Meal Planning Monday - the starting 2016 edition!

Let's not even talk about how long it is since I wrote one of these. Honestly, I started doing them to get into the habit of meal planning. That habit is well-embedded as I cannot function without a plan before I do a food order (thanks to Asda delivery pass, I only pop in supermarkets to do top up shops - or buy the things Asda couldn't supply!). But the writing of this post is not.

This week is back to school and work for all - two weeks for the kids and me, and husband has now been off for a total of 10 days over that time. And it's my birthday, so Wednesday is blank as I don't intend cooking, whatever we do. (Still not sorted). Apart from that, it's nothing special as weeks go.

I'm making use of my new toys, as I ask husband to buy me this for Christmas and it's been in almost constant use since. It can slow cook, roast, bake, saute or steam - so far, I've used the slow cooker function, the roasting and baked a potato. The main difference is the heat source is at the bottom so you do have to watch it although it comes with a little rack to raise things up. Still finding my feet with it but I. Love. It! It's definitely going to get lots of use, especially as thanks to an error with my pay, I'm a bit brassic this month.

So here's my plan. Everything is already here as my food delivery was booked for Sunday afternoon.

Monday - Pulled pork buns (done in slow cooker with leftover roast pork)
Tuesday - Baked potatoes
Wednesday - not cooking, yo.
Thursday - grilled cheese sandwiches (one of my new favourite easy meals)
Friday - Corned beef and beans pie
Saturday - Cheat's cassoulet
Sunday - Roast chicken

What are you having this week? Don't forget to check out At Home with Mrs M for more delicious meal plans. And I will try to blog my meal plan a little more regularly!

Meal Planning Monday - the end of school year edition!

And it can't come soon enough. Just so many things have been going on - last week felt like a omplete whirl of events and commitments. Now, we're just down to the last 3 days of school. No school commitments other than getting them to school and back, no more dancing lessons - only swimming lessons for one more week and cricket throughout the summer. Hurrah!

My week kind of looks like end of year, in a kind of stumbling over the line way too.

Monday - Cheesy lentils
Tuesday  - Slow cooker lamb and mango pilau
Wednesday - Sweetcorn and ham salad
Thursday - Smoked cheese, onion and mushroom quiche
Friday - Cheesy beans and bacon quesadillas
Saturday - Chicken wings, sweet potato and coleslaw
Sunday - Roast pork

Happy holidays everyone! Don't forget Mrs M has the MPM linky.

Meal Planning Monday - the Nearly New Sale edition!

Yes, it's that week. The week when I'm busy as anything. Way too much going on and Saturday is a day when I walk miles. I've done *counts on fingers* 14 nearly new sales in my time, mostly handling the money. Since stepping down as the branch's treasurer, I've always helped count the money, which is good as this weekend, I'm counting the money again and running the show as the current treasurer can't make it as she's away on a course. Saturday after a Nearly New Sale is always Chinese. Always.

The rest of the week is going to be kept as simple as possible as I also have a governor's meeting on Tuesday night and Friday, I will be helping to set up the hall for the sale. Although I went shopping with Monkey yesterday and there is food everywhere. Perhaps I will be having a "no shop" meal plan next week!

Eyes down, look in here we go.

Monday - Lazy cheesy vegetable hotpot
Tuesday - Spicy bean burgers
Wednesday - Slow cooker chicken and mango pilaf (recipe coming up)
Thursday - Red lentil, chickpea and chilli soup
Friday - Slow cooker barbecue ribs
Saturday - Chinese
Sunday - Roast pork etc.

And that's your lot. And before you go, two things. First, bob over to Mrs M's to check out everyone else's meal plans. Second, if you are in the Lancashire area, bob on over to our sale on Saturday, which is at St Michael's High School in Chorley, 12 noon start or 11.30 if you are an NCT member and can show your card. £1 entry, bargains galore.

Say hi if you see me, I'll be the one dashing around looking a bit stressed, but visualising my Chinese in the evening!

Meal Planning Monday - a late-night, cobbled together edition

So it's 13 minutes to midnight on Sunday and I still don't have a meal plan together yet. For that, you can blame my mad weekend during which I met both Myleene Klass and Judy Murray, then spent today catching up. This evening, instead of meal planning, I followed the Ryder Cup, first on Twitter then on television for the last hour or so. Now I'm in a state of mild panic as this is not like me.

Cobbling away merrily, here is my meal plan. By the way, from this week, my husband is working evenings Monday to Thursday so won't be around for teatime, so everything is going to be reheatable for him to eat the next day.

Monday - Cauliflower cheese soup
Tuesday - Cheese whirls (a request by Monkey)
Wednesday - Curry in a hurry
Thursday - Minced beef cobbler
Friday - Mauritian Pork Satay
Saturday - keeping free
Sunday - I might just get that flipping chicken in my freezer roasted!

What's on your menu this week? And do you have any suggestions of meals that reheat well for future weeks? Let me know... then pop on over to Mrs M's for some more Meal Planning Monday action.

(Edit - this apparently is my 600th post on this blog... go me!!)

Meal Planning Monday - the post-Olympics edition

It's all over (the Olympics, that is) and we are bereft with only the prospect of the Paralympics in a couple of weeks to keep us going. That does mean that we are returning to a kind of normal in the household but it is still school holidays.  I'm trying to keep it relatively simple whilst providing some kind of variety as I get bored so easily with what I'm cooking (if you hadn't noticed).

On with the week.

Monday - Veg and cheesy rice bake
Tuesday - Oriental salmon and broccoli traybake
Wednesday - Turkey chilli jacket potatoes
Thursday - Special fried rice with prawns and chorizo
Friday - Pizza (Homemade)
Saturday - Chicken pesto pasta
Sunday - keeping free

That's us. How about you? What's on your menu this week? Remember that Mrs M has the Meal Planning Monday linky on her blog so you can find more meal planning inspiration.

Meal Planning Monday - the uber organised (and 5 for £20 review) edition

So last week, we were trying out the latest Sainsbury's evening meal plan which provides a whole working week's worth of meals for £20. Here's how we got on.

First, I went shopping. (I know, amazing, huh?!) I left off some of the things on the shopping list that I already had in but I did substitute along the way too and the bill for those items was around £17. With usual things I buy (like milk etc) my week's bill came to £32 and I only went back once for some more mushrooms as I didn't have as much in as I thought. Still, pretty amazing, although it was possibly helped by the meat being on special offer -  the meat took up half of the budget!

Recipe - Sausage, Bean & Cheese Pasties

I haven't done a recipe in a while so it's time I posted another. I also spied that English Mum was holding another bake-off and this time, you can win a whole fridge freezer. As I need one before our current one dies a death, I thought I'd give it a go.

These pasties are fast becoming a family favourite. What do I mean "becoming"? They already are! Monkey asks for them. They are great food to eat on the run, and work hot or cold. Although they are a bit time-consuming (but not difficult) to make, they can easily be reheated so I tend to make them in advance. And they can be frozen too, which is entirely appropriate given the prize for the bake-off!

Pasties are obviously the original easy to eat anywhere food. These ones are different though - instead of the crust being pastry, it's made from bread dough so really, I guess, they may be technically more like a calzone. But we're not Italian and the filling is definitely British so pasty, it most definitely is. When I first saw the recipe for this, I was intrigued and had to try them out. I'm really glad I did. The result is much lower in fat than a conventional pasty - the original recipe says there are about 350 calories per portion when a standard pasty is more like 500 calories.

This is also quite an economical recipe as none of the ingredients are expensive. Don't get really cheap sausages or they'll just be greasy - I bought some Waitrose essential pork sausages for less than £1 and when cooked, they lost hardly any fat, so they are a decent but inexpensive option. I've tweaked the original recipe somewhat and provide you options for making the dough. In addition, I think the filling only needs one tin of baked beans as I'm always left with quite a lot of filling (or I'm stingy with it but I don't think so) but feel free to add a second tin if you really think it needs it.

Finally, if you wanted to spice these up a bit, I think a dash of Worcester sauce, Tabasco, chilli powder or curry powder would all work well. I reckon also you could vary the cheese for a bit of variety.

These pasties were our tea tonight - Thursday after school is a whirl of activities with Missy Woo having ballet, and Monkey having football so these are great as we can eat in shifts and if I've got my act together, I don't have to do any cooking.

Sausage, Bean & Cheese Pasties
Makes 12

Ingredients

500g/1b 2oz pack bread mix or dough made from 500g/1b 2oz flour
8 sausages or 500g/1lb 2oz sausagemeat
1 420g/15oz can of baked beans
140g/5oz cheddar, grated (we like mature)
1 egg, beaten

1. First, make your dough. Either make up the bread mix according to the packet instructions or use your favourite bread recipe and leave to rise. Alternatively, make the dough in the breadmaker using the dough options. 

2. Whilst that is rising or working in your breadmaker, make your filling. Skin the sausages and roll into about 6 to 8 small meatballs per sausage. Heat a large frying pan and brown the little meatballs, in batches if the pan is too crowded. Drain off any excess fat before returning all of them to then and adding the tin of beans. If you're going to add anything to spice it up, do so now. Stir to combine the filling thoroughly then take the pan off the heat to cool whilst you deal with the dough. 

3. When the dough is ready, heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and grease 2 or 3 large baking sheets well. I find I need to tip the dough out onto a workshop to relax the dough slightly for 10-15 mins before using but you may find different. I also think dough from a breadmaker needs a bit of knocking back as there seem to be lots of big bubbles by this stage. 

4. Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Keep the other pieces of dough covered with a tea towel or oiled cling film whilst you roll each piece out into a circle about 17cm/7 in in diameter. I find this a bit challenging so don't worry too much if they won't roll out to that size - the important thing is that they don't tear. 

5. Fill each circle (I fill as I go, you can roll them all out first if you like) with a scoop of the filling and a scattering of cheese. You'll need to put the filling to one side so that you can make the proper D shape that pasties are, but leaving the edge clear. Fold the rest of the dough over, pressing the edges together to seal and crimp together. I find that rolling the edges round makes the most effective seal. Transfer to the oiled baking sheet. You can keep them covered if you like but I find it makes no difference. 

6. Once all the pasties are made, brush with some beaten egg and place in the oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes until they are looking all golden and have risen nicely. Remove from oven and cool slightly on a wire rack. They can be eaten warm or cold. They also freeze well - cool well and freeze on a covered tray. Transfer to a freezer bag once fully frozen and seal. They defrost overnight in a fridge or 4-5 hours at room temperature. They can be reheated in a hot oven for about 10 minutes until piping hot.

(PS If you don't seal well, the cheese will leak out of crust as shown above!)

Six go cheese-making in Cheshire

I do love cheese. I've loved it as long as I can remember. As a toddler and child, I had terrible migraines. Cheese was one of my trigger foods, along with chocolate, so I had to avoid them as much as possible, but I struggled more with not eating cheese than chocolate. Luckily, I grew out of the migraines! I eat any kind of cheese, although I do prefer stronger flavoured cheese as do the children. There's always cheese in the house, and whatever cheese we have goes quickly. Well, apart from the blue cheese - I get to keep that for myself as a rare treat.

So when I was asked by the British Cheese Board (great name!) if I'd like to visit a creamery and see cheese being made, I jumped at the chance. The fact we'd get to make our own cheese just added more excitement! I really love things like that - mainly because I did Food Chemistry as part of my degree course many moons ago.

The creamery that I and five other bloggers visited was Joseph Heler Cheese in Cheshire, who are the largest independent regional cheese producer in the UK. I was fascinated to learn that Joseph Heler himself, despite being into his eighties, still comes into work every day to see what's going on. It was so lovely that it still has a family feel to the place, despite being on a scale I couldn't imagine.

After dressing in fetching coats and hairnets (see left - sorry Jen and Lindy), we went around their biggest creamery, where they now make Red Leicester. This was cheese making on a vast scale. What doesn't help is that you need a lot of milk to make cheese. It takes 10 litres of milk to make 1kg so they have to find a way of dealing with the waste- which they do by extracting some by products for food manufacture and the water is then recycled too. A lot of the processing is mechanical but the key part of the process - the salting of the cheese -  is still done manually. It has to be done evenly, otherwise you might ruin the cheese and watching the curds being salted is something to behold.

We also took a quick look around their small creamery which they use to make specialist or artisan cheeses - like their Blue Cheshire - and also to run cheese-making courses.

Onto making our own cheese! It seemed to go quite well and it was fun, but that may just be because I'm odd. The milk had the rennet added just before we went on our tour. When we came back, the curds that had formed were cut (as per my Silent Sunday post last week) and the whey drained off. We had our own go at salting and mixing in the salt, then it was packed into moulds. Hopefully, in a week or two, the cheese - it's going to be a coloured Cheshire so it doesn't mature for very long - will arrive on our doorsteps. I can't wait. If you want to see all the photos taken of the cheese-making, you can find them here.

We also met their cheese grader who explained what he was looking for when he tastes cheeses and how they differ. It sounds obvious, but if you are eating cheese uncooked, then you get the best flavour by taking it out of the fridge for at least 20 minutes beforehand. We tried some reduced fat cheese - and yes, it did taste good but there is something about the texture that makes it different.

I know the perception is that cheese is quite unhealthy but it does have its place in a balanced diet. Did you know that giving children a piece of cheese after they've had sweets help to protect their teeth? I give my two a snack of cheese and raisins, which they love. The cheese stops the raisins from sticking to their teeth - something else that can contribute to tooth decay. Obviously, because the nutrients are concentrated down, it is a great source of calcium - great if your kids don't drink a lot of milk.

Also, did you know that full fat hard cheese has the same number of calories whether it's mild, medium, mature or extra mature? The difference is just the length of time it's left to mature. If you are cooking with cheese and want a great flavour, use a stronger cheese as you'll need less to get the cheesy flavour and that will help to keep the calories and fat down.

And the best part of the day? Being given lots of lovely cheese to take away in a lovely little cool bag. I'll do a full report on our cheese when it arrives, but I came away with piles of cheese to give us our fix in the meantime. A big thanks to Joseph Heler and British Cheese for organising a great day.

Kids food - Quick Quesadillas

Wraps. My kids love them, but they haven't worked out the right way to eat them so they make the unholiest of messes, particularly as they like cheesy beans in them. When they want wraps, and I have leftover stuff to use, I offer them quesadillas because it's a cross between wraps and pizza - which they also love - and makes less mess (nothing my kids eat makes no mess).

Pretty much anything that can be chopped up and cooked in a pan can go in the filling. I add chicken, sometimes minced beef, but frequently, it's just veg and cheese. It helps get certain veg down them that they sometimes won't eat in other things. Beans are a a nice vegetarian addition to make it more substantial.

How much this feeds will depend on the size of the wrap you use. This time, I used Asda ones which are small so it fed 2 but the Discovery ones are much bigger; you need a lot more filling and I can feed 4 small children with those. Alternatively, make your own. My children are quite good with spices as long as they are not too hot. Rein back the spices as you see fit.

Here's the recipe for the specimen as featured on this post. It takes 15 minutes to do so great if you're short of time.

Quesadillas

Ingredients

2 wraps
1 tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed or chopped
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
Large handful of button mushrooms, sliced
1 small red pepper, deseeded and sliced into strips
1 small courgette, halved then sliced
1 tbsp tomato puree (optional)
1-2oz cheddar cheese, or to taste (I use extra mature)

Method

Start by turning your grill onto medium high.

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok. Add the onion and garlic and fry until softened. Add the spices, and stir for about a minute. Stir in the veg, allowing the oil and spices to coat everything and cook for up to 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree and cook for another minute. Taste and season.

2. Place one of the wraps on a baking sheet. Spread the veg mixture evenly across the wrap and grate over two thirds of the cheese. Place the other wrap over the top, and grate over the rest of the cheese.

3. Place under the grill until the cheese is melted and slightly golden; this rarely takes more than a couple of minutes so keep an eye on it. If you have a griddle pan big enough, you can place it in a hot griddle pan for a couple of minutes per side. I don't bother as it involves turning the whole thing over but it does mean you get those pretty griddle lines on it.

4. Remove from the grill and cut into wedges.

I like to do carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes for the children to eat with it but as you can see, we only had cherry tomatoes in the day I made this! Don't make the filling too wet and work fast once you put the veg on the bottom wrap otherwise it can go soggy. Using a griddle pan would probably solve this but it's too fiddly for me - I reckon the filling would fall out turning it.

If I do add chicken and using raw meat, I slice it thinly and cook it through before the onions,  remove it and add it back in with the veg, which is the same point at which I would add cooked chicken or other meat.

Feel free to make up your own variations. Have a go and I'd love to see your efforts if you try. Happy cooking!