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. 

SaveSave

Meal Planning Monday: 23rd March 2016

In a hitherto unheard of fit of organisation I'm typing this up on a Sunday afternoon sat in the garden. Harry is sleeping, I've done both the shopping list and meal plan and am now ready to head off to Aldi once the grumpy one awakes. 

This week is fairly normal - about a 7 on the hectic scale. I've got a bake sale at Guides on Tuesday to raise money for our local campsite so a couple of local Brownie units are coming for campfire fun and to spend their pocket money. 

I'm planning to bite the bullet and head back to Slimming World this week - I'm just feeling a bit bleurgh and suspect eating fewer fruit and veggies and much much more chocolate is to blame. Plus I didn't fit into my size 14 jeans that I wanted to wear for Blogcamp yesterday. 

Onto the meal plan. 

Breakfasts - baked porridge/ overnight oats. I picked up some reduced raspberries in Waitrose on Friday and Harry seems to have gone off blueberries (Shock. Horror!) so I'll use those up too. 

Lunches - couscous salad - with smoked salmon or leftover roast chicken. 

We're having a roast chicken tonight - mainly for the leftovers I must admit as I'm actually craving steak, but chicken goes so much further. 

Suppers: 

Monday - leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and carrots

Tuesday - Chicken, broad bean and mushroom risotto (my challenge is to get a decent picture of this!) 

Wednesday - Leftover risotto or Tomato, lentil and veg pasta sauce as I made an enormous batch last week and have portioned it up nicely in the freezer

Thursday - If we don't have it the night before the pasta. If we have the pasta then leftover sauce as a pasta bake I think

Friday - Pizza night! With sweet potato wedges and salad. 

Saturday - baked gammon with egg and syn free chips, peas and sweetcorn

Sunday - Roast something, either pork or beef, to give us leftovers for the week ahead. 

That all feels very organised. Especially for me of late, but I've taken up journalling/ planning in a big to help keep on top of the varying levels of chaos that make up our lives. Whilst I'm not particularly artistic, I am incredibly visual and a huge fan of colour and stickers to keep me focussed. 

That's us for this week - busy as always. You'll notice I'm not cooking too much for the freezer at the moment as the one we use for stocking up died a death a few weeks back and we can't really stretch to a new one at the moment. It doesn't seem to be affecting us too badly, but has made me much better at using up our leftovers rather than just chucking them in the freezer for another day. 

Have a good, healthy week all - and be sure to hop on over to Mrs M's linky to see what all our other planners are up to. 

Meal Planning Monday: 9th May 2016

It's been a few weeks since I last published a meal plan - we've all had variations on a sinusitis-y type bug and it hit me much harder than I'm used to. However, I'm back on form so am enjoying the cool of the early morning and tapping away whilst drinking tea.

And yes, you read that right - I can now tolerate tiny quantities of dairy. It seems I'm not producing enough lactase to manage some higher lactose products, but I've successfully got about halfway up the lactose ladder. I'm mainly still dairy free, save for those splashes of milk in my tea but am infinitely less concerned than I was about accidental consumption.

This week is a busy one for us (when isn't?)

Breakfasts: Overnight oats made with almond milk and fruit

Lunches: Coucous salad

Suppers:

Monday: I roasted a chicken yesterday, so we'll be having roast chicken, baked potatoes and lots of veggies

Tuesday: Leftover roast chicken and broad bean risotto

Wednesday: Leftover leftovers of the risotto

Thursday: I'm out for a ladies dinner at Church so M is having pizza

Friday: We have a pescatarian friend coming to stay - and M has requested courgetti spaghetti - I must remember to get the veggie version of parmesan in this week's shop.

Saturday: Baked fish, salad, and the Halloumi and sweet potato bake from the lovely BakingQueen74

Sunday: I haven't made fishcakes for Harry and I for ages - so I think I'll do those with potato wedges and lots of veggies/ salad

Baking wise - there's cake to be made for one of the ladies at my Friday class whose birthday it was yesterday, and I'd like to try making some low sugar, dairy and egg free gingerbread/ cinnamon biscuits for Harry.

Have a lovely week - hopefully at least some of the sunshine will stick with us. As always don't forget to hop on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what the other planners are all up to.

Meal Planning Monday - normal service is resumed

It's been a few weeks since I posted a meal plan - we had our first family holiday in Dorset, and then last week was just a bit of a blur. To top it all off, yesterday I had a massive allergic reaction to a bee sting and ended up in hospital. Today I'm resting up as I still feel a bit wobbly - that said, I have two dairy and egg free cakes to make and a batch of lactation cookies to bake for a friend who's new to breastfeeding.  Sorry, what did I say about resting?

We've got a quiet week this week, so I'm hoping to get right back on the Slimming World plan - I've been doing really well with my meals, but have been snacking or picking between times and definitely using all my syns if not going over. This week, my aim is to keep my syns low and really focus on what I'm eating.

Harry is doing beautifully - he's just starting to be really mobile, walking and climbing around and up everything! We are going to be childproofing in the evenings this week.

Breakfasts - I'll be back on overnight oats, with melon and apple.

Lunches - I need to make a low syn free lunch, probably my Spring veg orzotto

Dinners

Monday: Roast chicken, veggies and roast potatoes

Tuesday: Leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes, and veggies

Wednesday: Chicken and mushroom risotto

Thursday: Sausages, sweet potato wedges and sweetcorn

Friday: Pasta with a tomato and vegetable sauce

Saturday: (weather permitting) BBQ - and I'm thinking chicken kebabs with a lemony, garlicky, herby marinade

Sunday: Undecided as yet, but possibly roast chicken again

So that's us - an easy week. I feel a bit wiped out by yesterday still, so wanted to make it easy on myself. Be sure to pop on over to At Home with Mrs M and see what the other meal planners have up their sleeves.

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

The baby is nearly one. I mean... how in the name of God did that happen? This time last year he wasn't even here! I am befuddled. Confused. Bewildered. I've been someone's mummy for a year! Holy hell.

This week we have the loveliness that occurs when M takes some time off mideweek to spend at home, so we get a couple of extra family days.

Breakfasts - I'm having conceptual difficulties in remembering to make overnight oats the night before and Harry has started reacting quite strongly to eggs if I eat them too now. Porridge it is.

Lunches - Spicy pepper and tomato soup for me, Harry is having homemade fishfingers and veggies

Suppers -

Monday: Leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes, green beans, carrots and brocolli

Tuesday: Hoi sin Chicken, mushroom and brocolli with rice

Wednesday: Pulled pork, baked sweet potatoes and sweetcorn

Thursday: Leftover pork in burritos with peppers and rice

Friday: Sausages, baked potatoes and veggies

Saturday: Harry's birthday party so ham, chicken, bread, salad, strawberries, cake...

Sunday: Leftovers of above!

 That's our week - please note we're not mentioning Slimming World as I've eaten a large quantity of vegan chocolate ice cream today and weigh in tomrorow may not be happening!

Meal Planning Monday

We've planted up the veg patch this weekend - so although I'm expecting not to be able to move tomorrow we have veggies for the summer. And potatoes! All of which is very exciting, I just need to remember to water them now.

This week is as busy as ever - Guides, Brownies and an overnight camp at the weekend for me - M's getting ready for Les Mans next month and we're both battling against the sea of stuff that comes with the baby.

Breakfasts - I'm back on overnight oats for the most part, with the occaisional scrambled egg and mushrooms.

Lunches - This week I'm having syn free minestrone soup - Harry has it with most of the liquid drained out.

Suppers -

Monday: Leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli and stuffing

Tuesday: I'm on a chip walk with the Guides - M is having pizza

Wednesday: Bacon and butternut squash pasta

Thursday: Chicken, broccoli and mushroom stir fry with rice

Friday: Cottage pie

Baking this week was dairy free almond macaroons - recipe up later this week.

As always, don't forget to pop on over to At home with Mrs M to see what the other planners are up to. 

Meal Planning Monday - an easy week

I've had a few weeks off meal planning on the blog, it feels like 10 months of sleep deprication caught up with me and I metaphorically hit a wall. I felt like I could have slept for a 100 years, and was walking through treacle just trying to keep going. Last week, something shifted and that fog started to lift. I'm sure the weather helped. Anyway - back to meal planning. Some things don't change - money is still tight, and we're shopping carefully, making use of special offers.

Breakfasts - I'm having overnight oats, and piles of fruit. Harry has porridge, toast and a banana. Seriously, that baby can eat for England at breakfastime.

Lunches - Last week we had Syn free tabbouleh with salmon - Harry had his mixed up with a little olive oil, houmous or warm tomato puree to help it stick together.  The weather isn't quite what it was, so I'm going to make minestrone this week...

Suppers -

Monday: Mum very kindly gave us a bowl of beef casserole for supper last night. I had it with brocolli, M with pasta.

Tuesday: Leftover bacon and butternut squash pasta, the recipe for this is going up on the blog this week as it's awesome.

Wednesday: Schnitzel, homemade Slimming World friendly chips and veggies

Thursday: Roast chicken, roast potatoes and veggies

Friday: Leftover chicken, baked potatoes and veggies

Saturday: Stir fried chicken, brocooli and mushrooms with rice for M and more veggies for me.

Sunday: A fresh batch of Butternut squash and bacon pasta

So that's it, another week, planned late but planned nonetheless. Be sure to pop on over to At home with Mrs M and see what the other planners are up to.

Meal Planning Monday - our Aldi switch

My maternity leave (and pay) comes to an end at the end of this month. Truth be told, I'm not sure what the future holds, part-time positions at my level in my field are like gold dust. We have a lot to think about, but it's meaning a tightening of our belts. For a while, I've been doing our fruit and veg shopping at Aldi, making use of their Super 6, and planning our meals around it. However since Christmas 'Ive noticed our weekly, main shop creeping up. Even using My Supermarket I couldnt reduce it any more. So, Friday evening saw the three of us head to Aldi and in one fell swoop reduce our shopping bill by 33% - desite the fact that we bought meat, and randomly Swarfega (it's for M).  The only thing I couldnt get was my almond milk, and I can pick that up during the week.

It's half term this week, so there's no Hartbeeps or swimming, but there is Stay and Play on Monday which we're going to go to as Harry loved it last week. I think we'll try and organise an NCT meet up later in the week, and I'm excited to see my sister and nephew on Thursday. I think it's Thursday anyway.

Breakfasts - porridge with cinammon, ginger, apple and blueberries for me. Porridge fingers, fruit toast or a bagel for Harry

Lunches - I need to make a new batch of split pea and veg soup so that I can have something hot at lunchtime. I made Harry sweet potato and salmon fishcakes last week, and some chicken and veg casserole - baby portions of which I froze and he can have for lunches this week.

Dinners -

Monday - Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Sausages, baked potatoes and beans

Wednesday: Freezer surprise (bolognaise I think)

Thursday: Gammon and wedges - is it bad that I really want pineapple on mine?

Friday:Breakfast for tea

Saturday:I think a casserole of some sort - perhaps my chicken, butternut squash and leek (let's see if I can make it Slimming World friendly)

Sunday: Leftover casserole

That's our week, 33% cheaper, and looking hardly any different... Have you had to trade down for your shopping? What are your money saving tips?

As always be sure to head on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to.

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: So near and yet so far

In my first trimester I couldn't imagine being more tired. I could sleep anywhere: tubes, trains, buses, Brownie pack holiday... the list could go on. It's slightly ironic that at week 32 a combination of stress and utter exhaustion combined with 3am insomnia are wiping me out now - let's not even consider what bump has in store for me when they arrive. One of the things I've always been conscious of is the balance of living my life as I want to with having chronic conditions, and now I'm balancing both of those things alongisde a pregnancy.

Last week was an insanely easy week in the kitchen, that if you don't know me, might prompt you to question my validity as a foodie. The next couple of weeks won't be, can't be much different as I'm concentrating on completing everything I need to do at work, trying to help M finish the nursery alongside absolute exhaustion, and an unhealthy dose of stress.  I'm fighting the urge/ need to retire to bed for a few days and channelling my inner Dory.

So where are we this week? A good question indeed - to which the answer 'all over the place' is quite literally true: Birmingham, North London, Croydon, Poole, NCT, Guides, Brownies and Archery - are just the tip of the iceberg! Next weekend we have M's parents visiting (if you hear sobbing, it's me trying to make the spare bedroom accessible as it's being used as our dumping ground since we started the nursery) and my favourite part of the week ahead is that I'm going to The making of Harry Potter!

Breakfasts: I've really got a taste for Weetabix of late, which is odd as I'm rarely a cereal person.

Lunches: I've still got that salad bug - with feta or halloumi depending on if I'm wfh or out and about.

Dinners: I'm roasting a chicken this afternoon which will make next week easier.

Monday: Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Chicken and mushroom risotto

Wednesday: Leftover risotto

Thursday: Pizza

Friday: Chicken kiev, homemade chips and veggies

I have baked today - Peanut butter and jam bars which will top up lunch boxes for us both.

I'm hoping for a bit more energy as the week goes on, but otherwise will just be trundling along.

Meal Planning Monday: It's the final countdown

(Please add in your own do do do dos)

It's so nearly here... I feel like I should be skipping around like one of my Brownies after a packet of Haribo. In actual fact I'm sat on a birthing ball in my pyjamas yawning and it's not even 8pm. Oh dear, this is clearly old age.

I've deliberately planned an easy week food wise, we've still got things to do to finalise getting ready as well as the fact that I'd like to spring clean the house before people start arriving at the end of the week.

Baking wise I'm going to knock up a lemon drizzle cake on Thursday, which will hopefully keep us all going.

Breakfasts: Still on granola, yoghurt and fruit.

Lunches: sandwiches mainly. On Friday when people are visiting we're going to have sausages in french bread, with cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks and cucumber. 

Dinners:

Monday: Leftover roast chicken, cheesy stuffed baked potatoes, kale, and carrots

Tuesday: Chicken and mushroom risotto

Wednesday: Leftover chicken and mushroom risotto

Thursday: Pizza, homemade wedges and crudites

Friday: I'm being taken out for dinner by a dear friend Jo on Friday night. M is going out for Thai with his friends. 

Saturday: Well I hear there's some kind of buffet going on (not that I've agonised over it or anything). With wedding cake for pudding.

Sunday: Pizza - the takeaway kind. My feet will be up, and I will be delegating to Mr Domino

That's us. A very exciting week, a very easy meal plan. See you on the other side :-)

Meal planning Monday

I have to say this week I'm writing this bathed in glorious sunshine, wearing pjs and drinking buckets of tea - this seems to make the whole process a bit more hopeful. We're on the final countdown to the wedding and although the logical part of my brain tells me we're really organised, the hormonal part tells me I should be in full blown panic mode.

A busyish week for us, although no Guides for me this week as I'm travelling back from a meeting on the South coast so don't think I'm going to make it in time. We're starting off with a roast today, although sadly it's not going to provide leftovers as the piece of beef I roasted yesterday is about a third of the size of normal. Just enough in fact to do 4 meals.

Breakfasts: I'm still firmly on the granola and knitted home made yoghurt bandwagon.

Lunches: Still no enthusiasm - so soup or a sarnie it is.

Dinners:

Sunday - leftover brisket with roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, veggies, yorkshire puds and gravy. Yum. 

Monday - I'm meeting one of my very best friends for an overdue catch up and squee over the upcoming nuptials. Food will be involved.

Tuesday - I've got some courgettes knocking around in the freezer so courgetti spaghetti is on the cards

Wednesday - Cottage pie with peas

Thursday - Leftover cottage pie

Friday - Homemade chicken kebabs - I use a variation on this recipe

Next weekend I think I'll do a roast chicken as I'm off in the run up to the wedding so it'll make for a nice straightforward week.

Have a good week - here's hoping this weather holds. What have you got on the meal plan?

Making your food go further - roast chicken 3 ways

This was our fabulous roast dinner on Sunday, free range chicken, crispy skin, eaten with roasties, stuffing, veggies and gravy. But what do you do after that first lovely meal?

For me, one of the best parts of a roast is the leftovers, and working out what to do with them. I'm clearly my mother's daughter in that the first night of leftovers always feature an oven baked potato, more veggies and pickles if we have them (I love pickles - throw me the cornichons and pickled onions and I'm a happy camper). I often tart the potatoes up, by after an hour in the oven, splitting them in half, scooping out the middle and mixing it up with boursin and a splash of milk before putting the filling back into the crispy skins and topping with some finely chopped leeks and cheddar. Another 20 minutes in the oven and you have fabulously yummy middles and my favourites the crispy skin and leeks.

Then we have the dilemma - I've probably at this stage got enough chicken left on the carcass for 4 more portions of a meal. Over the years I've come up with a few options for what to do at this stage, mostly developed with the unashamed aim of saving money and making my food go further.

M's favourite is my chicken and mushroom risotto although he and I have a soft spot for my chicken and sweet leek pie

With some judicious freezing, both of those recipes mean another 4 portions. If I'm feeling particularly on the ball I sometimes extend that even further by turning the carcass into stock and the stock straight into soup.

What are your favourite ways to make your food go further?

With thanks to Sainsbury's for the voucher that went towards our roast dinner.   

Meal Planning Monday: the wildly organised edition

Now of course, writing this does tempt fate hugely, but I do feel like I owe myself a little boast - it's Wednesday, 6pm and I've just done our meal plan and online shop for next week. Oh yes, I'm that organised.

I mentioned last week about the belt tightening that's going on to fund the wedding and the house redecoration - one of the things I've always done to help with this is to put our weekly shop through mysupermarket.com to make sure we go wherever is cheapest. However, try as I might I never seem to be able to make the total cost at the till come out the same as what I'd planned. Avoidance of temptation to 'just add' must be key, so this week I did the same and have pressed the button to checkout with Sainsburys.

This week is ours to get back to normal. Both Brownie and Guide terms kick off properly and M and I are both working around and about a fair bit.

Breakfasts: Either vanilla porridge or fruit toast or a smoothie for me.

Lunches: I've got the dhaal I made up the other week which is in the freezer happily waiting to be defrosted and heated up.

Dinners:

Saturday - Roast chicken, roast potatoes, stuffing and veggies

Sunday - Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes and veggies

Monday - Chicken and mushroom risotto

Tuesday - leftovers

Wednesday - M is eating elsewhere so fish and greens for me

Thursday - Brownie night so pizza from the freezer

Friday - A lazy night for me, the standby chicken kiev with sweet potato chips and veggies.

Nothing overly exciting, but a week that helps us to stay on budget and fed - what more could you ask for? If my brain reminds me, I'll be linking up with Mrs M over at At Home with Mrs M... be sure to pop over there for inspiration with other meal plans.

Meal planning Monday: New year new meal plan

Well, I'm sure the meal plan won't be that new, but it scanned nicely.

We're back in that period of the year that can only herald a frenzy of good intentions - no resolutions here but a commitment to being healthy.

Breakfasts - I keep telling myself I'll eat porridge, but I'd really gone off it of late - I have found a vanilla porridge recipe that seems to be working for me now though. I have a vague memory of a Jamie Oliver recipe that came out of a Sainsbury's magazine for some spiced stewed that I'm going to try to recreate too. I also have some apple butter that I think will work well too.

Lunches - we're on a bit (understatment) of an economy drive at the moment so I'm mainly eating leftovers and the rice bowls I made up and froze towards the end of last year.

Snacks - Russett apples and mini Babybels have got me through many a day of late and will continue to do so. I'm guessing it's the balance of protein and carbs that help me not get hungry, but they're definitely my snack of choice

Suppers - always the interesting bit...

Monday: M is away with his parents so I'm going to make muttar paneer and relish every pea.

Tuesday: Chorizo, bean and butternut squash chilli (I'll pop it in the slow cooker)

Wednesday: Leftover chilli

Thursday: Fish and greens with brown basmati rice, cooked in soy, chilli and ginger for me. The same for M but with chicken.

Friday: I'll have been in Leicester, so something quick and easy - maybe my not-so-secret love for chicken kiev with homemade sweet potato chips (the easiest things to make ever)

Saturday: I'll probably pop something in the slow cooker, either a brisket or a casserole to have with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. That way we can have leftovers on Sunday.

Sunday: Leftovers.

What's on your menu this week?

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

Meal Planning Monday - what goes here?

So yep, Meal Planning Monday. I've not meal planned or blogged for a while and wanted to get back on track. 

I don't know if I've mentioned *ahem* but I had my wisdom teeth out last week - I'd been having pretty much monthly infections so my dentist decided that enough was enough and I was popped on the list to have them out. I deliberately didn't google beforehand but am now beginning to wish I had as OMG the pain.Today (Friday) has been my first day back with tea in my life and dear God I'm so British, I missed it more than I missed eating solids!

I'm back at work next week so need a meal plan to keep my head on track. 

Breakfasts: I'm all about the summer porridge at the moment. I've pulled the recipe from various places on line, so make mine with:

1/4 cup oats
1/3 cup skimmed milk
1/4 cup Total Greek 0%
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp maca powder
1 tsp honey/ maple syrup

I then add pretty much whatever fruit I've got in - bananas, blueberries... anything really. I tried peanut butter but couldn't get it to mix in well.  

Lunches: I'm not sure yet - my go-to preference of crudites and houmous or houmous type things is a bit too difficult to crunch at the moment. Maybe I'll make some flatbreads and have them with the leftover chicken instead... did I mention my River Cottage Bread course? Watch this space!

Dinners: 

Monday: Roast chicken, new potatoes and vegetables/ salad

Tuesday: Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes and salad

Wednesday: Chicken and broad bean risotto

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: M's night... 

Saturday: We're at a working day for our campsite all day so I'm going to go off budget and suggest takeaway, maybe pizza

Sunday: We're going out for a belated anniversary dinner as this week it's been ruled out owing to the necessity I have for soft foods. 

Baking - I've just made vegan chocolate courgette brownies (with very un-vegan icing) as a belated birthday cake for M. Post should be up later this week. 

That's it for me, don't forget to pop on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to. 

Meal Planning Monday: the neverending winter edition

Just to be terribly British, but isn't the weather foul? It feels like it's been winter forever and I'm tired of being cold, of being wet and therefore miserable. I've also been grumpy for what seems like forever - I'm blaming it on a lack of vitamin D so hopefully once Spring, well, springs, things should improve. 

We've not got such a busy week as usual planned, the usual Welsh, archery, Brownies and Guides, but those aside... fairly quiet. Hopefully it'll help us stay on top of the housework, our sleep and health. 

Breakfasts: I've gone off poached eggs! The last two I had were tasteless and I really didn't enjoy them. So I'm back on porridge either until it warms up, or eggs seem more appealing. 

Lunches: I'm trying to eat lunch at the moment. Most typically my day is busy until about 4 when I finally stop and realise I've not eaten since about 6am, whereupon I become acutely awar I'm staaaarving and grab rubbish. I'm taking chopped carrot, cucumber and cherry tomatoes as I can eat them on the run. Mini babybel light also feature as do apples and satsumas. Hopefully this will help stave off the 4pm 'Must. Eat. Now' feeling.

Dinners: We had an epic roast tonight so most meals this week will be chicken based. 

Monday: Leftover chicken, baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and braised red cabbage.

Tuesday: Risotto (chicken stock is in the freezer)

I'll also strip the chicken on Tuesday and make stock out of the carcass. Any leftover meat will go into soup which will go into the freezer until next weekend. 

Wednesday: Leftover risotto

Thursday: Sausage hotpot (slow cooker)

Friday: Leftover hotpot

Saturday: Lasagne

Sunday: Leftover lasagne

All in all, not a bad week, lots of storecupboard staples being used up and using up of veg and things in the freezer. 

Seeing as I managed to remember to link up last week - I'll try and make it two in a row - pop on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what all the other meal planners are up to.