Meal Planning Monday: 25th October 2016

Another week - another meal plan, and this time I'm feeling a bit on the ball for once!

Half term means the opposite for those of us with babies and toddlers to those of you with school age children. All our activities stop and we find ourselves drumming our fingers before capitulating to another trip to the choo-choo park. That said, it will only be a little while before half-term is a wonderful respite from the rigours of school so I can't and shan't complain too much.

The trees here are already dropping these leaves that a mere week or two ago were glorious reds and burnished orange. The air has a distinct chill, and we bought Harry a bobble hat at the weekend - and I'm working on bribes to get him to keep it on his head.

Breakfasts: Baked porridge this week - using this favourite recipe with the apple and cinnamon variation.

Lunches: I've just made a massive pan of Butternut squash and kale curry, which I'll blog as soon as I can get some pictures. I'll be having it with brown basmati rice and steamed broccoli.

Suppers:

Monday: Butternut squash and Kale curry for me. M's at yoga so he's got freezer surprise chilli and rice.

Tuesday: Stuffed pumpkin - normally I'd do it with butternut squash, but picked up some mini pumpkins for 89p each in Aldi and thought this would be al lovely idea

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Tomato pasta bake with dairy free garlic flatbread

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: I'm out at a Guides event till late so M will be having a pizza night. This means it'll feature pizza with pineapple as I find pineapple on pizza more than a bit peculiar.

Sunday: Chorizo and butternut squash chilli But I'll pop it in the slow cooker before church as we're turfing the back garden and have bouncy church (best invention EVER) in the afternoon.

As always, don't forget the link up:

An InLinkz Link-up

Chickpea curry recipe: vegan, dairy free, soya free, syn free

This quick, easy and incredibly tasty recipe is vegan, dairy free, egg free and soya free - when I Instagrammed it I used the #veganuary hashtag and it got lots of interest, similarly in both my Slimming World and CMPA groups people were after the recipe.

I wrote that first paragraph back in January. And then abandoned this post - and to be honest a lot of the blog. Without wishing to jinx things, I do have a few posts lined up at the moment.

This recipe was supposed to be the Chana Masala from the Oh She Glows cookbook, and it is still loosely based on that. However, I did that food blogger thing of adding a bit of this, a bit of that - until it became a bit different. Then when I made it the second and third times I did it from memory rather than a recipe and we seem to have set on my recipe so I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog it.



Chickpea curry - dairy free, soya free, vegan
Syn free on Slimming World

Fry light spray (or coconut oil if you're not on Slimming World)
2 red onions
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli
Thumb sized piece ginger
3-4 carrots
2-3 sweet potatoes
2 - 400g tins chickpeas (if you're egg free, keep the water and use it to make awesome egg free meringues)
2 - 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 400g carton passata
1.5tsp cumin seeds
1.5 tsp garam masala
1.5tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
If not feeding a baby - Half tsp salt
Large bunch coriander

Either by hand or in the food processor, peel and finely chop the onions, garlic, chilli (I deseed it as I'm feeding Harry too) and ginger
Peel and grate the carrots and sweet potatoes
Liberally spray a large pan with the Fry light - or add about a tablespoon of coconut oil and warm it so that it's liquid
Add the cumin seeds and fry gently until they start to pop
Add the garlic, chilli, ginger and onions and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. The onion should be really soft and completely translucent
Add all the spices and stir well
Add the grated sweet potatoes and carrots, and both tins of chickpeas. Stir to make sure that everything is coated in the spice/ onion mix
Add the tomatoes and passata and stir well.
Bring to a gentle simmer, put a lid on the pan and leave for half an hour - 45 minutes
Top with lots of freshly chopped coriander and serve with rice or roti.

Quick, easy, and super healthy. What's not to like?

If that's piqued your interest in a dairy free or vegan curry - why not try one of these recipes from some other lovely bloggers too:

• Over at The Veg space there's a lovely Swiss chard and new potato dhal that's ideal for those of us who are dairy free as it's packed full of calcium containing greens.
• Recipes from a Pantry has a gorgeous looking Roasted pumpkin red thai curry  Do not that you'll want to omit the fish sauce if you're veggie or vegan. Bintu suggests simply and easily replacing it with extra lime juice
• There's another Thai curry - this time green from Tin and Thyme - packed full of loads of lovely veggies and with my favourite cashew nuts too
• Tinned tomatoes has a curry my hubs would love - Mushroom and potato 

I'm adding this post to Attachment Mummy's Friday fabulous linky...

And A mummy too's Recipe of the week one too

Curry in a hurry - good curry

You know those nights you're late home from work, or in our world - your partner has been attached to the sofa feeding the baby all day and there's nothing that you can just wallop in the oven and be done with in the house? That's where (to my foodie shame) ready meals for me step in. Cheaper than a takeaway, and these days if you're careful you can find those without too many nasties so you aren't overwhelmed by the guilt. Oh the guilt.

A few weeks back - 7 in fact, the nice people at Charlie Brighams got in contact with me regarding trying some of their ready meals. Busy as we were at the time, getting ready for the baby I thought they would be an ideal solution to our busy days - M was working in Birmingham, we were trying to fit in our NCT classes, finish decorating the nursery (nope, still not quite done) as well as sort the house out. They were the ideal way to ensure we didn't succumb to takeaway - too expensive - or toast and marmite - not ideal.

We picked up two of the new curry ready meals - Chicken tikka masala and Chicken korma. Both served two, so my plan was to cook both curries and one set of rice one night, and then the other portion of rice the next to have with the leftovers.

My prevailing opinion of the curries were that they were quite sweet - and even for two curries on the milder end of the spectrum, very mild. That said, they tasted clean and fresh and we definitely enjoyed them. The only other comment would be that portion wise I would dispute each meal serving two - I ended up making a very quick veggie dhaal to go with in order to bulk our dinners out.

I would definitely buy the meals again, but would consider adding some extra spicing, or maybe not the curries - some of the other options looked really interesting.

I should also point out - this was the last thing I ate before I went into labour!

Thanks to Charlie Bighams for sending me vouchers to buy both curries. This post is my own opinion.

Meal Planning Monday: loving maternity leave

I'm torn at the moment between wanting the baby to stay put so I can enjoy a little bit of summer at my own pace and being quite, quite ready to not be pregnant anymore. I started using crutches for the SPD last week and just feel like I now have a huge sign over my head that declares 'Pregnancy is too much for this one' and of course that's put the kibosh on my plans to swan around North London doing all those things I never get the time to do on a normal basis.

Anyway, enough whinging, I have a line of the teeniest, tiniest baby laundry, the nursery is finally finished and aside from the sewing, ironing and a breastfeeding class I have no plans for the rest of the day, except enjoying the sunshine.

Being at home hasn't changed how we eat really - I did think it would, between giving me the time to exercise my natural capacity to cook wondrous meals *ahem* and freeing up some of my imagination from the home-tired-chicken kiev-sleep routine we'd got into. What I didn't realise was that being pregnant seems to have freed me up to mainly go to the hospital a lot... between my regular monitoring, physio, midwife, obstetrician.... I swear they're going to hand me a BlackBerry and a laptop soon so that I can keep on top of what they need from me!

That said, I did some batch baking this weekend and we now have lemon drizzle cake in the freezer, and a chocolate banana loaf in the cake tin, so M's a happy camper. I want to bake a simnel-alike cake this week and try Michelle's Cinammon sugar mini muffin doughnuts 

Breakfasts - I'm sticking with the cereal. Baby in years to come when you realise my aversion to milk I hope you appreciate this.

Lunches - griddled halloumi salad is still the daily menu and I'm showing no signs of tiring of it. Last week I had a few days of halloumi, pesto and avocado sandwiches on pide which is a favourite flatbread of mine, but I'm back on salad this week.

Dinners -

Monday:  We've got our breastfeeding class a bit earlier than our usual NCT so I'm going to knock up some pasta nice and quickly - just a Pantry pasta will do I think

Tuesday: Is going to be our curry night - courtesy of Charlie Bighams we're trying two of their new curry ready meals, a Korma and a Tikka Masala so expect a post later on this week about how we found them. For someone who hasn't really had cravings as such (don't mention the cherry tomato habit) curry is something I've really enjoyed whilst pregnant so I'm really looking forward to this.

Wednesday: I'll be at the hospital being monitored on Wednesday so I'm hoping for leftovers from Tuesday night's curry.

Thursday: Brownies starts back (my penultimate session before I go on maternity leave from my littlies) so it would be a travesty not to keep up the chicken kiev 'tradition' this pregnancy has spawned. Home made sweet potato chips and lots of veg/ salad to balance out some goodness.

Friday: Sausages, baked potatoes and something nice and vegetable-y *vague*

We've got a much cherished weekends at home next weekend - I'm going to try and do some more batch cooking - Chinese chicken and mushrooms have been requested as have individual chicken and sweet leek pies (I'm clearly a soft touch).

Hope you're having a good week - and be sure to hop on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what all the other mealplanners are up to. 

Meal planning Monday

How does it get round to being Monday again so quickly? I'm writing this on Sunday evening, surrounded by chaos and the smell of wet paint as we prepare to head back to work after a weekend of trying to set the house to rights.

We're busy again this week (when aren't we?) Although M is quite gleeful about the fact that he forgot that this week existed so everything he thought he was doing this week is next week instead. Confused? You should try being me.

Breakfasts: In an epic fail in meal planning terms I forgot to buy myself any cereal or any almond milk so cereals and smoothies are off the menu. In their stead will doubtlessly be porridge - I had it this morning with pools of dark brown sugar melting into little treacley puddles. And enjoyed every mouthful

Lunches: I blame my mother for this. Entirely. She introduced me to Seriously strong smoked cheese spread *ahem* applied liberally to toasted crumpets. I suspect this will now take up pride of place as it's own food group for the forseeable future.

Dinners:

Monday - Slow cooker chilli con carne with brown rice, avocado and grated cheese (post to follow on Tuesday)

Tuesday - Leftover slow cooker chilli con carne before Guides for me

Wednesday - excitingly I've been nominated for a Jack Petchey for my work as a Guide leader so we'll be at the presentation on Wednesday night. I will retrieve a couple of tupperwares for a freezer surprise dinner in advance.

Thursday - I'm at Brownies, but I think we've got a pizza in the freezer

Friday - Now I know it's St Valentine's, but it's my birthday on Saturday which far eclipses that. Plus we celebrated on St Dwynwen's back at the end of January, well we swapped gifts as we were up to our eyes in lining paper that weekend. I quite fancy curry at the moment so I might make a chicken and spinach curry and have that with some naan bread and dhaal. Curry was the first thing I ever made M.

Saturday - as it's my birthday we're going out for a family lunch at the potential venue for the wedding reception to sample the menu. I've also kindly been sent a bottle of non-alcoholic fizz to celebrate with.

Sunday - I have a small brisket stashed in the freezer, so I might treat us to roast beef again. So soon!

That's us. Busy again, but getting through the week in a haze of freezer surprise, and peanut butter kitkats (just me?)

Meal Planning Monday: for M, with love

This week I'm working away again. Well if this storm that's forecast lets me travel that is. The meal plan is a very M friendly one as it doesn't require too much of him. Don't get me wrong, M can cook - but, he prefers not to. To paraphrase - he'd rather take tablets at an appropriate time than bother to cook. Food is purely fuel for him, and it's only when I'm cooking that he really enjoys it.

Breakfasts - cereal and toast for M. Fruit and yoghurt for me.

Lunches - sandwiches, crisps, cheese and a cereal bar for M. Cup-a-soup (or similar) for me. I'll have fruit throughout the day, M and his colleagues will have the chocolate traybake I made and iced yesterday.

Supper -

Monday: I'll have my sandwich evening. M has leftover beef curry, rice and flatbread.

Tuesday: I'll probably investigate a Pizza express or similar. M has more leftover curry with rice.

Wednesday: I'll give in and eat in the hotel. M has lentil ragu from the freezer, with pasta and grated cheese

Thursday: I'm home! Well, sort of. I'm popping up to see my sister and nephew.

Friday: Something from the freezer :vague: possibly some of the leftover rice I've been making

Saturday: We have M's parents with us for the weekend, so a roast chicken with all the trimmings

Sunday: Parsnip and bacon pasta - see post later this week

That's our week - next week I'm going to make a beetroot cake, and hopefully we'll have a more interesting one - this is deliberately thrifty and apologies about it being a bit dull. Hopefully someone over at At home with Mrs M will have some more interesting cooking going on!

Here the goose is cooked: Quick and easy chicken curry

Apologies for the state of the bowl, I only noticed after I had finished eating. That's what a meetings tastic Monday will do to you readers. Avoid!

Goose? Chicken? It's all poultry, and I was really struggling with lyrics involving chicken. Well no one writes a musical about roast dinners do they?

So, another episode of my series 101 ways with chicken. Leftover chicken curry. Much like most of these recipes this can be done with fresh chicken, but these days I just find the cost of that prohibitive, so chicken dishes only come around when there is leftover to be used up.

This is another dish with fond memories, my Dad introduced me to it years back (I'm sure somewhere along the line it came from a recipe book, but it could be entirely invented) and I must say everytime I cook it I think back to his love of cooking. Very much a seasoned cook, prone to just chucking things in, it was his confidence that rubbed off on me after university and encouraged me to be more creative.

So, quick and easy chicken curry

Splash of flavourless oil
Garlic, chilli and ginger to taste
2 onions, finely diced
4 or 5 tomatoes chopped
1 tsp garam massala
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Shredded or chopped leftover roast chicken - about 200g
Bag of spinach or a good head of spring greens - shred the greens
100ml of double cream
150ml of water

Naan/ rice to serve

First off, shred your greens (if you're using bagged spinach skip this step) and put them in a colander. Pour a kettleful of water over them to start the wilting process.
Using a big pan, heat the oil with garlic chilli and ginger, I use a couple of red chillis, about a thumb sized piece of ginger, grated and 2 or 3 cloves of crushed garlic - but that's just to suit our taste buds, if you like spicy curry - go for it.
When this is sizzling add your onions and cook slowly until they're really soft (at least 10 minutes)
Add the chopped tomatoes and continue to cook down until they go pulpy
Add your spices and cook out their rawness for at least a couple of minutes
Put the chicken in the pan and continue to cook until it's heated through(if you're using raw chicken, cook this for about 8 minutes or until it's cooked through)
Add the cream and allow the heat to let this down and make a creamy sauce. Add the water to let it down further, and stir in your (wilted) greens
Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary

All in all if using leftover cooked chicken this takes about half an hour to forty minutes. This quantity serves four, but you could bulk it out by adding extra onions and greens.

This works brilliantly with Greek Yoghurt - the regular one, not the 0% fat, as it needs the stability the fat gives to it - instead of cream. Equally if I'm being really abstemious I just add a couple of tablespoons of cream and use vegetable stock to make up the rest of the liquid

I serve this with plain supermarket naan, wrapped up in baking parchment I've run briefly under the tap and scrunched up. It goes into a 180 degree oven for the time it takes the curry to cook - this makes lovely fluffy soft naan, as otherwise I find supermarket naan bread to be a little leathery.

Again if you want it to serve more, serve with rice as well.

Meal Planning Monday: A truncated week take 2?

Well last week was, what I think is called in the industry, a complete and utter unmitigated disaster! Those of you who follow me on Twitter will be aware that on Tuesday night I came down with a migraine, and pretty much as soon as I took my sumatriptan had a seizure, and then another one whilst still post ictal. This meant an admission to hospital and poor Mark had to take the lead on cooking.

So we're going to try and do better this week at Pantry HQ, I have rested all weekend, and apart from baking and some pottering, done very very little in a bid to boost my energy and general wellbeing.  I don't know if it's going to work, but I'm exercising, eating healthily and resting - what else can I do?! Answers on a postcard please.

Right, where was I? Oh yes, meal planning

Monday: Chicken and spinach curry (still to be blogged)

Tuesday: Well, Tuesday is my slightly belated birthday present (my fault, I just couldn't get organised - there's irony in there somewhere) so we're off for Afternoon tea at the Ritz, I suspect we won't need or want dinner.

Wednesday & Thursday - I re-embrace the joy that is a Beefeater.

Friday: I think I'm going to do my Fusion Taste Team challenge of Tom Yum rice that was ousted by an Indian takeaway that I nearly fell asleep in this week.

Saturday: We're out with friends

Sunday: We're at my Mum's so I'm hoping for her roast beef

I'm sticking with lots of raw foods, so salads and fruit at lunchtime, and yoghurt, fruit, grape nuts and raw honey for breakfast.

Oh and lots of satsuma and cardamom drizzle cake, and Iced buns to eat too! Oops...

Meal Planning Monday: A place to lay my head

Well it's good that my first week has gone well. Not so good that so much new information and learning to take in has meant that I'm exhausted and sleeping when I should be cooking and blogging. This is the first time in a while I've only managed one post in a week. That said, last week's meal plan went largely to, well, to plan really. At times of chaos is when I think they come into their own really, meaning that I don't have to think, to do extra shopping or even contemplate a takeaway. Although I did, seriously consider a pizza on Wednesday, but I knew that there were the delights of something in tupperware waiting for me in the fridge.

This week, now today is done, should be easier as I'm mainly London based, although I'm anticipating the tiredness from taking in so much new information will still continue. I've also got what I suspect are the beginnings of a sinus infection so am doing my damdest to keep that in check with a small case of fruit overload.

Anyway, so this week's meal plan... I'm still waiting on my first payday so the freezer is still my shopping trolley.

Monday: leftover chicken curry with brown basmati rice. This is my Dad's recipe and I really must blog it soon, I've been cooking it for years and it seriously never fails.

Tuesday: Salmon and greens (pointed cabbage this time) - an attempt to bludgeon the oncoming infection with garlic, chilli and ginger.

Wednesday: Leftovers for me, for M, sausages and wedges

Thursday: Some kind of salad I think. With griddled courgettes, mint from the plant I'm reviving and maybe some feta

Friday: If I'm back from work in time, then maybe some steak? It's something I rarely cook but we had some at a friend's barbecue this weekend and I really enjoyed it. Hopefully the butcher has something tasty in.

That all goes with fruit and yoghurt for breakfast and either fruit or salad for lunch. Yes, I'm still eating healthily, although I'm letting myself have the odd treat.

Make sure you head over to At home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to this week.