What am I doing wrong (cooking)

amother

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 1:33 pm

DustyDiamonds wrote:

You’re doing a LOT!!!

I have this peeler, it’s far from perfect but saves me about 75% of the peeling time and energy!

It’s not available on prime anymore, but lots of similar ones are: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.....psc=1

Thanks, I used to have something similar. It was very slow and took off a lot of vegetable with the peels. Wasn’t worth it for me. Maybe yours is better?

amother

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 1:38 pm

imasinger wrote:

Fine. You want to know what you're doing wrong?

Your plans are unrealistic. You're expecting to do for 20 in the same time that you do for a smaller group.

Make a more realistic plan, and you'll be see.

I thought 1.5 weeks was enough time to cook. I never started so early. I guess I really needed 3 weeks.. which I just couldn’t have done anyway without a separate pesach kitchen.

amother

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 9:58 pm

amother DarkRed wrote:

No straining soup
No ices that need to be reprocessed
No cookies just cakes
No shnitzle just roasts and chicken quarters
Rolls???

So the rolls.. it’s a recipe I saw a few years ago and every pesach I want to try it but never have time. This year I figured since I started early…

You’re right about the straining.. next time I won’t do it
The ices are a big hit every year. It’s not hard just takes a little time. Most of my food doesn’t get raving compliments aside for the slush ices and ice cream so it’s worth it for me.

amother

Yarrow

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 10:10 pm

amother OP wrote:

your ices sound heaven, I'm so in the mood of them
Can you please post recipe and directions?
I never did it before...
(also, you're not only cooking, but sounds like you're cleaning also- and taking care of all of your kids! you're doing amazing! and the first day you covered your counters- that alone is a significant job!

Frumme

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 10:11 pm

What appliances do you have?

Really. I know it's "another thing to wash" but if you have a good food processor, you can easily make 3-4 potato kugels all at once-- make an assembly line. Or a mandolin slicer. It will save you time with chopping slices.

How are your peelers? Get good, comfortable peelers!

Put your Crock-Pot to use. Set up a soup in the crockpot the night before and then take it off in the morning to cool, then portion and put away. Also use it to make a big batch of sauteed onions to use in all of your recipes.

Instead of ices, dip fruit into chocolate and freeze. Fancy and takes a lot less time! Once they're frozen you can transfer to a ziplock so it doesn't take up a lot of room in the freezer.

Basically, "work smarter, not harder"! You've got this!

amother

Violet

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 10:16 pm

Frumme wrote:

Individually dipping fruit into chocolate is extremely time consuming. I'm not sire this will be a time saver.

amother

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 10:25 pm

Today I think I got a lot done.

Finished with the slush ices. A few trays packed away in the freezer…
3 pineapple kugels
2 apple crumbles
Pesach ice cream (triple recipe)
Coated 5 pounds of chicken cutlets to be fried fresh before yomtov and during chol hamoed.
Lots of washing up over and over again
For supper I heated up a bag of kosher l’pesach frozen fries and chicken nuggets (in a hot sauce). Tomorrow I will buy takeout.
I tried to get my kids to peel the apples today but they had a hard time. The apples kept slipping. They did help with some of the potatoes the other day and they did a better job.
I was going to skip the meringues but my girls suddenly decided they wanted to bake something tonight so they are busy with that now.
Tomorrow I don’t think I’ll get much cooking done because my cleaning lady is coming and there are still things that have to get cleaned. I usually end up working with her when she’s here.
I wanted to make meat.. a few corn beefs probably - I still have to go to the store for meat. Maybe another type of roast too.
I also wanted to make the Chrain. That’s a big job and a messy one too.
If I get the meats and Chrain done I’ll be happy. One of my kids has a dentist appointment tomorrow.. 2pm right in the middle of the day so it will be a little hectic.

Next week I’ll need a few more side dishes- not sure what.
And I need to make the Gefilte fish (homemade) and salads.
Probably a lot of cucumber salad and coleslaw since I can make that in advance.
Another cake
Things for the seder..

ra_mom

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 10:47 pm

You are doing amazing! 👏

Streamline by making a food processor day. That may be the day you slice the cucumbers for salad, shred for cole slaw, process the chrain.

If the gefilte fish uses your mixer, make the other cake you reference on the same day (I'd make the cake first before processing the fishy fish).

Bake the corned beef (a few at a time) instead of cooking them.

P.S. Can I ask a question? If you make your own homemade gefilte and chrain, what makes you buy a preseasoned/cured corned beef roast?

WitchKitty

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 10:56 pm

You did a lot today!
What my mother does (when she doesn't have kids who peel for her) is figure out how she can do parts of recipes together.
So in your case, day one would be peeling. Veggies for soup. Potatoes. Beets for chrain (horseradish needs to be fresh). Clean chicken for soup too.
Put a disposable tablecloth on the table before you start to peel. When done, you just throw the tablecloth out with peels inside.
If there's still time left after all that peeling, make something that doesn't need too much cleanup. Probably the ices, because it sounds not very hard to wash off the pot and food processor. It's a liquid basically.
Veggies wait in fridge.
Day 2: Put up soup. Cook potatos for rolls (I assume they are cooked). Make kugels, one after the other and in and out of the oven. Put tablecloth on counter before you make the kugel. That way you only have to wash the food processor. Make Chrain. Strain and pack up soup.
(My mom has about 20 people lots of times, we are a large family)
But don't beat yourself up about it anyway, some people are faster than others. DH has 2 sisters close in age and they always laugh about how each was supposed to wash one sink of dishes, and one would wash and be done within 5 minutes, while the other was up until midnight. It's good that you know that you need to start in advance.

amother

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 10:57 pm

amother Yarrow wrote:

I already came upstairs busy with laundry now but I’ll try to remember to post it tomorrow

amother

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 11:04 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Good ideas!
Ha! You’re right about the corned beef! I don’t know.. I probably shouldn’t but it’s such an easy recipe that always comes out good… you got me thinking…

amother

Wed, Mar 29 2023, 11:05 pm

WitchKitty wrote:

Your mom sounds very organized!
Thanks for the practical tips.