It is still pretty crazy around here. This is the second year in a row that we have started school with serious illness in the house. Rich and I have not slept a full night in over three weeks. Please pray for all our household, but especially the girls, and especially Mariam.

Since everyone was so sick, we postponed the first day of school for a while. Along with that, I was trying to coordinate our weeks to the number of lessons and had fewer lessons for Yasmina than weeks, so I started her off rather slowly. As a result, we are still working on the letter A this week. We will be making an A apple pie and I am working on painting some A saints (Angel and St. Anne). This is so out of my sphere and it is taking me much longer than I thought it would (and I planned for extra time). At this point, I'm hoping that the A saints will be finished before we do the D saints. I have to paint St. Barbara and St. Benedict next week! I'm also teaching a class in our co-op again, so I'm preparing for our first class and the rest of the term as well.

We still have lots of corn to eat, so we're eating it at almost every dinner now. I've started tracking how much each dinner costs us, out of curiosity. I'll try to share that the following week for you. I do not count what we didn't have to buy, or full prices, but what we actually pay. Last week's dinners cost us an average of $7.85 each, or $0.87 per person, per dinner. That was somewhat unusual, even for us, as we were able to have a free dinner because of an event we attended.

I know I have been posting spottily, even for me, lately. Between the deaths in our family, the grief, the trying to catch up with our lives from our hectic summer away, illness, school, all of that, it has been harder for me to take the time to post. Even the simple menu plans and recipes. I have a recipe that I was planning to post from the last menu. I will just try to post it this week. I hope to get back to posting more sometime soon. I miss it.

I forgot that this Saturday is Michaelmas! We will be making our Michaelmas Dragon Bread again this year.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs with Toast and Cheese, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Meatloaf, Home Fries, Corn on the Cob ($9.57)
• Monday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Pears and Cinnamon Sugar, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Homemade Hamburger Helper, Baked Potatoes, Corn on the Cob ($8.21)
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Veggie Hash with Poached Eggs, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Lemon Sage Pork Chops, Roasted Broccoli, Brown Rice ($10.07)
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Egg Burritos, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Slow Cooker Black Bean, Corn and Spinach Enchiladas, Quick & Dirty Mexican Rice, Sliced Apples ($10.02)
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Dutch Baby Pancake with Butter, Powdered Sugar and Lemon, Sliced Apples, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Sausage, Potato & Pepper Bake, Italian Bread ($3.05)
• Friday
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast, Dried Apricots, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Greek Dinner Salad, Baba Ghanooj, Khoubz Araby (Pita Bread), A Apple Pie ($15.89 for 13 people)
• Saturday - Michaelmas
  Breakfast: Lemon Soufflé Pancakes, Bacon, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Mexican Tortas*, Michaelmas Dragon Bread ($12.36)

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.

*Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. -- Revelation 12:7-9

**

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in praelio. Contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur. Tuque princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen.

Labels: Church Year, Family, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Menu Plans, Michaelmas, Prayer Requests, Tales from the Kitchen

Things have been crazy around here. We've been exceedingly busy and sleep deprived, even for us. So, I did not post a menu last week. I just didn't have enough sustained time to work on any one thing this past week. I did plan a menu that we followed, but trying to format it here was asking too much from me. Especially as I didn't even get it done until last Wednesday. This menu was made up by Sunday, but I have been running around so much that this is the first chance I've had to post it.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Sausage, Scallion and Cheese Scramble, Toast, Plums, Tea with Honey and Lemon
  Dinner: Homemade Potato Chips, Watermelon (we had a very heavy, late lunch Sunday)


• Monday -
  Breakfast: Cinnamon Raisin French Toast, Milky Tea
  Dinner: Bean and Bacon Soup, Saltine Crackers, French Coconut Pie (we did add bittersweet chocolate to it)


• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Apples and Cinnamon Sugar, Tea & Honey
  Dinner: Spicy Sausage Pasta, Watermelon


• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Cinnamon Toast, Sliced Apricots and Peaches, Tea & Honey
  Dinner: Potato & Garbanzo Bean Curry, Brown Rice, Fruit Plate


• Thursday
  Breakfast: Granola, Yogurt & Honey, Milky Tea
  Dinner: Butter Steaks, Baked Potatoes, Steam Sauteed Carrots and Onions


• Friday
  Breakfast: Hard Boiled Eggs, Toast, Sliced Apples, Milky Tea
  Dinner: Quesadillas, Fruit Plate


• Saturday
  Breakfast: Currant Pancakes with Maple Syrup, Fried Eggs, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Baked Ham, Shredded Scalloped Potatoes*, Buttered Green Beans, Apple Pie

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.

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