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     Along with the now completed Whole Wheat Desserts cookbook, I am planning on putting together a bread cookbook.  But first, I’ll post some of my favorites right here, starting with Challah Bread.

      One of the highlights of our week is Friday evening Shabbat.  It is a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as a family, meditate on the Lord, what he has done for us, and anticipate that future feast with our Bridegroom. This meal is always served with Challah bread.  This is a delicious, chewy bread.  Even if you don’t have a shabbat, try this bread sometime.  I think it will become a favorite!

     By the way, this recipe also makes wonderful hamburger or hotdog buns.  Just shape them and bake them until they are lightly golden in a 350 degree oven.  King Arthur Flour sells hamburger and hotdog bun pans, but you can just place the shaped buns on a baking dish. 

   We  cover the Challah Bread with a white cloth before the blessing and serving.          We  are anticipating our Bridegroom’s Feast!

click on more for Challah Bread recipe and tutorial

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   Ever look at the clock at around 4:00 p.m. and then at the refridgerator/cubbard and hope  one of them will give you the answer to what is for supper?  One thing that has helped me in meal planning is to have a daily supper catagorie.   Ours looks like this:

Monday night:  Cheese/dairy    (main dish has cheese or cream sauce,  or something like that)

Tuesday night:  Fish  (not big fish eaters but, for budget sake, this is usually some varitey of canned tuna or salmon)

Wednesday night:  beans

Thursday night:   potatoes or pasta

Friday night:  Soup/salad/Challah bread/dessert

Saturday night:  a meat entree

Sunday:  usually leftovers from Friday night and Saturday night

     These are not hard and fast rules by any means, but if we have neglected to plan a menu for a week, it sure helps us to know  what the catagorie is for a particular night.  Sometimes, we get real adventurous and switch the nights around.    We do try to stick to the Friday night and Sunday plans as much as possible.  We  like to have a Shabbat on Friday evening and on Sunday we do like to try to rest a little. 

Wondering about what a shabbat is?  Well, if you have ever seen “Fiddler on the Roof”, a shabbat is the Friday night meal that begins the sabbath observance in which the father blesses his family.  It is a beautiful scene. If you would like more information about a shabbat, Nancy Campbell has a great article describing it at http://rubies.articledirectoree.com/devotions/womens-devotionals/the-shabbat-meal—no.-133-192.html

From the above daily list, you can tell we have two meat meals a week. This is for budget reasons, but we find we like it.

Here is this week’s menu plan:

Monday night:    Cheese stuffed Pasta shells on Marinara Sauce
                                  Steamed broccoli                              Garden Salad

Tuesday night:    Salmon Patties           Slaw             Green beans

Wednesday night:      Baked beans         Spinach Salad             Veggie sticks

Thursday night:    Roasted Rosemary Potatoes     Steamed carrots or squash  garden salad

Friday night:    Pumpkin Soup     Broccoli/Cauliflower  Salad   Challah bread   Blueberry/Peach Cobbler or Blackberry Cobbler  

Saturday:   Chicken and Dumplings      Peas           Mrs. William’s Slaw

Sunday:  Lunch and supper are leftovers   

I will try to post menu plans every so often and some recipes, too.  If you see something above you would like the recipe for, just leave a comment and I’ll try to post it soon.

“A penny saved is a penny earned” is not a very familiar saying in these days of so-called borrowing your way to wealth, but with hubby out of work for 3 months so far, we are reminded of how true this is. As many of my friends have been showing me, frugality and creativity go hand in hand!
An experiment in saving energy has been cooking on the grill. I have a dilapidated gas grill and began to wonder if I could use it as my stovetop, so I tried stewing a chicken on it! It turned out great plus my house did not have to get heated up. (Very important when another experiment is having the air conditioner off )  Since then, I have cooked dried beans, brown rice, soup and boiled eggs on the grill. Today, I was trying to can dried black beans on the grill but my very old canner is unusable this year. If you try this, please let me know how it works out for you.

Here are some pictures of my “kitchen with views”.