Meal Planning Monday: 23rd March 2016

In a hitherto unheard of fit of organisation I'm typing this up on a Sunday afternoon sat in the garden. Harry is sleeping, I've done both the shopping list and meal plan and am now ready to head off to Aldi once the grumpy one awakes. 

This week is fairly normal - about a 7 on the hectic scale. I've got a bake sale at Guides on Tuesday to raise money for our local campsite so a couple of local Brownie units are coming for campfire fun and to spend their pocket money. 

I'm planning to bite the bullet and head back to Slimming World this week - I'm just feeling a bit bleurgh and suspect eating fewer fruit and veggies and much much more chocolate is to blame. Plus I didn't fit into my size 14 jeans that I wanted to wear for Blogcamp yesterday. 

Onto the meal plan. 

Breakfasts - baked porridge/ overnight oats. I picked up some reduced raspberries in Waitrose on Friday and Harry seems to have gone off blueberries (Shock. Horror!) so I'll use those up too. 

Lunches - couscous salad - with smoked salmon or leftover roast chicken. 

We're having a roast chicken tonight - mainly for the leftovers I must admit as I'm actually craving steak, but chicken goes so much further. 

Suppers: 

Monday - leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and carrots

Tuesday - Chicken, broad bean and mushroom risotto (my challenge is to get a decent picture of this!) 

Wednesday - Leftover risotto or Tomato, lentil and veg pasta sauce as I made an enormous batch last week and have portioned it up nicely in the freezer

Thursday - If we don't have it the night before the pasta. If we have the pasta then leftover sauce as a pasta bake I think

Friday - Pizza night! With sweet potato wedges and salad. 

Saturday - baked gammon with egg and syn free chips, peas and sweetcorn

Sunday - Roast something, either pork or beef, to give us leftovers for the week ahead. 

That all feels very organised. Especially for me of late, but I've taken up journalling/ planning in a big to help keep on top of the varying levels of chaos that make up our lives. Whilst I'm not particularly artistic, I am incredibly visual and a huge fan of colour and stickers to keep me focussed. 

That's us for this week - busy as always. You'll notice I'm not cooking too much for the freezer at the moment as the one we use for stocking up died a death a few weeks back and we can't really stretch to a new one at the moment. It doesn't seem to be affecting us too badly, but has made me much better at using up our leftovers rather than just chucking them in the freezer for another day. 

Have a good, healthy week all - and be sure to hop on over to Mrs M's linky to see what all our other planners are up to. 

Meal Planning Monday: 9th May 2016

It's been a few weeks since I last published a meal plan - we've all had variations on a sinusitis-y type bug and it hit me much harder than I'm used to. However, I'm back on form so am enjoying the cool of the early morning and tapping away whilst drinking tea.

And yes, you read that right - I can now tolerate tiny quantities of dairy. It seems I'm not producing enough lactase to manage some higher lactose products, but I've successfully got about halfway up the lactose ladder. I'm mainly still dairy free, save for those splashes of milk in my tea but am infinitely less concerned than I was about accidental consumption.

This week is a busy one for us (when isn't?)

Breakfasts: Overnight oats made with almond milk and fruit

Lunches: Coucous salad

Suppers:

Monday: I roasted a chicken yesterday, so we'll be having roast chicken, baked potatoes and lots of veggies

Tuesday: Leftover roast chicken and broad bean risotto

Wednesday: Leftover leftovers of the risotto

Thursday: I'm out for a ladies dinner at Church so M is having pizza

Friday: We have a pescatarian friend coming to stay - and M has requested courgetti spaghetti - I must remember to get the veggie version of parmesan in this week's shop.

Saturday: Baked fish, salad, and the Halloumi and sweet potato bake from the lovely BakingQueen74

Sunday: I haven't made fishcakes for Harry and I for ages - so I think I'll do those with potato wedges and lots of veggies/ salad

Baking wise - there's cake to be made for one of the ladies at my Friday class whose birthday it was yesterday, and I'd like to try making some low sugar, dairy and egg free gingerbread/ cinnamon biscuits for Harry.

Have a lovely week - hopefully at least some of the sunshine will stick with us. As always don't forget to hop on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what the other planners are all up to.

Meal Planning Monday

It's that time of the week again. Sunday evening, feet up - crochet ready to have ends darned in and I thought I'd get ahead of myself and pop this up now. We've got a busy week this week, I'm helping out at our church holiday club which I'm really looking forward to, but will take up most of the week. 

Breakfasts, I've just popped some overnight oats/ baked porridge in the fridge for me and Harry. It's a very simple one, just 100g of porridge oats, a grated eating apple and almond milk to cover. I'll add sultanas to Harrys and a chopped banana to mine. 

Lunches, I was going to make some soup tonight, but I'm absolutely shattered today so I'll pop that on tomorrow at some point. It's just going to be my Spiced root veg soup, with carrots and parsnips as the main veggies.

Suppers:

Monday - leftover pulled pork in burritos with rice and veggies

Tuesday - Sausages, potato wedges and veggies (most likely carrots and brocolli)

Wednesday - a veg packed Spaghetti bolognaise

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Homemade steak burgers, Slimming world chips, peas and sweetcorn

Saturday - Sweet potato, lentil and chicken bake. It's a dairy free concoction I'm currently trying to refine for the blog as it's a bit hit and miss at the moment. Hopefully this week will be more hit than miss!

Sunday - Tomato, veg and red lentil pasta. We're having a bring and share lunch at Church so that's a nice all rounder that should be OK for the more common food allergies. I hope.

I think that's everything - as always, don't forget to pop on over to At home with Mrs M and see what the other planners are up to.

Meal Planning Monday - 14th March

It's been weeks WEEKS since I meal planned, or blogged in any way shape or form. There's some very good and some less good reasons behind the hiatus. But in a nutshell, there has been lots going on and lots of it has been wildly stressful. I'm hoping and praying that the worst is behind us now, and one of my aims for this week is to get at least a couple of blogposts up to try and get myself back in the swing of things, and lets face it, this one is what's known as a quick win. 

Breakfasts: Harry's very much on a Weetabix kick at the moment, I've gone completely off porridge so am dithering around with toast or crumpets at the moment. I do need to find another cereal so that I can get some almond milk in me, but for now - toast, peanut butter and banana does what it needs to.

Lunches: Evidence of the recent stress is clear in the fact that I've been existing on sandwiches. It's unsurprising that my weight loss has completely stalled. That said, I was eyeing up some elderly looking carrots and half a swede in the cupboard yesterday and thinking about a big pan of my Spiced root vegetable soup.

Suppers:

Monday - tonight was a rather hopeless miss mash of leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes and veggies. A usual Monday night supper after a roast, but it really didn't sit well tonight.

Tuesday - Chickpea and sweet potato curry (post to follow at some point, possibly by next January at this rate)

Wednesday - Leftover curry

Thursday - Super speedy bolognaise.

Friday - Leftover bolognaise

Saturday - Sausages, sweet potato wedges and veggies.

Sunday - Chicken and butternut squash stew

Baking wise,  I'm yet to make our Simnel cake so that needs sorting this week and I'm desperate to make a batch of my Cherry and Almond buns

I'm going to pop on over to At Home with Mrs M to try and get myself back in the swing of things. Wish me luck.

Meal Planning Monday

This week I'm doing something different with our meal plan. Writing it on Sunday for starters! But also I'm using Danni Martin, of Hungry Healthy Happy's new book of the same name as inspiration for our week's dinners. This isn't a sponsored post and I bought the book myself, I just fancied planning our week using a different inspiration and thought that was a good way to start.

Breakfasts: I made a highly experimental carrot cake porridge last week. As you can see it's not up on the blog yet and still needs some tweaking. Hopefully it'll be here next week - if I improve it.

Lunches: I didn't make soup last week, and ended up eating lots of sandwiches, so this week I have a pot of butternut squash soup on the planner. I'll roast the BNS with some red onions and garlic tomorrow morning before blitzing with some chicken stock and chilli.

Suppers:

Monday - Leftover chickpea curry, with brown basmati rice and roti. This is my recipe, and the post has been half written since the first week of January - this makes a lovely supper dish and I will blog it soon.

Tuesday - Sausage casserole with roasted garlic mashed potato from Hungry Healthy Happy and veggies. I'll adapt the mashed potato to be dairy free, and will be using Heck sausages for the casserole as we know they're dairy free.

Wednesday - Leftovers of casserole with baked potatoes and veggies

Thursday - Spaghetti bolognaise from Hungry Healthy Happy - sadly not with courgetti as we don't have a spiraliser (I've been meaning to splash out on one but just not around to it) but with pasta, and over broccoli for me as a comprimise

Friday - Leftover bolognaise on baked potatoes

Saturday - Chicken Tikka masala from Hungry Healthy Happy - but adapted to be dairy free, instead of yoghurt using coconut milk with brown rice.

Sunday - Roast chicken - we haven't had a roast since Christmas, and I could do with an easier week next week with leftovers as the basis.

I've got no baking planned this week as I'm trying to keep my snacking to speed foods (Slimming world jargon for  fruit and veggies) and resist temptation to eat all the cake!

As always I'm linking up with At home with Mrs M and Organising Junkie so be sure to head on over and see what the other planners are up to.

Meal Planning Monday

I forgot to link up again? I am the worst blogger ever. I'm sat here this morning with a shocking hair cut and colour, streaming cold and completely sleep deprived. Harry's napping and I should be cleaning the kitchen, but I thought I'd try in vain to get something up on the blog this morning, as during his nap this afternoon I'm hoping to have my hair sorted.

Last week both Harry and I came down with a rotten cold, M was working away and all in all it was a bit of a rubbishy week. That said, I took inspiration from Nelly's post and booked said disastrous haircut for yesterday afternoon so I had some me-time. I don't think I really understood the value of that prior to having Harry. Even so, I miss him terribly, even during those short hours away, but there's just something so validating and restful about a couple of hours being Penny, not just Mama. Not that I believe any of us are 'just' Mama, but hopefully you know what I mean.

Food - meal plans. That's what this post is supposed to be about!

Breakfasts - I had weetabix all last week and I'm bored already, so back to porridge it is. I'm feeling a bit frumpy and lethargic so I'm hoping that'll help - although the oats do have the side effect of being lactogenic, so Harry will think it's Christmas this week.

Lunches - last week I made Parsnip and apple soup, which I'd hoped to blog, but it needs some more tweaking. This week, I think I'll do Spiced root vegetable soup using up the carrots and swede which are currently languishing, unloved in the veg drawer - it's a yummy, warming and syn free concoction that is super easy and Harry likes it too. Although he loved the Parsnip and apple a lot!

Suppers - we did our weekly Aldi shop this weekend, and the offers had changed. Although I was so sad not to be able to find any of the cloth nappies in our branch, I really wanted to give them a shot.

Monday: Leftover tomato pasta that I made last night as a base for meatballs. M is working late, so he'll grab something en route.

Tuesday: Chilli con carne with a big dose of super speedy veggies in the slow cooker. I didn't get around to making this last week, so popped the mince in the freezer. I'll prep a 'dump-it-in bag' tonight, so even if we have another night of no sleep, I'm good to go in the morning. We'll have it with rice.

Wednesday: Leftover chilli with broccoli for me, and in a burrito for M

Thursday: Ham in coca cola with Slimming world chips and an egg for M.

Friday: Leftover ham, sweet potato wedges and veggies

This weekend's a bit fluid as we need to pop and see family so I think I'll see how we go. Right, I'm off to link up with Mrs M and Organising Junkie too in a bid to be a bit more with it this week. Now, where's my coffee...

Meal Planning Monday

Another week - another meal plan. We've had a lovely weekend with friends - one of my dearest friends who I haven't seen since the wedding (because Junior doctors are ALWAYS working Mr Hunt!) came to visit, met Harry, drink gin and generally catch up. Then yesterday we spent a happy afternoon with one of the other couples and bubba from our NCT group. My friends are typically those I've either worked with, Guide with or who I know from school or uni - I can be a little shy in new situations so one of the reasons I'm a huge advocate of NCT classes are the friends you make at a time that can be desperately lonely and isolating.

Anyway, back to the meal plan. It's so bitterly cold that our lunches are transitioning to hot food too.

Breakfasts - I've got to pick up some almond milk this afternoon so that we can have porridge, and also need to get some fruit as my apple trees have finally given up their last.

Lunches - Harry has some lovely tuna and sweet potato bites I've made, and I'm doing a bit of a grab and go with whatever we've got!

Suppers -

We had roast chicken yesterday so as always we're off on the right foot today...

Monday: Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Chicken, mushroom and veg pie with potatoes and veggies

Wednesday: Spaghetti bolognaise

Thursday: Leftover bolognaise

Friday: Harry and I are off on Brownie holiday for the weekend so we'll be having fishfingers, potato wedges, peas and sweetcorn while M has (and thoroughly enjoys no doubt) a pizza!

Normal service is resumed on Monday although we'll all be shattered after QMing for 28 for the weekend!!!!

Baking wise - I made some dairy free baked cinnamon sugar doughnuts at the weekend which although were undeniably best on the first day they were baked (and even better still warm) are doing us a treat for packed lunches and keep going with coffee snacks.

Happy Monday everyone - and of course be sure to pop on over to At Home with Mrs M and if you're so inclined to I'm an organising junkie to see what everyone else is up to as part of their #mealplanningMonday

Meal Planning Monday

Do you ever do that thing where you think - "That's OK, we'll eat from the freezer tonight"? I did that this morning, only aside from some sloes, frozen overripe bananas, and the ubiquitous bags of peas and sweetcorn, nada, rien, not a sausage. Oh. So aside from the fact that we'll be off to Aldi tonight, I thought I'd better get my pinny on this week and do some batch cooking.

The autumn always says batch cooking to me anyway, so as far as I'm concerned it's a win win situation. I popped a loaf of my 50:50 wholemeal in the bread maker this morning so that's under my belt already. 

Breakfasts - have wildly overdone it on the French bread in France last week I am definitely back on porridge with almond milk and some fruit.

Lunches - Soup for me - I'm going to make a batch of my Slimming World minestrone either tonight or tomorrow morning as I love it and it's just what I fancy. I'm not sure how Harry (or my carpet) will cope with soup!

Suppers -

Monday: Tonight will be super quick and easy, so probably schnitzel, oven chips and those peas and sweetcorn. A throw it all in effort!

Tuesday: Chicken and sweet potato casserole (recipe to be written up)

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Tomato and butternut squash pasta (with lardons for the grown ups)

Friday: Sausages, baked potatoes and chard/ spinach from the veg patch.

We're seeing family this weekend so I'm leaving that flexible for now.

Baking wise I need to make some flapjacks as Harry's having a growth spurt and I think my milk supply is taking a little while to respond!

Meal Planning Monday

I've kind of lost my meal planning mojo over the summer. My tendency in the warm has been to pick up a chicken from the Supermarket and roast it, mainly to provide cold meat for the week. Baked potatoes, and salad from the garden have featured heavily. That said, even M looked sad when I said "Roast chicken?" this week, so I thought it was time to get back on it. Please note we've got roast chicken on the plan still - I listened, it just works! 

I've changed how Harry's eating a little bit of late as he's in the midst of dropping a nap, so supper is a bit of a race against his drooping eyelids. I was bringing it earlier and earlier and then decided to switch up lunch and supper - making the latter more of a picky, light meal and swapping the main meal to lunchtime. As regular readers will know I'm always conscious about maintaining Harry's weight so for me I'm really happy that for him this has worked so well. 

I'm still doing Slimming World (although I suspect I'm the worst slimmer in our group) the combination of a restricted diet and mummy hood really don't always leave me particularly motivated. But I've kicked myself into touch of late and seem to be doing a little bit better. 

Breakfasts - I'm in the midst of a shocking cough and cold (that we've all had, I just got it last) so am mainly breakfasting on toast, marmite and fruit. Once I'm feeling better I'll be back onto my overnight oats, but right now I need something that's dryer. 

Lunches - I've been making up a bowl of something like a quinoa, couscous or pasta salad and having that for my lunches. It keeps me from grabbing a sarnie (bread is my downfall) and as it's ready and in the fridge I do actually eat. Funnily enough, when I'm disorganised and skip meals I seem to lose even less weight! 

Suppers - 

Monday - Pulled pork, with baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob and salad

Tuesday - Leftovers in a wrap with rice and sweet potato wedges for M, with salad and sweet potato wedges for me

Wednesday - Roast chicken, potatoes, broccoli and carrots 

Thursday - Leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes and salad 

Friday - Much to M's dismay I've completely gone off risotto (perhaps because when it's cheese and butter free it's just rice and stuff) so either a soy sauce free chicken chow mien, or a stir fried chicken and broccoli. 

Saturday - we're at CarFest for M's birthday so I'm hoping for something fab and dairy free. We'll take Harry a Yumbox and I'm going to hope that there's going to be dairy and soya free fare on offer *fingers crossed* 

Sunday - My super speedy chilli I think - as it'll provide us with lots of leftovers in the week ahead. 

I'm not planning on baking this week as I'm trying to be good, and also I just don't fancy anything! 

Be sure to hop on over to At Home with Mrs M and see what everyone else is up to as the summer holidays come to a close. 

Meal Planning Monday

You may (or may not) have noticed that I gave myself a week off last week - M was in Le Mans, Harry and I went to visit my sister in Lincolnshire and catching up with the mountains of washing, and a family of coldified beings just wiped us all out for a few days.

This week is business as usual - we popped to Aldi in the middle of a downpour yesterday and stocked up on lots of fruit and veggies for the week ahead.

Breakfasts - overnight oats for me, with apple and banana. Or melon. Harry's been having porridge and crumpets as well as the mandatory banana

Lunches - I've found what looks to be a really nice Slimming World recipe for a Spring vegetable orzo 'risotto' I'm going to switch out the asparagus for some finely chopped brocolli, and am obviously leaving out the parmesan (although I have heard intriguing things about something called nutritional yeast?) I thought it'd make for some lovely fresh lunches this week. I've also got some Basics smoked salmon and tinned tuna for some salads at the end of the week.

Suppers -

Monday: Roast chicken, roast potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes and veggies

Wednesday: Chicken and mushroom risotto

Thursday: Tomato pasta

Friday: Sausages, baked potatoes and veggies

Next weekend is fairly up in the air as we're spending some time with M's parents.

Be sure to join in the linky over at At home with Mrs M

Meal Planning Monday

Harry turned one on Friday - no I have no idea how that happened either. We had a lovely party yesterday, with family, friends and a Hartbeeps session for the little ones which was amazing. We all enjoyed a dairy free feast, and this week's meal plan will largely be featuring the leftovers from that. Well aside from the bread, I ended up giving most of that away!

Breakfasts: I'm sticking with fruit or overnight oats at the moment. It's not thrilling, ,but I know Harry doesn't react to them and as he's reacted recently to egg through my milk and strawberries I'm erring on the side of caution.

Lunches: The warm weather means salad and leftover ham or roast chicken for me. Harry is having chicken or ham and slices of pepper, chopped up cherry tomatoes or cucumber sticks. Also houmous. All the houmous.

Suppers:

Monday - Leftover roast chicken with salad and baked potatoes

Tuesday - I'm doing Outdoor cooking with the Guides, but will leave M some stir fried chicken with mushrooms, brocolli and rice.

Wednesday - Ham (leftover from a ham in coca cola) and salad - possibly with sweet potato wedges

Thursday - Chilli crab linguine with salad

Friday - Salad and something fishy *vague*

Saturday - I think I might do a slow roast shoulder of lamb, portion it up and freeze it. Then I can have it with salad.

Sunday - leftover roast lamb

That's this week. M will be enjoying the culinary delights of a campsite at Le Mans - burgers and sausages will feature heavily I'm sure.

As always, don't forget to pop on over to At home with Mrs M to see what everyone else's menu looks like

Meal Planning Monday

The baby is nearly one. I mean... how in the name of God did that happen? This time last year he wasn't even here! I am befuddled. Confused. Bewildered. I've been someone's mummy for a year! Holy hell.

This week we have the loveliness that occurs when M takes some time off mideweek to spend at home, so we get a couple of extra family days.

Breakfasts - I'm having conceptual difficulties in remembering to make overnight oats the night before and Harry has started reacting quite strongly to eggs if I eat them too now. Porridge it is.

Lunches - Spicy pepper and tomato soup for me, Harry is having homemade fishfingers and veggies

Suppers -

Monday: Leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes, green beans, carrots and brocolli

Tuesday: Hoi sin Chicken, mushroom and brocolli with rice

Wednesday: Pulled pork, baked sweet potatoes and sweetcorn

Thursday: Leftover pork in burritos with peppers and rice

Friday: Sausages, baked potatoes and veggies

Saturday: Harry's birthday party so ham, chicken, bread, salad, strawberries, cake...

Sunday: Leftovers of above!

 That's our week - please note we're not mentioning Slimming World as I've eaten a large quantity of vegan chocolate ice cream today and weigh in tomrorow may not be happening!

Meal Planning Monday

We've planted up the veg patch this weekend - so although I'm expecting not to be able to move tomorrow we have veggies for the summer. And potatoes! All of which is very exciting, I just need to remember to water them now.

This week is as busy as ever - Guides, Brownies and an overnight camp at the weekend for me - M's getting ready for Les Mans next month and we're both battling against the sea of stuff that comes with the baby.

Breakfasts - I'm back on overnight oats for the most part, with the occaisional scrambled egg and mushrooms.

Lunches - This week I'm having syn free minestrone soup - Harry has it with most of the liquid drained out.

Suppers -

Monday: Leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli and stuffing

Tuesday: I'm on a chip walk with the Guides - M is having pizza

Wednesday: Bacon and butternut squash pasta

Thursday: Chicken, broccoli and mushroom stir fry with rice

Friday: Cottage pie

Baking this week was dairy free almond macaroons - recipe up later this week.

As always, don't forget to pop on over to At home with Mrs M to see what the other planners are up to. 

Meal Planning Monday - our Aldi switch

My maternity leave (and pay) comes to an end at the end of this month. Truth be told, I'm not sure what the future holds, part-time positions at my level in my field are like gold dust. We have a lot to think about, but it's meaning a tightening of our belts. For a while, I've been doing our fruit and veg shopping at Aldi, making use of their Super 6, and planning our meals around it. However since Christmas 'Ive noticed our weekly, main shop creeping up. Even using My Supermarket I couldnt reduce it any more. So, Friday evening saw the three of us head to Aldi and in one fell swoop reduce our shopping bill by 33% - desite the fact that we bought meat, and randomly Swarfega (it's for M).  The only thing I couldnt get was my almond milk, and I can pick that up during the week.

It's half term this week, so there's no Hartbeeps or swimming, but there is Stay and Play on Monday which we're going to go to as Harry loved it last week. I think we'll try and organise an NCT meet up later in the week, and I'm excited to see my sister and nephew on Thursday. I think it's Thursday anyway.

Breakfasts - porridge with cinammon, ginger, apple and blueberries for me. Porridge fingers, fruit toast or a bagel for Harry

Lunches - I need to make a new batch of split pea and veg soup so that I can have something hot at lunchtime. I made Harry sweet potato and salmon fishcakes last week, and some chicken and veg casserole - baby portions of which I froze and he can have for lunches this week.

Dinners -

Monday - Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Sausages, baked potatoes and beans

Wednesday: Freezer surprise (bolognaise I think)

Thursday: Gammon and wedges - is it bad that I really want pineapple on mine?

Friday:Breakfast for tea

Saturday:I think a casserole of some sort - perhaps my chicken, butternut squash and leek (let's see if I can make it Slimming World friendly)

Sunday: Leftover casserole

That's our week, 33% cheaper, and looking hardly any different... Have you had to trade down for your shopping? What are your money saving tips?

As always be sure to head on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to.

Meal Planning Monday - how is it that time again?

Just call me the white rabbit today - I've been late for everything and my meal plan is no exception. To be fair I realised at 5am whilst feeding Harry that I hadn't written up my plan but as I haven't yet worked out how to simultaneously blog, sleep and breastfeed that got promptly forgotten. Anyway, I'm typing up now - it's not Tuesday yet.


This week is a funny old time - we were talking about it today at Slimming world (it's going well, thank you) Apparently today is 'Blue Monday' the most depressing day of the year, and last Thursday was the day that all our New Year's Resolutions got chucked out of the window. I don't know about either of those being true, I am a bit down at the moment, I know I'm not getting enough daylight despite trying to get out everyday as sometimes it's just too cold. M is working crazy hours, and Harry is still teething. I think once the weather changes and M and I see each other a bit more I'll start to feel a bit brighter.

Food wise, this week is mainly roast chicken orientated. It's in the oven at the moment (smelling wonderful) and I'm hoping the leftovers will keep us going until Thursday.

Breakfasts: Porridge or scrambled eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. Harry's still having his porridge fingers or scrambled eggs too.

Lunches: I made a root veg and pearl barley soup for this week. Then I can supplement that with chicken sandwiches.

Dinners:

Monday - Roast chicken, roast potatoes (does everyone else know how to make syn free roasties or should I blog them?) stuffing, lots of veggies

Tuesday - Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes and veggies

Wednesday - Chicken and mushroom risotto (I'm going to try using a puree of cannelini beans to replace the butter and cheese at the end)

Thursday - Leftover risotto

Friday - Meatball pasta I think.

We're with family this weekend, so have a couple of days off meal planning. Which is always nice.

What are your favourite - make your chicken go further recipes? 

Be sure to pop on over to At Home with Mrs M and see what everyone else is up to this week.

Meal Planning Monday:

The cold weather really hit us last week, Harry and I had to abandon a walk as despite all the layers and a massive snow suit he was just too cold, and we both ended up a bit under the weather. I'm hoping this week will be better so that we can get out and about - we're hoping to try a library Rhyme Time session for the first time.

The original plan was to cook a chicken on Sunday, but Aldi had pork leg joints on offer this week so I took the opportunity to save some money, I also picked up 5 of their 'Super six' veggies and some pork mince which was again on offer. I promise this post isn't an advert for Aldi, I'm just at the end of my Mat leave so saving money is a priority for us at the mo.

I did OK at Slimming World last week - something tells me that this week wont be as successful as I've felt dreadful and not managed to stay on plan at all. Although towards the end of the week I got back on it a bit more (save the end of a packet of liebkucken on Saturday afternoon while the men of the house dozed)

Mark's working silly hours at the moment and Harry's still teething (no teeth yet, but sore gums, red cheeks, all the dribble, and broken sleep but NO TEETH) so I'm after a relatively stress free week food wise.

Breakfast: Porridge with fruit or scrambled eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms for me. Porridge fingers, scrambled eggs or a bagel and fruit for the baby

Lunch: Soup, a baked potato or an omlette for me - fish cakes, or chicken and veggies or just veggies for Harry.

Supper:

Monday: Leftover roast pork with baked potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Quick chilli wraps with leftover pork, a teeny bit of rice, avocado and veggies

Wednesday: Baked pasta with a ragu type sauce (a recipe I'm going to adapt slightly from my slimming world book)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Freezer surprise

Saturday: It's St Dwynwen's next weekend (Welsh St Valentine's) so if we can find a friend to look after Harry for a couple of hours I'd like to try going out for tea. If not, it'll be steak and chips at home.

Sunday: Perhaps that chicken...

 My challenge for Monday is to remember to link up with Mrs M again.

Meal Planning Monday: a change in the weather

 

Well I don't know about where you are, but here it feels like autumn blew in over the weekend and all at once the temperature dropped, the leaves changed and with them my appetite. My obsession with cherry tomatoes is abating, I had porridge for breakfast, thought about soup at lunchtime and have a casserole on the meal plan. Defnitely autumn. 

Harry is starting - as per the paediatrician's instructions - baby rice this week. I have my fingers firmly crossed it'll help the reflux as the acid and vomiting were really distressing him this weekend. 

Breakfasts for me will be porridge - I've got some frozen berries that I'm planning to defrost and stew with a little sugar as a topping. 

Lunches - I'm planning to move away from pate and houmous on ryvita to soups. Tomato soup to be precise. 

Dinners - 

Monday: Chilli and rice

Tuesday: Chilli burritos with wedges

Wednesday: Slow cooker chicken & butternut squash casserole

Thursday: Leftover casserole with baked potatoes

Friday: Pizza 

Saturday: Toad in the hole with veggies & onion gravy

Sunday:  Courgetti spaghetti (freezer)

A first outing for the slow cooker for a while, and some nice easy suppers from the freezer. Hopefully a relatively straightforward week to help me with the baby/ weaning/ reflux...

Meal Planning Monday: not just the grown ups?!

This week our meal plan is fairly simple, our budget and belt are a bit tighter than previously owing to the wildly generous* SMP payments from the government. No, really. The other reason for this simplicity is my new reading matter which all centres around weaning. For lots of reasons - post to follow - we're going to be weaning Harry early and I'm at once wildly terrified and excited. How on earth can a baby born six weeks early be ready for actual food seventeen weeks later?

Anyway, nerves and learning about Baby led versus purees aside here's this weeks meal plan

Breakfasts - I'm having grape nuts and banana for me, along with tea and a slice of toast that M brings me while I'm doing my first feed of the day (usually around 5.30)

Lunches - either pate and ryvita or houmous and ryvita with cherry tomatoes - that craving from pregnancy has not gone away.

Dinners - I roasted a chicken yesterday so that kicks the week off for me both easily and thriftily

Monday: Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes, corn on the cob, peas and carrots

Tuesday: Chicken, mushroom and pea risotto

Wednesday: Leftover risotto

Thursday: Chilli and rice bowls (chilli and rice in a bowl with avocado, cheese and natural yoghurt)

Friday: We're out for the day for M's birthday treat from a good friend, so leftover chilli in burritos with sweet potato wedges.

We've got a wedding to attend next weekend, so I'm leaving meals fairly free and easy for then and then the big weaning experiment begins. Stay tuned...

Meal Planning Monday: Autumn beckons

We had our first casserole last week, a variation on my chicken leek and butternut squash recipe that I made and froze pre-Harry. This conclusively means one thing, autumn is upon us.

Now we're more used to having a bubba around, we've got back to battling with the house and garden. I say we, but I'm frequently pinned to the sofa feeding Harry so it's mainly M. I'm concentrating on finishing touches, we need a big mirror and some artwork for the lounge, and to start our photo wall in the dining room.

Anyway, back to the meal plan:

I've succumbed to dips and crackers for lunches as when M's at work I need food I can manage with one hand.

Breakfasts are fruit and today that my lovely husband brings me while I'm feeding the baby in bed.

Dinners:

Monday - leftover pasta bake

Tuesday - sausages, baked potatoes and beans

Wednesday - courgetti spaghetti

Thursday - pizza

Friday - cottage pie

Saturday - leftover cottage pie

Sunday - roast chicken

So that's us, the sausages and cottage pie are clear indicators of that slide into autumn. What are your go to dishes as the seasons change?

Meal Planning Monday: quick and to the point

 

 Those who know me, know I'm pretty much a control freak - I like my lists, to be organised, to plan, to finish one thing before starting another. And then I had Harry. I still make lists... I just then promptly lose them or forget about them only to find them two weeks later and realise that I either haven't yet dusted the bedroom or it's been so long since I did that it needs doing again. 

Anyway... moving along from my slovenly domestic ways, happily distracted as I am by our wee man. Food has really gone by the wayside of late - to be honest if I can't fling it at the oven, or don't remember to hoik it out of the freezer we're not having it. I'm genuinely surprised at how little we've succumbed to take aways or toast and marmite as acceptable suppers. 

We're starting to add baby activities into our week now, so meals are not only planned around Harry's feeds, but also when we need to leave the house. Swimming is a favourite and not just because he sleeps like an angel after it. I swear if I didn't need to wake him for feeds he'd easily go through the night on a Saturday. 

Monday: Sausages, baked potatoes and corn on the cob

Tuesday: Ham, egg & chips

Wednesday: Leftover ham, egg & wedges (see, it's different. Honest)

Thursday: Baked tomato pasta with meatballs

Friday: Leftover pasta

Saturday:Pizza

Sunday: Roast chicken

What's on your meal plan this week?