Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

We have too many leftovers! This is a great problem to have, but my planning is being a little thrown off by it. I had intended to make a Mexican style eggs Benedict with chorizo and avocado and chipotle hollandaise for Sunday breakfast. We had so many leftovers from the Paschal breads and the cakes we made this week, though, that we ate those instead. We are still in the Paschal season, and not quite feasting (though I understand that, at least in parts of the Antiochian diocese, and in Greece and parts of the Middle East, the 40 days after the Paschal feast are entirely fast free!), we are eating a lot more treats than normal. With only eight of us at home, we are actually finding it difficult to keep up with them. So, I think I need to space them out a bit. We actually still have a ton of the chocolate left from the Pascha basket (but don't tell the kids how much, they just know that there is more).

One of these years, I will make our Pasqua bread with pancetta, rather than bacon, but so far I cannot justify the cost of over two pounds of pancetta versus the bacon. This week, I plan to recreate a dish Nejat ordered when we were on the Oregon coast two summers ago. We have wanted to make it for a while, but I was waiting for Jerome to be able to eat it with us as it was supposed to be made. So, I grabbed some canned crab claw meat and fresh basil, and we have everything else to make a fantastic macaroni and cheese with crab, parmesan and basil. When Nejat ordered it, I honestly expected it to be pretty basic with a little crab hidden in it and a sprig of fresh basil on top. It was not. It was fantastic. The cheese sauce was made with a sharp cheddar and a little parmesan, the crab was hefty and generous, and the basil in the sauce and sprinkled on top was just right.

I have been planning our meals almost entirely from our freezers and pantry, and just picking up fresh produce and dairy as it is on sale and as we need it, and restocking on staples that we use. Most of our dinners are actually planned through the month of May and part of June. We will be butchering some turkeys as soon as there is enough room in the freezer. Also, we ordered new poults, and because of the cold, they sent them with a whole lot of extra chicks, so those chicks that are roosters will end up in the freezer, too. Sadly, our goslings almost all died in transit, and the company had all future hatchings ordered already, so we only have three of them. We are hoping for a breeding pair and an extra male, and will put the extra male in the freezer, and keep the breeding pair to get our own goslings as soon as they are able. We have a sitting muscovy, and we are hoping for more of them. They have finally started laying, so we re getting rich eggs that are making for fantastic cakes. The yolks will be going into some ice cream, too.

One of our goals this year is to get property fencing up properly, and then we can talk about sheep. If anyone has any piglets, we would love two or three to raise, because come fall, that will be a welcome addition to our freezer and table. I'd love a milking cow, but we are just not in a place to be committed to the twice daily milking, or even once a day milking, if we share with the calf, as we intend. Rich is hoping to get another couple hives going, too, after the sadness of losing two because of our cold temperatures and taking a break from it. We miss our own honey.

Spring finally looks like it might make an appearance here, too. Rich has been busy this week with the boys, digging holes for seven new fruit trees and getting some of them planted and watered. Aside from that fencing, we are trying to surround the property with fruit trees. If we can get enough planted, we might actually be able to raise the temperature around the property by a couple degrees, too, creating our own micro-micro-climate. The east border of the property doesn't get a lot of irrigation, so we are thinking of planting native trees, like Russian Olive, which can spread, but will be slowed at least by the minimal water. We have starts from our lilacs and forsythia that can be transplanted there, too, and all those would provide a pretty and fragrant surrounding for us.

• Sunday - Feast of Saint George
  Breakfast: Leftover Sirnica with Pascha Cheese and, Italian Bacon and Romano Pasqua Bread, Moroccan Almond-Orange Cake and Creamy Buttermilk Cake with Coconut and Pecans, Spanish Cheeses, Strawberries, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Tray Kofta with Potatoes and Tomatoes, Rice, Harissa, Duqqus, Sah'awiq, Green Salad, More Leftover Cake
• Monday
  Breakfast: Soft Boiled Eggs, Center Cut Bacon, Toast, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Crab and Basil Macaroni and Cheese, Green Salad, Crème Brûlée
• Tuesday - Feast of Saint Mark
  Breakfast: Farmer Breakfast Casserole with Sausage, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Green Salad/Vegetable Sides/Fruit brought by Bible Study Members, Lemon Blueberry Poundcake with Lemon Glaze
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Tomato Toast*, Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Instant Pot Turkish Split Pea Soup, Bread, Fruit Plate
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Egg, Cheese, Tomato and Avocado Tortillas, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Layered Potato and Beef Bake, Persian Chopped Salad, Middle Eastern Orange Cake
• Friday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Almonds, Dates and Cardamom, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Adriatic Style Grilled Shrimp, Eggplant, Potato and Tomato Bake, Soparnik, Fruit Bowl
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Sausage, Egg and Cheese Biscuits, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus, Dinner Rolls, Kremenitsa

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 (this may be later this time because of our holiday feasting and rest).

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Fesah', Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Pascha, Tales from the Kitchen