I suppose it was inevitable, but last week I entered quarantine in a small apartment in Jerusalem for up to two weeks. Purely a precaution, no worries. Plus, there’s a balcony. And sunshine and wifi, so I am totally fine.

To get started, I ordered a week’s supply of groceries, and then wrote up a week’s worth of menus. Here, for your use or curiosity, are my menus from the past week. The muffins and split pea soup were gifts, and my snacks have consisted primarily of dark chocolate, nuts, and dried fruit. You may notice that I tend to eat relatively hearty breakfasts, and that they often consist of the same items I might eat at other meals. I’ve been doing that for a long, long time. I wake up hungry, and I usually start big. The recipes for items with asterisks are provided below.

Also, just to keep things simple, I decided to make it vegan and gf. In case you’re wondering, I’m not vegan. I eat fish and eggs a couple times a week, and chicken a little less often. But not this week.

MENUS
Sunday
Breakfast: Apple slices and peanut butter, mint tea
Lunch: Split pea soup, carrot sticks + hummus
Dinner: *Fried eggplant with onions + tofu, persimmon slices

Monday
Breakfast: *Chickpea/nut butter soup, grapefruit sections, mint tea
Lunch: Fried eggplant with onions + tofu
Dinner: Green salad (lettuce, cucumbers, tomato) with hummus, persimmon slices, pumpkin muffin, mint tea

Tuesday
Breakfast: Chickpea/nut butter soup, grapefruit slices, mint tea
Lunch: Baked potato with matbucha (roasted eggplant in tomato sauce, purchased), chocolate-lemon muffin
Dinner: Fried eggplant with onions + tofu

Wednesday
Breakfast: Baked potato with tahini, coffee
Lunch: *Lentil soup
Dinner: Green salad with baba ganoush, chocolate-lemon muffin, persimmon

Thursday
Breakfast: Carrot and cucumber sticks with hummus, mint tea
Lunch: Lentil soup
Dinner: Baked potato with baba ganoush and tahini

Friday
Breakfast: *Tofu-tomato scramble, grapefruit, mint tea
Lunch: Split pea soup, green salad with tahini
Dinner: Chickpea/nut butter soup, green salad, pumpkin muffin, grapefruit

Saturday 
Breakfast: Tofu-tomato scramble, chocolate-lemon muffin
Lunch: Green salad with hummus and baba ganoush, grapefruit slices
Dinner: Pumpkin muffin, leftovers

RECIPES (each makes 3-4 servings)
*Eggplant with onions and tofu
Dice a medium purple eggplant, mix with 1 tsp. salt, and set aside. Chop half a large onion, fry in 1 tsp. olive oil on medium heat in a one-quart saucepan until clear. Cut tofu into 1/2-inch cubes and add to onions. Add 1/2 tsp. black pepper, stir well, and remove from heat. Rinse eggplant. Pour 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil into a heated frying pan. In 3 separate batches, add diced eggplant to hot, shimmering oil and cook on medium-high heat until cubes are nicely browned and cooked through, 10-15 min per batch. Watch carefully, shaking pan every couple of minutes as each batch gets closer to done. Add fried eggplant to onion/tofu mixture and repeat until all the eggplant is cooked. Squeeze in juice of half a fresh lemon before serving.

*Chickpea/nut butter soup
Soak 1 cup chickpeas overnight. Dice and fry half a large onion on medium-high heat until almost clear. Add a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped small. Fry 2-3 minutes more. Add pre-soaked chickpeas; one chopped tomato; 1-2 medium-sized carrots, each peeled and cut into 4-6 large pieces; and one medium potato, cut into 1-inch cubes. Add 2 tsp. tamari, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 6 cups water. Reduce heat to medium and cook 90 minutes until chickpeas are well cooked and vegetables are soft. Use a fork to mix 1/4 cup of warm water or soup broth, a spoonful or two at a time, with 3 Tbsp. natural peanut butter (no additives except maybe salt) until smooth. Pour slowly into soup pot, stirring gently all the while. Continue to cook for 1/2 hour more.

*Lentil soup
Peel and slice a large carrot into 10-12 rounds. Add to soup pot along with 1 Tbsp. olive oil and half a large onion, diced small. Fry on medium-high heat until onion is browning at edges and beginning to stick to pan. Lower heat to medium and add 2 cups black lentils (Beluga), 1 tsp. salt, 3/4 tsp. black pepper, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder. Stir for 30 seconds, and pour in 1 quart hot water. Cover, and cook 1 hour, until lentils are quite soft. Check periodically, and add more hot water if necessary to keep liquid level an inch above the lentils.

*Tofu-tomato scramble
Dice and fry 1 medium-large tomato and 1 large, sweet onion in olive oil on medium heat for 10-12 min until tomato is disintegrating and onion is clear. Add 1 cake of firm tofu, mash with a fork, and stir. Sprinkle lightly with salt.