Tuesday, December 13, 2011

It's that time of the day again - when I must figure out what's for supper. I wish I could say my kids are all happily playing and learning but that would only be a half-truth. A couple of them are spending their time fighting... so I'm having a hard time focusing on any tasks at hand.

I think tonight's menu will look something like this:

Carrot muffins (I got carrots last week for a great price)


Red lentil soup (onions, garlic, sliced carrots, red lentils, vegetable stock, and seasonings)

Make your own salad: Avocados (found them for a great price last week), Red peppers, Tomatoes, and whatever other salad-worthy vegetables I find (I think there is still some purple cabbage in the fridge!)

I can't decide if this is enough, or not. If everyone eats the soup I think it will be fine, as it's a thick, filling, nutritious soup. If someone doesn't - well I guess they'll have to figure something out!

Back to Posting Menus! Nov. 8, 2011

I've taken quite a long break from posting, but now I'm trying to get my life back in order, and that includes finding time to plan (and blog about) menus!
This week I'm back to trying to minimize the shopping (but can't pass up Mega's special - 2NIS/kg for avocados, pomelit, and bananas, so I'm going to have to get there tomorrow!)... I peeked into my freezer and realized that there's enough in there to keep us going for a while.

Here are some foods we made this week using the items already in the freezer, fridge, and pantry:

Red Lentil Soup - saute 1 small onion and 1 clove garlic in olive oil. when soft, add water, red lentils (sorted and rinsed), salt and pepper (optional: juice of a lemon. I like it lemony but my finicky family disagrees. You can always add lemon to the bowl!). This soup is my go to soup when we are all cold and I hadn't planned soup, as red lentils cook so quickly it can be ready to serve in about 15 minutes!

Chinese Vegetable Soup - this soup starts the same way most of my soups do: saute onion and garlic in olive oil. (you can also saute fresh sliced ginger with the onion and garlic, if you don't have any, you can use the dried ground version, just add toward the end of the cooking process) when soft, add your choice of vegetables - I used mushrooms, broccoli stalks (peeled and thinly sliced), carrots (scrubbed and thinly sliced), and snow peas (still had some in the freezer from when they were buy 2 get 1 free at Shufersal). You can also use bok choy, celery, and any other vegetables you have around that seem like they'd fit. saute it all. then add soy sauce and rice vinegar. Allow to simmer for 10 min. Add water to desired level. Add pepper (and ginger) to taste. garnish with green onion, if you have some!

Pasta with creamy sauce (I cheated and used up the leftover garlic and dill cream cheese as the basis of this sauce)

Pasta with tomato sauce

Baked Potatoes

Steamed Broccoli

Make your own Salad

Fruit Salad

These foods came together in different combinations to make several nights worth of suppers!
What have you been making?

Tuesday Night, July 26, 2011

We are down to the wire! Moving day is very soon and I'm behind schedule.

Tonight's supper plan takes into account that since it's so hot, I have given in and we're running the a/c.

Took stock of the contents of my kitchen, and here's what we'll have:

Pitot with cheese (toasted, cut into triangles, perfect for little hands to hold)

Barley, Rice, Lentils, and Mushrooms in the crockpot (put it all in the crockpot in the morning, with water to cover, and season to taste. I generally use salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano)

Cucumber and Carrot sticks

Watermelon

What's your dinner plan?

Wednesday night - May 18, 2011

Wow! Once again, I don't have to cook this Shabbat! 2 weeks in a row, quite unusual around here.

So, that means I want to skip my usual Wednesday grocery run. And looking thru my fridge/freezer and pantry, I think this means we'll have some sort of "shmorgasbord" dinner tonight. Let's use up some of my ridiculous odds and ends! (Actually, when I do this, my kids ALL find at least one food they are happy with, so I think it works out ok in the end)

Here's what I found: beets, lettuce, red pepper, yellow pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, potatoes, kishuim (like zucchini),eggplant, melon, apples, overripe bananas, eggs, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, yogurt, milk, 2 grapefruits, phyllo dough, "corn pie" (polenta with veggies and cheese), assorted packages of leftover this or that, barley, rice, oatmeal, whole wheat flour, couscous, etc

Here's what we'll have:

Vegetable soup with barley (in my crock pot)


Corn Pie, Broccoli Quiche, and assorted odds and ends from the freezer

Baked Potatoes


Banana Bread


Make your own salad

Wednesday night - May 11, 2011

Wow, what a week. I am EXHAUSTED. And exhilarated. This was our first post-aliyah Yom Ha'atzmaut (well, at least for the rest of the family, I DID have a few of those after the time I made aliyah almost 20 yrs ago...). It's so great to be able to celebrate Israel's independence here in Israel!

But now it's back to regular life. Homeschooling is obviously never QUITE ordinary - there are so many things that happen on the spur of the moment (think science experiments and outside-of-the-box art projects all over my kitchen) - but still, we'll say tomorrow will be an ordinary Wednesday... (although that's Art Day, so, there will be mess...)

I feel like I need to plan tomorrow night's supper right now, or we'll end up eating cereal.

On the way to the table:

Black Bean, Tomato, and Lentil Soup (don't forget to soak the black beans overnight first! And if you add ginger to the pot of soup, it helps with the digestive issues beans sometimes cause) - this is going in the crock pot - chopped onion, diced garlic, diced celery, 1/2 c. black beans, 1/2 c. lentils, 5-6 chopped tomatoes, soup stock, ginger, salt, and pepper)

Crustless Broccoli Quiche (I have a bag of broccoli in my freezer from the time I found them on a buy 2 get one free sale)

Roasted Tomatoes, Peppers, and Mushrooms (just toss them with olive oil and roast them in the oven) - using the produce that's hanging out in my fridge - this will be heavy on the tomatoes this time since I bought a ton of tomatoes at 45 agurot/kilo...

Couscous (whole wheat of course) - what could be easier than boiling some water, adding some couscous and seasonings, cover and turn off the flame. let stand for about 5 min...?

Melon - I am so tempted by the peaches and nectarines and all those summer fruits (I keep eyeing those starfruits) coming in, but at 12 NIS/kilo and up (grapes are 30!), I opted for the melon that was 2.89/kilo.

Tuesday Night, May 3, 2011

Today I am looking for ways to feed the family with only whatever is already in the house, despite the fact that originally I planned to run some errands and pick up some tofu for sloppy sams. In the end, I'm delaying the errands till tomorrow or the next day, since being a one-car family can complicate matters somewhat (and waiting for a paycheck can do that too)!

Here's the plan:

Broccoli, Potato and Cheese Soup - I plan to remake the leftover potato dish from yesterday into a creamy-style blended soup (trying to get more creative with leftovers, please help!)

Rice and Lentils  (Brown Rice, dry lentils (rinsed and checked for stones), chopped onions, vegetable stock, and spices)

Homemade Flatbreads (see the homemade alternatives page)

Cut vegetables and dips

Melon