Like the Bride Set (as a Diamond in a Setting) Among Her Friends
O.K, now that we’ve given some basics, let’s move on to the crowning glory of the week, Shabbos. Even when I once went on a diet, and lost 30 pounds, I did not diet on Shabbos. I was more careful than usual, especially with portion control, yet I did not totally deprive myself of anything–not even the peak of the food pyramid–or in my grandchildren’s words–“can we have some junk?” (that’s fats, sweets, you know, all things rich and sugary). I would take “just a sliver” of pie, or just one chocolate covered almond, so I didn’t feel deprived. But my dear hubby has a strong will to lose, and he is REALLY trying to lose, so I want to make his Shabbosim properly Dukan–but how can-you-do-Dukan when you are having lots of guests and family who are not used to this way of eating–and have no desire to get used to it?
I’ll tell you what I did. I devised a delicious menu of Dukan friendly foods, supplemented by salatim, carbs and desserts for the non-Dukanians, and it works out beautifully. Let me share a sample menu.
Leil Shabbat (Friday night):
Kiddush ( my husband takes a mouthful to be yotzei) and challah (he is now having the whole wheat which I have always preferred, but only enough to be able to make the bracha “al netilas yedayim”–a k’baitza)
Salatim–I can make Dukan friendly vegetable-based dips and salatim for my husband, and I buy traditional chumus, techina, vegetarian chopped liver, etc. for the guests
Fish–I have begun frequenting the fish store in our neighborhood and am getting acquainted with some very delicious types of fish–I look them up on Google and have gotten some fantastic recipes which I will bs”d share with the greatest of pleasure. I also Dukanized the original gefilte fish recipe given to me so many years ago, when we first made aliya, before the loaves of frozen fish were available., and I think the result was great.
Soup–we do not generally do this course, as my husband is not fond of it and does not want the meal to drag on–and besides, we all eat soooo much on Friday night, the soup is not necessary–but soups are not a problem, as a great chicken soup is perfect for Dukan, and there are other soups which are great for variety, if you are into variety, as I am. So we can talk about those too, bs”d, all in good time. As a matter of fact, I used one of my favorite soups for the first non-chalunt “chamin” that I made.
Chicken is our mainstay for the Friday night meal, but roasts, whole turkey and even tongue–just the tip for Dukanians–make their appearance on Yom Tov and special occasions
Side dishes–I have found a number of kugels which responded well to the changes necessary to make them Dukan-appropriate,and also use root vegetables to give a satisfying carb substitute, and then there are the regular vegetable sides, whichcan fit perfectly into Dukan, if you use the 28 allowed vegetables
Desserts–there are some recipes in the Dukan books, but also on sites such as “Dukan Diet Meals” “The Dukan Diet Site,” “My Dukan Diet“, all of which you can probably access just by googling Dukan diet desserts, but I’ll try to tell you about our particular finds in future blogs–as I said, you may have to look high and low for a variety of desserts without dairy products.
Shabbos morning seudah:
The same as Leil Shabbat until after the fish course. At this point, we usually have a big tossed salad, with a rainbow of colors–lettuce, cucumbers, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, red cabbage, sliced fresh mushrooms–and we like matchstick kohlrabi, which I learned the delights of from my son and daughter-in-law. Now that we kan-du, we have started serving our own homemade chopped liver alongside the salad–because the storebought variety is rather heavy on the fat/oil. I just saute lots of finely chopped onions–I buzz them in the food processor to make quick work of the chopping–in a little oil spray, then combine with eggs, chopped in the same food processor, and chicken livers ground by our butcher.
I may serve a deli-roll minus the puff pastry, by rolling lowfat pastrami or corned beef inside thinly sliced chicken breasts, securing with a toothpick,and coating with a mixture of 0% sugar apricot jelly and mustard before baking or grilling–but watch carefully. I just learned from the site “Dukan Diet Meals” that 0% jelly is an allowed food which was not included in the book, I use just a little anyway. If I’m short on time, I can just serve a deli platter with two or three kinds of lowfat meats,, like roast beef, turkey–smoked or Mexican, etc., and pastrami or corned beef.
The mainstay of our morning seudah was always the traditional chalunt, but I am experimenting with different soups and stews–so far, so good. So that no non-Dukanian feels carb-deprived, I may serve lukshen /potato kugel on the side and put kishka into my stew–it comes in its own wrapping, so does not affect the stew for my husband, and I want to try wrapping some of the kugel mixtures I make and including them in the stew for him too.
I may serve a non-Dukan dessert to others and satisfy my husband’s need for something sweet with a tofutti fudge pop.
Seudah shlishit: We have the minhag of eating fish at all three Shabbos meals. At Shalosh Seudos, for a change, I use packaged smoked fishes like mackerel, makrosa, tuna, and when the days get longer, I’ll bs”d make lox and cream cheese roll-ups, plenty of salads, and plenty of Zemiros.
A Guten Shabbos to you!