Alleluia! The Spirit of the Lord fills the world! Oh come, let us adore Him. Alleluia!

This is the second highest feast of the Church year. It is the birthday of the Church. Pentecost is the undoing of Babel. It is the empowering by the Holy Spirit of the Apostles to spread the Church throughout the world to every people, tribe, tongue and nation. We will have our Tongues of Flame barbecue with our church on Sunday, and enjoy a fast free week. The barbecue is a potluck, so we will see what lovely gifts people bring to share.

We have only two more weeks of official school before we take a summer break. Amira will be a graduate, and I am so proud of her, but I am also a little sad that she is grown up. While she figures out what her future should look like, we are glad to be home for her still. She has a couple opportunities this summer that will help her make her way in the world, and her brothers and sisters will also be doing some work in our neighborhood, earning money and learning skills for themselves.

Since this is a fast free week, there are no vegan days, but we are still trying to live within the limits of the grocery store prices and what we have at home. So, there is still soup and there are still legume based meals. Jerome is doing super well with the re-introduction of lentils, and again, I think his triggers are probably environmental. His doctor did say that this was more a hard reset than an indication of actual food allergies (though she suspected the banana might be a true allergy, and we already avoid lima beans because of reactions he has had in the past).

We are being more frugal because of the prices from inflation and supply chain issues brought on by the policies regarding the big C. If you aren't looking at my posts on frugality, you might want to take a peek and see if there is anything there that might help you. I did my bi-weekly grocery shopping Friday and found that the organic sweet potatoes were actually cheaper per pound, just by a little, than the conventionally grown ones. Especially since they were root vegetables, I thought that was important, and so bought the organic bag. There were a couple potatoes with dings in them that would degrade them quickly, and the produce lady marked the bag down a dollar on top of that, so it pays to point things like that out and ask. Since I didn't buy chicken because it was so expensive, and almost didn't buy bacon, because of the same reason, I am pleased with the deals we did find. I was able to get bacon, because they had pre-cooked, naturally cured bacon, for a dollar less than the price we used to pay for the same quantity of bacon. We are so grateful for how the Lord has looked after our family so well during these vexing and trying times. I see Him in every discount sticker and am reminded how much He loves us.

• Sunday - Pentecost
  Breakfast: Mexican Eggs Benedict with Chorizo and Avocado Cream, Sliced Oranges, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Grilled Lamb Chops, Grilled Hatch Chile Sausages, Grilled Asparagus, Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Monday
  Breakfast: Creamed Eggs with Toast Fingers (Gluten-free for Jerome), Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Enfrijoladas, Cuban Rice, Oranges
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Sweet Potato Hash with Chopped Ham, Sliced Oranges, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Cream of Onion Soup with Bacon, Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette, Home Canned Pears
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Battatas ou Bayd, Sliced Apples, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Italian Sausage and Potato Bake, Bread (Gluten-free for Jerome) to sop up the delicious juices, Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette
• Thursday - Saint Columba
  Breakfast: Slow Cooker Bacon Cheese Potatoes, Sliced Oranges, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Lamb Ribs and Beans, Arepas, Fruit Plate
• Friday
  Breakfast: Tunisian Shakshouka (using sweet potatoes), Home Canned Pears, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Pasta (Gluten-free for Jerome) with Bolognese Sauce, Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Canned Peaches
• Saturday - Saint Barnabas the Apostle
  Breakfast: Cream Cheese Swirled Cherry and Mixed Berry Coffee Cake (Gluten-free for Jerome), Sausages, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Pastitsio (Gluten-free for Jerome), Chopped Salad, Blueberry Cheesecake Gelato

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: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Keeping the Feast, Menu Plans, Pentecost, Prayer Requests, Tales from the Kitchen