How to Make a Healthier Shabbos Menu

As I’ve learned more about healthier cooking, baking, and living, I’ve gotten creative in the kitchen and, over time, shaped a beautiful, yet truly healthy Shabbos menu.

No refined sugars in sight, and carbs are utilized wisely and with a light hand.

Nothing here would freak people out by being too “health nutty” and I promise, it really tastes delicious.

The majority of these photos are in real-time reality from one Friday… All items are clearly in-progress but I wanted to give you a glimpse into how simply this comes together in real life.

I really want to stress that these swaps are not meant to, and will NOT make your food bland and “dietetic!” I believe strongly in the liberal inclusion of healthy fats. These naturally occuring fats are necessary for brain function, digestion, and so many other functions. The nitty-gritty of it is for another post, but in this context, know that healthy fats are what make food delicious and fill you up! My recipes all purposely include these for flavor and satiation.

Is this a comprehensive Healthy Shabbos Menu, or just ideas?

The following article offers a mishmash of advice that would have helped me a ton, when I was floundering on how to transition into healthier eating for my family.

I believe that the ONLY way to sustain a whole-foods, healthy routine for families is to make it realistic and simple.

Hopefully, the ideas below will provide you just that “realistic and simple” framework. You’ll see how another busy mother makes it work in her own kitchen, day in and day out.

In that spirit, this isn’t a post with exact recipes. First, we’ll go into guidelines of what I try to avoid and include for the “health” of the menu. Then, I’ll offer up some swaps that we use for the Shabbos cooking.

–>Take one tip, or take them all!

Healthy Low-Carb Shabbos Menu Principles:

Sugar:

• I prefer to avoid refined table sugar entirely.
• There are absolutely no health benefits and too many risks, especially when consumed in the large quantities that people have become accustomed to on a daily basis.
• I do lightly sweeten some dishes and desserts, but prefer to use unrefined sweeteners like organic maple syrup or raw honey.
• All sweeteners will train your palate to crave sweet things, so I personally try not to sweeten anything excessively, or sweeten anything that doesn’t need it (why add sweetener to a fruit bake, for example)

Oil:

• NO vegetable oils, canola oil, sunflower seed oil, etc. They sound healthy but are extremely inflammatory, highly processed, and often go rancid before they’re even sold. They’re also high in omega-6, which, in excessive proportion to omega-3, raises your risk of all inflammatory diseases.
• Recommended oils: olive oil (for dressing or low-heat cooking), avocado oil (flavorless and withstands high heat, so perfect for both cooking and baking), coconut oil (high heat point, but strong flavor)

Animal Fat:

• Contrary to the dogma of the 90s-2000s, it turns out that saturated fat from animal fat is not what causes heart disease.
• Be heartened (pun intended), because this is in fact what will add flavor and bulk to your menu, rather than being lean-lean-flavorless and non-filling “diet food.”
• Practically, this translates to:
  • Don’t be afraid to use non-lean cuts of meat, provided they’re high-quality (You want it to be “grass-fed,” meaning it can pasture and eat grass like cows are meant to, rather than being locked in a feedlot being fed GMO-corn and soy, plus heavy doses of antibiotics to prevent lifestyle-induced infections. The best kosher grass-fed meat I’ve found is Tevya’s ranch and Kol Foods).
  • Don’t be afraid to use darker parts of the chicken, it’s more flavorful and more filling.
  • Don’t be afraid to leave the skin on your chicken.
• For more about letting go of your fear of animal fats, peruse this and this resource.

Here are the Healthy Shabbos Menu Ideas:

Healthier Shabbos Potato Kugel:

• Substitute some, or all of the potatoes for sweet potatoes to make for a less starchy load. (white varieties like Hannah sweet potatoes keep a traditional look and even add some sweetness).
• Potatoes can share the spotlight. This week, I added in a lonely daikon radish nobody had wanted to eat earlier in the week. Radishes taste similar to potatoes after they’re cooked, but they’re insanely healthy for your liver and detoxing pathways, along with containing fiber and sulfur. If you feel like putting in radish, cauliflower, rutabaga, celery root, turnip, etc… you can up the kugel’s nutrition and most likely no one will notice.
• Eggs can act as the only binder- you may not actually need flour
• You can use almond meal if you’d like, but it’s not needed
• Olive oil tastes incredible in potato kugel- forget canola!

Challah:

• You can always make easy swaps in a challah recipe, like:
  • Cutting down the total sweetener in the recipe
  • Subbing sugar for coconut sugar or raw honey, which are both lower glycemic index. If you use honey it may be a bit stickier and may burn more easily- try cooking at 325 instead of 350 to minimize burning
  • Subbing out inflammatory oils for coconut or avocado oil (I prefer the latter as it’s tasteless)
  • Switch the sugary crumble topping for other topping- there are many fun, beautiful alternatives that have interesting tastes to the palate. Experiment to see if your family likes sesame seeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried garlic and onion, zaatar, cinnamon, raisins, etc.
  • Organic flours will always be a better choice. Many people think of organic being a produce-centric issue, when in fact grains are some of the most highly contaminated items. More on this in the next point…
• If you want to make a bigger shift, consider switching from white flour to a less-processed, ancient grain which won’t have as dramatic an effect on blood sugar levels- this means more energy and less sugar crashes and cravings- but these are also less subject to chemical pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, irradiation, and more during the growing process (much of this contamination hangs around and is consumed).
  • For a long time I used spelt, which has more protein and fiber than refined white flour and also contains less gluten.
  • Einkorn, rye, and oat are also options to experiment with.
• Sourdough is all the rage- and for good reason. The fermentation allows much of the starch to be predigested and broken down in a way that makes it much gentler on your digestive tract.
  • If you know how to make sourdough bread, I totally recommend that!
  • I haven’t mastered my own sourdough technique, but have heard great things about these 2 courses (Spice and Zest, Radical Roots) if you’re looking to learn.
  • Many local bakeries also sell sourdough bread. If you’re in the Lakewood, NJ area I recommend small-batch Aroma bakery (delivery available).
  • However, if you buy from just any bakery, you have no control over the ingredients, and they often take shortcuts with not allowing enough rising time which mitigates the benefits of sourdough in the first place.
• If you prefer a traditional, sweeter denser challah, for years and years I have made a more traditional spelt challah (Will get that recipe up here soon, I hope.) If you have Tamar Ansch’s Challah cookbook, you can try the spelt recipe from that (just sub out sugar for honey, and healthier oils)!

Healther Shabbos Chicken Soup:

• Ditch the soup mix. Even if it’s MSG-free. Once and for all, k? Once you learn how to build up an honest, real flavorful soup from scratch you’ll never turn back.
• Organic, pastured chickens. This makes all the difference in making a truly healing, nourishing broth with as many nutritional benefits as possible.
  • Remember, the “chicken soup” of your grandmother’s alte heim was organic and free-range too! Until recently these things were taken for granted, and only needed to be asserted once farming practices took a nosedive.
• Get weird! Use this opportunity to add all vegetables you can, even unusual, weird-looking root vegetables. I love to do onion, garlic, celery, sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, tomato, turnip. Add herbs too!
• If you start before Thursday, you can make it bone broth. Simmer it for 12-48 hours with a splash of apple cider vinegar added, and you’ve achieved bone broth.
  • This is especially beneficial to pregnant women and people of all ages with digestive problems.
  • It draws from the animal’s bone marrow to infuse the soup with amino acids and proteins. One example is glycine which enables connective tissue to regenerate (necessary for pregnant women developing a baby and stretching skin, and for growing children!), plus much more.

Healthier Shabbos Chicken Dish:

• You may think, as I did until recently, that chicken is a great protein choice and is super healthy to eat and serve your family. That should be true in an ideal world, but I’d like to open your eyes to a few subtleties.
• Quality is everything– By now many people are already aware of the terrible treatment of animals on factory farms. The downstream effect is that humans are later eating those same sickly animals. This means that:
  • A. we aren’t getting the copious vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that we (and children, especially) need from animal protein
  • B. we, and our kids, are consuming all the toxic substances that this particular animal has accumulated during its lifespan.
    • We’re talking pharmaceuticals like heavy antibiotics, needed to contain infection due to their terrible living conditions, but also the GMO-corn-feed that the chicken/cow was fed all its life, which will carry with it large amounts of glyphosate and other pesticides and herbicides which have repeatedly been shown to have negative health effects, especially in children (developmental delay, cancer, and so on).
    • Point being, if you can get pasture raised and/or organic chicken and meat– consider choosing that.
    • My recs are KOL foods, or in many kosher grocery stores the freezer sections has “Wise Organic Chicken.”

Healthier Shabbos Side Dishes:

• Every family will have their own preference for what they’re used to serving, and the possibilites for health-ifying are endless.
• I try to stick primarily to vegetables, as they’re quick and foolproof to cook, and add healthy bulk to any meal.
• Here are some ideas that I happened to be cooking when I snapped the process photos:
  • Green beans (organic, I get them from the frozen section at Trader Joe’s), tossed with olive oil and minced garlic gloves and roasted at 375 for 40 minutes
  • “Noodle Salad” and Pesto– We just discovered the Jovial Foods brand of cassava noodles. Cassava is a root vegetable similar to a yam, and it can be ground up into a starchy flour.
  • These noodles are fun because they look and taste similar to normal noodles, but have nowhere near the same glycemic load and are naturally gluten-free. (I still try to serve anything starchy alongside fats and proteins, to balance it out).
  • (On the noodles pictured, I use a homemade pesto, which is an absolutely delicious condiment you can use on anything. I just throw everything in the blender and don’t have a particular recipe, but here’s a good one.)
  • Saucy Cabbage: This is so easy if you buy pre-shredded cabbage. Just throw it in a saucepan and mix in 1/2 jar tomato sauce, sweeten with a drop of maple syrup if you want.
  • Another idea for Fri night could be these sweet potato fries.

Healthier Cholent for Shabbos:

• Nowadays I feel like a lot of people are mixing up their cholent routine, and doing something different than the traditional barley/kishke/ketchup/beans/potatoes.
• You can try using quinoa to soak up the juices, or organic rice.
• You can also just make it more of a stew, of just meat and vegetables.
• In the photo below, I put down a layer of onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, then a roast that had marinated overnight. Pour sauce over it, put on the lid, and enjoy it at Shabbos lunch as a saucy meat stew! Delicious.

Another note:

• What I wrote in the chicken section applies here too, regarding meat quality.
  • I prefer pasture-raised and organic if I can get it, for the same reasons I detailed out regarding chicken. (Kosher Grass-fed beef is actually easier to get than chicken.)
• I recommend either KOL Foods (they do home delivery but more expensive), or Tevya’s Ranch (less expensive, check their website to see if a store near you carries it). If you’re getting Tevya’s Ranch they have a few lines so make sure you’re getting entirely grass-fed, not grain-finished.

Ideas for Healthier Shabbos Dessert:

• In a certain way, dessert is the easiest course to convert.
• Fresh fruit: This is already a commonly served dessert. The Friday I took these photos I had just washed a gigantic bowl of fresh blueberries, so that’s one idea.
• I have so many healthy baked goods you can try!
  • The week I snapped some photos, I was making a cookie cake using the recipe for Blueberry Muffin Tops, and it was spectacular in the skillet- denser and more doughy, which I prefer.
• Here are some other cookie/cake ideas!
  • Cinnamon Buns with Spelt Flour
  • N’oatmeal Cookies
  • Chewy Brownies

Feel free to ask questions here or via email sarah@yourwholesomechild.com.

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