Meal Planning Monday: the heating's on

We caved last week - my summertime obsession about the baby overheating has switched (much like the weather) into an obsession about him being too cold. Which is hard when he wriggles his socks and hat off, and screams the house down if you try and shoehorn him into a cardi or jumper. Blankets and heating it is then.

Unsurprisingly there's another casserole in the oven as I type, and dumplings ready to be popped in before too much longer. This weather just seems to call for tender, slow cooked meat in rich winey gravies with lots of root veggies. Full marks to Aldi for their Super 6 this week being fantastic for said casserole.

The weaning is... shall we say interesting? Some days the baby rice stays down and seems to have the same effect on Harry's milk, on other days it doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference. I'm keeping on, and just hoping for the best.

Breakfasts - we're back on porridge, with chopped up banana

Lunches - I'm randomly trying to use up some halloumi that's languishing in the fridge so - griddled halloumi and houmous in pitta bread with carrot and cucumber sticks

Dinners -

Monday: Leftover beef casserole with mashed potatoes and broccoli

Tuesday: Courgetti spaghetti

Wednesday: Chilli con carne (freezer) with rice

Thursday: Chicken casserole with baked potatoes

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Pesto & pecorino salmon with sweet potato wedges and veggies

Sunday: Slow cooked beef brisket

Lots of comfy, cosy food for chillier evenings here. What goes on your menu when the weather changes?

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

Well I don't know what happened - there's been this big yellow shiny thing in the sky this week. I'm not sure what it is, but it's meant I've been able to relegate my collection of cardigans and tights in favour of maxi skirts & dresses. Does anyone have any ideas as to what this phenomenon may be?

Flippancy aside. For now at least. Another busy week in the pantry - I'm doing a fair bit of around and about-ing, and M is away for a couple of days (although I'm hoping to make the most of that and have put an order in for some more perfume and some amaretto - It's Jo Malone Nectarine blossom and honey if you're reading this M). As always I'll make the most of M's absence and eat fish :-) 

Breakfasts: Yoghurt, grape nuts and fruit - I'm out of rhubarb so it'll be apples for now.

Lunches: Salad, with salmon tomorrow and Tuesday - then possibly tuna later in the week

Dinners: 

Monday - home made smoked haddock fishcakes with broccoli

Tuesday -  Pantry pasta 

Wednesday - Risotto with bacon and mushrooms (I'm not sure if it'll work - but let's see)

Thursday - with any luck, leftovers

Friday - Pork fajitas

Saturday - I think we're out for Mum's and Noah's birthdays next weekend so I'm leaving this open for now. If we're at home I'll probably do a roast chicken at some point so that we've got a head start on next week.

Baking has been a lemon drizzle today - just a sponge on a 6:6:6:3 ratio, with the zest of two lemons in place of the vanilla. Cooked for 50 minutes at 175 degrees C and then smothered in a lemon and icing sugar glaze. Juice of 2 lemons and about 3oz of icing sugar. It's currently cooling but I have high hopes

Bread this week is the Paul Hollywood bloomer again, but it's gone a bit splodgy as I didn't shape it very well. 

That's it - pop back next week for a quiet week as M's in Le Mans and as we know my approach to eating alone can be summed up in two words. Marmite. Toast. 

Don't forget to pop over to At Home with Mrs M to see what the other meal planners have in store this week.

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.

Meal Planning Monday: Better late than never

*scooting in, trying to remain unnoticed*

Well that didn't work did it? Sorry for the late post, but yesterday was M's birthday, and amongst other things we spent much of the day trying to sort the car out. Anyway, veg box is here - M is back to work, I am getting ready to go back to work and so meal planning is back at the fore.

Monday: Spaghetti carbonara (Nigella's recipe, but without the whole packet of spaghetti she reckons on.)

Tuesday: Was supposed to be risotto, but has ended up being a hot chocolate and 2 biscuits.

Wednesday: Risotto - using my bianco recipe, but adding chorizo and roasted butternut squash

Thursday: Sausages, corn on the cob and baked potatoes

Friday: We're hoping to catch Harry Potter, homemade pizza

Saturday: I'm at camp training all day, so right now I'm not sure... maybe Salmon and greens?

Sunday: I'm quite fancying Pasta Puttanesca, there's a Jamie Oliver recipe I like so I think I will whack a pot of that on.

Lunches are smoked salmon and cream cheese, or Greek salad.

Breakfasts for me are fruit.

Don't forget to pop over to At Home with Mrs M for more meal planning inspiration from all of this week's participants.

It's not easy being green: Salmon and greens

First of all, apologies for the shoddy pictures - I can't find the camera charger anywhere so am resorting to iPhone apps to try and make my pictures slightly less dreadful.

I've been promising to make this for, oh I don't know - weeks now? Faithfully putting it in each Meal Planning Monday post, then something cropping up - be it a migraine, hospital, Guides - well, you get the picture. Anyway, since discoverint that I'm allergic to one of the meds I was being given for the migraines, life has been considerably quieter *touch wood* and I've been afforded the opportunity to finally make salmon and greens.

It's not the most exciting of recipe titles, it does what is says on the tine I suppose, without there being any tins involved. It's one of those meals I have as a refular midweek feature as it's quick and easy. Contrary to the jams and the breads of this world it asks and requires little of me - yet pays back much in flavour. When I'm feeling like I've overdone the chocolate or the ice cream, I have it by itself. When more sustenance is required I add brown basmati rice. I've successfully substituted the salmon for white fish (when I'm being particularly frugal, whatever is being sold off at the end of the day) and also chicken. Similarly when the kales, and spring greens aren't in season, I've successfully supplemented or replaced greens with brocolli, shredded savoy cabbage, or a bag of spinach briefly wilted. This is one of those dishes you can cook when the day has asked that bit too much of you. When your head is throbbing, when work is stressful, when it's still only Wednesday these are the times that you need something that can be eaten from a bowl, something that feels healthy but still has flavour. I think there's nothing so sad as trying to be healthy and finding what you're eating tastes of cardboard.

So Salmon and greens - again it's one of those recipes that's evolved and I'm not sure where it came from - it's definitely not a recipe book, so it's entirely possible it was in a magazine, or even my own head.

2 gloves garlic chopped finely
Thumb sized piece of root ginger grated (I don't peel ginger, just grate it with a microplane *lazy*)
1 red chilli (or to taste) finely chopped
2 salmon fillets, skinned (Pantry tip: the easiest way to do this is to put the salmon, skin side down on a chopping board, at one end of the fillet the skin will seem slightly thicker and with a sharp knife you'll be able to prize it away. Wiggle your knife in a gentle sawing motion - keeping the blade flat - and the skin will come away from the fish easily. If I ever find out how to upload a video I'll show this, as people always seem to struggle with fish and I've been eating and cooking it since weaning so tend to forget that other people weren't peeling prawns before they could walk)
1 head of spring greens, or a similar quantity (about 6 handfuls or so?) of green vegetables, rinsed and shredded.
60ml/ 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
The same of water
125ml sherry

Mix up the sherry, water and soy sauce with the garlic, chilli & ginger

Pour half of this over the fish - I chop the fish into finger sized bits - and cover with clingfilm. I tend to leave this for a while if I'm working from home, or if I've just come back from a hellish commute and need to eat I don't bother with leaving it to stand.

Either heat up a non stick pan so that when you hold your hand about 6 inches away from the base you can feel warmth, or oil a wok or similar and heat up.

Put the fish in it's marinade and cook quickly stirring until it's just about done - I cook it through until the finger sized pieces start to flake. The marinade/ sauce will bubble away - this is fine.

Add your veg and pour over the rest of the sauce whilst stirring until it's all wilted down (when I've used broccoli I steamed it lightly first). I recently got a fantastic tip for cooking greens from Helen at Fuss Free Flavours, to cook greens, put them in a colander and put the colander in a bowl, pour over a kettle of hot water - this starts the wilting process so they cook faster, and I find - stay greener.

Serve with rice, or not, as you like. In a bowl. Eat. Not like this...

Have an eggroll, Mr Goldstone

Have a napkin, have a chopstick, have a chair...

I have a lot of love for Patti LuPone, and the very exciting time I saw Gypsy with my friend Lauren in New York. This is a slightly tenuous link to what I actually cooked, but I completely failed at finding any lyrics that included noodles. I contemplated going down the campfire route and quoting "On top of spaghetti" but these were rice noodles and I'm nothing if not a stickler for the details. Plus this way I get to talk about Patti LuPone and the amazingness of Gypsy. In case you missed the revival, here's the performance from the 2008 Tony's (I know it's the wrong song... but still GreaT! PlaTe! *faints*).




Sorry, I got a bit carried away there, forgetting that I had actually cooked something for this post, but first I must apologise for the photo quality. The light in my kitchen is rubbish, but I normally manage to get a passable shot. I have no idea what went wrong this time, it's out of focus and the colours are a bit peculiar. I can only grovel. I swear if my local Adult Ed college does a photography course that doesn't clash with my Guiding activities I will be there, plate of cakes and digital camera in hand.

As you probably know I'm quite a hardcore Nigella fan (the woman, not the flowers) but mainly stick to her baking recipes which I must say I largely find faultless. This month's challenge was to try her Seared Salmon with Singapore noodles (from Nigella Express). The rules for our challenge are that if you don't like something about the recipe you can make substitutions but you should stick to the main idea as much as possible. For me this was the first month I needed to make a substitution, but I loathe Singapore noodles because of the curry flavour in the stir fried noodles. I love noodles, pad thai is one of my all time favourite dishes, and although Singapore noodles has a different flavour, the idea of it is one that I like in theory, just not in execution.

Seared Salmon with Singapore Noodles - serves 4

Nigella says: I know the list of ingredients is long but a lot of this is stuff that will help you generally if it's part of your storecupboard stash. If you don't want to go in for specialist shopping at all, replace the tiny dried shrimp with about 100g of frozen prawns (thaw them first). Sherry could be used instead of the Chinese cooking wine, though I should tell you I get this very easily from my local supermarket.

Salmon
2 teaspoons medium madras curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 salmon fillets approx 200g each
Tablespoon of garlic oil.

Mix the curry powder, salt and sugar in a wide shallow dish and dredge the salmon in this. Turn all the pieces over in the rub.

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and cook the salmon fillets on a high heat for about 2-3 minutes a side, searing the sides as well if the fillets are very thick.

Noodles
250g Vermicelli rice noodles
50g dried shrimp (or 100g prawns)
125ml chinese cooking wine (or sherry)
Tablespoon garlic oil
100g finely sliced chinese leaf
125g baby corn cut into rounds
2 spring onions finely sliced
2 teaspoons medium madras curry powder
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
250ml chicken stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
150g beansprouts
handful of fresh chopped coriander

Put the rice noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 4 minutes and then drain.

Soak the dried shrimp in the wine.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the chinese leaf, baby corn and spring onions for a few minutes.

Add the curry powder and ginger to the wok, and add the stock and soy sauce. Pour in the shrimps and their wine and the drained noodles. Toss everything together.

Finally, stir in the beansprouts and give everything one final toss before turning out into a bowl and sprinking with coriander.

OK, so as always, these are the changes I made, and my random ramblings about it.

Firstly, it's a lovely easy recipe - if for some reason you've stumbled across my blog and found this page - try this. Like her banana bread, it's lovely and easy.
I probably doubled the veg she suggested you put in. I just think on something like this the more veg the better, it's healthier, it's economical (as you can use up everything in your veg tray)and it goes further. All bonus points in my book.
I substitued the chinese leaf for savoy cabbage. Sainsos wanted £1.79 for a tiny amount of pak choi, but only 69p for a whole savoy cabbage. I love dark green cabbage so it was a winner for me. I used about half in the noodles.
North London is a veritable wasteland where dried shrimp is concerned - I trawled the supermarkets and grocers in a desperate attempt to find it - all the while knowing that I could probably schlep to Whole Foods and get them (albeit exorbitantly priced) so decided to do without.
As I said, I don't like the curry flavour in Singapore noodles so omitted the curry powder (although I do still have the leftover curry powder from the Malay Korma which is still begging to be used up)
Oh, I forgot the coriander. Again.
This was a lovely dish, I would definitely cook it again, but I might try it with the curry powder just to see. I was so sure that I wouldn't like it that now I'd quite like to try it as I felt the dish needed more oomph.

This bowl food, has a lovely soothing effect. The fact that you cook the noodles in stock gave some fantastic extra flavour - I used homemade chicken stock which I think made a real difference as you get the flavour without the saltiness of stock cubes. Have I done a post about how I make stock? I'll check and if not, next time I do a roast will do a post on making stock.

Things here are still quiet, reserved and a bit down, although I did a better job at being a bit more like my usual perky self today (a large quantitiy of skittles helped here). I'm making the Easter chocolate truffles with the Guides on Tuesday, so will do a picture post of the glittery goodness we come up with. Other than that I was going to have a freezer week so there's unlikely to be anything thrilling to blog, although I might make some scones tomorrow morning to take over to my sister's for a bridesmaid dress fitting. If I manage to get up and get organised to do that you can expect another post soonish.

There is a part b to this challenge which was a sweet dish from Nigella Express, Caramel Croissant pudding. As I'm a bit lacking in the appetite department at the moment I feel no real urge to make this, but I might give it a shot!

Healing food: Salmon and greens

Firstly I should apologise for the dearth of posting over the last week or so. I've been feeling unwell since Sunday (which was entirely my own fault and due to the vast quantity of wine consumed on Saturday), but when I was still horribly poorly on Tuesday I realised that I had probably just done my usual and got myself run down. Scarily for me this usually precedes a chest infection so I've been doing my utmost to heal myself. This has meant lots of rest, fluids and fairly simple food.

Today I've worked from home and in a final bid to kill or cure, I made my stock healing meal. Fish, cooked in sherry, soy, chilli, garlic and ginger with pak choi and brown rice. It's not particularly posh and neither is it difficult, but it feels insanely healthy and the simplicity of it really does appeal to me when I'm unwell.

All I do is splash some sherry in a bowl, and add 2 grated cloves of garlic, lots of grated ginger, and 2 whole red chillis chopped up. I then add lots of soy sauce to this and just taste to check how it is.

I then line a baking tray with foil and place on this the pak choi (stems/ leaves/ technical term anyone?). On top of this goes the fish (I used salmon today as that's what I had in) and then the soy/ sherry mixture is poured over the top. I then close the foil up tight to make a parcel and bake it in the oven for about half an hour. While this is cooking I boil the rice (yes, still doing rice a la Delia - it's faultless so I see no reason to change).

Et voila! A big bowl of simple, healing food. This plus an early night, will hopefully sort me for once and for all!