The end of the year is in sight, and many people are starting to evaluate the amount of weight that they have gained from holiday parties and feasts. However, there is still one more holiday to hurdle before the weight loss goals and New Year resolutions will go into effect. This week’s blog will be all about Jewish recipes that you can serve for your New Year’s Eve celebration.
If you are planning a family gathering this New Year’s Eve then you will want a kid friendly menu, as well as an adult friendly menu. For the kids you will want to have a variety of finger foods and snacks that kids will like such as chips, dips, chicken nuggets and pizza. For the adults you will want to have slightly more complex and intense flavors, such as artichoke dip, assorted cheeses and artisan breads, slow roasted meats and traditional Jewish recipes such as gefilte fish and Matza ball soup.
If you are planning an adults only New Year’s Eve party then you can serve alcoholic refreshments. However, instead of relying on champagne and wine, consider hosting a mixed drink party. This option will allow you to buy mixed drink mixes which will make bartending much easier. To make the party most festive you will want to buy fresh fruit and vegetables to garnish your drinks with and have the appropriate shaped glassware to serve your mixed drinks in. Finally, don’t forget to pick up festive decorations for your party.
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Well, Thanksgiving was yesterday, and today you are undoubtedly faced with mountains of leftovers and dirty dishes. You are also probably still digesting your holiday meal and feeling a bit sluggish. Since most people have today off take it easy, and take advantage of your leftovers.
One of the best parts of having a large family holiday meal is that you have a lot of food leftover. These leftovers can be easily transformed into several very tasty meals. One of the easiest to make leftover creations is the open face turkey sandwich. To make this dish all you have to do is place a piece of crusty or artisan bread on a plate, top it with sliced turkey and smother it in gravy.
Another great leftover meal that you can create is to make a pot pie. The simplest way to make a turkey pot pie is to use a pre-made pie crust. Press this crust into a pie tin or plate. Then add in diced leftover turkey, diced leftover veggies and cover with leftover gravy. Finally, top the pot pie with another crust and crimp the edges to keep the filling inside your pot pie. Then cut slits into the top of the pie for steam venting and brush with a solution of water and egg white. Back at 350 degrees until the pie crust is golden brown and your filling has been heated all the way through. If you want an alternative to the pie crust, you can create a bottomless pot pie by pilling a casserole with turkey, gravy and vegetables and topping it with a biscuit mix.
The above recipe ideas are just examples. You can use your Thanksgiving leftovers to create a number of different Jewish holiday recipes.
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Only one week left until Thanksgiving and there is even less time to figure out what you are going to serve. If you want to avoid the rush of people flocking to the grocery stores then you need to plan your menu and shop for your ingredients this weekend. To make your shopping experience as quick and as painless as possible you need to plan out your shopping ahead of time and organize your shopping list by departments in your grocery store.
Last week we talked about alternative dishes to turkey to serve as the main entrée. This week I’d like to talk about side dishes that you can serve at your Thanksgiving dinner. To start with, plan out a few healthy side dishes. Salads work well for Thanksgiving as they are generally easy to make and they can be created to meet your dietary requirements. Some of the easiest salads to make include a basic iceberg lettuce salad, a mixed green salad and a spinach and tomato salad.
Since this is a holiday, it is okay to prepare a few traditional dishes that are not what we consider “healthy.” These dishes, including the 100 year old Jewish recipes, should be served with a smaller spoon or serving tool to encourage people to sample but not over indulge. Some great side dishes that you can serve include potatoes au gratin, homemade macaroni and cheese and candied yams. Make these special side dishes with the original ingredients like cream, butter and full fat cheese.
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Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, so right now people are scouring the Internet for menu ideas and Jewish recipes for their Thanksgiving dinner. While you can go with traditional Thanksgiving recipes like turkey and mashed potatoes, this year, why not try a few new recipes to create a menu that will offer your guests and family with a variety of new tastes and textures.
One alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey centerpiece is to serve a noodle dish, like lasagna. Lasagna is a great alternative to a turkey because it is filling and it can feed a lot of people. Lasagna also makes a great Thanksgiving dinner centerpiece because it can easily be modified to fit the dietary needs of your dinner guests. For example, if you are Kosher you will want to make a vegetarian lasagna, this way you will avoid conflicts with the meat and dairy rules. If you prefer a meat lasagna you can still keep it Kosher by using a vegan cheese as opposed to a dairy cheese.
Another alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey is to go with another poultry meat. Duck and goose both work well for family holiday dinners. If you are feeling very creative you can even make a turducken, which is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. To create this interesting meat dish you will need to debone all of your fowl items first before you assemble them.
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Today is Halloween, and if you have forgotten to prepare for the trick-or-treaters that will be visiting your house, or if you need a quick treat idea for your child’s Halloween party today, or for your office Halloween party scheduled for today then this is the blog for you. There are a lot of things that you can do to throw together Halloween party treats, some involve quick treats that you make at home, while others can be picked up at your local grocery or department store.
Obviously the quickest way to find treats for a Halloween party or for trick or treaters is to simply buy them at a local store. Today you can not only find snack sized versions of the most popular candy bars and candies, but you can also find healthier alternatives like raisins, dried fruit and sugar free candy. For trick-or-treaters that don’t know you pre-packaged is what you want to hand out. However, for the special trick-or-treaters that you know, you can make special homemade treats.
There are several quick treats that you can make in under fifteen minutes. The first is rice crispy squares. For these treats all you need is a bag of mini-marshmellows, a box of rice crispies and a stick of margarine. Start by melting the margarine in a large sauce pan. Then stir in the marshmellows and allow them to melt. When the butter and marshmallow are incorporated you stir in four cups of cripsies and then pour this mixture onto a cookie sheet. Allow the mixture to cool and then cut into bars or use a cookie cutter to cut out crispy Halloween shapes.
For more Halloween and Jewish recipes, visit the Is That My Bureka Blogspot.
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