Nechama Finkelstein,

Lakewood, NJ

“Just Us” Shabbos Menu

Unlike me, my husband and kids never get tired of having the same foods, and they eat them with the same excitement every single week. We have potato kugel, apple crisp, deli salad — always the same exact recipes, and they always fight over them! So I stick to tried and true, because if I try anything new, my kids will complain about it!

4 Things I Love to Serve to Guests

A lot of variety and options! I always have an assortment of drinks so there’s something for everyone. It’s the same with meat and chicken. Some people like healthy and some don’t, so I try to have a variety of everything. If I have leftovers, I used to feel bad about the waste, but now I’ve adjusted my thinking to If there are leftovers, that means there was enough for people to have seconds, and I consider it a success.

Plenty of dips — dips and challah are a whole course. I make fresh chummus platters with mushrooms or chopped meat. Sometimes I’ll do marinated salads and vegetables. I also like to serve a nice fish platter — I’ll do tuna steak with dipping sauce, and sea bass and salmon cubes on skewers.

I enjoy serving sangria. People enjoy it; it’s fun, pretty, and light and refreshing.

For Shabbos day, I always do meat boards. It’s fun to put everything on a board with a selection of meats and deli. Even if I’m just serving chicken, chicken nuggets, and franks ’n’ blanks, I’ll still throw it onto a board.