Meal Planning Monday: It's the final countdown...

If you're my age, I know without a doubt that you're now singing along. But it is, 5 days to go people. Five days until we move into Sin, I mean *cough* East Barnet. Together. I should just reassure you of my normalcy and point out I have lived with someone before, but it's been a while and quite frankly he wasn't M. And that's why this is so exciting, we're doing this together, working together and learning to comprimise and share, together. I can share, obviously - but a few years of being able to be relatively selfish have meant that comprimise isn't always my go-to behaviour. And whereas in the past I've allowed people to walk all over me, I don't do that anymore. So it's all new, all scary in the world of Penelope and her Pantry right now.

I'm sat here today, picking at a bowl of grapes and trying to work out what to write, Accu Broadway is on in the background, courtesy of some technical contraption that I can't work, but am growing to adore owing to the fact that it's pre-programmed to the aforementioned internet radio station because I love it. And much like I try to teach and support my Brownies to understand, it's all about thinking about another person before yourself. There's also a car shaped balloon in my peripheral vision (well in the bit of it that still works).

Anyway, so this week's meanderings, seemingly devoid of exclamation marks and excited ramblings still lead on to a meal plan. Quite a clever meal plan, deliberately planned and chosen to make for an easy week. Bin bags and boxes litter the flat, tension headaches are popping up more than I'd like. The wheely bin is filling up fast, as is the box for the Charity shop. Cancer Research, I might not have been able to fit in a Race for Life this year, but have half my belongings. I haven't tackled my under bed storage yet, but the kitchen is on it's way to being done, and I even threw away a bin bag full of old Guide resources that I'm relatively sure I won't need again. The point of this ramble is that I need an easy week. I need to know that supper isn't far away - that I can grap and pack.

Breakfasts: I'm still resolutely on the yoghurt and grape nuts (Sainsbury's don't seem to do their own version of Muller lights. Sad times Sainsburys) with a banana and the ubiquitous tea. M is finishing up cereal left right and centre.

Lunches: Tuna pasta salad at the start of the week - with sweetcorn, peas, peppers, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. Instead of a dressing I add some of the chipotle tabasco that I was proferred at a tube station recently. It's really good, a quick of heat, tempered with a smokey sweetness that I really like. Towards the end of the week, it'll be nasi goreng - which for me, ends up as a similar concoction that's a kind of, sort of brown rice salad, with leftover roast chicken, tofu and egg. It's dressed with soy and has the punchy flavours of chilli garlic and ginger. It's lovely hot as well as cold.

Dinners: Today we're having Roast chicken with all the trimmings, so it's a week of One Chicken Many Ways

Monday: Leftover roast chicken, stuffing, with vegetables. I'll do a baked potato for M

Tuesday: I'm taking the Guides swimming so will probably strip the chicken and make the nasi goreng earlier that day.

Wednesday: Leftover nasi goreng

Thursday: Sausages, baked sweet potato with philly light mixed into the middle, and vegetables. (I'm not being coy with the vegetables, I'm just not sure what'll be in the veg box this week)

Friday: Well Friday night I'm going to cook the pulled pork for the weekend, to keep tummies full and minds on moving, so I'm not sure at the moment. Not sure at all.

Saturday: Pulled pork, soft white rolls and coleslaw. With buckets of tea on the side. If anyone wants to volunteer muscle they are more than welcome.

Hopefully this week means that after today all I need out is my big wok type pan, and a roasting tin. Everything apart from 2 plates, knives and forks can all be packed away. Well that's the plan. Plans are good, plans work, plans stop me feeling quite so chaotic and disorganised. Even if I am. Chaotic and disorganised.

Make sure you pop over to At Home with Mrs M to see what the less chaotic and disorganised meal planners are all up to this week.

Meal planning Wednesday: The midweek edition

You may have noticed that it's not Monday, and I'm not trying to sidle in late to Meal Planning Monday with a note from my Mum. It's midweek, and I'm proudly only just doing my meal plan.

Wednesday: Nasi Goreng
Thursday: Fridge bottom soup (swede, parsnip, carrot and celery) with Herman bread
Friday: Is it cheating to say leftover soup & Nasi Goreng?
Saturday: Bratwurst, baked potatoes and red cabbage
Sunday: Chicken and leek pie

Baking: A Herman, and a beetroot chocolate cake

Lunches this week have been mainly fruit based, but once I've made the soup, it'll be that in my new flask.

My main reason for lateness is that I've been teaching in Kent this week, and I'm disorganised, and seem to be suffering with some kind of permanently full up and slightly nauseous thing. Anyway, the Riverford veg box arrived today and I made good use of it, and a leftover sauce from my Fusion Foods challenge in a protein and veg rich Nasi Goreng.

Nasi Goreng

1 cup brown, basmati rice. Cooked
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Dried galangal to taste
1 red chilli, chopped
250g chicken
100g cooked prawns
1 cup edamame beans
1 cup sweetcorn
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 jar WorldFoods Fusion nasi goreng sauce

Heat up the oil in a large pan or wok and add the spices, cooking until they sizzle
Add the chicken and cook until browned
Add the vegetables and stir fry until lightly cooked
Stir the sauce through
Add the cooked rice and stir until combined
Serve, on the sofa, in a bowl, with a large glass of water, wearing pyjamas.

Nasi Goreng: add your own showtune here...

It's that time of year again when our thoughts turn to new shoes, a new pencil case, and of course - what to put in our packed lunch box. For me when I was at school it was always sandwiches - peanut butter and banana were my favourite - and one of my best friends Liz, taught me well that you add the banana at lunchtime so it's not brown! These days I really struggle with sandwiches - Mark has them every day, and when I try I just find them dull. As an alternative I tend to go for salads in the summer (this week, pea shoots, feta, prawn, tomato and sprouted seeds - also known as everything that was reduced in Sainsburys).

In the colder months, I have a lot of homemade soups, sometimes with homemade bread (when I'm watching what I eat, without), also leftovers. Now these aren't practical for a child's lunchbox unless you have a thermos - Lakeland do some pricy, but wide necked ones that I think would be amazing for my lunches, actually I look at them and think about ordering every time. There has to be a cheaper alternative for kids out there and I'll keep my eyes peeled.

With my lunch I have fruit - a lot of fruit, this week it's black grapes, plums, a banana and an apple and normally a Nakd bar. This allows me to graze throughout the day at work, which works for me if I don't have time for a proper lunch break. Mark has crisps, a sausage roll, peice of cheese, cereal bar, a banana and some dried fruit. We're quite different, but it's what suits us best.

 This week, I'm having a Pantry take on Nasi goreng - an Indonesian rice salad. Unusually for me,  I'm straying into the realms of cooking with tofu for the first time. Now, I had most of the base ingredients in my fridge and pantry, but had to buy the tofu, and edamame beans. However the amount of lunches this has made is extraordinary. There's definitely enough for the rest of the week, and I'll portion out the rest in the freezer for next week too. You could serve this hot - in a thermos or if your office has a microwave, or eat it cold as a rice salad.

 Penelope's Pantry does Nasi Goreng

Light olive oil
2 cups of brown basmati rice - cooked and cooled
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp lazy chilli
2 thumb size peices of ginger grated
4 spring onions finely chopped (all the way up - use the green parts too)
1 cup of chopped red pepper
1 cup of edamame beans (I used frozen)
1 cup of sweetcorn (again I used frozen)
200g tofu (I used smoked) finely chopped
2 eggs beaten
3 tablespoons of soy sauce

Cook the rice in double the volume of boiling water (I use Delia's infallible absorbtion method) and leave to cool down.
Heat up some olive oil in a big wok or large pan, and when it's hot, add the spring onions, garlic, chilli and ginger. Cook through until this mix becomes aromatic - stirring all the while
Add the rice, and stir through so that the base ingredients aren't stuck on the bottom of the pan, but are mixed through (this way your garlic won't burn and go bitter)
Add the pepper, edamame beans, sweetcorn and tofu and cook through, stirring for about 5 minutes
Make a well in the middle of your pan and add your beaten eggs. Stir them so that they scramble and then mix through the rest of the rice
Cook through for another couple of minutes and then add the soy sauce.

Now I've tasted this and feel it's missing something - thinking back to my Lifechanging soup (TM) I think it's the sourness that it needs an edge - a friend has recommended adding a tablespoon of the pickling vinegar from a jar of pickled veg. I don't have any in, so will go without but would add that as a change for next time.

I think it's worth mentioning that traditionally Nasi Goreng would have chicken and prawns added, but costs at the moment mean I'm reducing my meat intake again. The tofu worked out far cheaper for the quantity that this made. Whilst the eggs make this unsuitable for vegans, those could easily be left out, and if you're a hardened carnivore or pescatarian again, amend it to suit you.
So that's my packed lunches sorted for the forseeable. A tasty, veggie alternative to sandwiches.