Raizy Gerwitz shows us how to serve up chicken but keep it interesting

Job: Head of bookkeeping department

Lives: Lakewood

Cooking for:My husband and myself, five daughters aged 13 years to 14 months

Time of supper: Five or five thirty, not always as a family meal

My cooking philosophy

I often try to incorporate variety, but at the end of the day, it’s the basics that go down the best. My husband is on a diet at the moment, so I have to make sure there are enough vegetables for him to fill up on, limit the carbs, and lean my cooking to the healthier side, with baked or grilled chicken rather than fried. My kids eat well. I think we trained them young that we’re not living on pizza bagels and fish sticks. Chicken is what we eat, and everyone eats it. Well, till recently when the 11-year-old started to get a little fleish-o-phobic because the ice cream truck rolls around on Thursday nights.

Sunday: Leftovers

Deli roll, liver spread on crackers, deli salad or grilled chicken salad. Leftover cholent doesn’t go down here, but my neighbor takes my cholent, so that’s great.

Monday: Breaded chicken cutlets

I stick them in oven with rice or couscous and broccoli. My husband doesn’t like chicken on the bone or ground meat, so I only make them occasionally, which leaves us with chicken cutlets two or three times a week.

Callout: To give it variety, I use varied sauces and any flavor crumb or flavor blend.

Tuesday: Saucy or teriyaki chicken

I serve this with sweet potato and green beans, Spanish rice, or rice with ramen noodles as a side. It’s funny but my kids usually skip the side and eat chicken and broccoli for supper, unless I make Spanish rice or one or two other things they like. That leaves me eating the side...

Callout: For the rice and ramen noodles I use a recipe from Dinner Done.

Wednesday: Lasagna or homemade pizza

Milchig night is always a little less filling. I find the kids are not as full after this dairy supper... they get hungry at some point later on.

Thursday: Grilled chicken or stir fry

Sometimes shawarma in pita with hummus, techinah, fried onions and nish-nosh dressing.

Call out: We have fleishigs on Thursday, because then I’m cooking for Shabbos on the fleishig side anyway. Why would I want to take out milchig pots, too?

Average time I spend cooking supper:

30 minutes to an hour, but do many other things in between.

Supper hack:

If you have the ingredients, everything takes just minutes. I don’t really go to the grocery. We order online and do deliveries, and I try to have whatever I need in the house.

What I stay away from:

Can we all agree that cooking with frozen chicken isn’t the same as cooking with fresh chicken? Either defrost your chicken fully by taking it out the night before or just buy fresh at the beginning of each week.

If someone is hungry after supper, they can eat:

More supper? Orange, clementine, or a cookie or nosh packet? We don’t like to keep candy in the house. Usually, when I make a good, filling supper, the kids are full. 

When I’m too tired to cook:

We don’t usually get takeout. I think of ordering it, then I think what’s the big deal, it’s just a few minutes, and I put up a simple supper. In a pinch, my kids can make pasta.

Favorite spice or sauce:

Just the regular garlic and pepper. But I put parsley flakes in everything.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 968)