It's All About the Product - Take 2

The menus for this shabbat are all about my sons' favorties foods - Older son is home from Israel and it's younger son's last weekend home before camp.

Many of their favorite recipes call for chopped, minced or crushed garlic, and I've found that a microplane grater deals makes dealing with garlic a snap.  Easy to use, easy to clean, no smelly hands!  Leave the stem end on the garlic after you peel it for a handle.

The grater is also terrific for grated ginger, avoiding the stringy mess that can happen when you try to grate ginger on a box grater.

The microplane grater turns my sister's recipe for Spicy Noodles (with sesame oil, soy sauce, crushed garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper) into a 2 minute recipe - my favorite kind!

This shabbat's foods will include sushi (home made), gazpacho, cajun meatloaf, corn kugel and whatever else their hearts (and stomachs!) desire -

Kids Table, Feed Them First Or... ?

It's been a long time since I entertained a large group for shabbat that included many small children.   Kids can be a wonderful addition to the table or they can be a distraction - and its nearly impossible to know in advance whether the kids in question are best seated at a kids table in the dining room, fed first then allowed to go play, or some combination - 

I'd love to get some feedback from parents with small children - Any thoughts or suggestions?

Challah - Take 2

Trying again with the overnight challah recipe - this is actually the third time - 

I've been keeping track of the recipe modifications, and though I haven't tasted this week's attempt yet, I think I'm getting closer.  Research is needed to determine if now that I've switched to bread flour, and increased the flour in the recipe, if I should use more yeast - this week I had three cups of flour and 1 package of yeast.  The finished results just don't seem to rise quite high enough - maybe I should try a longer first rise.

If you're a successful challah baker and can shed some light, please give me your thoughts.

Shabbat Shalom!

Post - taste note:  Flavor is really there!  Have the right amount of honey - the texture was a bit too dense though - going to try more yeast - or maybe as I thought on Thursday, a longer first rise

It's All About the Product!

That was a piece of advice I got a few years ago, not about food, but the essence of the advice is that to do the job right, you need the right tools.  The "product" in the advice I got (thanks Karen!) related to haircare, but this morning, I realized that I had been using the wrong "product" to cut bar cookies my whole life!

The right "product" to cut bar cookies is.... a pizza cutter!  My fudgy chewy brownies, that are usually shaggy and messy when cut with a knife came out with perfect edges this morning - I used a pizza cutter held against a metal ruler for a straight edge - by the way, a washable sturdy ruler is also an inexpensive kitchen essential.

I really want to emphasize how terrific a pizza cutter is for cutting bar cookies - Last night I made Coconut Pecan Topped Brownies which usually are a complete disaster to cut.  I made perfect beautiful bites, cutting with a pizza cutter against a metal ruler.

Sneak Peek at Summer

The sudden hot weather this past weekend shifted my menu planning into summer mode, and even though the cooler weather came back, and chicken soup will make it onto the table one more shabbat, the dessert plans remained COLD!

The best compliment I ever received for this dessert was from a chocoholic friend. He was served a piece of this Frozen Chocolate Mousse Cake as a snack, and was shocked to find out it was pareve - and asks for it for a snack or dessert even when a dairy treat could be eaten. The pareve whipped cream has a less intense flavor than real dairy whipping cream, and lets the chocolate flavor shine through more clearly.

I've made this as a pie (using half of the recipe below), but this week, in honor of his 17th birthday, my younger son is having a group over for shabbat, so I doubled the recipe and made it in a 10" springform pan. Often I make a chocolate graham cracker crust, but this week, I noticed a package of Paskesz Cremeos (pareve "oreos") and made the crust with the Cremeos, and continued the theme with the decorations. In the past, I've decorated the top with chocolate curls.

This recipe is terrific, easy, and, assuming you can keep people away, can be made up to two weeks ahead of time.

Frozen Chocolate Mousse Cake with Oreo Crust

2 cups Fluff

1/2 cups pareve milk

9 oz Bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

12 pareve chocolate sandwich cookies

3 tablespoons pareve margarine

24 oz pareve whip cream

Melt chocolate, fluff and pareve milk in microwave by microwaving for one minute, then stirring, repeating as necessary. Allow to cool to room temperature.

In food processor, grind cookies and margarine until the cookies are fine crumbs and the margarine is uniformly incorporated. Press crust mixture into bottom and up sides of a ten inch springform pan.

When chocolate mixture has come to room temperature, beat whip cream until stiff. Gently fold in chocolate mixture.

Spoon mousse into pan over crust, smooth top, and decorate with extra whipped cream, chocolate curls, cookies, candies - have fun with this part!

Freeze at least 4 hours or up to two weeks before serving. Remove springform ring to serve. Can be served directly from the freezer.

Mimouna

My younger son and I were invited to a Mimouna party at the Azoulay home - Mimouna is a sephardic tradition, celebrating the end of pesach ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimouna )- and what a wonderful celebration it was. There are traditional foods served, mofleta and birkooks. Mofleta is a delicious yeasted quick bread - it has to be quick since the preparation can't begin until pesach is over - The Azoulay women, looking beautiful in their traditional Moroccan clothing, made the dough starting with five pounds of flour, and spent hours lovingly rolling, flattening, and cooking the flat breads.

When we walked into the house at about 11pm, the intense smells of yeast and butter, after 8 days of matzah, were intoxicating. And the taste of the mofleta, coated with butter and honey was amazing. Bread in any form is a particular weakness for me, but warm, chewy yeasty bread after a week of matzah - sigh......

The table was set with traditional foods, and before I could even taste the mofleta, I had been handed a bowl of birkooks, a porridge made from tiny pasta, cooked in milk and butter, with a bit of salt, sprinkled with cinnamon - the flavors all combining into a wonderful creamy flavor. I had just spent several hours "un-pesach-ing" my own kitchen, and hadn't realized how hungry I was until this warm creamy porridge was there satisfying me!

I was told that all the foods on the table were traditional, and held significance - even the fish smoking a cigarette! The fish signifies life, common to many cultures, and the cigarette in its mouth indicated it was Moroccan!

The Uneaten Enigma

If you're like me, and most hosts I know, the idea of having just enough food for your guests means you didn't prepare enough. So at this time of year, it's likely that your refrigerator is full of small, medium and large containers of various goodies - goodies that were acclaimed on their first serving and will be ignored on their second!

The best thing to do is purchase inexpensive freezable containers, and freeze single servings of all those yummy things. Even better is if you can find aluminum "tv dinner" trays. Don't even try to serve them as leftovers this week - put them away for a night when things are hectic, but a warm "fresh" meal will be welcome

And don't forget to label the containers - a brown mass of meatballs looks a lot like brisket when frozen!

Cari's Frogs

When a friend came by on Sunday to pick up her Deb's Delicacies order, she told me that her kids make origami frogs to absorb the drops of wine spilled during the recitation of the plagues -

Today, she dropped them off - what a wonderful new tradition! Now I just have to figure out how to make them!

Thanks Cari, Molly & Arielle!

Organization Is Its Own Reward

Early morning shopping trips, late nights waiting for the brisket to be done, weekends of working hard and keeping up with lists, lists and more lists have paid off - I have scheduled a manicure for my lunch hour today - and will be very careful to use rubber gloves tomorrow!

Being a good hostess is not only about the food on the table and the appearance of your home, but about the way you make your guests feel. If you've worked so hard that you are miserable, tired, cranky and feel a mess at your own seder, then you've done too much - and your guests will be uncomfortable.

Always make sure that in some way that is meaningul to you, you have taken care of yourself as well as you've taken care of your home, your family and your guests! For me, it's a manicure - for you, it could be a bubble bath - but in whatever way you can - be good to yourself!

The Table is Set

The seder plate was my grandmother's

and the colorful items in the bowls are FROGS!

Pre Pesach Pics

The effort of organizing and being your own taskmaster pays off! As planned, I kashered about 75% of the kitchen Friday before shab bat, and was able to finish about an hour after shabbat ended. By midnight, I had eight batches of almond brittle in the freezer.

This morning I was in the kitchen before 7, and got everything done on my list -

And the reason for 4 container of tzimmes - simple, one for the seder, one for my mother, one for my grandmother and one for the freezer for my son when he gets home from Israel.

Setting the Table

I have made it a habit, not just for pesach, but for any holiday or shabbat, to set the table as early as I possibly can. Having the table festively set puts me in the right mood, and reminds me of the wonderful time that will be had, and why the effort in the kitchen is worth it.

If the thought of all those dishes after the seder is daunting, go with the nicest paper that's affordable - the selection is huge.

I use my mother's china, cloth napkins and pretty floral napkin rings which I use only for the seder. This year, I was inspired during a trip to Christmas Tree Shops and about a month ago, picked up some pretty planters and packets of herb seeds. I don't usually have a green thumb, but amazingly those little herbs actually grew - and the best grower was the parsley - so in addition to having 4 beautiful plants for a centerpiece, I have home grown parsley for Karpas.

Because a friend was gracious and invited us for Friday night dinner this week, I plan onhaving the kitchen half kashered before shabbat. Shabbat Lunch can be salad and cold cuts - so the oven and stove will be done (and lots of things packed) before shabbat. By the time I go to sleep Saturday night, the kitchen will be fully kashered.

In addition to doing LOTS of cooking and baking on Sunday, I will set the table - and as I cook into the night each night, the sense of gleeful anticipation will keep me going -

I'll post pictures of the herbs and table early next week.

The Seder Leading to the Seder

For those of you who do not know, Seder means order. And in order to get to the seder without being either too tired to enjoy, or too stressed to speak, you have to plan ahead - and make an order of what you need to do when.

Once you've decided on your menu, sit with an extra copy and your calendar and decide what time slots you have available to cook. Take into account what can be made ahead and frozen.

The most important list, and the one you should make most carefully is your "to do" for the day of the seder - list everything that has to be done from warming the soup to putting up the hotpot for tea.

Try to think of yourself as your own assistant - and then keep yourself on track!

If anyone needs some help - post a comment with contact info, and I'd be happy to assist.

Seder From Scratch

I had a terrific time last week being interviewed by reporter Linda Lombroso and videographer Angela Gaul -

Lots of recipes here....

Amazing Pesach Products

I am amazed year after year by the kosher for passover faux products that manufacturers believe we can't live without for 8 days.... This year's shocking new product was found during my Monsey shopping trip - and was very timely considering the exchange of comments over the past few days on kosherblog.net

The ingredients are: Water, maltodextrin, sugar, spices and seasoning, onion, monosodium glutamate, salt, vegetable stabilizer, citric acid, caramel color , less than 1% sodium benzoate

So for those of you who don't speak "food chemicals", that would be water, sugar, salt, flavorings, color and preservatives -

How do you say happy passover in chinese???

Intermission from Passover Preparation

I'm not entirely sure what overcame me, but last night I decided to try a food processor (easy!) challah recipe that I'd come across quite some time ago.  I used to bake bread, challah & bagels a long time ago, but realized that the bakery really did a better job, and gave it up.

Anyway, it was a super simple recipe, no hand kneading required, and gave instructions for an overnight rise.  

Here are the results - I'll let you know about the taste next week.

Shabbat shalom,

Deb

Pesach Prep - Step 3 - The Shopping Lists for This Year and Next Year

In April, 2006 I wrote about the need to make your lists in advance, and to make separate lists for the separate stores - read that post as a reminder -

There's one more list that's essential to create, keep in a place you'll remember, and refer to from year to year - your "Buy / Don't Buy" list - a trick I learned from my mother. She posted the list on the inside of the pesach closet - it doesn't matter where you post it, so long as you remember to get it out about a month before pesach.

There are certain foods that can be saved from year to year. I save salt, vinegar, and spices (I know Julia Child would not approve, but come on...). So if I have leftover when I'm packing pesach away, that goes on the "Don't Buy". And if you have a ton of leftover... ummm..... sardines, or chocolate (ok, not possible, I understand), or you bought too much or too little matzoh meal, your Buy/Don't Buy list is the place to record notes like that. My list always has "8 yards contact paper" to remind me how much to buy - nothing's worse than having the kitchen nearly kashered at 2am - and finding out you're 3 yards short, or out of plastic sheeting to cover the table - or have no coffee filters to make coffee the next morning!

Next post - forget the seder of the seder - you need the seder of the cooking! Timelines and organization are key!

Israeli Orange Chicken

2 whole chickens, 3 to 4 pounds each

4 navel oranges

1 1/2 cups orange juice

½ cup honey

3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

 

One or two days ahead:

Quarter one oranges.  Put 2 quarters (with peels) inside each chicken cavity.  Peel and coarsely chop the rest of the oranges.  Stir together chopped oranges, orange juice, honey and ginger until well combined.  Put each chicken inside a plastic bag, and pour half of the orange mixture inside each bag, squeezing out as much air as possible.  Seal bags tightly and put inside a bowl.  Let marinate 1 to 2 days, turning bags occasionally.

Two hours before eating:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place chickens and their marinade in a deep 13x9 roasting pan, breast down.  Roast about one hour, turn over, roast about another hour.  Chicken will turn dark brown. 

Strain and degrease gravy, then reduce by half by simmering over medium heat. Serve on the side of chicken cut into pieces.

Note:  This recipe is very forgiving if the first part of the seder goes longer than expected.  The chicken will stay moist.  If there's any leftover chicken, take it off the bones, warm in the gravy and serve over mashed potatoes.

The Menus

I always type up and print many copies of the menu for a meal this extensive - a clean one gets posted on the kitchen bulletin board, and other copies can be used for checklists, notes, etc. I try to include everything that has to go on the table - so that nothing gets forgotten in last minute frenzy.

Seder Menu

Seder Plate

Charoset { Zeroah { Betzah { Maror { Chazeret

Salt Water

-----

Karpas

Boiled Potatoes { Parsley

-----

Hard Boiled Eggs

-----

Chicken Soup

Matzoh Balls { Soup Nuts

-----

Brisket

Israeli Orange Chicken

Sweet Vegetable Kugels { Israeli Salad { Roasted Asparagus

Roasted Potatoes { Mom’s Tzimmes

-----

Rothschild Cake { Black Forest Roll

Citrus Sponge Cake

Almond Macaroons { Almond Candy { Mandelbrodt

Berries { Melon { Tea and Coffee

Shabbat Lunch Menu

Tossed Salad with Smoked Salmon in Asparagus

Shnitzel Nuggets

Roast Beef

Stuffed Scalloped Potatoes

Red Cabbage Slaw

Israeli Salad

Orange Sweet Potatoes

Sponge Cake

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Brownies

Almond Candy

Almond Macaroons

Fruit

Recipes to follow......

Pesach Prep - Earliest Steps

Step One - Calendar

As always, I start Pesach preparations by looking at the calendar to determine when the holiday falls. This year, we have the pleasure of a three day chag, since the seders are Wednesday night and Thursday night, so we'll segue directly into shabbat.

I knew I was making the first seder and going out for the second. And it seems that as soon as the email blasts start regarding Mishloach Manot, the invitations start flying for Pesach, so I was invited out for Friday night and I invited my bf's family for shabbat lunch. So before I baked the first hamentashen, the "social schedule" was in place.

Step Two - Menus

Since I only make one seder, the menu has become fairly constant over the last few years, only changing side dishes depending on the number of people, and if I see something new that intrigues me. The shabbat lunch menu required a bit more thought, since so many of my shabbat lunch side dish standards are pasta based. Also, since one of the guests can't have gluten, pesach seemed a perfect opportunity to do an entirely GF meal - by the third day of pesach, everyone will have had their fill of matzoh meal laden kugels.

I'll post the menus shortly -

As always, if you have any questions, or would like menu or recipe advice - I'm happy to help - please post your question.

Deb

Deb's Delicacies Order Form

Deb’s Delicacies Order Form

 

Customer:
Order Date:
Pick Up Date:
	# of Units	Price per Unit	Price
Chocolate Chip Cookies – no nuts		$8 / dozen
Chocolate Chip Cookies – with pecans or walnuts		$10 / dozen
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies		$8 /dozen
Chewy Cinnamon Cookies		$8 / dozen
Oatmeal Sugar Cookies		$8 / dozen
Lemon Squares (8 x 8 pan – 16 squares )		$12 / batch
Brownies – no nuts (13 x 9 pan – 32 squares )		$20 / batch
Brownies –pecans or walnuts (13 x 9 pan – 32 squares )		$22 / batch
Rice Krispie Treats  (13 x 9 pan – 32 squares )		$20 / batch
Bundt cake – Orange, Vanilla or Marble		$25 each
Bundt cake – Orange, Vanilla or Marble – Iced		$27 each
Frozen Peanut Butter Mousse Cake		$40 each
Optional Delivery		$5
Custom Item:
Total

 

Custom Items Available – Inquire for pricing and availability

Deb's Delicacies

With apologies to those of you too far from White Plains - I've started a home baking/catering business...

The standard list of baked goods is just a start, but if you can request it, I can bake it!

I am also available for in-home catering, one-on-one cooking or homemaking classes.

Drugs, Chugs or Mugs? A Purim Dilemma

Though I don't think of myself as a creative person outside of the kitchen, the past few years I've tried to come up with a theme for the mishloach manot baskets I send out - rather than just baking and loading the baskets up randomly.  Last year, everything I baked had nuts or peanut butter, and I included a note "I must be NUTS to do this every year".

This year, probably because of all of the Valentine's Day goodies around, I had the idea to do something about kisses.....  I thought of meringues (referred to in hebrew as neshikot - kisses), peanut butter cookies with hershey's kisses, and got a lip shaped cookie cutter - you get the idea... 

Hershey's also has a products called Hugs - so the idea for hugs and kisses started...  Then I got to Chugs & kisses - which would have included a Beer (get it? chugs!) - quickly vetoed by the kids and the bf.  Of course the teens then suggested drugs & kisses (vetoed by me!)- but we've compromised on mugs & kisses - 

So the final contents will be 

A mug - filled with cocoa mix & tea bags

Meringues

Peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses

Surprise kiss cookies (actually hershey's hugs wrapped in dough)

rice krispie treats - cut out with the lip cookie cutters

Brownies - ditto on the cookie cutters

Mini bundt cakes decorated with x's and o's

and Hamentashen

Happy Purim everyone!!!!

Feeding Teenage Boys

Last shabbat, my nearly 17 year old had a few friends for shabbat.  I've watched this group of kids grow up, and it's a great pleasure - MUCH NACHAS - to see how they're turning into fine young men.  Fine HUNGRY young men - I'm not big on buying prepared foods, or even using the bakery other than for challot, so I try to be very organized, make shopping lists ahead of time, and getting as much as possible in the freezer.  Fortunately, I don't work Friday afternoons, so it all comes together...

Here's what they had...

Friday Night Dinner

Challah

Chicken Soup with Noodles

Honey Mustard Chicken

Meatballs in Sauce & Pasta

Spicy Roasted Potatoes, Corn Kugel

Tossed Salad, Stir Fry Broccoli

  

Shabbat Breakfast

Donuts, Bagels

Shabbat Lunch

Chulent

Spicy Noodles, Cranberry Kugel, Israeli Salad

Desserts

Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

Marble Pound Cake, Pumpkin Chip Cake

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies

Motzei Shabbat

Pizzadillas

They were happy!

In Transition

I had almost completely forgotten about this blog, then a miracle happen...  someone found it, read it, made a comment and reminded me -

I had forgotten how much pleasure I'd derived from posting, and had forgetten how much I enjoyed everything I did.

2 1/2 years later, I am a very different person - my appearance, outlook, and habits have changed drastically - all for the better!  But my love of entertaining remains -

So I'm back!

Pretty Apples and Honey

Young and old, apples dipped in honey is probably everyone's favorite rosh hashanah treat. What's very pretty, and saves honey being dripped on your tablecloth tooo much, is to give each person a small plate with their own little dish of honey and sliced apples. And if you don't have enough pretty little bowls for the honey, get lady apples (those little two inch things) and scoop out the top, and fill with honey....

Now decorate each plate with slices of apples and each guest has their own...

To avoid your apples turning brown, dip each cut slice into a bowl of water in which you've squeezed half a lemon. I promise, it works (personal note - yes Jon, acidulation is a word!)

My blessing to all for a happy new year.

Coming Soon

My apologies to those of you who were actually reading this blog.... (all three of you, I suppose). It's been a rough summer for me, and I'll hopefully have something to tell you about in the late fall...

I'll just post one Rosh Hashanah idea, so you can start your thinking and planning....

Filling the Duncan Hines Void - Pareve Brownies!!!

Very easy folks!

1 1/2 sticks margarine
3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips or nuts (optional).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 baking pan (or use the disposable half sheet pans). In microwave, melt margarine. Stir in cocoa until well mixed. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Stir in flour and salt. Stir in chips or nuts if using.

Pour batter into pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Pesach Kiddush Clubs Rejoice!

Gee, and I thought the only thing you could get to drink was slivovitz!

Afikoman Treasure Hunt

I'm always looking for new ideas to make the seder more interesting for the kids, to really engage them. This year we have seven kids at the seder, all boys, ranging in age from 9 to 15 plus a one year old. Five of the six boys are getting day school educations, so really ought to be able to find their way around a tanach - especially my boys - 8th and 10th grade.

I saw online an afikomen treasure hunt - with clues, but didn't love their clues so I came up with my own.

Here's how it's going to work (I hope!)

Step 1: Afikomen is hidden. I'll put the clues into their right places once the seder starts.
Step 2: When it's time (about 10 minutes after the main course is put out, the kids are done and starting to get bored...), they'll really be looking hard for the afikomen at that point, I'll hand one a tanach, with a post-it note pointing to the first clue.... and they'll have to go from there....

Clues and locations:

Oven Door
Exodus 8:3The Nile River will swarm with them. They will come up out of the river and into your houses, even into your bedrooms and onto your beds! Every home in Egypt will be filled with them. They will fill even your ovens and your kneading bowls.

Kitchen sliding door overlooking garage
Judges 5:28: "From the window Sisera's mother looked out. Through the window she watched for his return, saying, `Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why don't we hear the sound of chariot wheels?'

On the toothpaste
Song of Solomon 4:2:Your teeth are as white as sheep, newly shorn and washed. They are perfectly matched; not one is missing.

Mezuzah at front door
Deuteronomy 6:9:Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Bathroom scale (where the afikoman will be!)
Deuteronomy 25:13:"You must use accurate scales when you weigh out merchandise,

Cross your fingers for me that it works. All I'm going to leave them is the reference (book, chapter verse) and make them think!

Deb

Seder Menu

As promised, following is my menu for the first seder. This menu is basically what I make for the first seder every year, with a few extra side dishes because of a brilliant idea from YS. This year, we are up to 18 people, and even with an extra table, the dining room maxes out at around 17 (and is pretty uncomfortable!). So we've decided to rent tables and use the living room as the dining room and leave the dining room table in the dining room, so YS suggested that the main course be served as a buffet. Brilliant! I hate when people are helping clear the table after the meal and say things like "ohhh, you made those good potatoes, they never got passed to me". At a certain point the table and the platters are too large, and a buffet works better. But I thought I should add a few side dishes to make a more interesting and fill the table out.

So here goes......

Hard Boiled Eggs

Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls and Soup Nuts (I make my own soup nuts, and gebrokt away, even on the first night!)

Brisket (my mother's recipe, improved a bit)
Israeli Orange Chicken
Mini Sweet Vegetable Kugels
Steamed Asparagus with Toasted Almonds and Garlic
Twice Baked Potatoes
Spinach Pie -Extra #1
Tossed Salad - Extra #2

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Chocolate Cake
Sponge Cake
Macaroons
Mandelbrodt
Almond Candy

All of the desserts are homemade, including the almond candy. If you're interested in any of the recipes, let me know. I share happily.

Pesach Overview & Organizing Tips

Freedom at last - at the expense of annoyance. For this first time in twelve years, we are going out for the second seder. A break was in order, unfortunately OS was less than thrilled. He'll survive! Anyway, I'm having people Friday night too, so he'll have enough "mommy" food to satisfy him!

Anyway, when planning for pesach, the best thing to do is get a big pad, a pencil and your datebook. Start with a general idea for each lunch and dinner for each day. By three weeks before, you'll know where you are for sedarim, and if you've been invited for lunches - So you can start the game plan. If you put together a master plan of meals, you can also be more specific about your shopping lists. And this is the time to add more invitations if you feel like it.

Once you've finished go meal by meal, start expanding. Start with the meals where you have company, and want to make the best impression and use your most successful dishes there. Then fill in the other meals, making sure not to be too repetitive. And remember, everyone will feel much better if you concentrate more on vegetables over matzah-meal filled kugels. The days after the sedarim don't need more than matzah pizza (or some such easy thing) and sliced veggies or a salad.

Once you've got each meal planned, it's time to start with making shopping lists - four separate ones: 1) butcher, 2) grocery (dry goods), 3) fresh veg & fruit before the cooking starts, 4) last day before chag fresh stuff. Go item by item for each menu, and note the things you need on the correct list. Use the cross-hatching system (totaling bags of carrots for example), so you don't need to cross out, or you don't end of writing carrots six times on the list!

Next it's time to figure out what you're making when. Try to group similar items - for example, all the carrot recipes. This will cut down on washing. If you're making a tzimmes with sliced carrots, and a kugel with grated carrots, the same peeler, cutting board, food processor can be used without going near the sink! Ditto with garlic items..... It's harder to do with baking, as pesach cakes tend to be in the oven for so long, but doing prep in between each cake uses your time efficiently.

Check back soon, I'll post my menu for the first seder -

And for all you newbies out there - breathe and HAVE FUN!

Deb

Countdown to Pesach

Getting very close.....

Going to Brooklyn on Sunday - let's be real folks - the prices for meat in Westchester are ridiculous and pretty obnoxious on the part of the one butcher (I won't name the store, you figure it out!).

So off we go the holy land...

Which means of course, that time had come for me to figure everything out, which, at long last, I did, and I will post the plans, menus, recipes in the days to come.

In the meanwhile, we've been having fun eating through all the odd contents of the freezer, the end of the frozen leftover soups, odd mismatched main courses, but I'm close to empty so it's all good. And this shabbat will be the last one I cook. For Shabbat Hagadol we've been invited to friend who close their houses for pesach (bless them!!!) and there's lunch at the shul, but with what it costs, we've decided to get our own takeout instead. Though my stove and oven will have been kashered by then, I'll still have my electric hotplate to use to warm anything up.

Keep watching, I promise lots of menus, tips and recipes soon!

Shabbat Shekalim- Follow Up -

Divine intervention. That's the only way to describe the chain of events that saved YS from being extremely embarrassed this morning. Here's how it went....

Hopefully, you've read my post about Half-Shekel foods for shabbat shekalim.

Step 1
On Friday night, before we ate, I gave a little parsha quiz. Considering the amount of day school tuition that was represented in the room, I felt entitled. I asked about the name of the parsha, and the reason. We had a little talk about it. Very nice.

Step 2
Yesterday, in CVS, OS asked me to buy him a Milky Way Easter Egg candy thing. Considering the amount of allowance I had just deposited in his wallet, I suggested he could buy it himself. He said "but it looks like a half - shekel" Don't I get it just for being so creative......

Step 3
Last night at dinner, OS recounts his attempts to sweet talk me into a sweet purchase. I asked what this week's parshah was, and if we could continue the connection of parsha to menu. OS & YS both said "terumah" and which point YS blanched white and asked to be excused. Next thing we knew, he had pulled out the tikkun and was learning the leyning for this morning.

So planning my meals around the parsha had saved YS from the embarrassment of having been assigned to layn at school, and having come to school unprepared.

Baruch hashem.

Parshat Mishpatim - Shabbat Shekalim - February 24-25

Hmmm.. Shabbat Shekalim. Counting the Jews with the half shekel. The only food thoughts that come to mind would be semi-circular food. Bourekas maybe? Not this week, I'm not up to it. Got it, meatloaf. Each slice looks (kind of) like a semi-circle. That will be for shabbat lunch. I make a spicy cajun meatloaf that goes into the oven to warm, and stays moist and yummy even if we eat lunch at 2:00. If anyone has any other suggestions for semi-circular food - please comment!

Friday night we have lots of company, should be at least 12 people, and happily (for us anyway), older son is staying home this shabbat (of course he is, I told him he had to. He's been away two shabbatot in a row for shabbbatons).

Friday Night:

Chicken Soup with Noodles (kreplach could be semi-circular, but I don't have time!)

Roast chicken with shallots
Spinach Loaf
Saffron Rice Pilaf
Ratatouille
Cauliflower Popcorn (the best recipe from KBD2)
Corn Kugel (maybe - It's so easy and good)

Meringues
Devil Dogs

I found the recipe online for devil dogs about six years ago. These are the best things. http://www.koshercooking.com/recipes/everyday/devildogs.html The only change I make is that I find they don't need to bake 10 minutes, maybe about 7. And don't use margarine for the filling - crisco is the way to go. To make the shells, put the batter in a ziploc bag, cut a corner, and squeeze out "fingers". You can make them small, medium or large that way. Just try to be consistent. Don't worry if the fingers don't look perfect. When they're done baking, they'll look just right. And the easiest way to fill the shells is to put the filling in a ziploc bag, close it up, cut a corner, and squeeze a line (generously) onto the flat side of one, then squeeze the other shell on. Goes 1-2-3.

As you might notice, I love ziploc bags. For baking shortcuts like this, using them instead of pastry bags, I buy the target brand ones. Very inexpensive, and you don't need such good quality for one shot use.

Parshat Yitro - 20 Shevat - February 17 & 18

This coming shabbat will be a quiet one again. Older son (OS) is away (again) at a shabbaton - NCSY this time. Lots of ruach and lousy food for him! Now, when younger son (YS) is in charge of helping to choose friday night dinner - there is always one answer- SUSHI! And since we will again be at a bar mitzvah on shabbat (in other words - no cooking lunch, huge, hot kiddush), Sushi it will be.

I prepare everything before we make kiddush, then we have a half standing/half sitting sushi dinner, while I keep rolling until everyone is full. I'll roast a chicken (more for that good smell than anything else), but mostly, we'll just eat sushi till we pop!

A week off - Parshat Beshalach

Mazal tov to Adam!

This shabbat we will help celebrate your bar mitzvah - and will be honored to join your family for meals. Hoorah for catering!

I have to admit, I love the caterer my friend is using (then again, it was my idea for her to use them!) Main Event. As far as I'm concerned, they are the best in the New York area. Their food is consistently great, and Steve Rubinfeld (201-894-8710 x120)is a pleasure to deal with - very creative, and doesn't spend more of your money than you want. Main Event did both of my son's bar mitzvah's, including a chinese banquet friday night (complete with lazy susan's on the tables).

So, all in all, it should be a great shabbat. A simcha, good catering and week off!

Yahrtzeits Converge

Going a little off topic today. I got a phone call last night, my uncle died. My father's brother. Just five days before my father's yahrtzeit. So sad for the remaining brother who now has both brother's yahrtzeits the same week each year.

Also so sad for the whole family, but not in the usual way.

I read the obit this morning in the New York Times. My uncle leaves a wife, three children (my first cousins), many grandchildren (my kids' second cousins) and we know none of them. Maybe I met his daughter once, and when we sat shiva for my father my uncle was there (criticizing me, but that's another story).

A long time ago (about 40 years) there was a huge family argument - lawsuits even. No one ever healed. How sad.

So in my own way I mourn, not for a man I didn't know, but for opportunities lost.

Baruch Dayan Emet.