Rosh Hashana - Part Two: The Food

If I've learned one thing since becoming a mom, it's that when you entertain, you should keep things simple.  So when it came time to planning the menu for our Rosh Hashana dinner, I stuck with dishes that were really good, but also really easy to make.  I also used my chafing dishes to keep the warm dishes warm so that I didn't have to wait to the last minute to put everything out (and I didn't have to keep reheating the dishes before guests went back for seconds and thirds).

The Dinner Menu:

• Gefilte Fish

•   Israeli Salad

•  Butter Lettuce Salad with Beets and Corn

•  Round Challahs

•  Green Beans with Tomatoes

•  Israeli Cous Cous with Lentils

• Sweet Potato Apple Bake  

• Brisket

 

The Dessert Table 

A Rosh Hashana dinner is full of sweet symbols for a sweet new year.  So I figured it was appropriate to have a sweet table, full of sweet things.

 

 

• Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries (I doubled the recipe that I found here).  These were a huge hit, and so simple to make.  The only thing I would do different next time, is that I used a ziplock bag with the corner cut off to fill the strawberries and it was really messy.  Next time, I would use a real piping bag or a spoon.

 

• Chocolate Lacies (store purchased)
• Meringue Cookies (store purchased)

•  Grapes

• Carmel Apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - We sliced them to make it easier to eat and share. 

• Chocolate Moose
• Chocolate Covered Strawberries
• Apple Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream
• Apple Pie Pops (from a recipe I found here - I used frozen Pillsbury pie crust and they came out great). 

Rosh Hashana - Part One: The Tablescape

One of my favorite parts of planning for a holiday, is figuring out the tablescape.  This year, I wanted something elegant and simple, so I stuck with silver, white, and green.

I found really inexpensive silver satin tablecloths (here), and I made simple centerpieces out of white hydrangeas and roses with some green accent flowers.  I had planned on using green orchids, but couldn't find them.  The smaller filler flowers worked just fine.

For the seating cards, I found small apples at Michael's and I cut out little leaves with everyone's name on them.  I punched a hole in each leaf and hung it on an apple.  (I am a big fan of seating cards for a formal holiday dinner - I don't have to deal with everyone asking me where to sit while I'm trying to get the food ready, and I can also arrange the seating in a way that ensures good conversations around the entire table).

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You May Be Seated

One of the most torturous events of planning a wedding, bar or bat mitzvah or any other large scale event is the dreaded seating chart. Keeping certain people a part, making sure others sit together can be a stressful undertaking. Not to mention, some guests may be "offended" by the location of their table (although this is up for debate, as my mom would argue the tables closest to the band and the tables closest to the back (by the bar) are the worst tables, but arguably these are the best!)

Luckily, this task can be simplified by letting software do all the work for you! Check out this amazing program that Mitzvah-licious found.