#mealplanmonday

This week I was enticed into borrow the 'My Daddy Cooks' recipe book from the library - just as we were leaving, it was there, tempting me from the shelf! So I have been inspired by the book this week, and I will be trying a few new (and hopefully simple) recipes from the book. I haven't checked out the blog yet, but I've heard it's great, so definitely worth a look. I hope that I might be able to persuade Harry to give me a hand in the kitchen, if not Archie will have to do as my sous chef!

Monday - Lamb Koftas in Pitta bread
Tuesday - Mexican Lasagne (Chilli layered with tortillas and with a creme fraiche topping)
Wednesday - Sticky Baked Salmon (I will probably do home made salmon 'fish fingers' for Harry)
Thursday - Club Sandwiches and home made chips
Friday - Pork Stroganoff
Saturday - Toad in the hole
Sunday - Roast Chicken

I am also hoping to make his 'Fruity popovers' - sweet yorkshire puddings with freah fruit - for breakfast at the weekend and I will also be baking banana and white chocolate muffins this week.

#mealplanmonday

Happy New Year everyone! I trust you all had a good holiday... Ours was a little, mixed but I will save that for another time! Suffice to say, we had a lovely time but it is also nice to be back home, back in our routine and with two healthy little boys - touch wood!

Although it's not that cold, I am still finding myself wanting tasty winter comfort food at the moment, so I think this week's meal plan reflects that...

Monday - 'Pasty' beef casserole - beef, swede and onion with cheesy dumplings
Tuesday - Turkey and mushroom hot pot
Wednesday - Bacon pasta and garlic bread
Thursday - Chicken and Leek pie
Friday - Sausages and Mash
Saturday - Club sandwiches
Sunday - Roast chicken

#MealPlanningMonday

It's that time of the week! We are trying out some new recipes this week, and I am also cracking out the slow cooker for the first time this winter. Let's hope it all works out OK!

Monday Spaghetti Bolognese
Tuesday Beef and Guinness Pie a la Jamie Oliver
Wednesday Harry has a dinner date at soft play with one of his girly friends! I will have something from the freezer as Daddy is away
Thursday Sticky Chicken a la Jamie Oliver (15 minutes? I'll leave 30 ;-) )
Friday Sausage and Mash
Saturday Chicken Tray Bake (Jamie again)
Sunday Roast  - maybe a pot roast in the slow cooker if I am brave enough. Any tips?

Monday Meal Planning

Back on the blogging train!! We eat so much healthier and better when I plan our meals properly. I'm hoping that this week sees a welcome return and I am trying to ensure we have a bit more variety. It's tricky with a fussy toddler in the house, but he always eats a lot at lunch - he's a big fan of sandwiches, cheese, ham and other lunchy things, but he really, really doesn't like dinner! Maybe it's just the time of day, but he seldom eats anything at dinner time (or so it seems...)


I'm really struggling with more wintery meal ideas, so looking forward to seeing what everyone has planned this week - hope I can steal it! Haven't done the shopping for this week yet, so maybe I can even steal it for this week!


Monday 12th November - Steak Pie (shop bought I'm afraid) and Sweet Potato Wedges
Tuesday 13th November -  Salmon and Bean stir fry with Noodles
Wednesday 14th November - Chicken Kievs with Oven Chips (or sweet potato mash)
Thursday 15th November - Club Chicken Sandwiches
Friday 16th November - Cheat's Macaroni Cheese
Saturday 17th November - Bacon Spaghetti Pasta
Sunday 18th November - Roast (Beef if I have anything to do with it! My favourite!)

Meal Planning Monday

Trying to get back to normal, but I am feeling a little lacking in inspiration this week. It's also time to start switching from lighter summer meals to scrummy warming winter meals - I don't think I am quite ready to crack out the slow cooker yet (especially as OH is tiling the kitchen this week!) but I'm getting there! Maybe next week - anyone have some good recipes I could try?

Monday Club Sandwiches and Chips
Tuesday Fish and Chips
Wednesday Chicken Kievs and Cous Cous
Thursday Bacon and Tomato Pasta with Garlic Bread
Friday Sausage and Mash
Saturday Hallow'een Party Food! Including: Spider Cupcakes, Spooky Gingerbread Men, Sausage Spiders, Bat Sandwiches and... some other stuff I've not thought up yet!
Sunday Roast courtesy of hubby.

Meal Planning Monday

So,we are back from our Spanish holiday, and settling back to home life. I have to admit that this week's meal plans are not the most frugal or healthy, as we took a bit of a trip down the prepared meal aisle to make things a little easier for my first week back as Mummy to the boys without Daddy's help. (Some of the choices might also be down to the fact that Daddy put together this week's meal plan!)

Monday Steak Pie with Garlic and Cheese Mashed Potato
Tuesday Chilli (made with leftover bolognese) and Nachos
Wednesday Fish and chips from the freezer
Thursday Hot dogs and homemade chips
Friday Chinese 'Takeaway' box meal from the supermarket
Saturday Burgers
Sunday Roast of some kind (up to daddy)

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things next week - anyone got some tasty autumnal recipes for us to try?

Monday Meal Planning

This week my parents are staying with us, so I will be cooking for 4 adults and one Bob - this requires a little more thinking ahead for exactly what we will eat just to make sure that I get enough stuff in for everyone.

Monday 24th September - Homemade Pizzas and Dough Balls (my first try at dough balls last week was very successful :-) proud face). Fruit and ice cream for pudding.

Tuesday 25th September - Spaghetti Bolognese with foccacia if I can find a KitchenAid recipe!
Cheesecake for pudding (not my own... I don't think - maybe I will try! Anyone have an easy recipe?).

Wednesday 26th September - Chicken Curry with Naan bread (dare I make my own?!) Vienetta for pudding (ice cream cake, Harry's favourite)

Thursday 27th September - Chicken Caesar Salad. Banana Splits for pudding.

Friday 28th September - Fish and Chips. Fruit and ice cream for pudding.

Saturday 29th September - Burgers and Chips. Cakes for pudding (if I have time to make them!)

Sunday 30th September - Roast dinner of some variety (OH's domain!)

Bacon Pasta Recipe

OK, so this is probably all second nature to some people but I am always envious of my friend Sarah (a.k.a. the true Domestic Goddess) who can whip up a tasty sauce for pasta in no time. Luckily Harry, Archie and I get over there once every couple of weeks and are always provided with a yummy lunch (and some inspiration on the side).

Recently I've been thinking about 'pairs' of meals to avoid food wastage. We are only a family of 3 meal-eaters (Archie, sorry, you  are too little for food!) and that means that I can sometimes have food left over, so I try to figure out tasty ways to use it up. For instance, when we have Roast Chicken, we will usually have home made Chicken Pizzas the following week (thanks, KitchenAid!) I find that meal planning each week is a great way to figure this out. Before I planned out meals I used to find we had a lot more wastage because I'd forget all about using that last bit up.

When Club Sandwiches are on the menu I only use half a pack of bacon so Wednesday's meal this week is Bacon and Tomato Pasta and this is how I do it:

Ingredients:
3-4 rashers of bacon (I like streaky and smoked, which also works well in our Club Sandwiches)
1 onion
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Tomato Puree

I literally just fry off the bacon and onions and chuck in the tomatoes, but the real key to this recipe is to leave it simmering for a good 20 minutes or half an hour if you have time. I find it really needs this time to sweeten up and when it has had that time it is a really sweet, tasty sauce. While it's simmering, cook up whatever pasta is your favourite, and serve either stirred together or with sauce on top. Oh, and don't forget the grated cheese ;-)

Meal Plan Monday

A little short on time right now, but as we have just eaten our first meal of the week I thought I'd better get the rest of our meal plan up!

Monday - Chicken Caesar Salad
Tuesday - Hot dogs
Wednesday - Fish and Chips
Thursday -  Spaghetti Bolognese
Friday  - Chicken Curry
Saturday  - Chilli Wraps (using left over bolognese sauce)
Sunday - Roast Pork

Diaries of a Domestic Goddess...

Yesterday I was a domestic goddess - well, as close as I am ever likely to get anyway, ha ha! Of coure, first priority was having fun so we spent the morning at the Children's Centre playing, then came home for lunch and nap when I IRONED my BEDLINEN! I can't remember the last time I used the iron, but I suddenly had the urge to do it, as it was very crumpled after the wash. It looked nice and felt nice, but I fear the crispness will have worn off tonight. Oh well, once in a blue moon makes it all the more special, yes?

On the meal plan was homemade pizzas. It was time to face the KitchenAid - the most extravangent and wonderful birthday present from my gorgeouss husband (you may have seen them featured on the Great British Bake Off last night - first step pizza dough, second step miraculous piles of meringue... maybe).

Luckily with my powerful Google-Fu I was able to find a recipe here http://www.acouplecooks.com/2012/01/pizza-doughstand-mixer-method/ as my trusty-baking-friend is currently away on holiday (how selfish! Just when I need her most!) Equally luckily the recipe mostly consisted of 'Chuck all ingredients in and leave to prove' - this is my favourite type of recipe (hmm, on reflection maybe not yet ready for miraculous meringue concoctions a la GBBO).

After proving for an hour it was time to drag Harry out of the garden to construct the pizzas. The dough was super-cool to play with. I pretended I was a Pizza Express Chef by chucking it in the air and spinning it around between my fingers. Fun! Then we spread on the tomato and chose our toppings - we had a choice of mozzarella, cheddar, ham and chicken. Yum yum! Harry really enoyed this part, although he was a little stingy with the cheese so I had to help him out there.

Just in case you were wondering, the hand washing after we came in from the garden was rather, um... enthusiastic. Hence no t shirt.

I popped them in the over and they came out looking like golden pizza-y piles of yum. Which was the look I was going for, so hooray! I had forgotten to put salt in the dough though so it was a little bland but it was miles better than the non-yeast types of base I've made in the past and I am SO looking forward to making dough balls next time. I is buying garlic butter in bulk from work so we will be able to have the full pizzeria experience in our own home. Harry's looked like this - you'll have to excuse the quality of the photos, they are just quick snaps from my phone.

 

Meal Plan Monday

One of the best tips for running a smooth household with small children, and keeping the budget under control is to have a meal plan. I don't tend to plan out our lunches - we have some variety of bread, toast and cheese/ham most days, but I do like to plan our dinners, especially as I really hate cooking! (Baking is another matter, I love it - but cooking? Nope).

Monday 3rd September - Bacon and Tomato Pasta Bake

Tuesday 4th September - Homemade Chicken Pizzas (with the leftover chicken from our roast)

Wednesday 5th September - Fish and Chips (from the freezer - this is Daddy's late day, so need something really simple I can just  chuck in the oven)

Thursday 6th September - Chicken Caesar Salad

Friday 7th September - Steak and Chips (at I's request - this is his early finish, so he can cook!)

Saturday 8th September - Chicken Satay (again at I's request - he's cooking!)

Sunday 9th September - Roast of some description - we'll buy for this together at the weekend.