Check out my 5 Ways to have a Meaningful Christian Passover with a Christian Seder. Not everything has to involve food, but who doesn't love to eat around the holidays! These are all simple recipes and ideas. I love to eat, celebrate and gather with family - but I'm not a huge fan of cooking. So everything I share is about as simple as it can get and still be deliciously homemade.
Let's start with the seder food:
Maror– a bitter herb, symbolizing the bitterness of slavery. This is usually represented with horseradish. You can get fresh and grate it or simply buy a small bottle of it.
Charoset – A sweet, apple and nut mixture represents the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves to build the Egyptian structures for the Pharaoh. And let's just say YUM. I did not use a recipe for mine. I diced half a sweet-tart apple (Pink Lady) and put it in a chopper with walnuts, a spoonful of honey and a dash of cinnamon. It made a small amount for my bowl. For a more detailed recipe, click HERE.
Karpas – a green vegetable, represents springtime and a time of rebirth. This is often represented with parsley, but in my study I found that roasted potatoes is a common Karpas and the one I chose to use. You only need to bake it and slice it so it can be dipped.
Zeroa– represents the animal sacrifice performed on the eve of the Israelite's exodus from Egypt. Zeroa is typically displayed as a shank bone, leg of lamb or a chicken neck. I saved a leg bone from a Costco rotisserie chicken. Super easy. I did microwave it a little to get some of the moisture out of it (and that was stinky, can't advice doing that). I've seen a lot of others use a drumstick with the meat on it.
Chazeret – an additional bitter herb, often it is romaine lettuce; symbolizes how at first the Israelites flourished in Egypt, but over time slavery created a bitter end to their stay. I have small bowls so I bought a spring mix of lettuce and used the most "romaine" looking of them. I wanted small leaves and couldn't find them amongst the heads of romaine in the produce section.
Beitzah – a boiled egg symbolizes the festival sacrifice offered as a symbol of mourning over the destruction of the Temple. For my pictures I had the egg whole, but for the ceremony, slice it so everyone can partake.
Salt water – Representative of the tears and sweat of slavery. Simply mix salt into lukewarm water until it dissolves.
Matzah – Because the Israelites left Egypt quickly, they did not have time for their bread to rise. I have had Passover Matzah, a bland cracker, but I was unable to find any locally. And for my own observance I prefer a homemade flatbread. If you are doing Kosher, make sure to find kosher instructions. I am not sticking to those restrictions.
Wine - A symbol of redemption for the Israelites from slavery. We don't drink wine, so we are using some home bottled grape juice. I would suggest grape juice as your first alternative, but any red drink would suffice.
Fish - while not part of the Seder, gefilte fish is often served at Passover. Fish represents the coming of the Messiah. I'll share a gefilte fish recipe HERE, but we like smoked salmon dip, made from the fish we caught in Alaska. It's easy and a I know we already like it. You can find that recipe HERE.
Easter Meal Ideas
I have put links to the items I plan to make and that are already tried and true recipes. Pie is an Easter tradition in our family. After learning that almond coconut macaroons are a popular Passover kosher dessert, I decided to make coconut cream pie our new trademark dessert for Easter. There is not a set menu for the seder "Shulchan Orcech." My Symbolism Cards tie in the traditional seder symbolic food with the typical Easter meal. I want the blending of Passover with our Easter to be simple but significant. The following menu suggestions will do that.
Typical Easter Meal | Symbolic Menu | |
|---|---|---|
ham, smoked brisket | Zeroa | lamb |
instapot mashed potatoes | Karpas | potato kugel |
fruit salad, fruit platter | Charoset | |
parsley & roasted carrots | Maror | horseradish sauce |
pickled / deviled eggs | Beitzah | hard boiled eggs |
any green salad | Chazeret | Caeser salad |
Matzah | ||
Fish | gefilte fish | |
Dessert | almond coconut macaroons |
*Not a fully kosher menu. If you want to make a kosher Easter meal, you will need to look specifically for "Passover kosher" recipes.
Table Décor Ideas - while keeping it simple and affordable
*The links below are affiliated links. I could earn a small referral commission if you choose to purchase with these links. I hope we like the same things :)
I like my table to be beautiful and simple - not magazine staged where guests can't see each other over the centerpieces. I especially wanted this table to be elegant but also earthy, to remind us of Christ's origins. I set the table with a white tablecloth and this rustic blue runner. It was super inexpensive and easily gives a middle-eastern flair without having pyramids printed on it (as I found in my search).
I opted to not use a seder plate because I wanted the emblems to be the focal point. I ordered several styles, and went with these bowls. I loved them the minute I pulled them from the box. They are the perfect size (4") and something I can use around the kitchen all year long.
We are not wine drinkers, so I also needed some small goblets. I wanted them to be smaller as the drink is part of the emblems, not for indulging. I got these glasses and LOVE them. They aren't too small to look like kid cups, and they are a nice thick glass. I already had stemmed water glasses on hand. These will upscale any occasion.
I picked up Christ's cup, my matzah/fish plate and salt water bowl from the secondhand store. As much as I scoured the internet, I wasn't finding that eclectic glassware I was looking for. Hubby picked up some raw-edge wood for me and it went straight on the table. The candle sticks are actually marketed as a craft product. I've had mine for years and have never painted them. I love the look of wood.
That's it. I set my china dishes, cloth napkins and silverware. You could easily skip the tablecloth, do nice paper dishes and plasticware to make for easy clean up.
Check out the rest of this special Seder series:
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