Meal Planning Monday - A healthy start in February

Last week was a bit of a disaster on the Slimming World front - although I've not been weighed yet - but a combination of a few things just meant that the plan went out of the window. Today is a fresh start and to help, I've really focussed on some new recipes that are all free food. I'll be writing everything down to help me stick to my guns.

Harry has started having supper on the next step of his weaning journey, so we're now up to three meals which is very exciting. He's still getting nearly all of his calories from milk and seems to be doing very well. New flavours recently have included fruit bread, melon, rusk, plums, rhubarb, and cauliflower - all of which have gone down a storm.

Breakfast - porridge for me, with ginger, cinnamon, apple and banana and for Harry with a little of mixed spice and mashed banana. Alternatively scrambled eggs and mushrooms.

Lunches - we're sticking with soup, split pea for me.

Supper -

Monday - We've been visiting family so will be late home

Tuesday - Chicken and cauliflower 'rice' stuffed butternut squash

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - Spanish chicken and cauliflower 'rice' (can you tell I got some caulifowers cheaply)

Friday - Pasta and meatballs with tomato sauce

Saturday - Sausages, baked potatoes and veggies

Sunday - Roast chicken (or whatever meat is on special)

Not too tricky a week - provided they're not dire, and I can get them photographed I'll blog them as I'm quite excited about their newnes.

That's us this week - be sure to pop on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to. I'll make sure to link up. 

Meal planning Monday: the spring edition

I'm sure that should mean there should be pictures of lambs, and grass and things, but we're sadly lacking in those in Barnet, so the normal badge will have to do. 

Last week was a fantastic week (not so much in the Pantry, but what can you do) topped off by a visit to Leith's cookery school on Wednesday for an Extra Special Easter evening with Asda. Lots of fun first making our dinner, and then eating it. Look out for a post tomorrow with a giveaway of a hamper of Asda Extra Special goodies. 

The weekend went a bit haywire and plans down the drain, but in good news my Mum can now use her laptop which hopefully means she might pop by a bit more often, and in better news M really helped out cleaning the flat. I've still lost a knitting needle though. Just the one! So Mandy's baby blanket is on hold until I can get some new ones. 

This week is a quieter week  only one hospital trip is planned - for physio, and the Guides and Brownies break up for Easter. I'm re-starting my Couch to 5km programme (thank you NHS) and hopefully - headaches permitting - will get to the swimming pool for a splash. 

On the health front, my headaches have been really bad, both last week and over the weekend, which again has led to the dearth of posts. I've had my nerve blocker injections and hopefully they should kick in soon as I have lots of things I want to bake and blog. 

Anyway, this week's meal plan:

Breakfasts: I'm sticking with the 0% fat greek yoghurt, with either fresh or frozen fruit, and a sprinkle of flaxseeds

Lunches: Sainsbury's Moroccan houmous, with carrot sticks, celery, tomatoes and peppers. And some cheese if I'm still hungry

Baking: I've still not made the simnel cake, so that. And also maybe a satsuma and cardamom drizzle cake 

Dinners:

Monday: Roasted squash, peppers, fennel and leeks, with chorizo, garlic and olive oil. Served with rocket as a warm salad for me, and with pasta for M. If this is as nice as I hope, I'll blog it as a midweek dinner. 

Tuesday: Cauliflower cheese, with chorizo and tomatoes. I'll probably portion off M's and do it as a caulimacaroni affair.

Wednesday: Roast chicken with veggies and roast potatoes

Thursday: Leftover chicken with veg and baked potatoes

Friday: More leftover chicken, in a risotto

I'm actually not sure what we're up to this weekend, but I'll be making stock out of the chicken carcass as I'm out of homemade stock at the moment.

Be sure to pop over to At Home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to

A quiet night at home

So last night heralded just that (thank you Bare: A Pop Opera) and at one point I was juggling 3 pans on the stove, all cooking different things. The big project of the night was a Malay Lamb curry, which I know I had promised for this post, but that'll be the next one as I've been bribed with roast chicken courtesy of my flatmate tonight. I've seen the amount of roast potatoes being cooked and I'm the nearest to gleeful I've been in ages.

I was specifically after comfort food last night. Mum had suggested mashed potato, or something I could just throw in the oven - come on down M&S chicken tikka masala, the stage is yours. But no longer having a local M&S and being by nature distrustful of ready meals I'm not familiar with. Walking around Sainsburys (hellish on a Saturday, so why I inflicted that on my slightly fragile self, I don't know) nothing caught my eye until a sudden decision that caulifower cheese was the way forwards.

Now, regular readers will be aware that I am loathful/ loathsome of cheese sauce in anyform other that in a lasagne. I refuse to go near it, after a traumatic incident involving a tummy bug and a plateful of macaroni cheese as a child. Not good. In fact it's up there with aubergines on the most hated list. However, I've mainly been eating hot cross buns this week, and can't honestly say I've gone near my veggie tray so the inclusion of cauliflower alone was a step forward.

After the success of my much loved (yes I have realised that I blogged it twice in three months. My bad) Waitrose chilli, and not finding any inspiration in my cookbooks, I turned to the Waitrose recipe database for some inspiration. I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach a runny cheese sauce so originally intended to go with what I use for a lasagne. As it was, this recipe (which I halved quantities of and have half of that still in the fridge) was on the mark.

Waitrose Cauliflower Cheese



Serves: 3 to 4
Ingredients
1 large, creamy-white cauliflower, trimmed and broken into florets
25g butter
25g plain flour
568ml carton Waitrose Whole Milk
150g Keen's West Country Farmhouse Unpasteurised Cheddar, grated
2 tbsp crème fraîche or double cream (optional, but a mighty improvement)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard, or a little less of English mustard
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
25g fine fresh white breadcrumbs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


Method
1.Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Cook the cauliflower in boiling salted water until just tender - 5-6 minutes but no more. (Don't underdo it either - crunchy, al dente cauliflower is not right for this dish.) Drain thoroughly. Grease the sides and edges of an ovenproof dish that is large enough to take the cauliflower in a closely-packed single layer, then tip the cauliflower in.
2.To make the sauce, melt the butter in a medium-sized pan. Spoon in the flour and stir for about 1 minute, without allowing it to brown. Remove from the heat and gradually beat in the milk, a few spoonfuls at a time at first, then increasing the flow as the sauce thins.
3.Return to the heat and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened and creamy. Stir frequently to prevent the sauce from catching on the base of the pan.
4.Remove from the heat and stir in three-quarters of the Cheddar with the crème fraîche or cream, and the mustard. Season with nutmeg, a little salt and lots of pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning, making sure that it is fairly punchy. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower.
5.Mix together the breadcrumbs and the remaining Cheddar, then sprinkle evenly over the cauliflower and sauce. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until browned and bubbling. Serve immediately.

My Notes:

I ommitted the creme fraiche/ double cream. I also used skimmed milk as I never have whole milk in the house.
I also just used uber strong cheddar, which was a case of whatever Sainsburys had on offer yesterday morning.
Mustard: I didn't have any mustard in the house, but had Colman's mustard powder (for salad dressing) in, so made up a dessert spoonful of that with water. Perfect
I tend to be quite heavy handed with pepper, I think this was a bonus.
Ham, I knew that just cauliflower and cheese wouldn't do it for me, so at the deli counter today had asked for a thick slice of the boiled ham they did, I folded this over and put the par-boiled cauliflower on top and then covered the lot in the cheese sauce and more grated cheese. This improved it massively in my opinion. I could eat plain cauliflower cheese as an accompaniment to roast beef I think or even roast chicken, but not just on it's own. One of my aims for this year is to learn how to cook my own ham, it's just so much nicer although this really was a good peice.

I cannot enthuse enough about how soothing and comforting this dish is. Eaten from my lap with a cat curled up next to me, it really did hit the spot. Not fussy or demanding much of me (which cannot be said of the curry) it kept me occupied while making the cheese sauce, and then gave me half an hour for a hot bubble bath while it baked.

Slightly melancholy, but an apt exerpt from the song title of the post.

Ships and Princes all gone home
Alone again. Again alone
A quiet night at home
With thoughts of wine
A quiet night at home
Spent getting by

And next time I promise. Malay Lamb curry. Guides honour.