Unless you use Passover as a tool to lose weight, you don’t have to cringe at the thought of eating matzo and butter for 8 days straight. Not only can you buy Kosher for Passover food that mimics everyday food (ie – chicken nuggets, waffles and cereal), but there are some great, easy recipes out there to enhance your meals throughout the week.

Here are some favorite Passover recipes that we like to make throughout the week.

****Passover Brownies****

½ lb pareve margarine
2 pareve semi-sweet chocolate baking bars
4 eggs
1 ½ cups matzo cake meal (Matzo cake meal is simply ground matzo meal. If you can’t find cake meal, you can grind matzo meal in the blender)
2 cups sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. In a double boiler, melt the margarine with the chocolate. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the sugar gradually, until thick. Add melted chocolate and margarine and blend well. Fold in the cake meal. Pour into a greased 8” square pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out “dry”. Cool and cut into squares.

****Not Just “Pizza on Matzo” Pizza****

4 slices of matzo, crumbled into farfel (pieces)
3 eggs
salt
shredded mozzarella cheese
tomato sauce
seasonings
vegetable toppings

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Add the matzo farfel and a pinch of salt. Spread this mixture on the bottom of a pan (a round pizza pan or a 9x13 pan). Bake on 325° until set. Remove from oven. Spoon on tomato sauce and sprinkle seasonings (basil, oregano, garlic, etc). Spread on the mozzarella cheese. Add your toppings. Return to oven until the cheese melts.

****GG Fritzi's Cottage Cheese Pancakes for Passover****

½ lb cottage cheese
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 tsp melted butter
1/2 cup matzo meal
1/2 tsp salt

Mix the cottage cheese with 4 well beaten eggs. Slowly stir in sugar, melted butter, matzo meal and salt. Mix well. Drop by the spoonful on hot greased pan. Fry until brown on one side, turning once. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or - better yet - serve with jelly. Yum!!

****Chocolate Chip Pancakes****

These are so tasty, we make them all year round.

2 eggs
½ cup milk or soy milk
2 T sugar
1 cup matzo cake meal (or until batter is thick enough)
chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, milk and sugar together. Add the flour a little at a time until it looks like pancake batter. Don’t over mix. The batter should be a bit lumpy. Heat your frying pan and spray with non-stick spray. Spoon your batter into the pan. When batter starts to bubble up, flip the pancakes and cook for another minute or so. Serve with Kosher L’Pesach syrup, jelly or cinnamon & sugar. (or eat them plain if you have chocolate chips in them)

****Carrot Soup and Matzo Balls****

I’m not a big fan of carrots, but I do enjoy this soup. The recipe is adapted from The Low-Fat Jewish Cookbook by Faye Levy

1 T Vegetable oil
2 medium chopped onions
1 ½ pounds of carrots, peeled and diced
5 ¼ cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
½ tsp dried thyme
pinch of sugar

matzo balls
¼ cup parsley
2 lg eggs
2 tsp vegetable oil
½ tsp salt
½ cup matzo meal
2 T water

In a large saucepan, heat the vegetable oil on medium-low heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft. Add the carrots, 4 cups of veggie broth, salt, pepper and thyme. Mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until carrots are soft - about 30 minutes. When the carrots are soft, take off the heat and allow the soup to cool.

Pour the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. Return the soup to your saucepan and bring it to a simmer, stirring often. Add the remaining broth until you reach a consistency you are happy with. Add the sugar if you’re going to use it. Adjust your seasonings if necessary.

**Matzo balls**

Chop parsley in food processor (or use dried if you are lazy). Combine the eggs, veggie oil, and salt in small bowl. Beat until blended. Add matzo meal and beat again until blended. Add water and chopped parsley. Mix. Cover with saran wrap and put bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes.

While the mix is in the fridge, bring 2 quarts of salted water to boil (large pot). Wet your hands to prevent the matzo ball mix from sticking to you. Take 1 tsp matzo mixture and roll into a ball. Drop the ball into water and reduce to simmer. Keep the matzo balls on low heat for about 30 minutes or until they are firm.

Happy Eating!