Good Morning New York Post Show Wrap-Up

Quick & Kosher

If you caught my appearance on WABC’s Morning Show this past Sunday, you probably noticed that we went with the Kosher.com apron.  (If you missed it, you can watch the clip below.)  It definitely wasn’t made for a pregnant woman—I almost cried when I saw it—but I think it worked out OK.  After all, I’m not trying to cover up the fact that I’m expecting—I just didn’t want to distract everybody from the subject at hand: how to fix a yummy, elegant Rosh Hashanah meal on a budget

My friend, Atara, came with me.  On set we met up with Janine our food stylist and Ilya our PR gal who is also a good friend and, after tons of pre prep, we patiently waited until we had a total of 10 minutes to set-up the entire table.  We were so pressed for time and, as usual, I had some pre-show jitters, so Atara retired to a corner and diligently prayed for me.  Now that’s a friend!

The host, Phil Lipoff was SO nice.  He remembered how his mom slaved away in the kitchen for hours prepping for Rosh Hashanah, and he nearly went into shock when I told him our entire spread took about an hour for everything!  He wished me the warmest, nicest “Shana Tova” at the end of the segment.  It was great fun, and the best part was having the chance to give useful, delicious and practical advice.

Click on the image to see the interview:

As I said, the Rosh Hashanah menu we presented takes about 1 hour to make and costs about $10-$12 per person.  Who said holidays have to be expensive?

We started with Sweet Carrot Salad (under $3 per person – and that’s using all the shortcuts like pre-shredded and sliced carrots and cabbage, and canned chunked pineapple.)

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You can cut the costs even more by shredding your own carrots, slicing your own cabbage and cutting your own fresh pineapple—in which case you will have extra pineapple left over to serve for dessert.  That way, you’ve made the fruit work for you in two ways.  With the leftover cabbage, make Israeli Cabbage Salad. Most of the ingredients of which you probably already have on hand: mayo (either regular or light—both work perfectly in this recipe) lemon juice and salt.

The star of our show was Honey Chicken (under $4 per person).

As a colorful side dish, we showed an eye-catching Broccoli Mushroom Pie (under $2 per person).

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And we finished with Puff Pastry Apple Purses (approx $2.50 per person) that look fancy, but are so simple to make!

Whether due to nut allergies or because some people have the custom of not eating nuts over the yom tovim, eliminating the nuts will still produce a fab dessert.

This entire menu is not just low budget, it’s low stress; quick and easy, with superb results.  Our motto is “Keep it simple, keep it sane.”  Let it be your motto too!