IN MY KITCHEN- - April

Time to take a peek INTO MY KITCHEN and see what's going on this month of April. 

As most of you know, we had some difficult family times last month, so we are getting back to normal but I haven't been doing much cooking or entertaining. 

I do have some interesting food products and new kitchen items that I use that I do want to share. read more

Fat Free Oil Free Hummus 

I keep this delicious hummus stocked in my refrigerator. It doesn't have fat or oil, thus reducing the calories significantly. I like to snack on it with celery sticks or carrots sticks. It provides a good deal of protein in this low fat and low calorie hummus. Regular hummus contains about 10 grams of fat per serving (which is about a tablespoon or two). 

I have only been able to find it at Whole Foods Markets. 

My new spring kitchen mitts 

I like to get new kitchen pot holder mitts when the season changes. These are my clean new spring mitts! 

I went to IKEA and bought this serving piece. It has a wooden base ( I haven't taken off the plastic yet) with grooves to hold each bowl. I'll use to serve dips, nuts, or candy. 

I realized that Homegoods sells the same size but colorful and decorative little bowls which I will be able to interchange.

I bought a fresh whole papaya the other day and was waiting for it to ripen up a bit. It might be just about ready to eat. I'll be cutting this afternoon.

Do You Buy Rubber Bands? 

I finally went to the dollar store (where everything is now $1.25) and bought a package of rubber bands!!!

 I usually just save rubber bands from produce and flowers that I buy, but I never actually think of buying them. 

Well I did and now I have a year's supply!! 

I use rubber bands to wrap bags of crackers, beans, pop corn, and really anything that comes in a bag. The rubber bands work better than clips that keep breaking on me.

This is only 1/4 of the bag that I bought

Passover is in less than 2 weeks away (Sundown on April 15), and I'm thinking about the holiday foods I will be making and the serving pieces I will be using. One of the traditional ceremonial foods that we make is Charoset .  

The charoset link will give you 2 recipes: 

The first recipe for Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Charoset which is made from apples, nuts and wine, and the other for my husband's family Sephardic recipe which is made from dates, raisins, and nuts. Click this link for the Charoset recipes . 

One of the grandkid's  plastic ceremonial Seder Plates which we use on the holiday. It contains a spot for all of the ceremonial foods: bitter herbs, parsley, shinbone, hard boiled egg, and lettuce. Each food is symbolic from the story of Passover or blessings for the spring season. 

It was our 50th wedding anniversary at the end of March and we received beautiful flowers from our kids and other beautiful flowers from my sister- in- laws. 

My talented, creative, and very thoughtful friend, Fay, made us these t-shirts on some sort of machine that she has and hand decorated the champagne glasses too. Thank you to Fay!!

We also received a bottle of champagne from my sister in law and a fun thoughtful 50th serving piece from my friend Vicki !

Quote Of The Day: 

"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think"

Margaret Mead 

Sharing on Image-in -ing 

 Joining Sherry at Sherry's Pickings for her monthly share of In My Kitchen and sharing my post.