Meal Planning Monday: 27th June 2016

Regular readers will have noticed the absence of a meal plan last week - we were off on our hols to the lovely Centre Parcs at Woburn. A wonderful time was had by all, Harry loved the bike and swimming pool. I was blissful at the spa, and M had a go at fencing which he really enjoyed. Overall a hit. I'm writing up some posts covering what we learned, enjoyed and would do differently so keep an eye out for those in the weeks to come. 

As enjoyable as last week was, talk about falling off the Slimming World wagon: ice cream, wine, biscuits, chocolate and garlic bread all featured. And were wonderful. Now to face the music and get back on it. 

Breakfasts are yoghurt and fruit this week. I'm not a fan of the Slimming World staple Mullerlights, because of the sweeteners which we think trigger my migraines (although I did enjoy a banana and custard one today but - headache ensued). Instead I adore the Total Greek 0% fat which is lovely and not packed full of additives. Aldi had melon and grapes on their Super 6 this week so those will both feature alongside my usual apple and banana. 

Lunches -  I'm going to have a go at some mini crustless quiches this week. I'm planning on a smoked salmon, broccoli and cherry tomato batch and will post about them if they're a success.  I've got lots of salady bits in the fridge so will make sure to have that too. 

Suppers - we had a roast chicken today which as you know is my favourite way to start the week, because: leftovers!

Monday: Cold roast chicken, baked potatoes, carrots, peas

Tuesday: Chicken and mushroom risotto

Wednesday: Leftover risotto

Thursday: Freezer surprise

Friday: Breakfast for supper

Saturday: Tomato, lentil and veg pasta

Sunday: Leftover pasta 

So that's our week - it's just a normal one: Baby groups, Brownies, Guides, work for M and stay at home mummying for me. But it keeps us all out of mischief. 

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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 - 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: 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: A bank holiday edition

Another week begins, and if you could see me, you would notice the undeniable signs that I'm starting to feel stressed about this iminitent arrival. I think it's this last stretch of balancing work, decorating, home, obsessive reading and list making that just don't fit into the available hours in the day.

Still, as with any time of anxiety I turn to my lists and plans to manage those feelings of panic. I mean, there's no way to convince a baby to just - stay put until we're properly ready - is there? What do you mean not a chance?

This week's meal plan is fairly straightforward if busy, we're at the Epilepsy centre on Tuesday, start NCT classes on Wednesday as well as Brownies on Thursday. 

Breakfasts: still home made yoghurt, granola and fruit.

Lunches: Salads with either feta and olives or halloumi.

Dinners:

Monday - Sausages in buns with salad and corn on the cob

Tuesday - Chicken and mushroom risotto

Wednesday - Homemade pizza with salad

Thursday -Chicken kiev, home made chips and peas

Friday - Can we have takeaway? Unless it's sunny in which case BBQ.

So that's us, another week on... what's your planning like when you need to eradicate nerves and anxiety?

Meal Planning Monday:

We're getting married in less than a month. Holy hell that's soon.

I made the wedding cakes last week - 2 fruit ones using my slightly amended version of The Pink Whisk's Christmas cake.

At this stage I thought I'd be headless chicken-ing as I tried to make sure my dress fitted by dietting and exercising. I suppose an advantage to being 21 weeks pregnant is that as long as I walk for 20 minutes a day I'm not too fussed about eating or exercising at the moment. Baby ness aside I'm as flappy as I thought I'd be. Once the cakes are sorted I need to make some flowery decisions so will be Pinterest bound this week.

All of this means that food is really taking a back seat at the moment. Not helped by the fact that I'm really not fussed about what I eat at all at the moment so am just trying to eat healthily. I say this without thinking too much about what I'm cooking this week so that may be a complete contradiction to reality!

Breakfasts: Last week I was stunned and most happy to win an Easiyo set from Lakeland, so am enjoying playing with that. I'm using their sachets at the moment, but considering trying some experimentation (hello Pinterest again)

Lunches: Fairly dull, I've been either having ham and cheese sandwiches or tomato soup. I'm just not feeling in the mood for wild and exciting.

Dinners - I'm going to try and use up odds and sods from the freezer

Monday:  Pasta bolognaise (sauce frozen last week) with additional cherry tomatoes and cucumber as I'm on a bit of a crudites bent at the moment.

Tuesday - (if there's some in the freezer) Leftover chicken and mushroom risotto

Wednesday - As I'll be doing Shrove Tuesday at Guides the night before - M and I will do pancakes together on Wednesday

Thursday - It's Brownie night so M is in charge of a pizza and more crudites

Friday - Chicken kiev, sweet potato chips and peas

Saturday - will have been a long day as I'm doing wedding dress 'stuff' so I think I'll pop a brisket into the slow cooker before we go

Sunday - leftover brisket with baked potatoes and possibly cauliflower cheese as I've been thinking about it a bit lately, and clearly the only way to stop that is to make it

So not an exciting week, but it should clear the freezer a bit.