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March 11th, 2010
I’ll start this week with my review of last weeks menu. Although I really enjoyed all the meals, I’m completely over the creamy / fishy / dairy thing from last week. My house still smells of fish 4 days later, yuck.
I had planned Veggie Pizza for last Saturday, but an unexpected trip to Eastbourne pier for fish and chips at lunchtime meant that no-one was hungry at tea-time. So it was a ‘Sunday night special’ of cereal for tea all round (Does this happen in anyone else’s house???) Veggie Pizza is making it’s final appearance on our menu for Friday night dinner this week.
Sunday we invited the in-laws round for a gorgeous meal of Smoked Haddock, Peas, Bacon with Jacket Potatoes & Mustard Cabbage. This was pretty easy to prepare and very tasty, even though I forgot the mustard in the cabbage. It provided leftovers for meals on the following three nights too which was a bonus. No 1 son enjoyed the fish, and no 2 son enjoyed the jacket potatoes, so it was pretty successful with the children too.
Monday’s Fish Pie (using leftover haddock from Sunday) was also very tasty but the slight downside was the amount of washing up created – I think I counted 3 saucepans needed which was a bit extreme for a mid-week supper. Very savoury though, with buttery leeks as the base which varied the flavour enough from Sundays meal.
On Tuesday we had stuffed baked potatoes, with spinach, bacon & cheese. I liked these because the spinach made you feel virtuous and they were substantial and comforting.
The winning meal from my childrens perspective was pasta with pea, bacon and parmesan on Wednesday – made with bacon and pea sauce left over from Sunday. Really easy to do because there was no preparation of the sauce and my eldest son had 3rd helpings.
A trip to Jamie Olivers Italian in Brighton on Thursday for lunch meant that our ‘freezer surprise’ dinner stayed in the freezer for another week…. And the lunch was fabulous in case you were wondering. Lovely little stuffed pepper nibbles that I’ll be looking to replicate sometime soon.
 Stuffed Peppers (BBC Good Food) Anyway, next weeks menu has a definite mediterannean feel (possibly inspired by my trip to Jamie Oliver today). Here goes:
Hopefully that’s given you some inspiration – again would love to hear from you if you’re trying any of the recipes, or you’d like to share any of your own?
Tags: cheeky wipes, meat-free recipes
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March 5th, 2010
Week 1 Review
Well last Sunday saw the start of my ‘Meat-free March’ with the delicious Lemon Butternut Lasagne. The adults and the baby loved this, but 2 middle boys were extremely undecided. Too bad, it made an extra one which is now in the freezer and will be produced later this month!
Monday night I made Thai Fishcakes which were gorgeous. I’ve got a mental cooking block when it comes to standard potato based fishcakes which I’ve never managed to make successfully. In fact the last lot were so horrid I threw them out before my husband got home and he had cereal for tea! These were YUMMY. Easy to make with a gorgeous slightly sweet / sour dipping sauce that I could have eaten on it’s own. Because my eldest got fed on a playdate, I’ve got a meals worth of these in the freezer to look forward to also.
Tuesday was a storecupboard special for the adults as little ones had been fed at nursery -Grown up beans on toast. These garlicky, salty beans were just yummy on toasted baguette and Mr CW got to take some to work on Wednesday too.
Purple Spouting Broccoli, Anchovy & PastaThis was the meal that I was unsure about for two reasons. One, I didn’t know how tasty it would be and two, would my littlu’ns balk at just pasta with broccoli? I was worrying unnecessarily. They LOVED it with eldest son having thirds and the baby gobbling it up too. A definite winner.
Thursday was Bulgar Wheat & Sardines. I’ve made this one before but I’m always amazed at how tasty it is. I have to say I’m a little squeamish about the bones, but a good dollop of pesto really makes this a flavoursome meal – cheap as chips too.
Tonight (Friday) was planned to be veggie Pizza, but I’d forgotten we’re out for dinner tonight with friends as a joint birthday treat to Newick Park which I’m really looking forward to. So the veggie Pizza is relegated and we’ll have it tomorrow night instead.
Budget: Last weeks grocery shopping came to about £110, but it was my week to do a big shop for cat food, there were a couple of bottles of wine and washing up liquid and washing powder bulk buys too.
Week 2 Meal Plan
4 of the recipes from this week are taken from the April Week 3. Our Sunday lunch forms the basis for our meals on Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday evening, meaning less cooking for me on those evenings (yippee!) And I know that there’s bacon in a couple of the recipes, but as I said last week as long as meat doesn’t form the main ingredient in the dish, then that’s acceptable.
- Saturday: Veggie Pizza
- Sunday: Smoked Haddock, Peas, Bacon with Jacket Potatoes & Mustard Cabbage (similar recipe here)
- Monday: Fish Pie (using leftover haddock from Sunday)
- Tuesday: Stuffed Baked Potatoes with spinach, bacon & cheese (using leftover jacket potatoes)
- Wednesday: Pasta with bacon, pea and parmesan (bacon and pea sauce left over from Sunday)
- Thursday: will be ‘freezer surprise’, in this case, the Thai fishcakes from last week.
If you’re following me, why not join in and let me know what you think? Or if you’ve got any favourite meat free recipe’s you’d like to share, please feel free.
Tags: budget, meal planning, meat-free March, veggie meal planning
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March 1st, 2010
 Lemon Butternut Squash Lasagne OK, I know March doesn’t officially start until tomorrow but it falls within the same shopping week at our house, so this is the first of our ‘Meat-free March’ recipes.
This Lemon Butternut Lasagne recipe is adapted from The Kitchen Revolution, and makes enough for 2 lasagne, each feeding 4 people generously. The second one freezes well, simply defrost and cook as per the original lasagne.
Although the recipe states that prep for this takes 30 mins, and 30 mins cooking, I found it took me much longer to prep, more like an hour including washing up. And believe me, it makes a LOT of washing up. All in all, this isn’t a mid-week supper but is perfect if you’re entertaining as you can prepare it all well in advance and then just pop in the oven.
Ingredients
2 medium butternut lasagne approx 1.6kg
1.6kg leeks
2 lemons
2 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs sage (I couldn’t get any fresh, so used 2 tsps dried)
375g mozzarella
170g parmesan
75g pine nuts
2 tbsp olive oil
20 g butter
500g ricotta
300g mascarpone or creme fraiche
a little milk
10 sheets lasagne (approx 300g)
salt and pepper
Method
- Peel, deseed and cut the squash into 1cm slices
- Cook in your biggest saucepan in boiling, salted water for 3 mins
- Wash and finely slice the leeks
- After 3 mins add the leeks to the squash and cook for a further 6 – 8 mins, until the leeks are soft and squash is collapsing
- Preheat your oven to 200c / 400f/ Gas Mark 6
- While leeks are cooking, zest both lemons and juice one of them. Strip the thyme leaves and sage leaves and chop the sage leaves if using. Roughly grate the mozzarella and finely grate the parmesan. If the pine nuts aren’t already toasted, toast them in a pan, or in the oven briefly – watch them carefully, they burn easily!
- When the leeks and squash is cooked, drain them well, then toss the leek and squash mixture with the butter,oil and herbs. Season well. Add the lemon juice and zest, mozzarella & 1/3 of the parmesan.
- Cook your lasagne sheets as per packet instructions, refresh with cold water and set aside.
- Next make your ricotta mixture. Combine the ricotta, mascarpone and a little milk if necessary to get to dropping consistency. Stir in another 1/3 of the parmesan.
- Now you can assemble the lasagne. Put a quarter of the squash / leek mix in the bottom of each lasagne dish. Sprinkle with pine nuts, and add a layer of your cooked lasagne sheets. Then add a layer of your ricotta mixture. Repeat once more, finishing with a layer of ricotta on top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 of the parmesan to finish.
- Set one lasagne aside to cool, put the other in the oven for 30 mins until the top is golden and a knife in the centre meets no resistance. Serve with spinach or other green veg.
Apologies that I don’t have a ‘cooked’ pic for you, but realised after we’d finished eating that I didn’t have the card in the camera, doh.
The Verdict?
I loved this as did my H. My lovely 15 month old really enjoyed it, my no1 son evetually ate it, but pronounced it ‘disgusting’ (he is 5 years old and anything aside from chips and fish fingers is ‘disgusting’ at the mo). No 2 son point blank refused to touch it. But – the majority of us liked it so it’s a winner!
Tags: lemon butternut squash lasagne recipe; lemon butternut squash lasagne, meat free recipes; vegetarian dinner party recipes
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February 25th, 2010
I’m so completely over winter and I’m sick of eating casserole type things, particularly meaty casseroles. There’s no doubt that it’s handy to defrost a bag of spag bol, or beef stew and have a swift instant supper, but I’m yearning for the lighter, brighter summer meals and lovely salads of July and August. We’re stuck in a rut of meatballs and tagines, and I’ve decided enough is enough.
Although we do eat veggie meals 2 – 3 times a week, I know that there’s a lot to be said for cutting down on the amount of meat we eat and increasing the amount of veg. And that’s not just from a health perspective. From an environmental point, eating less meat, but making that sustainably farmed meat, rather than factory reared is the way forward.
 Mackeral & Bulgar Wheat Salad (www.mostlyeating.com) So, during March, I’ve decided to reinvent dinnertimes at our house. We’ll be going (mainly) meat-free in an effort to find some great new family meals that can be made swiftly, and that everyone likes (yeah, right, with a fussy 5 year old and a contrary two year old to please that’s a joke!) I say mainly meat-free because some of the lovely fish recipes I’ve got use a little bacon – but as long as meat isn’t the focus of the meal then that seems reasonable.
A lot of the recipes I’m going to be using are from The Kitchen Revolution, including the Thai Fishcakes which are on my menu for this week.
If you fancy joining me, I’ll post my menu here every Thursday on the website (with links to similar recipes if possible). I’m also going to track how much my shopping costs to see if I save money and will also, most importantly post feedback on each meal as the majority of them are going to be new dishes.
My menu plan for w/c 28th Feb is as follows:
If you’re interested in trying a ‘Meat Free March’ yourself, or if you’ve got any veggie / fish recipes that you’ve tried yourself and would like to share, then feel free!
Tags: meat-free meals, vegetarian meals
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February 16th, 2010
It’s all Nigella Lawson’s fault. Yes, she of the ‘Midnight Feast, licking fingers in your jammies’ fame. In her ‘How to Eat’ book, under the admittedly small section on healthier foods, she uses the term ‘Temple Food’. For me, this translates as food that is healthy, easy to prepare but most of all tasty!
For some reason, in my house, these things are mostly Thai related. I think it’s the combination of zingy lime, spicy chilli and pungent fish sauce that grabs your tastebuds and shakes them until they explode. We usually end up eating this on a Tuesday evening, especially if we’ve had a roast chicken on a Sunday and I’ve managed to make some stock. That doesn’t always happen though, but a stock cube does the job pretty well.
If the kids are eating with us, I’ll do 2 slightly different versions, one without the lime and chilli. One of the reasons I love this is that the recipe is so flexible. I can use whatever I have to hand as long as I’ve got noodles and decent chicken stock.
 Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
- Leftover chicken
- Chicken stock (allow 300ml per person)
- Egg Noodles (1 ‘nest’ per person)
- Garlic, 1 or 2 cloves
- Chilli to taste (I often use the jarred ‘easy’ chilli)
- 1 or 2 Limes
- 2 tbs fish sauce
- Parsley or Coriander (I’ve just discovered frozen coriander which is perfect for this)
- Beans. I use tinned butter beans or frozen soya beans, whatever I have to hand
- Veg of some sort. Cherry Tomatoes, Pak Choi and Spinach all work well.
Method:
- Chuck everything aside from the noodles and beans in the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes add the noodles and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve…with extra coriander on top if you have some around.
- This produces a slurpy noodle type soup. If you want a more broth-y soup, cook the noodles separately and just add them at the end.
If you’ve got a ‘Temple Food’ type recipe that you’d like to share, I’d LOVE to hear about it!
Tags: leftover chicken recipe, temple food recipe, thai chicken noodle soup recipe
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January 25th, 2010
My parents have just been to stay for a week which has been brilliant. Because they live in N Ireland, they generally come to stay for at least a few days at a time, which means that although they can’t help out on a day to day basis, when they do come, we get a chance to properly catch up.
This time, while my parents entertained the kids, I took the time to make some Marmalade. The recipe I used takes a while but makes amazing Marmalade. I spread the process over two days which was fine for me, but you can do it all in a day. The recipe I used is adapted from ‘The Ballymaloe Cookery Course’ by Darina Allen.
Ingredients
- 4 lbs Seville (Marmalade) oranges
- 8 lbs Sugar
- 8 pints water
- 1 VERY large saucepan (mine is a 10 litre saucepan)
- mesh bag
(These quantites can be scaled up or down easily. Just remember that for each lb of oranges, you need 2lb sugar and 2 pints of water. And a bigger saucepan!)
Method
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Put the whole oranges and water into a saucepan, weighing the oranges down with a plate so that they are submerged
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Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2 hours until oranges are soft and liquid is reduced by half
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Leave oranges until cool enough to handle (overnight is fine)
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Remove oranges from liquid and scoop out the inside flesh – leave flesh to drop in a colander over your saucepan to catch any juice. Place pips inside a mesh bag or muslin. I used a Cheeky Wipes mesh bag which worked perfectly.
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Finely slice orange peel (this works best with a sharp knife – the food processor made it too squelchy)
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Bin the remaining orange flesh.
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Place orange peel and bag with pips into the saucepan and bring back to boil
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While this is heating, warm the sugar on a baking tray for 10 mins at 180c
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When the orang mixture has come to the boil and the sugar is warmed, add sugar to the mix
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Boil until set (you’ll know when you’ve reached setting point by placing 1tsp of the marmalade on a plate and putting it in the fridge & waiting for 5 mins. When you take it out, run your finger over the surface and if it wrinkes, it has reached setting point).
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Pot the marmalade into sterilised jars (5 mins at 180c oven). Close while warm.
This made about 11 – 12 jars of Marmalade, so loads to save and share! As always if you try this recipe, please let me know how you get on, leave a comment on my facebook page.
Tags: marmalade recipe
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January 12th, 2010
I saw a review of a Lakeland yogurt maker before Christmas and for a fleeting moment I considered buying one until I thought of my husbands reaction to another kitchen gadget.
The reason I even considered it for a milli-second was that until then, the one time I tried to make yogurt it wasn’t a success. At all. Far from the delicious greek style delicacy I had imagined, I got a yucky runny mixture which was far from pleasant. I binned the lot needless to say.
At Christmas I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Darina Allens Forgotten Skills of Cookery which amongst other things has a recipe for Yogurt. So at the weekend while we were snowed in, I gave it a try and the result was yummy, thick, creamy yogurt which is gorgeous with honey and granola. (You can tell I’m trying to break my Christmas sweet tooth, so have switched to yogurt for my evening treat!) I’ve tweaked the recipe slightly to make a smaller amount and I also use a thermos flask for ‘ripening’ the yogurt.
Ingredients
- 1 litre milk
- 150ml double cream (gives richness and thickness, but not totally necessary)
- 2 big tablespoons of the freshest ‘live’ natural yogurt you can find. (using not so fresh yogurt can result in slimy end result)
Method
- Heat milk to boiling point, then reduce heat and simmer until volume is reduced to around 650ml
- Take milk off heat and add double cream
- Let milk cool until temperature is (ideally) 40 – 42c. If you don’t have a thermometer you can test by sticking a clean finger into the milk. If you can hold for a count of 10 it’s about right. Too cold (under 40c) or too hot (over 60c) and it won’t work
- Add the yogurt, then immediately transfer to a pre-heated thermos flask
- Leave overnight and then you’ll have lovely thick creamy yogurt in the morning!
Please do try this, it’s fantastic and very satisfying to make. I’d love to hear what you think if you do try it?
Tags: yogurt recipe
Posted in Green Living, Recipes | 5 Comments »
December 19th, 2009
Like most people, I’ve got lots of family to catch up with over Christmas which involves a bit of tact and political manouevering to arrange. This year, we’ll see my parents for Christmas day itself and given that my Mum LOVES christmas and her house is like Santa’s grotto, my kids will have a whale of a time! So this weekend I’m seeing my sis, her partner and stepson on Saturday and on Sunday the outlaws, H’s sis and husband to be and H’s uncle are coming. It will be a hectic weekend but I’ve tried to do as much as possible in advance to avoid last minute panic.
Saturday will be easier as my sis is bringing Spag Bol and I just have to do garlic bread and desserts. 3 desserts mind you as we have to do enough for Sunday too, but luckily (?) H has offered to make a trifle on Saturday morning – and yes, that is pigs you see flying merrily high up into the sky. As he needs lots of egg yolks for his trifle custard, we’ll be doing a Pavlova and choc mousse cake too. Not too calorie laden at all…
On Sunday, we’re doing a full 5 course ’show-off’ menu:
- Pre-starter: Pea Soup Shot & Parmesan Crisp
- Starter: Homemade Gravadlax & Wheaten Bread / Chicken Liver Pate
- Main Course: Duck Crown with Sour Cherry Sauce, Roast Potatoes & Veg
- Pre-Dessert: Mulled Wine Sorbet
- Dessert: Choice of trifle, pavlova or choc fest
Although this sounds like loads of hassle, the pea soup, gravadlax, pate and mulled wine sorbet are already made and frozen, so it’s really only the roast duck that I have to do on Sunday, so it should be straightforward. And thinking about it, I might skip the pre-dessert and just offer the mulled wine sorbet as a dessert option as everyone will be full anyway. Here’s the recipe for those of you who’d like to try it (it needs a good bit of chilling and then freezing time too, so aim to make it the day before you need it).
Ingredients
- 175ml boiling water
- 175g caster sugar
- 1 orange
- 1 1/2 lemons
- 3 cloves
- 5cm piece cinnamon bark
- grating of nutmeg
Method
- Make sugar syrup by adding sugar to boiling water and stirring until dissolved. Refrigerate
- Add red wine, orange zest & juice, lemon zest & juice, cinnamon & nutmeg to a pan. Bring to boiling point
- Refrigerate red wine mix until cold
- Add sugar syrup and red wine mix and then add to ice cream machine, or still freeze (this means putting mix into a plastic box and freezing, taking from freezer twice at hourly intervals to mash up with a fork)
- Add egg white to Ice Cream machine / freezer box and freeze again
This is just lovely, really refreshing, can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks of it!
Tags: home-made christmas
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