Healthy Shabbat Recipes

Challenge: One Dish Shabbos Meals

I'm looking for your input, again.

I'm going to be totally honest here. Preparing for Shabbos wipes me out. I still have not mastered the art.

I know that many women prepare a little bit each night. That won't fly in my home for various reasons. 

I have simplified my shabbos menus, but now I'm looking to simplify even further.

I am trying to think of one dish shabbos meals that my family will enjoy. (We usually don't have guests on Friday night so I don't have to worry about impressing guests  and I'm betting my family will gladly trade a well-rested mother for several fancy dishes.)

By "one dish meal" I mean that everything has to cook together -- the chicken (I'm not a big red meat fan and my husband won't go for vegetarian meals on shabbos), vegetables and a grain/starch. I'd love be able to prepare ONE dish instead of three! Then I just have to make (or buy) challah, dips, fish and dessert.

Here are our family's food quirks that make this quest seem like mission impossible:

1) No one in the family, except me, likes cooked or canned tomatoes, which eliminates many options.

2) My kids prefer food on the bland side. They seem to be spice-phobic, so no excessively exotic flavors like curry. (BUMMER!)

3) My kids seem to like their food seperated, so nothing that ends up being a "stew" (My hubby doesn't like that either)

4) We have a TON of whole, frozen chickens and I'm looking to save money (but not drive myself crazy with extra prep work) so I'm looking for recipes that use whole or cut-up chickens.

 

Our usual "one dish meal" is Roasted Chicken with potatoes and vegetables for Friday night -- but that gets boring after a while.(And I end up using several pans!)

I'd be open to using a crockpot for Friday night dinner. I have an extra one.  I could just put everything in on Thursday night and put in the fridge. Then I'd just put it in the crockpot on Friday morning. However, because we so often make "Hot Pot Chicken" for shabbos lunch, it would have be something really distinct for Friday Night...but how do you make something distinct from hot-pot chicken, (that is -- a whole meal with veg and starch)  without making some form of chicken stew?

I had an idea tonight -- maybe chicken-pot-pie for Friday night. I used to make an easy  seitan-pot-pie that my kids LOVED, but that was a long time ago. Perhaps I will try it again with chicken one night for dinner. If they like it that can be moved into the shabbos rotation.

If I could just find 4 one-dish-meals to rotate on Friday nights, I'd be happy camper!

I am also considering trying to adapt a recipe or two from Glorious One Pot Meals (GOPM) to my family's tastes for a one pot-shabbos meal.  For those of you who don't know GOPM is a patented cooking technique which allows you to cook  a FULL meal (starch/grain, animal or vegetarian protein & lots of veggies) in one pot. Is that it DOES NOT come out like a traditional casserole or crockpot meal - where the ingredients break down an become mushy  and soupy and the flavors blend together. You can get more information about this great technique at my full review here.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions and recipes, if you've got any.

If you have an idea for a "one dish shabbos meal"  Please let me know by leaving comment, or better yet, a recipe.

If you have ideas that don't agree with my family's picky preferences, please post them as well. You just might help some other frazzled mother!

A Sandwich Maker For Passover?

I must be the only Jew who has a designated sandwichmaker for Passover.

And the only Ashkenazi Jew with a rice cooker.

Wanna know why?

1) The Sandwichmaker:

I use the sandwichmaker to make "Eggy Triangles With Cheese" for my children.  First, place the sandwichmaker into a dairy baking pan (or a disposable pan) and plug it in. This can be a messy  process and it will save you from chasing runny eggs down your counters.

Next  just whip up some eggs  as you would do for scrambled eggs and pour them CAREFULLY into the sandwichmaker, one triangle at a time. I have found that spooning the eggs in works really well, but it's a bit slower.  Leave a little room before you totally fill up triangles, if you want to add cheese (Just lay it on top) Then close the sandwichmaker.  You'll  eggy triangles will be ready in about 5 minutes.

I really enjoy using a sandwichmaker this way because you don't have to watch them carefully like you would on a stovetop. They  don't get burned easily and the sandwichmaker is easier to clean than a pan after making eggs.

I have also found that you can make grilled cheese matzah sandwiches this way.  Just break off a piece of matzah to roughly fit in each square, lay a piece of cheese on top, the put another piece of matzah on the top and lightly close the lid. (It can be a smaller piece, just enough to keep the middle part of the sandwich maker from going directly into the cheese.   Your "sandwich" will be ready within a minute or two -- and no gebrotks!

2) The Rice Cooker

For Quinoa -- of course!  I LIVE on quinoa during passover. I just add cut up vegetables and drizzle with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.

Anyone else use any kitchen gadgets "Creatively" on pesach?

The Case of the Pathetic Pre-Passover Dinner

I'm sorry I "went dark" before Passover. Life was even busier than usual (and it had nothing to do with Passover!)

I did get several contributions to this blog while I was gone, that should have been posted before Passover, but, it's never too late for a good laugh! I'm honored to have this contribution by Judy Gruen. I highly recommend her book and website whenever you need a good laugh!

Here you go:

The Case of the Pathetic Pre-Passover Dinner
By Judy Gruen

    The wind-up pitch before Passover is both exciting and disturbing to my family.  Exciting, because due to our exuberant cleaning for the holiday, emptying drawers, overturning mattresses, and in general preparing the house for a visit by Better Homes & Gardens, we find all kinds of things that have been missing in action for months. So far, the kids have found about three weeks’ allowance and some packets of stale candy under the bed.  My daughter has no idea how this candy, a brand expressly forbidden by me, got to her room, but is sure that she had nothing to do with it.
    The countervailing bad news here is that before Passover, my family must cope with some very strange and terrible dinners. This is because we keep kosher, and most of the food in the house is not Kosher for Passover yet. We need to eat it up before the holiday and not have it in our possession before this Festival of Freedom begins.  But I hate to waste any food, and so recent dinners have been patched together by reaching back into the recesses of the freezer or pantry and improvising something that a generous person might say resembles a real meal. 
    The other night, I transformed one cleaned out freezer shelf into the following “meal” (perhaps this is a stretch) for the six of us:  thirteen fish sticks, three pieces of pita bread with a terminal case of freezer burn, a cup and a half of roasted pistachios, a bowl of corn and three cheese blintzes.  My kids looked with horror at this sorry excuse for a family dinner and begged for cereal, noting that we still had five boxes still available.  Of course I buckled under pressure, and watched them practically run over one another to feast on Honeycomb, Crispix and milk. 
    During the rest of the year, as soon as the kids see me after school they call out to me, “HiMaWhatsFaDinna???”  But in the days before Passover, they are too frightened to ask. 
    Last night, dinner descended another notch or two.  “Okay, I’ve got eight falafel balls, a bowl of green beans, a can of kidney beans, four potato pancakes, a bag of pretzels and a can of mandarin oranges. Who’s with me?”
    My husband, who has learned a thing or two in sixteen years of marriage, just eats what’s offered and keeps quiet.  He knows that my mouth-watering brisket is just around the corner, on the night of the Seder.  But the kids just throw themselves on the mercy of the court and plead for pizza. They are so desperate they even offer to do extremely uncharacteristic things, such as clean their own rooms and bathe without waiting for any parental threats or intimidation.
    And they know they will soon get their pizza, because at a certain point, I will run out of food.  And then we, along with about 4,000 of our neighbors, start hitting the kosher pizza joints in the neighborhood.  No one has leavened products in the house  anymore. Everyone is turning their kitchens around to be kosher for Passover, and we will wait as long as it takes, sometimes for days, for a hot pizza and calzone.
    Well, my pantry and freezer are pretty bare right now, so this will probably be the last night I can get away with serving another in the series of pathetic pre-Passover portions.  Tonight we are having three thawed-out chicken drumsticks (age indeterminate), six bagels (with only moderate freezer burn), corn chips (only semi-stale),  peanut butter, and canned peaches.
    With Passover only days away, we’re so close to repast redemption, I can almost smell the brisket now. 

    Judy Gruen’s latest hilarious book is “The Women's Daily Irony Supplement," on sale during April for only $10.00 at www.judygruen.com. Or you can order at Order today on amazon.com: http://snipurl.com/ironysupp

Kosher Bacon?

Oh yeah...I said it. KOSHER BACON!

Who out there misses bacon (or just wants to try the forbidden fruit)? Raise your hand!

Ever wonder how to get that smokey, bacony flavor into your kosher cooking?

Well...just in case you do, check out this nifty article called "Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon" (Yes, some of the options are actually healthy -- and ALL of them really are kosher)

http://jewneric.com/the-six-degrees-of-kosher-bacon/2008/01/15/

The Perfect Sushi For Shabbos (No Rice & Cooked Fish)

This recipe, adapted from  the recipe called "Nori-Wraped Fish Sausages With Watercress-Wasabi Sauce" from Levana's Table, Kosher Cooking for Everyone, is the perfect "Sushi" for shabbos because:

1) There is no rice, so you can serve it at night and in the afternoon (the texture of rice changes after it's refrigerated, so you don't want to serve traditional homemade sushi for shabbos lunch.)

2) The fish in the "Sushi" is fully cooked, so you'll please more people (some people are just reluctant to eat raw fish)

3) The presentation is lovely.

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Step 1: First, you'll need nori & a bamboo mat for later. Set aside.

Step 2: Next, prepare the vegetable mix for the center of the sushi roll.

You'll need:

3 scallions
4-5 chives (Use more scallions if you can't get chives, it works just fine)
1 small carrot
4 shitake mushrooms, caps only
1/2 bell pepper

In the original recipe, each of the above ingredients were chopped fine by hand. But to save time, I just whirl them in the food processor until finely 'chopped.'

Step 3: Now create the fish filling. 
Clean out the food processor and whirl together:

1 pound of sole, salmon or flounder fillet
1 egg
1/2 medium onion
3 tablespoons oil

Process into a smooth paste.

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to the boiling point. Meanwhile...

Divide the vegetable and fish mixtures into 4 portions.  Place 1 sheet of nori on a bamboo mat and spread 1 portion of the fish mixture neatly on its surface, leaving a 1/2-inch border along the top side.  Place 1 portion of the vegetable mixture on top of the fish mixture to cover  the bottom third of the nori only.

Roll tightly, jelly-roll style, into a log, guiding the process with the bamboo mat. One complet turn should encase the vegetable filling completely. Wrap the finished roll tightly in plastic wrap. Levana suggests you secure it with a twist tie at each end. I didn' have twist ties so I rolled the excess plastic wrap at the ends TIGHTLY and I tied it into a TIGHT knot. Repeat with remaining  nori, fish mixture, and vegetable mixture.

Lower the logs gently into the boiling water. Let the water come back to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and poach for about 10 minutes. Remove the logs with a slotted spoon and let them cool. (You can put them in the fridge and leave them there til ready to serve.

There is a recipe in the book for watercress-wasabi dipping sauce, but I always serve it with Gold's wasabi mayonaise, and it tastes great.

To Serve:

Unwrap the cooled logs, and using a sharp knife, cut each log into 6 pieces. Serve cold or at  room temperatue, with the sauce on the side.

Hot Pot Chicken - A Zeldman Family Favorite

Sorry to disappoint folks...no "magic" ingredients here :)

This is our chulent stand-in. Lately, instead of chulent we cook a whole chicken in the crockpot and enjoy warm chicken for shabbos lunch.

All you need is:

A whole, uncut chicken
Your Favorite Seasoning Blend (we like Montreal Chicken Seasoning)
A Whole Onion, Peeled
And, of course, a crockpot.

Directions:

At least three hours before shabbos begins:

Place some of your favorite seasoning blend in a bowl. Loosen the skin of the chicken and rub the seasoning under the skin of the chicken. Do the breast meat first, then the bottom. Place the onion in the cavity of the chicken.    Place the chicken BREAST SIDE DOWN in the crockpot and turn on low.

THAT'S IT!

NO PEEKING!  Don't lift that lid -- you'll mess up the cooking process.

Don't try to cook anything else in the crockpot with the chicken. It will absorb the oil and your meat will be too dry.

For ideas on how you can use your crockpot during the rest of the week, visit this cool blog I just found! http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Let me know how you like it!

Aron's Avocado Salad

This is my husband's favorite salad. It's also perfect for pesach.

Here's a tip for you: My brother-in-law owns the best sushi take-out-place in town. I once asked him "Avocados go bad so quickly -- how do you make sure  they are always perfectly ripe for your sushi?"  He told me that he buys them when they are hard and puts them in the fridge, they are ready in about a week and stay ripe longer than if you leave them out.

Here's another avocado tip:  Many people think it is impossible to salvage half of an avocado. Nope! I learned the trick. With your finger, apply a thin layer of olive oil to the leftover half of the avocado.  Make sure the oil coats all of the surface. Then wrap the avocado in tin foil and place it in the fridge to use later.  The oil will protect it from the air and the foil will protect it from the light. Air and light are the two factors that make avocado spoil quickly.  You can keep it for up to a week or so this way.

Now...onto the recipe. (FINALLY)  This one is really simple.

You'll need:

Two tomatoes
Two avocados
Half of a red onion or sweet onion like vidalia.
Half of a lemon
Olive oil
Salt  Pepper

Dice the tomatoes, and red onion and set a side. Dice the avacado right before serving. Drizzle with olive oil. Squeeze the lemon over the salad, add salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together and serve to a happy husband.

Does Your Pesach Cleaning Feel Like This?

If so, I recommend you get this!

 

In this e-book you'll get:

* The secrets of expert Jewish Homemakers and how they get it all done

* Timetables as to when you need to complete Pesach activities like searching for the chametz, burning the chametz, erev tavshilins, when to sell and stop eating chametz...

*   A Special Report On Making Pesach on Motzei Shabbos (unadvertised bonus!)

* All the Printable lists and schedules you need (that you can modify to your own needs) to help you get a clear picture of what needs to be done and by when.

* Weekly plans & descriptions for what to clean

* How to turn your Kitchen over

* A "Guest List" Planner

* A Planner For Your Annual Pesach Orders (for matzah, grape Juice, meat etc)

* A General Erev Yom Tov Checklist List

* A "Getting Ready For Seder" Checklist

* A Guide to "Dismantling Pesach" and Putting the Chametz Back

And MORE!

With Pesach Perfectly Organized You Will Enjoy:

* A seder that is ready with well thought out table design and setting

* Your kids and husband will being calm because you are

* Your cars, rooms, carpets, shopping, pesach kitchen setup taken care of in advance, not the night before

* Your menus  planned, cooked, and baked with Passover recipes that include substitutions you can use for your year-round recipes

* Not STRESSING OUT about  Passover this year and for the years to come!

You can get your copy of "Pesach Perfectly Organized" along with "Rosh Hashana Perfectly Organized" (and more!) at http://www.PesachOrganizedForYou.com

Important Kashrus Alert Regarding Juice

THE MK WISHES TO INFORM THE PUBLIC THAT
THE FOLLOWING BRANDS OF JUICES SHOULD
NO LONGER BE PURCHASED WITHOUT THE MK MARK
AS THEY ARE NO LONGER KOSHER CERTIFIED:

ALLEN'S, FRUITÉ, GREAT VALUE, LOBLAW'S, MERIT-SELECTION, NO-NAME,
OASIS, PRESIDENT'S CHOICE, ROUGEMONT & SUN-MAID.

Whole-Wheat Carrot Kugel Muffins (My Kids Favorite!)

At the height of my son's picky eater phase it was almost impossible to find stuff that he would eat.  We went to a friends house for shabbos and were thrilled when he gobbled this kugel down.  (Hey, there are real carrots in there! That counts as a vegetable!) Thankfully my friend shared her recipe and it's been a regular dish at our table ever since. You can make this in any kind of  baking dish you like, but I always bake it in rose shaped muffin pans for a little extra style.

Approximately 3 cups of carrots  ( depending on  how one likes it: grated, or steamed and mashed)
2 cup whole-wheat flour  (You could also use ground oat meal, teff, spelt,or quinoa flours)
a shake or two of cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup  healthy oil
4 eggs
throw in ground flax meal (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour pan or muffin tins.
Place the carrots in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients, then add the oil & eggs. 
Scrape batter into pan or muffin tin and bake for  about 40 minutes.  Test with a toothpick for doneness.