Pre-Pesach Recipe Idea

Here is a quick and easy recipe to serve during the hectic week or two before Pesach. Add a fresh green salad and fruit for dessert.

Rice and Lentil Pilaf (Parve)

Ingredients

1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup raw brown rice, rinsed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2½ cups water
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup raw lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins

Method

Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan; add the onion and saute until soft. Add the rice and saute for another few minutes.

Combine the water, tomato paste and cinnamon. Add this mixture to the rice and onions, along with the lentils. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Oil or spray an ovenproof baking dish with non-stick spray.

After the rice has cooked for 30 minutes, stir in the salt and raisins. Add additional water if the mixture is too dry, and place in casserole or baking dish.

Cover and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6

Planning for an Enjoyable Pesach

If in your mind Pesach means long, tedious weeks of cleaning and preparation, you will probably feel exhausted by the time you sit down for the Seder. The thought of taking time for creative and healthy meals may seem totally unrealistic or impossible. But with careful planning, you can eat well and enjoy Pesach in a relaxed, joyful mood.

Here are some suggestions:

• Remember that Pesach cleaning is not spring cleaning. Our obligation is to remove chametz, not cobwebs and dust.

• Start cleaning for chametz as early as possible. Begin with the areas that are farthest from the kitchen and dining room. You can start by cleaning the car, bedrooms, basement and office. Stop bringing chametz into these areas once they are clean.

• Try to include family members in Pesach preparations. Children will be more cooperative if they feel that they are a part of the process. You will feel less frazzled if you have the cooperation and help of your family.

• Start browsing cookbooks, and make a note of new Pesach recipes that you would like to try. Newspapers, magazines and the web are all good recipe sources.

• Write a week-long Pesach menu, incorporating old favorites and new ideas. Base your menus on fresh, seasonal produce. Try to keep your menus fairly simple.

• After planning a menu, write a shopping list. Include nonperishables, fresh and frozen foods and paper goods. Jump-start your Pesach shopping by purchasing nonperishables several weeks in advance.

“What should I eat?”

The vast amount of confusing and conflicting nutrition information makes this an increasingly difficult question to answer. Using nutrition science and Jewish wisdom, my new book, Food for the Soul - Traditional Jewish Wisdom for Healthy Eating provides practical advice and inspiration for improving your health.

Food for the Soul will help you:

Learn to make healthy food choices
Sort out nutrition facts from fallacies
Plan and cook delicious and healthy kosher meals
Create a relaxing eating environment in your home
Discover the Jewish spiritual dimension of food and eating

About Chana

Food has interested me for years.

As a young girl, I filled blintzes and baked cookies at my mother’s side. When she began working outside of the home, I helped with the shopping and cooking.

By high school I was cooking dinner several nights a week. Those were “hippie” years and I baked bread, grew herbs and cooked lentils and brown rice, much to the chagrin of my meat-and-potato-loving father.

At the local Jewish community center I worked as a camp counselor and group leader. My after-school cooking class was a favorite with the children.

When I came to Israel in the early seventies, I lived on a kibbutz. Unlike the other volunteers, I was a failure at picking fruit. My real strength was in the kitchen, and soon I was cooking breakfast and vegetarian meals.

Back in the United States, I earned a degree in dietetics from Oregon State University, raised three sons, volunteered with various Jewish organizations, taught preschool, tutored bar and bat mitzvah students and started The Kosher Connection, a gourmet gift business.

I have worked as a dietitian in a Jewish nursing home, hospitals, schools and as a consultant to physicians. I started teaching cooking and nutrition to adults in Portland, Oregon, and later taught in the Chicago area as well.

Now I live with my husband in Beer Sheva, Israel where I write and continue to teach nutrition and healthy cooking.

Chana