sunday ritual: dudes & meals

Most Sunday evenings our backyard is transformed from the Kids’ mud-wagon-old boxes wonderland to the Dudes’ prayer-fire pit-beer-adoirandak chair-prayer-spiritual reading den. I love it.  These guys read aloud and discuss piercing matters of Life in Christ, they share their struggles and toss a few back with their brothers under the expanding cosmos.  What a blessed thing.  Community.  I love it.

I try my best not to listen to their conversations….sometimes quiet hushed mumbles seeking wisdom and counsel, sometimes too-loud gaffaws. I catch a few. Enough to understand why they keep coming back week after week regardless of Superbowl, rain, birthdays.

And so I putter around wiping, tidying, school and meal planning, washing, folding, nursing, typing, reading.  Whatever needs to be done amidst the silent house and the koinonia on the patio.

Some fruits of tonight’s planning:

Monday

B – berry muffins, milk

L- egg salad sands, smoothie

D- ginger honey pork, quinoa, cauliflower, broccoli

Tuesday

B – toast & eggs

L- quesadillas, fruit

D- WW pasta, sausage, marinara, salad

Wednesday

B – Oatmeal, fruit

L – bean burritos, fruit

D – split pea soup, salad (Catachesis of the Good Shepherd)

Thursday

B – yogurt & museli

L – leftovers

D – bbq chicken sandwiches, roasted potatoes, salad (Homeschool moms’ mtg.)

Friday

B – Oatmeal, fruit

L – PB&Honey, fruit, snacks (Parkday)

D – Roasted veggies and a treat (Family Fun Night)

weekly menu

I really love having the menu planned and groceries purchased.  I keep my old menus stashed in a “file” (meaning smooshed into the paper organizer in the kitchen).  Someone said menus make it as though dinner “cooks itself”, I agree.  I wanted to share mine because I enjoyed reading someone else’s this morning.  Have a good monday!

Monday am ~ toast, scrambled eggs, oj

lunch  ~ chicken dinos, apple slices

dinner ~ roasted chicken, broccoli, rice pilaf

make cinnamon rolls

Tues am ~ cinnamon rolls

lunch ~ pb and j, yogurt smoothies

dinner ~ chinese chicken salad

prepare bread dough

Wed am ~ cereal

lunch ~ turkey sandwiches and pears

dinner ~ vegetable soup, no knead bread

Thurs am ~ cereal

lunch ~ leftover soup, toast or bread if any left

dinner ~ homemade mac n cheese, peas salad

Friday am ~ waffles (daddy’s home), oj, sausage?

lunch ~leftovers or sandwiches, fruit

dinner~wild rice pilaf wraps

lasagna recipe

I made this tonight for dinner.  It’s a bit different from the recipe I normally use.  The white sauce and the sauteeing of the spinach with garlic.  Beware, it is definitely not a low-cal meal; it is, however, the perfect way to get in on that meat and cheese before lent, less than two months away.  Try it, really.  (Adapted from The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters).  Everyone loved it, hope you do too!

Prepare:

1 pound Lasagna (fresh or store bought)

2 Cups tomato sauce (your own or store bought)

2 Cups bechamel sauce/white sauce

1 bunch of spinach washed, stems removed

2 cloves of garlic, minced

6 italian sausages squeezed from the casings.

1/2 pound ricotta cheese

olive oil

salt

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

nutmeg 

Cook:

Brown the sausage in a skillet.  Remove from pan and set aside.

add 1 Tbsp of Olive oil to the skillet.  Add the spinach and season with salt.  Cook until almost wilted, add garlic.  Cook for a minute or two and set aside.

Chop spinach finely and mix with ricotta 1 Tbsp olive oil and salt.

In a bowl, combine the white sauce with 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, a pinch of ground nutmeg and salt.

Begin assemby:

Oil a 10X12 baking dish.  Spread a few spoonfuls of the white sauce on the bottom.  Lay out a layer of pasta then the ricotta mixture.  Sprinkle with browned sausage.  Add another layer of pasta and spoon in half of the tomato sauce.  Add another layer of pasta and pour over half the white sauce and top with another layer of pasta.

Repeat until you have 7 pasta layers (or just do your own layering system if you find this as confusing as I did)….end the final layer with pasta. Drizzle olive oil over the top, cover with foil.

Bake:

400 degrees for 20 minutes, remove the foil then sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and bake for 15 minutes more.

lenten spinach lasagna?

Yep, and it’s GOOD. This comes from a cookbook Dawn recommended a few years back, How it all Vegan. I added the mushrooms and tvp. I had ’em and I would have added olive if I had any laying around.
Lenten Spinach Lasagne

1 lb medium tofu

1/4 c soy milk

1 tsp dried oregano

3 tsp dried basil

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp lemon juice

4 cloves garlic

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups spinach, chopped

4-6 cups tomato sauce

cooked lasagna

Preheat oven to 350. In a blender or food processor, blend tofu, milk, oregano, basil, salt, lemon juice, garlic and onions until it has the consistency of cottage cheese. Add water if it’s too thick. Stir in spinach and set aside.

Cover the bottom of a lasagna pan with a thin layer of sauce, then a layer of noodles. Continue layering tofu mixture, noodles and sauce until you run out. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before serving. Serves 4-6.

morning yums

I have two lenten breakfast recipes to share. One, Vegan Pancakes, or “veaggies” as we so fondly refer to them have been a staple and Aaron actually prefers them to the regular version. The second, Spiced Lenten Waffles I tried for the first time this morning. I altered the original recipe by adding the oil, sugar and diced apples. Beware, these suckers are tasty. Enjoy!

Vegan Pancakes

1 1/4 C flour (whole wheat or unbleached or a combo)

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp oil

1 1/2 C water

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately. Combine and whisk. Cook on a lightly greased, pre-heated griddle. This makes enough for the four of us, although I have needed to double the batch if we’re really hungry.

Spiced Lenten Waffles

4 C flour (whole wheat or unbleached or a combo)

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 small apple, peeled and diced

3 or so cups of soy or rice milk

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add liquids and stir until lumps are just out. Add enough liquid to make the batter somewhat runny. Preheat the waffle iron and lightly grease it. This recipe yielded seven waffles on my Belgian waffler.