This recipe comes from an article in the Washington Post, which reprinted Nigella Lawson’s Damp Apple and Almond Cake. I followed the recipe exactly except that I used olive oil to grease the pan rather than canola oil. Many Jews do not consider canola oil kosher for Passover, as it falls under the category of kitniyot.

Because this recipe uses almond flour as its base rather than cake or matzah meal, it doesn’t taste like a typical Passover cake, and that’s a good thing. This is a very easy recipe to make, though it tested the capacity of my Cuisinart, the user manual of which recommends only about 4 cups of liquid batter be processed at a time. I went over that recommendation, and barely made everything fit.

I’d recommend letting the cake cool for a half hour before releasing the springform pan (the recipes says 10 minutes). Also, make sure to run a knife around the edge of the pan before you remove it — I had a small issue with the edges falling away from the cake. Overall it held together nicely, though.

I found the flavor of this cake less intense than I expected. I would have liked to taste more almond, and I wonder if grinding the almonds myself (or toasting them first?) would have accomplished this. (I used Bob’s Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour, which I found at Mrs. Green’s, our local Whole Foods-type market.)

Despite the absence of chocolate in this recipe, it went over well at our seder and those who liked it did not agree with my assessment of it being a little bland. I would make it again, for Passover or if I needed a gluten-free dessert.

Isn’t the single slice pretty, sitting on my mom’s Passover dishes?

My little guy is 2½ now, and still favors a sippy cup when he drinks milk. It’s definitely a comfort thing, since he has no trouble drinking from a regular cup and does so when he drinks water. I’m ready to be done with the sippys altogether, though, so as they start to crack and wear out (we use Take & Toss cups, which are “semi-disposable” but can be thrown in the dishwasher and reused for months), I’m tossing them rather than replacing them.

Passover is coming up, and since we change over all our dishes for the holiday, I started explaining to G. that we will be done with sippys when we take out our new Passover cups. He seems totally fine with it — both my boys handle changes like that with aplomb as long as we give them some warning.

I went up to Target to look for cups that were kid-friendly (hold less than 8 oz. and unbreakable), but not childish-looking. I thought I’d totally scored with some clear polycarbonate juice glasses (similar to these), until I sat down to read the latest Nutrition Action Health Letter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) at my parent’s house the next day.

It turns out that polycarbonate — prized for it’s glass-like appearance and resistance to breakage — is suspected of contaminating the liquids and foods it holds with bisphenol A (BPA). BPA mimics estrogen in the body, and therefore has negative, hormone-related health effects, especially in children. BPA is also found in almost all the liners of canned goods we buy.

I was most surprised to find out a lot of baby bottles are made of polycarbonate. My boys didn’t take a lot of bottles but the ones they did were Avent all the way (here is Avent’s take on BPA). So was my breast pump. Thankfully, the storage bags I used when pumping were BPA-free.

Of course, opinions are split on whether the amount of BPA leaching into our food and drink is significant. CSPI has a good fact sheet online with links to tons of information on BPA. And while the FDA states as of January 2008 that they see “no reason at this time to ban or otherwise restrict the uses [of BPA] now authorized,” the NIH still recommends that we aim to limit our exposure to BPA.

Truthfully, the safety of the plastics I use is something to which I’d never given a second thought. I am an equal-opportunity microwaver — I’ll put anything but metal in there. But when you are faced with information like this that directly impacts the health of your family, it’s hard to just ignore it or wave it away as an extremist view. Why take that chance?

I’ve been hard-pressed to find a substitute cup that falls under recycling categories 1, 2, 4 or 5 — these are the safest for food use (this is a great PDF explaining which plastics are best). Jodi recommended these Kalas cups from IKEA — they’re almost exactly what I’m looking for. Made of polypropylene (recycle #5). Stackable. Holds a modest volume (7 oz.). Of course, using stainless steel and glass are also options, but other than these Klean Kanteens for taking drinks out of the house, I don’t see that working for us.

I am no alarmist, but I am getting rid of any unlabeled or less-safe plastics in my kitchen. I’m only going to microwave in glass or stoneware containers; never with plastic wrap. I’m going to buy fewer canned goods, or look for brands that use a BPA-free lining (like Eden). And those are things I’m going to be consistent about.

Sunday morning, and this week’s meals are already planned. I’m headed to the butcher now (alone!), so I know I’ll be well-stocked for the next couple of weeks. It’s sunny and clear here, and I can almost start to believe that weather is warming up for good.

So, I’m looking forward to this week. The kids are healthy again. I don’t have any one-off projects hanging over my head. And I think I’m finally settling into our new afternoon schedule which has us out of the house more than before.

My refrigerator was so sad looking this past week. I was barely out of the house to grocery shop and I didn’t cook much — it felt like we subsisted on a huge pot of chicken soup and noodles.

Passover begins in about a month, so while I’m not in using-up-chametz mode yet, I am going to start avoiding buying new packages (of flour, rice, etc.) that would have to be thrown out or stored during the holiday.

Here we go!

Monday: Roasted chicken over butternut squash & apples, elbows

Tuesday: Spicy Sauteed Chickpeas with Beef and Cilantro, pita bread, cucumber salad

Wednesday: Vegetarian chili & corn muffins (both from the freezer)

Thursday: Cauliflower gratin, spinach salad (with mushrooms & chopped hard-boiled eggs), whole wheat egg noodles

Friday: Crispy Ginger-Lime Chicken Thighs, roasted asparagus, challah

Saturday: Ropa vieja with red & green peppers (in my crock pot), barley

Sunday: Order in or eat out (possibly swap with Saturday depending on our plans)

I’ll be baking pumpkin muffins sometime during the week, too.

For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.