With all the holidays, it’s been a while since I’ve posted my weekly menu! Now that cold weather here, I’m shifting into winter fare – and winter dishes are not only satisfying and warming, they’re simple to make. Winter is a time to slow down, snuggle up with your kids on the couch, and enjoy the mellowness of the days spent together. Porridges, soups, stews – now is the kind of weather when these kind of dishes are appreciated.
Shabbos – dinner – challah, chicken soup, meatballs in sauce, roast potatoes, ratatouille, salad, chocolate/carob cake (we forgot to take the fruit crumble out of the freezer or we would have that as well); lunch – chicken, beef cholent, kishke, mango noodle kugel, potato shells with vegetable filling, broccoli plum salad, Israeli salad, pear chutney, chocolate chip cookie bars, melon, and chocolate/carob cake
Before I make up my menu for the week, I take a quick survey of what’s in the fridge. That way I can be sure to integrate any leftovers or any vegetables that might otherwise be forgotten and spoil. I don’t shop for the things on my menu; my menu is generally made up of things that I already have. This is a very different approach from what is generally suggested, which is to make up a menu and then go buy the ingredients you need. That’s a good approach, so if you’re doing that and it works for you, keep doing it! The advantage of my way is it saves more money because I’m taking advantage of whatever sale items I’ve bought, so all the ingredients I use will be purchased at a discounted price. This alone means my meals cost 30 – 50% of what I’d pay if the ingredients I needed but planned for weren’t on sale.
Sunday – brunch-coconut honey pudding; dinner – creamy butternut squash soup (we have loads of butternut squash from our garden), beef cholent, noodle casserole
Monday – breakfast – buckwheat muffins; lunch – spaghetti squash with tomato vegetable sauce; dinner – Mexican lasagna, salad
Tuesday – breakfast – millet porridge; lunch – sausage hash and potatoes; dinner – chickpea and peanut stew, rice
Wednesday – breakfast – egg muffins; lunch – will pick something up when doing monthly shopping; dinner – stuffed cabbage soup
Thursday – breakfast – Amish oatmeal, lunch – CORN; dinner – vegetable bean soup
Sunday I usually do some preparatory work for the meals of the week. This week that will include soaking and sprouting the beans for Mexican lasagna, chickpea and peanut stew, and bean vegetable soup. I’ll start cooking a large pot of bone broth since I use that as the base for as much as I can for flavor and nutritional value – soups, stews, and to cook grains. I haven’t made yogurt for a very long time but I’d like to give it a try this week – it’s getting to be challenging to find anything but nonfat and lowfat yogurt in the stores). I also want to get a sourdough starter going so I will have it to bake with next week. And since I only have a small amount of fermented sauerkraut left (out of a gallon), I’ll probably prepare make ginger carrots.
My ds16 has an allergy to wheat gluten, which we’ve known about since he was seven or eight but it wasn’t major so we didn’t do much about it. Though I’m sure the soaking of grains helps foods digest more easily for him, he decided last week he wants to try not to eat any wheat for a while and see if he feels any differently. I planned this week’s menu with him in mind. I also planned my bulk order with him in mind, and ordered 30 lb of quinoa instead of the 50 lb of spelt I was planning to get (I already have plenty of millet, rice, oats, and buckwheat) so that I’ll have more options for him.
Avivah
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