I thought I’d make up a pre Pesach menu plan to share with you, but I didn’t end up doing that.  I’m sorry if I disappointed anyone.  But I’ll share with you some ideas of things that I make, along with some recipes. 

I have about five pounds of ground chicken and five pounds of ground meat defrosting right now.  I’m planning to mix them to make meat patties and meat knishes for non yom tov meals.  The basic idea of making knishes is very, very simple.  I boil up a big pot of potatoes, mash them well, add eggs, salt, and pepper, ground meat, and potato starch.  Sorry, I made up this recipe, so I don’t have measurements.  It doesn’t really matter how much potato and meat you put in – whatever ratio you like will turn out well as long as there’s enough egg and potato starch to hold it together.  Then I shape them into squarish shapes, and bake them at 350 until they’re done.  I like the consistency the potato starch adds to it – it gives them kind of a cheesy consistency.  I do something similar to make dairy knishes.  But instead of adding ground meat, I add shredded cheese and/or cottage cheese.   Both of these are nice for taking on chol hamoed outings.

Because there are so many meat meals on yom tov, I try to make lighter meals for chol hamoed.  I don’t buy fish for Pesach, because I find it too expensive, so our meals tend to be dairy with vegetables.  Pizza, lasagna, eggplant parmesan, and crustless quiche are all nice main dishes.  I’ve made bourekas but they’re a pain to make – but they were very tasty!  Vegetable cutlets or loaf is also nice, particularly with a gravy on top.  I like having a big pot of vegetable soup to supplement these meals, or cut fresh veggies.  What I make really depends on how much is left of my groceries once all of the bulk yom tov meals are prepared. 

Matza brei and latkes (with dried fruit, cottage cheese, or matza meal) are nice for breakfast, along with milk and fruit.  So are hash browns and eggs.  This year I’m looking forward to trying a new quinoa pudding recipe that looks yummy. 

There are so many things to eat on Pesach, many of which are the same or can be adapted from regular recipes from the year, that there’s no reason to complain about how hungry and deprived the family has to be for a week without pasta or bagels!

I’ve prepared posts with Pesach recipes that I plan to send them out on chol hamoed (we try to avoid doing anything unnecessary on chol hamoed, but dh said it’s okay if I post it then).  If I’ve mentioned a specific recipe that you’d like me to post, let me know and I’ll try to put it up for you. 

Avivah