Here’s the menu for this week:

Shabbos – challah, chicken, potato knishes, roasted vegetables, sauerkraut, rugelach, power bars; lunch – chicken, cholent, kishke, roasted potatoes, pineapple coleslaw, sweet potato pie with crumb topping, broccoli plum salad, cauliflower salad, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate-peanut butter squares, almond power bars, plums

Sun- brunch – cottage cheese pancakes, homemade grape jelly; snack – oatmeal cookies and fruit; dinner – broccoli and cheese stuffed potatoes

Mon – b – sunflower seeds,  sliced almonds, raisins with yogurt; l – panini sandwiches; d – lentil pecan burgers, kasha, broccoli salad, orange glazed beets

Tues – b- zucchini muffins; l – quesadillas (with the last of the corn tortillas); d- turkey shwarma, quinoa, salad

Weds – b – stovetop rice pudding; l- leftovers; d – flax rice spirals w/ red beans and sunflower seeds

Thurs – b- buckwheat porridge; d – chicken chimichangas with green tomato salsa

Fri – b – eggs, biscuits, chocolate pudding

As always, breakfasts are supplemented with milk and fruit.  Since I bought two cases (28 pounds each) of plums last week, that will be the dominant fruit (finished the 36 lb of grapes already).   I have a lot of canned fruit as well- cherries, blueberries, peaches, pears, applesauce, and mango – so even though I don’t have any frozen fruit in the house, we still have a nice selection.

My dd14 is planning to go to NY for the weekend for a camp reunion, and it looks like two friends from a different area are going to spend Thursday night and Friday morning here with us, then they’ll all take the bus to Manhattan together.  Dd  asked me if we could have food that would be familiar to her friends, which sparked a conversation among the kids about if it’s more fun to have something new and different at a friend’s house or the same thing they eat at home.  My kids like new things but with the understanding that not everyone does, we decided to stick with the dinner that was already planned and make a standard breakfast.  The dinner may change between now and then- I told dd I’m willing to serve whatever she wants, but she has to decide what it will be if she’d rather have something else.

For the meal prep for this week, I soaked and dried eight cups of sliced almonds and eight cups of walnuts.  We made another gallon batch of yogurt last night, and have a gallon of sauerkraut fermenting right now.  I have 2 lb. of lentils and 2 lb. of red beans soaking.  I didn’t get around to getting the sourdough starter going last week, so maybe this week I will!  I’m thinking that everyone will enjoy fresh rolls this week for lunch, so I’ll make some regular bread dough for that.

Ds10 was in the yard and started to lose his balance when tying his shoes next to the garden bed.  He grabbed what was next to him to keep from falling, and ended up pulling up a huge beet.  I had no idea any of our beets were so big!  I told him to go back out and pick three more, and then I had to make an addition for tonight and tomorrow’s dinners to use these beautiful fresh beets and beet greens!

The fall garden is looking good and I’ll soon be able to supplement our meals with the greens we’re growing. I really should get some more seeds into the ground this week while the weather is mild.  Now that the last tomato plants are ready to be pulled, it makes more room for planting.  I hope that we’ll be able to enjoy fresh home grown lettuce, spinach, and other greens throughout the winter.

Avivah