Monday Munchies...

Hi everyone! With all this talk of a baby, I'm pretty darn hungry! Just kidding...but in all seriousness, because of the baby, my organization game has to be strong right now. A lot is riding on my shoulders, a lot of tasks are time sensitive, and a lot of things can't be delegated due to the nature of where we live.  Let me explain: Saturday night begins a serious fast (meaning no eating or drinking) for the Jewish people.  I will not be fasting, since I'll be post birth, but there will be people in my house who will be. I also live in a community with very few kosher takeout options. With my parents' primary job when they're here this trip being to watch my kids, and my husband and I occupied with a new baby, it only seemed appropriate that I would cook ahead and freeze.  So I figured since I'm probably a little ahead of the game, I'd come here and share with you all my pre and post meals for the upcoming fast of Tish A'bav.

Pre-fast
Because the fast begins on the Sabbath, we're limited in how we can heat our food.  With that being said, you want to keep that in mind when choosing which foods to make.  I did some searching on line and found this menu.

I will be making salmon, using the frozen fillets; we're only a few people so a larger fresh fillet wasn't worth it.  I recently used a recipe similar to this one, so I might consider it for this meal too. Although, if you need a non-dairy option, try this one 

Back to the original menu I found, I'm going to make brussel sprouts.  I prefer them just roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper.  If you prefer your sprouts sweeter, try this recipe.

Salmon and brussel sprouts are the two meal components, but I want more.  I would normally attempt to make some sort of carb side dish, but due to the circumstances with this week, I am going to buy pre-made hour devours of sorts, probably of the potato variety.

For dessert, she shares this banana bread recipe.   Who doesn't like banana bread?  Someone had actually suggested it be on my menu for a potential shalom zachor (a Friday night ritual after a baby boy is born) so I felt I had hit the jackpot considering I can just double the amount of banana bread and viola: one of the potential shin dig, and one for the pre-fast meal!  I don't know yet if I'll be making that recipe, or a tried and true one you can find here or here.

Post-fast

When we lived in the Bronx, we would break our fast with the Chabad on Campus family and let me tell you, there's a tradition when it comes to post-fast.  Now, I've altered it a bit, depending on who is with us and the circumstances.  For example, instead of lasagna, I make the famous baked spaghetti everyone loves.

 I am going to make zucchini soup-which I can't believe the recipe isn't on here-maybe next week, but definitely soon!  But the traditional break-fast soup is this red lentil soup.

And of course, dessert is cinnamon buns-also made from scratch.  But not this week! Thank heavens for Annie's cinnamon rolls in a can!  I bought 2 cans and I plan to make those right as the fast is ending and people begin eating the main course so they're fresh out of the oven when it's dessert time.

If you want to try your hand at homemade cinnamon rolls, you can try this recipe.

Happy cooking/baking, easy and meaningful fast, and I can't wait to hear what you guys make!