(Kosher) Menu Plan Monday #18: 26 Sivan, 5770

Some of you may notice the unusual dating system at the top of these posts.  If you know me well, though, you’re probably not surprised.

I am adamant – more so in real life where it’s easier - about knowing and using Hebrew dates, not only for holidays and yahrzeits (death-anniversaries), but for simchas (celebrations) and even everyday stuff.

Why mention it now?  The big number “26” in the month of “Sivan” means we are almost at the end of the month, and thus, a new month – beginning next Shabbos with rosh chodesh – the month of Tammuz.

I don’t usually do “introductory Judaism” here, but let me just say that keeping a separate calendar was the very first mitzvah Hashem gave to the Jewish people.  It’s a great place to start, as a free people, joining with him to create sacred time.  (more on this in my Shavuos dvar Torah!). 

Though we’re not always perfect, and do use English dates most of the time in our “mundane” lives, I love the idea of bringing the Hebrew dates into cyberspace whenever I participate in a meme – particularly my two weekly ones:  Menu Plan Mondays and Six-Word Saturdays.  (for 6WS, I use the date of Sunday, not Shabbos, for obvious reasons…)

So many things we do are kind of well-known, kind of obvious.  But if you ask the majority of observant Jews, they might not be able to tell you the Hebrew date.  Most would get the month.  If you let them peek at the moon, or if there’s a holiday coming or going, they might get close.  But even I rarely keep tabs on the exact date.  These memes help me do that, in a fun & easy way.

And so!

On with the spectacular, super-duper, well, okay, no.  But a menu, of sorts.  

The biggest success last week was the Garlic, Kale and White Bean Soup, with fresh kale from the garden.  The vegan rice stick peanutty stir-fry on Thursday was a pretty close second.  Actually, both meals were vegan, not by intention but simply because I figured the soup didn’t need butter and olive oil was probably more authentic.

So here’s this week’s plan… I may swap Monday and Tuesday because it’ll be a LOT easier to get the wings on Tuesday when Ted’s off work…

Monday:  Sticky Chicken Wings (Ted’s request), rice, leftover Shabbos food

Tuesday (Ted’s off day):  Pareve chili with cornbread, salad/veg on the side

Wednesday:  Asian Chicken Noodle Salad – inspired by Lionden Landing

Thursday:  Pareve burritos, refried beans

Friday:  Dunno.  I never know.  I should just leave Fridays out, but somehow, the week doesn’t seem complete without it.

Here’s the standard spiel about who we are and the food we eat:

For newcomers, welcome!  We are a Jewish family of 6 (2 parents, 4 kids) and all our meals are kosher.  We have two sets of dishes, cooking pots and utensils (plus pareve stuff for veg prep & bread baking).  We all eat meat, chicken, fish and dairy.  The kids prefer non-meat meals, and our ratio (outside of Shabbos) is generally 1:3 or 1:4 meat to non-meat meals.  I try to schedule one delicious non-animal-product-dependent meal each week on Thursdays (aka Vegan Vursdays).  You can also visit my super-duper-list-tastic itemization of Everything We Eat (as well as the rest of this blog, of course).

Thanks for stopping by!