Why is this year different from all other years? Well, we’ve all got a little more on our plates as we approach Pesach this time around, so we thought we’d share our tips for pulling together a 3-day yom tov as simply as possible.

In our house, we build our meals with a few simple building blocks: for lunches, a green salad, a main dish, and sometimes a starchy side; for dinner, two cooked vegetables, a main dish, and a dessert.

We try to stick to veggies that can do double duty. At dinner, it’s a fresh cooked vegetable side dish and at lunch the next day, we’re throwing it into a big green salad. One of our favorites is roasted sweet potatoes seasoned with rosemary that we turn into a salad with arugula, scallions, parsley, some quinoa, dried cherries or pomegranate seeds, dressed with a vinaigrette or lemon juice and olive oil. 

Some other veggies that work as a side dish or in salad are roasted cauliflower, roasted potatoes, Moroccan-style carrots, roasted beets, and roasted peppers. We also make sure to have some veggies on hand for the kids, like steamed broccoli, fresh carrots, and fresh peppers. If you want to add a starchy side, we like quinoa, potato kugel, and carrot kugel.

If you’re ready to think about specific recipes, follow these links for all kinds of ideas of what to cook over Passover:

  • Seder & Chag Mains — special occasion food worthy for celebration
  • Chol HaMoed Meals — includes breakfast, lunch and simpler dinners that could work on holiday meals as well
  • Desserts — some of our all-time favorite cakes are great for Passover!

If you’re not quite ready for the actual recipes, and still feeling overwhelmed planning your Pesach meals on top of everything else, here’s a sample menu you can use. Swap out the mains and sides that you love, but it’s okay to keep it simple. Really. 

 

Wednesday, April 8 – Erev Pesach, first Seder

 

Thursday, April 9 – first day of Pesach

 

Friday, April 10 – Second day of Pesach

  • Breakfast:
  • Lunch:
    • Salad with roasted sweet potatoes from last night
    • Main: Baked Salmon
    • Vegetables: roasted peppers (make ahead)
  • Shabbat dinner:

 

Saturday, April 11 – Shabbat

  • Breakfast:
    • fruit, fish, yogurt
  • Shabbat lunch:
  • Dinner
    • if you’re still hungry after a 3-day yom tov (!), how about some sliced cucumber on matzah with butter or cream cheese and salt?

 

Want more suggestions?

Cookbook author and Jewish food write Leah Koenig compiled this excellent google spreadsheet of menu ideas for Passover, which includes links to the recipes. Find it here.