Here is this week’s menu plan – I’ve only included breakfast meals if they are different than my standard option of hot cooked cereal or eggs.

Sun – lunch – deli sandwiches; dinner – sweet potato chili (doubled)

Mon – b – eggs; l -bean and rice bowls with avocado sauce (triple rice to serve with tomorrow’s dinner and morning rice on Thurs.); d – red lentil dal with kasha

Tuesday – b – baked oatmeal; l – sweet potato chili ; d – chicken a la king with rice

Wednesday: b – morning rice (with sunflower seeds and raisins); l – eggs and salad ; d – chicken tamale pie

Thursday – b – pancakes; l – chickpea pot pie (doubled); d – CORN (clean out refrigerator night)

Friday – l – chickpea pot pie

I made homemade cold cuts for Shabbos using marinated chicken breasts, but they were removed from the oven before they were completely cooked through to the center. So there was about half of it that I didn’t serve on Shabbos; my kids were very happy to have this left over! Yesterday we cooked up the chicken that was left, then sliced it  up and made sandwiches with leftover challah for Sunday lunch – voila, deli sandwiches!

I started my week by soaking and then cooking a pot of red beans – it takes almost the same amount of time and effort to cook a little as to cook a lot.  I used that for Sunday night dinner (I doubled that recipe so that I would have enough to serve for lunch on Tuesday), and will use the rest for the bean and rice bowls for Monday lunch.

I found a great deal at a supermarket just a couple of weeks ago – vacuum wrapped avocado puree. I love avocados but the price is never low, even when they’re in season, which they aren’t right now. The price per kg of avocados is currently about 16 shekels a kilo; a vacuum pack of 1 lb (approximately half a kilo) of mashed avocado is 5 shekels – that comes out to 10 shekels a kilo, but it doesn’t include the weight of the pit or peels, so the price is closer to half the price of fresh avocados or less.  it’s not only cheaper but more convenient than the fresh avocados, and I’ll defrost a package of this for the avocado sauce that will top the rice bowls.

The kids enjoy making pancakes themselves, and I’ve scheduled it for Thursday because that’s a day that I’m home all day so I’m more relaxed. They make a regular batch for themselves and a coconut flour (gluten free) batch for Yirmi.

The chickpea pot pie made it onto this week’s menu after I inventoried my freezer and saw that I had a container of seasoned cooked chickpeas, and another of vegetable pot pie filling. Once both containers are defrosted, I’ll combine the two mixtures, make a mashed potato topping and bake it.

I didn’t schedule dinner for Thursday night since experience has shown that there’s usually something left from the week and I try to use what I have and leave the fridge space clear for my Shabbos cooking the next day.

I’ve put on my optional list – if I have the energy and time and desire that all coincide at the same time and that’s very much not a given :): zucchini muffins, sweet potato muffins, cornbread muffins (gluten free – I use coconut flour). I’d like to make a large batch so I can put a bunch of them in the freezer. I don’t do much baking and once I’m doing it, I’d like to maximize my efforts.

Avivah