Family First reader Shoshana Friedman shares her kid-friendly, health-minded meals

Job: Stay-at-Home-Mom

Lives: Montreal

Family: Two adults, five kids, ages 4–15

Making it to the plate:

I love cooking, but I save the patchkeh’ing for Yom Tov and when we have company. My kids are young, and my husband doesn’t care for or need gourmet food, so I’d describe my regular supper style as heimish and delicious, basic good food. I grew up as an only daughter, and I experimented and helped a lot in the kitchen. Married and living in Eretz Yisrael for six years, I had a business selling sushi, before it was even a big thing. I’m a big Kosher.com fan, read cookbooks for fun, and I make up my own recipes; therefore, weekday suppers around here are kid-friendly, health-minded, and always delicious.

When we eat:

We eat every night around 5:30 p.m., the earliest my husband and kids are all home every night. We make sure to all eat together.

If someone is hungry after supper, they can eat — there’s usually some leftovers. Whoever’s hungry finishes the chicken or rice or whatever’s left. Sometimes they make fruit smoothies after supper. I’m pretty relaxed about the kids eating what they want.

Soup of the day:

My mother served soup every single night, and I also do that, even at a barbeque. My family’s favorite is French onion soup, and they like cream of chicken, too.

If someone takes me out to eat, I order:

Come on, every time is different! I like variety.

Why the food’s good:

I enjoy cooking — I guess it’s my Hungarian ancestry, although I don’t love baking. I always taste the food as I cook, so I’m always adding spices during the process.

Through the Week

Sunday: Shabbos leftovers with hot dogs, chicken, and burgers on the grill

Whoever wants leftovers eats leftovers. I usually have chicken soup, potato kugel, and cholent left from Shabbos. Some of the kids love leftover cholent. Or some of them have the barbequed food, then nibble on cholent at 9 p.m. We love grilling, so it’s not just for nice weather. We grill under the awning even in the rain, wearing our coats (not in the Montreal winter storms, though.)

Monday: Cauliflower soup, spaghetti and meatballs, salad

I only start cooking around 3 p.m. every day. My oldest daughter is my right hand, and my left. She’s 14 and she can do so much — including meal planning. The best part is that she cleans up after herself.

Tuesday: Shawarma in pita with toppings

We all love shawarma — this is the supper my kids requested on the first night they got home from camp. I make a whole bar on the table: sautéed onions, red and white cabbage, grilled eggplant, French fries, techinah, hummus, Israeli salad, pickles. Everyone takes a pita and makes their shawarma to their own taste.

Wednesday: Onion soup, baked ziti, salmon

Onion soup and baked ziti goes down well for the kids. The adults need something healthier, so that’s the salmon.

Thursday: Vegetable soup, chicken and vegetable stir-fry, rice

I make a vegetable stir fry, meaning broccoli, string beans, onions, mushrooms, and chicken, and I serve it with rice. Not everyone likes it, though, so I bake a little schnitzel as well. The soup is blended vegetable soup. I know, I’m lucky that my children eat soup, and some kinds of vegetables, although don’t worry, they’re normal kids, too — they also like fried chicken and French fries.

Not Just leftovers:

I always give another option besides leftovers. Funny, though, some of the kids prefer leftover chicken and cholent to hot dogs.

Zoodled:

For the health conscious I make zoodles instead of spaghetti. I shred raw zucchini — no need to strain — and pan fry it with just salt and pepper. I’ve done this in the oven, but that gets mushy, pan fried is much better. It’s not pasta, but it’s worth the trade-off.

Dairy Day:

Wednesday is our milchig day. We used to do pizza or pasta every Thursday, but then a guy around the corner started selling cholent Thursday nights, which the kids wanted to buy, so we switched to fleishig and moved milchig to Wednesday.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 920)