Meal Planning Monday

Hello, I'm back to normal at home this week and looking forward to what will hopefully be less dramatic weather wise and far superior food wise.

The cold weather has meant that it truly is porridge time for breakfasts - with apple butter at the moment. More on this in another post though.

Lunches are the leftover rice I was talking about here

Suppers - well we're having roast with M's parents on Saturday, so it's a one chicken many ways week. Much to M's disappointment I'm not going to do pie, but risotto on Monday night. I'm going to do stock in the slow cooker overnight on Sunday and use that to make a squash soup for the freezer.

Monday: Risotto

Tuesday: Leftover risotto

Wednesday: Lentil ragu

Thursday: Sausages and roasted veggies

Friday: Point and pray

Saturday: is the Guide sleepover, so probably something bolognaise esque

Sunday: I should be home early afternoon so I think lasagne

Cake this week is a chocolate beetroot cake as it's a quick and easy one for me to knock up.

That's eat for us this week - don't forget to hop on over to At home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to

A wondrous weekend: the Guides do Harry Potter

Source

We try to take the Guides away twice a year; once indoors in the winter, once outdoors in the summer. This weekend heralds our annual winter trip, excitingly in a new venue. Much planning has been done, crafts purchased, activities planned and voted for. The girls are excited, and spent yesterday evening painting room signs appropriate to the theme.

As QM (QuarterMaster - basically cook) I'll be doing the cooking over the weekend with the help of the Guides of course. The girls voted on the menu and the online shop has been done.

Friday night supper: Chicken or veggie Fajitas, wedges, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks. Grated cheese, guacamole and lettuce to go with. Pudding is my snickerdoodle blondies with icecream or squirty cream

 

Friday bedtime: Hot chocolate

 

Saturday breakfast: Cereal, fruit juice, eggy bread (woohoo!) bacon/ turkey bacon, tea, bread and marmalade/ jam if still hungry

 

Elevenses: Fruit - apples, bananas, grapes, satsumas and Squash

 

Saturday lunchtime: Roast chicken, roast potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, yorkshire puddings, gravy. Nigella's chocolate cake baked in trays for pudding

 

Threesies (it's a legitimate meal): Biscuit and squash

 

Saturday teatime: Soft rolls with leftover roast chicken, tuna, ham, or cheese, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks and lettuce. Pudding will be what we bake in the morning during our Potions class (see back next week for pictures and recipes)

 

Saturday bedtime: Hot chocolate

 

Sunday breakfast: Cereal, fruit juice, Jennifer's special pancakes, bread and marmalade/ jam if still hungry, tea

 

Elevenses: Fruit and squash

 

Sunday lunchtime: Sausages/ veggie sausages, baked potatoes, beans, veg, gravy. Pudding ice cream sundaes

All of this will be interspersed with vats of tea for the grown ups and lots of running around for the girls. See you on the other side!

Remembrance sleepover, batch cooked bolognaise

This weekend heralds Fourth Friern Barnet Guides annual Remembrance Sunday sleepover, seventeen girls and all 4 leaders will be parading on Sunday as part of the local Remembrance service. As I type I imagine (hope) neckers and t-shirts are being ironed, extra layers for under uniform being packed, school shoes being cleaned. And that's just me. 

As the girls are willingly giving up their Sunday to participate in something important, we have a sleepover the night before - we're combining our Confectioners badge with giant jenga, the chocolate game, and making poppy brooches. 

Tomorrow we'll be bag packing in our local Tesco to raise some much needed funds for the unit - we're in desperately in need of our own, lightweight Patrol tents, and other things like new baking equipment, sewing kits and some camp uniform as well as subsiding tickets for Wellies and Wristbands next year. We're hoping that bag packing will help us towards those targets, and we'll also be using the day as as opportunity to raise awareness of Guiding in the local area and with any luck, recruit some new Adult leaders. 

If you've got people being that busy then obviously you're going to need to feed them. We had a Guide chat with the girls on Tuesday and pasta seemed to be the general consensus - most are having it with a traditional bolognaise, some with a vegetarian version of the same, and a couple will have theirs with cheese and butter, but supplement that with carrot & cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes. 

This meant, that while running a temperature and fighting off a fluey bug I found myself in Asda this afternoon with a list, a trolley and a single minded ambition to get the food for the sleepover sorted. 

In case you're wondering, to make Spaghetti sauces for twenty one people, your shopping list looks like this:

8 tins chopped tomatoes
8 cloves garlic
4 onions
1 large box (750g) mushrooms
12 peppers
12 carrots
Half a butternut squash
1 parsnip
Tomato puree
Oregano
Marmite
2 kg lean minced beef

Vegetarian Bolognaise

Dice 4 carrots, half a butternut squash, parsnip, 4 peppers and about 250g of mushrooms
Blitz 1 onion, 2 sticks of celery and 2 cloves of garlic in a food processor
Add oil to a large pan and heat up gently
Add the onion, celery and garlic and cook gently for about 15 minutes
Add the carrots, butternut squash and parsnip with a splash of water
Put a lid on the pan and let the veggies steam for about 10 minutes
Add the rest of the veggies, stir in and let cook down for 5 - 10 minutes (until the mushrooms start to colour)
Add 2 tins of tomatoes a large sprinkling of dried oregano, a tablespoon of tomato puree and a tsp of marmite
Leave over a low heat for about half an hour until most of the liquid has reduced

After this, I've put the sauce in a large foil tray, let it cool and will reheat in the oven tomorrow. I wouldn't usually use root veg in a bolognaise type sauce, but courgettes and aubergine are out of season and we work on a budget of £5 per head per day for food. The sauce I made today works out at £0.88 per head £18.49 in total. If you add the cost of the pasta in, it's £1.02 per head.

Bolognaise

Split the mince into 4 portions - for each portion, use the following quantities

Blitz 1 onion, 2 sticks of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 peppers, 2 carrots and 100g of mushrooms
Cook down until softened
Add mince and cook through until browned
Add 2 tins of tomatoes, a large splodge of tomato puree and a teaspoon of marmite
Add a large sprinkle of oregano
Cook down until the sauce is thickened and the liquid reduced - for about half an hour or so

I did this 4 times, and working on the basis that one portion of that does 4-6 adult portions, I figure that we should easily accommodate 17 hungry guides and 4 hungry leaders. Please god let it, as there's now nothing else in my cupboards! 

And after all that... what did I end up having for my supper? You've guessed it

And if you've ever wanted to know what the shopping for 21 people for a 24 hour sleepover looks like...

Meal Planning Monday: Betwixt and between

This week is neither one thing nor the other in the Pantry. I have a four day week (Hurrah!), but am going off to Guide camp at the end of it, so need to fit in some serious baking on my down time. I'm not teaching as I was going to be down in Poole. I haven't done a food shop. And I have fruit coming out of my ears. It's all a bit disorganised really, and means that my normal tidy and calm front has slipped somewhat.

However, you do get a double whammy in the form of this Meal Planning Monday post - not just my meal plan, but the meal plan of my Guides for Guide camp this weekend. Ever wondered what your daughter eats on camp? The sort of meals you can make over an open fire? Well here you have it, the girl led, cooked on an open fire, £3 per head per day menu *drum roll*

So, this week - yes. Right. OK. Erm... ???

Breakfasts: Yoghurt and a banana for me, cereal and toast for M

Lunch: Sarnies, sausage rolls, cheese, cereal bars for M. Fruit, veggies and houmous for me. Soup if it's cold.

Dinners:

Monday: Chilli con carne with brown basmati rice

Tuesday: I'm at Guides so freezer surprise for M

Wednesday: Those chicken kievs I mentioned before, with veggies

Thursday: Brownies and Welsh for us, so soup for me

Friday: I'm at camp so will leave something for M (another freezer surprise I expect, shhh don't telll him)

Camp Menu - in case you're interested (as voted for by Fourth Friern Barnet Guides) is:

Friday supper: Sausages in buns/ Hot chocolate before bed

Saturday breakfast: Eggy bread and bacon/ turkey bacon, cereals, bread and jam/ peanut butter/ chocolate spread/ fruit. Fruit juice & tea to drink

Elevenses: Squash and fruit (apples, bananas, satsumas)

Lunch: Soft rolls with ham, cheese, tuna, salady vegetables (carrot, pepper, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, lettuce), crisps, cuppa soups if it's cold, with squash to drink. Fruit and cake for pudding

Threesies (yes it's a legitimate meal): Squash and cake

Dinner: Chicken/ veg fajitas, with more veg. Angel delight with added extras (chocolate buttons, toffee peices/ banana) or fruit/ cake, with squash to drink

Supper: Hot chocolate and cake

Sunday breakfast: Sausage sandwiches, cereals, bread and jam/ peanut butter/ chocolate spread, fruit. Fruit juice and tea

Elevenses: Squash and cake

Sunday lunch: as Saturday lunch

No one EVER goes hungry on Guide camp! It's the first rule. There's always a big bowl of fruit and big jugs of water/ squash on the table in the mess tent and the girls are allowed to help themselves from at any time. If they're ever cold or hungry they know to come and find us and hot drinks and cake will be dispensed.

Cake is a big feature of Guide camp. It's in the main home-made, and is a quick way of keeping the girls going. They burn up energy like nobody's business, and eating regularly is the best way to keep them going and (my priority) keep them warm.

I'm planning on making three tray bakes: Peanut butter and jam bars, old fashioned gingerbread with lemon icing, and apple cake with a streusel topping. I'll blog the gingerbread on my return - this week, there's no chance I'll have time!

Silent Sunday