Shabbos is always tough for me. Sometimes, I'm invited out and have to make wise food choices. If I'm having shabbos at home, I plug my recipies into mfp and meal plan. This week, my meals look like this:

Friday night:

chicken soup with a matzoh ball
meatballs and sauce over challah kugel
steamed snap peas
cantelope
red wine & homemade multi grain challah

Saturday Lunch:
deviled egg
indian cholent
cantelope
red wine and homemade multi grain challah

Third meal:

indian cholent
homemade multi grain challah

After Shabbos:
chicken soup with a matzoh ball
sugar snap peas

I sometimes have guests. Then, I make a variety of dishes and just portion out what I'm eating. I've been able to stay on the 1200 calorie diet since June. (Even while at seminary for 5 weeks during that time.) None of my guests or hosts have been offended that I eat a tiny bit.

I serve tilapia or salmon for fish. they are healthy, filling, and delicious.

I'm having a very hard time trying to fit shabbos into my meal plan.

I'm off of white flour and sugar, so I'm planning on one slice of WW challah at each meal (we don't eat shalosh seudas).

I'm doing my best to eat my salads "plain" all week and am looking forward to having a dressed salad on shabbos. The green salad I can survive without dressing but the asian cabbage salad needs toasted sesame oil and it's SO HIGH in fat...

I was looking forward to a 4oz piece of salmon and a piece of chicken that wasn't a grilled chicken breast.

But if I eat the way I planned, I'm using almost all my calories for Friday in just shabbos dinner!

I am trying to find a walking buddy for Friday night after the meal so I can walk off my "extra" calories.

Veggies are your friend. Instead of focusing on kugels and challah and dips and other super fattening (albeit delicious and 'homey') shabbos foods, make a lot of side dishes with low-calorie veggies. I personally love grilled zucchini and eggplant (both of which can be served hot or cold) and fresh green beans roasted with lemon slices and pine nuts.

You can make your standard chicken soup a lot healthier by fat skimming; they sell pitchers that help you skim the fat off the soup, or you can make ahead, toss in the fridge, and the fat will solidify on top for easy removal.

Opt for israeli salad and cut up veggies with low-cal dips and try holding off on more than a few bites of challah until you've finished some 'real food' - often people snarf challah because they're sitting around waiting for the next course.

I make my own kishke for the chulent; it's super easy and I just toss the ingredients in the blender. It's carrot based and uses ground oats in moderation instead of flour. tastes a lot like the tam-tam recipe. kishke otherwise is a deathtrap of calories and fat.

Go with baked apples for dessert. Filled with dried fruits and nuts and a tiny bit of honey, they're amazing and make a really pretty presentation for guests. ditto wine-poached pears.

If anyone has a question about how to alter a specific recipe to be more diet-friendly, feel free to message me. I'm a classically trained chef with extensive experience in creating meals that are healthy and diabetic-friendly.

shabbos also used to always get me down... but i try to plan ahead.. i premeasure my chicken/turkey into the amount of ozes im supposed t have and i try to stick to green tea and cut fruit for desserts... i love making low cal side dishes... my favorite is popcorn cauliflower....soo easy to make and sooo soo good! roasted cut eggplant is also good... on fri night a nice hearty veg soup fills u up... its tough that our religion revolves so much around food.. like chanukah right now... but we can do this

Just think about it. If you are over, then you aren't going to lose, or not as much.

hehyehe

that does sound good, huh? She posted that in August 2012.