Celebrating The New Year of the Trees ............. The Tu B'Shvat Experience at the New Shul

Friday night Shabbat at the New Shul is always
a warm and welcoming community experience
and this past friday, was no exception.
The community gathered in celebration of Tu B'Shvat -
the Jewish New Year of the Trees -
a holiday that is celebrated by drinking
4 glasses of wine and working your way thru a series
seder plates that involve different fruits,
as well as the community poetry, arts + crafts
and performances from song to dance

Certainly a fun + delicious experience for all ages!





The first world seder plate represented fruits that have an
inedible shell or peel and an edible interior
our first world seder plate is represented
with bananas, clementines, pomegranate, coconut + carob


The second world seder plate represents fruits
that have inedible seeds or pits, but the skin and flesh is edible
our seder plate is represented with
dates, green +black olives, and apples


The third world fruits
are completely edible
so CuisinEtc had fun with a bit of arts and crafts of our own
and made edible skewered vases of
strawberries + grapes
along with cherry tomatoes + carved cucumber crowns.




adults and children alike enjoyed decorating personalized Tzedakah Boxes (charity bottles), made from re-cyled materials, to take home for putting spare change into for the New Shul's community art project to benefit The Mayim Project. Another great example of the New Shul's commitment to recyling, reusing and reaching out to the greater community and world!






The shabbot dinner that followed catered by CuisinEtc
included delicious and healthy choices
such as Tilapia Primavera
oven roasted filet of tilapia brushed with honey mustard
and shingled with thinly sliced fresh yellow + green zucchini,
roma tomato and nestled on a bed of julienned carrots + squash


in honor of the holiday the buffet table was decorated
with real tree branches and fresh organic farmstand apples

many of the dishes incorporated fruits + veggies
as is appropriate for Tu B'Shvat.
such as Sauteed Kale with White Beans + Roasted Garlic,
Organic Farmstand Apple Kugel
and
Pomegranite Cranberry Quinoa Salad
- blending old traditions with new world grains...


organic field greens with yellow peppers
and Israeli grown organic cherry tomatoes tossed with
CuisinEtc house made roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette


Enchanted Broccoli Forest Salad with Mandarin Oranges


dijon roasted potatoes with marinated artichokes
and fire roasted red peppers - not your mama's potato salad!


Middle Eastern Fruit Tsimmes "Salsa"
incorporating dried fruits such as
apricots, dates, prunes, raisons, cranberries,
with fresh veggies such as carrots, sweet potato
stewed with honey and spices - very tasty!
and a nice compliment to the
Organic Local Farmstand Apple Kugel


who doesn't love blintz and cupcakes??

(by popular request, see recipe below)
combine the two and you have a winner
Blintz Cupcakes with sour cream and organic apple + berry topping




other desserts included chocolate pudding
and Dianne's infamous chocolate caramel cracker candy
(which the kitchen staff just calls
"crack" for short as its utterly addictive)

Recipe for Blintz Cupcakes
- courtesy of my catering buddy,
Mimi Markofsky, Elite Kosher Catering, Michigan

BLINTZ CUPCAKES (great FOR PASSOVER)

1 pound cottage cheese

2 ounces margarine or butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup matza cake meal, scant

4 eggs, beaten



1. Mix all ingredients together except eggs;
then add eggs. Grease muffin tins.

2. Fill tins 3/4 full; bake 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes if using large muffin tins.
Smaller muffin tins will require less time.
Serve with sour cream and/or jelly or fresh fruit