Fast Days

Today is the shortest Fast Day on the Jewish calendar - the 10th of Tevet. But even though it's a relatively short fast, for some reason everyone in my family has made a habit of getting up in the early morning hours before fasting in order to eat and drink something.

I filled up on coffee (the most important thing!), water, and a bit of food. Thankfully this time my boys did NOT fill up on pizza at that hour, so we didn't have to all get nauseated by the smell at that time of the day - that used to be their "minhag". (I convinced them to drop it after they complained of stomach upset during the day!)

Getting up early for coffee makes my day easier, since I really never think of going decaf before the fast, and I'm not convinced the strategy really works well for me anyway!

So now, it's time to figure out our break-the fast menu. I am not planning to go out today at all, so we'll make do with whatever ingredients we have on hand. 

 
I'm strongly leaning towards a soup - maybe this one - (it's SO cold today!), some fresh bread, cheeses, and spreads. And fruit, of course. (The kids are asking for pizza or lasagna though, so I guess I'll have to spend some time considering their request...)

What do you do for breaking the fast?

Menu Plan

Help! I need a cooking and cleaning fairy or a packing fairy to show up at my place.

I'm so overwhelmed and kind of not getting enough done because of that.

As far as meals go, I figured that I cannot ignore two very important meals this week - BEFORE the fast, and AFTER the fast.

So here's the plan:

Before the fast:

Minestrone Soup

Fish (I have some fish fillets in the freezer, not sure how I'll prepare them, but maybe with grapes - since I kept getting advice to eat grapes for an easy fast!)

Spinach and Cheese Pie (I discovered a bag of spinach in the freezer I had forgotten about) or spinach and wheat berries casserole, I haven't decided.

Lettuce, cucumber, and mango salad

Of course, we'll have the required Egg and Bread too...


After the fast:

Fruit salad

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Minestrone Soup, and other leftovers from our pre-fast meal

We usually nibble our way through our after-the-fast meal, no one, except for our 14 yr old, wants to eat a whole lot at once.

What are you serving? 

Menu Planning

So some of us are fasting today, and I am trying to figure out what we'll break the fast on, so I realized it's time to plan a "week-end" menu.

Here's the plan:

Thursday night: Lentil and vegetable stew, pasta for those who want, toast for those who want, fresh fruit, lemonade, granola bars

Friday lunch: the bane of my existence usually! we have hard-boiled eggs, apple muffins, anything in the fridge that needs to get used up

Shabbat:
Homemade Challot
Split Pea Soup
Vegetarian Cholent
Some sort of roast chicken
sides from the freezer
fruit, chocolate cake from the freezer

Purim night, melave malka: completely up in the air! This is also when I plan to finish up any last minute Purim baking that didn't get done!

Purim seudah:
Chocolate Bread, with chocolate-hazelnut spread
Split Pea Soup
Spinach and Feta Quiche
Broccoli Quiche
Eggplant Lasagna
Salad
Rice
Milkshakes
Various desserts

Ok, I totally have my work cut out for me. I must get back to the kitchen even though I am SO hungry right now!

Have an easy fast!

Thursday Night, Post-Taanit Ester

Looks like I have a feast to prepare. Several of them!

I wonder if I can double-up some of the preparation, and serve some things more than once.

Here's how we'll be breaking the fast:

Vegetable Soup (my usual, saute onions, garlic, celery, carrots, and any other soup worthy vegetables. lower the flame and cook, covered, for 10 min. then add soup stock, spices, salt and pepper. simmer until you need to serve it. the longer it cooks, the more complex the flavor...)

Broccoli Quiche - if I run out of time, this will be a crustless quiche.

Baked Potatoes

Artichokes - love those dancing children! (see Tuesday's post if you're not sure what I mean!)


Salad - right now I have tomatoes, purple cabbage, cucumbers, and red peppers. perhaps i'll throw in a sliced carrot, too.