Scroll down for the article on bringing school to the Shabbos table, and enjoy these recipes and product recommendations!
Cookie cutter Chanukah cube used for the wraps, pie, cookies, etc (I found the candles and letters hard to get exact but the other sides were awesome!)
Dreidel muffin tins used for Challah, cupcakes, and frozen chocolate mousse
Dreidel Gefilte Fish:
Deforst a roll of Gefilte fish just enough that you can shape it out. Cut into flat slides (or roll it flat) and use this Driedel cutter to cut the fish into Chanukah shapes. Top with any of the following: Zatar, marinara sauce, or honey mustard with bread crumbs.
Dreidel Wraps:
Using any wraps, cut dreidel shapes with a knife. Put on a baking sheet and spray with oil, and then put on garlic powder and onion powder. Bake on 400 for a few minutes until golden brown.
Menorah Focaccia:
Using Rhoudes Dough, put dinner rolls into a pan and cover with oil and seran wrap. Allow it to rise for a few hours. Punch dimples into the dough and then top with oil and herbs/salt of your choice! Using asparagus, tomatoes, garlic and purple onion, create a Menorah and Dreidel. Bake until lightly browned.
Gelt cookies:
Make any chocolate chip cookie recipe (or use premade dough) and bake. Two minutes before they are ready, add gelt to the center of each cookie.
Gelt bark:
Use white chocolate as the base and fill with any toppings of your choice; pretzels, candies, popcorn. Just be sure to include the gelt and you’ve got gelt bark!
Chanukah pies:
Make whatever pie you like – and then use puff pastry squares to cut Chanukah shapes with these cutters.
Challah Dreidels:
Using any Challah recipe, make mini rolls and bake them in the holders. They will rise a lot forming somewhat of a 3d Dreidel. They’re really cute on a platter!
Dessert Dreidels:
These holders can also be used for brownie or any flavor cake. These will bake flat in the back so these can go on a plate nicely with whipped cream. You can also put mousse or pudding in it (choose a recipe that is best in the freezer and not just the fridge.
This was first published in the COLlive magazine
We’re always told to try and bridge the gap between home and school, to strengthen the parent-teacher relationship. That feels like a tall order for a busy parent. It sounds like we need to be completely on top of everything a child is learning, all the time.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, the best learning is when lessons are taught organically, without the kids even realizing that they are being taught.
One way of doing that is in the kitchen. With Chanukah in the air, a Chanukah-themed Shabbos menu is a simple way to bring school learning into the house! It’s not just “Mommy, can you sign this test?” or kids answering a list of Parsha questions, but it’s them really using what they learned in school and applying it to Shabbos planning, and sharing it with the family.
Younger elementary children can help with simple kitchen prep such as measuring, counting, and mixing (bringing in numbers, fractions and real life skills into the kitchen). They can also design handwritten place cards for the table. If the child just learned how to write in script, here’s a great time for them to practice how to write their sibling’s names. Older children can choose a phrase from V’al Hanisim to put on the place card, choosing a part of it that most speaks to them.
Older children can also take on a bigger role in planning the foods and decorations. They might help plan a menu, suggest dishes, or come up with creative names that connect to what they learned about Chanukah. You can suggest things to them such as Israeli salad, Pareve Greek salad and Latkas, and let them come up with the rest! Encourage them to not only look at the story of Chanukah, but to write up a menu based on the Halachos, Minhogim and themes of Chanukah.
At the meal, you can have a menu card (designed by a child) and/or you can turn it into a challenge and have the family or guests see how many connections they can come up with that relate to Chanukah. Watch them come up with connections that no one even had in mind! This open ended activity is a great way to learn what your children learned, to hear their Chanukah takeaways, and to get a peek into their classrooms and what their awesome teachers taught them.
This activity goes beyond connecting the creations to what the kids learned at school. Each food can also spark a discussion on different topics of Chanukah such as the shape of the Menorah, the purpose of Chanukah gelt and Chanukah themes.
Planning this Chanukah Shabbos also brings the four C’s (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity) to life without focusing on them explicitly. Children communicate their thinking, collaborate with siblings, think critically about connections, and use creativity to design and present their ideas. These four C’s are essential skills for a 21st century world, as technology rapidly advances each day.
And hey, not only does it encourage these great skills and give you a peek into the classroom, you’ll also be left with a beautiful Shabbos Chanukah table!
Good luck,
Mushkie
evergrowingeducator
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