Maintaining the home: cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.
These websites are useful resources for learning to cook or for finding recipes.
Cooking Tips for Absolute Beginners Boiling noodles, scrambling eggs, stir frying vegetables…
Joy of Kosher Over 7,000 Kosher recipes
Chabad Site Recipes and menu ideas
OhSheGlows Vegan recipes. This kind of site is useful for finding healthy parve recipes.
Elana’s Pantry Healthy gluten-free recipes
This is an easy to make, light sponge-type cake.
4 eggs
3 Tablespoon water
1 cup sugar
½ tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla
! cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Mix the baking powder with the flour in the measuring cup. Beat the eggs in the mixing bowl for a few seconds, add the water and sugar and beat at high speed for 10 minutes. Add the lemon extract and fold in the flour at low speed.
Transfer to a greased 9” square or round pan, preferably spring form. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
Gluten is the protein in flour that gives bread an airy, fluffy texture. Adding gluten to bread recipes, especially those that include whole grains, (e.g. whole wheat bread) makes the bread much more palatable. Gluten can be found in the baking section of many supermarkets.
1 ½ cup water
1/3 cup oil
4 cup bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 ¼ tsp dry yeast
Place the ingredients in the bread pan, select the type of crust you prefer, and press start. In some machines, the quick version of the bread cycle allows a bread to be ready to eat in under 3 hours.
1 ½ cup water
1/3 cup oil
4 cup whole wheat flour
4 Tablespoons gluten
2 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 tsp dry yeast
Select the whole wheat cycle of the bread machine, and press start.
Unfortunately you cannot make a bracha on 4 cups of flour, but you can make several batches, combining them to make a large enough dough for the bracha. Punch down each batch to keep it from rising too quickly while waiting for the next one.
1 ¼ cup water
1 large egg
1 /3 cup oil
4 cup bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 ¼ tsp dry yeast
1 egg for glaze
Put all the ingredients into the bread pan, and select the dough cycle. When the cycle is finished, shape the challos, and let rise again. Brush with beaten egg, and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, more or less depending on the size of the challa loaves.
Many bread machines have a dispenser for adding ingredients such as chocolate chips, raisins, etc. at the right time in the cycle. If these “add-in” ingredients are put in with the other ingredients, they get crushed into the dough, losing their texture. If the bread machine does not have a dispenser, you need to decide when to add the ingredients yourself, close to the end of the knead cycle.
1 cup soy milk
1 egg
¼ cup water
4 Tablespoon margarine, softened (or oil)
3 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoon white sugar
2½ tsp dry yeast
1cup chocolate chips, to be placed in the dispenser, or added at the end of the knead cycle.
Place all the ingredients in the machine, choose the crust, and select white bread.
Works best with an immersion blender but a regular blender can also be used.
Quick, healthy recipe that lends itself to many variations, and may induce vegetable haters to give it a try. It is also a satisfying diet soup when using a smaller amount of potato or even none. It is also perfect for people with swallowing problems, from babies to elders.
1 or more packages of frozen vegetables: broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, butternut squash, etc.
1 potato per package of vegetables, peeled and cut up
1 onion per package of vegetables, peeled and cut up
Consommé powder and other seasonings according to taste.
Put the vegetables into a pot. Add enough water to cover the vegetables, and salt to taste. Cook the vegetables on low to medium heat until somewhat tender. Remove from heat, immerse the blender in the pot and start blending until the vegetables are pureed to your liking. Add water if necessary, till you have the consistency you desire. (Or, blend in batches in blender, pouring each batch into a large bowl.) Put pot back on stove, add seasonings and cook for a few minutes longer.
Meals usually include a protein, say meat or chicken, and a starch to provide the carbohydrates. For busy people, some obvious instant starches are instant mashed potatoes and instant (Minute) rice. However, mashed potatoes have a lot of additives and Minute Rice does not compare to the real thing. Fortunately, there are alternatives.
Instant couscous comes in large plastic containers or small packages in regular or whole wheat varieties. All that is required to prepare it is to boil some water with salt and a little oil, add the couscous, cover the pot, and turn the flame off. The couscous is ready to eat in 2 minutes. You can also save time by pouring boiling water right in the bowl over the couscous. The taste can be varied by adding consommé powder or seasonings to the water.
The Lundberg brown rice mixes are also very good and cook in 10 minutes.
Other quick-cooking grains are whole kasha and quinoa flakes. They are very tasty but they have to appeal to your families.
Quick cooking pasta is also a possibility. These include orzo, pastina, farfel, small shells and bowtie noodles as well as angel hair spaghetti.
Uses the food processor
One package of pre-cut green cabbage
One medium white or purple onion or one shallot
Sea salt and oil to taste
Put the blade into the food processor, rather than the disk. Chop the onion or shallot in the food processor very briefly, using the pulse button. Add the cabbage in one or two batches depending on the size of your food processor. Pulse a few times till the cabbage is chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Add a few tablespoons of oil, sprinkle with salt, and mix well.
Uses the food processor
A daikon is an oriental radish with a relatively mild flavor. It looks like a long smooth white root. Mild black radishes can be substituted. It is preferable to choose a slim daikon that will slide through the tube without having to cut it.
One daikon or other mild large radish, peeled
One medium white or purple onion or one shallot
Sea salt and oil to taste
Use the grating disk of the food processor to grate the onion or shallot with the daikon. Transfer to a bowl, add a few tablespoons of oil, sprinkle with salt, and mix well.
If your crock pot comes with a trivet, place it inside, or crumple some foil and put it in the bottom, so that the chicken does not sit in its juices. Layer the pieces of chicken (ideally with the skin removed) at the bottom of the crock pot and sprinkle each layer with a few tablespoons of onion soup mix and paprika. Smoked paprika adds to the taste.
Set the heat level according to how soon the food will be served.
Spray the crock pot. Place the chicken pieces inside and sprinkle them with flour, preferably Wondra*, add paprika, so that the pieces are well coated, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water and mix well.
*Wondra flour is a granular flour processed to mix well without lumping. It comes in a small blue and white canister, stocked in the baking section of major supermarkets.
Place pieces of stew or gravy meat in the crock pot after coating them with flour (preferably Wondra) and onion soup powder. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water and mix well. If you add plenty of paprika, the result is a Hungarian goulash. Potatoes, other vegetables, or grains may be added to create a complete main dish.
An easy way to prepare frozen fish or fresh fish fillets
In the morning, take a bag of individually frozen tilapia or flounder fillets. Open the top and pour in salad dressing (homemade or purchased) or any marinade, until the fish are mostly covered. Close the bag. Place it on a counter top on a plate and shake it gently occasionally so that the marinade is distributed evenly. The acidity of the dressing prevents the growth of bacteria. You can vary the flavor of the fish by using different marinades.
At supper time, drain the marinade and place the fish in a baking pan. Bake it at 425 degrees in a preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes.
Alternatively, the fish can be poached in its marinade in a frying pan over low to medium heat. Turn over when bottom looks done (no longer translucent).
Use the food processor to make the spread quickly and easily
2 5 oz. cans of tuna or other fish
½ large white onion
1 Tablespoon or more of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon horseradish sauce
Put all the ingredients in the food processor bowl, and pulse. Add more mayonnaise if needed until the spread is of the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt.
Food preparation is more efficient when the kitchen includes certain appliances. In this post, we list those which we have seen to be most helpful, and why.
Having a large stand-alone freezer confers these advantages:
Recipe for Marinated Fish straight from the freezer
Recipe for Rhubarb Compote straight from the freezer
Recipe for Instant Sorbet straight from the freezer
Most families who own crock pots use them only for making cholent. This is a pity. This appliance allows a working parent to prepare and refrigerate a dish in the evening, placing it the crock pot the next morning, before going to work. On returning home, the food is ready to serve.
Crock pots come in different sizes, ranging from 1.5 quarts to 20 quarts. While the standard household size is 6 to 8 quarts, the miniature 1.5 quart version is great for couples. Ideally they should have a programmable timer and three or four temperature settings. The removable insert can be filled in the evening and refrigerated.
Crock pot cooking allows children to participate in food preparation by peeling and cutting vegetables or fruit. They may invent their own recipes and cook them safely in this appliance. In addition, crock pots are invaluable on a hot day, since they give off very little heat and allow one to bake roasts, for example, without having to turn on the oven. There are many cook books devoted to crock pot cooking and the internet is a great resource for recipes.
It is a good idea to try out a new crock pot while one is at home and able to supervise the cooking, since crock pots vary in how fast or slow they cook. Moreover, the earlier crockpots cooked much slower than later models, making recipe cook times potentially wildly inaccurate. For example, a recipe for cooking a whole chicken was meant to take 6 to 8 hours; in fact, it was overdone in 4 hours on the low setting.
Recipes for: Crockpot Baked Chicken, Crockpot Chicken Stew, Crockpot Beef Stew
Instant or near instant starch side dishes to accompany the above.
Food processors speed up the tedious preliminaries to actual food preparation such as chopping, slicing, grinding and mixing. Food processors are often used to prepare salads. However, they are invaluable for many other purposes including preparing sandwich spreads, fruit sorbets, chopping nuts and dried fruit, and mixing yeast and pastry dough.
When purchasing a food processor, make sure that it has the right capacity for your family, and also that it has a wide feed tube.
Instant Cabbage Salad, Instant Daikon/Radish Salad
The advantage of these portable blenders is that they save the trouble of transferring the content of a pot to a food processor or blender. Immersion or stick blenders make it possible to puree soups or vegetables right in the pot where they have been cooking.
Few people would dispute the necessity of this appliance in any kitchen. Most bakers would consider it unthinkable to beat egg whites or whip cream by hand. The challenge is to find recipes that require the least involvement of the housewife to produce the maximum results.
A hand held mixer can do the job of a stand mixer, with some advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, a hand held takes up much less space than a stand mixer. Moreover, it can be moved from one bowl to another, rather than having the cook repeatedly clean out the mixer bowl or keep several bulky (and expensive) mixer bowls. It can even be used in a pot. And hand held mixers cost a fraction of the price of a good stand mixer.
On the other hand, the cook is tied to the mixer if it’s a handheld: a problem when whipping eggs for five minutes at a time. Stand mixers are also more powerful than hand helds, an important factor for mixing yeast dough or other stiff batters.
If you have ever wished that you could wake up to the aroma of baking bread, knowing that you are also saving money and time, this appliance is for you.
Bread machines are available from $49.00 to $252.00. In our experience, price does not correlate with performance. My low end machine which I have been using regularly for the past 15 years compares favorably with my friend’s top of the line. The only drawback for large families is that, so far, most machines have a maximum capacity of 4 cups of flour. This produces a 2 lb loaf, but one can bake several loaves during the day and even during the night. However, a new machine is now available that can bake a 3 lb loaf.
Features to look for: delayed start, dispenser for add-ins, dough cycle.
Tips for menu planning, food storage, etc.
Families have different needs, different priorities, and different resources. Therefore, parents are better off deciding which approach to Yom Tov works for them and their children rather than trying to keep up with the neighbors. If they are in doubt about whether they are “doing Yom Tov right,” parents are best off discussing with their family Rav rather than trying to uphold standards that will not work for them.
Multi-course meals, varied foods, meals on china, a clean house, new clothing for everyone, guests, going to shul, and a simcha-dik atmosphere are incompatible goals for most families. This applies especially where there are young children, budget constraints, and/or parents working fulltime. Mother, father, and the older children need to set priorities and come to an agreement on which tasks each will perform to attain mutually accepted goals.
Our Shabbos food is usually richer than our weekday fare, containing more fat, sugar, and red meat. While this is a nice change of pace l’kovod Shabbos, it is probably better to avoid eating this kind of food for three days straight. One approach is to serve at each meal a special rich food in honor of Yom Tov along with healthier foods.
It may take a few years of “making Yom Tov” until parents get all the details right. The main idea over Yom Tov is to enjoy what went right and to gloss over the mistakes. After Yom Tov is over, it is helpful to think over the experience to decide what worked and what did not work.
It is easier to be efficient when there is a menu plan, shopping lists, to-do lists, and a schedule. A “Yom Tov” notebook is a convenient place to jot down these lists weeks before Yom Tov. After Yom Tov, parents may insert feedback. The following year, the notebook becomes a useful guide and reference.
Parents who are under pressure may find meal preparation easier if they prepare large quantities of a few simple and popular foods, for instance, gefilte fish, roasted chicken, green beans, and rice, and serve them for each meal. Variety may be added through last minute salads or purchased desserts.
Friends may decide to each make large quantities of a food and swap with each other. If the families fit well together, they may take turns hosting some of the meals.
On Yom Tov, most people usually eat less and prefer lighter, healthier foods, especially at night. Therefore, smaller challos and smaller portion sizes for meats, starches and desserts may be sufficient, although it is safer to check with the family first.
Children often prefer different foods from their parents. For a three-day Yom Tov, it is a good idea to keep the children’s tastes in mind and make sure that each meal includes the foods one’s children eat, such as, white challah, meatballs, noodles, cold cuts, cut up vegetables, and gefilte fish. Spreading margarine, peanut butter, and/or jelly on challah extends its appeal to some children. While these foods may not seem classy enough to be appropriate for a Yom Tov table, it is important that the children eat and that they feel included at the Yom Tov meal.
For evening meals that start way after supper time, it makes sense to have either an appetizer or a soup, but not both. Due to halachic considerations, it is very difficult to have food warm in time to start the meal on the second night of Yom Tov. It is traditional to serve fish on Yom Tov meals. While fresh or smoked fish is more expensive than gefilte fish, it may be stretched by presenting small pieces on a platter surrounded by cut vegetables, pickles, olives, etc. Salads are also good starters. A base of pre-checked (purchased or checked before Yom Tov) greens may be embellished at the last minute with nuts, craisins, olives, cold cuts, hearts of palm, tomatoes, etc.
Fruit soup is appreciated during hot weather. Fruit salad is another alternative that may be put together quickly by cutting up a melon and adding canned fruit such as mandarin oranges or fruit cocktail.
Rice, farfel, and orzo are easy to prepare in advance and warm up quickly in a pot with some liquid. Kugels, sweet or savory, may be baked and frozen ahead. They reheat best in the oven. If the family is willing to eat them, it is good to serve whole grains, such as brown rice, bulgur, or quinoa, in conjunction with or combined with white, refined starches. Cooked potatoes do not warm up as readily as farfel; however, they are popular when cut up and hashed with some oil in a frying pan.
Vegetables are an important component of the Yom Tov diet. They may be prepared in advance in the form of kugels, in which eggs are used to bind vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, and peppers. Vegetables, such as zucchini, green beans, or carrots, may be poached in a little water. Vegetables may also be roasted or cooked in advance: cut up onions, tomatoes, peppers and/or zucchini tossed with oil and a little salt go well together. Frozen French-cut string beans with slivered almonds are an easy classic. Stir fries may be prepared in advance or at the last minute: snow peas, mushrooms, thinly sliced carrots, and canned baby corn work well together.
Canned vegetables, such as beans, corn, or string beans may be tossed together to make a quick and substantial salad.
While it is a mitzvah to serve meat at Yom Tov meals, it is easier on the digestion to limit quantities and on the budget to stick to less expensive cuts. Brisket deckle, one of the cheapest forms of roast, when sprinkled with onion soup powder, wrapped in foil and baked at 300 degrees for 2 to 3 hours, becomes tender and tasty. Meatballs are often appreciated as a change of pace from chicken or roasts. Raw boneless chicken cutlets may be sliced thin and marinated in salad dressing for up to 24 hours and then stir-fried or poached in a corn-starch thickened sauce. Or, they may breaded and fried into schnitzel or sesame chicken. Little children may be more likely to eat if the meal includes a hot dog.
Fruit, whether fresh cut or cooked in compotes, is a great way to add fiber, nutrition, and hydration to the Yom Tov meal. The fruit may be supplemented by cookies to provide a more festive dessert. Fruit may also be baked with flour, sugar, and/or oatmeal into crisps, cobblers, kugels, kuchens, and crunches. A healthier alternative is to pit and slice the fruit and bake it with sugar or honey and some juice until it softens.
Sweet potatoes (yams) may be baked into pies for decadent desserts with some nutrition. Ices and sorbets are a lighter alternative to ice cream.
It may be healthier and save time to drop the dessert course entirely, after discussing with the rest of the family. However, family members may end up scavenging in the kitchen to satisfy their craving for sweets.
It may be a challenge to find room in the refrigerator for three days of food. Some foods may be shifted to the freezer if it has free space. More space may be created in the refrigerator if the family cleans out the fridge, discarding marginal food items, finishing others, and repackaging bulky foods. Two weeks before Yom Tov, parents may decide to refrain from buying large quantities of any perishable not needed for Yom Tov.
A compact way to store cooked perishable food is to put it in twist tie plastic bags after it cools. For added security against leaks, use two bags. The bags may be labeled and stuffed into the back of the refrigerator. This works well for meat, pasta, grains, and vegetables; however, raw cut fruit keeps better in containers.
Another method to stretch refrigerator space is to buy unripe fruit, pineapples, and melons, and let them ripen outside the refrigerator until needed. These items keep longer if put on racks or in baskets that permit air circulation below and around them. A basement, garage, or den that maintains a somewhat cool temperature may be pressed into service to store potatoes, hard squash, garlic, onions, bananas, and sweet potatoes for about a week. Note: inedible fruit or vegetables may be muktzeh on Shabbos or Yom Tov.