Food Friday- How the day rolls

This is a challah baking week, and it is still winter so Shabbat starts on the early side.  Shabbat starts at 5:21 this week. It isn't as much of a mad rush as it was during the weeks when Shabbat began around 4:00, but still, if we expect to eat tonight the tasks all need to be completed in the right order.

I got the challah dough going before I finished drinking my morning coffee and began kneading after my breakfast.

Breakfast was, as it is most mornings fruit and almonds run through the food processor. I used to call this roughy, as opposed to a smoothy. Recently I have decided to re-brand my breakfast and call it fruit porridge. I have the feeling that if I were to market this it would sell better with the new name. Either way, an orange, some fresh cranberries, a handful of almonds and a package of vitamin C powder are what got me going in the morning along with a big cup of coffee.


Once I got the challah kneaded and rising in the big aluminum bowl covered by a tea towel, wiped down the counter and got all of the bread baking stuff put away, it was time to get started on the chicken.



There are people who cook by reading cookbooks and then purchasing all of the ingredients for that meal. There are people who cook by going to the market, buying what looks good and then when it comes time to cook the meal look into the panty and the fridge and cook the meal based on what is hanging around in the pantry and fridge. Clearly, I fall into the second camp.


We had lots of lemons. Today's chicken was flavored with the juice of the lemons you see here, mustard and maple syrup. The chicken has to be done cooking before the challah goes into the oven. All of the elements of the meal are slotted into their segment of the day.

It's easier for me to cook the vegetables in the oven along with the chicken.

I then have time to tend to other tasks and then it's time to shape the challot.

A few years ago my cousin's husband ate some bread I had baked. He was worried though about introducing too many carbs into his diet. He joked that he probably couldn't bake bread at home because it probably requires lots of expensive equipment. Frankly, these are the only specialized tools you need to bake bread. You could make do with one, but I have two, one is mine and one was my father's.

Not long after the braided challot are set to rise under their towel, the chicken is ready.

The chicken spends the afternoon in the fridge and will be cut up just before Shabbat.

The challot do their time in the oven. A non-dairy ice cream is being churned in the ice cream maker as I type this. Since you asked it is a rum-coconut flavor.

I may have a bit of time to do some sewing.