Tagged Food Prep

Yom Tov Preparation

Tips for menu planning, food storage, etc.

Some Broad Principles

Each Family is Unique

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.

Don’t Try to Do it All

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.

Yom Tov Food vs. Shabbos Food

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.

Don’t Expect Perfection

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.

Strategies

Plan Ahead

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.

Stick to a Few Basics

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.

Divide the Preparation with a Friend

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.

Menu Planning

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.

Including the Children

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.

Meal Starters

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.

Side Dishes

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

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.

Meats

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.

Desserts

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.

Food Storage

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.

Dessert Recipes

Fruit Cobbler Recipe

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

Relatively low fat and low sugar for a dessert, it doubles readily, and it doesn’t spend too much time in a hot oven.  Cobblers freeze well.

4 cups fresh fruit: cherries, blueberries, apples, peaches, etc. (use one kind only)

¾ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon corn or potato starch

1/3 cup water

Process the fruit, removing pits, peeling apples, and if appropriate, slice into quarter inch slices. Combine the fruit, sugar, starch and water in a pot.  Cook over a low flame, stirring, until liquid is thickened and bubbly and fruit is a little soft.  Berries usually take 3 – 5 minutes to cook, cherries, 5 -10, and apples and peaches approximately 15 minutes or more, depending on ripeness—make sure to test.  Keep the pot warm, while making the biscuit topping.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare the biscuit topping:

1 cup flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup margarine

1 slightly beaten egg

¼ cup milk: non-dairy creamer, soy, rice or almond work fine

Stir together the dry ingredients.  Cut in the margarine until mixture becomes crumbly.  Combine egg & liquid ingredient; and add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring just until all ingredients are moist.

Put fruit filling into an 8 or 9 inch greased round pan and immediately spoon mounds of batter all over on top. Bake 20 minutes, or until top is slightly browned.  Unless the pan has very high (3 inch+) sides, it’s a good idea to put the baking pan inside a rimmed baking sheet to catch the juices if they overflow during baking.

Rhubarb-Compote

straight from the freezer

Cover the bottom of a stainless steel pot with white grape juice. Add in equal numbers as many bags of frozen strawberries and frozen rhubarb as needed. Bring slowly to a boil, add sweetener (e.g. sugar, honey) to taste, and cook on low heat until tender.

Instant Sorbet

using the food processor

2 frozen ripe bananas cut in small chunks

1 cup frozen strawberries

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

3 Tablespoons (or more, to taste) sweeteners: honey, blue agave nectar or fine sugar.

Place the fruit in the food processor bowl.  Add the citrus juice and sweeteners. Pulse and mix until you get the consistency of a sorbet.

It is ready to eat or can be frozen for later. Other frozen fruit with a strong flavor can be substituted for the strawberries. Serves about five but the quantities can be multiplied as many times as needed.

Strawberry whip

This is a delicious stand-by dessert, as long as you have frozen strawberries, with or without syrup, in your freezer.  The recipe works even if you use a sugar substitute. The result is a really low calorie and low carbohydrate dessert.

2 egg whites

1package frozen strawberries, with or without syrup

1Tablespoon of lime or lemon juice

¾ c sugar or artificial sweetner, omit if using strawberries in syrup.

 

Place all the ingredients in large mixer bowl and beat at the highest speed for 10 minutes.  Cover the mixer with a towel to prevent splashes. The whip should be placed in the freezer until serving. At serving time, you can pass around some sweetened mashed strawberries as topping.

Preparing Yom Tov–Starting Early

In the middle of the summer, Rosh Hashana and Sukkos seem a long way off.  Yet, they will arrive, and this year, the calendar configuration is three day Yomim Tovim for Rosh Hashana, and the first and last days of Sukkos.  We plan to provide tips over a few articles to help families enjoy the upcoming Yomim Tovim.

While summertime is too early for many Yom Tov preparations, it is a good time to start baking or cooking to stocking the freezer. While parents with a spare freezer will benefit the most from tips in this article, those who have only their fridge-top freezer may find that they can make a little extra room for Yom Tov food.  Parents who spend Yom Tov with the grandparents may offer to send food during the summer to their freezer to make it easier to feed their family when they come over.  It may even make sense to split the cost of a freezer with the grandparents if they have space for it and the parents do not.  However, it is probably not worth it to freeze food ahead if the home is subject to blackouts.

What to Freeze Ahead?

Challah, cake, cookies, most kugels and pies freeze well.  On the savory side, chicken soup, meat balls, schnitzel, potato knishes, meat, chicken and kreplach may also be frozen.  Certain foods, such as mushrooms, change texture when frozen; check with friends when in doubt.

Given the constraints of limited time and freezer spaces, parents need to set priorities.

Budget

Can homemade food substitute for expensive prepared foods?  Most prepared Yom Tov treats, including cookies, iced cakes, and cupcakes may be duplicated in the home kitchen for far less than the store bought version.

Another approach is to stock up on meat and chicken when on sale over the summer.  Based on experience, parents may set a “floor price”: when the food hits this price, it’s time to purchase.  Meats may be cooked or roasted before freezing.

Health

During the summer, parents may decide how healthy the family will eat over Yom Tov.  Assuming that family members are willing to consume them, parents may choose to prepare fruit-based desserts, whole grain snacks, granola, and (partially) whole wheat challah. Summer is when blueberries, cherries, and plums are cheapest and available to be baked into crisps, cobblers, kugels, and pies, all healthier than most cake.   Other homemade snacks may be prepared in a more healthy way than the store bought version.

Enhancing Yom Tov

Are there treats that cannot be found in stores?  Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are surprisingly hard to find.  Recipes exist for homemade versions of candy bars such as Mars bars and peanut butter cups.  By using parve chocolate chips and margarine, the family may enjoy parve versions of these treats.

Are there fussy eaters in the family who need their food cooked “just so”?  It may be easiest to cook and freeze meatballs ahead for children who do not eat “regular” chicken or beef.

Involving the Children

Baking or cooking with the children may be a wonderful bonding experience.  Children enjoy feeling needed and may take pride in their accomplishments in the kitchen.  Moreover, Yom Tov feels more special when one has invested in the preparation.  However, parents need to think ahead in order for food preparation with the children to be a pleasant experience.

Keep It Simple

It is better to avoid trying out new or complicated recipes with younger children.  When doubling the recipe, work out the arithmetic in advance, perhaps with a budding mathematician, and mark the altered quantities on the recipe itself.

Lower Expectations

When inexperienced cooks are involved, cookies may not be well shaped, and meatballs, not as round.  Or, everything will look perfect, but will take four times as long.  Food preparation with beginners should be viewed as spending time with the children, rather than as “getting things done”.

Get the Right Equipment.

Even children who are too young to use peelers or knives may be able to help if provided with the right gadgets.  These include crank-operated peelers, onion choppers, cherry pitters, and vegetable slicers.  Parents should keep in mind that these utensils all have sharp parts; setup and cleanup may still need to be performed by adults.  Alternatively, children may help with the measuring, pouring, and mixing.

If mother is an incurable perfectionist or finds too many helping hands stressful, it may be better to either prepare food when the children are out or invite the children to “hang out” in the kitchen rather than help.

Keeping the Kitchen Cool

Heating up the kitchen and living areas by running the oven is not a good idea during a heat wave.  The heat effect may be mitigated by putting an exhaust fan in the kitchen window and shutting the kitchen door.  Alternatively, stove top dishes do not heat up the house as much as those cooked in the oven.

Other ways to beat the heat are to reserve baking for early morning, late evening, or for cooler, rainy days.  Some ingredients may be prepared in advance, combined, and heated when the temperature goes down. Some recipes even allow for the freezing of the ingredients raw and cooking later.

Click here for our fruit cobbler recipe.