Celebrate the Jewish New Year or Year!
I am always trying to find new ways to make the Jewish holidays fun for my kids, and love to take the kids apple picking around this time of the year. It is also the only time of the year that I actually cook! Here are some great holiday-related links:
Celebrating Rosh Hashana with Your Kids (from Kveller)
Teaching Kids About the High Holidays (from Aish.com)
Rosh Hashana Rock Anthem (from Aish.com)
Crafts for Rosh Hashana
And of course, what is a Jewish holiday without yummy food? Here are some of my favorite recipes.
I especially love the Apple and Raisin Kugel, which is a huge hit. I am a huge fan of "dumping" recipes, and this one allows me to dump all the ingredients into a bowl, mix, and pour into a pan. The best part is that it uses chunky applesauce--so there is NO slicing and dicing apples!
Apple and Raisin Kugel
Ingredients:
1 lb. noodles
6 eggs
½ stick margarine
1 cup applesauce (chunky is good)
½ cup sugar (white)
½ cup sugar (brown)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup raisins
Directions:
Boil noodles per instructions on bag. Combine all ingredients. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
High Holiday Challah
Ingredients:
¾ cup sugar
2 cups lukewarm water
¾ cup vegetable oil
1T salt
4 small eggs
3 envelopes yeast
¼ cup lukewarm water
8-10 cups flour
honey
Directions:
Combine sugar, 2 cups water, oil and salt. Add eggs. In a separate cup, mix yeast in ¼ cup warm water. Add the yeast mixture to the sugar mixture. Add 4 or 5 cups of flour and mix well. Gradually add 4 or 5 more cups of flour. Knead 10 minutes. Lightly coat a bowl with vegetable oil and put dough into this bowl. Lay a piece of wax paper over the bowl and then a dishtowel on top of that. Let dough rise for one hour.
After one hour, the dough should have roughly doubled in size. Punch down dough and knead again for a few minutes. Cover with wax paper and towel and let rise for another 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, you’re ready to shape the loaves. Divide the dough into two. Working each half separately, roll into a long snake. If you like, raisins can be added here by pressing them into the dough. Starting at one end, roll the snake into a circle that gets wider and wider as the dough wraps around itself—like a rag-rug. Tuck the end in. This is the traditional shape for challah for the High Holidays. The circle symbolizes life. Now, let the dough rest.
After 15 minutes, drizzle honey onto the loaves. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes. Enjoy!
Mom’s Jewish Apple Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 ½ cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil
5 unbeaten eggs
½ tsp. salt
1/3 cup orange juice
2 ½ tsp vanilla
3 tsp baking powder
Directions:
Beat ingredients until smooth with wooden spoon in one large bowl.
In another bowl:
8-10 apples cut thin
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp sugar
Put in greased and floured tube pan:
1 layer apples at bottom, then enough batter to cover, then apples, then batter again. Top with apples.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
