menu plan january i

Happy New Year!  I'm glad to be settling down a bit from all the holiday travels and celebrations.  It's a fun and festive time, but it also makes me feel a little bit stretched.  As a true introvert, lots of small talk and interactions tend to exhaust me.

Also, I'm glad to have a week of semi-normalcy before I dive into two weeks of intense study to start my Doctor of Ministry program!  I promise a full post on this later this week, so I can explain the details.

Some notes:  we literally always have one of two things for breakfast if we are at home.

1)  -- scrambled eggs from our Mennonite hens
     -- homemade sourdough toast/English muffins/biscuits
     -- raw butter we have been making from our Mennonite cow cream
     -- local raw honey or homemade preserves
     -- seasonal fruit from our CSA or satsumas (in the winter)

2) -- pancakes
    -- raw butter
    -- real maple syrup
    -- seasonal fruit

Vicki usually requests #2.  If we have time, I'm happy to oblige.  If I do any sourdough baking, though, we will use the excess starter to have sourdough pancakes.

Since it is so monotonous, I'm not going to put breakfast on the menu plan.

For drinks, we always have raw milk on hand.  We also drink Berkey filtered water, kombucha, or homemade soda from our ginger bug.  I would love to start messing with water kefir soon.

Finally, I try to make one dessert-ish item that we nibble on all week for snacks and desserts.  I made this cranberry upside down cake (with some substitutions) for Family Dinner last night and we have been enjoying it at home, too.

So, here's the menu for this week.  We have been enjoying the heck out of the half-hog purchase we made, and I'm getting excited to try to make a country-style pate out of the liver soon.

Sunday
-- lunch:  roast chicken, roasted acorn squash and brussels sprouts with a sorghum/cider vinegar glaze, mashed potatoes, pickled beets, and bread
-- supper:  Family Dinner!  We had spinach-artichoke dip, chips, a skillet ravioli lasagna, salad, and afore-mentioned cranberry upside down cake.

Monday
-- breakfast:  don't tell!  We had leftover cake with homemade yogurt for breakfast.  :)
-- lunch:  going out with an old friend who's visiting from Detroit.  (Hi Julie!)
-- supper:  black-eyed peas with ham hocks, chow-chow, stewed kale

Tuesday
-- lunch:  egg salad on sourdough toast, cranberry sauce, kombucha
-- supper:  shepherd's pie with sweet potato topping

Wednesday
-- lunch:  leftover acorn squash soup, sourdough toast, cheese, cranberry sauce, kombucha
-- supper:  clam chowder, sourdough rolls, apple slices

Thursday
-- lunch:  leftover chowder, sourdough toast, cranberry sauce, kombucha
-- supper:  soy-sesame pork chops, Asian-style slaw of cabbage, green onions, and carrots, rice

Friday
-- lunch:  leftovers
-- supper:  margherita pizza with homemade mozzarella, assorted pickles (beets, cucumbers, carrots)

Saturday
-- lunch:  grilled cheese on sourdough, pickles, apples
-- supper:  roast chicken, green beans, roast turnips, sourdough rolls

Have the week you have, my friends.

[This post submitted to Menu Plan Monday 1/5/15, Fat Tuesday 1/6/15, Real Food Wednesday 1/7/15, Pennywise Platter 1/8/15, and the HomeAcre Hop 1/8/15.]