Our week should be mostly back to normal this week and we are almost through our school year. We will finish next week and have a couple months without regular schooling, then start up again in September.

We are kicking off this week with our neighborhood picnic and potluck. Everyone brings their own meat to grill and a dish to share. Our neighborhood club (kind of like a grange, but based on our irrigation district) provides the drinks, condiments, grills, place. Our week is going to end with some strawberry picking as our favorite place just opened up for business. It is a homeschooling family that is using the profits from their sales to put away in their daughters' college funds. They raise my absolute favorite variety of strawberry (Shuksan - ours are a couple years from being even close to how prolific theirs are, and we don't have nearly the plants planted that they do) and they have jam berries that they sell for only $1.00 a pound.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Shabboura with Cream Cheese, Dates, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Grilled Lamb Ribs for Us and Assorted Baq'lawa and Knaffeh to Share


• Monday
  Breakfast: 'Ijja, Toast, Mint Tea
  Dinner: Leftover Lamb, Roasted Asparagus, Salad


• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raisins and Brown Sugar, Milk, Coffee
  Dinner: Pepperoni Pasta with Spring Vegetables, Brown Butter Banana Muffins


• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Dutch Baby Pancake, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Eggs in Purgatory, Pasta with Garlic Scapes, Salad


• Thursday
  Breakfast: Creamed Eggs, Biscuits, Mint Tea
  Dinner: Mustard and Onion Chuck Roast, Homemade Rice-a-Roni, Roasted Asaragus


• Friday
  Breakfast: Cherry Almond Granola, Yogurt and Honey, Coffee
  Dinner: Beans, Greens and Cornbread


• Saturday
  Breakfast: Potato and Veggie Hash with Eggs Poached on Top, Milk, Coffee
  Dinner: Roast Turkey, Stuffing, Gravy, Scalloped Turnips

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Bought:
Asparagus

From the Garden:
Snap Peas
Snow Peas
Turnips
Radishes
Scallions
Chives
Dill
Garlic Scapes
Various Greens

Labels: Family, Homemaking, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen

Chocolate Coconut Bars

I first got this recipe from the back of a C & H brown sugar package. I have no idea if or how I changed it, though I know myself too well to think this is the original recipe. It is excellent, definitely a sometimes treat. It can be doubled or halved easily and is definitely a crowd pleaser with adolescents, children and adults alike. Perfect for coffee hours at church or a potluck. If you don't eat the whole pan yourself first. Here's a hint for serving a large crowd that I learned from feeding our Laudate children each week: Make or cut everything smaller. People tend to eat the same number of anything regardless of size. So, you can cut this into 32 bars and feed fewer people or into 64 and feed more (or have some left for your children the next day).

1 1/2 cups pastry or all purpose flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (one stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup chocolate chips
2 eggs
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons pastry or all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sweetened, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups pastry flour, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cut cold butter into flour mixture until it resembled coarse crumbs.

Press this mixture into a 9" X 13" pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle top evenly with chocolate chips.

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons pastry flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt and whisk together until smoothly blended. Stir in coconut. Pour mixture over the top of the base and return pan to oven. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely and cut into bars to serve.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

We have a busy week this week. Lots of visiting with friends and family, some of our summer activities starting up and some more work in the garden. There are a few repeats this week, because we either didn't get to them or had to move something else last week.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Freshly Toasted Croutons, Spinach and Cheese, Milk
  Dinner: Lasagna, Salad, Strawberry Shortcake


• Monday
  Breakfast: Leftover Strawberry Shortcake, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Dinner with Family


• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Breakfast with Family
  Dinner: Dinner with Family


• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Breakfast with Family
  Dinner: Dinner with Friends


• Thursday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Cinnamon Sugar, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Sausage and Brown Rice Casserole, Steam Sauteed Carrots, Chocolate Coconut Bars*


• Friday
  Breakfast: Cherry Almond Granola, Yogurt and Honey, Coffee
  Dinner: Eggs in Purgatory, Pasta with Garlic Scapes, Salad


• Saturday
  Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Muffins, Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Fruit, Milk, Coffee
  Dinner: Italian Beef Sandwiches on Olive Oil Bread, Salad, Fruit Plate

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Bought:

Labels: Family, Homemaking, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen

A glorious and blessed Pentecost to you! Even without our big Tongues of Flame party, we are still going to have our own Tongues of Flame barbecue. We're wearing red and eating strawberries and having a nice red dessert. Pentecost is the second highest holy day of the Christian year (the first being Pascha, or Easter and the third being Christmas). It is the birth of the Church, the undoing of what happened at the Tower of Babel. The Jews celebrate this day as the giving of the Law. We celebrate it as the giving of the Holy Spirit who enables us to keep the Law.

So, today's meals include red and grilled food to help us celebrate and give our children some tangible lessons in the holiday and Church year. Our menu this week involves some of our own garden produce, even though we were late with much of our planting. We have loads of garlic greens and scapes growing, so those will be in our meals. We're eating our radishes and some of our early greens. I was able to get two freezer meals put away last week. This week's menu seems to only have one meal that looks like it will both freeze well.

I'm really proud of Elijah. He is learning out to help in the kitchen and has become much more diligent and interested in learning to cook more. Since this is a week full of celebrations for us (both Rich and Dominic's birthdays are on Saturday), he wanted to learn to make chocolate muffins for his father, since Rich's birthday is mostly subsumed by Dominic's.

• Sunday Pentecost
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Freshly Toasted Croutons, Strawberries and Sliced Oranges, Milk
  Dinner: Grilled Rack of Lamb, Grilled Asparagus, Creamy Herbed White Beans, Rhubarb Custard Cake


• Monday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Cinnamon Sugar, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Pastitsio (Freeze Half), Sauteed Swiss Chard with Garlic Scapes


• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Honey & Oat Flapjacks, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Slow Cooked Chuck Steak, Steam Sauteed Carrots and Asparagus, Cracked Wheat Pilaf, Rhubarb Fool


• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Slow Cooker Rice Pudding with Coconut and Dried Cherries, Mint Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Cream of Asparagus Soup, Biscuits, Fruit Plate


• Thursday
  Breakfast: Dutch Baby Pancake, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Austrian Kucherlkraut (Beef and Sauerkraut), Sour Cream Noodles, Roasted Asparagus


• Friday
  Breakfast: Cherry Almond Granola and Milk, Coffee
  Dinner: Eggs in Purgatory, Pasta with Garlic Scapes, Salad


• Saturday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Fruit Plate, Chocolate Chip Muffins, Milk, Coffee
  Dinner: Pepperoni Pizza Puffs, Marinara Dipping Sauce, Spinach Salad, Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Bought:

Salad Greens
Asparagus
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Pepperoni

Labels: Church Year, Family, Homemaking, Menu Plans, Pentecost, Tales from the Kitchen

We have a few repeats this week, as we switched some meals around based on special requests from Rich and the children. We are in the final week of the Paschal season. Pentecost is this coming Sunday, so we will grill something in honor of those Tongues of Flame.

This week I'm trying to get back in the practice of doubling at least one meal each week and freezing the extra. The plan is to mark those dishes that I am going to double, to give you a clue as to some of the things I make that freeze well. The plan for us is to have a good stock of meals to either give to families that need it after having a baby or going to the hospital or feed us on those nights that we are all tired, busy or otherwise can't face making a meal.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Cappuccino Muffins, Hard Boiled Eggs, Sliced Apples, Milk
  Dinner: Linner after Church - Salami and Cheese Sandwiches, Sliced Apples and Oranges


• Monday
  Breakfast: Caramel Apple Baked French Toast, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Ham and Bean Soup, Whole Wheat Rolls (Make Double and Freeze Half)


• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raisins and Brown Sugar, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Chicken Fried Rice, Sliced Oranges


• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Ful, Harissa, Toast, Mint Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Black Bean Soup (Freeze Half), Kamut Rolls, Fruit Plate


• Thursday
  Breakfast: Toad in a Hole, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Braised Lamb Breast and Vegetables over Herbed Cous Cous


• Friday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Toast, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Tuna Noodle Casserole with Peas, Sliced Apples


• Saturday
  Breakfast: French Breakfast Puffs, Hard Boiled Eggs, Milk, Coffee
  Dinner: Gratin of Potatoes, Onion and Sausage from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Bought:

Salad Greens
Butter

Labels: Family, Homemaking, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen