Shehecheyanu
Recite this blessing the first time you do something each Jewish calendar year (e.g., the first night of Hanukkah when you light the menorah), and to mark joyous occasions.
Bread Kugel with Dried Fruit and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Combines many of the flavors and foods found in Spain and Portugal with the classic technique for making a bread kugel.
Chocolate-Drizzled Coconut Macaroons
Here's an easy, straightforward recipe for these beauties.
Vegan Borscht
Jaroset (Panamanian Halek)
This recipe comes from Rita Sasso, a Panamanian whose roots go back to Spain via Amsterdam and Curaçao, which had a significant Jewish population in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Rita and I became pen pals when I published a recipe in my Reform Judaism magazine column that was given to me by a friend in Mexico. She recognized the recipe as her own. We have shared recipes ever since, and here is one she gave me with her permission to publish.
Israeli Charoset Recipe
This recipe is an adaptation of the California-influenced Israeli charoset of the well-known kosher cooking instructor and cookbook author Judy Zeidler. This recipe truly tells a story since the ingredients are an amalgam of both Ashkenazic and Sephardic culinary traditions. Flavorful, intriguing, and a big hit at the seder.
Deluxe Buckwheat Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling
This dessert pairs a delicate nut flavor with raspberry preserve filling.
At Tu BiShvat, Digging for Spiritual Growth
While my neighbors were putting their Christmas trees to the curb, in what seems like a ritual of replacement, I was preparing to plant for Tu BiShvat.
Those Who Plant Will Reap: A Tu BiShvat Lesson
Tu BiShvat is a reminder that we spend our lives planting seeds. Time and effort are needed for our efforts to bear fruit. Wait patiently. One day, like the seed, we will be blessed.