Read the Ingredients, You May Be Unpleasantly Surprised

I prefer goats yogurt to cows. I find that it has fewer ingredients and tastes very good. All I want in yogurt is the milk and the necessary bacteria. If the milk has enough fat, and the yogurt manufacturer has the right bacteria and patience, you'll get wonderful creamy yogurt. Unfortunately, I've learned the hard way that not all "natural" yogurt is truly natural. Read the ingredients.

The yogurt pictured here not only has tapioca to thicken it, but it has  E1442, too. Both are used to make the yogurt thicker and more pudding-like.

The first goats yogurt I began eating didn't have any thickening agents, and I loved them. Then I was given a yogurt that looked almost yellow instead of white. It had a different taste and texture. So I checked the ingredients. Tapioca and other starches. Now I don't buy a yogurt without carefully reading everything written on the label. I have to know all of the ingredients.

Just because a food is labeled "natural," doesn't mean that it really is. Check the ingredients before buying. Also compare the ingredients of similar foods. Be an informed consumer.

Cooking Up a Storm for The Kiddies

We set up a second table in order to accommodate the clan yesterday. There were chairs out for all but the youngest, who's under a month old. Just because I'm no longer in the Passover Seder business doesn't mean that I'm neither hosting nor cooking for them. Not only did I have everyone over for our traditional family Pesach food, but I served on real plates. And I even washed up all the dishes, pots and pans afterwards.

Photo by Yisrael Medad,
Yes, the husband

The highlight of the menu was Savta Brei, a calorie laden dish that can be described as "latke-coated matzah" fried in olive oil. Basically, it's just a matter of taking onions and potatoes, grating (you can use a blender or food-processor) them together, mix with eggs, matzah meal, salt and pepper. Yes, just like classic raw potato latkes. Heat some oil in the frying pan, then take matzah, coat with the mush and fry well on both sides. Serve it with applesauce and/or sour cream, just like you'd do with potato latkes.

I'm not quite sure that anyone ate them besides my children. Since the frying went really slowly due to the lack of a good gas stove, I baked up some of the mush as oven latkes. But my husband was overjoyed to have the traditional holiday food of his family. The latkes were more popular with the younger generation and the in-laws.

For my children, I decided to serve one of their childhood Passover treats,  Instant Chocolate Pudding. It had been decades since such a dish had graced our table. As an extra adventure, the grandkids were introduced to what was once the most necessary Passover kitchen tool, the eggbeater. Some of the older ones took turns trying to mix the chocolate pudding with it.

I think everyone had a good time. There was just one almost disaster. The folding table began spontaneously folding mid-meal. Luckily I was sitting at the end and held it up until my son-in-law reopened it. Nothing was lost, especially not weight. We will have to resume our diets after Pesach.

The farewell blessing was:

"Next year in a new kitchen."

Gd willing, speedily in our days...