Oatmeal Patties with Pomegranate infused Craisins

My husband and I both eat Oatmeal patties on a regular basis.  I’ve never changed the recipe because it has always worked.  Now that I am in the process of converting to Judaism, I’m finding new ways to jazz up my food.   Having grown up a non-jew, I find much of the food to be out of my taste range.  Also the fact that we are vegetarian doesn’t help a lot.  lol

This week I was planning my Sabbath menu, as I do each week, and wanted to do something different.  I was mixing together the ingredients for my patties when it occurred to me that I could make them a little better.  I’ve not tried this before so I wanted to make two patties to see how it would taste.  I took my old recipe and added some Pomegranate infused Craisins.  WOW!  It was super good.  I was so happy with the way they came out that I added it to my menu for Sabbath.  Normally I make gravy for our patties, but I’m not sure I will do that this week.  These are good all by themselves……

If I do make a gravy, I will try something with the Pomegranate in it.  That way I still keep the wonderful flavor I’ve acquired.

Here’s what you will need (remember I cook for two so you may need to double according to your family size)

1 cup oatmeal (uncooked)

1 cup chopped pecans

3 tsp chopped onions

3 tsp chopped celery

1 tsp ground thyme

1 egg

2 Tsp each cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup

A handful of craisins

s&p to taste

Mix everything together and form into patties (size is up to you) and fry until golden brown on both sides.

That’s it. Enjoy!  🙂

Learning as a Child…….

I always listen to a lecture/teaching from a Rabbi before going to bed. We like the last thought on our minds to be some lesson that will bring us closer to our Creator. Last night we listened to Rabbi Shlomo Katz. He said the Gemara says that the most precious learning is “Girsa Deyankusa”. What does it mean that you learn like a child? It means that what you are learning is not really clear to you yet, but something special is going on. When you learn something for the first time you don’t know it all yet, but the little you know is so precious to you. Once you learn it all, it is beautiful, but it stops being precious. The highest level in the world is that I know what I learn so completely but its precious to me like it was before I knew it..

He went on to give a deeper meaning to this concept. He talked about the person who does not know that they are Jewish. They’ve lived their whole life believing they were not of the Jewish people and one day something happens to them. The person takes a trip to Yerushalayim and the whole world changes for that person. Now the life long journey of learning begins and all things are so new and precious (I know and experience this every day of my life now). I remember when I got my very first Siddur, I opened it and read the words: Prayer, a Timeless Need. I continued to read until I got to the very first prayer. I would not write in my Siddur or let anything or anyone touch it. I would not pick it up without first washing my hands. I felt as if I had a very expensive piece of gold.

As the time passed and I read and studied more on prayer and talked with a few friends on how to pray, I learned that as precious as my Siddur was, it would never be as beautiful as it could be if I don’t use it as a prayer book. Now my Siddur has all kinds of writings in it (my notes), things that really catch my eye or appeal to some feeling that I have when I read it. There are parts I read and read, but on some days they mean more to me than the very food I eat. I make a note to myself to remind me of that moment in time. The next day when I read that same passage, it may not affect me the same way. The feeling you get when you first met your spouse is not the same after 10 years of marriage, but the love grows deeper. Can we regain that feeling we had on day one?  Maybe, according to the Rabbi. He went on to tell us how.  But sadly, I fell asleep.

I still treat my Siddur as precious gold, but it is something that I now hold as a more beautiful piece of gold than something not to be touched. What I took from that lesson last night was that as a child, I am learning, but that learning will never feel as special as the very first time I learned.  It will only grow into something much more special.