Shabbat Lunch Menu (with Bonus Dinner Dessert)

[gnomi]

This Shabbat, we're out for dinner (though I'm making dessert -- brownies) and home with guests for lunch. My menu is mostly based on requests from one of the guests (the other guest, being under 2, doesn't really get a vote on the menu). So, here's what I've got planned:

-- Gazpacho
-- Macaroni and cheese (requested by guest)
-- Some veggie (maybe a salad? Maybe something else?)
-- Mint brownies (requested by guest)

Plus, of course, challah and grape juice. Perhaps I will roast a head of garlic to go on the challah (as it reheats nicely on the electric hotplate).

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Are you okay with making gazpacho? Won't it be a gazpachke?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Not so bad. I'm going to try the recipe shimshonit posted earlier this week.

[aunt-becca.livejournal.com]

ooohh...that sounds delicious. If you miss cooking for large groups of people, feel free to make us a shabbat meal and deliver it to us :)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

:-) But of course!

[aunt-becca.livejournal.com]

I am always thinking of ways to help others, especially if it benefits me in some way :) But I do remember being pregnant in the summer, so if you couldn't deliver, I'd be willing to do a pickup. I am so considerate, right?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

::snerk::

[eireangus.livejournal.com]

Wow, sounds yummy!!! Wish I was there!!!

I am obsessed with salad lately.... Oh, and macaroni and cheese. Mint brownies = YUM!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I wish you were close enough to join us!

I wouldn't usually make this meal for guests (since mac & cheese is one of those "I can't think of what else to make; I want something simple" meals, not usually Shabbat fare), but since the guest specifically requested, who was I to say no? And the mint brownies are a regular (and simple) recipe for me, so I'm having a relatively light cooking load this week.

[aunt-becca.livejournal.com]

that's a wonderful meal for guests. It's total comfort food. you made it once for us for Shabbat lunch, and we felt like we were at home :)

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Ooh, vegetarian, no less.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

We're about 99% vegetarian at home these days. We were trending in that direction anyway, and then when Michael took the year off to write, we found it cheaper to eat vegetarian than not. And I'm quite fond of vegetarian, so I cook what I like. :-)

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Poor Andy mostly eats vegetarian at home, thanks to me. If we grill, he gets meat, or if we make a pizza, he gets pepperoni on his half, but that's pretty much it for cooked meat in our house nowadays. And considering his heart and blood pressure issues, this is a good thing.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

We do eat meat out, and maybe once a year or less we make a meat-based shabbat meal. But what was once meat meals, we now use soy for instead. It's cheaper, it's healthier, and due to our keeping kosher, it allows us to make a lot of things we normally wouldn't be able to (such as "beef" stroganoff).

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Which in our house, we refer to as "fauxganoff." :)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Ours is actually a mushroom stroganoff, with fake meat added, that we call "horfles." (Don't ask.)

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

There's shrooms in ours as well, but only Andy eats them. For our fake beef, we use Quorn meatballs. Whole Food meatballs are tastier, but they fall apart too easily for the dish. What do you two use for your beef substitute?

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

We used to use Veggie Patch fake meatballs, but they're no longer certified kosher, alas. Lately we've used steak strips from some other company, the name of which Nomi will swoop in and tell us.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Morningstar Farms. They make frozen steak strips that go well in the stroganoff.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I'd like fake steak if I didn't like actual steak back in the day? Hmm...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

And Nomi did in fact reply, downstream. Morningstar Farms.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Watch out for the green slime... :-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I make the brownies the day before I try to frost them.

Also, sometimes I do mint-inside-the-brownies mint brownies, which means I don't have to worry about the sliming factor.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

You mean, adding mint extract to the brownies? Is that in addition to the vanilla, or as a substitute?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

In addition to. dancingdeer gave me the recipe a number of years ago.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Could you share it when you have a free (ha) moment?