Can you help me plan my sheva brachos menu please?

Gold Member Joined: Feb 08 2012 Posts: 1039 Location: USA

Hi everyone,
I am making sheva brachos after Shavuous, it has been years since I last made Sheva Brachos and I am very excited. The only problem is that I seem to have lost my imagination - I don't know what to make!
I have three criteris:
1) as inexpensive as possible
2) not too labor-intensive
3) as elegant as possible considering the above two considerations!

So, can anyone out there help me plan a three or four course menu please? TIA!

Silver Member Joined: Jan 09 2008 Posts: 724

if you're looking for inexpensive, chicken on the bone is much cheaper than cutlets, I've done stuffed with kishke under the skin, with honey drizzled on top,
side dishes, sesame linguine or little red potatoes
you can make in advance mini carrot muffins (in little bundt pans) or apple turnovers
veggie needs to be made fresh, roasted veggies is nice and colorful

for appetizer, are you looking for a drink and then a hot appetizer and skip soup or do you want a salad or wrap or something on the plate when you walk I and then another hot appetizer or soup afterwords,

I have lots of ideas just narrow it down for me a little Smile

Gold Member Joined: Feb 08 2012 Posts: 1039 Location: USA

Hi sbs, I really appreciate your response. your mains are good ideas! as for appetizers I don't really know, I am fine with just 3 courses, so I guess that one appetizer has to be pretty decent. maybe some kind of salad? please throw yur ideas at me and I'll tell yu which ones I would like recipes for. thank you SO much!
and desserts too? any ideas?

Platinum Member Joined: Apr 12 2010 Posts: 5773

For my sisters 7bs the menu went something like this (cant remember exactly)

starters- mini bowl of fruit salad with wine dressing.
soup (I think veg./chicken)
chicken, 2 salads,
checkerboard cake and ice cream for desert.

Really easy but really nice.

If you want recipes for certain things I have great ideas too.
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Silver Member Joined: Jan 05 2010 Posts: 526

I have 2 great salad recipes that would be really pretty. One is a skirt steak salad & one is with chicken cutlets, mandarin oranges & the durkee fried onions. Both would be nice appetizer salads.

Silver Member Joined: Mar 28 2011 Posts: 542

cold cut salad in a taco shell w/ a dressing in a little fancy cup.

Silver Member Joined: Jan 09 2008 Posts: 724

here are some appetizer ideas

salad with cold cuts, or grilled chicken cutlets, or steak

the salad can either be plain on the plate or in a bowl made from a wrap, or a wrap baked inside a can, so it's narrow and then you lay it down and have teh salad spilling out of it

wraps with cold cuts, or avocado, or grilled chicken salad, each wrap can be cut in 4 and each plate gets 2 with salad

3 rounds of toasted Italian bread, 1 with tomato salad, one with avocado salad, 1 with sauteed liver

I've done a shish kebob of cutlets and veggies on top of a warm pasta salad, and when you walked in there was a drink on the plate, (I can give you ideas for that as well)

other hot appetizers can be grilled chicken over sesame linguine, potato knish w/ mushroom sauce, stuffed eggplant roll, all these you can have a drink first and then serve hot

here's some dessert ideas

choc. chip cookie with ice cream

ramekins with choc. chip cookie dough or runny choc. either one with ice cream

mango strawberry ice cream sorbet roll from BY Cookbook

layers of ice cream or sorbet frozen in muffin tins

ice cream with 2 different color biscottis

skewer of fresh fruit with a fudgey brownie and strawberry sauce

individual pies like pecan, choc. pudding, or tarts like custard with fresh fruit

Table setting:
Get a very bright/spring colored tablecloth at the dollar store (single-colored) and then have colorful plates. (I'm envisioning fun spring colors). Grass-colored green? Pink? Fun for this time of year.

IDEAS FOR FOOD:

Meal 1) Caesar salad plus a colorful vegetable lasagna? (You can buy spinach lasagna noodles and ones that are orange-colored--carrot??). It would look beautiful.
http://www.justveggingout.com/2009/05/hearty-vegetarian-lasagna-with-shiitake.html

For dessert, you could do cannolis--all you do is buy the shells (chocolate covered or plain) and the cheese/chocolate chips. If you want, you can fill the cannolis right at dessert time (or maybe the guests want to!)

Red wine for those that want it. Or do Perrier. Classy, fun, cheap. Smile

Meal 2) Tum Yum Soup (Thai) to start--or chicken satay (basically grilled chicken with a peanut butter dipping sauce---available in a can and it's delicious!!). For the meal, serve pad thai.
Drink: Thai iced teas for everyone! (Or do pearl bubble tea...it's a bit of prep work but SO Much fun. And Cheap. You just put it in fun, colorful plastic cups. It's the 'hot thing' at many SBs these days!) Perfect for dessert as well.
http://www.bobafind.com/bubble-tea-recipes/lychee1.php

Meal 3) I also went to one recently (well, a l'chaim) that went southern style--fried chicken on the bone, biscuits, and grits. It was a lot of fun! And we had peach cobbler and pecan pie for dessert. YUMMMMY. The host had been debating doing waffles for dessert (since Southeners will often have chicken and waffles). She ended up not doing it, but what a cheap and fun idea---Eggo's toasted waffles (straight from the freezer), and let the guests go to town decorating them with parve ice cream, U-Bet syrup, sprinkles, etc.

Meal 4) The one I'm about to have at 10:25 at night b/c this post made me hungry. Embarassed

Good luck and have fun! Mazel tov to the chosson and kallah!!

Gold Member Joined: Feb 08 2012 Posts: 1039 Location: USA

thanks everyone for all of htese great ideas, you have really given me some great stuff here. sbs , what is choc pudding pie, or did you just mean choc pudding? also, how would you make a salad with grilled chicken strips?

dini20, what is skirt steak salad? recipe please!

Silver Member Joined: Jun 11 2009 Posts: 529

appitizer sesame noodle salad topped with a thin strip of salmon or chicken or a skewer with veg and fish or chicken or beef
fruit cup from fresh or canned in one of the nice plastic champagne or margarita type cups
fruit skewers also look pretty for dessert or an appitizer
bourekas can fill with anything
wraps with veg. and cold cuts
franks in a blanket with a mini knish or by themselves with ketchup and mustard nice on plate or in little cups
sushi salad can also look pretty drizzled wtih soy/terriyaki sauce and spicy mayo
mini meatballs with tooth picks and a dipping sauce in a little cup or meatballs over a bed of rice
you can do a soup many options
main if doing plated can be a chicken quarter stuffed/ breaded (oven fried chicken) with roasted potatos or rice with veggies, or orzo, carrot muffin or apple turnover or mini apple crisps and veggies can be roasted root veggies, snap pea stir fry , garlic green beans
put on the table cole slaw and cucumber salad and or pickles

Gold Member Joined: Feb 08 2012 Posts: 1039 Location: USA

thanks everyone.
I think I have settled on a main of roasted chicken, sesame noodles, cabbage salad, rice pilaf

not sure about appetizer yet. what is skirt steak salad?

any ideasfor desserts?

Silver Member Joined: Jan 09 2008 Posts: 724

choc. pudding pie is choc. pudding frozen inside a graham cracker pie crust topped with whipped cream and choc. curls or chopped viennese crunch

the salad is lettuce, and you could put in tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and any other veggies you like, topped with strips of grilled chicken cutlet or meat or cold cuts and a dressing drizzled on top

Silver Member Joined: Jan 05 2010 Posts: 526

Hi sorry - I didn't see your post asking for the recipe. Here it is - it's so easy & so good! & it looks really pretty when you set it up.

Salad:
Lettuce
Red onions (I dice, but cut however you like them)
grape tomatoes
Mushrooms (either baby bella or white)
Skirt Steak

Dressing:
2 T red wine vinegar
4 T olive oil
1 clove garlic crushed
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Sear steak, 5 min per side for medium. In the same pan saute mushrooms.

Put romaine lettuce in bowl, then sprinkle onion, tomatoes & mushrooms, top with steak, drizzle dressing. I don't mix any of the ingredients - I kind of layer it so it looks nice.

Silver Member Joined: Jun 21 2010 Posts: 819

Gold Member Joined: Feb 08 2012 Posts: 1039 Location: USA

sbs - how can I make choc pudding parev for choc pudding pie - it sounds cool

Silver Member Joined: Jan 09 2008 Posts: 724

coffee whitener instead of milk, follow the recipe on the box