Nine Days Meatless Meal Ideas

I'm running late this week - I forgot to post my 9 days menu!
Hopefully, it's better late than never (??)...

My family doesn't love it when I forget to cook for days at a time, so there's something of a mutiny going on in my house. 

(NO MORE SANDWICHES! - the picket signs are being made as I write this. oops)

In my defense, I have a lot of projects going on right now, and my family IS capable of prepping their own meals. Just because they don't want to do it doesn't mean I always have to do it, does it? I hear their complaints that it's hot and they don't want to cook, but guess what? I can say the same thing!

And I will:

It's hot and I don't want to cook. There, I said it.

In any case, we still need to eat, so aside from the aforementioned sandwiches, here are some of my go-to foods for the 9 days (and actually, any weekday):

Pasta night

Sloppy Sams and sweet corn

Black Bean Burgers with all the fixin's

Black Bean Chili (recipe coming soon - I forgot to post it) - one of our favorite meals right now! (served with whatever makes people happy)

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and a salad

Tuna Patties with baked potatoes

Stir Fried Veggies with tofu (and rice)

Chick Pea Fritters and a salad

Breakfast for Supper

Pareve Quiche and fresh rolls and salad

Black Bean Salad and Corn Bread 

What are your favorite meatless meals? I'd love to hear from you!

Tofu with Date Honey & Ginger Sauce

For Shabbat, I made Chicken in Date Honey & Ginger Sauce. My family really likes this recipe, and it's become my new go-to Shabbat Chicken recipe.

And since I have one vegetarian child, I decided to see how he would like Tofu with Date Honey & Ginger Sauce... (You can do this with chicken cut into small pieces, too, if you're so inclined)

(Note: Date Honey (Silan), even the all natural, no sugar added kind, is MUCH less expensive than Bee's Honey! It has a different flavor, so I don't use them interchangeably, but it's a great option when you are looking to sweeten a recipe without straight sugar.)


Recipe:

1 block of tofu (about 300g), cut into strips
1 "splash" of olive oil for the pan
3 Tablespoons Date Honey (also called Silan)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
ginger (I used dried ground ginger because that's what I had on hand, you can use fresh grated ginger instead if you prefer) to taste
garlic and ground pepper to taste

First, saute the tofu lightly in olive oil.
Add all the other ingredients to your pan and stir while cooking over high heat. 
It's done within a couple of minutes.

Serves 3, at least.

Got a thumb's up from the veggie son!

Enjoy!

Menu Plan for the week!

This week, I'll be trying to use *something* from the freezer every day. It's time to use up some of my stash of food, since there are holidays looming on the horizon...

So my menu may look haphazard, but as long as everyone gets fed, we're happy.

Here's the plan:

(Lunches will be sandwiches/eggs/cottage cheese/vegetables/soups/quick breads/whatever I can manage)

Sunday: Split Pea Soup with lots of carrots, Rice Pasta with Kasha (from the freezer), Baked Apples

Monday: Red Lentil Soup (using soup stock from the freezer), Brown Rice with Black Bean "meatballs", cucumbers and carrots

Tuesday: Baked Ziti, Lettuce and tomato salad (I'll take something out of the freezer for lunch)

Wednesday: Freezer vegetable stew, fresh dinner rolls with butter/cheese/who knows what

Thursday: Anything leftover from the week!

Menu for the week

Ok, I guess I should admit that I only get around to planning my menu for the week on Sunday night. AFTER I've had to scrounge around for something to feed the family for supper! One day I will learn to move the planning time up a bit...

We're still fighting off colds here, it seems to be cycling through the whole family...

So here's the plan, and it's really got to be low-intensity cooking this week. I'm already under the weather and just need to get some rest (and my morale was just destroyed by the latest horrific terrorist attack, I just can't stop thinking about it):

Sunday night: Vegetable soup and Pasta

Monday night: Split Pea Soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, cut vegetables

Tuesday night: Vegetable Soup, Rice, Scrambled eggs, ??

Wednesday night: Minestrone Soup, garlic bread

Thursday night: Whatever is left


Lunches? who knows. Maybe the kids won't be hungry? Somehow, I'm sure we'll figure it out. They can always boil up some pasta...

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?

Black Bean Salad

This is one of my new favorite salads. I love dishes that are simple, easy, dairy-free, and wheat free, soy-free, and nut-free so that we all can enjoy them together.

The inspiration for this dish was a salad I had years ago when we lived in Texas, and I decided to finally figure out my own dressing for it - for truly the dressing is what completes this salad!

For the salad:

2 cups black beans, already cooked and drained
2 cups frozen corn kernels, lightly steamed or roasted and cooled
2-4 red peppers, diced (you can use a mix of red/green peppers, too if you like)
4 tomatoes, cut into cubes
(the original dish had raw onions in it, but raw onions are a major source of food poisoning, so they scare me, and my picky family won't eat it anyway)
(You can totally adjust this and use more or less of something as you like - go ahead and make this "your own"! - it's great with acocado, or lettuce, or quinoa, or all, or whatever inspires you!)


For the dressing:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 orange or clementine (I had a clementine in the house)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
Chili pepper flakes (to taste)
Smoked paprika (to taste, I used about 2 tsp)
salt (to taste)
ground black pepper (to taste)

Place all the vegetables in a pretty salad bowl. Mix the dressing together in a jar, bowl, or container. Mix really well. Pour dressing over vegetables and gently toss it all together. Serve cold. 

This salad can actually be a meal in and of itself, or is a great accompaniment to anything at all.
Let me know if you give it a try!

Menu Planning for the week

This has been a whirlwind month, but now we are entering our first week since late July when we do not have guests from overseas staying with us. And the Bar Mitzvah (of our second son) has come and gone, and it was wonderful and emotional and crazy and more...

But now, it's basically time to get back to normal, whatever that means. Our new normal is not working so well for me, so it's time to set things up anew. That means convincing a 7 year old that she's tired enough to go to sleep around 8:30 pm! I'll let you know how that one goes...

And of course, it means getting back to menu planning, especially since the Chagim (Holidays) are really sneaking up on us!

Anyhow, so, since I haven't done a really good grocery shopping run in a while, my meals may seem a bit haphazard, but I'll try to make sure we stock up on some basics later in the week!

Here's the plan right now:

Sunday lunch: felafel
Sunday supper: pasta with tomato sauce and cheese
Monday lunch: pancakes, cottage cheese, fruit
Monday supper: rice, black bean crumbles in tomato sauce, steamed or roasted veggies (whatever I dig up)
Tuesday lunch: Sandwiches and cut veggies
Tuesday supper: ??
Wed lunch: Sandwiches and cut veggies
Wed supper: lentil sloppy sams, fresh rolls, steamed veggies
Thursday lunch: leftovers from the week/fridge cleanout lunch
Thursday supper: quick garlic breadsticks, scrambled eggs, salad

What's on your menu?

"Nine Days" Pantry Challenge Menu

It's that time of year again - the Nine Days are here and it's hot out. It's actually quite fitting to have a week in the summer to focus on lighter eating. It seems to be quite practical, when you think about it, even though that wasn't the origin of this custom. I believe in keeping 9 days food very simple, not any fancier than a regular weekday's meals would be.

In my house, it's not really going to be a "lighter eating" week, since we eat vegetarian during the week year-round, but I plan to do a "lighter spending" week! Starting very soon, we will not be able to avoid spending money as we approach our son's upcoming Bar Mitzvah. There's just no way around it, even though I decided to self-cater the Thursday night event. Self catering is a lot of work, but it allows me to control the cost of the event, while serving foods that would be out of our price range if we did a catered event, as well as the ingredients used. With all the different foods we need to be careful about (at least labeled!!), this seemed to make the most sense...

But I digress. This week we'll be pantry challenging...

Here's the planned menu:

Sunday
Lunch: Sandwiches, cut vegetables with chumus
Supper: Spaghetti, Steamed Kishuim, Watermelon

Monday
Lunch: Lentil patties, rice cooked in vegetable broth, carrot sticks
Supper: Baked Potatoes/Baked Sweet Potatoes, non-dairy crustless vegetable "quiche" (using random veggies from the freezer)

Tuesday
Lunch: leftovers from Sunday and Monday
Supper: Sloppy Sams on Fresh Rolls, Corn, tomatoes & cucumbers

Wednesday
Lunch: leftover Sloppy sams and corn
Supper: Scrambled eggs, Pancakes, melon

Thursday
Lunch: Sandwiches, any vegetables that need to be used up
Supper: Pasta with sauce and cheese or polenta, salad, ??

Shabbat - this is a really tentative plan
Fresh Challot
Food from the freezer, plus fruit soup and a fresh black bean cholent
Seudah Shlishit will be tuna salad/egg salad, rolls, veggies, and  lots of fruit and lemonade or something like that...

Weekly Menu

I am having a hard time transitioning to summer menus. It's hot and I have little energy in the late afternoon for cooking. SOOO... if you have ideas for healthy suppers that 1)my husband and kids will eat 2)preferably don't have too many ingredients I'm unable to eat (right now that includes nuts, dairy, and wheat), 3) can be eaten cold, and 4) are not expensive and are preferably vegetarian, PLEASE let me know!

In the meantime here's my plan for the week:

Sunday night: rice, roasted kishuim, roasted corn, baked beans,  watermelon

Monday night: Garlic bread, lasagna, salad (I'll probably have polenta with tomato sauce and nutritional yeast) - that's a birthday dinner!

Tuesday night: Scrambled eggs, home-fries, cut vegetables

Wednesday night: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (more polenta for me), make-your-own salad

Thursday night: No idea yet!

Lunches will be random whatever shmorgasbord of things I can put together without too much thought...

How are you handling this summer heat?

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 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 for the week!

Alright - it is time to face reality and get back into "things", including making sure we eat properly this week, without spending a fortune - I really don't want to spend more than 100 shekels this week on groceries, as last week, our post-Pesach shopping was BIG, and I hadn't really intended that...

So here's the plan, focusing on using up what I have in the house, especially those carrots, tomatoes, cabbages, and cucumbers we got for 1 shekel/kg!

Lunches: Soups, sandwiches, salads and leftovers from supper

Suppers:
Sunday: Pasta (whole wheat) with tomato sauce (and veggies) and cheese, carrot and cucumber sticks

Monday: Sloppy sams, homemade rolls, carrot and cucumber sticks, cabbage salad

Tuesday: Split pea soup, Rice, Stir-fried vegetables (cabbage, carrots, kohlrabi, onions, peppers) with cashews

Wednesday: Crock-Pot Mushroom-Vegetable-Barley Stew, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, tomato and chick pea salad

Thursday: Felafel night? I think, as it's Yom Ha'atzma'ut!

 What's on your table this week?

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!

Today's red lentil and tomato soup

Had to quickly come up with a soup to share with a friend's family who could use a hand right now. So I ended up making this soup, it was so yummy! I ate 2 bowls of it for lunch.




Red Lentil and Tomato Soup
makes approximately 16 servings

1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1 large red pepper
olive oil
500g red lentils
1 large can tomato paste (580g, 28-30 Bx)
water
salt, pepper, hot pepper flakes



Dice the vegetables and saute in olive oil in your (large) soup pot . When beginning to carmelize, add rinsed lentils and lots of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the lentils start to break apart. Add tomato paste, more water, and seasonings to taste. Bring back to a boil, then simmer for another 10 min.
Serve piping hot. It's perfect with a nice crusty bread!

This week's menu

It's turning into a crazy week for me - there is no hot water in my house still, and my hands are cracked and bleeding from washing vegetables, dishes, and my hands in F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G cold water! I truly hope I can get the plumber to come here tomorrow and figure out the extent of our problem (is it a quick small repair, or a large, very expensive repair?), and maybe even shut off the dud shemesh so we can use the electric boiler if we have to wait to repair it.

Anyhow, because of this craziness I anticipate a lot of time shuttling off to shower outside of our home, and a lot of time waiting around for a plumber. (Just trying to be realistic!) So not much time for shopping.

So who knows how much of this menu I'll stick to! But I'll give it a try. And forgive the question marks, some of my menu depends upon what produce I end up buying this week - but I never know what I'll find when for a great deal!


Sunday
Lunch: vegetable and lentil stew, crackers and chumus
Supper, pancakes, roast potatoes, unstuffed cabbage, and leftover soup with noodles

Monday
Lunch: Sandwiches and cut vegetables
Supper: Baked ziti, steamed kishuim

Tuesday
Lunch: Red Lentil Soup, ???
Supper: Chinese-style vegetable soup, Rice, tuna patties

Wednesday
Lunch: Sandwiches, leftover soup
Supper: Tomato soup, Rice, Red lentil patties, vegetable sticks

Thursday 
Lunch: All leftovers from the week
Supper: Pizza, salad, ???

What's your plan for the week?

Pantry challenge menu for this week

We are pretty well stocked up at the moment, and I see no reason to go out and buy anything this week - especially with a cold winter storm on the way (with the exception of milk and a few fruits and veggies, which I plan to get today when I'm out (we're out of apples and carrots and down to only 2 bananas!). Although I reserve the right to stock up on something if there is a "can't miss" sale, but I haven't seen that yet, and I don't plan to do much running around...

So, we have plenty of legumes, rice, pasta, and most staples, and we even have a lot of veggies, either fresh or frozen. Here's what I came up with using the things I see I have on hand:

Monday:
Lunch: Pasta with tomato sauce and vegetables, (rice or baked potato for the kids who aren't feeling great)
Supper: Split Pea Soup, baked sweet potatoes, and fresh bread with spreads

Tuesday:
Lunch: Lentil and vegetable stew (leftover from Sunday), sandwiches if anyone wants, using Monday's bread
Supper: Vegetable soup with noodles, Rice, Black bean "burgers"

Wednesday:
Lunch: Split pea soup (leftover from Monday) with some kind of muffins
Supper: Tuna patties with Wakame,  roasted potato wedges, salad

Thursday:
Lunch: any and all leftovers 
Supper: Eggplant lasagna (I have breaded eggplant in the freezer), baked ziti from the freezer for those who won't eat eggplant, Green Vegetable Soup

For snacks, we have muffins (my freezer is well stocked with muffins), banana cakes galore in the freezer, kiwis I picked up for 2 shekels/kg because they are funny shapes, oranges, and some homemade granola; We also have cakes from the kiddush in the freezer if there's any reason to pull out cake!

I truly hope I don't spend more than 50 shekels this week on groceries! Anyone else feel like doing a pantry challenge this week?

Black Bean Cholent (vegan)

A lot of you have asked how I make my black bean cholent.

I hope not to disappoint you, in case this wasn't clear to you, this is a vegetarian/vegan cholent.

It's quite tasty, but if you were hoping for beef, you won't find it here. I think the last time I ate beef I was about 20 or 21 years old (nope, not saying what year that was, use your imagination)!

If you're looking for a Gluten Free Vegan Cholent, click here!


Here's what I do:

1-2 large onions, chopped coarsely
6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 medium sized potatoes, cut into chunks
500g whole grain barley (not pearl barley), soaked in cold water overnight
2 cups black beans, already soaked (overnight) and drained, can also use 2 cups cooked black beans
spices: salt (1 tablespoon or so), black pepper (1/2 tsp or more), cayenne pepper (a pinch or 2), smoked paprika (2 tablespoons) - be generous with the seasonings! If cayenne is too hot for you - you can safely leave it out.
water to fill the pot

Place everything in the crock pot and let the pot do its magic!

Just before Shabbat starts, I add frozen vegan kishke to the pot. This is the perfect Shabbat morning cholent accompaniment! 

Barley and Black Beans waiting on my pantry shelf

Menu for the week

Here's my thrown-together menu for the week, based loosely on staples I know I have in the house. I'm going to have to assume I can manage to get some decently priced fruits and vegetables Monday or Tuesday...

Breakfast will be oatmeal, toast, whatever
Lunches will be sandwiches or leftovers from the previous night.





Here are the Suppers:

Sunday: Fresh Whole Wheat Dinner rolls, Black Bean and Tomato Soup, Scrambled eggs, Cut veggies

Monday: Embellished Shabbat Leftovers

Tuesday: Split Pea Soup, Baked Ziti, Cut veggies

Wednesday: Tomato-Rice Soup, Lentil Patties on fresh rolls, veggies

Thursday: Soup? Oven fries, tuna patties? really not sure about this meal, actually! (feel free to share ideas!)

Menu for the Week

It's that time of the week again - you know, when I realize that if I don't plan out certain things, we'll just get STUCK!

Among all the other things requiring my attention is our menu planning.

So here' what we're having this week:






Breakfasts: muffins, oatmeal, toast, cereal, fruit

Lunches: Soups, sandwiches, random leftovers

Suppers: Sunday: Shabbat leftovers
Monday: Vegetable-Barley Soup, Fresh whole wheat dinner rolls with butter
Tuesday: Split Pea Soup, ??
Wednesday: Baked Ziti, Salad
Thursday: Spicy Potatoes, Scrambled Eggs, Salad

Of course, this menu is subject to change according to my mood!

What's your menu for the week look like?

Menu for the week!

Now that the Chagim - Holidays - are behind us, it's time to get back to a normal schedule.

So, first things first, I need to plan my menu for the week, because for some reason, we all get cranky when we don't eat. And Thank G-d my house is more-or-less well stocked with the essentials!

So here's the plan for suppers this week, although veggies are mostly still an unknown, since I need to replenish soon:

Sunday night: Garlic bread, Pasta?, and a big salad

Monday night: Grilled Cheese sandwiches and Tomato Soup with rice

Tuesday night: Red Lentil Soup, Scrambled eggs, Stuffed Baked potatoes

Wednesday night: Black Bean "meatballs" with sweet and sour sauce, Brown Rice, veggies (?) 

Thursday night: Homemade Pizza, salad, and french fries (not so healthy, sorry)

What's your menu for the week look like?