Today my dd14 should be coming home from camp – we’re all so much looking forward to having her back!
As I was planning this week’s menu I was thinking about how much I’ve changed the way I cook over the years. I used to cook mostly vegetarian except for some chicken on Shabbos, and the meals during the Nine Days weren’t any different than the rest of the year. But now I’ve gotten used to using lots more chicken and stock, so it was a little bit of a mental adjustment for this week. As always, I usually note the main dish and supplement with fruit and vegetables that we have on hand.
Sunday – breakfast – whole wheat challah with cream cheese; lunch – macaroni and cheese (leftover from Thurs. dinner); dinner – honey baked lentils, kasha, tomato olive salad
Monday – b – zucchini muffins; l – ricotta cheese pancakes; d – corn chowder
Tuesday – b – grits; l – green beans and potatoes with sour cream; d – pizza (might try making a sunflower seed crust, depending how busy it is that afternoon; otherwise I’ll make a regular ww crust)
Wednesday – b – biscuits with cream cheese and jam; l – celery and peanut butter; d – lasagna, hard boiled eggs
Thursday – (breakfast and lunch are for those who aren’t fasting) b- baked oatmeal; l – leftovers; d – whitefish salad, brown rice
This past Shabbos: Fri night – homemade challah (made with 100% whole wheat), roast turkey, roasted red potatoes, baked butternut squash, kasha, fresh salad, pecan power bars; Shabbos lunch – chicken, corn salad, lacto fermented pickled mixed vegetables, zucchini relish, fresh salad, watermelon, cake; shalosh seudos -whitefish salad, tomato olive salad, salads left from other meals (I usually only make one or two different things for shalosh seudos and everything else is what we have in the fridge from lunch or dinner)
We’re starting to get some vegetables from the garden, which is really fun. The tomatoes are just starting to turn red; today the kids picked a handful of cherry tomatoes and one heirloom black cherry tomato, a handful of green beans, a yellow squash, and a zucchini. It’s not a lot yet, but it is nice for a snack or to add to the salad. We can see lots more tomatoes that are green, so hopefully we’ll have a very generous amount once they get started ripening.
I sprouted the lentils at the end of last week, so they’re ready to go for tonight. I’m planning to make a large batch of granola, which I make according to traditional preparation methods, so today I’ll soak the oats. Granola isn’t on the menu for the week but I’ll have it on hand, and if one morning we’re short on time, it will be available. Otherwise, it will be for Shabbos breakfast for the kids.
I’m also going to grind some wheat for flour for tomorrow’s muffins and the pizza crust and then will have it ready for soaking. I try to grind the flour fresh, but when I do it a couple of days in advance, I keep it in the freezer so that the vitamins in it aren’t lost – it’s not a big deal to grind it, but taking the grinder out for a small amount of flour is an extra step that sometimes can feel like too much at a busy time. I’m also hoping to make another large batch of the curried carrot sauerkraut – everyone liked it so much and it was very versatile; we used it inside wraps, tacos, as a salad side dish, and even in bean sauerkraut soup.
Avivah
Re: the granola. I assume you mean “making it with the tradtional methiod”, meaning that you will mix grains, fruits, etc with sweeteners and bake it? When you soak the oats (or other grains), will you make the granola from their soggy state or will you re-dry it first?
By traditional methods I was referring to soaking the oats first, before mixing it with everything else. I’ll share the recipe with preparation details tomorrow.
1. Did you get the whitefish salad free from luach? 🙂
2. I find it interesting that you serve a “regular” dinner preceding the fast like you wrote in your comment. I figured you would have a thought out “good fat abates hunger for longer” etc etc. I try a protein and complex carb dinner, making sure I get enough “fat” but not sure if it makes me last longer than if I tried otherwise. My plan is to splurge on salmon (this is one of the only times I can justify the price for a weekday dinner) as my protein and fat, and eat it with either ww rotini or barilla plus pasta that my husband bought (made with some ww, flaxseed, etc…not sure which will last longer in my system). I might add some green beans or something as well, but I eat my dinner slowly to give time for my body to handle it all since I don’t generally eat that much in a dinner. I’m still nursing plenty, and I find I need lots of calories so I don’t get too weak too soon. I need to make it at least through the morning, so by the time my husband comes home from shul, he can take over 🙂
I knew you’d ask me about the whitefish salad when you saw it on the menu!
Sorry to disappoint you with my apparently not thought out approach to eating before the fast! I find it helpful before a fast to eat an extra small meal or snack in addition to the three regular meals, than to stuff ourselves with a large dinner. We used to all walk away from the pre fast meal feeling overly stuffed and that’s not a plesant feeling. The amount and distribution of foods I eat at each meal is pretty well balanced and satisfying and as the saying goes, why mess with success? I feel it’s much more important to be well hydrated going into a fast (particularly in the summer), and to drink a LOT for the two days before the fast.
I can one-up you 😉 I drink a LOT for *3* days before the fast 😛 (take that in jest :))
Yesterday I disappointed myself and could only drink 8 cups which is my regular, and I know I have been able to push myself to drink more…we’ll see what I manage today.
What I mean is not a large dinner, as much as a few separate items. I usually eat a one-pot/pan deal, and while it’s balanced, I don’t feel like I’m eating 3 separate things. I spread my dinner out over 2 hours or so erev TB so I guess it’s more like a snack and a meal than a huge dinner. I usually eat a bit here and there over the course of a day (nursing makes me like this) so I usually don’t need a real large supper, but my snacks aren’t usually salmon 🙂
I wasn’t disappointed as much as I figured you might be the time to research fats and break down of foods etc but I pretty much stick to what my midwife told me a few years ago: protein and complex carbs.