Lisa Yelsey

Lisa Yelsey, Author Photo

Lisa Yelsey is a writer and baker in New York. After learning how to make food for Shabbat dinners at Swarthmore College Hillel, she began writing up recipes for the school paper. Since graduating in 2013, she has also written for The Toast. Lisa’s passions include hiking, skiing, and downloading but never listening to podcasts. She is a vegetarian but can still tell you where to buy the best gefilte fish.

Blog Posts

Fritter Final Plating Photo

Espresso Ricotta Fritters for Shavuot

Lisa Yelsey

In this recipe, I’ve mixed espresso into a dairy Ricotta Fritter recipe to blend the caffeine sometimes needed for the all-night studying with the traditional Shavuot practice of eating a lot of dairy.

Topics: Recipes, Shavuot
Final Plating Photo For Kuku

Vegetarian Kuku for Passover

Lisa Yelsey

I offer a nutritious, delicious dinner recipe to stave off the Passover madness. It is easily made parve, so you can have it with your meat or dairy meals. It works great for large or small seder gatherings, and with vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Kuku is an Iranian/Persian egg dish that I would describe as frittata-like.

Topics: Recipes, Passover
Chocolate Tahini Hamentaschen (Final Photo)

Hamentaschen with Strawberry Balsalmic and Chocolate Tahini Fillings

Lisa Yelsey

Celebrating Purim involves listening to the reading of the scroll of Esther and donating to charity. It also, crucially, involves eating hamentaschen. These recipes, inspired by my favorite fillings as a child, are a combination of sweet and savory, cutting the often overly-sweet jam and chocolate fillings with a little bit more depth of flavor.

Topics: Recipes, Purim
Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Chocolate and Jam (plated).

Hanukkah Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Lisa Yelsey

In honor of a vital, but less well-known, woman taking charge, I’ll be teaching you how to make a dairy dessert. Specifically, a warm and delicious coffee cake to share with your friends and family.

Topics: Recipes, Hanukkah
Final Stuffed Pepper Photo

Sukkot Stuffed Peppers

Lisa Yelsey

Stuffed foods are traditional for Sukkot, and represent a time of plenty. This immediately made me want to tackle a stuffed pepper situation. Stuffed peppers are great because it allows you to basically put together all your favorite vegetables in unusually fancy packaging.

Topics: Recipes, Sukkot
Plated Spaghetti Squash

Rosh Hashanah Spaghetti Squash

Lisa Yelsey

It’s been a tough year, and 5777 perhaps didn’t bring with it all the promise and renewal we thought it would. I hope that, in this new year, we all have opportunities for positive change and growth. May we also have the strength and opportunity to create change in the world at large.

Final Sabich Salad Plating Photo (dressed)

Sabich-Style Summer Salad

Lisa Yelsey

I am not that into hot weather but love taking the summer as a time to hike without having to worry about ice, leave the house without having to strategically layer, and wear Tevas.

Summer is a great time to eat a lot of light, cooler meals. Here is a recipe that incorporates roasted vegetables and a tahini-based dressing.

Topics: Recipes
King Solomon's Table, Book Cover

Joan Nathan on Food, Travel, and Tradition

Lisa Yelsey

At the Jewish Women’s Archive we believe that good food and good stories will always bring us together. When both the food and the stories are provided by a culinary Jewish superstar like Joan Nathan, forming these kinds of connections is easy.

Topics: Food Writing
Vegetarian Matzoh Ball Soup Final

Vegetarian Matzoh Ball Soup

Lisa Yelsey

I have been a vegetarian for about seven years now, and one of the only foods I regret giving up is good matzoh ball soup. My mom has made it for holidays my whole life, and I miss it. Nothing’s better than eating matzoh ball soup, loaded with chicken and vegetables, and sitting with your family during the holidays.

Topics: Recipes, Passover
Charoset Meringue Cookies

Charoset-Inspired Meringue Cookies

Lisa Yelsey

Hi, everyone!! Passover is fast approaching, and if you are anything like me, you are dreading Passover Madness (that’s when you’ve been keeping kosher for Passover totally fine for four or five days and suddenly you’re furious at everyone and everything in your life).

Topics: Passover

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Lisa Yelsey ." (Viewed on September 30, 2023) <https://jwa.org/blog/author/lisa-yelsey>.