Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Still cold out, and it's supposed to rain. Not just rain, maybe even a thunderstorm. THAT makes me want to crawl back under my covers! So, here's a menu for warming us all up:

Creamy tomato soup - saute onion (in butter) with salt and allspice, till onion is translucent and fragrant. sprinkle in 2 T. flour and cook 5 min more, while stirring. Add chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh - with fresh, you'll have to cook it longer, but it gives it a really great flavor if you have great tomatoes) and 1/4 t. baking soda. mix the pot and allow to simmer for about 30 min. (but watch it and stir it occasionally) Add water as needed, honey, black pepper if desired. Add a bay leaf to the pot.  Continue to simmer (about another 10 min.). Remove the bay leaf before you add 1 cup of milk or half and half (add it slowly). Don't bring to a boil after adding the milk, just gently reheat and serve (with croutons!)

Grilled cheese sandwiches


Steamed or roasted vegetables (depends what I find in my fridge!)

Monday Night, July 18, 2011

Trying to figure out how to feed the family without spending lots of time in the kitchen. It's too hot in my kitchen!

Here's the plan:

Minestrone soup - not so sure if the kids will go for this in this heat, but I'm going to make it in the crock pot and hope for the best!


Grilled Cheese sandwiches


Fruit salad

Monday Night, July 4, 2011

We have to eat a quick, early supper tonight because of my daughter's ballet recital. We're all very excited to see her dance onstage - the culmination of a year of hard work at twice weekly ballet classes!

So, since my 3 yr old refuses to nap, we're just going to have to eat really simply. And it's a pantry challenge, so I started looking through the freezer:

Here's the plan:

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (found a loaf of bread in the freezer!)

Rice and Lentils (from the freezer)

Fresh sliced tomatoes (i like to put olive oil and basil on them but the kids prefer them plain. how i wish they would eat foods with flavor...)

Melon (these are a really good buy right now! Kimat Chinam had them on their 8 kilo for 10 shekel list, I wonder what they cost in other stores...)

Sunday, May 15, 2011

While it's really nice to get away sometimes for Shabbat, and have someone else (a hotel!) responsible for all the cooking and dishwashing, it's also really great to be back home. And my kids decided that after eating catered foods, they would stop complaining and start appreciating Eema's home-cooked foods. They all said they like my food better than the hotel food... (It took a lot of convincing to get them to try the foods that were served!)

So, on tonight's menu - it's slim pickings in my house right now since I didn't shop and cook before Shabbat. We'll make do with:

Vegetable soup with noodles

Cucumber and Carrot sticks with Ranch-style dip


Embellished Grilled Cheese sandwiches (optional additions: red peppers, olives, tomatoes, onions)

Monday Night, March 28, 2011

Ok -
Quick! What's for dinner? It's a busy day and I'm sneezing my head off... and trying to stick to my pantry challenge...
Quick survey of the kitchen reveals lots of tomatoes and leftover whole wheat bread...

So I made:
Tomato Soup -  I used every shortcut I can... saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add diced, fresh, ripe tomatoes (I used about 7-8 good sized ones), cover the pot and simmer for about 10 min. over med-low heat. Add water, salt, pepper, and a teaspoon or 2 of honey. Bring to a boil, then simmer for as long as you can manage. Puree with your handy-dandy immersion blender. I also added 1/4 tsp of baking soda to cut the acid for my reflux-girl.

Grilled Cheese sandwiches

Cut veggies