Menu Plan Tuesday... hmmm

I seem to be channeling the culinary energy of Brazen at the moment. I couldn't find the inspiration to post my menu plan yesterday, and it's very loose, even today.
Chicken Laksa
Toad in the Hole
Spinach and Mushroom Quiche
Lamb Chops, Sweet Potato Mash and Green Beans
Thai Beef Salad

Happy Tuesday!

Menu Plan Monday - July 14

We are being carnivorous this week! I got a new Donna Hay magazine with a recipe for slow-roasted pork belly, and things just went downhill from there. Ryan couldn't find pork belly at the shops, so it's just a rolled shoulder roast. And there was a recipe for roast pumpkin wrapped in bacon, so if we bought bacon we'd have to make quiche, and ... anyway. Here's the list:
Slow-roasted pork with sweet potato mash
Spicy Carrot soup with coconut cream
Roast chicken with bacon-wrapped pumpkin (the picture looked amazing!!)
Quiche Lorraine
Baby Meatloafs (also wrapped in bacon)
Beef in Red Wine in the slow cooker.

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - April 29

Oops! It's Tuesday already. Never mind. This week was always going to be odd. It's now officially cold in Canberra - my hands were stinging on the way home from work yesterday. So we are properly into the winter warming food:
Chicken burritos
Pan fried fish with veggies
Baked jerusalem artichokes with chicken
Tuna casserole
Clean-out-the-fridge leftovers

Have a great week!

Menu Plan Tuesday (oops!)

I have to admit my menu planning has been languishing a bit lately. I've been focusing on baking and other sweet stuff, so the plans have lacked detail and inspiration. This week I'm back on track!
Tuesday: Dinner out with friends
Wednesday: Lamb Chops with green beans and stuffed squash
Thursday: Butter chicken soup and flatbread
Friday: Spicy baked pork fillet, with brown rice and stirfry broccoli.
Saturday: Warm veggie salad

I hope you enjoyed your Easter break!

Menu Plan Monday - March 17

I love this time of year. All the public holidays and the beautiful weather - plus the feeling that the summer is nearly over - mean we spend a lot of time outside. Consequently, I haven't been cooking all that much. This week we're going back to firm favourites:
Bangers and Mash
Curried Fish
Chicken Pie
Chicken Salad
Veggie Lasagne

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - January 14

Still trying to keep the menu high on salad, and low on fat. Bring on the vegetables! I wanted to buy a barbecued chicken at the supermarket, but they were all gone. I had to settle for some discount mince instead. Here's the list:

Turkey chops with salad and potatoes
Nachos (ok, we can't be healthy all the time)
Wraps with left over nacho sauce
Chunky salad with ham and eggs
Laksa
People over for a barbecue! There will be sangria and salad and garlic bread - and a big fish! Maybe.

Happy Monday

Menu Plan Monday - January 7

Happy Monday! Well, actually, not so happy for me. I went to a funeral for a work friend, it was shockingly untimely and very, very sad. Between that and the heat, I don't feel much like eating, although I'm sure I'll make room for icecream.
But this is a new year, and with good health, and healthy living very much on my mind, here's the plan for the week:
Salad and left over tempeh
Smart (vegetarian) chilli, on sweet potato
Fish and more salad and couscous
Sweet potato pasta with spinach and feta
Basil Chilli Chicken stirfry. (actually, we already ate the chicken, so it might have to be broccoli stirfry. sorry ryan)
Whatever the last frozen veggie meal is lurking at the back of the freezer.

Hope your week started better than mine.

Menuplan Monday - October 30

Oops! Not quite sure what happened to yesterday's post. But here it is anyway.

This week I'm taking inspiration from $40 a week, who is hosting November's Weekend Cookbook Challenge. I'll do my proper entry at the end of the week, but here's my menuplan for the week!

- spinach and tomato pasta (left over spinach)
- vegetarian chilli with pita chips
- home made pizza (ham and pineapple, and chicken barbecue)
- butter chicken soup (from Destitute Gourmet's Everyday smart food for the family)
- seared fish with sweet and sour glaze (also Destitute Gourmet)
- dhal and samosas (samosas from the same cookbook)

I'll try to keep track of what I spend - so far it's only been $15.
Happy Tuesday!

Freezer food: meals when you don't want to think

Life's been full of hiking and dancing and climbing lately. It's pesky trying to fit it all around work. And it's even more annoying when it cuts into my cooking time. For the nights when there simply is no time for cooking, I've been exploring other avenues.
One thing that looked really promising was the Mega Menu Mailers from savingdinner.com. I had bought the Vegetarian MegaMailer for my friend Special K (she had a new, very early, baby boy), but we never ended up cooking it. Now I dug it up and had a second look. I only have two shelves of freezer space, and the mailer makes 20 meals for 4. I decided to pick 10 - 4 serves would mean left overs for lunches.
The plan
First I had to choose my meals. Then I had to cut down the shopping list to the relevant ingredients.
Issue 1. Americans have some weird ingredients - I don't know what vegetarian sausage is, or peach preserves. And I've never seen frozen spinach.
Issue 2. Converting from imperial to metric is a major pain.
That took about an hour.
The Shop
It came to around $100, which isn't too bad for 10 dinners and 10 lunches. I did a lot of traipsing back and forth, looking for things I don't normally buy.
Issue 3. Processed soy products (like veggie patties and soy sausages) are not cheap!
Issue 4. I'm totally confused about ounces and liquid ounces, and shouldn't try to guess what those quantities could be in grams. The chop
Ryan left me on Saturday morning to prep all the ingredients. It took about 2 hours - a lot longer than I thought.
Issue 5. Chopping around 6 cups of onion is not fun.

Assembly
This was probably the easiest bit. The instructions were very clear, and there was no cooking involved.
Issue 6. Having to eat all the icecream to make room in the freezer.
The result
I ended up with:
Teriyaki Broccoli Mushrooms
Crock Bean and Veggie Soup
Veggie Italian Casserole *
Dijon Rosemary Patties *
Green Chili and Cheese frittata
Roast Vegetables and Beans
Veggie lasagna *
Barbecue Confetti Pasta *
Cashew Tempeh
Baked Dill Tofu on Rice

We've tried the ones with stars so far. They were pretty good! Especially the lasagna. I'll probably tweak them a bit in the future, but they are all great meals at the end of a long day.

I don't think I'll ever go completely 'Once a Month', but this has been a great fall back. And Saving Dinner was a great starting point - even if they do have weird ingredients.

Menu Plan Monday - October 22

This week's very simple - it's mostly just me at home:

Italian-style vegetarian casserole
Chicken Tikka
Beef and red wine stew
Creamy spinach pasta
Chunky salad
Sausage sizzle

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - September 17

This week is a bit haphazard, but there was lots of spring veggies at the market:
salad with feta and bacon
salad with asparagus and tuna
roast veggie extravaganza
sweet potato soup
beans on toast

happy monday!

Menu Plan Monday - September 3

September? When did that happen?

This week's dinners:
Potato and Leek Soup
Lamb Chops and Celeriac Gratin
Roast Veggies
Burritos
Stirfry with broccoli and carrots
Baked Risotto
Arancini

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - August 27

Wow - last week was a busy blog week for me. Not that there's much to show for it! Evil, template-eating internet. Anyway, this week we are trying a couple of new recipes and a couple of old favourites.

Spaghetti and meatballs
Indian Mince and rice, with Tandoori Cauliflower
Chicken and veggies (beans and carrot)
Home made Pizza
Quiche
Gozleme
Vegan Mac & Cheese Florentine

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - August 20

This week I did the grocery shopping on Friday (how's that for organised!) but I completely forgot to plan a couple extra meals. So we have a few pantry meals as well.
Curry Night with friends (Spiced Green Beans and baby corn)
Roast Beef with veggies (I'm doing this in the slow-cooker - I hope it turns out!)
Chicken Nacho's (the last of the leftover Red Rooster chicken from the freezer)
Spaghetti with beef ragu (from the roast)
Enchiladas
Tandoori Chicken
Satay Meatballs
Gnocchi with tomato sauce

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - August 13

I hope your week has started out ok. We didn't get to the veggie markets on the weekend, so this is a bit of a clean-out-the-cupboard week.
Stuffed capsicums
Red Rooster gozleme
Sausage rolls
Cous cous and canellini burgers
Chicken and chickpea curries

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - August 6

Good grief, I can't believe it's August already. I can't believe I survived last week without a menu plan either. It was fine by myself, but when Ryan was back on the weekend we ate an awful lot of takeaway.
Anyway, it's a new week, with a bunch of new things to try. I bought a new cookbook, I'm going to put an entry into Hay, Hay, it's Donna Day. And there was some new and interesting vegetables at the farmers market.

• Sweet Potato Gnocchi
• Prawn Curry
• Lamb Chops with couscous and endive salad
• Sausage Rolls and more salad
• Stuffed Capsicums
• Two-mushroom and barley soup

The soup is in the slow cooker as we speak, and it smells pretty good.
Happy Monday!

There IS no menu plan

We were out of town on the weekend, and Ryan's away for most of this week. So there is no menuplan this week. Instead, I'm going to post a heap of improvised dinner for one. Here's what I had in the fridge to work with:
- a punnet of cherry tomatoes
- some small sweet potatoes
- half a wombok
- a baby endive lettuce
- some carrots
- onions
- a couple of spring onions
- a lonely turkey leg chop
We also have a well stocked tin cupboard. Stay tuned for my adventures in cooking for one!

Menu Plan Monday - July 23

I have been picking recipes out of this month's Australian Table magazine. Ryan left it in the car for me on my birthday. : )
Hamburgers
Impossible Pie (it's a quiche, i think)
Turkey Chops
Vegetable Crumble
Beef Stew
Kidney Bean and Spinach Curry (not sure about this one).

Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - July 16

It's still very chilly around here! Our search for healthy comfort food continues:
Quesadillas
Chicken curry with spinach raita
Beef Stew
Beetroot risotto
Borlotti Bean soup
Also, I've splashed out and bought the vegetarian mega-mailer from Saving Dinner. I'll let you know how the meals turn out.
Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - July 9

We had a great lamb roast last night, so this week's meals are accommodating a few left overs.

Sunday:  Lamb Roast

Monday:  Chorizo and White Bean Stew

Tuesday:  Lamb Souvlaki Wraps

Wednesday:  Fish and veggies

Thursday: Pasta Arabiatta (maybe with some chorizo if there's any left)

Friday:  Out for dinner

Saturday:  Shepherds pie

Happy Monday!