Tag Archives: Bon Appétit

Our Thanksgiving Shabbos Tradition

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We didn’t live near any relatives when I was growing up, and since my mother doesn’t particularly enjoy cooking (I think her motto is something like “cook to survive”), Thanksgiving wasn’t ever a big to-do for us.  However, when my family moved to St. Louis twelve years ago, we found ourselves close to family, and that family could COOK!  Boy, could they cook.  We started spending Thanksgiving together, and I enjoyed the food, the camaraderie with cousins I had never really known, and the overall atmosphere.  It was a new holiday experience.

Of course, once I started keeping kosher, I wasn’t able to partake of the yummy food anymore, and then I went and studied in Israel, and then I got married and moved away from family.  My husband didn’t exactly grow up with any Thanksgiving traditions (ah, cultural differences), and since I make the food quantity equivalent of Thanksgiving every week, I was okay with forgoing the tradition.

Until my parents came to visit us over Thanksgiving weekend three years ago, that is.

My parents are great, and they come visit as much as they are able to, which we love.  Oftentimes, this means they are sacrificing their holiday time to come be with us (I think the grandkids are really the main draw).  So, three years ago, they decided to come over their Thanksgiving vacation.

I realized that my parents, while they aren’t foodies by any stretch of the imagination, would still be missing out on the yumminess of all that good food.  I found out that my mom had been telling her co-workers that even though she wasn’t going to be having a Thanksgiving meal, the trip was well worth it (grandkids are yummier than turkey with stuffing, after all).  And I greatly appreciated their sacrifice, as well as the massive consideration they give to us whenever they come visit.  Our lifestyle is just a touch different than theirs, after all.

So, while I was not about to make Thanksgiving only to make Shabbos a day later (or to serve leftovers on Shabbos, which just doesn’t do it for me), I wanted to do something for my parents, to show our appreciation.  I decided to make a Thanksgiving-themed Shabbos.  We had done Chinese Shabbos, Mexican Shabbos, what have you, so why not a Thanksgiving Shabbos?

nothing to see here....

I pored over my November issues of Bon Appetit and put together a spectacular menu.  Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie – the works.  I was really excited about this.

My favorite part of this plan is that I didn’t tell my parents what I was planning.  Not until Thursday night, when I needed to start making the turkey (an 11-pound turkey is not something I could be discrete about).  My mom and I had a blast preparing the turkey together, as well as making the rest of the dishes.

It was a very memorable meal, and my parents were so grateful.  My mother was able to return to the office bragging about the fantastic Thanksgiving meal she enjoyed!

And so our tradition of Thanksgiving Shabbos began.  This year will be the third that my parents will be joining us, and while I no longer have the time or energy to make a super-gourmet meal (sorry, Bon Appetit), I still stick to the theme.  Also, my parents are both on diets, so I exercised a good amount of self-control and scaled back the amount of food.  Here is my menu for this year:

Friday night:

Pumpkin Challah (I have already tried this one, and it is super yummy!)

Green bean salad (with craisins, fried onions and creamy dressing, à la the casserole)

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes (from Kosher by Design Lightens Up)

Glazed Turkey Roast with Cranberry Chutney (also KBDLU)

Frozen Pumpkin Pie (again, KBDLU)

Shabbos day:

Everything I served Friday night minus the roast.  I’m skipping a cholent and making this:

Sweet Potato and Turkey Deli Roll (KBDLU)

~ ~ ~

I’m really looking forward to spending another Thanksgiving Shabbos with family, and happy to continue this new tradition for my kids.

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions? 

Menu Plan, week of July 17th

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Shortly after I moved, one of my friends asked me when I was going to make a menu plan again.  “After I finish unpacking,”  was my reply.  However, wandering the aisles of my new grocery store (I love you, Seven Mile!) with considerably less focus than usual was not super pleasant, or productive.

Cue heroic music, enter the menu planning. 

I’m not quite organized enough to plan for the whole month, but I will share my plan for this week (I was also going to share my plan for last week, but I used the back of it for my shopping list and it is now MIA.  Sorry).

Three fortuitous incidents helped shape my food choices:

Cover of "Kosher by Design Lightens Up: F...

thanks, Honey!

One, my husband bought me a new cookbook for my birthday (awww, isn’t he great?).  He got me Susie Fishbein’s Kosher By Design Lightens Up.  I had wanted a kosher cookbook that was on the healthier side (read:  no onion soup mix in the recipes, no deep-fried Chinese food recipes which I would wistfully ignore).  So far, I really like it.

Two, until very recently (like, Motzei Shabbos), all my books were packed.  The only reading material I had access to were my friend’s old copies of Binah (thank, E!) and my two years’ worth of Bon Appetit magazine.  So, I’ve been poring over many scrumptious and sumptuous recipes as well as educating myself on various foodie facts (did you know that this is the peak season for pluots?  Me neither.  I don’t even know where to get one, or what it is exactly!).  Jesting aside, I do love that every month, Bon Appetit picks a food at its seasonal peak and provides several delicious ways to prepare said food.  Also, the recipes for each month are appropriate for the season, which is something that I do want to become more familiar with.

Three, my mother is in town (yay!), so I am actually able to potchke around in the kitchen as she enjoys her grandmotherly privileges.

And now, the menu:

Sunday, July 17th

  • Ultimate Veggie Burgers ~ Kosher by Design Lightens Up (KBDLU); Oil and Vinegar Potato Salad ~Bon Appetit, July 2009 (BA 7/09) – it was sooo yummy, and I was able to pop the leftovers in the freezer for next week!

Monday, July 18th (A Pre-Fast Meal)

  • Eggplant Gazpacho (BA 7/09); Flounder with Fresh Dill and Lemon ~ from my brain (fmb); Kasha Pilaf (KBDLU)

Tuesday, July 19th (Shiva Asar b’Tammuz, ain’t no dinner tonight)

  • Break the fast with leftovers from Monday.  I tend to go on baking frenzies on fast days, so we’ll see if there’s anything else to eat)

Wednesday, July 20th

  • Spicy Chicken Peperonata with Lime and Mint Dressing (BA 7/09), served with warm tortillas, pareve sour cream, avocados and Near East Spanish Rice

Thursday, July 21st

  • Huevos Rancheros (KBDLU).

Shabbos night, July 22nd

  • Gefilte Fish, baked with Marinara sauce (fmb); Bok Choy Slaw (KBDLU); Chicken Soup (from freezer); Wheat Germ Crusted Chicken Cutlets (KBDLU); Lokshen Kugel ~ Spice and Spirit; Blueberry Crumb Bars (BA 7/09)

Shabbos day, July 23rd

  • Everything from the night, minus the fish and soup, and add cholent and liver (store bought, that).  Yum!

~ ~ ~

And there you have it.

Now, I do make a different thing every night, and my good friend, E, mentioned that she likes to make double and serve the same thing two nights in a row.  It sounds like a good plan to me, and since my children aren’t old enough to protest, and my husband is okay with leftovers, I may adopt this plan.  What I’ve done in the past is freeze the double portion and bring it back out a different week.  I have to decide which plan I prefer, I guess.

For those of you who menu plan, how do you factor in your leftovers?

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image via Amazon

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