Weekly Menu plus Recipe for Black Bean Meatballs

It's been pretty crazy around here lately, and my family has been eating a lot of sandwiches and pasta dinners. It'll do in a pinch, but I was getting pretty sick of this survival strategy, even if it does the trick.

So this week, I was determined to serve "real food", and I decided to try out that old method I'd abandoned a while ago - the "prep a bunch of basics on Sunday so I have things to work with during the week" strategy.

This week, I made a huge pot of rice, a pot of chick peas, a pot of black beans, and a large pot of split pea soup to start the week. These pots were all cooking while I was getting other work done.

Then, the challenge is to make simple meals using the food I prepped!

 So far, we've had rice with chick peas and roasted veggies one night, and rice with black bean meatballs and tomato sauce, with corn on the side, another night, and both those suppers began with split pea soup.

I'll be making tomato-rice soup (using the rice, roasted veggies, and tomato sauce that is left from those other meals) for breaking the fast Tuesday night (I'm sure the family will want other food to go along with that, so we'll probably make scrambled eggs and some spelt rolls also. And fruit for starters...).

Wednesday night we'll have to use up whatever is left of the chick peas (chick pea fritters maybe?), and serve that with whatever else is around, say, the corn that is left, a salad, some baked potatoes...

And then, I can cut myself some slack and make pasta for Thursday night, right?

I definitely find it much easier to plan my meals when I've got a few basics ready to go! Do you ever do this?

I figured I'll share the recipes for those vegan meatballs - hope you like it!


Black Bean "Meatballs" (Vegan) Recipe

2 cups cooked black beans, drained
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
3 Tablespoons ground flaxseed
Flour to bind (optional)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in food processor bowl, and pulse till you have a relatively smooth paste.

Line a baking pan with baking paper, and form the mixture into balls and place on pan. Spray with a fine mist oil sprayer.

Bake for 25 min at 200C (about 425F)



Serve hot, with your favorite sauce!

Summer Shabbat!

Shabbat is almost here again!

We are trying out making early Shabbat here this week. We figure that an extra hour of rest can't hurt, and in the winter we manage to have everything ready for Shabbat WAY earlier than is required for early Shabbat in the summer! It's gotta be manageable, right?

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like our days and weeks are so full and the things we need to do just never end, so an extra hour of worry-free Shabbat time sounds AMAZING. Also, there's the added bonus of not being able to check the news on Shabbat, so we can believe we are really living on our little secluded island of serenity for all of Shabbat (hopefully)...

Speaking of little islands, I have this little pull out cart in my kitchen. It stays tucked away most of the time, acting as storage for potatoes and onions. 


But on Fridays, it morphs into a mini kitchen island: it's a little tiny bit of magic. You just pull the cart out of its storage spot under the edge of the counter (it's on wheels), and set up the top surface by lifting the piece of wood that folds down, and slide the piece of wood underneath it into place to hold it secure so it is a small piece of counter.

(Um, please don't judge me that the contact paper I covered it with before Pesach is still on it!)

It is awesome, and gives me a little more space to set up some helping hands with a cooking or prepping job! Since I don't have space right now for a kitchen island, I feel like I really have the next-best thing! (And maybe it is, in fact, the best of all worlds!)

So this island is my savior on days when my counters become so cluttered I wouldn't dare share a picture of them here (ahem, that is most days, honestly)! I know that there is always a small surface, free of clutter, to use for cooking.

I do clean my counters at the end of cooking on Friday, I'm just not good at cleaning as I go along. I'm sure some of you out there can relate!

Anyhow, so this cart allows me to do things like make challah and cakes along with other things on my Shabbat menu!

So here's what I'm making this week, using mostly foods that were already in my pantry and freezer:

Spelt and Oat Bran Challot
Vegetable Soup
Black Bean Cholent
Date Honey-Ginger Chicken
Spicy Turkey Breast (there's been this turkey breast in my freezer for a while - I figured it's high time we used it!)
Brown Rice
Broccoli Kugel
Potato Kugel
Salads

And we have watermelon and cherries for dessert! Lovin' the summer fruits all around! (Did you notice that watermelon making a cameo appearance earlier?)

Shabbat Shalom, everyone! 

Shabbat Menu Planning

This week, we're mostly doing Freezer Take-Out, as it's a pantry challenge week for us. It's good for me to make sure to use up the random things that have found their way into the freezer!

We'll be having:

Spelt Challot
Split Pea Soup (made fresh)
Turkey Wings
Spicy Chicken Breast
Black Bean Cholent (made fresh) with Kishke (for lunch)
Rice and Kugels that are in the freezer
Lettuce salad with honey-cinnamon oranges (picked up a 2 shekel head of lettuce!)


Here are some of our favorite kugel recipes:

Potato Kugel

Sweet Potato Kugel

Roasted Vegetable Kugel


What are you making for Shabbat? 

Weekly Menu

It's Sunday night, and I'm going to try as hard as I can to figure out this week's food plan.
I'm not feeling very creative though, and I'm finding it hard right now to accommodate everyone's food needs, allergies, and preferences. However, I will give it my best.

Here's the plan:



 (There are lots of carrot sticks in the plan, as we got some pretty inexpensively last week!)

Sunday
Lunch: Sandwiches on Homemade Whole Wheat Bread, fruits and vegetables
Supper: Shabbat leftovers

Monday
Lunch: Red Lentil Soup with Peppers and Fennel, Carrot Sticks and other vegetables with techina
Supper: Baked Ziti, Steamed Kishuim

Tuesday
Lunch: Leftover Pasta and Soup, Vegetable Sticks
Supper: Rice, Black Bean Veggie Crumbles with Tomato Sauce, Corn

Wednesday
Lunch: Corn Bread, Rice with sauteed veggies, ??
Supper: Homemade Dinner Rolls, Scrambled eggs, Oven Fries, Carrot Sticks

Thursday
Lunch: anything left from the week and/or sandwiches
Supper:  ??? we will  have to wait for inspiration!

I plan to bake some muffins, roast some spicy chick peas to crunchy perfection, and pop lots of popcorn for snacks besides fruit

Have  you planned your menu? I find when life is busy, planning helps keep things running smoothly.

Menu for the week

I would LOVE to be able to plan my weekly menu, but I am so low on fresh produce, I can only do a bare basics plan -- I'm going to have to fill it in more as the week goes on. Please leave a comment below with some ideas!

So here's what I've come up with so far:

Sunday: lunch - vegetable-noodle soup, muffins from the freezer
Supper - Split Pea Soup, Pasta, salad

Monday:
Lunch: leftover split pea soup,??
Supper - Tomato soup with rice, Tuna-Wakame patties (scrambled eggs for the kids who won't eat that), ??

Tuesday:
Lunch: Leftover tomato soup, sandwiches
Supper: Felafel

Wednesday:
Lunch: Pancakes, ???
Supper: Pizza, Roasted veggies?

Thursday: 
Lunch: all the leftovers from the week
Supper: Pasta with ??

That should do it!

Shabbat menu

Just a quick note about what I'm serving this Shabbat. It's Thursday night and I should really get things going!

What are you serving for Shabbat?

I'm showcasing the organic zucchini I got (for cheaper than the regular kishuim at every store I checked), and organic corn on the cob I scored for 6 shekels/kg!




Baking:

Fresh Challot (if I actually get around to making the dough, otherwise I have a few emergency loaves in the freezer
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Some sort of muffins

Friday night:

Vegetable soup with noodles
Spicy Roast Chicken
Oven-baked Rice
Corn on the Cob
Roasted Zucchini
Roasted Butternut Squash
Salads

Lunch:

Black Bean Cholent
Oven fried shnitzel
Salads
Corn on the Cob
Potato Kugel from the freezer
Cake (brought by guest)

Seudah Shlisheet:

Challot
Spreads
Cucumber and Carrot sticks
Potato Salad
Pasta Salad
Grapefruit
Apple Cake (from the freezer)

And now I must get to work!

Summer Menu Planning

It's ridiculously hot.
I cannot plan any meals that will actually require cooking!

I think we will be fine with sandwiches, salads, and any other cold food we can find today!
But then - I  really need to come up with a summer friendly menu plan!!
(And make it work with all of my family's food aversions, allergies, and intolerances, which will be quite a feat!)

I'd love to hear all of your ideas.

Here's what I have so far:

Vegetable Salad - make your own
Potato Salad
Felafel night (using premade felafel balls, because I can't make homemade ones when it's so hot)
Sandwiches of various kinds
Fruit Soup
Vegetarian liver, cold lentil dip, egg salad, other dips- to go with crackers or breads and cut vegetables

I wish I had more ideas!
Please help me out!

Shabbat menu planning

Phew! It's been a busy week!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Chanukah! Ours was very nice, full of light and songs and games, but we didn't do presents this year. And the kids didn't even ASK about presents! I was thoroughly amazed, but I think that may be what happens when everyone is satisfied with what we have. I'm really hoping this stage lasts awhile, because it is so much more pleasant than the "I wants"...

This week, a bunch of us are having a potluck lunch at the shul - so much fun, and always great to share the work among a bunch of people!

Here's my plan:

Challot from the freezer
Muffins for breakfast from the freezer

Friday night:

Chinese mushroom soup (haven't made this soup in a while, but I've been missing it. I'll try to post the recipe - I took my inspiration from the one in The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest)
Oven fried chicken
Pan Fried Tofu for the vegetarian
Potato Kugel
Apple crisp
Roasted Kishuim
Make-your-own-salad

For lunch at shul I'm bringing:

Potato Kugel
Spicy Sweet Potatoes

I don't think I am baking anything for dessert, we have plenty of fruit though if we need a dessert Friday night!

On these short Shabbatot, we don't end up having a formal seudah shlishit, but we usually have some sort of snack. I guess we'll wing it. 

What will you be doing for Shabbat?

Shabbat Meal Planning

Time to get ready for Shabbat!
What are your Shabbat Plans?
We're looking forward to another enjoyable Shabbat, filled with love and laughter, good food, family and friends.




Here's what I'm cooking:

 
Friday Night (Just us)
Split Pea Soup 
Spicy Roast Chicken (onions on the bottom, garlic, black pepper, paprika, parsley and cayenne pepper sprinkled generously on top. Roasted, covered, in the oven)
Roast Potatoes or Potato Kugel
Stir Fried Tofu for the vegetarian
Salad

Shabbat Lunch (us + a family of 6, total 12 people)
Roast Chicken
Black Bean Cholent
Potato Kugel
Apple Crisp
Roasted Root Vegetables
Chick Pea Salad
Cut Vegetable Platter
Chocolate Cake

Also making: Cinnamon Oatmeal Breakfast Cake and Whole Wheat and Oat Bran Challot

Shabbat Menu

So...
I don't think I can play the sick card any longer. Not that I'm not sick, it's just that I'm definitely improving little by little, and my family is going to wither away if I don't start cooking again. How on earth am I going to recover from this post-flu fatigue? Please share your best tips, I could really use the help...

I hope my meds control the coughing enough that I can cook without resorting to wearing a surgical mask!!

Here's the plan:

Challot (really, we will probably end up buying challot, again. I just don't think I can do it all)
Vegetable Soup (already made that, phew!)
Roast Chicken (spicy?)
Roasted Ratatouille (I chop up  all sorts of veggies, toss with olive oil and salt, and roast in the oven) (served cold as a salad during the day)
Rice or maybe couscous
Roasted Beets
Black Bean Cholent

I hope that'll do. I can't imagine having more energy than that...

What are you making for Shabbat?

Shabbat Menu

Deep Breaths. It's our THIRD Shabbat in our new home, and we're nowhere near unpacked, but the kitchen is functioning!

So we're having a quiet family Shabbat this week, which I hope is good for all of us. Tensions have been running a bit high around here and the kids need to re-set a bit. Also our 8 yr old daughter is running a fever, so eating out or having guests is completely not an option. It's so sad when kids are sick.

Here's my easy menu - the goal is not to cook on the stovetop if it's not 100% necessary! I have no idea how much gas is left in my gas balloons! Watch - it will be just my luck to discover they are empty on erev Chag or something!

Roast chicken
Oven-rice
Butternut squash
Roasted veggies - whatever we have (I think it'll be onion, garlic, summer squash, and red peppers. Maybe some carrots)
Make your own salad
Melon and grapes for dessert

Seudah 3 will be sandwiches and cut veggies. Maybe some hard boiled eggs?

How are you handling this late summer heat? Is it driving you out of the kitchen as well?

Shabbat Menu!

I cannot believe it's Friday again! It's my husband's birthday today, AND my mother in law is here for a 2-week visit. It's a bit busy around my house, but I'm trying to pull together a nice Shabbat in honor of it all.

Here's my Shabbat menu... 

Whole Wheat and Oat Bran Challot

Vegetable soup

Oven-fried chicken

Potato Kugel

Stuffed Peppers

Butternut Squash (roasted with maple syrup)

Fresh veggies 

Brownies

Peanut Butter Fudge

Not sure what we'll have for seudah shlisheet, but we'll come up with something.

Also making some sort of breakfast cake.

Shabbat Shalom!

What are you making for Shabbat?

Thursday supper plan

I have to confess. I am SERIOUSLY tired. I may have to explain why so no one gets the wrong idea. My allergies have gone crazy this spring, and in an attempt to get through a day and breathe, not wheeze, and not sneeze constantly, and not scratch my skin open, etc, I have had to resort to many, many allergy remedies. And they are making me feel like all I can do is sleep.
Seriously.
So somehow I will drag myself into the kitchen and pull together some supper, despite the fact that I was too tired to go to the supermarket.

Here's our plan for tonight:

Vegetable Broth with noodles (making my soup stock but not cooking it for long, strain, and serve with cooked noodles)
Baked potatoes with sour cream
Make your own salad (if I can get some kids to cut up the vegetables) - we'll throw some feta cheese and nuts into the salad, so we have a little bit of protein.

And that is all.
Please, please, let the allergies clear up, so I can get my head back on.