Tuesday 12 November 2013

Menu Plan Monday: 09/11 - 15/11


Linking up with orgjunkie.com for Menu Plan Monday 

Saturday: This is a busy evening – we want to go to the bonfire & fireworks for Guy Fawkes day, and immediately after that we are going to the evening reception for my friend Gemma’s wedding. I need something quick & easy: leftover chicken wellington, rice, and roast parsnips should do the trick.

Sunday:
There’s something nice & autumnal about ham, which we’ll be having with rice & peas and roast sweet potatoes. I’m going to use my usual sweet & sour glaze for the ham.

Monday: We’re being treated to dinner out.

Tuesday: I made meatballs a couple of weeks ago and I have a pound of ground pork leftover from that. One of my go-to recipes for using up ground pork is a Chinese dish called Ants Climbing a Tree. It’s stir fried ground pork, noodles, & chillies. Hot and delicious! I’m going to cook some carrots on the side.

Wednesday: I made baked beans & soda bread last week, so we’ll have having the leftovers this week. If there’s any bacon left I’ll be putting a couple of pieces on top to cook into the beans when I reheat them.

Thursday: As I’ve had no complaints from the husband or toddler department, it will be yet another week of spaghetti & meatballs. Easy and satisfying.

Friday: We’ve been invited to a party at our friend Katharina’s place in Cambridge, and there will be drinks & nibbles, so I’m not quite sure if we’re going to have a late lunch of pizza & then something light before we head out, or if we’ll just have a really early dinner before we leave. Chances are I’ll see how things are going on the day.

Now a look at last week’s plan, which I wrote but never posted, in practice:

I’d received a £3-off coupon in the post for a posh brand of ready meal. As I was going to an All Soul’s liturgy at the Cathedral on Saturday evening, it seemed the perfect night to try out the brand as the coupon brought the product within budget. So we feasted on some excellent salmon en croute, with some rice & cucumber to accompany.

For Sunday Roast we went with pork, which I did in a honey-mustard sauce. David requested stuffing, instead of pudding, so I made an apple & onion one (but it wasn’t that great). The highlight of the meal were the roast parsnips. Really enjoying the autumn produce!

I made Perfect Meatballs on Monday and we had, you guessed it, spaghetti & meatballs. The meatballs really were perfect – light and with a nice flavour, but basic enough that we could easily adapt the recipe to whatever we like (David’s thinking a hint of mint might be nice). I’m definitely saving this recipe.

Tuesday was David’s viva and I knew that after a long & stressful day no one would feel like cooking. We had a Tesco Indian Box (the hot chicken one) for dinner, with copious amounts of cava and some ice cream for dessert. Easy & stress free.

I had a chunk of roast beef in the freezer which I defrosted for Wednesday, making a delicious cottage pie. For those who don’t know, a cottage pie is a shepherd’s pie, but made with beef instead of lamb. Back in Canada we tend to call any of these potato-topped pies “shepherd’s pie”, but it is a misnomer. I’m really not a fan of substituting ground beef for the real deal, so I was pleased when I found this recipe years ago as it uses leftover roast beef. I like to serve it over slices of yorkshire pudding to help soak up the gravy.

I’m on a comfort food kick so on Thursday I made Rose Elliot’s Boston Baked Beans. I served them with corn on the cob, soda bread, and some home-made pork crackling from a piece of crackling-fat that my mum had frozen when she was here in the summer. It was a delicious, filling meal and perfect for these chilly evenings.

And of course, Friday pizza night. Delicious as always!

2 comments:

  1. I made homemade meatballs last week. My favorite is pork,ground beef meatballs.
    Looks like lots of good eating at your house this week.

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    1. I think pork & ground beef make an excellent combo. My mum's are only ground beef, but they're a little heavier than the ones with the pork added. Always a winner tho!

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