It is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Theotokos today and we rejoice in that. Without her, we could not have Him. Glory to God in His saints!

We had such a fun weekend! There was a BrickCon in Bellevue and Rich either found discounted tickets, or just heard about it and found that the tickets were not that expensive, and we bought them a few months ago. We also reserved a hotel, which was our largest expense for the trip, but it was big enough for all eight of us, and there was a full breakfast in the morning, and as it was a two bedroom suite with a pullout bed in the living area, we didn't need two rooms, and there was a kitchen, so we could bring our dinner for Friday night with us. Anyway, we had a blast looking at all the cool builds and art and robotics done with Lego (and other bricks) and the market had some discontinued sets that our kids had been looking for for ages. Amira found her dream Lego set for around $250, which has been discontinued for years, and which she has only seen for $600 plus online. She held it to her the entire time after buying it and so many people asked her where she got it.

Anyway, we took advantage of one of the apps I use to save money on eating out while we are on trips (I'll post a new frugality blog with that information soon), so we bought some pretty awesome smoked fish, plus crackers - gluten free ones for Jerome, and the fruit we had brought with us, which was a pretty fabulous lunch. The fellow at the fish market was out of one of the smoked salmon packages we had ordered, so he substituted a third package of the more expensive smoked fish from the other two orders we had made. We had smoked salmon (initially it was two orders of that), smoked halibut, smoked sturgeon, and smoked black cod. This made lunch for all of us on Saturday about $43 for eight people, and that is a pretty good deal for buying lunch. A normal restaurant meal for us, even lunch, is always over $140. In fact, we still have one and a half packages of the smoked fish left (and the smoked salmon came in a canning jar we can re-use), for breakfast today, so that price for the smoked fish (that part was about $33) made two meals for us, two and a half packages for yesterday and one and a half packages for today.

Last week, we tried a new recipe for sheikh al-mahshi, and it was so good! We will definitely be making it again. I did modify the method, so I was only using one pan, and in future, I would mirror the spices of the meat in the sauce, as well as salt and pepper the eggplant before frying it to soften. However, it was still delightful and we had a little leftover, plus a ton of the sauce and some of the meat filling left over, which will go into meals this week. This week isn't too busy until the end of it, then we are all running everywhere. I am so grateful for older, competent kids during busy times like this.

As this is one of the two weeks before we really start serious school work (we are only doing about two days a week of more rigorous work, and light work the rest of the week), I am going to try to take this opportunity to put up some peach preserves (maybe some peach melba jam with some of our fall bearing raspberries) and can up some poultry and corn and vegetable stocks, to clear out some room in the freezers. I also have loads of plums that will make wonderful plum jelly and butter. If we have enough time, I will also have the kids help me make some apple pie filling to freeze. They have been just slamming the trimming and slicing of our gleaned sweet peppers for the freezers, and I think we have put away about 30 pounds of sliced peppers - after seeding and stemming them.

• Sunday - Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Theotokos
  Breakfast: Smoked Fish, French Cheese, Baguettes (Parmesan Crisps for Jerome), Fried Eggs, Leftover Plum Tart and Custard, Poached Plums, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Pesto and Ricotta Baked Pasta (Leftover Sheikh al-Mahshi for Jerome) and Muhallabiyeh* for Church Potluck
• Monday - Feast of Saints Joachim and Anna, parents of the Theotokos
  Breakfast: Sausage and Vegetable Hash, Toast, Figs, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Orange Marmalade and Apricot Nectar Glazed Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Steam Sautéed Carrots with Garlic and Dill, Sliced Watermelon
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Fried Ham and Eggs, Toast, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Spicy Spanish Tomato Skillet with Eggs and Cheese, Bread, Fried Peppers and Onions, Torta Dominguera
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Brown Sugar, Apples and Raisins, Tea and Honey
  Dinner: Tbikhat Ful, Tamis, Sah'awiq, Beet and Cucumber Salad, Sliced Canteloupe
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Overnight Slow Cooker French Toast (Gluten-free Oatmeal Muffins with Almond Butter for Jerome), Plums, Milky Tea
  Dinner: Papas con Chorizo, Salsa, Sour Cream, Chopped Avocados, Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Sliced Watermelon
• Friday - Feast of Saint Cyprian of Carthage
  Breakfast: Scrambled Chickpeas and Veggies, Toast, Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Vegetable and Coconut Rice Salad with Peanut Sauce, Sliced Mangoes
• Saturday - Feasts of Saint John Chrysostom and the Elevation of the Holy Cross
  Breakfast: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle, Chorizo Patties, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Ham and Pinto Beans, Cornbread, Garlic Beet Greens, Corn Relish with Sweet and Hot Peppers, Fig and Mascarpone Almond Tart

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: Blessed Virgin, Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen, Theotokos

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:29 AM