My Shabbat-Chanukah menu!

It's still one of the shortest Fridays of the year this week! I'm giving myself a "pass" and buying challah this time, because I know I have way too much to do tomorrow.

This week's menu is going to feature the produce I managed to pick up for 2-3 shekels/kg, plus some of our regular favorites! (Some of the types of produce I got for 2-3 shekels/kg are: onions, potatoes, kishuim, baby beets, kohlrabi, green peppers, and cabbage. I also found sweet potatoes and carrots for 4 shekels/kg)

Here's the plan:

Split Pea Soup (for Friday night)
Oven-fried chicken
(tofu shnitzel for our resident vegetarian)
Roasted Kishuim (light green summer squash)
Roasted Baby Beets
Sweet Potato and Carmelized Onion Kugel
Stir-Fried Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Carrots, and Green Peppers
Apple Crisp
Black Bean Cholent (for lunch)
Make-your-own-salad
Dessert - whatever I manage to pull together!

After Shabbat, I'm planning a latke-fest, if my kids will help with all the prep! I'm sure they will, because they really want latkes! (Have you made latkes? Anyone else out there delay until the seventh night like me?)

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Chanukah and a "Chodesh Tov"!

Menu for the Week

I'm trying to get a handle on the week ahead of me - it's going to be a little - no, a lot - busy.  There is so much going on - here's a sampling of it: Our youngest daughter is turning 8, we have multiple playdates arranged besides all of the usual afternoon activities, and my son's programming chugim (which he runs out of our home for local children) are beginning. Oh and we're making a kiddush this coming Shabbat to celebrate our daughter's completion of Mishnayot Seder Nashim, and a few more things!

So I'm a little overwhelmed and even feeling anxious about the week ahead, and the best way to conquer that feeling is to Make A Plan.

So here's the plan:

Food will be very simple food during the week - lunches will be sandwiches and vegetables or leftovers.

Suppers:
Sunday: Rice, lentil patties, fresh vegetables
Monday: Grilled Cheese sandwiches and Soup
Tuesday: Baked Ziti and lettuce salad
Wednesday: Oven fries, Black bean burgers on fresh rolls
Thursday: Birthday meal - not sure yet what

For the kiddush, I want to bake things earlier in the week.
Sunday - Bake 2 types of cakes
Monday - Bake brownies and cookies
Tuesday - Bake 2 types of cakes
Wednesday - Bake crackers and make chocolate-peanut butter crispy rice cereal squares
Thursday - Bake challah and cook (simply) for Shabbat
Friday - make chumus, egg salad, eggplant salad, etc for kiddush, prep veggies and fruits for veg. and fruit platters... and whatever else needs to be done for the kiddush and Shabbat!

What's going on in your house this week?

Shabbat Menu!

 

Here's my Shabbat menu, since it's Thursday night already (seriously not sure how that happened, but it did!):





 


Homemade challah from the freezer

Vegetable soup (will make it fresh tomorrow)
 
Chicken from the freezer
 
Potato Kugel from the freezer
 
Roasted Cauliflower (will make it tomorrow) (2 shekels/kg!!)
 
Roasted Kishuim (will make it tomorrow)  (2 shekels/kg!!)
 
Black Bean Cholent with vegan kishke (will make that tomorrow)
 
Make-your-own-salad
 
Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Mangos, and Cherries for dessert!

Seudah Shlishit will be really random - whatever I find - challah, peanut butter, yogurt, fruit, carrots, tuna, egg salad, etc

And that is how we're handling Shabbat here this week! What are you doing?

Menu Planning for the Week!

It's that time again - the new week has begun and you realize that if you don't start to make a plan for how to get it through the week smoothly, you're sure you won't.

While I can't help you squeeze in all the errands, appointments, work, playdates, and all, I can tell you my menu plan!

Menu planning makes my life run smoother because instead of drawing a blank and saying, "uh oh, I have no supper!", I can check my plan and get my family fed. Most of my meals are simple and don't require TOO much prep time. Once in a while I need to remember something a bit further in advance, but that's why it's good to check the night before too!

So here is the plan (suppers)

Sunday: Vegetable soup, Baked Ziti, Salad

Monday: Shabbat Leftovers

Tuesday: Fresh dinner rolls with sloppy sams, rice, steamed kishuim

Wednesday: Tuna patties, broiled eggplant slices, baked potatoes/baked sweet potatoes, make-your-own-salad,

Thursday: Rice, black bean crumbles in tomato sauce, some cooked vegetables (not sure what we'll have in the house then!)

Lunches will be leftovers, sandwiches, and salads

What's YOUR plan?

Menu Plan for the week

By now, you all know how I feel about menu plans. Having one is good, even if I don't stick to it perfectly. Not having one means we are always scrambling and we don't eat anything resembling balanced meals. SO -- here's my plan for suppers for this week:





Sunday night -Vegetable Soup, Tuna Patties, Oven-fries

Monday night - Shabbat Leftovers

Tuesday night - Sloppy Sams on Fresh Rolls, Salad, Roasted Root Vegetables

Wednesday night - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato soup with rice, carrots and cucumbers

Thursday night - Pasta of some sort, Make your own salad

What about lunches, you ask?

Good question.

I've been having a harder time with lunches lately, and I'm not sure why. Maybe when I say "I'll serve leftovers" I forget that with one teenage boy and one almost teenage boy in the house, there are rarely any substantial leftovers around. So I plan to serve pasta some days, soup other days, and we'll supplement with sandwiches, vegetables, eggs, and fruit. We are well stocked with peanut butter!

The end of the week will likely be a little nutty, as we plan to host yet another kiddush. I'll post my plan for that soon!

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!

Sunday Night, Feb. 6, 2011

Shavua Tov! I had a very relaxing Shabbat in Yerushalayim. It was great to see family and friends whom we rarely get to see.

It's a new week, and in the past, Sunday night supper has snuck up on me and often caught me off guard. Now, I have a plan! (This meal planning thing is great! I am stretching my shekels so much further, and feeling much less stressed out!)

Here's the menu, using only things that I have on hand (not sure if I will make it to the store or not early in the day - I haven't planned my grocery run, yet!):

Green Bean Soup
Broccoli or Spinach "Puff"
Couscous
Chick Pea & Tomato Salad

Some notes about these dishes:

Green Bean Soup works very well either with EXTREMELY fresh green beans (garden or farm stand), or frozen ones (these are usually harvested and frozen the same day, so they are very fresh). It does not work well with supermarket "fresh" green beans. Here's what I do: Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil till translucent. Add green beans to the pot, stirring and heating till they are bright green. Add water or soup stock. Heat through, puree, add milk or rice milk to make it "creamy", and season with salt and pepper.

Broccoli or Spinach Puff: (Yes, these are slightly less frugal than the other menu items, but we all have to add some variety and remember to not be so thrifty as to never make our kids' favorite foods. My 3 yr old loves anything with spinach and my 12 yr old loves anything with broccoli. I know, go figure...) Mix the following ingredients together and bake in a deep casserole dish at 375 F for 1 hour: 16 oz. cottage cheese, 2 eggs, 4 oz. shredded cheese of your choice, 2 T. flour, 2 c. chopped broccoli or chopped spinach, salt and pepper to taste.

Chick Pea & Tomato Salad - don't forget to soak the chick peas overnight, and cook them early in the day (or use canned - but that costs a lot more per unit, and then you also have to deal with the question of BPA in cans. I prefer to soak and cook them myself.), as these chick peas should be completely cooled before combining with tomatoes and green onions for this salad...

As usual, let me know what you think!

Thursday Night, Feb.3, 2011

I can't believe how fast this week is flying by. Menu Planning is really helping me out - there are fewer foods going to waste and no supper crises, so I'd say it's been a successful food week. Not everything I've done this week has been so successful, but I'll take what I can get...

That said, it looks like it will be another busy Thursday. We usually end up running in the door right before suppertime, and everyone wants to eat "NOW". I may not post every Thursday from now on, because it's just too predictable...

The Menu:


Any leftover soup from the week
Make your own salad 
A variation on pizza

Some notes about this menu:

Make your own salad works wonders in our house! My kids don't always like it when too many flavors are mixed together, but for some reason, it's so much more palatable for them to choose their own combinations. I just put out all the various vegetables (and yes, fruits sometimes too) in individual bowls and everyone takes their own winning combination. This way, the one who loves avocado can have it, and the one who won't touch it avoids it without any fuss...

Our pizza variations usually include toppings like tomatoes, olives, peppers, and mushrooms.

Wednesday night - Feb. 2, 2011

My house feels really chilly. We all had hot chocolate before putting the kids to bed tonight.

I know that those of you in the States will think I'm nuts, and I'm sorry that you have to deal with so many snowstorms and "Crazy Weather" (one of my kids once wrote a song entitled "Crazy Weather"... It was a big hit in our house!). But I'm thinking that we need cold weather food for Wednesday night.

So, here is the plan (using only foods that we already have in the house):

Creamy Green Vegetable Soup
Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Zucchini Pancakes
Lettuce, Purple Cabbage, Cinnamon-Honey'd Oranges, Avocado, and Walnut Salad (ok, the salad is not a cold weather food, but we have plenty of these ingredients and serving salad always makes me feel like a better meal planner.)

Some notes about these foods:

Creamy Green Vegetable Soup - Trying to get the kids to finish up the cauliflower that I made the other day. Here's what I do - make a basic vegetable soup with onions, garlic, celery, broccoli stalks (peeled and chopped), and zucchini. After it has simmered for a while, add some frozen spinach and the already cooked cauliflower. Puree it before serving. Serve with croutons or "soup nuts". (The kids love it and have no idea which veggies are in it!)

Stuffed Baked Potatoes - Bake some potatoes, cut in half, keeping the skins intact, and scoop out the insides. Mash it up with garlic, cheese, chopped broccoli or any other additons you like. Scoop back inside the potato halves, and bake again.

Zucchini Pancakes - I make these with shredded zucchini, chopped onion, ground flaxseed, egg, salt and pepper.

Salad - pretty self explanatory. You can make Cinnamon-Honey'd Oranges like this:  Peel and section a few oranges. Cut them into bite-sized pieces. Place in a bowl you can cover, drizzle with honey and a generous amount of cinnamon. mix gently. cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving with your salad. There is no need for any other dressing on this salad!