Works for me Wednesdays

I just wanted to share a little something we do, for any of you that have too many 5pm frantically searching through the cupboard moments. As my friend Jill once said in a facebook post, "It's 5pm and the vultures are circling."
I've always wanted to be a "laundry on Monday," "ironing on Tuesday," "floors on Wednesday" type of girl, but truth be told I don't iron except for weddings and job interviews and I don't always make my bed. Okay, I rarely make my bed. There.

But, I have found a meal rhythm that seems to work pretty well for our family. Just enough structure, but not too much. I schedule 3 meals each week, one Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It's pretty inexpensive and it's super easy. This is what makes it sustainable for our family.

On Mondays, we do breakfast for dinner. For us, this often means waffles. Here is the recipe I follow:

In one bowl:

1 and 3/4 C. whole wheat pastry flour (you can use regular whole wheat, it's just not quite and light and fluffy that way.)
1 TBSP Baking powder
1 tsp salt

In another bowl
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil (sometimes I use 1/3)
1 and 3/4 cup of milk

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
Then I stir in:
1 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2-1 cup of frozen blueberries
and maybe some ground flax.

Voila...beautiful, tasty, and nutritious waffles. We top them with agave nectar or honey.


Now for Wednesday. We still have "world Wednesdays" and we eat a very simple meal and make a special point to pray for those without food and shelter. Lately, we've been learning about and praying specifically for the people of Haiti. Here is the meal that we usually prepare. It is from Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. I knew nothing about cooking before I graduated from college. And in 2005, I studied this book like a textbook, and always give Deborah Madison credit for "teaching me how to cook." My friend Josephine has been asking for this recipe for a few weeks now, so Josephine, here it is.

Deborah Madision writes, "As plain as this sounds, mujadarrah is absolutely one of the best dishes there is. A Jordanian cook I know serves her version accompanied by a chopped vegetable salad that sparkles with parsley and lemon. Although you can cook the onions in a scant amount of oil, it's the oil that makes this otherwise humble dish so very good."

Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions (Mujaddarah)

6 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 very large onion
1 and 1/4 cups green or brown lentils, sorted and rinsed.
Salt and freshly milled pepper
3/4 cup white or brown long-grain rice

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it's a rich, dark brown, about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, put the lentils in a saucepan with 1 quart water and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Add the rice, plenty of pepper, and, if needed, additional water to cover. Cover and cook over low heat until rice is done, about 15 minutes. Stir in half the onions, then cover and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes. Spoon the lentil-rice mixture on to plates or a platter and cover with the remaining onions.

Fish on Fridays. I'm not Catholic, but I've always been drawn to meaningful tradtions, and even more so after reading Lauren Winner's "Mudhouse Sabbath." (Thank you Halen for the recommendation.) It is about a smart and sassy used-to-be-Jewish girl, who falls in love with Jesus, and how she implements certain meaningful Jewish traditions into her Christian faith. When you finish the book, you feel like you've gained a new friend. I am pretty convinced that she and I would get along well...and be great scrabble partners.

So, back to fish on Fridays... my friend Sarah served this one evening a couple of months ago, and Zach and I savored every bite. It's our splurge meal. We usually choose to buy fresh wild-caught salmon from Whole Foods, but frozen works alright too. It's funny that Catholics use fish on Fridays to abstain or fast from "meat." On the contrary, Friday is sometimes the only day of the week that we have meat.

Here is the recipe for the "Alaskan Salmon Bake."

Ingredients:

* 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 3 tablespoons butter, melted
* 5 teaspoons honey
* 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
* 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
* 3 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
* 6 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
* salt and pepper to taste
* 6 lemon wedges

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, mix together the mustard, butter, and honey. In another bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, pecans, and parsley.
2. Season each salmon fillet with salt and pepper. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with mustard-honey mixture. Cover the top of each fillet with bread crumb mixture.
3. Bake for 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until salmon just flakes when tested with a fork. Serve garnished with lemon wedges.

Pretty easy, pretty healthy and very delicious. I love to share the things in life that work for me, and I would love to learn things that work for you too.