Overwhelmed with menu-planning

freidasima

Wed, May 16 2012, 4:10 am

Wow you people put so much into your meals! Kol Hakavod

With us, after a normal shabbos how much can one eat on Shavuos night?! Maybe a bit of fish or whatever, and a bit of something like sweet potato soup, and a baked potato and some fruit. And for the next day? If someone is up learning all night how much do they want to eat exactly after four or five hours sleep? So make potato latkes with sour cream for those eating milchigs and a cheesecake and that's that. If someone doesn't eat milchigs then isn't it enough to have something like salad and a bit of fish again and maybe some rice and for dessert either a piece of cake or fruit? I have a feeling from some of these recipies that people forget how not hungry people are after a full shabbos of normal eating and how tired one then is after learning and staying up all night! For those abroad of course the second day is harder, then you need a full meal because that's already far away from shabbos and people aren't up all night. Then the nice cooking comes into play, but for those of us lucky enough to be in EY having only sunday? I'm not even going to think about it until Friday morning except for the shopping...

But wow, kol hakavod again for all that you do!

↑ sarahd

Wed, May 16 2012, 5:18 am

FS, you're definitely right as far as night seudos go, especially here where nacht is after 10 PM and the men come home from shul close to 11. But my dh insists on meat and fish at every seuda, what can I do? I do limit it to one meat dish and one side dish, but I limit every seuda like that anyhow.

↑ anonymrs ↓

Wed, May 16 2012, 5:30 am

anonymrs wrote:

So here's what I have so far: (we're in israel so it's only one day for us.)

motzei shabbos:

Salmon - still on the fence about that one
Cream of chicken soup with garlic knots
Hawaiian chicken
Rice
Some type of potato thing, not sure what
Sauteed zucchini (Thanks, sarahd)

Sunday:

Either fruit or a deli salad, not sure yet
chicken/vegetable turnovers with mushroom sauce (Thanks, kb)
Pickled corn beef
Chicken nuggets fried in batter with red dipping sauce
jewel-toned orzo (Thanks, kb)
potato kugel (for the boys Smile

)
garlic green beans

Now I have to think about desserts.

chocolate moose, thanks:) I needed that!

Thanks for all the input!

eta: With each meal I will be putting out homemade garlic dip and tomato dip and a few salads probably cucumber salad, pea salad, purple cabbage salad, and/or some type of lettuce salad.

Ok, I think that the bolded is going to be carrot muffins.

↑ anonymrs ↓

Wed, May 16 2012, 5:33 am

freidasima wrote:

You're right, it's a lot of food and there's no way that I'll eat all of that. But I enjoy cooking for yt and love hosting so........

↑ anonymrs ↓

Wed, May 16 2012, 5:54 am

ray family wrote:

anonymrs what's the recipe for the pea salad?

frozen peas (defrosted obviously Smile

)
red and orange peppers, cut into very small pieces
purple onion cut into very small pieces

1/2 c mayonnaise
3 T sugar
3 T vinegar
salt and pepper

Mrs Bissli

Wed, May 16 2012, 6:11 am

Salmon—you can do herb-crusted baked salmon, mix breadcrumbs and herbs (mix of parsley, dill, basil, either fresh/dry/frozen) and sprinkle on top then bake uncovered.

Another nice one is Moroccan salmon, bake with matbucha (store bought one) and sliced/chopped pickled lemon, top with chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves. Harisa optional.

Or you can never go wrong with plain poached salmon—you can serve with “interesting” mayo, like lemon mayo, garlic mayo, dill mayo, wasabi mayo. Alternatively pour Italian or French dressing over the salmon and just bake.

Soup—personally I like cold soup around this time of the year. Vichycoise, gazpacho, cold fruit soup?

Veggie—you can boil green beans before shabbat, dress with vinaigrette and finely chopped red onion, or with sautéed garlic and olive oil.

Lunch—if you have pastry dough, you can do steak and mushroom pie (you can freeze beforehand), if you don’t mind having salmon for both meals, salmon wellington. Or you can do quiche—courgetes, savoy cabbage, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, spinach, carrots etc

sky

Wed, May 16 2012, 11:02 am

chocolate moose wrote:

I know what you mean.

Start logically. You need food for 6 meals, unless you're eating out, and you might need more if you host guests.

Start by courses and work back. You need milchigs. You need a fish or 2, and a few mains. What side dishes are easy or can be frozen or made on yomtov itself?

What desserts can be made in advance or bought?

Get what I mean ?

I get so overwhelmed thinking I need so much food so I create a spreadsheet. This way I know what I need to make. I think about my favorites sides, mains, appetizers and just fill them in and eventually I end up with a menu.

1 row for each meal.

My columns are:
Appetizer #1:
Appetizer #2: (or soup)
Main
Side Dish #1:
Side Dish #2:
Salad:
Dessert:

And I fill that out. Anything else is just extra.

Some meal ideas (I'm trying to stay away from most kugels to try to be more healthy for yom tov)

Meat eggrolls, linguini, sesame chicken, sugar snap peas, asian coleslaw,
pastrami pockets, Khishka stuffed capons, quina, green beans, mushroom salad, pie
salmon, soup, roast, roasted vegetables, potato kugel, red cabbage salad, pear rolls
Blintzes, soup, quiche, eggplant parm, Greek salad, Salmon, cheese cake

↑ anonymrs ↓

Wed, May 16 2012, 11:56 am

sky wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

Awesome! I love this idea. I'm going to do this.

OOTBubby

Wed, May 16 2012, 6:36 pm

anonymrs wrote:

Embarrassed to ask but what is salmon wellington? Does it just mean salmon in dough? Can someone post their recipe so I can see what it is? Thanks!

Salmon Wellington

1 large can salmon, bones removed, flaked
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 eggs
2/3-3/4 cup mayonnaise
onion powder
1/4 cup ketchup
pinch salt
1 package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Dough

Combine filling ingredients, and spread half on each dough sheet (not necessary to roll out dough first). Roll up into log. Bake as directed on pastry package for 20 minutes. Serve warm. Slice to serve. Serve with sauce on the side.

Sauce:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup coffee rich
2 tblsp. chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped seedless cucumber

Mix together in advance and chill. Serve cold.

Happy 2B

Wed, May 30 2012, 8:10 pm

anonymrs wrote:

ray family wrote:

anonymrs what's the recipe for the pea salad?

frozen peas (defrosted obviously Smile

)
red and orange peppers, cut into very small pieces
purple onion cut into very small pieces

1/2 c mayonnaise
3 T sugar
3 T vinegar
salt and pepper

made this tonight! It was yummy! Thank you Anonymrs!

↑ anonymrs

Thu, May 31 2012, 2:54 am

Happy 2B wrote:

anonymrs wrote:

ray family wrote:

anonymrs what's the recipe for the pea salad?

frozen peas (defrosted obviously Smile

)
red and orange peppers, cut into very small pieces
purple onion cut into very small pieces

1/2 c mayonnaise
3 T sugar
3 T vinegar
salt and pepper

made this tonight! It was yummy! Thank you Anonymrs!

Thanks to all the amothers who helped me out on this thread! The food was all delicious and went over very well with my guests!