What's for Dinner?

I didn't want a whole week to pass without posting...

It was such a busy week, it had the feel of the pre-Yom Tov frenzy. I think it's just getting back into the routine that takes some adjustment.

Last night we celebrated the marriage of our cousin, Meira. It was a beautiful wedding with a beautiful chassan and kallah. Today, we are off to Baltimore for Shabbos Sheva Brochos, and then Sunday we have Sheva Brochos at our house. I think that also explains the hectic week.

As promised, we will begin with meal planning. On my first post to this blog, I wrote the following about one feature of a happy home:

It's when the kids come home at the end of the day and they ask you "What's for Dinner?" - and you ACTUALLY have an answer for them, AND it will be able to be served before those same kids start eating the expensive "school only" snacks you just bought from Costco, AND you don't need to go to the store first to get the ingredients to make that dinner.

Putting dinner on the table night after night is a daunting task. It feels never-ending, and truthfully, it really is. It's one of those it's-really-a-bracha-to-have-a-family-to-have-to-serve-dinner-to, but that doesn't make it easy.

I know the type out there who honestly doesn't know what they will be making for dinner until an hour before serving it. They claim it's too much of a stress to plan it out before hand.

Really?

It's more stressful than having to go to the grocery store each day to get the 2 or 3 items needed in order to get dinner on the table? Maybe these people have extra time on their hands. I am suspecting not.

My life changed when I had quadruplets. Duh. In this area, I mean. I could no longer just run to the store. Sure, I had a gazillion amazing people offering to do my shopping for me each week. And even more people who would have been happy to pick up this or that. But I wanted to run my house as independently as I could. I wanted to squeeze my own Charmin, if you know what I mean.

So meal planning was born. It was extreme in those days. I use to plan meals for a whole month. That's a lot of planning. I don't do that anymore. One week at a time is good for me. But the idea is the same, whether you do it for one week or one month.

"Honey, what do you feel like eating for dinner on May 15th?"

Since I need to get my kids up for school and then go to work, I will leave you now with one assignment. One that's pretty crucial in efficient meal planning. Yes, you can do it without it, but it's soooo much easier with it.

The master dinner list. Or whatever you want to call it.

It's a list of your dinners you make that your family likes. I keep it on the hard cardboard backing of my refrigerator calendar so it's there each week for easy reference.

I separate milchigs and fleishigs, but you can do it the best way you see fit. I add things as I try new things (spinach souffle is the new thing, thanks Chana B.). The other spinach dish got crossed off because kids stopped eating it. Turkey burgers - huge. Veggie pizza - lost its flair.

You get the idea. Jot down meals as you remember them. Get the list going. Next week we'll continue.

Good Shabbos.

Goodbye Pesach

I hope everyone had a wonderful Shabbos.

I am so happy to report that all of my Pesach things are FINALLY put away. Done. Goodbye. And not one second too soon. It was enough already. Time to move on.

I am putting the last few touches on my shopping list and menus for next year. I thank all of you that shared new recipe ideas with me. I plan on adding them to my computerized recipe file. Come next year, I hope to share a new slew of recipes, along with all of my old favorites.

As promised before Yom Tov, we will move on in the next few days to menu planning. I would like to post some easy dinner recipes as well. I would love any of your tried and true easy dinner recipes so I can share them with all. E-mail them to feldman10711@gmail.com and I will post them while we are on the menu planning topic.

A gut voch to all!

Post Pesach Wrap-Up - Part 2

Thanks for all of the great e-mails yesterday. It was so nice to hear positive feedback and about how most of you had a more organized and happy time getting ready for Pesach this year.

For those of you who requested my lists, they were all sent by 6 am this morning. If you sent the e-mail after that, I will get to you tonight. If your e-mail was sent before 6 am and you didn't receive the lists, please send another e-mail so I can try again.

I am still in Pesach mode and it's getting harder to still be there. I know that come March next year, I will be thrilled. But as of this morning, I wish everything was just put away.

To explain the lists, I want to start with the Pesach Planner. This is the (very long) shopping list that should encompass all that needs to be bought for the 8 days of Pesach.

In the first column (Have), I am going through what is left and what I plan to save and entering it.

In the second column (Buy), I am writing how many I will need to (you guessed it) buy next year.

After Yom Tov ends next year and you want to quickly pack up food items in your kitchen, you can use the Have Left column. (The Have Left column will become your Have column for the following year.)

Does this make sense?

First, I do the items I have left over that I plan to save. Then, I fill out the rest of the items on the (very long) list.

WHY DO THIS NOW???

I promise you - no matter how good of a memory you have - next year, you will not remember how many cans of crushed pineapple you used. Or how many bottles of ketchup you had left over. Or how many times you ran back to the store for matzo meal because you ran out.
(I do think I will remember the number of dozens of eggs I used. That number is so unbelievable, I don't think even my bad memory will forget it.)

"Time heals all wounds" applies to the insane amount of trips you make to the store at crazy hours of the day. All because you ran out of this or that or forgot to buy this or that.

Your memory about what worked and what didn't this year will never be clearer than it is now. I know I am beating the dead horse, but the last thing I want to be doing right now is making my shopping list for next year. Muster up all of your inner strength to stay in the Pesach mode and fill out your shopping list for next year. You will be thanking me next March.

Next list I e-mailed was the menu planner. I know, I know. I can read the e-mails I will be getting already...Isn't that a bit much to plan what you will be eating next year, RIGHT NOW??!!

Yes, it's definitely on the planning in advance spectrum which I know that some of you are not that into. Let me ask you a question? How were your meals this past Yom Tov? A roaring success? A dismal failure? Somewhere in between?

(I admit I served raw chicken during the 2nd days. Thankfully, it was my husband who noticed this first before someone else took a huge bite into the raw chicken. Fortunately, it wasn't Shabbos and I was able to put it back into the oven. And most comforting to me, was the fact that one of my guests who I served this bacteria-laden main course to, had just relayed to me that she herself served a raw roast to her family at the Seder.)

If your meals worked, why not repeat them? I don't think your family will be sick of matzo applesauce kugel between now and next year? Try not to think of repeating your Pesach food year after year as boring. Instead, think of it as family tradition. (It really does become just that, a tradition. My oldest 2 kids can tell you with 90% accuracy what I serve at both Seder meals since I don't deviate.)

Yes, I add new recipes. But I do it now. Recipes that look interesting are added now for next year. Then I adjust the shopping lists accordingly.

I take out the failures now, while I still remember them as what they are. The flops. You know, the dishes that came back to the kitchen mostly untouched.

I also write quantities. Like the meal that I made a strawberry apple kugel. I made two 9x13 pans. A huge success, everyone loved it. But not 2 pans of it. One pan was put back into the freezer and is still there. Waiting to be served to my unsuspecting children one Shabbos when they think they will be getting the chametz version, but instead, the potato starch variety will be placed in front of them. We'll see if they like it as much a month after Pesach... You get the point, make notes on your menus as to what went and what there wasn't enough of.

Pesach for next year falls out on the same days as this year. Why not just repeat your delicious menus from this past year, and tweak them to make them better for next year.

Time to get the kids moving. I will finish this up tomorrow. By Sunday, we will be done with Pesach.

Post Pesach Wrap-Up

I wonder if everyone is as tired as I am.

I know things will return to normal very soon, but I am just so tired.

It was the most beautiful Yom Tov yet. Even my oldest said that to me last night. I hope your week was just as wonderful.

Now, back to normal (whatever that means).

I am rushing off to return to work (my paying job) today, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to mention that the more time you spend wrapping up from this Pesach, the more you will benefit next year when you make Pesach again.

There are those of you who just want to pull off the counter covers and the foil and get everything shoved back in the basement and not look at it for one more second. I understand that type. I actually would like to do that as well. It's amazing while it lasts, but when it's over, good-bye.

I truly have to muster every bit of strength to properly wrap-up, pack-up, and inventory everything. Even harder, I then make my shopping lists and menus for next year.

Sounds crazy? Maybe. But it makes so much sense and will honest to goodness change the way you prepare for Pesach next year.

If you haven't gotten my blank lists (menu planner and shopping list) and would like them, send an e-mail to feldman10711@gmail.com and I will send it to you tonight after the kids are sleeping. I will give more details and suggestions about filling them out tomorrow.

Have a great day!