What Dinner Looks Like the Week Before Passover

For me, this week, one week before the holiday is the most disorganized week of the year and repeats itself, annually.  At this point, my kitchen is ready to be used and I can actually cook again.

Last night was another story.  I was still in the middle of the Pesach transformation.  A few hours of scrubbing and washing pots and pans and I was ready to go.  In those few hours, we really had to eat something and I made a delicious dinner without cooking.   It was hot and steamy and well seasoned.  I had a package of chili (Ellie Krieger's recipe) in the freezer.  I had defrosted it and added in some cut-up tomatoes.  In the microwave, I baked some potatoes, heated the chili and that was dinner, served on a plastic plate with plastic flatware.  As I looked down at my plate, there was an empty space where the green vegetable was to go.  Oops, I forgot.  This is a hit and miss week and happily, we are making the best of it.

Right now, on my stove, is a huge pot of soup, or at least the beginnings of soup.  My goal is to make enough for the entire 8 days of Passover.  As the week goes on, I add different vegetables to the soup.  I make egg drops or Passover noodles (eggs and potato starch).  On the last day, we usually have knaidlach, matzah balls.

I have not yet reached the "neat" stage.  I still have cartons of miscellaneous items to be put away for the week, only to be unpacked again, after the holiday.  This is a time where we work hard but when the holiday comes, it is well worth it.