Weekly Meal Plan - 27th May 2013

 

Forgive me but there's going to be no flash, jazz or flare to this post! Up until about 10 minutes ago I didn't even know what we were having this week.

I wasn't prepared to have it done at the weekend as he sun was shining on Saturday and we went out for the day to a local farm and then had a big walk around the lake.  

Sunday we were just chilling and visiting family but I couldn't bring myself to think about meals just yet.... On Monday JD and I went down to my mums to see my sister and leave in my brother in laws birthday present so. We were away the whole day.  Today my head isn't working and it's going to be a caffeine fuelled day to get me through.... JD keeps waking up at 5am and having a little chatter for about an hour and then normally falls back to sleep.  This morning she woke at 5am and was up chatting but then started crying so I ended up having to bring her into our bed so as hubby could get some sleep.  She went back over but it was after six she was going to sleep and awake again for 7am!! Shattered.  If anyone has any ideas of how to stop her waking at 5am I'd love to hear them! She's not waking for food she's just chatting and cooing away.

Anyway, the shopping is still to be done but I'm tied to the house as our bath is FINALLY being delivered today.....now to get it installed :s

So this weeks meal plan is as follows;

Monday - Leftover fajitas from Saturday

Tuesday - Tuna pie, baked beans and spuds

Wednesday - Omelettes and chips or hash browns

Thursday - Baked pasta dish

Friday - Burgers and chips

Sat - Chilli

Sun - A roast of some sort

It's somewhat uninspired but anyway it's all my brain can cope with this morning.

Hope everyone had a good week.  I'm linking up with Mrs M so why not head on over and see what everyone else is having this week.

Have a good one :)

Weekly Meal Plan - 13th May 2013

How's everyone this happy Monday? (You can tell I'm off on maternity leave when I'm saying that!)

Last weeks meals went pretty much to plan, however we had a panic for a few days as we thought our freezer was on the blink.  A warning light kept flashing at us which normally suggests the temperature isn't right.  I think the door might have been ever so slightly ajar, but after 24 hours when the light was still flashing it looked like it wasn't going to be good and the freezer full of food was going to have to be quickly eaten.  The strange thing was that the food in the freezer was still frozen, but anything new put in the top drawer didn't seem to be freezing... Very strange! So Saturday's tea was bumped in order to start using up the freezer.

Anyway, thankfully a day or so after the mysterious warning light has now vanished and the food still remains frozen so hopefully there won't be the need for a new freezer after all. (Fingers crossed).  I've taken it as a good opportunity to use up some of the freezer meals I have in there and get it defrosted and hopefully that will make it happy and help it to continue working.

Oh, on other news JD mastered how to roll from her back to her front last week.  As a new mummy of course I was very proud and just think she's amazing.  She's now trying to 'flap', sorry crawl, but it really is more of a flapping her arms and legs and she's getting frustrated that she can't do it. I'm sure that will happen soon enough and then I might cry a little as she's only wee and I want to keep her that way :(

Anyway, enough blethering and on to our meals this week: -

My Mum and Dad are coming up to visit us on Saturday so I'm making the Sweet & Sour Chicken fresh for them.  Hopefully I might get to making a Rhubarb Crunch, but just need to check if we have enough rhubarb in the garden.  If I make it I'll be sure to blog it as it's one of my favourite dishes....layers of yummy rhubarb and creamed rice...mmmmm.....

I feel a little lazy cooking wise with all the meals being from the freezer but hopefully it means that the weekly grocery bill will get a bit of a reprieve too.

I'm also trying to think of different things to give JD for weaning.  I'm trying to put a few flavours together but if you have any suggestions of good recipes or ideas I'm all ears!

What are you having this week?  Hope you have a good one!

As usual I am linking up with At home with Mrs M's #MealPlanningMonday.  Why not click on the badge and have a nosey at what everyone else is having this week.

Weekly Meal Plan - 6th May 2013

Another week gone and another week closer to the first half of the year being gone!  It must be me getting older but I definitely think time is going quicker!

The first half of the week for me was a wipe out, unfortunately I woke up on Monday with a bug but thankfully by Wednesday it had packed it's bags and vacating the building.  I was even more thankful that no one else in the house, especially little JD got it.

We managed to still have all our meals on the meal plan, bar Saturday when we were out and decided to ditch the sweet and sour and get a yummy chicken fillet burger from the chippy instead. (Oh well, can't be good all the time!)

So on to this weeks plan!

As you can see the sweet and sour has made it on to this weeks meal plan as I'd bought all the ingredients in the online shop last week.  Speaking of online shops, I don't know how but every time I shop online and get vegetables I always end up with far more than I wanted.  The first time I did an online shop with Asda I wanted one onion and ended up with a kilo, yes 1 kilo!! of onions.  I had them coming out of my ears!  This time I wanted a small knob of fresh ginger for the sweet and sour, well you can imagine it already.  I've ended up with a couple of huge bits that I have no idea what I'm going to do with!  So any suggestions on what to do with it will be greatly appreciated!!

The baked pasta dish is a tasty little recipe that I found online.  It's great as it makes 5 portions of the sauce which is a handy wee quick dinner when you've it in the freezer, cook up the pasta, top with cheese and pop in the oven - done!

The spicy tuna fish cakes were a real hit the last time I made them and so are featuring again to give us a break from our poultry heavy meals.

The Cajun Chicken Pasta and Chicken & Chorizo Stew are both new recipes so will look forward to trying them out for something different.

I'm linking up with Mrs M for the #Mealplanningmonday so why not head on over and have a jook at what everyone else is having this week!

Have a great week! :)

Spicy Sausage Cassoulet Recipe

This is another recipe my mum used to make us but it is a firm favourite with hubby - he loves it. It's one of those recipes that maybe doesn't look great on a plate or in a bowl but is just so tasty and the leftovers are always great for a lunch or even another dinner.  

The recipe says it serves two but we normally get at least two good dinners out of it and enough for maybe another dinner or a lunch.  I do have a tendency to add a few extra peppers into it but you could do so to taste and if trying to bulk it out add more veg or sausages.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Garlic clove, crushed
1 Red pepper, chopped
2 Sticks celery, chopped
200g Chopped tomatoes
125ml Chicken stock
2 Tsp Dark soy sauce
2 Tsp Mustard
400g Black eyed beans (I always used baked beans - it tastes yummy)
125g Pork Sausages cooked and chopped into small pieces
2oz Breadcrumbs
1oz Grated Cheese
2 Tbsp Parsley chopped

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a large saucepan/wok.  Ensure the pan you use can be put under the grill and won't melt!

Cook sausages on grill, frying pan, actifry - however you like to cook them.

Add onion, garlic, pepper & celery to the pan and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add tomatoes, stock and soy sauce.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins or until sauce begins to thicken.

Chop sausages into small pieces. Add mustard, beans and sausages and cook for further 10 minutes.

Before sauce has thickened

When the sauce had thickened

Mix breadcrumbs, cheese and parsley together and sprinkle over sausage mixture.

Place pan under hot grill for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

All ready to dig in!

Serve with salad/crusty bread.

Tuna Flan Recipe

This is a dish we would often have at home when I lived with my mum and dad.  It's simple and easy and I love it.  Not being a great fan of fish (only eating tuna or salmon out of a tin) this recipe is great for getting some fishiness into you.

Tuna Flan (Partially eaten - whoops, forgot to take photo before dinner!)

The recipe for the pastry is to the tea as its from my mum.  The filling however will be a little haphazard as it's from me and I've a tendency to add a little here and put a little dash here but if you'd like to try making it here we go....

To make the pastry

125g/4oz Stork Margarine

175g/6oz Plain Flour

1 Tbsp Cold Water

Place the flour in a bowl and rub in the margarine until it looks like breadcrumbs, then add the water.  Blend together.  You can add a little more water if needed but don't make it too sticky (strict instructions from my mum!).

Flour surface and roll the pastry out.  Greases the dish you are using with a little butter.  Place the pastry over the dish and pat into dish to fit.  Trim off edges if necessary.  Once the pastry is in position prick it a few times with a knife to ensure it does not bubble.

Place the pastry in the oven 200oC/400oF/Gas Mark 6 for approximately 25 minutes or until lightly brown.

To make the filling

1 Tin Tuna Chunks

Milk

2 Eggs

Frozen Peas

Cheese for topping

Put tuna in bowl and mash with fork until the chunks are broken up.  Add the two eggs and mix.  Add a handful or more of frozen peas (really add as many as you like and as many as you need depending on how big your dish is).  Add a little milk, until it raised by an inch or two.  Mix until peas are separated and everything is combined.  Pour the mixture on to your pastry base.  Top with grated cheese and cook for approximately 20/30 minutes at 200oC until the cheese is golden brown.

Serve with broccoli or any vegetable, baked potato and lashings of HP sauce (OK so the last one is just a personal favourite).

Salt & Pepper Chicken (Salted Chilli Chicken)

I found this recipe online when I was looking for something different to make for dinners.  It's pretty simple to make and tasty too, it's not exactly the same as the salted chilli chicken that you'd get from the chinese but I still think it's yummy.  You could add more chilli in to taste or perhaps find a way of making it more salty to try and make it more like the chinese if you preferred.  I also cook it for longer as I don't think their timings are right as how could the chicken possibly be cooked in a few minutes. So judge it until the chicken is cooked through.

Salt & Pepper Chicken (Salted Chilli Chicken)

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1 Large green pepper (I sometimes would use a red as well as I like the red flavour better)
1 Large onion
2 Garlic cloves
2 Green or red chillies (or more to taste)
3 - 4 Chicken breasts
90g Breadcrumbs
3 - 4 Pinches of salt
3 - 4 Pinches of sugar
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Method

Slice the chilli peppers, onion pepper and garlic (I crush the garlic for ease) and leave to one side.

Cut the chicken breasts into medium bite sized pieces and coat them in the breadcrumbs.

Heat the oil in the frying pan or wok and add the chicken pieces. Leaves to cook for 3 - 4 minutes on a low - medium heat.

Add the onions, peppers and garlic. Mix the ingredients together and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add salt and sugar and cook until the chicken is cooked and the breadcrumbs are brown.

Serve with boiled rice or as a starter with dip.

Enjoy and let me know how yours turned out.

Mum's The Word weekly meal plan - w/c 1st April

Hope everyone had a good week and a lovely Easter break. Was there plenty of chocolate consumed?

Last weeks meal plan ended up a bit all over the place with meals planned for one day but eaten on a different day. Friday was completely bad for some reason and we ended up with take out, it was rather tasty though! Oh well, we all have to slip off the wagon at some point.  This week will hopefully go more to plan.

Some meals are repeating from last week as we didn't end up having them. Mrs M has also inspired the quesadilla's as she had them last week and it reminded me that we hadn't had them in a long time.

Anyway, on to this weeks meal plan.

Monday - Remainder of the Hairy Bikers Chilli but on baked potatoes
Tuesday - Left over turkey, stuffing, vegetables and mash with lashings of gravy.
Wednesday - Omelette's
Thursday - Quesadillas
Friday - Sweet and Sour Chicken (remainder from the freezer)
Saturday - Smokey Philly Chicken, broccoli and baked potato
Sunday - Some sort of roast or may be invited to the in-laws.

What are you eating this week?

Don't forget to head over to Mrs 's page for more yummy ideas.

Have a good week!