in and out of the holes they have punched. Good practice for all that hand eye coordination.

What you need:

*2 sheets of paper or construction paper for each envie

*crayons, pens and markers

*glue

*a hole punch

*yarn or pipe cleaners

*extra bits and baubles like glitter, jewels, scrap paper, tissue, etc.

scrumdilly-do it:

Holding the 2 sheets of paper together have your kidlet punch holes around three sides. Using yarn or a pipe cleaner, your kidlet can then weave in and out of the holes to seal the edges together. I used a pipe cleaner for each side which was super easy to just twist off.

Now your wee ones can decorate to their hearts' content. Have them write out the word AFIKOMEN to practice their lettering and all that fun literacy stuff. Set aside to dry.

On the big day, wrap the Afikomen in a cloth or napkin and slip inside the envie and hide. Viola! No crumbs behind those drapes!

More Passover stuff can be found on my Kaboodle list. Plague finger puppets anyone?

Make a Kiddush Cup!

Or rather...decorate a cup! To keep your wee ones busy before Seder time, why not have them decorate their very kiddush cups? You can use any type of plastic cup of your choosing, they come in so many styles. This way you can either go the goblet route or the tumbler route. Me, I went for what was easiest to find. Introducing my kiddush cup!

It is still a little sticky from all the glue but it will dry pretty soon. These cups are pretty much good for one use only so have yer wee ones make a bunch!

What you need:

*plastic cups

*good old fashioned white glue

*paintbrushes and sponge brushes

*tissue paper

*plastic jewels and stickers

scrumdilly-do it:

Gather your supplies and set up shop in a glue friendly are. Use a splat mat if you are overprotective of your furniture. Kidlets can get very creative with glue and you never know hwere it will end up! Have your wee ones tear up pieces of tissue paper to have ready for when their cups are all sticky with glue. Get ready to bedazzle!

There are many ways a kidlet can go about doing this and I would encourage you to let them do it their way. They can "paint" their cups with glue first using a sponge tip brush to cover more are in a single swoop or they can hold the tissue over the cup and paint the glue over the paper, either way works, yay!

Once the tissue is all over the place, your kidlets can add other bling to their cups using stickers or plastic jewels. Once they are done set cups aside to dry and then behold their magnificence! See? Super easy and fun to make! Share pictures of your cups over at scrumdilly-did! Thanks!

More scrumdilly-do pics can be found here and more Passover fun can be found here.