Weekly Meal Plan - 10th June 2013

Last week was beautiful here, we had lovely sunshine nearly every day and pretty warm temperatures...  On Saturday JD and I, along with a friend and her wee boy, took part in a World Record Pram Push attempt for the most prams moving at one time.  We had a gorgeous day for it, almost too warm as we had to walk from the top of Stormont, down to the bottom and back up a hill.  Unfortunately with the good weather I think people didn't turn out for the event and so whilst we didn't break it, we did have a fun morning/afternoon and in total the event raised £15,000 for TinyLife Charity.

Sunday we ditched the meal plan, grabbed a disposable BBQ and headed to Newcastle for the afternoon.  It was lovely just chilling, having our BBQ, letting the little one roll about on the blanket and just having some family time together.  We headed for a walk into the town and then up to see my brother & sister in law and nieces who have a caravan up there.  It was great seeing the cousins play together and they love our little one so much.

So some meals from last week will be reappearing as we didn't have them last week.  The sun has also gone this morning (Tuesday) so there probably won't be any meal changes.  I think our week of sunshine was summer, well it was nice when it lasted.

This week we are having:

Not entirely inspiring but tasty all the same.

I'm linking up with Mrs M so why not click on the badge and see what everyone else is having this week!

Have a good one.

Weekly Meal Plan - 3rd June 2013

It's June, JUNE!  Can you believe it?  Where has 6 months gone?  Dare I say the dreaded words...before we know it it'll be Christmas!  In a few weeks we are about to have the longest day and then slowly creep back into the darker days but yet where has summer been?  I hope it stops hiding and comes out soon!  In saying that we have had a day or two which has been lovely, bright and sunshiny but at the same time it'd be nice if it stuck around for a while longer.

Last weeks meal plan got juggled around a wee bit.  Tuesday I just couldn't be bothered and so we ended up getting pizza (not good for my waistline, hips or jelly bottom - but none the less super tasty!). Another night we swapped and had what we were meant to have on Tuesday.  Saturday we bought chicken and cubed potatoes from the butcher and made our own sweet chilli chicken and on Sunday we had the chilli as we're at my cousins wedding today and will probably get a roast dinner so thought it best not to have two in a row.

This week is looking as follows:

Last week was a bit stressful and well, upsetting for me.  Little JD started screaming the house down at every nap for a couple of days, which isn't like her.  She'd be screaming her wee heart out and it upset me that I didn't know what was wrong and couldn't get her to sleep for ages.  I felt like a bad mummy.  I thought at the start it was teething and she is drooling lots and constantly got her hands in her mouth, but the screaming only happens at nap time (generally).  I'm wondering now is it separation anxiety and that's why she's so upset.  I'm trying to be strong so she won't pick up on it but hate hearing her cry so sore.

Earlier on in the week we managed to get out for a wee date with my friend and her wee boy.  we went to one of the local parks and had a wee bit of fun on the swings and then had a big walk around the park (twice) and then the mummy's got a tea and a bun after! - Well why not!?

I'm linking up with Mrs M (probably on Tuesday after the wedding), why not head over and see what everyone else is having this week.

Have a good one!

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 - 20th May 2013

Morning, another Monday, just crazy!  Hubby will be in his new job 4 weeks now and JD will be 6 months this week.  I'm not sure where that times gone at all, I guess before I know it I'll be planning her first birthday.  I don't want to think about that just yet :(

Last weeks plan went pretty much to plan except for Friday where I headed out to see a friend, leaving hubby with the little one and a dinner from the freezer (well, I was nice I cooked it for him first!) and I had a great night chatting, catching up with my friend and gorging on take out food.

It was lovely having my mum and dad up and they enjoyed the Sweet & Sour Chicken, Hairy Biker style.  We did have enough rhubarb to make the rhubarb crunch and whilst the weather wasn't great it was still sooo yummy.  If you love rhubarb I'd definitely advise you to give it a go as it's just lovely.

This week we're still trying to use some of the freezer food up and then replenish the stocks, mixed in with some 'fresh' dishes.

Hopefully the sun will come back again this week.  We had a blink of it on Friday and then the rain set in for Saturday and Sunday.  Perhaps that was summer.

I'm linking up with Mrs M, so why not click the link and have a look at what everyone else is having this week.

Rhubarb Crunch Recipe

This is a recipe that my mum always made for us when we lived at home and it went down a treat!  Mum grows rhubarb in her back garden so it was always freshly picked for this.  Now in our own house we grow rhubarb too and it's lovely just being able to go out the back and pick how much you need for the dish.

Mum also made a lovely Raspberry flan with a sort of custardy filling...mmmm, my mouth is watering it's beautiful! So when we finally get some raspberries I'll blog that recipe too!

The finished product

Ingredients

1lb Rhubarb washed, trimmed & cut into 1 inch pieces

3oz Caster Sugar

1 Tbsp Water

1 Level Tsp Cornflour

2oz Margarine

40z Breadcrumbs

1 Level Tsp Ginger (or a few shakes more if you like it stronger)

2oz Demerara Sugar

15oz Tin Creamed Rice (We use 3 tins)

Method

Put the rhubarb, sugar and water in a saucepan and good gently until tender but still holding it's shape.

Rhubarb once it's been stewed

Mix the cornflour with 1 teaspoon of water in a separate bowl and mix to a smooth paste.

Cornflour & water mixed into a paste

Add cornflour paste to rhubarb .  Bring to the boil to thicken and cool.

Melt margarine in frying pan, stir in the breadcrumbs and ginger.  Cook until brown.

Stir in sugar and continue to cook until crispy but not too hard.  This really is just trial and error and probably to taste too.  Sometimes they crisp more when they cool.

Breadcrumbs when they're brown & crispy

Put alternate layers in a bowl starting with some of the rhubarb, then crumbs, then rice and finish with crumbs on top.

Put in the fridge to cool and serve when you can't resist the temptation any more.

Enjoy!!

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.

Mum's the word weekly meal plan - 25th March

I'll be honest when I was working and before little bambino came along I would never plan meals so to speak.  We normally decided a day or two in advance what we wanted and had got a shop probably the week before ending up getting lots of things we didn't need, or worse didn't eat and would end up being thrown out.

These days I'm trying to be a lot better mainly from Lauren's meal planning blog post,planning what we're going to have and only shopping around that to cut out waste and costs.  The odd thing that's not on the shopping list does find its way into the basket but generally I try to be good. Somehow though our food bills still seem to be rather high.  If someone has any advice, tips, ideas I'd love to hear them as maternity pay does make things that little bit tighter.

So here goes the first post instead of a note in my phone:-
Mon - Mince pie, corn on the cob & mash
Tues - Chicken Broccoli Bake
Wed - Hairy Bikers Chilli Salad Bowls
Thurs - Sausages, beans & mash
Fri - Spicy Beef & rice
Sat - Smokey Philly Chicken, mixed veg & baked potato
Sun - Roast Turkey dinner at my mums for Easter