Preparing for Pesach: Chasing Chametz, Tinfoil Tizzies & Recipe Round-ups

I can't believe it's that time of year already--Pesach (Passover) is just days away! In fact, Pesach will begin at sundown this Friday. I would like to say I am running ahead of schedule on preparations (and that I have ample amounts of free time left to blog about it), but the reality is that, as usual, I am very behind. I do have some really awesome excuses, including but not limited to:

• My previous academic quarter ended less than 2 weeks ago. My next (and final!!!) round of college courses begins today!
• I had one week "off" for Spring break. In reality, I had two days off to take a mini "Staycation" and then joyfully resumed teaching my preschool class. I missed them over the past 3 months while I completed a busy schedule of college courses!
• I also spent my Spring break convincing myself I wasn't getting sick, then allowing for the possibility that I *might* have a cold, later believing I was getting better, and then finally sucking it this past Friday and heading to the doctor for a round of antibiotics.
• My toilet broke just after Shabbat began this past week. Thank G-d, my landlord was as efficient as apparently possible, and it was fixed by Saturday afternoon. That made for a rather interesting Shabbat!
  
• Oh yeah, and I got summonsed for jury duty, beginning today (yes, at the same time as I am supposed to be starting my course work and teaching my preschool class and preparing for Pesach)!

But nonetheless, Pesach is coming whether I am "ready" or not. Right around the time Shabbat ended, I was feeling wholly unmotivated to begin the lengthy and arduous process of cleaning my apartment top to bottom in search and attack mode for that oh so curious culprit: chametz. Chametz is the Hebrew word for "leavened" and refers to any leavened grain products (or otherwise unkosher for Passover products*) which are prohibited from being consumed during the 8 days of Pesach or in an environment where foods that are Kosher for Pesach are to be eaten.

*NOTE: Passover dietary laws and customs vary from community to community. For some more information on this, click here and here. I also posted a bit of food for thought here last year around the same time as I prepared for Pesach.

As a result of this prohibition, extraordinary and sometimes extreme efforts are taken to clean the home, with special attention paid to areas like the kitchen and dining rooms. Depending on your eating habits and overall cleaning habits throughout the rest of the year, this job can become monumental! (Think: food fights, kids who store surprise cookies in the toy box, couch cushion collections, etc.) The best and possibly the only way to proceed is with patience, persistence, a knowledge of when it's time to take a break and when it's time to push through, and--as always, plenty of tinfoil and a sense of humor.

** I found this photo as well as the previous one on this wonderful blog.

Ah, I have now FOILED all your attempts at keeping a straight face, no? Now back to my serious Saturday night: As I sat on my chametzdik couch, in my chametzdik living room, gazing into my very chametzdik kitchen, I contemplated the task at hand. I honestly lacked any and all desire to even begin the process. I decided to check my mailbox for some motivation. Sure enough, inspiration had arrived over Shabbat in the form of an unexpected care package from my mother. In it were a deck of adorable matzo playing cards and a copy of one of my favorite childhood videos (now on DVD), Passover at Bubbe's!

One might think this was the perfect opportunity to take my lack of motivation and seclude myself into a chametzdik corner to embark in a lengthy round of Matzo Solitaire. Alas, I am saving the cards for some festive games of Kings, er Pharaohs in the Corner during Chol Hamoed, or the interim days of Passover. Nonetheless, I did pop in the DVD and watch Passover at Bubbe's. There is nothing like a good dose of nostalgia to remind a person why it is we go to these lengths to prepare for Pesach. In fact, it is more than just the catchy tunes, adorable puppets and humorous anecdotes in this child's film that motivated me to get off my tush and tackle the tinfoil tizzy. I was motivated by the fact that my mother thought of me during this time of year. I was inspired by the fact that my ancestors, both recent and generations ago have taken the same extreme efforts year after year to honor the memory of their ancestors both recent and generations before--all the way back to the very exodus of the Jewish people from Mitzrayim (Egypt).
And so, on Saturday night I began the initial stages of preparation: I ate some of my leftover chametz (hey, that counts!), and began to search for recipes and prepare a shopping list for the eight days of eating both gluten and chametz-free.

Aside from the matzo itself, Passover is one of the most gluten-free friendly holidays in the Jewish tradition! In fact, many specialty products and prepared foods for Passover are, by nature, gluten free. I often store up on certain treats once they go on sale and use them throughout the year. Even matzo comes in a gluten-free option now for those who cannot tolerate the real stuff. This is the first year I'll be trying out the stuff, though I must admit I am wary of removing and replacing the only potentially tasty ingredient of a 2-ingredient recipe! Still, I am grateful to have this opportunity to be able to fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzo at the seder while avoiding the level of discomfort I experienced last year trying to do so with regular matzo.
On the topic of food, I am so inspired by the wealth of Kosher for Pesach recipes out there, especially on the internet. I've been perusing a couple of my favorite Kosher cooking sites, CookKosher.com and JoyofKosher.com.
*Clicking the highlighted links will take you directly to the Passover sections on both those websites. I particularly like that the former allows you to filter by gebrokts and non-gebrokts, depending on your traditions and practice.

Even mainstream websites are reaching out with recipes for Passover, like this page on the Weight Watchers website. I am not personally participating in Weight Watchers' program, however, I greatly appreciate their focus on health and nutrition when planning recipes.
*Weight Watchers' recipes are not specifically formulated for a Kosher diet and substitutions or removal of certain ingredients may be necessary here depending on your traditions and practice.

Overall, Pesach can be a time of very healthful eating, especially for families and individuals who follow a non-gebrokts tradition. Gebrokts (literally translated from Yiddish as 'broken'), refers to allowing matzo to come into contact with water. Many Orthodox and Chasidic communities avoid this, and hence any form of matzo other than the straight-up deal for the first seven days of Pesach. For those who adhere to this tradition, or those like myself who cannot eat regular matzo or its derivatives anyway, Pesach menus consist largely of whole foods: proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil, Kosher salt and fresh herbs for seasoning. Prepared foods must be certified as Kosher for Passover, and for folks not living in a particularly cosmopolitan area where Kosher markets are available, or for those not wanting to spend a great deal of money on the specialty items, processed foods are literally passed over! In the last several years of living in this area and not having access to a lot of Kosher specialty items, and particularly in these last two years of avoiding gluten and wheat, I've found I rarely feel deprived during Pesach. In fact, the unique opportunity to get creative with fewer ingredients handy is an inspiration and reminder of how I might like to eat year round.
Well, the bathroom, living room and bedroom are cleaned, linens washed, carpets vacuumed, floors mopped. My shopping is mostly complete, save for a few ingredients. Kitchen preparations are underway, but much is left to be done! Alas, I leave you today with a small poem I composed yesterday and a wish that for those observing, you have a joyous and meaningful Pesach and for all others, Happy Spring!

An Ode to Chametz

Chametz, oh chametz, I hate you, you stink!
This is the third time I've re-kashered my sink!
My cabinets & fridge are now covered in foil,

For hours on end I trouble & I toil.
I washed, scrubbed and scoured
Vacuumed & dusted
I'm fairly certain that's a rib I just busted
But come the first seder, we’ll all sit to dine

And I shall forget this with four cups of wine