Weekly menu plan

Shabbos (Sabbath/Friday night)- dinner – challah, chicken soup, chicken, roast potatoes,  carrot/apple/onion bake, warm cabbage salad, beet salad, apple pie

(Sat.)  b- cinnamon bubble loaf;  lunch – challah, techina, hummus, Turkish salad, beef stew, crunchy coleslaw, savory beet salad, Moroccan carrot salad, traffic light salad, baked yams, oatmeal cookies, chocolate cake, rugelach

Sunday – lunch – beef stew, coleslaw; dinner – stir fry, salad

Monday – b – polenta fries; l – meat sauce and pasta shells, salad; d – apple lentil bake (double for tomorrow’s dinner), beet salad

Tuesday – b – eggs; l – butternut coconut curry, rice, carrot salad; d – apple lentil bake

Wednesday – b – rice pancakes; l – chicken pot pie (double and freeze one for next week), beet salad; d – split pea soup, cornbread (double for tomorrow lunch)

Thursday – b- oatmeal; l – split pea soup, cornbread, salad; d – Russian borscht

Friday – b – eggs

The fruits that are accompanying breakfast this week are red grapefruits and apples.  A neighbor invited us to pick navel oranges, two kinds of lemons, and mandarins in her yard last week, and we went through those very quickly!

The kids take freshly baked bread every day for their ten am meal at school, along with some fruit and/or a veggie – usually pepper strips or cucumber; this isn’t listed on the menu.

I use bone broths as a base for all my soups as well as to cook grain or bean dishes.  This adds a lot of nutrients to a meal that would otherwise be vegetarian.  I was delighted last week to stumble on a sale on chicken bones – 4 shekels a kilo, and so I bought all that they had.  As much as that seemed at the time, we go through broth at such a quick rate (three sixteen quart pots a week) that they won’t last nearly as long as I’d hope. And now that we don’t have raw milk every morning, I’ve been thinking maybe we should get into a habit of drinking broth daily to compensate.

I started soaking the lentils on Sunday, so they’ll have time to sprout by the time that I’ll be cooking with them.  I also started a new batch of kimchi, about two and a half gallons this time – the first four gallon batch that we started a couple of weeks ago still isn’t ready, though it’s breaking down nicely and is about two gallons in volume now (the cabbage breaks down as it ferments).  I like to have a cup of the juice as a morning probiotic drink, so that also accounts for the lessening volume!   By making a new batch of kimchi now, when the time the first batch is finished, the second one will be ready.  Cabbage based ferments take a lot longer than pickles or carrots, so you have to plan ahead unless you don’t mind not having any kimchi for a few weeks while a new batch ferments.

Cucumbers are going up in price quickly, double what the summer prices are, but they’re still affordable.   This week I’d like to buy a big batch and make a few gallons of pickles before the prices really shoot up and I set aside pickled cucumbers until they come back into season.  The kids enjoy this a lot, and we have them regularly with our lunch meals, though I don’t list it.

Have a good week!

Avivah

(This post is part of Menu Plan Monday.)

17 thoughts on “Weekly menu plan

  1. How do you pickle the cukes and what containers do you use for storage here? Did you bring pickling jars along? My kids would love to make pickles!

    1. Sarah, I thought I might have posted details about this in the past. I’ll check my archives and if I didn’t, I’ll post about how to make the pickled cukes – very, very easy.

  2. Have you found coconut milk here in Israel? I’ve only seen cans with preservatives in my local stores and I’d prefer just the regular milk/cream without additives. Thanks!

    1. That’s also all that I’ve found. Very frustrating. But better than nothing, maybe. We’ve cut out so many things because we can’t find good sources, and I’ve had to make some compromises.

      1. There is a health food store on rechov Rabbi Akiva in Bnei Brak, I recall seeing many US products there, I don’t remember the name nor address (saw it when I was in EY a few years ago) but it may be worth trying to track down and call. Perhaps you can have it shipped to you.

  3. Chana, thank you for the suggestion. My dh is planning to take ds12 shopping in Bnei Brak for tefillin, suit, etc, so perhaps I can have him look for this store as well when he goes.

    In general, I’ve found health food store prices quite high so I don’t do much shopping in those stores.

  4. We also consume a lot of bone broth here! We usually have lentils every week and I soak them too, in bit of warm water and lemon or ACV, but I have never” sprout” them. How are they different when sprouted? taste? cooking time etc;

    1. They’re easier to digest and higher in nutrional value if sprouted, and they sprout so quickly that I don’t have to think too far ahead to be sure they’re ready in time! They don’t taste noticeably different than soaked lentils – I only sprout them until they have a tiny tail – and they cook at the same rate as soaked lentils.

  5. How do you make your kimchi? My husband has a Korean coworder who eats kinchi every day for breakfast and I would love to add it to our diet.

  6. I’m so glad I discovered your blog tonight! I’ve been really enjoying reading it.

    Would you mind sharing your recipe for the carrot/apple/onion bake? It sounds delicious.

    Good Shabbos!

    1. Miriam, welcome! I hate to disappoint you but dd15 made this up, so I don’t have a recipe for it. It was delicious, as are many of the interesting creations she came up with, but I can’t replicate it myself or tell anyone else how to!

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