Mechatanim are gluten free and sugar free

amother

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 8:39 am

My normal Friday night sheva Brochos looks something like this:
Challah
Dips
Salads (all have some kind of sweetener in) on the table
Plated app salmon in pastry
Platters of gefilte fish on the table

Chicken soup with kneidlach

Kishke stuffed capons with sauce (has sugars in it)
Pulled beef or roast
Doughless potato kugelettes (has flour)
Mini sweet potato pies in mini pie shells
Apple kugel in muffin wrappers
Roasted veggies
White rice with diced veggies (they only eat wild rice or quinoa)

Dessert:
Warm apple pie or self saucing chocolate cake or plum cake with vanilla ice cream and toffee bark.
On the table some nuts, chocolates, fruit.
Tea

I can make some of the menus posted but do you see the difference in what my family and kids are used to?

amother

Wallflower

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 9:01 am

amother OP wrote:

Yes, it is different than you are used to. If you want to accommodate, you can either cook gf/sugar free for everyone or make some of your usuals and some options that accommodate them and let them know which options work for them.
As someone who eats gf/sugar free for years, I don't expect people to twist themselves into a pretzel to accommodate my preferences or a full sheva brachos of people to only eat foods I do.
As many have said there are options that aren't so hard or a huge variation than what you are used to-
Grilled salmon instead of in dough, potato kugel, Chicken with spices or grilled cutlets, most roasted veg. It is possible to make salads without sugar. Some dips too although mayo based ones are tricky because of sugar/corn syrup. Techina and chumus are usually ok. Wild rice isn't so different to cook than white...

amother

Coffee

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 9:08 am

I see what you’re used to. It’s the traditional , delicious Friday night seuda.
This will definitely be a big change for you but it’s easy to adjust your menu.
Make salad with no sugar. Olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic powder or grind a little pepper.
Bake your salmon with salt, spices and a drizzle of olive oil. You really don’t need the pastry. If you want, after you slice and drizzle oil, press sesame seeds, crushed pistachios or a mixture of thin sliced almonds and chopped fresh dill on top of the salmon.
Skip gefilte fish.
Zoodles and carrots in the soup instead of Kneidlach.
Spice the chicken well, no gooey sugary sauces, no duck sauce, apricot jam, ketchup etc.
No kishka in the stuffing. If you must have stuffing you can use chopped broccoli or other vegetable based stuffing.
It’s easy to substitute wild rice or quinoa for whatever rice you normally make.
Skip the toughness potato knish. Bake potato wedges with salt, fresh herbs and oil.
Roast vegetables the same as you always do but if you’re one of those people that drizzles honey on vegetables, don’t. You may be surprised you’ll find roasting brings out the natural sweetness of some vegetables.
Serve your regular dessert if you want but offer a fresh fruit option.
It won’t be more work, it’ll just be different and it can look just as nice.

amother

Leaf

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 9:40 am

How many are gf/sf
If it’s only 2 ppl I would make my regular menu and then make special on the side for them
If it’s 1/2 the company then make it all gf/sf and have some things clearly labeled with gluten and/or sugar

Morrocan fish plated
Homemade Dips
Chumus
Tapanad
Matbucha
Babaganush
Kale salad (keep it savory)
Crudités with Tehina

Herbed crusted roast
Rice with mushrooms
Stringbeans with sesame oil and seeds
Roasted veg platter on a board
Peppers all colors
Onions red and white
Sweet potato
Butternut squash

Dessert
GF/SF - fruit platter
date truffles
chocolate avocado mousse cups sweetened with dates and/or maple syrup. Double check if they are allowed to have natural sweeteners.

Also have regular desserts

amother

Fuchsia

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 9:58 am

We've been eating like this for years. I catered my Shabbos bar mitzvah by myself and hosting about 45 people and made a workable menu quite easily. It was very high-end looking and the menu is really clean and yummy looking.

It's quite easy to serve delicious fish that doesn't have sugar, so I won't comment on the first section. Many dips recipes don't have sugar either. Just search and find.
Soup- do a cream of chicken soup so it looks elegant and you don't need any starch to make it yummy. You can julienne some veggies in there to update it.

I did chicken steaks for Friday night. Capons work well also. Rorie Weisberg has a great stuffed capon recipe on Kosher.com that I used and it was quite elegant and delicious.
I copied a local caterer who serves grilled vegetable bundles- you have matchstick veggies wrapped in thin slices of zuchinni. They plate beautifully.
All potato kugel recipes usually are gluten and sugar free- if your recipe isn't, you can easily find a Heimish one that is. I did my kugels in round pans so the slices were triangular and it looked beautiful.
You can make a sugar free gluten free apple crisp. Order mini pretty pans on Amazon that come in gold- they hold the gluten free recipes better than scooping and serving. They freeze beautifully too. Again, Rorie has a recipe that will be your friend here Smile

Hopefully you don't have nut allergies and you can use almond flour! That opens up many dessert options- you can find a great chocolate mousse recipe in the Full n Free cookbook and just freeze in small individual dishes for an updated look. Most coulies and/or crumbs are easily adaptable.

amother

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:06 am

I think my concern is how to please both families. My kids won't touch wild rice for example.
It seems like everything is just spices to flavor things. I don't know how to make things flavorful with just spices.
One of the advantages of many of my usuals is that there are freeze ahead options. Making lots of roasted veggies for a crowd needs to be day of. I need to minimize how much I need to do that day.

Thank you ladies for your help

amother

Opal

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:06 am

I don't think you need to make the whole menu gf/sf. You just need to make enough for the people with those restrictions canbhave a full meal. Anyone with any sort of allergy/intolerance knows that when they are not in charge of the food, they just won't be able to eat everything. Make a few tweaks- do the salmon without the pastry. Do the wild rice/quinoa. Make one chicken/meat dish without a sugary sauce and one or two salads without a sugary dressing. Then you can keep everything else the same as usual. Label the dishes so they know what they can and can't have.

amother

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:09 am

amother Fuchsia wrote:

They can used almond flour but no sugar or sugar sweeteners. That means no honey, sugar, stevia, allulose, maple syrup, date syrup. Only literal fruit (like bananas or apples in a recipe).

sararita

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:15 am

So then you can purchase apple butter which should work ok, just water it down a bit. I find coconut oil and some vanilla extract can provide some sweetness, if you use very sweet apples, some cinnamon you can create a good crumble. Honestly it's not the same as if using natural sweeteners but what could you do? Just wondering if I were in your shoes, if I would make two different versions- crumbs for them and crumbs for everyone else. Probably wouldn't look too different and you'll be plating anyways.

Good luck!

amother

Seablue

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:18 am

amother OP wrote:

Most kids won't touch wild rice! Wink

I never caterered bar mitzvos or sheva brachos and I prefer making a simple fresh menu than a heavy one that I can put in the freezer.
That's why I'll make frozen green beans the day of instead of grilled vegetables. Takes 5 minutes!
Basmati rice in the oven takes 5 minutes to prepare.
I clean and spice fresh chicken, Defrost the day before and stick in the oven on Friday morning. (Another 5 minutes!)
Cut up vegetables for chicken soup on Wednesday, put huge soup pot on stove Thursday night or early Friday morning. No need to transfer to containers, Defrost and reheat... it's so much less work !
Dips can all be made a few days before.
Matbucha, olive dip, Jalapeño dip, babaganush has no sugar and is gluten free.
You can make 1 type of sweet kugel in pretty cupcakes holder and pass around platters on Friday night.

amother

Dahlia

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:20 am

amother OP wrote:

I would choose one course, the one my kids like more and make a parallel menu. The whole meal is too much. Not taking their regular eating habits into consideration, might create cranky kids. One course is a lot but not overwhelmingly so.
Regarding freezing things, you’re right, freezing won’t work for a lot of things, but some things can and perhaps we can help you with short cuts.

Short cut one: tehini can be prepared in advance and frozen

Short cut two: sauté all the onions you might need for any recipe, divide it before you freeze.

Tell us what you end up deciding for the menu and we’ll give you tried and true tricks.

Cookies n Cake

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:26 am

amother OP wrote:

Serve this menu.
Make some substitutes for the family:
Make some plain pieces of salmon for them
Have a salad or two that they can eat.
Make roasted sweet potato
Make green beans- super easy
Make a potato kugel without flour

amother

Mint

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:30 am

amother Opal wrote:

This exactly. It sounds like you’re trying to change everything. I’m sure there will be plenty of people there who want your puff pastry. Make less of your gluten stuff than you normally would and make sure there’s enough safe foods to keep the guests full. Don’t try to change everything over.

kenz

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:41 am

amother OP wrote:

A lot of what you normally make is easily adapted. I know people are saying do what you normally do and just have a few options for the mechutanim, but it’s really much nicer for them to feel as if they can eat almost anything rather than just a few items. If I were you I would discuss this with the mechutanim directly, it will show them they are important to you and you might get some really good tips.

heidi

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 10:56 am

amother OP wrote:

Honestly OP, I have lived in the 5 Towns and I have lived OOT and no one I know cooks like this anymore. Everyone is into low carb, high protein, lots of veggies, no sugar.
You sound disappointed and resentful. I would try to switch that up with happy to accomodate your new extended family.
Salmon certainly doesn't need puff pastry
Gefilte fish can be gluten and sugar free
Salads without sweetner are healthier
Reserve knaidel on the side for the gluten eaters
Veggie stuffed capons
Potato kugel
Sweet potatoes cut in half and roasted face down in a bit of olive oil, garlic and thyme
White rice with veggies for your family
Quiinoa for them
Nuts and fruit for them, cakes and chocolate for you
BH you're making a simcha- try to enjoy it.