Meal Planning Monday - the Easter holidays edition!

Nickie checked in with me on Saturday to see if I was OK as I hadn't blogged since January. Oops. Life just got in the way really - I'm working extra hours, the children have things most days and I keep forgetting on Sunday to blog a meal plan. Monkey turned 10 (heck!), I hurt my back (it's better now) and I went on a school trip to the Manchester Arena to take part in a Young Voices concert with Missy Woo.

So, my plan is done for the week and as I don't have work this week, I'm making myself write a blog. I generally plan on a Sunday so I can shop on a Monday but since discovering Asda's midweek delivery pass is £2 a month, I've been shopping online and getting a Tuesday delivery. That doesn't stop me planning on a weekend - it's actually better to do it on the weekend so I can get the slot I want.

As I'm off this week, as is the husband and the children, you will notice that there are a lot of easy meals. I make no apologies. I need a break too! I could make pizzas for The Voice final next weekend, but hell, I can't be bothered.

So, this is what my plan looks like this week.

Monday - Thai pork and peanut curry (made with leftover roast pork from yesterday)
Tuesday - Chorizo and butternut squash chilli
Wednesday - Chicken kievs
Thursday - Burgers and fries
Friday - Salmon and butterbean mash
Saturday - Pizza!
Sunday - Steak pie, mash and veg

Obviously, there are two weeks of school holidays over Easter. However, next week, the children are going away with their grandparents staying in a caravan for 4 days so I am planning that we might eat out a few times, so if I don't blog a plan next week, that'll be why. It may also be to do with the fact that April is year end deadline month for me at work and I get very, VERY busy!

Don't forget that Mrs M hosts the Meal Planning Monday linky here.

See you next week (maybe!)

Meal Planning Monday - the yes I am still blogging edition!

So I haven't blogged in a month. I've still been meal planning although I didn't on our week's holiday. Time has just ran out on me on turning my plan into a blog post.

Not this week. Hurrah, I hear you cry. Well, I can dream.

This week. There's only 5 days on the plan because we are going to a wedding in Devon on Saturday. And yes, we got back from Devon only 9 days ago. That's how it goes sometimes. Apart from that, it's a normal school week, peppered with swimming on Wednesdays after school now - I thought I'd got them in at exactly the same time, until Monkey went to his first class with the new teacher and she decided he was so good he has to move up again and now has a lesson straight after Missy. We're also now looking at secondary schools, although we don't have to apply until next year, but I think there are none to go see next week.

Here's the plan.

Monday - Quick prawn, tomato and coconut curry
Tuesday - Lentil shepherd's pie
Wednesday - Cheesy cannelloni
Thursday - sandwiches (it's traditional!)
Friday - Sticky sesame chicken wings with roasted mini corn cobs
Saturday - wedding
Sunday - travelling home

Don't forget that Mrs M has the Meal Planning Monday linky. Go see her, she's having a tough time right now and I'm sure a visit and a friendly comment will give her a bit of a boost.

Til next week. I hope!

Meal Planning Monday - the getting into June edition!

Hello.

I'm just in the process of getting over the half term holiday. In fact, it's not quite over yet - the children have an INSET day so don't go back until Tuesday. We've had a busy week, with trips to Edinburgh, cricket, cricket and more cricket, haircuts and a spot of stuff done in the garden - our garden fence is looking particularly lovely.

My menu this week is based on stuff I've found in this month's Good Food which landed last week and a carry over I didn't even get on the menu last week. I was that organised! This week, it's busy AGAIN! I have two evening meetings this week and the school summer fair on Friday evening (which I also have to bake for). And the children going back to school means that they are back on their regular schedules with dancing, swimming and cricket. So much for June being quieter!

This is it then.

Monday - Chicken wraps with sweet potato, salad leaves and tomatoes
Tuesday - Cheesy polenta with sausage ragout
Wednesday - Smoky mushroom burgers with roasted garlic mayo
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - not cooking; school fair
Saturday  - Meatball masala curry
Sunday - Roast lamb

Don't forget there are more meal plans like this over at Mrs M's place. Badge top right will take you there.

Meal Planning Monday - the last week of Spring term edition!

Yes, really. If you're not up on how this year is panning out schoolwise, a lot of areas finish this week and go back straight after Easter, due to it being so late this year. In fact, I can only think of one time when it was later as husband's 40th fell on Easter Sunday and his birthday is 24th April.

Added to that, I've got year end to contend with for the next month or so. So I'm busy at work and the end of term brings lots of things going on whilst gearing up for the holiday.

I'm late posting this but my plan came first and was all done and dusted in time for Mother's Day yesterday. This week, we're at a school event on Thursday night and I'm going to Manchester for The Cake and Bake Show on Saturday.

Without further ado, it's over to the plan.

Monday - Chicken, sweetcorn and mushroom tagliatelle
Tuesday - Slow cooker vegetable biryani
Wednesday - Pizza baked potatoes
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken and sweetcorn soup
Saturday - Fishfingers or pizza
Sunday - Salmon with new potatoes and green beans

More plans over at Mrs M's. (Badge above will take you there.)

Meal Planning Monday - the mad March edition!

When do I ever post serene ones? Life is never simple when you have children at school, it seems. This week, we have a day off for the teacher's strike to deal with - I cannot complain as we have been largely untouched by strike days in the time they've been at school. On top of that, all their usual activities - cricket, dancing, swimming - and somewhere in all that, I have work to do.

Anyway, one thing stays constant - my meal plan is done and the shopping done yesterday, by virtue of the fact Missy Woo went to a party at Blackpool Zoo and I went food shopping whilst she was there, rather than me pay £10.50 to go round with her. As I had a spare 3 hours (yes, 3) I headed to the nearest supermarket with a cafe, wrote my shopping list and away I went. I love starting the week feeling organised!

So, here's what we are eating

Monday - Vegetable pie (no recipe link as I'm making it up based on a couple of recipes)
Tuesday - Slow cooker beef massaman curry
Wednesday - Pizza
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Honey mustard pork
Saturday - Chicken and mushroom tagliatelle
Sunday - Mother's Day. I'm not planning to cook!

That is it. Oh yes it is. But you might want to mosey over to the home of the lovely Mrs M. Click badge above to find more coherent meal planning posts than this.

Meal Planning Monday - the spring is sprung edition!

Now Monkey's birthday stuff is all over and done with, we're well into March and the weather is beginning to feel springlike. The nights are lighter (which the children love as they can play out after school with friends) and everything just feels better.

I don't know if my meal plan reflects this change in weather but the children have been involved in this week's plan as I asked them what they wanted to eat. "Chicken kievs" came the reply. Great! The one thing I don't make from scratch too.

They did come up with one or two other things which I've added. I've also been going back through my mealplans and picking out things we like so that I can quickly pick them out instead of having brain freeze when faced with a blank sheet of paper. I came up with 100 different things (and some of them have variations!) so I think I should be OK for a while.

This is our week then.

Monday - Mexican lasagne
Tuesday - Pizza baked potatoes
Wednesday - Kedgeree with poached egg
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken kievs
Saturday - Prawn and coconut curry
Sunday - Roast dinner

Mrs M has all the Meal Planning Monday posts. Click the badge top right to discover what everyone else is eating.

Meal Planning Monday - the getting myself back in gear edition!

A meal plan, on a Monday. How unique! Seriously, this school holiday is messing with me cooking at the moment. The day is flying by before I realise I really ought to be cooking, then it's late and something else happens. I have so many things moved around, it's not funny. So... this week I am going to try to behave. Yes, there are carry overs from last week but still - I am at least going to make them!

Eyes down, people. Brace yourselves...

Monday - Salmon nuggets with sweet potato chips
Tuesday - Chicken and sweetcorn fried rice
Wednesday  - Pork and veg folded pizza
Thursday - Turkey burgers
Friday - Oven baked ratatouille with sausages
Saturday - Chicken and sweet potato curry
Sunday - Layered lentil and aubergine bake

Let's see how far we get with that!

For more organised and better behaved meal planning, click on the badge above which will take you to Mrs M's blog.

Meal Planning Monday - the keeping it simple edition!

Still holidays here although I have to work this week. No rest for the wicked! I opened out choices to everyone and the children came up trumps with a couple of ideas. We have one meal leftover from last week after I ended up taking the children on consecutive days to the Cake and Bake Show in Manchester so I was home late two days in a row. Monkey has discovered Filet-O-Fish recently so I now have to make a home alternative (*whispers* I'm buying pre-made fish burgers!) and Missy Woo asked for cauliflower cheese. I picked the rest - husband was no use whatsoever!

This is what we have.

Monday - Cauliflower cheese with jacket potatoes
Tuesday - Tandoori chicken with rice
Wednesday - Fish burgers in a bun (with tartare sauce) and chips
Thursday - Pea and new potato curry with naan
Friday - Creole jambalaya
Saturday - Mince and onions with mash (tho this might get turned into a pie!)
Sunday - keeping free

What are you having this week? Fingers crossed that it continues to get warmer now.

Click on the badge above to discover more meal planning wonderment. Or something like that, anyway.

Meal Planning Monday - the trying to eat more veg edition!

It seems like the only time I come here at the moment is to do my meal plans. I know, I know but really, I've been busy. Monkey had a birthday on Saturday and preparing for it whilst juggling work seemed to take it out of me - I was in bed early (for me) on Thursday and Friday and then on Saturday, I got in bed shortly after 11pm - unheard of for me - and slept like a log until nearly 9.

I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit sluggish lately and even Monkey got sent home from school on Friday with a tummyache. This turned into nothing, thank God, but it made me reflect on the fact that we don't seem to have had much in the way of veg these last few weeks. So, this week, there are more in the plan. And no, I still haven't got around to doing that pea soup. It WILL happen this week. It WILL. Looking at the plan, it seems to be a lot of beans and pulses actually but onions and tomatoes are featuring too.

The children seem to have signed themselves up for every after school activity going lately. One or both of them have something on 3 days of the week, we go to the gym on Wednesdays, leaving only Fridays for down time. Not ideal, but some of the activities are only for a few weeks and it is entirely their choice so I don't feel so bad. Monday is going to be good because they are both at school until 4.30! Then, at the weekend, both the children are coming to Clandestine Cake Club with me then Monkey is going to stay at the grandparents for his birthday treat (a trip to see Horrible Histories!).

This is what I have planned.

Monday - Roast beef hash (adapted slightly)
Tuesday - Chicken with spices and cream (aka Nigel Slater's chicken curry)
Wednesday - Chipotle bean chilli with baked eggs
Thursday - Minty pea and potato soup (don't laugh)
Friday - Mushroom risotto
Saturday  - keeping free, I will have cakeache
Sunday - Sticky roasted sausages with lentils

This is us for the potentially cold week ahead. What about you? When you've told me, mosey on over to Mrs M's for more Meal Planning Monday (non) mayhem.

Meal Planning Monday - the December comfort food edition!

As we edge towards Christmas, I have that unerring feeling that I need to get more done than I already have. This week, the cards will get written and posted and family presents will get wrapped ready to send down to my mother, who hopefully will be coming out of hospital very soon.

I'm still trying my best to use up the freezer whilst remaining conscious that I am actually filling it fast with Christmas goodies. As much as possible is going in there this year in the run up to the big day with as much prep spread over the weeks beforehand so the last few days before Christmas can be enjoyed.

I put together this plan and looked back at it and it struck me that this was all just comfort food! I guess that's no bad thing at this time of year with dark evenings and cold weather. On Tuesday, Monkey has a friend coming to tea who requested burgers and Friday is the school fair, which husband will be heavily involved in so it's likely to be hot dogs there or butties.

Monday - Mini meatloaves with jackets and veg
Tuesday - Burger, chips and salad
Wednesday - Slow cooker rice supper (based on this)
Thursday - Sausages with yorkshires and mash
Friday - keeping free
Saturday - Corned beef hash with egg
Sunday - Indonesian curried pork with coconut rice

Is your menu all comfort food now? Do tell. And then, when you've done that, hop on over to Mrs M's to see what everyone else has got planned.

Meal Planning Monday - the no-shop/low-shop edition!

As you may have seen me mention last week, the fridge and freezers in our house seem to be overflowing with food so I'm going to try to avoid doing a big shop this week and use some of the things lurking away in them. The meal plan I've chosen therefore is based on leftovers (as we had roast pork yesterday), one meal carried over from last week after last week's plan got rejigged  as Monkey went out for tea on a different day and didn't want to miss the chicken pilau, and meals based on meats or veg that we already have. Out of the whole plan, the only thing I am going to have to buy is courgettes and possibly some mushrooms - Monkey wanted to have curry this weekend and asked for it to be courgette, mushroom and potato (I know!). And for the first time in ages, we have different meals for the children and the grown ups - just because I have two portion meals in the freezer!

Don't expect any culinary novelties - I didn't want anything requiring special ingredients. Here we are.

Monday - Shredded pork with homemade barbeque sauce sandwiches with bubble and squeak cakes
Tuesday - Slow cooker chicken and mango pilau
Wednesday - Bangers and mash
Thursday - Lasagne with garlic bread
Friday - Breaded chicken steak with oven chips for the kids, casserole for the grown ups
Saturday - Courgette, mushroom and potato curry (based on this recipe)
Sunday - keeping free

This might make a bit of a dent in my freezer capacity but there will still be plenty in there. And I'll have saved a few pennies for Christmas!

Meal Planning Monday - a finally getting back to normal edition!

We've been away for at least part of three of the last four weekends and with going back to school, I feel like I'm fighting just to stay on top of things. This week should be quieter - although I have parents evening on Wednesday, a possible night out on Thursday and the usual things that the kids do. But the weekend - that's free, hurrah! No packing, tidying up before I go, travelling, washing when I get home and all that other stuff. Phew.

I've tried to go for easyish stuff all week and I'm trying a recipe from a book I'm reviewing at the weekend, so I'll tell you how that goes later. I will finally FINALLY get to make Moroccan chicken this week - events have conspired against me in previous weeks!

Here, then, is our week.

Monday - One pot mushroom and potato curry
Tuesday - One pot Moroccan chicken
Wednesday - Spicy fish stew
Thursday -  Slow cooker chilli
Friday -  Cauliflower cheese crumble
Saturday -  Spicy pork meatloaf

Don't forget that the lovely Mrs M has the Meal Planning Monday linky over at hers. Bon appetit - what's on your menu this week? 

Meal Planning Monday - the easy cooking edition!

So, the kids are off school now and this week, so is husband. And the Olympics start on Friday. Well, actually, for us it starts Thursday as we're going to the Olympic football at Old Trafford - so I won't be cooking then.

With the Olympics starting, I'm going to be making stuff as simple as possible. The special fried rice and chicken you might recognised from last week - various things means it never actually happened so I'm rehashing it this week.

Here is my easy peasy week

Monday - Special fried rice with BBQ Chicken
Tuesday - Gnocchi with roasted squash and goat's cheese
Wednesday - Chicken tomato curry (made with a sample of a sauce I got ages ago)
Thursday - not cooking
Friday - Olympic bagels, onion rings (the snacks), donuts (can you spot the theme?!)
Saturday - New potato and smoked mackerel salad
Sunday - Beany nachos

That's it. What about you? Have you been to see Mrs M's linky with all the other MPM entries this week?

Meal Planning Monday - the getting back to normal edition!

Right, I'm back to it today. You remember me, don't you? What do you mean, no? Hmph!

The blogging (rightly) took a bit of a back seat on my holidays - yes I managed the grand total of one post, done on my iPad, whilst I was holidaying. Maybe I'll do another post about it, but we had a very mixed week of weather with more rain than not. Two days were completely awful weatherwise, three were OK, one started badly but improved drastically but none were completely gorgeous days from start to finish. Still, we had a lovely time and I ate way, way too much. I will have to watch what I am eating very very carefully over the next few weeks.

So, today we're back to normal. Not totally, as the children don't go back to school until Tuesday but as good as. We seem to have quite a few things on this week, what with it being Father's Day on Sunday, and Missy Woo is in her annual dance show. It's a lot earlier this year because they couldn't get the hall they wanted on their preferred dates so they have had much less time to rehearse, and it comes straight after half term - plus Missy Woo was sick on the day of the last rehearsal before holiday. I'm sure she'll be fine though - she received her costumes on the day she was ill which cheered her up immensely. We're going to see her dance on Sunday afternoon but I have to spend Saturday afternoon watching her final rehearsal so food over the weekend has to be quick and simple to do, which means beef twice in a row.

So, here's our week in meals. What's yours?

Monday - Sticky sausages with potato and sweetcorn salad
Tuesday - Sweet potatoes with mushrooms and rosemary
Wednesday - Fried fish and tomato curry
Thursday - the usual exciting sandwiches!
Friday - Sticky chicken drumsticks with coleslaw
Saturday - Burgers and salad
Sunday - Slow cooker chilli with tortilla chips

Meal Planning Monday - the last week of term edition!

Another week flies by. Time to meal plan again. This time, it's the last week of school term for the children, a week I view with relief and a bit of trepidation. The relief of not having to dash about for school in the mornings is lovely, but at the same time, everything is thrown out and I worry about getting work done whilst keeping the children amused. Still, that's for next week.

Being last week of term, we have an evening event on at school which affects tea one day (more that I just have to have it ready on time than anything), but on Thursday, which is normally mad after school, Missy Woo has no dancing so all I have to do is deliver Monkey to football which means I can get on with making tea when I get home. Hurrah! The weekend is quiet though. Oh, and I'm out most of today so an old favourite is getting bunged in the slow cooker by me after school run to be ready when everyone else gets home (oh, and yes, potatoes are also cut into wedges and in a bag drizzled with some oil ready to be bunged into the oven.

On we go with the meals for this week.

Monday - Sausages in onion gravy (slow cooker) and potato wedges
Tuesday - Veg curry
Wednesday - Minced beef and onion pie (using bought pastry), mash and peas
Thursday - Fragrant chicken curry with chickpeas (it never got made a few weeks back!)
Friday - Moroccan meatballs with eggs
Saturday - Fishcakes
Sunday - keeping free

I'm looking forward to some of these this week, as some of them are interesting or new to me and that's what I like to do - make things that keep my interest. I rarely sit in my comfort zone these days.

Don't forget to do two things - first, tell me what you are eating this week and then, pop on over to Mrs M's to discover more wonderful entries in the MPM linky.

Spicing up my cooking

I love Indian food. It is one of the first things I learned to cook from scratch properly beyond the standard things that my parents cooked. They are pretty easy as they are reasonably forgiving. They can take a bit of time though and when I plan meals now, I have to be mindful of cooking time and not making anything too hot so that the children will eat them. Occasionally, I dip into the world of curry paste but I never use cooking sauces. It goes against my nature. Call me a food snob if you like. 

I always marvel at how quickly they can make the dishes in restaurants and take aways so when Living Social invited some bloggers including myself to Dilli restaurant in Altrincham to join one of their cookery classes, I made sure I could get there and see how they do it. 

You notice I've not mentioned "curry" so far. As we were told by one of the two chefs that taught us, curry basically means "gravy". And masala? "Sauce"!

At the start of our day, we were shown how to make onion bhajis. Apparently, the key is to leave your onions mixed for a while to draw out some of the water as this makes the onions crisper. We got to sample them with a tamarind dip and a mint dip, both totally unlike the stuff you usually get with it. They also made potato and onion bhaji which was not made into balls, so it was a bit like eating spicy fries! 

Meal Planning Monday - the reverse engineered edition and OMG, it's Christmas!

So, what do you know? It's Christmas week. Obviously, you know what Sunday will mean, but maybe I'll do a separate post about that but we're largely traditional. And actually, I love doing it.

What about the rest of the week? Well, I only have five days to plan. We kind of started a little "tradition" a few years ago in that we have Chinese on Christmas Eve. It's a nice difference to what is to come and it does mean I don't have lots of cooking to do. I always forget and start to ponder what to cook until my husband reminds me. So we'll have that again and I can concentrate on all the prep to make Christmas Day as easy as possible.

So, why is it reverse engineered? The answer to that is the little email that popped into my inbox on Friday, offering 20% on my food shop. So, hurriedly, I put together an order, just chucked in what I needed and perhaps a few things extra without a thought to a plan. I nearly got scuppered when my mother rang me near the end of my hour but I remembered in time and got it in. And because I was pretty busy, I never got time to go back and add anything, let alone plan this week's meals. Hence, reverse engineered - I'm planning the meals from what I know I have and hopefully, I'll plan it so I don't really have to go back to the supermarket much.

Here's the plan:

Monday - Sundried tomato and chicken pilaf (in the slow cooker)
Tuesday - Mushroom risotto
Wednesday - Keema curry
Thursday - Cheesy broccoli pasta bake
Friday - Honey mustard pork (yes, again. Monkey asked...)
Saturday - Chinese!
Sunday - Christmas dinner - turkey et al.

Meal Planning Monday - the extremely late edition

Yes, I know it's late. I did actually plan our meals for this week before we went away but we got home last night and this morning was busy with washing, shopping and general catching up so no time to blog my plan.

This is last week of term, and the children have parties and odd days so it's kind of all over the place. I'm trying to ensure that the children get their 5 a day after the amount of chocolate, chips and pizza they ate over the weekend. And they're going on a sleepover to Granny's on Saturday so I need to keep their veg intake up in advance of that.

Here we go:

Monday - Sausages in Onion Gravy (which we've already had, and was as lovely as ever!)
Tuesday - Salmon, broccoli, and dill lasagne (already made, my own recipe)
Wednesday - Slow cooker chilli con carne (with extra crusty bread, cucumber and tomatoes)
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Vegetable curry
Saturday - Takeaway or meal out
Sunday - leaving free

Apologies for the lack of inspiration but mid-December does that to me! Have you got anything more exciting to share? Please do. And then hop on over to At Home With Mrs M to see what everyone else is or is not cooking. Mostly not, we're all preparing for Christmas!

Meal Planning Monday

Time to plan those meals again! We're just recovering from half term; in fact, the children don't actually go back to school until tomorrow, but I'm planning a quiet day as we've had a busy week and we could do with some down time.

No special theme for the week; just a few things we like with the odd twist on old favourites. A few are from the Netmums "Feeding kids" book which I've had for a few years and find really useful for family meals, especially in the colder parts of the year. Honey and mustard pork rears its head again, because Monkey insists on having it every few weeks as he absolutely loves it. Seriously!

Meal Planning Monday

Well, as you know, last week I tried out one of the 5 for £20 evening meal plans that Sainsbury's have been promoting. I thought, before I went on to what we're eating this week, that I'd talk about how it went.