Hanukkah “Chanukah” is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days and nights. It involves the lighting of the Menorah, rededication of the Holy Temple, and blessings over the candles. Hanukkah is jewish meaning derived to mean “dedicate”.
I’m not sure how this celebration has come about since we aren’t Jewish. However, it’s always been a celebration I look greatly forward to every year. Last year I even went to Emily’s after having gum surgery and that was quite a sight to see!
Agenda
–Hanukkah music courtesy of Pandora Radio
-Lighting of the Menorah
-Blessings over candles
-No Fry Latkas
-Lentils soup made from scratch!
Lentils – Christina got them from Lakewinds Grocer. I’ve never had lentils before but they are a very interesting shape and feeling. You can buy them by the weight. It’s to be used in our lentils soup. I found lentils to have taste attributed to their texture and shape.
Pearled Barley – Christina also found this at Lakewinds by the weight. Another thing I don’t remember ever having before. They are very small and look similar to like oats. We put these in our soup which was good. However, I can’t distinctly tell you what they tasted like.
Other Ingredients:
Soup (lentils, pearled barley, canned tomatoes, shredded carrots, onions, and pinch of rosemary)
No Fry latkas (potatoes, onions, wheat germ, salt, pepper, eggs)
Shredder Device – Emily’s house they have this awesome orange plastic/ metal shredder device. It’s very easy to use, has a bunch of different metal shredder plates and all you do is turn the knob. In no time at all I was able to shred up the potatoes for the latkes. It was actually sort of fun and I wished I had more things to shred. I’m not sure if this tool has a special name but sure is handy!
No Fry latkas
We decided on no frying because frying can be tricky. Don’t worry these turned out delicious! The recipe was very simple and we just found it online.
1. Christina washed & peeled the potatoes, we pre-heated the oven
2. I used the device to shred the 2 large potatoes we had which made 18-20 latkes
3. Christina chopped up a cup of onions
4. We added the rest of the ingredients into a mixing bowl. The wheat germ gives it a lot of texture, fiber and really amps of the consistency.
5. We oiled 2 baking trays, we scooped out the batter in 1/3 cup portion, and put them in the oven to bake (you do need to flip them once)
The latkas do get a bit juicy and the potato juicy runs from them. Just take a paper towel and wipe off the extra juice!
Next Food: Lentils Soup
This is Emily hard at work getting the recipe in order for the soup.
Soup Ingredients…
The soup was easy to prepare and cook. It took approximately 1 hour. It was amazing how fast the lentils absorbed the liquids in the soup.
Finished Products!!! Lentils Soup & No Fry latkas
Soup ended being thicker texture so it more like a stew then a liquid soup.
We added some apple sauce to the latkas and it was superb!
Sophie's Dish 