With our record snowfall, I’ve been snowed in for a week now. We were stuck three days after the first snow and then a bunch of neighbors got together to pay for a private snowplow (our city isn’t very good about plowing side streets – my in laws two miles away are in a different county and they had the county plow go down their street four times; in one day; they can’t believe what we have to deal with). Then there was the next snow and our street was so blocked up, the private plow we tried to hire couldn’t get through! The city plowed our street on Friday, but it still doesn’t look like I’ll be going anywhere for a couple more days since the new radiator in our van sprung a leak (fortunately it’s under warranty). Right before the last snow I picked up enough vegetables for two weeks, as I do every two weeks (around $50 for two weeks, so I stayed within the $25 limit I said I was committing to; anything else I need will be coming from whatever is in the pantry or freezer).
I’d be feeling very, very low on food by now if I had the habit of buying just a little more than I need; I never expected that it would be so long before I could get out, but it doesn’t really make a difference to me. Even though it’s been a month since I shopped (except for getting the vegetables a week ago) and out of a couple of staples that I rely heavily on (raw milk and eggs), we’re doing fine.
Here’s the menu plan for this week:
Shabbos – dinner – challah, chicken soup, roast chicken and potatoes, carrot raisin tzimmes, beet salad, peanut butter cups; lunch – cholent (beef stew), eggplant dip, kishke (stuffing), traffic light salad, beet salad, ginger tamari corn chips/blue corn chips with dip
Sunday – breakfast – oranges and pumpkin pie; lunch – homemade eggrolls; dinner- hoppin’ john with gribenes
Monday – b – coconut rice (will share recipe later this week); l – mushroom barley soup; d – sausage chowder
Tuesday – b – banana nut muffins; l – mushroom barley soup; d – baked fish, fried okra
Wednesday – b – quinoa pudding (w/coconut milk); l – cabbage soup; d – Jamaican rice and beans
Thursday – b – blueberry Dutch puffs; l – CORN (Clean Out Refrigerator Night – well, day in this case :)); d – tacos, guacamole
Today I’m doing a some advance prep for the meals for this week. In recent months I’ve been moving away from relying heavily on grains and beans, but am falling back on them more this week to compensate for not being able to go shopping for milk and eggs.
I’m soaking 4 pounds of black eyed peas for the hoppin’ John and Jamaican rice and beans, 2 pounds of red beans and 2 pounds of chickpeas for the sausage chowder. All except the black eyed peas I need for tonight’s dinner will be strained in the morning to begin sprouting. I’m also soaking five cups of rice for breakfast tomorrow as well as a couple of pounds of barley for the soup. I have a new way of soaking grains to break down the phytic acid that I’m experimenting with and will share that once I see what the results are.
I have another 16 quart pot of stock on the stove. It’s crazy how much stock we’re going through – at least three pots this size every week. As always, stocks are at the foundation of many of my meals; even those that look vegetarian are cooked with a rich stock base to boost the nutrients.
(This post is part of Menu Plan Monday.)
Avivah
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