Rachel is a certified mindset, health, and behavior change coach who helps women break free from emotional eating, binge cycles, and the exhausting all-or-nothing mindset. Blending neuroscience, CBT tools, and over 12 years of experience, she guides her clients to build a healthy relationship with food — and with themselves. Her work isn’t about more control. It’s about freedom. It’s about peace. It’s about learning to trust your body again.

This was a topic I was excited to explore more deeply — while it’s focused on creating a healthy lifestyle, there is so much more around that that we delve into when it comes to building the life you want to be living and the habits that support it. We speak about letting go of perfectionism on that journey, how to navigate what a healthy lifestyle actually looks like for you and then the emotions that may come up along the way when getting there.

As women, our relationship with food can be layered and it’s one that comes up multiple times a day. Rachel works with women to get to a much freer place when it comes to choosing what to eat every day and just how to approach this aspect of our lives with a lot more calm.

These days, weight loss drugs are a hot topic as well and it feels that conversations around weight loss really run the gamut — first, we’re focusing more on body acceptance and not wanting to change to focusing on everyone doing weight loss drugs and how we feel about that to maybe feeling shame about wanting to lose weight and speaking openly about that to also wanting to love ourselves the way we are! — there can be feelings across the whole spectrum at different times in our lives and sometimes all at the same time. In this conversation, we speak about a lot of that. How you can feel confident and okay with wanting to lose weight if that’s your goal AND also work on loving yourself as you are.

Rachel has a new group opening up in July so reach out now! You can follow her on Instagram at @coach_rachel_rosenberg or connect via email at rachelr@mindbodyspirit.health.

Here, a roundup of Chanie’s expert tips from the episode. Let us know what you try in the comments!

The Mindset

“You don’t have to go crazy on a holiday like Pesach. Having the essentials and keeping things simple is the way to go,” Chanie shares. As someone who grew up with Chabad minhagim, her family had to keep it simple. They only used kosher salt to season — nothing extra. They didn’t use garlic either because it’s grown next to wheat fields. Some families don’t use oil — only shmaltz. They didn’t even use sugar — her mother would turn sugar into simple syrup by boiling and straining and use that as a sweetener.

That being said, Chanie grew up loving the holiday and looking forward to the unique things her mother would make just at this time. “She didn’t change things year after year,” Chanie shares.

Recipe Ideas

Overall, Chanie recommends roasting over stovetop cooking due to ease and retention of flavor. When you put something like beets in a pot with water for example, all the sweetness and the flavor of the beets goes into the water, but if you wrap your beets in foil and roast them in the oven, you’re concentrating the flavor of the beets. They become sweeter, taste more like themselves and they don’t get waterlogged.

You can do this with all vegetables and fruits — even making applesauce this way instead of standing over the stove.

• First, she references chremslach which you can make traditionally or the Busy in Brooklyn way.

• She also gave eggs a unique twist — sauté onions with chopped up hardboiled eggs. Then add a raw eggs and scramble it all together. It’s a recipe her bubbe made and mother continued when she was younger.

• Faux chopped liver — you take a lot of eggs and mix it with walnuts and sautéed onions.

• To think more outside of the box, swap some of your recipes with potatoes for plantains like in a shepherd’s pie (her complete recipe here!)
  
• Try tostones — these are green plantains which are fried twice and then topped with ceviche or pulled beef, avocado and pickled onions. She also has a great one on the site for savory plantain tortillas!
  
• Doctor up your potatoes — roast a sweet potato in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour until it starts to ooze and get crispy, she explains. If your minhag is to peel vegetables, wrap the potato in tinfoil after peeling so it doesn’t dry out. Bonus— turn this into soup by scooping out the flesh and adding it to a pot!
  
• Similarly, you can do this with a butternut squash. Butternut squash are notoriously hard to cut so if you wrap one in foil and roast for an hour — rotating a bit throughout the process so it cooks evenly, you can just scoop it out at the end. Add it to a pot with sauteed onions, ginger, garlic and apples (roasted or not beforehand) and it’s absolutely delicious!
  
• Further, you can turn that butternut squash into a pie. She has a recipe for this in Totally Kosher where you don’t even need any additional sweetener because of the natural caramelization and sweetness that comes out when you roast. Roast until the squash is really blistered and then mix the inside with coconut milk, cinnamon and eggs and voila! Deliciousness that’s natural and healthy.
  
• Let’s talk store-bought sauces. Instead of buying the duck sauce or soy sauce, skip it and trade in for something more natural instead. Soy sauce can be replaced with coconut aminos and you can make your own duck sauce! Just mix apricot jam (the natural kind) with garlic, ginger, lemon juice or vinegar and some chili pepper.
  
• You can make your own mayo too. “It’s the easiest thing to make!” Chanie shares. Here’s a reel where she shows you exactly how to do it. When you’re done, you can doctor it up with things like garlic, leftover horseradish from the seder, herbs, etc. You’ll have so many different variations! It can last you about a week in the fridge.
  
• When it comes to dairy, you can also have some fun. Swap regular noodles for zoodles or peel the white strips off a zucchini and use them like lasagna noodles. You can also make delicious eggplant parmesan — cut the eggplant in half length-wise and put it under the broiler for 20 minutes with the skin side up. Then stuff it with marinara and cheese. “No carbs, no frying, melty and so delicious!”
  
• Confit life — garlic confit is everywhere these days — and for good reason! Put garlic cloves with olive oil in the oven for about an hour until they get caramelized and buttery soft. You can spread it on matzah, mash and spread it over chicken or a roast and just add salt and pepper for maximum deliciousness. Add leeks, tomatoes or herbs like rosemary and thyme to mix it up — or try her jalapeño, date and garlic confit! Adding leftover confit to a salad dressing for a hint of sweetness and caramelization afterward is another great idea.

Dessert

Move over boxed mixes! These ideas will have your mouth watering and are super simple and healthier than traditional Pesach desserts — they deserved their own category in the recipe section. Plus, with egg prices soaring, these are all egg-free.

• Date barks — basically, you smash dates down next to each other so they’re flat and then top with nut butter, melted chocolate and any toppings like shaved coconut, pomegranate seeds, additional nuts, salt, etc. It’s a huge trend right now so recipes abound and you can personalize based on your own flavor profile.
  
• Banana ice cream — recipe on her site!
  
• Simple sorbets
  
• Shaved fruit — shave fruit on a mandolin, make a big mound, drizzle with honey and you’re done!
  
• Homemade nutella — this for sure is going to be the star of my Pesach show. Just roast hazelnuts in the oven, then take the skins off with a kitchen towel. While still warm, put them into a food processor and let it go until you have nut butter — you made need to scrape down a few times. Then, add in chocolate chips which will melt because the nuts are warm, add a splash of vanilla and pinch of salt and you’re done! Perfect for date bark, on top of fruit, matzah or anything else you can think of!
  
• Mousse made with coconut milk and chocolate (so many recipes out there!)

Leftovers

Sometimes, you have just a little bit of something left— you don’t want to waste it but have no idea how to use it — some ideas here!

• Dips — smother them on a salmon or chicken as a seasoning or marinade.
  
• Brisket — turn leftover brisket or meat into shepherd’s pie or tacos — that way, people don’t need as much!

The Prep

Here, some tips to make your entire prep process much easier — because we all want things streamlined!

• Mince a whole bunch of garlic at once in the food processor so you’re not doing it five times — then take from the jar as needed. Similarly, spend 10 minutes cutting all your onions, or one make one big batch of sautéed onions, so you have them ready ahead of time for use.
  
• To minimize cleaning with the food processor, slide a sheet of parchment paper right under the lid so only the bottom gets dirty.
  
• Use real sheet pans, not disposable ones. While this may seem like more work, the real caramelization from the veggie roasting comes when you have the real deal.
  
• Bonus — invest in some larger sheet trays. The caramelization can’t happen when veggies are crowding the pan. Getting a 3/4 sheet tray instead of the half size will give you extra room and have you taking up a wider space that your oven already offers!

Meal Planning

Don’t overthink it! That’s number one. At a restaurant, for example, Chanie shares, you usually do an appetizer, main and dessert. That’s it. You don’t need 30 dips or salads on course one — one big salad is nice. Keep your meal to a protein, carb and vegetable, add a dessert at the end and you’re good to go. Especially in chuz l’aretz this year with first days being three days, we’ve got to keep it more simple.

• For a third day meal (or any Shabbos lunch idea) try a board! You can do a baked potato board with things like sour cream, salsa and pickled jalapenos (or things that you can find or make K for P) and all you really need to do is bake some potatoes to prep.
  
• Try tacos with jicama or the plantains linked above. Fancy restaurants will use jicama now because they are very wide. Slice it on a mandolin thinly and that becomes the taco shell. Put ceviche in there or pulled salmon and you’re good to go.
  
• Try egg crepes, noodle crepes or a blintz board for Pesach building ideas.
  
• Build your own poke bowl with cauliflower rice or quinoa — you can also build your own quinoa sushi!
  
• Since the seder is more formal, you can start with her homemade gefilte fish recipe — in Totally Kosher! This was the exact recipe her mother used to make on Pesach and comes from the Lubvaticher Rebbe’s wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. Start the meal with fish, maybe a grated beet salad. You can do cucumber salad and ratatouille or her mother’s vinaigrette which was boiled beets, carrots, potatoes and red onions mixed together.
  
• If you want to do something heimish, you can start with a scoop of egg salad or the mock chopped liver.
  
• Then, chicken soup is always a classic and you can use egg noodles in it.
  
• Since we don’t usually roast meat on Pesach, Chanie has a recipe for braised leek chicken in Milennial Kosher, plus there are a bunch of stovetop roast ideas which are a good go-to.

The most important tip? FIND THE JOY! You want to feel good going into Pesach, you want your kids to see you happy and you want to have delicious food that you also love! Even if you’re the only one eating it, you are also a person and deserve to be happy so treat yourself and enjoy all the delicious things you’re cooking up.

Wishing everyone a beautiful Pesach!

If you are not already familiar, Chanie is a food writer and photographer who has a really unique way of blending traditional Jewish foods with modern flavors. She started her blog, Busy in Brooklyn, in 2011 so it’s been giving us delicious recipe ideas for all occasions for nearly 15 years now. She is also the author of two cookbooks, Millennial Kosher and Totally Kosher where you can get even more recipe ideas from Chanie as well as tons of tips about cooking, how to stock your kitchen, plan a meal and more.

As we all know, Pesach is a stressful time on the Jewish calendar, but the more I get into making and hosting Pesach, the more I’m determined to take the stress out of the process. This episode with Chanie will do that for you. It’s genuinely fun. I felt lighter and excited after recording it and had that same feeling after listening through again and editing it. It just got me actually excited to cook for Pesach and feeling blessed for the opportunity to do so versus overburdened with chores. 

In the episode, we talk a bit about:

• Chanie’s background and how her spirituality has evolved over the years especially throughout various challenges she has gone through
• Then, about halfway through, the ideas start FLOWING when it comes to easy foods you can make this Pesach mainly out of fruits, vegetables nuts and seeds and it is both mouth-watering and easier than you think.
• She also shares tips that can help you in the kitchen and streamline your cooking experience.
• We go through how to plan a meal — whether it’s seder night or a third day lunch and it’s just so awesome to see how her brain works in that way.

Her ideas are simplified yet do not skimp on the flavor. In fact, they are bursting with flavor and because so many of the ingredients are just fruits and vegetables or repurposing something you have, you will be saving tons of money not having to buy all the processed pantry products and too many extras because as we all know Pesach can get really expensive really quickly.

To help you out further, I made a companion document where I typed up all the ideas for easy access — view it here!

Wishing all of you a beautiful Pesach.

Nutrition is a tool in my toolkit for my purpose on this planet in this lifetime. That purpose is to remind everyone that I cross paths with, whether as a personal client in a one-on-one session, through this column, or at a speaking event, that they have a unique energy that only they can bring to this world. I may be able to provide some tools and tips for harnessing that energy, nutrition, and lifestyle habits being some of them, but my goal is to get you excited, passionate, emotional, motivated, and disciplined enough to show up with your potential. In this column, we’ll discuss how to use nutrition and lifestyle habits to create a life you love and a body you feel good in. I’d love to hear what you want to learn more about. Feel free to send me questions or suggestions at nomi@nomiknows.com.

Let’s jump in and get started with my number one recommendation for adults. Let’s separate kid and adult nutrition. The most important thing is for children to develop a healthy relationship with food. I will address that at a later date. I’ve had clients, with very good intentions, try to introduce nutrition concepts into their home that end up backfiring. I’ve heard it all. The vegan family whose child takes other kids chicken at lunch or the sugar-free, no-packaged food family with a kid who chronically noshes and hides wrappers under their bed. That is not the relationship we want our kids to have with food, so please remember that my recommendations are for a general adult audience.

I work in the field of individualized nutrition. That means that when a client comes to see me, I look at their specific health history and genetics, habits, dietary patterns, and biomarkers to determine what is best for them. This isn’t a generalized dietetics approach. This is personalized nutrition, and it is the future of wellness. I firmly believe that the world is transitioning back to the idea that food is medicine, and I am excited to be part of this movement and evolution of nutritional biochemistry.

So, back to my first recommendation to improve your energy, decrease the bloat, drop a few pounds, and eliminate the late afternoon sugar cravings. I recommend to start the day with a savory meal, and make sure that the meal is higher in protein, vegetables, fiber, and healthy fats than it is in carbohydrates. Even if those carbohydrates are healthy, they are NOT how you want to start the day. Unless you are an athlete, and then you need a personalized nutrition plan to optimize performance. For the average person, starting the day with a high protein, a little fat, and vegetable meal is the key to sustained energy and glucose regulation throughout the day.

I often get some pushback against this. What about oatmeal? What about high-fiber muffins? What if eggs feel too heavy? What if one feels they absolutely can’t start the day with a savory meal? Here’s where the tough talk comes in. Try it for two weeks, and then you can decide whether or not you want to continue.

Improving one’s health isn’t about doing or eating new things and loving them; it is about experimentation to find what feels right for your body. Experimentation only works if there is an adequate time of observation. So try eating a savory breakfast for two weeks. Eggs and vegetables are the easiest, in my opinion. Adding some fresh herbs, like parsley or coriander, gives you an A+ for phytonutrient content and color. What if eggs get boring? Ok, buckle up for a second because I’m going to share my unconventional breakfast.

Chicken salad is the ultimate flex. It’s the ultimate breakfast if you add a variety of colorful vegetables, some seeds for crunch (I favor pumpkin), a yummy dressing (include some cold-pressed olive oil for the win), and some legumes (black lentils are adorable—seriously, and they are packed with nutrients).

Guess what. You will feel so great you won’t even crave those morning starchy carbs anymore. Why does what you eat in the morning matter? When you eat a carbohydrate-heavy breakfast, like oatmeal and fruit, your pancreas is going to produce insulin to help turn those carbohydrates into energy. Insulin is a hormone, and once your body starts pumping out insulin, it seeks hormone homeostasis and tries to prevent blood sugar crashes. That means that you are going to have more carb cravings all day. The best way to keep energy and blood sugar stable is to start the day with high protein, high fiber, and healthy fats.

Ditch the cereal; ditch the Western idea that breakfast starts with a croissant or a muffin. The standard American diet is contributing to the chronic disease epidemic in America. Recent numbers from the CDC have shown that over 130 million adults in America have pre or Type 2 diabetes. That is a staggering statistic showing that over 30% of the American population has a preventable condition. I’ll say it again and again: Type 2 diabetes is a preventable condition, even with a strong genetic predisposition. Yes, some people will have to work a lot harder at prevention. They will need to eat the correct dietary pattern and watch starchy and simple carb intake. It also means they will need to prioritize building and maintaining muscle and avoid dietary advanced glycation end (AGE) products. Dietary AGEs are a byproduct of lipid and protein combined with sugar that can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, as well as other chronic diseases.

I look forward to addressing more particulars of glucose regulation, metabolic health, and Type 2 diabetes prevention in future columns. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, go try that chicken (or salmon or organic tofu) salad for breakfast, and let me know how you feel. I can be reached anytime @nominkowsnutrition on Instagram if you want to share some observations.

Cheshvan is a time when people want to put their goals into action. We reflected in Elul and Tishrei, came up with what we want our intentions to be going into this new year, and Cheshvan really is the quiet time afterward to set things into motion and make things happen.

For many, working on or maintaining good health habits is a big goal. Maybe it’s eating more whole foods, finding time to exercise, or making going to sleep earlier a priority. Maybe it’s spending less time on your phone or social media or maybe it’s even trying to be just a little bit more positive each day.

These are all things that Nomi is helping us with on today’s episode. 

Nomi is a double board-certified nutritionist and health and wellness coach, affiliated with Duke Integrative Medicine at Duke University. She holds a Master of Science in Nutrition and Functional Medicine. Her undergraduate and graduate research topics have included the psychology of long-term weight-loss maintenance and the role of nutrition in ADHD. She has a private coaching practice in Jerusalem and on Zoom, with clients from all over the world. Additionally, Nomi runs educational workshops on nutrition, healthy lifestyle essentials, and behavioral change. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Clinical Nutrition and researching the relationship between the estrobolome and female hormone disorders. She can be reached at nomi@nomiknows.com or on Instagram @nomiknowsnutrition.

Learn more about Nomi’s backstory on Inspiration for the Nation.

Trigger warning for this episode: We speak about pregnancy, miscarriage and diet and nutrition so if any of those things may be triggering for you, definitely feel free to turn off the episode, I completely understand.

Now let’s learn about our amazing guest, Lauren Allen. Lauren is a former sugar addict turned Certified Nutrition Coach who specializes in women’s hormonal health and fertility. After being diagnosed with PCOS after struggling with infertility, Lauren discovered the power of using food as medicine to heal her body, balance her hormones, and eventually get pregnant naturally. Lauren believes that all women deserve to harness the power of eating foods that help balance their hormones and optimize their fertility without feeling deprived or restricted. She is the creator of the Balance Your Hormones 101 program and The Empowered Path to Pregnancy program to help women learn how diet and lifestyle changes can help them balance their hormones and optimize their fertility. She coaches women privately as well.

In this episode, we speak about:

• How Lauren got to where she is today, working through a sugar addiction to become a health coach and conceive two children naturally
• What a hormone is and what its role is in your body
• What vital organs in your body do and how the food we eat can affect them
• What balancing our blood sugar means and how to do so effectively
• How to improve out diets to add in more nutrition, in a way that’s not overwhelming
• What it actually means to be “born with all your eggs” — it’s not what you think!
• The best things to eat during the pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and postpartum periods to optimize your health and your baby’s health
• How to make time to take care of ourselves

…and so much more!

If you want to learn more from Lauren, you can follow her on Instagram @laurenallennutrition and visit her website laurenallennutrition.com — there are tons of awesome recipes on there (I highly recommend the chickpea chocolate chip cookies!) She also has her own podcast called “About Health and Hormones” which you can learn more about here: laurenallennutrition.com/podcast. For more information on her courses, you can also visit her website.

If there is a guest you would like to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, send a DM to @chaionlifemag on Instagram or email alex@chaionlifemag.com.

Thanks for listening!

Last year, I decided I really wanted to inject more spirituality and realized I didn’t have to sacrifice so much of it — I could put it into what I was already doing. One of the most special and unique parts of Rosh Hashanah is the service that identifies different simanim, or symbols, which are foods eaten to help ensure a good new year. Some have customs to eat each one before the meal starts while others intersperse them in different courses throughout the meal. Even if the custom is to eat them at the start though, it’s also fun to continue integrating them throughout to keep the spirit of the holiday going.

A beautiful explanation of the simanim comes from The Meiri, a medieval commentator on the Talmud. He says, “The purpose of simanim is to simply awaken our hearts and inspire us to direct our goals for the new year along the proper path.” So you’ll see that each symbol has a specific prayer associated with it that correlates to the meaning of the Hebrew or Yiddush word, or the nature of the food itself.

To help uplift your Rosh Hashanah prep experience and meal, we’ve got a breakdown of the simanim as well as delicious recipes to turn them into. Do you have a go-to way you make simanim? Comment below!

Simanim Carpaccio

I love combining all the Simanim when guests come in — in the past, I’ve done it in a salad, but my mouth is watering at these new ideas. Combining them is a stunning way to present all of these delicious, symbolic foods, plus you get a bunch in on one plate! Of course, Chani Apfelbaum of Busy in Brooklyn does it beautifully with her Simanim Carpaccio:

Simanim Ribbons

Leave it to my girl, Danielle, at Peas Love n Carrots for a beautiful and fresh idea for the simanim. Her simanim ribbons are actually easy to make yet look so professional. I’m so tempted to try it out this year!

Rosh Hashanah Envelopes

I’m kind of freaking out over these — so much fruity sweetness in one perfect puff pastry bite? What could be better. They’re cute, easy to make, and combine so many simanim in one. Yes, yes and yes!

Apples in Honey

This one is pretty straightforward. Apples are abundant this time of year and they’re round which is a symbol of renewal. The honey is to ensure our year is sweet! A fun way to do this is to get a special honey dish that really elevates the dipping. You can also get apples in a variety of colors and slice them to make a rainbow apples and honey board. Link here for inspo!

For dessert, try this healthy apple honey cake from Kosher.com. My mouth is already watering.

Fish, Pomegranate and Leeks

We often have a fish head or sheep head on the table to symbolize the desire to be heads and not tails, or leaders and not followers but fish in general is also its own symbol. We eat fish as a blessing to be fruitful and multiply like fish. We eat pomegranate seeds in the hopes that our merits increase like the seeds of a pomegranate. Leeks, in Hebrew, are called karet which means “to cut.” We eat them in the hopes that our enemies will be decimated.

This delicious salmon recipe combines all three!

Beets

The Hebrew word for beets is selek, similar to the word meaning “to remove.” So similar to the leeks, we eat beets in the hopes that our adversaries and prosecutors be removed this year. This caramelized beets recipe will for sure be a crowd pleaser.

Butternut squash

Gourds in Hebrew, are called “kra” which means “to tear.” So we eat a member of the gourd family in the hopes that any bad decrees are torn up. This roast is a perfect main course and incorporates butternut squash so it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Carrots

In Yiddush, the word for carrots is “meren” which also means “to increase.” We eat carrots to symbolize our merits increasing in the coming year and that we have bountiful good decrees bestowed upon us.

This roasted carrot recipe has an unexpected twist with the zaatar and is the perfect fall side dish.

Dates

Dates in Hebrew are called tamarim which is similar to the word that means, “to end.” With dates, we pray that our enemies will be consumed. This chicken recipe from Jamie Geller is another delicious main course which has a perfect tangy sweetness. You’ll be obsessed!

What are your favorite ways to incorporate simanim? Let us know in the comments!

Now we all know that when a festival arrives, there is a need for physical preparation as well as the spiritual. On Shavuot, they really combine as the seudah is the main mitzvah of the holiday! While many festivals are filled with lavish meals, this one gives dairy a little time to shine. One of the many reasons we eat dairy on Shavuot is because the laws of kashrut were given at Mount Sinai. Because it was Shabbat, no meat could be slaughtered and no utensils could be kashered in celebration, so we ate dairy. (Chabad.org)

That being said, some nevertheless have the custom to eat a meat meal because it is a festive holiday. Those that do often opt to have a dairy kiddush before the meal, usually after a whole night of staying up to learn Torah. So here we have options for everyone. Whether you indulge in meat or dairy on Shavuot, these recipes will ensure that your table is festive and your food delicious. Wishing everyone a sweet Shavout—one that allows you to accept the Torah again and see all the beauty in your life.

Dairy Ideas:

Creamy Cauliflower Soup (Mara Strom at Kosheronabudget.com)

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Salmon (Esty Wolbe at Kosher.com)

Cauliflower and Butternut Squash “Risotto” (Vera Newman at Kosher.com)

Fettuccine Alfredo with Chestnuts and Mushrooms (Chaia Frishman at Kosher.com)

Hash Brown and Tomato Pie (Eileen Goltz at Kosher.com)

Cheesecake Brownie Bars (Kitchen Art at Kosher.com)

No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake (Sweet Moments: Rega Matok at Kosher.com)

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes (Jewlish by Jamie at JamieGeller.com)

Meat Ideas:

Non-Dairy Cream of Broccoli Soup (Tamar Genger at JamieGeller.com)

Sweet and Smoky Brisket (Ariella Lazaros at Kosher.com)

One-Pan Tomato Basil Chicken (Ally Mawhirter at Kosher.com)

Sweet Potato and Carrot Bake (Jamie Geller at JamieGeller.com)

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes (Jamie Geller at JamieGeller.com)

Rainbow Veggie Platter (Naomi Hazan at JamieGeller.com)

Vegan No-Bake Cheesecake (Jamie Geller at JamieGeller.com)

No Bake Fudge Balls (Naomi Hazan at Kosher.com)

—

For more meal ideas, click here!

It can be daunting to figure out what to serve, especially if you’re already prepping and laying out a big lunch. And the third meal is meant to remain relatively simple: a meal for our bodies, but also for our souls. We’re meant to savor the time we have left of the holy day—singing songs and connecting to it—feeling closer to Hashem and the people around us.

So, we’re taking some extra thinking off your hands. This collection of recipes and ideas are the go-to classics that many people serve for seudat shlishit—with a fresh spin to liven things up! Whether it’s just your family or you’re having guests, these are crowd-pleasers with a lot of customization potential. Plus, with a few staple ingredients and steps, they won’t add so much extra work to your Shabbat prep.

Classics with a Twist

Cold Sesame Noodles (Tamar Genger, MA, RD at jamiegeller.com)

Black Bean & Quinoa Salad (Mara Strom at kosheronabudget.com)

High-Protein Guacamole Recipe (Bat-El Gershowitz at kosher.com)

No-Mayo Potato Salad (Dalya Rubin at kosher.com)

Crunch Ramen Red Cabbage Slaw (Jamie Geller at jamiegeller.com)

Classic Summer BBQ Salad (Rivki Rabinowitz at kosher.com)

Other Creative Alternatives

Cereal Bar

My family and I eat Shabbat lunch early enough (we wait six hours after eating meat to have dairy) that we can enjoy dairy by third meal in the summer. If this isn’t the case for you, then don’t worry, there are plenty of milk alternatives that will still allow you to live out your childhood dreams. My friend Esti gave me this idea to just serve cereal for third meal—no prep required, super delicious and you can get creative with different fruit or yogurt toppings if you wish! Just wash and then eat the cereal and milk of your choice.

At-home Falafel Stand

This will take your third meal to the next level. Here’s an awesome recipe from Lauren Allen (@laurenallennutrition) for delicious and healthy oven-baked, crispy falafel balls. You can also totally pick up a pack from the freezer section to make things even easier! You can include a pita station with dips like hummus and techina. Then make a quick Israeli salad or other chopped veggies to stuff it with. This will be a super-filling (and tasty!) meal and will make you feel like you actually just had a real, amazing dinner.

DIY Poke Bowls

This is really a classic because poke bowls are basically a sushi salad! For the base, use sushi rice, quinoa, brown rice or even a bed of lettuce. Add some sort of protein like cooked salmon or kani or splurge on sushi-grade salmon or tuna.

Then the fun begins! Add in avocado, cucumber and carrots—you can cut them however you choose: sliced, diced, julienned—and then mix in any other veggies you want on top, like chopped, roasted sweet potatoes. Last but definitely not least, top it with the sauces! Soy sauce, spicy mayo and/or a sweet sauce like they have at Japanese restaurants really make the dish. Spicy mayo is really easy to make—just mix mayo and sriracha and a quick sweet sauce recipe can be found here! (Natural Earth Products also makes a kosher one you can buy). Of course, you can always embellish with sauces you have at home that you love. Finally, garnish with sesame seeds (black and/or white) on top, if you like, and boom: a delicious poke bowl in minutes.

What’s your go-to third-meal idea? Let us know in the comments!

While we’ve designated these for different meals, you can of course mix and match to your liking.

Seder Night Two:

Caramelized French Roast (By Leah Schapira at BetweenCarpools.com)

This is another great stovetop roast recipe. If you want a sweeter taste, this is the roast for your Seder! 

Maple-Cinnamon Carrots (By Erin Grunstein at Kosher.com)

I guarantee there will not be one single carrot left.

Sweet-and-Smoky Sweet Potatoes (By Erin Grunstein at Kosher.com)

Here, another twist on potatoes that is super delish.

Chocolate Cake (By Renee Muller at BetweenCarpools.com) 

This Pesach chocolate cake is so good, you will forget it’s chametz-free.

Day Two: 

Baked Gefilte Fish (By OU Kosher at Kosher.com)

You can’t go wrong with this classic.

Jalapeño Dip (By Yussi Weisz at BetweenCarpools.com)

If you like a little kick, this is the best dip in the entire world.

Roasted Tomato Dip (By Esti Waldman at BetweenCarpools.com)

This dip is low-maintenance and so delicious.

Purple Cabbage and Carrot Salad (jamiegeller.com)

Cabbage salad is so refreshing at lunch. 

Balsamic Chicken (Ashira Mirsky-Kosher.com)

This is an easy, low-carb chicken dish that will make the whole table happy.

Orange Beets With Almonds (By Judy Bart Kancigor at Kosher.com)

This might be a new way for you to serve beets. I guarantee you will only want to serve them like this in the future!

Overnight Shtreimel Kugel (By Leah Schapira at BetweenCarpools.com)

This is best way to cook kugel!

No-Mixer Pesach Chocolate-Chip Squares (By Leah Schapira at BetweenCarpools.com)

You only need a 9×13 pan to make these—not even a bowl! So, it’s a no-brainer. One less thing to clean! 

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For more recipe ideas, click here!