Dinner’s Ready

“Matzo Ball Soup is often called Jewish Penicillin; it’s just something that helps you feel better when you are sick,” shares Rebecca Hochhauser about this month’s ‘Dinner’s Ready’ recipe. “Having grown up on it, it’s a taste that brings me back to my childhood, and I know that my family loves when I make it.”

Rebecca graduated from Penn State and then spent a year in Israel. When she returned to the states, she met and married David Hochhauser. While Rebecca had a great career in the environmental arena, after having their first child, she decided to stay home. The decision was solidified when the couple welcomed all four of their children within six years - Sarah, Samuel, Joshua and Jonathan. In 2017 a career opportunity for her husband David brought them to Fairhope.

“Our Jewish traditions and holidays have always been important to my family,” Rebecca shares regarding the upcoming holiday season. “While my kids’ Jewish upbringing in the South has been very different from mine, we are lucky to have found a small local community in Fairhope.” When it comes to cooking for the family during the holidays, Rebecca says she does most of it. Every Friday, she bakes fresh challah bread, a Jewish bread made during the holidays. “I started baking it when I had difficulty finding it at my local supermarket in Rhode Island,” she says. “Now, my kids do not like store-bought challah at all.“

Rebecca shares that she loved cooking with her mom when she was young, especially around the holiday season. “Looking back, I don’t know how she had time to do everything she did. After preparing meals for our different holidays, she would always sit down, look at all the food and say, “not bad from nothing...,” shares Rebecca. “I sometimes find myself saying that in her memory.”

We hope you enjoy making this traditional, feel-good soup as we head into the cooler weather.

Matzo Ball Soup

Chicken Soup: Fill

an 8 qt soup pot about 2/3 of the way full with water. Take a cup of water out of the pot and leave to the side.

Add the following vegetables: 1 large onion, 2 stalks of celery, 1-2 peeled turnips, 1-2 peeled parsnips, 2-3 peeled carrots, Handful of fresh dill, 1 sweet potato

Add 4-6 pieces of bone-in chicken (I like using thighs with the skin on)

Add 3-4 tablespoons of chicken consommé to the cup of water left on the side. Stir completely before adding back to the pot.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the pot and let simmer for a few hours, tasting occasionally to add ingredients as needed. When finished, you can either cut up or drain out the vegetables you don’t want to include in the soup. Set the chicken aside to cool, and then tear into pieces to include back in the soup.

Matzo Balls: I like to use wide, shallow bowls (I make three batches at one time, each in its own bowl, which yields about 15-20 matzo balls).

Add 1/2 cup matzo meal (my favorite brand is Manishevitz) to each bowl.

Add 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons vegetable/ canola oil, and 2 tablespoons seltzer to each bowl.

Gently fold/mix the ingredients together without over-mixing and place the bowls in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Fill a pot about 2/3 full with water and begin to heat it. After 30 minutes, when the pot is at a rolling boil, scoop out the mixture, gently roll into balls, and put into the pot. Cover the pot, and set a timer for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, turn off the heat but don’t touch the cover. My mom always told me I would ruin the matzo balls if I touched the cover. Leave untouched until you are ready to add to your soup. Add the matzo balls to your broth and serve!

Gabriele has been married to her husband Daniel for 16 years. Together they have three incredible children - two boys, ages 15 and eight, and a sweet girl who joined the family last summer. She is a full time Pink Cadillac Sales Director for Mary Kay Cosmetics. When she isn’t spending time with family or building her business, she supports her husband who is the Lead Pastor and Planter of Forward Church in Foley.

The high school road to college may seem like four of the most challenging years families face. There are deadlines, tough financial choices, and parents and children don’t always agree on colleges. If that isn’t stressful enough, every year there are tasks that high school students should be checking off their to-do lists. How do parents help their high school students navigate all the details and decisions they must make during their countdown to college?

It all starts with a conversation between parent and child. But often, the question that starts the conversation is the wrong one, according to Rick Clark, an undergraduate admissions counselor.

“Parents ask, ‘Where do you want to go to college?’” Clark says. “The biggest question that parents don’t ask or lose sight of is ‘Why do you want to go to college?’”

That why is important and should be followed up with questions like “What do you hope to get out of this? What do you want to study? What do you want to do longterm?” says Clark.

Following are tips to get your student on the right track for college while in high school:

Freshman Year

Talk to your parents and guidance counselor at the beginning of the year to set goals. Take the most challenging courses available to you. Make good grades. Try a variety of activities. Take advantage of opportunities to visit college campuses when you travel.

Sophomore Year

Visit college and career fairs. If you are social distancing, schedule virtual tours of colleges of interest or consider self-guided tours on campuses. Check out updated health and masking guidance at schools you visit in person. Build your resume. Make a list of awards, accomplishments, and activities. Take the PSAT for practice (you can take it your sophomore and junior year, but it won’t count until you are a junior). Start studying for the ACT and SAT. There are many test prep guides available online and in book form. Assess your strengths and weaknesses and take a personality inventory. Research possible careers. During the summer begin researching colleges that might be a good fit.

Junior Year

Take the PSAT. Accept leadership roles in the activities that suit you best. Narrow your list of possible careers. Narrow your list of possible colleges. Take the ACT and SAT. During the summer volunteer or find an internship or job related to your future career. Write a college entrance essay draft. Have it critiqued by a guidance counselor or teacher.

Senior Year

The freshman year is also important for getting on a challenging track of classes.

“Course choice is important,” Clark says. “Math, in particular, is something students need to pay attention to.”

Taking challenging classes in high school helped Fain’s son Matthew make his college decision. He decided to pursue his degree at the university where he took dual credit courses when he was in high school. Andrew also took dual credit courses in high school to lighten his load once he got to college. That worked out well when Covid hit and Andrew took a semester off but did not fall behind in his course work.

Freshman Year:

The Importance of Academics

Rachael Fain, a mom of three, stresses the importance of the GPA during freshman year. Fain’s daughter, Hannah, graduated from college in 2017. Fain also has two sons, Matthew, who graduated from college in 2020, and Andrew, a college senior. “My children

Narrow your college search to six to eight schools. Post all important deadline dates on a wall calendar. Retake the ACT or SAT if needed. Polish your resume. Ask for teacher recommendations. Visit the colleges you are applying to. Send out all your college applications. After you receive your acceptance letters, compare scholarship and financial aid packages and make your final decision. Notify all the schools you were accepted to of your decision. Celebrate the beginning of a new timeline at college!

started taking high school classes in eighth grade,” Fain says. “A GPA is harder to bring up in junior and senior year, so our goal their eighth and ninth grade years was to keep their GPAs high.”

Sophomore Year: Getting to Know You Tenth grade is a good year for selfreflection. Students can take personality tests and the PSAT to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. They can also start thinking about the kind and size of school they want to attend.

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Junior Year:

Balancing Grades & Activities

Grades are crucial during the junior year. Junior year also involves a more challenging track of classes and leadership roles in clubs and activities. It’s hard to do it all, so how important are the extracurricular activities? It depends on the student and the college.

“At one of my children’s colleges, extracurricular activities were really important,” Fain said. “At the other one, they didn’t matter as much.”

Clark says one out of every four students who apply to the school where he works are accepted.

“Most students that apply have good test scores, good grades and good courses. Then the review committee asks, ‘Is this kid a good fit for us?’”

Clark says they look for students who are innovative or who are entrepreneurs, and they ask, “How does this student use their time?”

“If they are a good student who goes home and plays video games, what will they contribute to the school?” Clark says.

But it stands out if students are responsible, if they work a job or if they make an impact in some way.

Senior Year: Find Your Fit

Clark says the most important thing about making a college decision is finding a good fit.

“Fit doesn’t really mean can the student do the work, but are they aligned well to the school.” For example, Clark says two universities can look the same on paper. A student will apply to each with the same grades and same test scores and get accepted to one and not the other.

“That is what fit is,” Clark says. “How a student fits with a school, not just from an academic standpoint.”

If you and your child do not agree on the same school, Clark says how you approach the topic may resolve a lot of conflict over the situation. “Continue to tell your kids you love them, and that no matter where they go to college, it will be great.”

The good news is that there are many schools across the country and probably more than one of them will match your student’s personality and academic standing.

“If you or your child feels overwhelmed, take a deep breath and remember there is a school for every student,” says Fain. ESP