Celebrations: Passover, Birthday & Easter

What a family weekend! Saturday we celebrated Passover & my birthday at my mothers.  Due to the marathon, we pushed everything off.  My family is Jewish and my husband is Protestant but we still share all holidays together. Although no one in my family is very religious, I do feel spiritually religious and connected to my faith.

We had a mini-sedar before chowing down on amazing food.  Left to Right- Spinach salad, roasted asparagus, Charoset (Apples and Cinnamon), Brisket, Spinach Matzoh Pie and Baked Potato. 

Everything my mom made was absolutely delicious.  I think my mom and I have very similar tastes!

Intrigued about by the Spinach Matzoh Pie?  So was I!  I originally planned to make this for Cara's Blogger Sedar but I was too sick to go.  So I made it Saturday and let me just tell you- I think I will make this again even when its not Passover!!!

It was a mix between a lasagna and spanakopita.  I loved every bit of this recipe!  Check it out!

Spinach and Matzoh Pie

Adapted from Gourmet

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (16-ounce) 2% container cottage cheese
1.5 cups low fat milk
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
6 ounces feta, crumbled (1 1/2 cups), divided

1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
6 matzos (about 6 inches square)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.

Cook onion in oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, try to get out as much liquid as possible in the spinach. Add spinach to onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in salt and pepper. Purée cottage cheese in a blender with milk, eggs, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until smooth. Reserve 2 cups in a bowl and stir remainder into spinach with 1 cup feta. Stack matzos in a deep dish and pour reserved cottage-cheese mixture over them. Let stand 15 minutes to soften. Arrange 2 soaked matzos side by side 13- by 9- by 2-inch (3-quart shallow) baking dish. Pour in half of spinach filling. Cover with 2 more matzos, then pour in remaining filling. Put remaining 2 matzos on top and pour any remaining cottage-cheese mixture over them. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup feta and mozzarella cheese. Bake, uncovered, until golden and set, 30 to 35 minutes.

After dinner, we celebrated my birthday which was on Wednesday.  I've had cookie cakes for as long as I can remember.  I can't imagine celebrating my birthday without one!  PS- I know it makes no sense that we ate cookie cake during Passover dinner- but what can I say- we aren't very religious!!

Happy Birthday to me! Making a wish!

It was a wonderful Saturday!


Sunday we headed to Dave's family for Easter.  Dave's mom made Ham, Green Bean Casserole, Biscuits and Cheesy Potatoes. I love yummy ham : )

But the best part of Easter- getting my Easter basket!  Being Jewish, I never got one growing up so I love that Dave shares his with me!

How do you celebrate the holidays? Do you get a specific cake for your birthday?