The Menu

I lost a couple of weeks there! Anyway... this week's menu:

FOR DINNER:

challah
roast chicken
asparagus w/preserved lemon and garlic
mashed potatoes
stewed tomatoes cabbage
sauteed mushrooms and onions
spinach salad
corn bread
Guiness stout cupcakes
honey cake

FOR LUNCH:

challah
hummus
pickled herring
marinated olives
pickled radishes
arugula salad
borscht
corn bread
cheese quiche
spinach quiche
asparagus
ice cream
broiled apricot tart w/pastry cream

YUM!

Good shabbos, all!

The Menu

Burned out on holiday menus, so these are the most bare bones shabbos meals I've probably ever had!

For dinner:

challah (from freezer!)
hamburgers (w/fancy fixings)
french fries
kids have popsicles - we're not ready for dessert yet after all those chagim!

For lunch:

challah
beef stew
turkey sandwiches
coleslaw

Good shabbos!!!!

The Menus

Yom tov, yom tov, yom tov. HAPPY SUKKOS!

For tonight:

challah
chicken noodle soup
brisket
baked potatoes w/tofu sour cream and green onions
salad bar
pastry cream w/strawberries

For lunch tomorrow:

Chinese!
challah
orange chicken
beef broccoli
eggplant
fried won tons
ice cream

For dinner tomorrow:

challah
tomato soup
macaroni and cheese
spinach souffle
salad bar
honey cake

For lunch tomorrow:
challah
bean tacos w/all the fixings
cabbage lime slaw
Mexican rice
root beer floats

CHAG SAMEACH!

I think we'll make it! :)

The Menu

I think I missed a couple of weeks here. It's been a bit, er, hectic!

For tonight:

challah
roast chicken
mango chutney and jalapeno pepper jelly
brown rice
mashed potatoes
mango slaw
zucchini w/preserved lemons
roasted cabbage
sweet and sour mushrooms
strawberry sorbet
angel food cake

And for lunch:

challah
caesar salad
carrot salad
cauliflower salad
beets
turkey deli sandwiches
veggies from dinner
honey cake and cake from guests!

Poem

Here is the poem that Amirah is submitting to the library's Young Writers Contest:

Blue butterfly in the tree,
Swaying gently in the breeze.
Horrible oops!
Raven swoops!
Wings fall, periwinkle blue,
Lying broken in the dew.

The Menu

B"H I got most of the cooking done tonight since tomorrow the kids have a half-day marine science class. A few things left for tomorrow, but nothing too complicated.

For dinner:

challah
crockpot chicken with preserved lemons and brown rice
mashed potatoes
roasted zucchini and mushrooms
roasted cauliflower
spinach salad
chocolate mousse

For lunch:

challah
olive tapenade
pastrami
beef shank stew
marinated mushrooms
baba ghanouj with preserved lemons
cucumber salad
fava bean tomato stew
arugula/candied walnut/cranberry salad
chocolate cake

GOOD SHABBOS!!!

Studying at the Library

We had a great learning today, and tried something new. First, we took our lunch to the (hot) park after finishing our morning learning. The kids had lunch and ran around on their scooters for a little while. Then we headed over to the library. Upstairs, they have many study rooms that you can sign out. So we did! They walked us back to a corner that I never even knew existed - the Teen Book Room. Through that room we walked into another room with lovely, big tables, a dry erase board, huge windows with a pretty view, and great lighting. With three times the table space we have at home we could really spread out. The Teen Book Room had really comfortable big chairs and a "reading bar" (tall chairs at a high counter). No one was there, so I could send one or two kids out to read while I worked with the others. It was great. Very relaxing. Until Raizel took Avi to the nearby bathroom and he sang at the top of lungs the whole time he was inside (great acoustics) thereby "entertaining" the entire top (grownup) floor of the library. We had to have a good discussion about library behavior (again). He mostly managed pretty well. We got through our afternoon learning in 90 minutes. Pretty fast! I think it would be nice to do every Wednesday afternoon and combine it with our regular library outing. We'll see!

The Menu

Just a few more minutes!

For dinner:

challah
caesar salad
chicken
Mexican rice
refried (actually, crockpotted) beans
plantains
mashed potatoes (because DD cannot survive a shabbos w/o potatoes)
chips/guacamole/salsa
lime cilantro coleslaw
brownies

And for lunch:

exactly the same thing, but no chicken, and...

caldo de res (beef shank/butternut squash stew)
deli turkey meat

GOOD SHABBOS, ALL!

Sequential Spelling

We all love Sequential Spelling! I grudgingly did Spelling Workout all through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade with DD9. It just wasn't very inspiring and felt like a lot of busywork. The advantage was that I could just hand her the book and have her do most of the work independently. Spelling Workout requires more parent time, but the approach is so elegantly simple that I love doing it.

Each day in Sequential Spelling is simply a spelling "test." Over a couple of weeks the student builds up to 25 words per day on the "test." You just read the words (with a sentence for context), the student writes them down, you reveal the proper spelling for the word (explaining any phonics rules if needed), and if they wrote it down incorrectly, they immediately rewrite the word correctly. That's it! The first set of words is based on the phoneme "in." From there it goes to pin, tin, etc. Then sin, pin, spin, etc. By the end of week 1, the student can easily spell the word "beginning" because of the logical progression of the words. And the spellings really stick with them!

At first I had DD6, DS7, and DD9 all doing the program. (They recommend that no matter how far along you are in spelling it's best to start with book one.) DD6 was doing all right, but it took her a lot longer to write the words down. It works fine to have the other two kids together. At first I thought that I would just do the spelling lists separately with DD6, but in the end I decided to just start her with it in 2nd grade. She's doing Explode the Code and phonics lessons at the same time, so I think she doesn't really need to do spelling right now. I think spelling is really optional for first grade anyway. So, this is one of the big surprises for our learning year. I'm so happy we're all enjoying it!

NOT the Menu

It's been a long time since I blogged anything but menus, and it's been a long time since I had any time! The summer flew by. Now we're settling into our new learning schedule, and despite not being sure we could fit it all in (3 kids with 16 subjects, and 1 kid with 7) we're managing pretty well. Not many loose moments for me during the day (though there are for them).

The BEST change I made so far this year was to put ALL of their work into a single notebook for each kid. No fumbling for this book or that book, no fumbling for pencils. I took over 5 of the 6 drawers in the dining room sideboard and filled it with all of our supplies (pencils, paper, etc.). It's been nice having that right next to the table. It takes about an hour to get all the worksheets into their books each week, each into its own subject area. I also wrote a few household chores into the schedule for each of them so it's part of their normal daytime routine instead of us trying to get it all done at the end of the day.

We're finishing week number two, and it's all running pretty smoothly. Hoping everything continues to settle in and we can add in all the history and science I want to do. We've done about half of what I hope to get done, but it shouldn't be a problem fitting in the other half.

So much more to say about our learning, but the clock is ticking and I have a couple more things I'd like to get to before it's time for bed.

The Menu

Two shabbosim in Atlanta, with a wonderful camping trip to Unicoi State Park sandwiched in between made for a wonderful couple of weeks. Getting up at the crack of dawn Sunday meant that we were home before noon and by the end of the day everything was unpacked and ALL the laundry was done (!). Then I scrambled mightily to be (mostly) ready to start our new learning schedule. And start it, we did. Overall, our first week has gone well and I'll write more later about how I've made our time even more efficient so our learning shouldn't take more time than last year despite an increased workload. It sure has been a few late nights this week to prepare everything. Many late nights still to come, I'm sure. But I love that part. That's when I get to do my learning about what they're learning. Really wonderful to have to do that. And I realized that my DH spends his whole work day learning about various college-level subjects so he can write a whole course together with the professor, and I spend all of my time learning about our subjects so I can be an effective teacher. So, essentially, all six of us spend our entire days LEARNING! Good stuff.

Now, the menu, and hopefully some blogs about other things to come too. :)

For dinner:

challah
smoked brisket (from our stovetop smoker)
mashed potatoes
spinach/tomato/onion salad
roasted mushrooms
roasted cabbage
roasted apples
vodka lemonade (why not?)

And for lunch:

challah
peach soup
smoked fish (stovetop again!)
arugula/pecan/cranberry/onion salad
herring beet salad (w/Matjes (non-pickled) herring)
creamy pesto pasta (just because we CAN make it creamy!)
homemade strawberry ice cream

YUM!

Good shabbos, all!

The Menu

Another week! Highlights - our 10th anniversary last shabbos (best 10 years ever!), a great shabbos and tisha b'av (major fast day) last week with a family from Atlanta, a great 28 hours w/several kids from another family Thursday/Friday, lots of swimming pool time in the back yard, going through stacks of learning materials to make sure I had everything I need for the coming year, wrestling with the not-so-on-the-ball print shop employees at OfficeMax, doing what I can to quell the usual August feeling that we won't fit everything in this year (but somehow we always get done what we need to get done!), planning next week's trip to Atlanta for shabbos, Unicoi State Park for camping, then back to Atlanta for shabbos, making a campfire songbook, and wrestling late into the night to figure out how to schedule everyone's activities so that I'm available to the ones that need me. OY! Quite a bit of work to sort it out. I want to be able to hit the ground running when we return from our camping trip. Snore.... :)

SO...

For dinner (dairy!):

challah
smoked salmon (trying out our new stovetop smoker; anniversary present from ima)
eggplant parmesan
broccoli
roasted potatoes
lemon butter orzo
caesar salad
carrot ginger puree
ice cream (YAY)

For lunch:
challah
herring
caesar salad
stuffed cabbage
pastrami
brown rice
carrot ginger puree
butternut squash kugel
raw veggies w/cilantro/olive/anchovy sauce OR aioli OR curried mayo
apple strudel (I think... haven't made it yet!)

GOOD SHABBOS!

The Menu

Apparently, my blog is on summer vacation. But the menus still keep coming! :)

For dinner...

challah
roasted chicken
roasted cabbage
mashed potatoes
sweet and sour onions
sweet and sour mushrooms
rice w/preserved lemons
roasted carrots, zucchini, and preserved lemon
chocolate chip meringues
strawberry kiwi sorbet

And for lunch...

challah
surimi salad
orzo salad
baba ghanouj
red pepper spread
spaghetti with meat sauce
steamed corn
butternut squash kugel
frozen lime pie

GOOD SHABBOS!

The Menu

Here we are again. Another week gone by. Good grief!

For dinner...

challah
chicken chimichurri
lots of different salsas
rice
beans
chips/guacamole/salsa
plantains
lime sweet potatoes
lime cilantro coleslaw
roasted asparagus
chocolate cake (from guest!)

And for lunch...

challah
tomato salad
fish cakes
baked potatoes/green onions/tofu sour cream
black bean brisket chili
roasted pepper salad
all the veggies from Friday night
more cake and strawberry-kiwi sorbet

GOOD SHABBOS!

The Menu (again)

So, okay, all I do any more these days is cook shabbos dinner. Or so it appears! :) Well... here it is!

DINNER
challah
broiled flounder w/a preserved lemon/garlic/butter sauce
shiro wat (Ethiopian chick pea mush)
alecha (a stewed cabbage/potato/carrot/turmeric/ginger/garlic concoction)
injera (Ethiopian sourdough flatbread)
cheese
rice/lentils
ice cream & mint chocolate chip cookies

(We had Ethiopian food Thursday night and it was so delicious that even though I virtually never serve leftovers for shabbos we just HAD to eat the rest tonight!)

LUNCH
challah
sushi
     cucumber
     avocado/cucumber/surimi
     egg/spinach/sweet potato
miso soup
green salad with miso dressing and fried won tons
eggplant miso salad
teriyaki chicken
lime pie

YUM!

And what else did we actually do this week? We swam in our new 15' pool 3–4x per day, went bowling, watched fireworks, and, um, well, really not all that much, er, else. We're on learning vacation this month, just davening/parsha/chumash each day (well... most!). Lazy days this week, but hoping to be a bit more productive next week!

The Menu

Well, at least there's a menu! :)

We were out of town last shabbos, after a wonderful week with the kids in camp while the mommies shopped at Value Village (an entire wardrobe for 6 for the year for $200!), and went out to lunch every day (I took babysitting money that I earned in the couple of weeks before I headed to Atlanta and used that for play money!). A fun, if somewhat decadent, week.

Now for the meals...

For dinner:

challah
mashed potatoes
mushroom gravy
steak
roasted zucchini and eggplant w/preserved lemons
roasted carrots
roasted cabbage
brownies

And for lunch:

Matjes herring (thank you, Buford Farmers Market in Atlanta!!!!!!!)
stuffed Turkish eggplant (cute little 4' round orange eggplants from the garden stuffed w/eggplant, onion, garlic, tomato, basmati rice)
green salad
pesto gnocchi
roasted veggies from Friday
beef stew
more brownies

The Menu

Busy mommy = no blogging. :) Tending and harvesting the garden, homeschooling, visitors...

For dinner, we're having 17 people and eating the garden...

challah
roasted asparagus
homemade tomato pasta with meat sauce
roasted chickens (3! 2 for us, 1 for DH while we're gone this week...)
roasted potatoes
roasted zucchini/carrots/onions w/preserved lemon
roasted eggplant marinated in preserved lemon and basil dressing
roasted mushrooms in same
angel food cake

and for lunch (someone invited myself and my 11 guests, so we're bringing a large part of it!)...

challah
roasted peppers
guacamole w/tomatillos
cucumber salad
sugar pumpkin/butternut squash kugel
any leftover veggies from dinner

And then a week of the kids and I and the puppy (sans DH) in Atlanta. Kids to camp, mommies to play. Nice change of pace!

The Menu

Another shabbos, and apparently the only time I have anything to say! :)

For dinner...

challah
brisket (from a previos shabbos) + chicken
green salad
balsamic mushrooms
roasted pink banana squash
roasted carrots and beets
roasted Yukon gold potatoes
apple torte

And for lunch...
challah
chummus
green salad
pasta w/mushrooms
marinated eggplant
tomato chicken
roasted veggies from Friday
apple torte

The Menu

A shabbos/shavuos away, and now we're back! Cooking up a storm, and lots from the garden...

For dinner:

challah
caesar salad
roasted chicken
roasted carrots and beets
roasted zucchini w/preserved lemons
mashed potatoes
chocolate pudding

And for lunch:

challah
beef stew
beef tacos
tomatillo salsa
guacamole
Mexican rice
"refried" (not really) beans
chips & salsa
lime cilantro cole slaw
tofu sour cream

Good shabbos!

The Menu

Another shabbos, another fun meal!

For dinner...

SUSHI BLOWOUT (special request for ima's birthday!)
asparagus tempura/cream cheese
cucumber
cucumber/avocado/surimi
egg/sweet potato/chard w/shiso gomashio
salmon/avocado/asparagus
salmon/cream cheese/cucumber
seared salmon nigiri (seared with a blowtorch!)
salmon/scallions/surimi
salmon nigiri with shiso
and LIME CHEESECAKE for dessert (if we can even eat dessert!)

And for lunch...

steamed carrots (from the garden!)
roasted balsamic beets (from the garden!)
salmon salad (from the garden!)
beef stew
shiso gomashio rice
guacamole/chips/salsa
roasted bananas
corned beef sandwiches
and ORANGE CAKE for dessert

And thank H' for shabbos. Still feeling tired post-bug and hoping to get plenty of extra sleep over shabbos. Good shabbos, all!