Here’s this week’s menu – we won’t be having any meat meals for the next week and a half, in accordance with the restrictions of the Nine Days (a time of mourning in the Jewish calendar).

Sunday – brunch – eggs with cream cheese; dinner – tuna casserole

Monday – banana ice cream, l – ladies cabbage, eggs with cream cheese;  d -West African stew

Tuesday – b – buttermilk pancakes with real maple syrup and/or homemade jam; l – honey baked lentils, kasha; d – easy fried rice

Wednesday- b – potato pancakes, yogurt; l – West African stew; d – pizzas (one whole wheat crust, one nut flour crust)

Thursday – b – maple grits puff (will adapt from this recipe); l – honey baked lentils, baked potatoes; d – Really Good Vegetarian meatloaf

Breakfasts are usually supplemented with fruit; lunch and dinner is usually supplemented with vegetables.  Last week I began incorporating two official snacktimes into the day for the littles, since they were constantly asking to eat something and stopping to make them something each time left us all feeling that we were making and serving food all day long.  Snacks are foods like ants on a log (celery spread with nut butter and topped with raisins), fruit, nuts, and popcorn.  This week I’m planning to make nut flour cookies, almond macaroons, and coconut flour biscuits for snack time.

>>Also, where are the menu plans, I need your primal menu plans!!!!<<

I’ve gotten so busy the last few weeks I haven’t taken time to post my weekly menus.  But now that I’m posting, they still aren’t primal – sorry to disappoint you!  The menu plans for my family aren’t primal, only my personal plan is.  Since most readers don’t know what is being referred to, I’ll explain that at the advice of a homeopath/alternative nutritionist, I’ve adapted my personal way of eating so that I pretty carefully stick to ratios of 80% calories from fat, 10% calories from protein, 10% calories from carbohydrates.  I’ve been doing this not somewhat haphazardly for several months, but it’s been about 5 weeks that I’ve been tracking it to be sure the ratios are balanced properly (they weren’t on target at all before that).  I plan my food for each day the night before, and use Fitday.com to track the ratios.  Eating in this manner is referred to as paleo or primal, though one doesn’t have to keep to the same ratios that I do (mine is a healing protocol).

So my daily food isn’t too exciting, though it is very tasty and filling – it’s basically lots of vegetables (salads and cooked – these are the carbohydrates), proteins (eggs, chicken, cheese, fish, meat), and lots of high quality fats.  If I were cooking primally for my family, I’d snazz it up a little but I’m happy keeping it simple because otherwise I’d never make the effort to cook for myself. 🙂

We aren’t yet getting much from the garden – unfortunately, we’ve had very little rain and scorching temps, and the garden is growing more slowly than I would have liked.  Such is life!  🙂  It makes me think quite a bit about those dependent on rainfall for their livelihood.  Other than a handful of grape tomatoes, our noteworthy vegetables from the gardens have been two huge spaghetti squash from a plant that volunteered from my compost pile.  But I have a lot of tomatoes on the brink of being ready; I hope that next week we’ll start being able to pick them fresh for our meals.

(This post is part of Menu Plan Monday.)

Avivah