Re-designing Yom Tov

Posted: Mon, May 16 2011, 5:09 pm Post subject: Re-designing Yom Tov

I know this may sound strange - but after a beautiful, and elaborate Pesach, I want to re-structure how we do Shabbos and Yom Tov in our house. It was my first time making Pesach and therefore I went all out just like all my family and friends do, and it was successful. Every meal had plenty of food, fish and meat courses, yummy desserts and plenty of snacks to eat in between meals.

You're probably thinking "well, whats the problem?" the problem is that we gained weight. And it was very unhealthy. By each meal we kept asking each other "are you really hungry now?" I felt we were eating because it was time to have another meal, which meant kiddush and a whole spread.

I feel a similar thing with the huge elaborate Shabbos meals as well. I am looking for ideas from "healthy" minded moms out there who have structured their shabbos and yom tov so that they are still beautiful and elegant, but are healthy, and you dont have the need to unbutton your skirt !!! Whats the point of keeping a healthy lifestyle and eating properly if every shabbos or every yom tov we fress our faces and gain any weight we have worked hard to lose!!

I'm looking for any ideas.....

thanks !!!

Posted: Mon, May 16 2011, 6:04 pm Post subject: re: Re-designing Yom Tov

serve less courses of really good food. I agree, we eat way too much on shabbos and yom tov.

I now only serve 3 courses - either soup or fish, main, and dessert. soup is usually chicken with knaidlich and lokshin, so not that healthy, but you can skip those. Fish - I serve thin slices of gefilta fish, I fresh salad, and 2-3 dips. I make chummous and chatzilim, and sometimes buy more.

I tend to serve too many side dishes with the main course but that is partly becasue I never know how many guests I have so I want to be prepared.

shabbos lunch is either cold cuts/schnitzle or fish or cholent plus salads and dips. Sometimes I leave a soup on the blech.

Platinum Member Joined: May 07 2008 Posts: 8960

Make only one of each course except vegetable dishes, as in cooked or raw salads, not as in kugels. Make a goodly assortment of salads, and lay off the rich dressings. If you're into making a fancy impression, doll up the presentations, cutting food into different shapes, taking advantage of the wide array of colors veggies have, and using accessories like doilies and fluted cupcake papers to make individual portions of things like kugels seem more special and to control portion size.

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48136

dh and I usually eat by ourselves, and we really eat very small amounts. like whole grain rolls - one per person - and fish cooked with a veggie, and chicken with a raw veggie, or vice versa. no pasta salad or kugels or any of that nonsense.

I lost 6 lbs on pesach.

Posted: Mon, May 16 2011, 9:04 pm Post subject: re: Re-designing Yom Tov

I agree with serving less courses. It's completely unnecessary to serve more than 3 courses and also gives you less work. Friday night I serve either fish or soup (fat skimmed from soup, no kneidlach or luksehn), salad, veggies, ONE carb side (kugel or rice or couscous) and chicken or meat. Dessert is good stuff as that is the only time I eat cake. The hard part is not to take a piece that's too big. When I go back on a diet I will serve sorbet which is essentially frozen fruit with a little sugar. Shabbos day I serve either liver or egg salad, no need to serve both. I make cholent and cold cuts and it's more than enough food. Kugel is not necessary although I will serve it to DH and the kids. Again, I serve a big salad with dressing to drizzle on the side.We eat shalosh seudos early, like around 5 PM, no matter if it's a long shabbos or a short shabbos. That prevents us from snacking through the day and it also breaks up the day better. It's also unhealthy to eat so late (at 8 PM) if it's unnecessary.

The hard part is controlling my challah intake. I find that eating a challah roll makes it easier because then I know how much I'm eating. When I'm seriously dieting I eat a board of matzah.

I also never serve any flavored drinks at the table - only water. Even the diet stuff is not good as it's loaded with chemicals, doesn't quench your thirst and causes you to crave sugar.

Serve individual portions instead of putting out big bowls of food out. You can monitor portion control better that way.

Posted: Mon, May 16 2011, 11:51 pm Post subject: re: Re-designing Yom Tov

thank you so much for your replies.... I really like the idea of skipping the "3 course" thing ... and going right to the main thing....

do you add more food if you have guests? If you have a lavish meal with guests - will you "skip" the next meal? (like on the second night of yom tov for example -- when you're still full from lunch....) any ideas for that ?

thank you again for your replies....

Posted: Tue, May 17 2011, 12:35 am Post subject:

I do simple Friday night. In the winter there *might* be soup. Otherwise it's usually a one-pot dinner...rice/couscous/potatoes with chicken and carrots.

Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner (especially if it's just us).

If we have company I add a salad course and serve pickles/potato salad/colslaw/red cabbage salad/mushroom salad/cucumber salad, and always chummus. I find many people filling up on the salads and challah.

Dessert is only if we have company; otherwise we eat our mezonot at kiddush for the day (which is often 2 hours or so BEFORE lunch).

We're not makpid on seudah shlishit because we're not hungry for it. We tend to eat it when it falls out at supper time for the kids. Tuna salad, hard boiled eggs, cut vegetables, and salads (see list above).
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