Menu Plan: March 29 - April 4 (Passion Sunday and 6th Week of Lent)

We are working on our garden and trying to set up nests for our ducks and turkeys, to protect them and their ducklings and poults from predators. Two gravenstein apple trees have gone in, a beautiful, hardy, magnolia shrub, and two new varieties of daffodil. We are brightening up our yard, and we have peas planted in the ground. The plan is to put root vegetables in the ground this week and potatoes in around Good Friday. I'm hoping for a good year in our garden. In about a month or so our local nursery should be getting in some more Russian sage and Siskiyou pinks for us to plant, as well as picking up a flowering pink dogwood to replace the miserable Chinese elm that drops seeds all over the yard and driveway. Our library has a drought resistant garden, and there is a type of gingko they have there, that I would like to plant at our driveway entrance, which gets hardly any water in our already desert climate.

I've been making fun cocktails all week, because I don't have to drive anywhere. Also, I have been reading up on them, and found that whiskey or bourbon used to be the favored liquor for them until prohibition when quicker to produce gin took over in popularity, and also was not as good tasting, so it was covered up with juices and other flavorings. Anyway, that meant that the boulevardier predated the negroni, and this is great for me, because I prefer bourbon to gin any day. We stocked up on liquor before we had to stay home.

If you aren't already following me on Instagram, you are missing some of the videos I am making on both cooking and knitting techniques. I hope you find something useful in them, and they help you learn more and have a profitable time during your confinement. I even posted a video of how I shape and bake khoubz Araby this weekend.

We are blessed that Rich's job is considered essential, and that if it comes to it, he can work from home, or take sick leave if we need to, so while we are at home, we are doing fine. Even though we homeschool, this quarantine has been harder on us than I thought, though. With no ballet, no co-op, no college classes, no visits with friends, no church, it is a little challenging. The Paschal feast is so close and feels so odd this year. We are preparing and hoping for the best. Whether we can have our normal feast, or keep vigil at church, Christ will still rise, and we will rejoice.

• Sunday - Passion Sunday
  Breakfast: Banana Pear Bread*, Yogurt and Jam, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Spicy Venison and Beef Cheese Burgers with Lettuce and Tomatoes, French Fries, Sliced Cantaloupe
• Monday - Feast of Saint John Climacus
  Breakfast: Avocado Toast with Olive Oil and Salt, Grape Tomatoes, Sliced Pears, Tea and Honey
  Dinner: Tomato Rice Soup, Italian Bread, Blood Oranges
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Toasted Crumpets with Peanut Butter and Honey, Sliced Apples, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Stir Fried Ginger Shrimp and Broccoli, Rice, Sliced Oranges
• Wednesday - Feast of Saint Mary of Egypt
  Breakfast: Steel Cut Oatmeal with Chopped Apples and Cinnamon Sugar, Coffee
  Dinner: Sesame Noodles with Cabbage, Romaine and Beet Green Salad with Soy Citrus Ginger Dressing, Minneolas
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Vegan Cornmeal Waffles, Maple Syrup, Sliced Apples, Coffee
  Dinner: Mana'eesh, Middle Eastern Chopped Salad, Arabic Style Rice Pilaf, Sliced Oranges
• Friday
  Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Coconut Milk and Home Canned Peaches, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Thai Vegetable Red Curry with Cashews, Rice, Frozen Fruit Salad
• Saturday - Memorial of Saint Ambrose
  Breakfast: Ful, Harissa, Chopped Tomatoes and Onions, Bread, Coffee
  Dinner: Mexican "Cobb" Salad with Shrimp, Fried Bananas with Honey

What is on your menu this week? I hope these breakfast and dinner ideas help you make plans, too. 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.



Linking to Menu Plan Monday
Here are some resources for good, orthodox, liturgical worship services to participate in from home Saint Michael's, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Diocese of Cascadia Anglican Church, Orthodox Church of the Redeemer. If you don't have a church broadcast, perhaps this will help you worship and focus on the Lord and how you can serve His people during this time.