Meal Planning Monday - the nearly February edition!

As you may have guessed, I don't much like January and this one has been particularly long, due to a payroll error. My meal plans have been as thrifty as possible as a result. When I'm short, I always revert to Aldi because it is so much cheaper, even than Asda which is my regular haunt. It's lovely to stock up with a few things, have a trolleyful and still feel like I've not been extravagant.

Payday is this week but the shopping was done yesterday so I'm still being careful. Today' meal is made from leftover from Sunday roast. Wednesday is going to be a trial for a few weeks; the children already have swimming lessons after school, but until the middle of March, they also have to be at indoor cricket nets 15 mins away at 6.30 when Monkey's lesson finishes at 6! I have therefore decided we are just having pizza, and I can if necessary reheat some of it when we get home if they want more.

So here's our week in meals.

Monday - Twice baked potatoes filled with chicken
Tuesday - Mushroom rogan josh
Wednesday - Pizza
Thursday - Corned beef and beans
Friday - Fish and chips (oven baked)
Saturday - Haggis, neeps and tatties
Sunday - Chicken pie and mash

Don't forget to visit Mrs M to see more marvellous meal plans!

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 New Year edition!

This plan took a very long time. I certainly struggled for inspiration as to what to cook this week. It's that time where nothing actually happens. We have no further trips to visit family, husband is back at work, except for New Years Day so it's kind of a normal holiday week with a special day in the middle.

Also, after all the cooking I did last week, this week seems a bit dull. Never mind, I got there in the end. Hope you had a great Christmas by the way.

Here is the week.

Monday - Cauliflower cheese
Tuesday - Takeaway
Wednesday - Swiss fondue (wish me luck on this one, the kids have never had it)
Thursday - Slow cooker corned beef hotpot
Friday - Friday night fish pie
Saturday - Mexican bean chilli
Sunday - Black pudding rumble

That's all for now. Time to get back to my little ones and enjoy the rest of this holiday. Happy New Year!

Meal Planning Monday - the December keeping it simple edition

Soon be Christmas. And I'm on holiday until mid-January. Don't all hate me. I need a break, after a week when my dishwasher and my boiler broke last week.

This week, I am keeping it simple so I can spend as much as possible on Christmas preparations and relaxation. The children have school performance two nights this week, plus choir. I'm going out, husband is going out, and Monkey is going to a friend's house to tea. And at the weekend, the children are going to stay with Granny and Granddad to go to the panto. A complex logistical week!

Monday - Burgers
Tuesday - Honey mustard pork
Wednesday - Cowboy corned beef n beans pie
Thursday - sandwiches
Friday - Lentil and bacon soup
Saturday - free
Sunday - Spicy lamb with chickpeas

That's it. Nothing fancy, nothing difficult or time consuming. Bung it cookery! What are you having this week? Go visit Mrs M's place (click the badge top right) to find out what others are eating this week.

Meal Planning Monday - the minimal spend December edition!

The title says it all. Time to use up as much stuff as I have already - especially as my cupboards are full to overflowing. My freezer, not so much but I have enough to make a meal plan! One is a carry over from last week as I went to the Good Food Show thanks to Barber's Cheese and it was a last minute decision to go as husband wasn't feeling well.

So I've put together a plan based on what I have to use up, so here we go.

Monday - Slow cooker butter chicken
Tuesday - Butternut squash and roasted garlic risotto
Wednesday - Cowboy corned beef 'n' beans pie
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken wings
Saturday - Beany nachos
Sunday - Lasagne

I think my shopping list tomorrow will consist of bread! I may need a few things here and there but I pretty much have everything in already.

What are you having this week? Anything really exciting? If you have a meal plan, you too can do Meal Planning Monday by blogging your plan and adding it to the linky over at Mrs M's, discovered by clicking the badge top right.

Meal Planning Monday - the May half term edition!

So, yes, half term is upon us all too quickly. This was hastily put together with the help of the children. Well, we rapidly chose some things to eat, then I've organised them into set days to fit into our week. Not that we are up to much - we're not going away anywhere, we can't take Monkey swimming (he's in a cast until 5th June), and all we are doing is chilling out, and having friends over one day. That's all that's planned, apart from the odd party the children have to go to - this time of year is busy for friend's birthdays for both children.

This is what we have planned.


Monday - Prawn risotto
Tuesday - Corned beef pie
Wednesday - Mushroom stroganoff
Thursday - Lasagne, salad and garlic bread
Friday - Fish fingers
Saturday - Roast chicken
Sunday - Quesadillas (with leftover chicken possibly)

More meal planning loveliness is at Mrs M's which you can find by clicking the badge above. Have a good week.

Meal Planning Monday - the busy pre-bank holiday edition!

Yes, I know - we seem to be busy all the time at the moment but this week, we've had some added complications, which I'm sure you'd know about if you followed me on Twitter. On Monday evening, Monkey broke his arm. Well, we think it's broken - the hospital aren't actually sure but he's got his arm in a cast until at least this Wednesday when he returns to fracture clinic for his temporary cast to be removed, be x-rayed again - without swelling this time - and then they will decide if there is a break and if so, he'll have a proper cast put on which will probably be easier than the one he's got on at present. Needless to say, I could have done without a 3 hour trip to A&E on Monday, and having been there with Missy, I know that fracture clinic can eat up a day very quickly. On top of that, I'm spending most of the day at school today as I'm one of the governors on an interview panel to appoint a new teacher, plus I'm still working extra hours. And it's nearly half term, how did that happen?

The only positive I can find so far about Monkey having his arm in a cast is that he can't go swimming, meaning Thursday afternoons are a little less fraught right now.

I gave everyone an opportunity to choose food and only Monkey came up with something definite - his favourite dish, something we haven't had for ages so that was allowed. Later, husband chipped in with a choice of a risotto. You'll note the chicken stew is on there - I completely forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer on Thursday night and then spent a good chunk of Friday morning in school (see above) so we ended up with steak pudding with chips all round! I WILL get it made this week, I truly will. Missy vaguely said she wanted some pasta and that stew will go with it.

After much waffling from me, here is the meal plan for this week.


Monday - Salmon with butterbean mash (as it can be done in 10 mins flat)
Tuesday - Honey mustard pork with mash
Wednesday - Prawn and pea risotto
Thursday -  Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken, pancetta and mushroom stew
Saturday - Corned beef and beans pie
Sunday - Slow cooker lamb and sweet potato curry

That is the plan anyway, assuming that children stop breaking limbs, of course.

I must be going, I have too much to do! Go see what else lies in store meal planning wise by visiting Mrs M's, by clicking on the badge above.

Meal Planning Monday - the Monkey chooses edition!

So this week, I let Monkey choose most of our meals as Missy Woo went to play at a friend's (and forgot to come home for tea, had to send Monkey to get her!) so we were home alone when I was planning meals. His first thought was "spaghetti" so I'm introducing them to carbonara as it's a damn sight easier than bolognese. He helped me choose the rest of the week although I inserted something I wanted to cook from my trawl of the other MPM entries last week. And then I ended up doing a sort out of my recipe file, which threw out a recipe I wanted to make about a year ago that I never quite got round to (no idea why!) which has gone on a menu. Expect many more of those in coming weeks as I have a list of everything I have and some are asterisked to cook soon.

So, the menu according to Monkey is

Monday - Curry lentil stew with tomatoes
Tuesday - Spaghetti carbonara
Wednesday - Sausage, bean and cheese pasties
Thursday - Cauliflower cheese soup
Friday - Cherry tomato and ham bread and butter bake
Saturday - Cowboy corned beef and beans pie
Sunday - Roast chicken (expect leftover chicken recipes next week)

I think it's obvious which ones I chose there! He is definitely a meat and two veg child, happiest with meat, pies, gravy and more meat.

So this is us. Let me know what you're having, I always like to know. And more MPM entries can be discovered at Mrs M's by clicking the badge above. Have a good week.

Meal Planning Monday - the birthday and Mother's Day edition!

The short weeks are coming thick and fast at the moment.  On Saturday, Monkey turns 8 (how the hell did that happen?) so is having a tennis party and then on Sunday, it's Mother's Day and I am not cooking. I'm not sure WHAT we are doing yet but I did suggest to husband that he and the children made a roast for us to have at home. We'll see.

The weekend is therefore busy. On top of that, Monkey is taking part in a ukulele concert at a small music festival on Thursday night, on top of doing badminton AND swimming after school. I don't know when he's going to fit eating in. For now, I'm sticking to soup and might finally get around to making the soup I keep putting on the plan and then it not happening.

Here is what I have so far.

Monday - Prawn and coconut curry
Tuesday - Honey mustard pork
Wednesday - Corned beef and beans pie
Thursday - Minty pea and potato soup
Friday - keeping free
Saturday - keeping free (and party food)
Sunday - keeping free

What about you, oh wonderful meal planners? My plan was done in a rush, and I'm hoping I can return to normal next week. In the meantime, Mrs M has more meal planning marvellousness.

Meal Planning Monday - the pre-Christmas easy edition!

Yes, the last full week before Christmas. The end of term - not a full week here; the children finish after lunch on Thursday, so this week is full of class parties; definitely more chilled out than last week which was pretty full on with so much on at school, followed by the children going on a sleepover and Christmas treat at their grandparents in Blackpool over the weekend.

Preparations for Christmas continue apace here. Before school finishes, we have the teachers' presents to complete. I'm probably baking every day this week, either on my own or with husband, who develops the urge to bake as Christmas approaches. Today will be my last big supermarket shop before Christmas because most of it is already in the freezer for Christmas Day. I have a pudding to make on Christmas Eve and very little to do on the day, as it should be.

This week has to be fairly easy, with stuff still coming out of the freezer to make room for the Christmas feasting. And here it is.

Monday - Greek lamb and macaroni bake (from last week as this got moved on)
Tuesday - Cashew nut and potato curry
Wednesday - Not cooking as I promised the kids they could have tea out
Thursday - Cowboy corned beef and beans pie
Friday - Chicken and chorizo jambalaya
Saturday - Easy cheesy lentils
Sunday - Rudolph surprise pasta bake (no special recipe but the pasta is reindeer pasta from Ikea!)

So that is ours. What is yours? Do tell me. And don't forget that Mrs M's place is where you can find many more Meal Planning Monday entries.

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.

Corned beef and lentil soup

This recipe (see also Cowboy corned beef 'n' beans pie for details) takes a lentil and bacon/pea and ham soup and gives it a twist. Instead of using cured pork products, I'm using beef instead! I figured it would work well. If you happen to Google corned beef soup, you get a lot of American recipes using the fresh cured product so this product is made for the tinned version instead. It has a slight spice kick to it, but not too hot that the children will turn their noses up to it. Mine won't anyway. Anyway, this is another really easy store cupboard recipe that will fill you up and warm you up on a cold winter's day. No need for tinned stuff.

Corned beef and lentil soup
Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
About half a 340g tin corned beef, cut into 1cm cubes
2 carrots, chopped quite small
4 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mild chilli powder (or hot if you dare or 1 fresh chilli, chopped and deseeded)
2 litres beef stock
500g split red lentils, rinsed and picked over

1. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan, and add the onion and carrots, cooking for 5 minutes to soften over a medium heat, then adding half of the corned beef cubes to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring as little as possible so that the corned beef gets some crisp and colour.

2. Add the garlic, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder, and cook for another 2 minutes until you can smell the spices. Pour in the stock and add the lentils. Cover and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer for about 20 minutes. The lentils will lose their shape and look pale yellow when properly cooked.

3. While the soup is cooking, heat the rest of the oil in a small frying pan and cook the rest of cubed corned beef until crispy. Serve the soup sprinkled with the cubes of corned beef sprinkled on top and with some nice crusty bread.

(I was asked by Princes to develop some recipes using corned beef and they sent me 6 tins and an apron for this purpose.)

Cowboy Corned Beef 'n' Beans Pie!

Princes have asked me to come up with some recipes using corned beef as it's more frequently used for sandwiches. Obviously, the standard recipe is corned beef hash but as they already have that recipe on their site, I thought I'd think of something else and came up with a pie. If you look about, a lot of people call a potato topped pie a hash too but to me, a "proper" hash sees all the chopped ingredients (hash comes from the French "hacher" to chop) all fried together, and usually topped with some kind of egg.

The other thing that corned beef goes really well with baked beans. I thought I would combine all three elements here to make an easy, but yummy winter family dish which is pretty cheap to make too.

Cowboy Corned Beef 'n' Beans Pie
Serves 6

Ingredients

1kg white potatoes (starchy rather than waxy), peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
340g can corned beef, cut into 1-2cm cubes
1 tbsp dijon mustard (or whichever mustard you prefer)
1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar or molasses
1 tbsp tomato ketchup or tomato puree
420g tin baked beans
400g tin chopped tomatoes
50g grated cheddar (optional)

1. Place the potato chunks into a large saucepan, cover with cold water, cover and bring to the boil, then simmer until they are soft enough to mash.

2. In a medium pan or frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for around 5 minutes until softened and colouring at the edges. Add the corned beef, turn up the heat and cook for a further couple of minutes. Try not to stir and turn the beef too much as you want to try and get a colour to the beef. Add the mustard, sugar, and tomato ketchup or puree and give everything a quick stir, then add the beans and the tomatoes. Have a good scrape around the pan so that anything that has stuck to the bottom lifts off and adds flavour to the mix. Season to taste. Pour into a large ovenproof dish - I tend to use a deep lasagne dish.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. When the potatoes are done, drain the potatoes and mash them with whatever you choose to mash with - I used a knob of butter and enough semi-skimmed milk to stop the mash being too stiff but at the same time, not too runny.  Top the corned beef mixture with the mash, ensuring that it is well covered.

4. Place in the oven and cook for about 30 mins, until the top goes slightly brown. If you are using cheese, scatter it over halfway through cooking and if you need to brown the cheddar, finish off for a couple of minutes under a hot grill. Serve - a good dash of ketchup, brown sauce or even barbecue sauce goes well with it. (Actually, if you want the whole pie to have more of a barbecue flavour, add some to the mixture in place of the ketchup in step 2.)

See my other post for my corned beef and lentil soup!

(Princes sent me 6 tins of corned beef and an apron so that I can create some recipes using their products. I have not been paid further for writing this post.)