Parsha Inspired Menus - Eikev

I never thought that a Turkducken would come up as a possible Parsha Inpsired Menu item, but here we are...so how did we get here? Well, it starts with this interesting pasuk:

וְנָשַׁל֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ אֶת־הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֛ל מִפָּנֶ֖יךָ מְעַ֣ט מְעָ֑ט לֹ֤א תוּכַל֙ כַּלֹּתָ֣ם מַהֵ֔ר פֶּן־תִּרְבֶּ֥ה עָלֶ֖יךָ חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃

The ETERNAL your God will dislodge those peoples before you little by little; you will not be able to destroy them quickly, else the wild beasts would multiply to your hurt.

As Chizkuni explains “you will not [be able to destroy them quickly]” the word תוכל is not to be understood as an inability on your part. [my insert for clarity - it can't be that the Israelites would be unable to be victorious because anything is possible with God] Rather, it will not be in your interest to do so, as you would create a vacuum of not enough people in the land, that would encourage invasion by free roaming beasts.

So, while thinking about beasts multiplying, a few funny suggestions came up with the

people I was hanging out with. My oldest son felt sure that the best answer was

Turkducken because it's animal upon animal upon animal. So, turducken is an interesting option, but since it's not a great time of year for turducken, maybe try another suggestion from my brainstormig team (thanks, Tovah!)...Piecaken!

The other pasuk that caught my attention this week was this:

[God] subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, in order to teach you that a human being does not live on bread alone, but that one may live on anything that GOD decrees.

I didn't even know that "man does not live on bread alone" was from the Torah! I really appreciate that the origin of this phrase is the reminder that God provided the food and while having sustenance is important, the source of it all is God and whatever God provides can be made into enough. So, in honor of this, I want to make a bread heavy dish - French Onion Strata. Since many of these involve dairy, I decided it would just be a dairy meal (and that makes the piecaken easier too.)

Shabbat Shalom & B'Tayavon!