Meal Plan

Trying to figure out what to do with leftover turkey. Its not that its a nuisance, its more of a problem of how special it is. We don't do turkey often - once a year- because starting price for a turkey is 30USD. That's kind of pricey. I have a nice box of it leftover but I've been trying to think of special recipes that we can't really make very often. We've had just thanksgiving leftovers a few times but i want to make sure I use every bit of it well. Presently I'm boiling down the carcass in the pressure cooker. Thinking of boiling it down a second time because i think there is still some goodness in there and my thought is that turkey broth will make white rice way more fun.

Monday noon: beans & rice and carrot (need to get rid of a jar of beans in the fridge and make something fast)
Tuesday noon: Turkey pot pie with leftover gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots
Wednesday noon: Gado-Gado, Rice cooked in turkey broth
Menu: personal size BBQ Turkey Pizza (per Jonathan's request)
Menu: Meat loaf patties, leftover mashed potatoes, leftover veg

Thinking that dinner menus will feature turkey, biscuits and gravy one night this week. And I want to put some turkey in the freezer.

I have a long list of leftovers that I'm working at knocking off too. I got out a box of freezer pickles for our local guests the other day. Pickles are familiar to them and people enjoyed them. The olives did not go over so well. But I love olives. I made one of the teachers try 1 olive (she had never had it before and it was in keeping with the spirit of the day) one of the funniest faces and strongest reactions i've ever seen on a person. It was just so immediate. She was a good sport about the whole thing but I think that will be it for her and olives. So I have a jar of olives to eat by myself- that is not a complaint, just probably not the best news for my blood pressure.

Meal Plan 16 Nov

The last two weeks I just haven't made time to post meal plans. I've made them, but sitting to post it hasn't happened. Jonathan started back to teaching and trying to catch up for 6 weeks in 3. And presently he doesn't have a motorbike license which means a lot of trading off vehicles and child and back and forth. But we've eaten. And more than expected, we've eaten at home.

Monday noon: Orik Arik, Rice, Tempeh
Monday p.m.: Curried Chicken Salad - you should try this!, toast, grapes
Menu: Spinach Tomato Omelet, Naan
Menu: Grilled Chicken Breast, Sour Cream Noodle Packet, Steam Veg
Menu: Baked Potato, Brocolli, Shredded Carrot, Cheese
Menu: Ful, Naan, Feta

Apples were on sale last week so applesauce is on the dessert and treat list.

I got a chance to make Granola the other week- heavenly.

I bought cucumbers by mistake the other week, happiest mistake i've made it a while. Pulling out the last box of freezer pickles this week. May need to make that mistake again.

Ful is easy to prepare if you have beans ready. 35 min in the pressure cooker. Pack into old peanut butter jars, cool, freeze = 1 can of beans.
Stew chicken 20 mins in the pressure cooker and make the chicken salad.

I shred carrot on top of everything (not really) but shredded carrot is pretty.

Go on over to India Snacks. You don't need a recipe for Chai, but you should refresh your memory at how deliciously easy it is. And then use their curry powder recipe (which is how i stumbled onto the site). Then try some kind of other goodness. These are pretty user friendly.

We'll be alternating Mango Lassi's and Chai for the next few days...

meal plan- watercolor edition, oh & burying the lead

Yesterday @ was watercoloring at the project table. He really wanted someone to work with him. I did a sunset and painted another picture. He wasn't done. I needed to get on to some list making and thinking for the week ahead. But it occured to me, what hinders me from watercoloring my grocery list? I wrote the menu plan in crayola marker but the grocery list is in watercolor. Seemed like a good use of time and energy.

Sadly the menu plan is already somewhat sprained. I planned to do Zuchini Garden Chowder today for lunch, but somehow the zuchini's I bought turned out to be cucumbers. Not sure how that happened. So the Cukes become freezer pickles along with the last red onion. Perhaps this week i'll have better luck at buying Zuchs instead of Cukes.

From the oven this week:

Granola- been meaning to make it for 2 weeks

Mango/ Applesauce- thought it sounded like something to try

Monster cookies and Choco-Raisin Cookies- for Jonathan to take back to school for his students.

**Jonathan just walked in and he has a work visa, his police book, and his passport in hand! He is officially finished with immigration!!

Now if only @ and I could get our paperwork...

Meal Plan

Last week we finished off lots of odds and ends. I cooked a bit but mostly it was adding something to an additional leftover to make it a meal. Lots of repurposing going on in the fridge. But in all of that I remembered an old friend, Homemade Tomato Soup. When we were in Africa, I made tomato soup all of the time. I even made the tomato sauce and paste. But here I don't make as many soups. Yes, its hot and that doesn't put you in a soup mood necessarily but I make and bake all manner of other wintery things. Anyway, Jonathan was going to be gone. We didn't have much in the way of real leftovers at that moment but I remembered 2 bag of tomato paste from half used jars (don't ask how that happens). It also happened to be the day that @ was supposed to experiment with yeast for his science experiment- thus Tomato Soup and Fresh Bread was born again in our hearts. I don't think I had made it since being in Africa and @ loved it- he'd never had it before, or at least not that he could remember. Happy day for everyone. Jonathan got home later and was thrilled to fine an old friend on the stove.

Monday noon: smothered pork, naan, leftover steamed veg
Monday p.m. BBQ Tempeh, Baked Potato
Menu: Ful, Naan, Feta Cheese (found it at the store again finally)
Menu: Potato Pie (from @'s homeschool lesson), Indian Meatballs, Green Veg
Menu: Polish Sausage and Kraut (hold over from 2 + weeks ago)
Menu: Tortillas, Refried Beans, Taco Meat (in the freezer), Salsa
Menu: Pumpkin Soup, Bread (might become tomato soup)

Planning to roast a pumpkin this week to make pumpkin pie and will probably have some leftovers to go into a soup. In homeschool we're covering the Native Americans and Early Colonists and some of the things they ate. The books come with some rather British interpretations of Pumpkin Pie. They say its how the early colonists made it but I don't know. Going to give it a try because it doesn't sound bad, just a little more complicated.

Also found discount Apples at the grocery today. They're bruised but that means good saucing apples. Jonathan and @ are both rather fond of homemade applesauce and cheap apples are way cheaper than the can stuff here.

Meal plan 28 Sept

The holiday finished way earlier than i thought it would. Meaning things are open again and the crowds and crazy seems to have pretty well gone too. Amazing. I'm going to foray into the grocery I normally go to later this afternoon just to test things out.

Breakfast
Eggs& Biscuits, Oatmeal, Fruit & Granola w/ Yogurt, Pancakes

Lunch/ Dinner
Monday noon: Beef w/ Green Pepper & Onions, Bombay Rice leftovers
Tuesday noon: Orik Arik, Tempeh, Rice
Menu: Sloppy Joe, Fried Potatoes, Corn on the Cob
Menu: Tasty Tuna Burgers, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Brocolli
Menu: Maple Grilled Tempeh, Rice, Stir Fry Veg
Menu: Polish Sausage and Saurkraut, potatoes for the boys

From the oven
thinking about some kind of yeasty donuty time thing but haven't come up with it quite yet
chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
not necessarily from the oven but i think i may give pudding a try again this week too.

Called Out: Belgian Milk Farmers!

I know, could I be more obscure. Because when you woke up this morning you were thinking "Blast those flipping Belgian Milk Farmers!" But we have a problem here people! I was just going to go and shut down the computer and make my family a healthy breakfast but I have a nasty habit of checking the newswire and this is what I see.

These farmers are DUMPING a DAY'S worth of milk production on the field's of Belgium to protest low milk prices. The prices, they say, don't cover production costs. Now, people, we here at Curious Aside feel for the farmer. Really, we do. We grew up with farmers always wondering how to make ends meet. Sweating planting season, praying for weather and against weeds and bugs. We like to think we begin to see the plight of the farmer. BUT THIS IS MILK!!! Babies need it to survive. Mother's need it to support babies and children. Do we have to remind you, in the most trite way "THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING IN AFRICA!" and other parts of the world. And you're throwing MILK on the ground in a sign of protest. Sigh... obviously someone isn't getting the message that we're all human together. Heck, babies in China didn't get the milk they thought they were getting. They got plastic instead. Could we protest in some other way. Maybe you could throw sugar on the ground, the world would be ok with a little less sugar. But Milk. Couldn't they put in a thermos and send it somewhere instead? I'm trying to stop my mind from thinking of all the different NGO's that would gladly come to them and pick up the milk they want to throw on the ground.

I frankly, have no solution to for the farmers, nor how to stop this madness. But I have my little humble soapbox to yell from...sigh...

What your friend wants for her birthday

And that isn't me. We're all good here. But I had a realization yesterday that I thought I should share with you.

It's rough economic times. We read the US news and we've read largely about stimulating everything under the sun. How people are cutting back. Reevaluating wants and needs. In general the American public is coming to her senses and that's a very good thing. And that made me think about some of the blessings we have received here. People like to send us things. They really should stop because it's too expensive but grandparents can be surprisingly hard headed. But we get all of these treasures that people in the US don't necessarily think are treasures. Case in point:

Monday the day got away from me. I hadn't slept well. My houseworker called in sick. Jonathan was at the university all day. @ was surprisingly involved in homeschooling. I talked too long outside to the neighbor. I needed to water the grass. I didn't give myself enough time to make dinner. Come 4:30 I had a vague idea but not the time to do it in. What's for dinner? I reach into one of my storage boxes. Some months ago as a birthday or Christmas package, someone (I think Gretchen) had sent me 2 boxes of Suddenly Salad. You know, the $2.00 box of pasta salad you pick up for the church potluck in the summer. That's something Jonathan can make while I take care of jobs outside and get moving on another project. We had Creamy Bacon Pasta Salad for Monday night dinner and it was just what the family needed and it was all thanks to the kind soul that sent us that birthday/ Christmas present. They saved dinner! Our Heroes!

Need another example:

A friend asked us to "talk" with a group of kids she worked with this summer. I chatted with her online for awhile one day. For some reason, in return for our chatting (because it was incredibly hard work), she sent me cake mixes. Why did she send me cake mixes? Because we can't get them here and she was being clever. I hope its because her local grocery was having a sale on cake mixes and she got them for next to nothing, I don't know that that was the case though. But she sent me this very heavy box of 10 different cake mixes. What a lovely gift! We have friends that are moving into a different house while their house is lifted. It's a stressful process to say the least and I thought I might bake them some funfetti cupcakes to help them get through the hard days ahead. My kind friend has also supplied me with favorite birthday cakes for the next year! How great is that!

Are you picking up the point? Maybe not. What I'm suggesting to you is that you look at some of these "everyday things" as presents. Why couldn't Gretchen give a couple of nice boxes of Suddenly Salad to her neighbor for their birthday? You're thinking "Because that's weird." Why is it weird? It's not weird. You're giving your nice neighbor friend a night off cooking or thinking about dinner for the cost of $2.00 (if they are a small family like mine). And that sounds like a birthday present to me. Why can't my nice friend give her nice friend in the US several cake mixes? Her nice friend probably could use a surprise cake that she wouldn't otherwise buy herself.

I know we're all trying to move out of buying so many ready-made box mixes. Oh, they're expensive; they're not really as healthy as they could be etc etc. But sometimes a mom needs a box mix. Can I get an AMEN!? Sometimes mom needs to have a night where the dinner isn't in the freezer and the dad needs to cover and we could order pizza or have a box mix. I'm thinking the box mix might be closer to healthy than the pizza.

We receive all kinds of things that people wouldn't think about giving us if we were in the states. Dried fruit, chocolate pop tarts (oh, how I love chocolate pop tarts), Lipton soup mixes, ranch dressing packets. Maybe you're a super coupon lady. Maybe you're friend isn't. Why not give off some of your ranch dressing packets to your good best girlfriend that you know loves ranch dressing packets but she might not want to buy them for herself? Why can't that not be weird?

By the way: this was in NO WAY a request to get you to send me stuff. We're really pretty good here. Your neighbor friend, maybe not.

Meal Plan

Homeschooling prep took priority over the weekend so meal planning didn't happen. Nor did a trip to the grocery on Monday. For some reason Jonathan thought it more valuable to take the car and spend the day running errands to get our visa to stay in the country where I buy the groceries. But that bought me some time to get a meal plan and a list ready to run to the market this morning.

I've been buying our veg and fruit from the traditional market over the last few weeks. Its saves somewhere in the ballpark of $3.00 and its much fresher. I also get the added benefit of being in the hood and riding my bike. I'm still making trips to the store for other things- milk, flour, sugar, etc.

Meal Plan
Monday noon: Mexican Rice and beans, leftover fried chicken cut up, homemade salsa
Monday pm: Leftover BBQ tempeh with bean and rice (wierd but it worked)
Tuesday noon: Spaghetti & Ground Chicken
Menu: Leftover frozen Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos, homemade salsa
Wednesday noon: Smothered Pork, Naan, Steamed Veg
Menu: Orik Arik, Rice, Tempeh Goreng
Menu: Meatloaf patties, green beans, mashed potatoes
Menu: BBQ Chicken, leftover mashed potatoes

The Smothered Pork is something I didn't get to last week. We had some friends that were leaving town so instead of making spaghetti last week I made Lasanga. I had the ingredients and a lasanga makes enough for the crowd (6 adults, 4kids). The lasanga was big enough for leftovers, thus no smothered pork. No matter, still have the ingredients for it too.

Love from the oven:
Butterscotch Bars
Applesauce
Cookies- of some type

Breakfast: May revert more back to cereal this week as we are trying to get a jump on homeschooling at 8ish. @ has also had a later wake up time the last few days, no idea why, but I have a strict policy of not waking up sleeping children.

Meal Plan & a recipe

I've been meal planning over the last few weeks, just not taking the time to post. Thinking maybe it isn't "essential reading". But today I tried a new recipe and Jonathan said "you should post that on your blog." which i'm not entirely sure that means "This is AWESOME!" or "show my family how much I've grown in the vegetable eating department." Its a little of both. But now that some of the busy-ness of summer has passed I'm trying to make some deeper strides towards eating less meat again and cooking more breakfast.

Breakfast at our house is cereal 8 times out of 10. Personally I love cereal. American cereals more than the cereals here. There are only so many rice krispies and frosted flakes a person really needs to eat. And the chocolate cereals nearly turn my stomach here- something not right about the amount of choco they put on the Chocolate Krispies here. But cereal is expensive here- considering the price of other goods, and the size of the box. The most common box size is half the size of a stateside box of cereal. The three of us can easily eat a box maybe 1 1/2 in a morning. And for @ and I we're hungry again by 10:30. So I've been making a point of going through the cookbooks to find some things that would be good breakfasts for us. I normally try to make extra waffles to put in the freezer. Pancakes are just as easy to make fresh as to freeze in my estimation. Baked Oatmeal is going to be featured more often as in a Fruit Oven Pancake recipe I have from Simply in Season.

As for the meal plan:

Breakfast
Baked Oatmeal, Fruit Oven Pancake, Eggs & Toast, Pancakes, cereal in there once too

Lunch/ Dinner - we often eat our main meal of the day at noon
Monday noon: BBQ Chicken, Roasted Roots (potato, carrot, onion)
monday pm: Black Bean Sweet Potato Burrito
Tuesday noon: Tuna Burgers, Glazed Carrots, Applesauce
Menu: Veg Pizza (Garlic Butter, Brocolli, Onion, Cheese)
Menu: Tacos- refried beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese, salsa,
Menu: Indian Meatballs, Veg Curry, Naan

leftovers: beef rendang, rice, bbq chicken, burritos

and the recipe:
Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos**
3 Cups diced, peeled Sweet Potatos
1/2 lg. onion- 2 smallish ones chopped

Saute in 1 Tb oil until tender, adding water, apple juice or bean broth to keep it from burning and sticking.

Add and cook until heated through:
2 C cooked beans (just whatever ones in your fridge)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Divide bean mixture among tortillas. Sprinkle in whatever cheddar like cheese you have and roll up approximating a burrito shape. Place in a baking dish, spray with oil (very lightly but not at all necessary). Cover pan with foil, put in a 350/180/ #4 oven for 20ish minutes. Top with all kinds of wonderful burrito things, a nice quacamole if you have access to an avocado.

**I'm thinking of my friend Tanya who can sometimes find a sweet potato at her local market but would know that she had died and gone to heaven if she found an avocado.

a return to meal planning

I've been meal planning but getting a chance to post has been beyond possible the last few weeks. We started hosting the interns and had a week of holiday english club. Once that was over the interns were in and out to a language tutor and we've been covering childcare for friends in the hospital this week. Needless to say more than a few meals of sandwiches- so much so I think last week we went through 5 loaves of bread (only about 12 slices of bread/ package).

This week is looking a little better.

Monday noon: Food Court- running errands for visas
Monday p.m.: Mexican Beans & Rice
Tuesday noon: Orik Arik, Rice, Tempeh Goreng (if my houseworker returns)
Tuesday p.m: hummus, Baba Ganoush, hard bread rolls
Wednesday: Kofta, Naan, Veg Curry
Thursday: Brocolli or Spinach Quiche (depending on what i find at the market)
Friday: Beef Rendang, Rice, Veg

I'd also like to do a little food of love this week, but I'm not sure how much I'll be in the kitchen. The last few weeks I've been trying to buy a little time to make more pancake mix and it hasn't happened so i don't know of if baking will be possible.

Meal Plan

Still working out a diet that is high in iron but not always eating red meat. Thinking that means we're going to need to eat loads of kale (or more, I am going to need to eat loads of kale).

Monday noon: Refried Beans, Taco Meat, Tortillas, Carrots, Tomatoes
Monday pm: leftovers and sandwiches
Tuesday noon: Pasta Fagoli Soup, Garlic French Bread
Tuesday pm: refried Beans, Cheese Quessadillas
Wednesday noon: Gado- Gado, Rice, krupuk
Wednesday pm: hummus, hard rolls, tortillas, veg
Thursday noon: Guinness Beef Stew, French Bread
thursday pm: leftovers
Friday noon: Delicious chicken bits, Rice, cold veg (maybe picnic)
Friday pm: Panini's or leftovers

This week I'm going to try to make another brownie recipe. I've never found a homemade brownie recipe that turns out properly "fudgy" and gooey. Always seems like they are too cakelike. This week we're trying Chewy Chocolate Brownie Mix but without the mason jar mix part. Straight to the final product at my house.

Meal Plan

Red meat and green leafy veg are playing a big role in the meal plan this week. Its been dreadfully hot so mostly cooking veg has been on the menu the last 2 weeks. When I started having dizzy spells late last week I started trouble shooting what has changed. Lots of veg, that can't be bad, right? But they weren't the super iron rich ones. This week we're having red meat, kale, soybeans and brocolli and we'll see if that doesn't turn it around. Went to the store yesterday with the intention of buying only the brightest colors and sure enough, they didn't have any. I'm off to the market today to find bright colors. Pale green need not apply.

Monday noon: leftover beef stew
Monday pm: Pumpkin Soup** and french bread
Tuesday noon: Italain Beef, french bread, Four Bean Salad
Menu: Baba Ganoush, Hummus, Hard Rolls
Menu: Spicy Tomato Tempeh, Rice
Menu: Everyday Lentils and Rice
Menu: Beef stewed in Coconut Milk, French Bread, Green Beans w/ Mushrooms

Making the French Bread and hard rolls from my huge stock of wheat flour.

The Pumpkin Soup is a recipe Jamie Oliver did on his show (one of them can't remember the name). World's simplest most gratifying recipe.

Chop and put in stock pot
1lb pumpkin
2 carrots
2 potatos
1 onion
2 Cups Chicken Stock
1tsp cumin
salt, pepper
whatever other spices sound good
I added 1/4C coconut milk

Cook in pressure cooker 8 min or 25 in stock pot. When the veg are soft, whirl it up or mash with a mixer attachment. WaLa, Soup.

Meal Plan

This week promises to be a better week. It has to be. Jonathan went to immigration on Monday and walked out 30 minutes later with a letter for a 30 day extension. Its not stamped into our passports and he didn't pay anything so we are going on that being enough.

With the promise of a more stable week, I have a meal plan that I think we can actually achieve.

Monday noon: Fried Chicken, Rice, Sour Stir Fry Veg (a translation)
Tuesday noon: Baked Potatoes and Chicken Chili
Menu: Refried Beans, Tortillas, Shredded Carrots, Lettuce/ Spinach, Salsa
Menu: Pumpkin Soup, Oven Bread,
Menu: Brocolli Quiche, Fruit Pie
Menu: Coconut Beans and Rice
Menu: Guiness Beef Stew, Biscuits
Menu: Hummus, Feta Cheese, Pita, Grapes

I have a 5kg bag of whole wheat flour that I'm working my way through, thus the breads. Jamie Oliver made this awesome, easy looking Pumpkin Soup on one of his shows the other day and just yesterday he made an oven bread, naan kind of thing that looked mouth watering. We're giving those a whirl this week and if i can find a recipe link I'll update it. Otherwise its me flying from memory.

By the way, Jamie Oliver, kind of love him.

Hummus

By his own admission, my friend Jake really only cooks or prepares one thing in the kitchen. He makes a fine cup of coffee too but really for food he has Hummus. Its from Betty Crocker with a little Jake thrown in but we all find it to be quite nice. Hummus is quickly becoming a stable at our house because it involves very little cooking on my part and its like a good for you snack for American Idol night in front of the TV.

Jake Tolbert's Hummus

1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 clove garlic
1 can garbanzo beans (reserve liquid)
3 T lemon juice

other stuff:
cumin, crushed red pepper, Tabasco, celery salt, Worchester sauce,

Pour the sesame seeds and the bean liquid in. Cut the garlic in half and drop in. Blend till (mostly) smooth. Put in the lemon juice, spices. Blend a little, then start dropping in garbanzos. Eventually, you’ll get them all in there. You can put them in all at once if you want, I don’t really think it matters — I like dropping them and it’s easier to control the texture. If it won’t blend, you can add more water or lemon juice.

Our lemons are fresh from the tree so I don't think we use a full 3 T. Jake says salt but I don't think so. I like Jake's recipe because it helped me see around this problem I was having with access to Tahini. I don't have access to Tahini and Jake is too frugal to go buy Tahini (at least that is my guess).

We eat hummus as a meal with hard wheat rolls, carrot sticks and red bell pepper slices. I also throw out an assortment of whatever fruit is in the house.

Meal Plan

In April we're going to try to keep a bit better track of exactly what we're spending on groceries etc. I've been asked before about food prices and its kind of tough to know for sure. I know in the states food prices are climbing but here I find it hard to tell. Food was pretty cheap when we came here and still is all things considered. So much of it depends on who you are and what you eat. In the interest of saving money we have made an effort to eat a little more from a local menu than a traditional american menu and that has helped us save a bit of money on the grocery bill. Ingredients that are imported normally bear a higher price tag but some we've decided in the interest of health are worth it.
Worth the Price Tag:
- UHT Low Fat or Skim Milk, Full cream milk is WAY cheaper, but heart disease is expensive.
- Whole Wheat Flour, took me a year to find a place willing to sell by the 5kg bag (instead of 80kg).
- Soy Oil, typically homes use Palm Oil, a good way to find the ER at a young age.
- Brown Rice, let's hear it for colon health.
- Whole Cooking Oats

One of the other struggles I have in computing our grocery bill is the exchange rate. Since coming the dollar has actually strengthened against the Local Currency (LC). So while prices may have increased for some things, prices haven't climbed at the rate of the decline of LC. So in effect, my grocery budget goes farther. Now you're seeing where I get confused.

This week's meal plan features heavily off local ingredients.

Monday noon: BBQ Tempeh and Baked Potatos (Jonathan loves this)
Monday pm: the most delicious Beef Stew leftovers
Tuesday noon: Maple Grilled Tempeh, Stir Fry Veg and Brown Rice
Menu: Whole Wheat Pizza Crust- Ham & Spinach Pizza
Wednesday noon: Orik Arik*, Brown Rice
Wednesday pm: Hummus & Whole Wheat Bread Rolls, Fruit & Veg sticks
Menu: Delicious Chicken Bits, Brown Rice, Indian Veg

*This is sort of a recipe for Orik Arik but my houseworker makes it with green beans and carrots. Cabbage and I have a very hostile digestive relationship.

I've also been trying to do more baking to keep us away from buying packaged treats. Truly it isn't the expense on this. Plenty of them are made on this side of the world so they are CHEAP. The problem is that I'm more and more concerned with food safety standards. Too many worries about Melamine in milk and who is REALLY telling the truth when they say they have oversight. My kid's kidneys are not something I'm willing to gamble with.

Meal Plan

This week we have a holiday for Nyepi (Silent Day), which means that mostly things will be closed and technically we should stay home.

Monday noon: Beans in Coconut Milk and Rice
Monday pm: Hummus and Bread
Menu: Beef Bulgogi, Rice, Veg
Menu: Taco Salad
Menu: Orik Arik (Carrot, Green Bean Egg Scramble), Brown Rice
Menu: Ayam Bakar, Rice, Veg
Menu: Indian Meatballs, Veg curry, Naan

I'm waiting on a delivery of whole wheat flour before I do anymore baking. I'm supposed to get 5 kgs sometime in the next week, at least I'm hoping.

Meal Plan

I just got back from my language lesson with my neighbor. Its the most terrible time because we both spend half of it thinking of dinner. 5p.m. is just not the right time for her but I think she sort of enjoys teaching me. Today we got side tracked to national food. Over the last few months we've taken to trading off food. I bring her whatever over sugared dessert that comes out of my kitchen and she returns the favor by bringing me an extra portion of her dinner. I've had some of the nicest fried chicken and sour veg soup, and she knows I have a little thing for fried tempeh (the best way to make a good for you food unhealthy). Today I brought her peanut butter cake with chocolate crunch topping (her son's eyes rolled back in his head). She gave me BakMoy (some chicken, prawn, tofu soup conncoction-very nice). Anyway all of this to say, she explained a recipe for me today for Chicken Soup (Soto Ayam) and that maybe pre-empting the menu at some point.

Monday noon: Roasted Chicken and Roots (picked up a fun new root from the store just for this)
Monday p.m.: leftover roasted roots
Tuesday noon: Spinach Quiche, Pumpkin Pie
Tuesday p.m.: Chicken Kebab (Sate), Rice, Steamed Veg
Wednesday: Tuna Burgers, Glazed Carrots, Applesauce
Thursday : Gado-Gado, Krupuk (crackers), Rice
Menu: Veg Curry w/ Chickpeas, Naan,
Menu: Beans in Coconut Milk, Rice
Menu: Soto Ayam

From the Oven:
Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Crunch topping (i visited an import store)
Pumpkin Pie (leftover pumpkin from the freezer), making it special for my English students
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies- @'s school snack

meal plan

Monday was a holiday here so we spent the day at the pool having picnic with friends. Today was back to school for the boys and a busy morning catching up for me.

Monday: taco salad
Tuesday noon: chicken nuggets, mac & cheese
Tuesday night: Pizza w/ Zucchini Yeast Crust (hold over from last week)
Wednesday noon: Chicken w/ Thai Pineapple Rice
Thursday noon: Refried bean, lettuce, tortillas
Thursday pm: Hummus and French Bread (hold over because i couldn't find seasame seeds)
Friday: Indian kebabs, veg, naan

Breakfasts: Sweet Potato Rolls, Waffles, Oatmeal

menu plan

Jonathan starts back to school this week so I'm hoping we start to find a normal pace here sometime soon. Seems like he has been out of school forever.

Monday noon: The Most Delicious Meat Cubes, Naan, Brocolli/ Carrots
Tuesday noon: Fried Chicken (Ayam Goreng) this maybe with Rice and Hot/ Sour Veg or Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans. I haven't decided which way to go yet.

Wednesday pm: JJ's Tostado Salad Dip with Tortilla Chips (spinach for lettuce)
Thursday: Chick Peas in Coconut Milk
Menu: Spinach Soup, Zuchini Yeast Bread
Menu: Hummus and Zuchini Yeast Bread, my friend gave me this recipe for Tahini.

From the Oven:
Sweet Potato Rolls
Zuchini Yeast Bread (to go with the Spinach Soup and the Hummus)

Meal Plan

This week we're going to celebrate our own Mardi Gras of Food. My sister lives in NOLA and our visits there are normally a time when I beg Jonathan to take me to another restaurant. Its one of my favorite places to eat. What I would really like to have is a Shrimp PoBoy but alas I have neither the bread nor the fryer so that will have to wait.

Monday noon: BBQ Tempeh and Baked Potatoes
Tuesday noon: Creole Red Beans and Rice (I can't buy real sausage products here so the beef variety will just have to be good enough)
Wednesday noon: Chicken Jumbalaya and Rice (its a concoction of Extending the Table and Emeril)
Thursday noon: Spaghetti and Garlic Bread
Friday noon: Tandoori Chicken Breast, Rice, Spinach
Menu: Indian Beef and Spinach, Naan

Food of love:
Banana Halva- someone gave me 2 full hands of bananas, crazy!
King Cake- most likely without the baby and the wrong color sprinkles. I can't find either.