Kids' Hanukkah Art: Dreidel Decorating

We have been getting ready for Hanukkah, and I saw this make your own dreidel kit and thought the kids would love it.

This was really fun for both ages (3 and 6).

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Kids Art: Make a Dreidel out of a coloring page and a pencil

We found this dreidel coloring page online (I didn't note from where- sorry~!) and cut and glued and taped and attached it to a pencil!  Super fun!!

The little one clutched his for hours.

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Hanukkah Recipes: Latkes and Cranberry Apple Sauce

Hanukkah is a holiday which celebrates the Jews in the old temple hunkering down during a war with enough oil to last only one night.  But...  the oil lasted in their candelabra for eight nights, which was a miracle.  

It wasn't typically a major holiday until fairly recently, when the Christmas hype and marketing caused people to overestimate its importance and start giving mounds of gifts.  Passover, in the spring, is a much more important holiday, as are Rosh Hashannah (the New Year, celebrated in the fall) and Yom Kippur (ten days after Rosh Hashannah).  

Families typically celebrate Hanukkah, also transliterated into being spelled as Chanukah or Chanukkah, by lighting the candles of the menorah at sundown, adding an extra candle for each night until the slots are all full.  While the menorah is being lit, the family says two prayers (a special one is added on the first night to mark how special it is to be together and start Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights).  The menorah is a special Hanukkah candelabra that is handed down through the generations, and kids in school often make them, so many times families have more than one.  The candles, also specially made for the holiday, are allowed to burn until they are finished, and the menorah was historically placed in the street-facing window to spread the light of the holiday.  

The commercialization of December has added gifts to Hanukkah.  Families used to give gelt, or money, and play games like dreidel and sing songs.  They eat latkes, cooked in oil to again remember the oil that lasted for eight nights.  In Israel they eat donuts for the same reason.  Nowadays families will either give a gift each night, or choose one night to exchange gifts or give the children more than one gift on one night.  Families have different traditions based on what their lineage is (Askenazi or Sephardic), and this is true of many Jewish holidays, especially with the traditional foods, which differ by region.  What is traditionally eaten by Jews whose ancestors are Russian is different than those with Spanish ancestry. 

My great-great grandparents came from Russia and Poland, which makes me Askenazi.  They emigrated to Ellis Island in the middle of the 19th Century.  Growing up, we celebrated Hanukkah with Latkes and Cranberry-Apple sauce, which was my mom's change on the typical apple sauce eaten with latkes.  Others prefer sour cream on their latkes, and I often serve them with dripped yogurt instead.   The menu for Hanukkah isn't really fixed, since it is so many nights, but there is often one night chosen to be celebrated more than the others.  In addition to serving latkes, often a brisket or roasted chicken is eaten, or chicken soup.

Traditional Potato Latkes (almost my Mom's recipe)

Growing up, we got to eat these exactly once per year, on one of the eight nights of Hanukkah.  It was a much-anticipated evening, since making them is so small feat.  I skip the potato peeling as an adult, and it shaves off a lot of the prep time.  We also like to have two skillets working at a time.  My home, however, smells like latkes for a week after making them~ just like it did when I was young. 

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

3 cups potatoes, grated and drained (we use the food processor)

2 T onion, grated

1/4 t. pepper

2 T flour (can substitute white flour with whole wheat, rice, or coconut flour without noticing)

1 t. baking powder

coconut or olive oil for frying

Mix ingredients in large bowl.  Cut open a stack of brown paper bags.  Heat oil about 1/4" deep in skillet.

Place mixture in to hot oil by tablespoonful and flatten.  Fry both sides. Take out onto cut open brown grocery bags, or layer in a Pyrex with the paper in between and keep warm in the oven at 200 degrees.

Serve with applesauce, cranberry-apple sauce, sour cream, or dripped yogurt (cultured cream cheese).  Best served HOT.  Recipe can easily be scaled up or down.

Egg-Free, Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Latkes

My husband and I started making these nearly a decade ago, when I stopped eating potatoes and vegetable oils like canola oil.  I have included an egg-free version, so you can see that substitute binders like flaxseeds and chia work just as well as eggs.  

3 eggs (3 T flaxseed meal or chia seeds soaked in 1/2 cup water for at least 10 minutes if egg-free)
3 cups sweet or regular potatoes (or a mix), grated and drained (food processor)
2 T grated onion
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T flour (rice or coconut flour if gluten free)
1 t baking powder
olive oil for frying

Mix ingredients in large bowl.  Cut open a stack of brown paper bags.  Heat oil about 1/4" deep in skillet.


Place mixture in to hot oil by tablespoonful and flatten.  Fry both sides. Take out onto cut open brown grocery bags, or layer in a Pyrex with the paper in between and keep warm in the oven at 200 degrees.

Serve with applesauce, cranberry-apple sauce, sour cream, or dripped yogurt (cultured cream cheese).  Best served HOT.  Recipe can easily be scaled up or down.

Cranberry Apple Sauce

Boil a bag of cranberries and three cut, cored, and (optionally) skinned apples with a cup of homemade chicken stock and a cinnamon stick. Lower to a simmer for 15 minutes.  Mash with a potato masher if you prefer a different consistency.

Cultured Cream Cheese

Cultured cream cheese is just a fancy way of saying dripped yogurt, or even Greek Yogurt.  This is delicious on crackers or bread, or even as a dip for veggies.

To make it, place your colander into a bowl.  Line it with a cloth (cheesecloth or similar~ even a light dish towel or cloth napkin would work).

Dump a quart or two of full-fat organic yogurt into the colander.  Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Save the liquid~ it is called whey and is useful for fermenting or it is high in probiotics and you could eat it plain or in a smoothie.

Chicken Stock

Using heads and feet make a thicker stock.  We usually use a carcass from a roasted chicken, and add a third of a pound of chicken heads, a third of a pound of chicken feet, and a few chicken necks.  We get all of our meat from our local meat club CSA Marin Sun Farms.  Their chickens are pastured on the heels of the cows, which is as good as it gets for chickens.

1. Fill a stock pot with filtered water, the bones, a quartered onion with its peel, 3 roughly chopped carrots, the greens and middles of a head of celery, and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.
2. Bring it to a boil.
3. Skim off any foam.
4. Lower to a low simmer, and simmer, covered, for 12 to 24 hours.
5. Strain and store.  We like to use canning jars and put the lids on while hot so they sort of "can" themselves.  Many recommend to use stock within a week, but we feel like this gives us a bit more time with it.  We store it refrigerated and use it as often as possible-- often in place of water in cooking or just to drink as a beverage with meals.

As long as you are making this, you may as well go ahead and make some chicken soup!  Good ol' Jewish Penicillin.  

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Actual Thanksgiving Menu - Probably

So... I had plans for Thanksgiving (here).  After some cooking, here is what we have in store for tomorrow. Probably.

First Course

Leek Soup my own recipe, with extra ginger and leeks

Main

Crisp Roast Chicken (Best roast chicken recipe ever)

Vegetarian Stuffing from Trader Joe's (fancy, I know. My husband loves the stuff)

Paleo Stuffing from Paleo Movement - replace beef for pork, skip the nuts (I just forgot them, am not anti-nut), added raisins 1/4 cup

Mashed Cauliflower from Zen Belly - will make this tomorrow

Cranberry Apple Sauce from yours truly - BUT I used pears instead of apples and added some orange zest and an orange- and added a teaspoon of salt.

Third Course

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies from Gourmand in the Kitchen- replace sugar with half as much honey, add 1/4 c. more coconut flour to compensate for texture difference

Pumpkin Custard from Nourished Kitchen (with no whipped cream for topping)

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Thanksgiving Menu + Shopping List

First Course

Deviled Eggs (Hard boil 4 eggs, slice in half. Mix yolks with 2 T homemade mayo and 1/2 t. mustard.  Replace into whites.)

Pumpkin Soup (Saute 1 onion and 3 cloves garlic, add 2 cups chopped pumpkin and 1" fresh peeled and chopped ginger, then add 1 1/2 qt. bone broth. Bring to a boil, add 1 t. salt and 1-3 optional chilies.  Lower to a simmer for 25 minutes.  Blend using an immersion blender. Also great with carrots.)

Main Course

Roasted Chicken (Bake a whole chicken in a Pyrex with a sprinkle of sea salt at 350 for 1.25 hours.)

Vegetarian Stuffing from Running in a Skirt

Paleo Stuffing from Paleo Movement

Mashed Cauliflower from Zen Belly

Cranberry Apple Sauce from yours truly

Third Course

Whipped Cream (1 pint raw cream in mixer with 1 T vanilla and 1 t. honey)

Pumpkin Pie Recipe Made w Honey from Prairie Homestead

Pumpkin Custard from Nourished Kitchen

Shopping List

4 Eggs, hard boiled 

6 eggs, fresh

homemade mayo (1 1/4 c. olive oil, 1 egg, 2 T lemon juice, 1/2 t. sea salt, 1/2 t. mustard powder)

1/4 t. mustard

 4 1/2 qt. bone broth

whole chicken

1 lb. ground meat

1 3/4 pints raw cream

2 T lard

2 T coconut oil

stick butter

1 carrot

2 stalks celery

8 apples

2 bell peppers

1 lb. mushrooms

3 bags cranberries

2 cups chopped pumpkin, raw

2 cups cooked and mashed pumpkin

1 head cauliflower

4 onions

5 cloves garlic

1" fresh peeled and chopped ginger

 4 t. sea salt 

1-3 optional chilies

1 T fresh rosemary

1 T fresh thyme

5 T fresh sage

1 T pumpkin pie spice (or 2 parts cinnamon, 3/4 part nutmeg, 1/2 part cloves)

1 T chives, optional

1 cup honey

1 T + 1 t. vanilla

1/2 loaf rice bread, cut into 1/2" cubes

1/2 c. raisins

1/3 c + 2 T coconut flour

1 1/4 c. flour

4-6 T cold water

+ ingredients for
Pumpkin Custard from Nourished Kitchen (her website is down)

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Kids Fall Art Idea: Acorn/ Cork Art

Our neighbor showed us the acorn hearts she and her kids made and they looked so great, the kids wanted to come right home and make the same!

So we collected acorns on the walk home, then cut some cardboard.  You see one child wanted a heart and the other wanted an acorn shape.

When we laid them out, we didn't have enough acorns to fill in the whole thing.  So we supplemented with the cork collection.

To make the art pieces, we poured glue all over the cardboard, and then spread it out.

Then the kids laid in their acorns and corks.

I love how they each chose to lay their acorns and cork, and how the pieces look.  

Fall decorations!

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Happy Halloween!

We are almost ready to carve them!

Three for $12. How could I resist?  

There is one in each cargo bag and one on top.

.....

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Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

One of my favorite memories from growing up is Halloween.  Not the costumes, but the pumpkin carving.  Every year, we would carve pumpkins and my mom would soak the seeds and bake them for us with some salt. Not only are they delicious, but these seeds are high in zinc and magnesium, as well as being a decent protein source.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

pumpkin seeds

sea salt

optional: curry powder, lemon pepper, etc.

Place the seeds aside when carving your pumpkins.  Soak them in water with a sprinkle of salt for 30 minutes to overnight (this makes them easier to separate from the pulp and increases the nutrient availability to your body).  Separate the seeds from the pulp.

Preheat your oven to 325.  Lay the seeds on a cookie sheet.  You can oil the sheet, or use parchment paper or a silicon sheet if you wish.  Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.  As an option, you can experiment with other flavors like pepper, curry powder, lemon pepper, or anything you like.  You could even do parts of the sheet in different flavors.  Make sure the seeds are in a single layer.

Bake for 30 minutes, turning halfway through.  

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Kids' Art Idea: Painting Pumpkins!

If your kids are anything like mine, the moment they see a pumpkin at a store, it is game on.  They want pumpkins everywhere.  Trader Joe's? Pumpkin.  Farmer's Market? Pumpkin.  Target? Pumpkin.  Orchard Nursery? Pumpkin. I can't seem to go anywhere without a pumpkin display.

BUT-- it is also Indian Summer in Northern California.  That means you can't actually carve a pumpkin until a week out, at the most, from Halloween. It is (usually) in the 80's and 90's through late October so you never know what the weather is going to be on Halloween.  

So-- to keep those pumpkins fun (and not rotting from being carved too early), one good activity is painting.

Yes!  Paint those pumpkins.  You can paint them plain, or with faces, or dots, or multi-colored, or???

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Kids' Art Idea: Flag-Making

   It's almost red-white-and-blue time!  

This was a self-directed activity for my almost 6-year old, but it adds another use for old cloth diapers (though this is a single-use activity).

 

He took a little flag we had as a model, and cut a piece of muslin cloth (aka cloth diaper) to size.  Then he decorated it with fabric markers.

Then he asked for some help and I ironed it flat and ironed the edges under, then --he is totally capable of sewing with my machine but asked me to do it-- I sewed a zig-zag around the edges.

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DIY Passover Matzoh Bag (for Sedar Table)

 This bag has 3 compartments, one for each ceremonial matzoh, and is used during the Passover Sedar.

It was QUICK, in fact, I made it in the 30 minutes between finishing the gefilte fish and showering before our guests arrived.

To make it, I took a box of matzoh and measured a square of fabric around it.   Then I added a seam allowance.  Then I cut a matching piece for the back.  Then I cut two other pieces for the dividers.  I hemmed all of the pieces for the top.  I did a binding for the edging by using a ribbon.  You could turn it and topstitch, or make binding.  

I loved this addition to our Sedar!  

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On the Tubing Lift

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Best Gifts By Age 0-5

Aden and Anais Baby Blanket (Newborn)
Wooden Teething Ring (Newborn)
The Going to Bed Book (Age 1)
Dinos to Go (Age 1)
Car Carrier (Age 1 or 2)
Low Loader (Age 1 or 2)
Radio Flyer Kids' Wheelbarrow (Age 2)
Richard Scarry's Word Book (Age 2)
Latches Board (Age 2)
Duplo Creative Cars (Age 2)
Automoblox (Age 2)
Take Apart Crane Truck (Age 2 or 3)
Bruder Bobcat (age 2 or 3)
Play Kitchen (age 2 or 3)
Play Doh Tools (Age 2, 3, 4 or 5)
Wooden Workbench (age 3)
Spin Art (Age 4)
Lego Building Kit (Age 4)
Hungry Hippos (Age 4)
Lego Repair Shop (Age 4 or 5)
Tri-Ominoes (Age 5)

Love that wheelbarrow!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

 

As transcribed by my older son's preschool teacher... (the pictures are steaks on a grill with bones).

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Hanukkah Menu

Happy Hanukkah!


How about a Hanukkah party??

• Latkes - eggs, squash/ sweet potato/ potato, coconut flour
• dripped yogurt
• cranberry apple sauce
• wine/ beer - ice
• spiced cider (Trader Joe's Cider heated up)
• brisket (brisket in slow cooker with wine or homemade BBQ sauce)
• deviled eggs (mix yolk with homemade mayo and mustard)
• persimmons (fresh, in a bowl)
• olives (jarred, in a bowl, with toothpicks)
• carrots, celery
• apple cake (can't believe this recipe hasn't been posted- stay tuned for after party photo and recipe- generations old...)

While you're at it, how about some activities for the kids?

• magic modeling clay dreidel making with markers
• foam menorahs for coloring in
• hanukkah candle kit

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Nourishing Traditions Baby Custard and Pumpkin Custard

In Part 1, yesterday, I showed you our GAPS Pumpkin Pie experiment in my quest to find a yummy Thanksgiving Dessert for all of us (my husband eats sugar so his palate requires more "normal"sweets).

I also made the Nourishing Traditions/ WAPF Baby Custard with Pumpkin.


It's good.... so good I may have to make it for Thanksgiving!!

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GAPS Pumpkin Pie Experiment

Did you know that we are getting a TURKEY?  They go past our house all the time, so the boys were pretty excited to learn that Thanksgiving is about Turkeys.

There is a lot more to it than the bird, and I want to make a yummy meal that all of us enjoy.  So I wanted to test the sweets, so my sugar-eating husband doesn't miss the sugar-- or at least thinks the dessert is worth eating.

My first experiment was making the GAPS Pumpkin Pie recipe from Internal Bliss.

First we made and cooked the crust. We replaced the sugar (honey) with brown-tinged bananas.

Then we made the filling.

Beautiful!

And the taste?

Fine. A little like bananas. Ha.  But also a bit like pumpkin pie. I need to up the spice and lower the bananas (I used 3 and could use 2 instead).  It would also be better with a more browned crust-- mine was still a little white in parts when I filled it.

Overall?  OK.  My younger son liked it.  My older son wasn't hungry.  I had a few bites. It was a bit rich. Meh.

See part 2 (tomorrow): Pumpkin Custard.

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Thanksgiving Menu - Hanukkah Overlap

• Turkey (brined, bacon slices laid on top)
• cranberry apple sauce (boil bag of cranberries and 3 cut, cored, and skinned apples with a cup of chicken stock. Lower to a simmer for 15 minutes)
• cornbread stuffing (hubby's request - we compromised on Trader Joe's boxed stuffing- he wanted Pepridge Farms and I wanted cut veggies mixed with sourdough bread, nuts, and dried apricots)
• carmelized onions (laid around turkey)
• Green Salad
• sweet potato latkes (to celebrate the 2nd night of Hanukkah)
• pumpkin pie - will experiment with the GAPS recipe and the Nourishing Traditions Pumpkin Custard Recipes
• Something Chocolate. Or not. This is a lot of food. May make the dark chocolate truffles from the Primal Blueprint Cookbook.

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