1. Place two nonstick baking sheets in oven and preheat to 450°.
2. Peel potatoes. Peel and core pears. Grate potatoes and pears with a food processor. Strain any excess liquid. Grate onion. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat egg whites, matzo meal, cinnamon, and pepper. Stir in potatoes, pears, and onion. Mix until coated.
4. Remove hot baking sheets from oven with protective oven mitts. Spray sheets with cooking oil. Spoon latke mixture onto sheets, forming two dozen 2-inch patties.
5. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes per side, turning once with a spatula. Serve with low-fat sour cream and warm applesauce, if desired.

1. Place grated sweet potato and onion into a clean, dry dish towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
2. Add drained sweet potato and onion to a medium bowl. Stir in flour, cinnamon, smoked paprika, and salt until sweet potato and onion pieces are coated.
3. Heat sunflower oil in a frying pan over a medium heat while you shape latkes into small, flat patties. Test that oil is ready by adding a couple of shreds of sweet potato—they should gently sizzle.
4. Carefully add latkes and cook for 3–4 minutes on each side until golden brown.
5. While latkes are cooking, mix vegan cream cheese and dill together in a small bowl. Carefully remove latkes from pan and drain on a clean towel. Serve hot with cream cheese-dill mixture.

1. Preheat oven to 250°.
2. In a medium bowl, lightly beat egg and egg white. Set aside.
3. Cut zucchini lengthwise in half and remove seeds. Coarsely grate zucchini and sweet potato. Transfer to bowl with egg mixture. Stir in onion, salt, and pepper until combined.
4. In a nonstick 12-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat until hot. Add zucchini mixture by heaping tablespoons to skillet, gently flattening each latke with the back of a spoon. Cook 2 minutes or until edges are golden. Flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes longer or until bottoms are golden. Drain on paper towels. Keep latkes warm in oven.
5. Repeat with remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and remaining zucchini mixture. Serve latkes hot with applesauce alongside, if you like.

Fermentation Method for Pickles

1. Cut off the blossom end of each cucumber. If you can’t tell which end that is, cut off both ends. Put half of the spices in the bottom of a clean 2 to 3 gallon crock or glass jar.
2. Add half of the dill and half of the grape leaves, if using, then add the cucumbers, filling the jar no more than two thirds full. Top with the remaining spices, dill, and grape leaves and drop in the garlic.
3. In a large bowl, combine the vinegar, salt, and 1 gallon cold water. Pour over the cucumbers to just cover them (you may not use all of the liquid).
4. Set a small plate on top of the cucumbers and place a weight on top to keep them submerged in the brine (a quart-size freezer bag filled with water or extra brine works well). Cover loosely and set aside in a cool spot in the house for 2 to 3 weeks, until the pickles are no longer white in the center when cut.
5. After about 2 days, the mixture should start to ferment and bubble; skim the foam from the surface once every day or two.

Water Bath Canning Method for Pickles

1. Prepare for water-bath canning: Wash the jars and keep them hot in the canning pot, and put the flat lids in a heatproof bowl. Put a fine-mesh sieve over a large nonreactive pot and ladle in as much of the brine as you can.
2. Bring to a simmer. Ladle boiling water from the canning pot into the bowl with the lids. Using a jar lifter, remove the hot jars from the canning pot, carefully pouring the water from each one back into the pot, and place them upright on a folded towel. Drain the water off the jar lids.
3. Working quickly, pack the pickles in the jars as snugly as you can without damaging them. Put a garlic clove and some of the dill in each jar, along with a grape leaf, if desired.
4. Ladle in the hot brine, leaving [q:1/2] inch headspace at the top. Use a chopstick to remove the air bubbles around the inside of each jar. Use a damp paper towel to wipe the rims of the jars, then put a flat lid and ring on each jar, adjusting the ring so that it’s just finger-tight.
5. Return the jars to the water in the canning pot, making sure the water covers the jars by at least 1 inch. If pasteurizing, bring the water in the pot to 180°F, and keep it there, adjusting the burner as necessary, for 30 minutes. (Any time the water spends below 180°F must be added to the pasteurizing time so that the water is at 180°F for a total of 30 minutes.)
6. If processing, bring to a full boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the jars to a folded towel and do not disturb for 12 hours. After 1 hour, check that the lids have sealed by pressing down on the center of each; if it can be pushed down, it has not sealed, and the jar should be refrigerated immediately. Label the sealed jars and store.

1. Grate potatoes into bowl. Squeeze to drain off excess moisture. Squeeze moisture from spinach. Drain onion.
2. Mix vegetables together and stir in matzo meal or flour, seasonings, and eggs.
3. Pour enough oil into skillet to coat bottom and heat over medium heat. Put 3 spoonfuls of mixture in pan, spaced well apart, and press out to make cakes about 4 inches in diameter.
4. Cook until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
5. Keep latkes warm in a low oven while cooking remainder. Serve with a fresh herb salad with vinaigrette dressing.

1. Place the potatoes in a cheesecloth and wring, extracting as much moisture as possible.
2. In a medium bowl stir the potatoes, onion, flour and salt together.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form [q:1/4] to [q:1/2] inch thick patties.
5. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other.
6. Let drain on paper towels.
7. Serve hot with apple sauce and/or sour cream.

1. Preheat oven to 400 °F. Toss beets with coconut oil and cumin in bowl; season with salt if desired.
2. Spread beets on a baking sheet, and roast 30 to 40 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through and stirring beets occasionally.
3. While beets are still hot, transfer to large bowl, and stir in green onions and lemon juice.
4. Serve immediately!