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'Gourmet' Healthy Shabbos Meals
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amother


 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 11:17 am
I always find that I sacrifice healthiness when it comes to having guests for shabbos, because I want something that looks and tastes amazing... especially as we have lots of yeshiva bochrim who aren't into healthy food, and we also have a low budget... but I don't want to poison my family and our guests any more!

Any ideas for real show stopping but healthy shabbos dishes?

By healthy, I mean no mayo, soup mix, minimal sugar (maybe a little honey), no margarine, no whip, not heavy on oil etc. but still something that looks amazing (sheva brachos style) and tastes great. It doesn't have to be super low fat- healthy, not diet... also no funny ingredients that lots of people don't like, like quinoa/brown rice/wheat-berries/strange beans etc., or cakes made with chickpeas etc.!

Any presentation ideas are welcome too!

(Usually I would do something in puff pastry to start (see the problem!)... then a salad with a delicious heavy mayo dressing, craisins, cold cuts, various kugels, other salads all with unhealthy dressings... shnitzel pieces with a dipping sauce or shnitzel wraps... cholent w/ kishke... then a fancy lemon meringue pie or something for dessert, fudge cake, homemade ice cream with rich's whip...)

Thanks and sorry for the long post!
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abaker




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 11:25 am
I'll be watching this topic....I too would love some healthy ideas that are more gourmet and exciting!
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MaBelleVie




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 11:33 am
Salmon skewers over a lettuce salad presents beautifully as an appetizer. You can do lemon pepper salmon and drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over the salad.
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out-of-towner




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 11:36 am
Firstly, about dessert, you can do cookies and fruit.

These Cookies have only oil, no margarine, can be made with WW flour if you want, and are amazing! Serve on a plate and serve melon with and you have dessert.

I find that a big, simple salad goes over well, doesn't have to be with a mayo dressing, there are plenty of other yummy dressings.

You can bake Shnitzel instead of frying it. I just coat the pan well with oil spray and spray the tops of the Shnitzel before putting in the oven.

You don't need Shnitzel AND Cholent (assuming that you put meat in it) AND cold cuts, two proteins is more than enough.

Instead of kugels, which are full of fat and cholesterol, you can do other kids of side dishes. Orzo with veggies, roasted veggies, exc.

Appetizer can be a plate of melon, gefilta fish, or for Friday night, a bowl of meatballs (my grandmother stretches the meat by adding crumbled matza to the bottom of each individual serving..)

In my experience, Bochrim don't need fancy food, just lots of simple good food and good company.

Hatzlacha!
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suzyq




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 11:38 am
I often make sushi as a first course - people are very impressed (and I don't think it's so hard to make!).

I also make baked shnitzel and it always goes.

I also find that you can take something pretty simple and make it more elegant with a little garnish or just by putting it in a pretty serving piece.
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MaBelleVie




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 11:38 am
Also, as a side dish I often do baked shnitzel and use Frank's buffalo sauce for dipping. It is fat free and sugar free.
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suzyq




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 11:40 am
Also, when I do potatoes, instead of potato kugel, I just cut up potatoes (I usually do half sweet potatoes and half white potatoes) and roast them in the oven with spices and a drop of honey.

I love roasted veggies in general instead of kugels - if you include lots of different colors it is very pretty and super healthy.
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mille




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 12:54 pm
No kugels or fried schnitzel or cholent or any of that 'traditional' stuff. It's not healthy, it's not gourmet, and it's not interesting.

Roasted veggies always look really fancy when they are the easiest thing. You can also grill them if you have access to a grill. I tend to buy a broad range of colors so it makes for a pretty presentation. This is something I've actually seen at weddings and whatnot, so I think it counts! I roast my veggies at 400º with just salt, pepper, and a spray of an oil that can take high heat (avocado oil is good and healthy, but a bit of any oil isn't going to be 'bad'. extra virgin olive oil is a no go because it can't take the high heat).

Lots of fancy looking chicken dishes like chicken marsala, chicken picatta. I also think whole roasted chicken over veggies looks really nice personally.

For appetizers, anything you can plate automatically looks nice. Even just plating a piece of cold dill salmon on a lettuce leaf and serving it like that looks fancy.
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out-of-towner




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 1:05 pm
The cookbook Fresh&Easy has a recipe for a pretty and yummy orzo in red onion cups. I didn't do the red onion cups but the orzo was yummy and a lot healthier than kugel.

I have also been making grilled chicken lately instead of Shnitzel...it's a lot healthier.

Truthfully though, at least in my family (although we are only two real eaters for now), I find that the more I make, the more we eat. If you make 5 side dishes and everyone has a normal portion of each, the calories add up, even if the dishes are reasonably healthy. Personally I would make two starchy side dishes and two or three veggie side dishes in addition to one or two meat dishes and make more of each dish than make a ton of variety. You guests will find something that they like among the food that you make, and your family won't overeat in the process.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 1:20 pm
Thank you for the ideas! Keep them coming Smile

This shabbos will be a trial run!
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Lizzie4




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 1:26 pm
Great salad! Guests love this! Recipe from a co-worker.
RUBY RED MANGO SALAD

INGREDIENTS
1 bag of Romaine lettuce
1 grapefruit
½ cup honey roasted peanuts or cashews
½ cup chopped dried mango (nothing like dried mango straight from the shuk!)
¼ cup craisins
¼ cup pomegranate seeds
DRESSING
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine all salad ingredients.
Whisk together dressing and drizzle over salad
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SS6099




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 1:38 pm
Sauteed onions add tons of flavor to everything! You could change around so many recipes and make them healthy, just by adding sauteed onions in a bit of oil (not too much!)
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3mitzvos




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 2:05 pm
Have you seen Efrat Libfroind's cookbook "Kosher Elegance"? Lots of healthy recipes, she hardly cooks with sugar (she uses date syrup or pomegranate concentrate) and her presentations are SHOW-STOPPING! I got the cookbook as a gift, still haven't made anything from it, because I don't feel like patchka-ing, but it's definitely a worthy investment if you're the type to try fancy things.
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tichellady




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 3:28 pm
I try to cook in this way. I don't make kugels- here are some examples of my shabbat dishes: green beans with shitake mushrooms, roasted sweet potatoes with lime and chili powder, quinoa salad with edamame and red pepper, corn on the cob, roasted asparagus, vegetable kebabs or chicken and vegetable kebabs, grilled chicken breasts with mango salsa or chutney or pesto, green beans with cherry tomatoes and basil, basil orzo salad, mustardy potato salad (no mayo). My favorite desserts are: apple crisp, blueberry crisp, walnut cocoa meringues, pavlovas with lemon curd, chocolate chips cookies and maple cinnamon cookies. I don't use margarine at all (occasionally smart balance). These foods are not super cheap to make, but I have never cooked more heimishe food so I don't know the prices compare.
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Frumdoc




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 8:27 pm
Grill chicken breasts, they can be made into a salad or eaten hot or warm.

I make mini kugels without any oil except a spray on the muffin tins to help them off -light and delicious. Or spinach/ zucchini/ squash kugelettes.

I only have one starch side, and several veg/ salad options. Anything with high carbs counts as the starch, so that might be stuffed mushrooms even though the actual carb content is not so high (matza meal based stuffing).

I don't do thick/ heavy chicken sauces etc, I just roast the chicken with a few spices. Never use oil, the chicken has it's own fat. Then peel the skin off before eating if you want.

Lots of varied salads with different flavors, always bake rather than fry if I can get away with it (aubergine, onion). Veggies can be sauted with a spray of oil and then some water with spices to simulate the frying. Never deep fry anything.

A little bit of light mayo goes a very long way, and can help bring a salad together, but use sparingly. Anything drowned in mayo tastes the same, wean yourselves off the flavor and start to appreciate the finer tastes.

Last week I made a mushroom salad by cutting them up,drizzling lemon juice over them and microwaving - mushroom sauted in lemon, with some red onion, garlic and parsley it was amazing and a really delicate flavor. Experiment like that.
Use colors together to create a visual extravaganza. There is a great green bean salad in kosher elegance that is healthy and looks fabulous. I think someone has posted it on here before.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 11 2014, 8:51 pm
You can do a main of chicken roll ups stuffed with wild rice, herb roasted baby red potatoes, garlicky green beans tied in carrot bundle.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Jun 12 2014, 2:48 am
Wow I never knew healthy food could be so exciting. Thank you all so much. I will have a look at kosher elegance as well. It sounds like a good cookbook - all the ones I haev now are full of poisonous heimishe recipes!

OP
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abound




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 12 2014, 4:35 am
By the way, you can make brown rice that tastes almost like white rice. Most people do not notice.
1 Cup of rice cooked in 8 cups of water for 30 minutes (covered). Then drain and let it sit in the pot for another 30 minutes covered. It is fluffy and soft.
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Seraph




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 12 2014, 5:46 am
Stuffed chicken breast- http://www.pennilessparenting.......html

Eggplant roll ups- http://www.pennilessparenting.......html

Spring rolls (made with rice paper) filled with veggies, served with a dipping sauce

Sushi, as was mentioned, or maybe onigiri, which is like sushi balls- http://www.pennilessparenting.......html
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devo1982




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 12 2014, 8:50 am
Step 1: Swap out your heavy, creamy dressings for oil-based vinaigrettes - balsamic/olive oil, raspberry, lemon and oil - or you could make a dairy-free pesto.

You could do a light pasta salad (like orzo, for example) - toss with healthy veggies (cherry tomatoes, olives, squash, etc), and then add a light dressing. If you're doing a milchig meal, you could add a tangy cheese like goat cheese for some extra pop.
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