My 1st Shabbat...

I'm 33 years old and I've never cooked my own Shabbat dinner. Being single for so many of my adult years, and having a boyfriend who lives 3000 miles away, means I usually go elsewhere for Shabbat  or do nothing.  Cooking for one can be a not so fun thing afterall.

Tomorrow is different though. My boyfriend (TG) will be flying in from Ottawa tomorrow afternoon and so I'm making my first Shabbat dinner. It's not that I don't cook, and I can follow and adapt a recipe wonderfully, I just never have the chance. And so, today I started prepping for tomorrow's dinner since a chunk of the afternoon will be spent at the airport and stuff. 

What did I do today? First, I picked up two challahs so we can do a proper Chamotzi; though the second challah is a tiny roll because one challah is more than enough.  It looks SO good. 

I made a vegetable soup broth with all sorts of stuff like: leeks, garlic, rosemary, pepper, carrots, parsley, celery, bay leaves, and I added some fake chicken broth mix. The soup tastes "o.k.".  The matzah balls will make the difference and soup is always better the second day right? I'm not a huge soup person as it is and I don't eat meat. (Well, not fully true, when I go elsewhere for Shabbos I do have matzah ball soup with real chicken broth). I also made matzah balls from scratch (yes I know they're easy). I found a recipe that is similar to my mother's light and fluffy matzah balls.  The trick you ask? ... a little parsley and club soda. Something about the bubbly club soda adds to the fluffiness. The matzah balls turned out awesome, I'm so glad!

I also chopped, diced, peeled and scooped away. Some of the things included in tomorrow's cooking are: onions,  parsley, fennel, radishes, sweet peppers, mushrooms, and scooped out zuchinnis. OH! Just remembered, I need to make the avocado dressing tomorrow for the salad. Some changes to my menu. I made the avo dressing but it's not what I want so we'll have to use it for something else. First we have challah, then matzah ball soup, followed by a salad with homemade vinagrette to go with a green salad tossed with purple onion, mango and strawberries. We also will have a fennel and radish salad in a lemon mixture. Then the main dish is stuffed zuchinnis which includes chick peas, onions, and other goodness.  We have no official dessert but I have some coffee ice cream in the freezer and some chocolate covered soy nuts. I feel like dessert should be more but I guess after matzah balls and salads and stuff...who needs dessert!

Cooking like this is fun because I have a purpose and something to look forward to. However, I don't know how moms with multiple children and jobs do this weekly. Go moms!

Good Shabbos!! And TG, have a safe flight babe!

FYI: Scooping zuchinnis is NOT easy. I snapped a couple in half so some of the stuffed zuchinnis will be in parts.