Purim is one of my favorite holidays – okay, I love holidays, so I have a lot of favorites – and this year, with its two Adars, we get to think about Purim for six weeks instead of two. One of the things I love about Purim is reconnecting with people I haven’t seen for a while. The point of Purim isn’t to make you nuts (even if you put nuts in your shalach manos) or instill fear of the deadline. (Seriously, who can possibly get everything on their list done on time?) The point of Purim is to fill you with love of Hashem, community, friends, and family.
I also
like Purim because my expectations are met. I expect to hear the Megillah (and I do). I expect to eat a
crazy amount of food (and I do). I expect to drive around like a maniac delivering
shalach manos, and guess what! I do.
And at the end of Purim, I get to check off all those boxes. And I do. Purim
means music and laughter and that special bond with people who are all trying
to achieve a higher goal. Purim definitely has a special place in my
heart.
A couple
of friends have been creating a special food experience at their house on
Purim. One friend makes an ice cream sundae bar, so whoever comes in gets
a bowl of ice cream with an onslaught of toppings. Another friend, the
extraordinary Rivky Flamm, makes a huge hot dog lollapalooza. Hot dogs, French
fries, and the fixings are available to anyone who stops in. My kids love going
for the hot dogs. It’s a great idea. First of all – and it can’t just be me –
my kids do not eat properly on Purim for some strange reason. So real food in shalach manos is always my favorite. It
gives us energy for our marathon Purim extravaganza.
Anything
that gets my kids participating in making the shalach manos is a win, I say. Right now, we happen to have an
unreasonable amount of individual apple sauces in our house. One idea is to use
the round apple sauce as a head and glue googly eyes on it for a clown shalach manos. Its body is one of those
individual juice boxes, and two small raisin boxes are the legs (or you could
go with small boxes of candy as feet). My kids love to use the hot glue gun so
they can be in charge of putting the googly eyes on. (You can get googly eyes
at the now-renamed $1.25 store).
* * *
Easy Shmeasy Crock-Pot Chicken Fajitas
You can use this recipe for the Purim meal,
or it could be used to feed your family throughout the day. You put it up in
the morning, and then have it ready for later.
1 lb. chicken breasts
6 peppers (green, red, and yellow), sliced
3 onions, sliced
1 pkg. taco seasoning or 1 to 2 T. homemade seasoning (recipe below)
Flour or corn tortillas
Toppings: pareve sour cream, pareve cheese, guacamole, and/or salsa.
Slice
peppers and onions then place them on the bottom of the crock pot. (Use a crock
pot liner to make clean up easier). Put the chicken on top of peppers and
onions. Sprinkle taco seasoning on top. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours (or on high
for 3 to 4 hours). Remove from heat and shred everything and mix together.
Serve with tortillas and all the toppings.
Taco Seasoning
1 T. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1?1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper
Shalach Manos Cookies
You could make a bunch of these at the
same time and freeze them (before or after baking).
2 c. (4 sticks) unsalted
butter, softened
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 1/4 c. dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 c. all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Flavors (pick 6):
Chocolate
Chip: 1/2 c. chocolate chips
Snickerdoodle:
2 T. sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Peanut
Butter: 1/3 c. peanut butter
White
Chocolate Macadamia Nut: 1/4 c. macadamia nuts and 1/4 c. white chocolate chips
Oatmeal
Raisin: 1/3 c. rolled oats, 1/4 c. raisins, and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Chocolate
Chocolate Chip: 2 T. cocoa powder and 1/4 c. chocolate chips
Chocolate Chip
with Pecans: 1/4 c. pecans and 1/3 c. mini chocolate chips
Backwards
Cookies: 1 1/2 T. cocoa and 1/4 c. white chocolate chips
Peanut Butter
M&M cookies: 1/4 c. peanut butter, 1/4 c. mini M&M’s, 1/4 c. oats
Oatmeal Chocolate
chip with Coconut: 1/3 c. oats, 1/4 c. coconut, and 1/4 c. chocolate chips
Preheat
oven to 350° F. Spray a 12?x17? sheet pan with non-stick cooking spray or line
with baking paper. Set aside. Mix the butter and sugars until well combined. Either
by hand or a mixer, beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the flour, baking soda,
and salt until combined.
Place the
ingredients for each flavor in six different bowls. Divide the base
cookie dough into 6 equal parts. Then add one part of the dough to each flavor
bowl and mix together to combine well. (Actually, you can make as many
varieties of cookies in the pan as you want. If you want to make 4, divide into
4 balls; if you want to make 8, make 9.
Place each
ball of cookie dough into a sixth of the sheet pan. Press each of the balls
down evenly to fill its sixth of the sheet pan. If you want to add extra toppings,
now is the time to do it. Each cookie dough should be pressed up next to the
other cookie doughs beside it to fill the entire sheet pan. (This will help the
cookies to bake evenly.)
Rotating
the pan halfway through, bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in
the center of the cookies comes out clean. Let cool for at least 10
minutes before cutting into squares.
Easy Hamentaschen
It might not be our all-time favorite cookie,
but every Purim time, we bring out the rolling pins and the cookie cutters and
make hamentaschen. I like to have a couple of new flavors every year (although
we definitely use the old favorites, too). Some awesome fillings: a gooey
brownie recipe, chocolate chip cookie batter, thick cheese cake batter or
peanut butter cookie batter. You could also fill them with chips (white
chocolate, chocolate, butterscotch), raspberry or apricot jam, or apple or
blueberry pie filling. Anything that would be good with a cookie would work
with your hamentaschen. I know there are people out there who like the “mahn”
fillings. I have been against poppy seeds ever since I was fooled as a kid
thinking into thinking it was going to be chocolate. However, if you like it,
feel free to use it. And don’t forget prune filling. You people who like it know
who you are. Whatever your taste, I say, enjoy.
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. filling of your choice
Thin glaze/ganache/sprinkles for
decoration.
Preheat
oven to 350° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix together eggs,
oil, and sugar. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir until the
dough is smooth. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut circles using
a cookie cutter or a glass cup. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of
the circles. Fold over 1/3 of the circle, one side at a time, until all three
sides are folded and you have a triangle. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool
before icing. Makes 24 cookies.
If you make your own hamentaschen, send me pictures! One lucky reader's
hamentaschen picture will be printed in the next issue with their name and will
get our amazing Pesachdik chocolate cake in time for Pesach.
