Our Passover Meals

I'm so lucky to be on Spring Break during Passover. It's hard enough to work and cook meals, but even harder with all these food restrictions during this eight-day holiday. Sure I could throw together some matzah + cream cheese "sandwiches", but how many days of that can one tolerate? 

Having the time off allows me to actually think through our menu for the week, shop day-to-day for ingredients, and take my time when cooking or baking. I can usually get away with making dinner during Ethan's nap, and I try to get breakfast and lunch for the next day taken care of in the evenings when he's gone to bed.

We've had to get very creative with some of Ethan's meals, since he's a super picky eater anyway, but we're trying to get by. I'm sure he's wondering why he hasn't had his normal menu of carbs, but he seems to be adjusting.

Here are some of our favorite passover meals:

Breakfast
Apple Cinnamon Potato Noodle Kugel with Golden Raisins
Matzah Brei with Cinnamon + Sugar
Matzah Farfel Granola with Craisins

Lunch
Passover Sandwich Rolls
Egg Salad 
Tuna Salad

Dinner
Homemade Turkey Meatballs with Chili-Grape Sauce
Wild Salmon Potato Casserole
Safta's Homemade Matzah Balls + Chicken Soup
Passover Roll Pizzas
Passover Roll Grilled Cheese (E's favorite)
Spaghetti Squash Kugel
"Breaded" Chicken Breast Cutlets

Dessert
Forgotten Cookies
Chocolate Covered Matzah

Children's Museum ~ March

It's amazing how much fun Ethan and I have been having since we've been on Spring Break. I so wish that I could have more time to spend with him and just be his mom and Kevin's wife. Although I know I wouldn't savor these weeks as much if they weren't few and far between. It wasn't so long ago that I was itching to get back to work when I was on maternity leave. 

Anyway, Ethan and I have been going on outings every day. We've gone to an Open Play at the Carmel Library with our play group, Open Gym at a local community center, and today, the Children's Museum. It's so neat to see how he interacts differently with the different exhibits as he grows. He still has his old favorites (like pushing the toy lawnmowers around the little kid's play area), but today he experienced a few new things...including climbing and hugging a Sphinx in the Egypt exhibit. 

Here are some of Ethan's highlights from our trip.

Passover Sensory Tub

I've been itching to make Ethan some sensory tubs, but between work life and home life, I can't seem to find any free time. I put this project off for the summer. But then, the beauty that is Spring Break arrived, and I've got some time to be a crafty and creative Mommy. 

I decided to put together a Passover Sensory Tub to entertain Ethan during the Seder tomorrow night. I chose items that represent the ten plagues: blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, cattle disease, boils, locusts, hail, darkness, and slaying of the first born. (I know, I know, sounds macabre, but my mind was swimming with all the neat items I could use to represent these things!)

Here is what I used:

• sand, stones, rocks, shredded paper (desert filler)
• sparkly red pipe cleaners
• sparkly red poofs
• aluminum foil
• squishy frogs
• Little People animals
• lion figurine
• grasshopper figurine
• foam spiders
• sparkly black foam
• baby figurines
• green tub and scoop (both from the Dollar Tree)

Here's what I ended up with: