71/365 Monday Baking

Monday is a busy day for me. After school drop off it's time to get the shopping done, home again to unpack and then get to the weekly baking.  In yesterday's post I shared with you my menu for the week which included what treats I was going to bake.  They both taste delicious and the biscuits pictured despite not having the right amount of brown sugar still turned out beautifully, using raw sugar instead.  I quite like my Monday being full and productive.

70/365 Menu Planning

Sundays are for washing and preparing for the week ahead.  I had big plans today to go and do lots of work in the garden but the weather had other plans for me.  So I got a bit of crocheting done, went to the library, stopped at the craft store for some Easter making supplies, a tiny bit of weeding and menu planning. On the menu this week is

* Chicken, pea and potato curry with naan bread

* Portuguese minced lamb with white beans and rice

* Healthy Meatloaf with vegetables

* Tomato and basil soup

* Roast vegetable pasta

* Vegetable frittata with salad

* Oat and Raisin choc chip cookies

* Coconut, quinoa and pepita slice

231/365

Lovingly grown and picked for dinner.

Spinach and broccoli soup with white bread.

On the menu this week

Every weekend I sit there for sometimes hours planning our menu for the week ahead.  As much as it's not my favourite task to do over the weekend it really does make things much easier.  I don't have to visit the shops as often and I don't have the problem of figuring out last minute what's for dinner.  When I was planning this week I searched by a single ingredient as I had a box of vegetables delivered on Friday and had lots of veggies to use. So here is my menu for the week with links to the recipes I'm using online just in case you need some inspiration too.

∙Bean and spinach korma with basmati rice

∙Carrot, zucchini and sweet potato frittata with salad

∙Pumpkin and broccoli ricotta pasta bake

∙Shepherds pie

∙Roast chicken and vegetables

∙Organic Lamb Sausages and vegetables

∙Banana and cinnamon cupcakes (I used lemon icing)

∙Chewy oat and jam slice

Have you tried any new recipes lately?

On the menu this week

Every Sunday I sit down and write out a menu for the week ahead some weeks the ideas flow other weeks it takes me ages to come up with a list. One of my favourite go to websites would have to be  Taste, we've tried lots of dishes from this site. I find that vegetarian dishes are the most difficult to find but I've found some nice new ones to try this week and I thought I would share just in case you need some inspiration too.

Vegetarian

Roast vegetable soup with rosemary damper

Vegetable macaroni and cheese

Pumpkin and cream pesto risotto

Meat

Mince stroganoff

Chicken curry with soba noodles

Steak burgers

For the lunchbox

Oat and choc chunk cookies

Fruit and coconut slice

What are you cooking in the kitchen this week?

Menu Planning

Over the last couple of weeks while the girls have been on holidays I fell off the menu planning wagon, it's nice to have a bit of a break from the routine. I had a bit of a mental menu plan but I didn't make much of an effort to go out to the shops, it's not one of my favourite jobs at the best of times and not much fun for the girls to do on their holidays either but I do take them if we need to.  As part of my routine I sit down on a Sunday and work out what we'll be eating for the week, three meat dishes, three vegetarian dishes and two lunchbox snacks.  On our menu this week we'll be eating:

●Mince bolognaise with rice (a nice change from pasta)

●Satay chicken with rice and steamed vegetables

●Pizza

●Pumpkin and silverbeet penne

●Quinoa burgers with salad

●Twice baked spinach and broccoli potatoes

*Organic Anzac Biscuits

*Strawberry Banana Oat Muffins

Today I made these organic anzac biscuits for the girls to take to school. I really like using the maple syrup as an alternative to golden syrup, I also liked the fact that they had spelt flour, I like getting as much fibre as I can into our diets.  The website I got the recipe can be found here, and they have lots of other healthy recipes there worth giving a try.

Organic Anzac Biscuits

125g organic butter

2 tablespoons of organic maple syrup (or agave syrup)

1 cup organic spelt flour

1 cup organic rolled oats

1 cup organic desiccated coconut

3/4 cup organic rapadura sugar (I used coconut sugar)

2 tablespoons of water

1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

Options

½ cup organic raw macadamias or any raw nuts chopped

½ cup organic dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 175℃.  Grease or line two baking trays.  Melt the butter and maple syrup together in a saucepan over a low heat.  Mix together the flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.  Stir the water and the bicarbonate of soda into the butter and syrup mixture and then add it to the dry mixture, stir thoroughly.  Stir through macadamia nuts and cranberries if you are adding these (I just added cranberries).  Once combined, spoon mixture into balls.  Place them on the baking trays, spaced well apart.  Bake at 175℃ for about 15 minutes, or until golden.  Cool on wire racks. Enjoy!!

Are you a meal planner? Have you tried any new snack recipes lately?

Food

 Dinner tonight pumpkin and thyme risotto

Yesterday in the car I menu planned for the week, food is always on my mind and it meant one less thing to do when I got home when I was likely to be pretty tired.  With my list I went for my weekly shopping trip today and bought what I needed for the week but there was still nothing in the cupboard for afternoon tea so I made my 'go to' afternoon tea recipe, pikelets.  They are so quick and easy and by now I've got the recipe remembered off by heart.

1 cup self raising flour

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

¾ cup milk

1 egg lightly beaten

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.  Lightly beat the egg and add to the dry ingredients with the milk.  Mix well.  Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto a buttered frying pan.  When mixture bubbles turn over and cook on the other side.  Enjoy with jam and cream.

This is our menu for the week

●Chicken Paella

●Italian Meatballs in tomato and basil sauce

●Macaroni Cheese with salad

●Satay chicken, rice with steamed broccoli

●Pizza

●Pumpkin and Thyme Risotto ( We were meant to have this for dinner Sunday night but were too tired to cook so decided to have any easy dinner, boiled eggs with toast soldiers)

●Vanilla and raspberry cakes

●Cornflake biscuits

●Halva

Do you have a favourite 'go to' recipe when you need to make something quickly?

It was the girls' first day back at school today.  This morning we all got up on time, motivated and ready to start a new term. I love that feeling of enthusiasm for getting things done I hope it hangs around for a while.

Last night I got back into the routine of making a menu and writing a shopping list for today. Over the holidays I didn't worry it was nice for me to have a bit of a break too.  This week we'll be eating...
● roast chicken
● tacos
● tomato and red lentil soup
● lamb pastitsio
● pumpkin and thyme risotto
● chicken and lychees

● carrot cake
● choc chip biscuits
● tricky chocolate truffles

This afternoon I made the truffles, another healthy recipe out of the Feeding Fussy Kids book.  They were easy to make and no cooking required.  Here's the recipe for you just in case you might like to give it a try.

½ cup pitted dates
1 cup sultanas
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup skim milk powder
½ cup desiccated coconut
extra coconut for rolling the logs

Place the dates and sultanas into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
Add the boiling water, blend, then leave the fruit to soak for 10 minutes.
Add the cocoa powder, skim milk powder and the coconut and blend until it forms a firm paste.  Add an extra tablespoon of water if required to bring the dough together.
Divide the mixture in half and roll into 2 long logs.  Refrigerate for 10 minutes until firm.
Remove from the fridge and roll in the extra coconut.
Using a wet knife, carefully cut the logs into 1 cm slices.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

Thanks for stopping by♥

Apple Muffins

Each week when I plan our menu I look for simple and different things to cook and bake.  I went looking back through my old Donna Hay magazines and found a muffin recipe great for school lunch boxes.  The recipe says it makes 12 muffins  but I found it made 24 muffins which means there is plenty for afternoon tea or you could freeze some them for later.

Apple Muffins

¾ cup vegetable oil

1½ cups caster sugar

½ cup milk

3 eggs

¼ cup sour cream

2½ cups self raising flour, sifted

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

⅓ cup rolled oats

1 green apple, grated

extra rolled oats and raw sugar, for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 180℃. Place the oil, caster sugar, milk, eggs and sour cream in a bowl and whisk until smooth.  Place the flour, cinnamon and oats in a bowl and mix to combine.

2. Spoon into 12 greased ½ cup capacity muffin tins (I think mine must have been smaller, maybe ⅓ cup).  Sprinkle with extra oats and raw sugar.  Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

I'm not sure what's on the menu for this week, do you have any yummy lunchbox treat links or ideas? ♡

Vegetable Soup

I recently bought a new vegetarian cookbook,  martha goes green - a vegetarian cookbook, as a way of achieving my goal of cooking more vegetarian meals this year.  The more I eat vegetarian the more I enjoy my nights without eating meat so this week I've sneaked in two vegetarian meals on the menu plan;)  On the menu tonight was Vegetable Soup. (Serves 6-8 * Vegan)


1 small leek
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups diced pumpkin
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs
1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
1 cup green split peas, rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste


Remove ends and outer leaves from leek, half length ways, wash and slice.  Set aside.


Heat oil in a large pot over a medium heat and cook onion and garlic until clear.  Add celery and salt and cook until celery becomes soft.  Add leek and cook for 5 minutes.  Add remaining vegetables, herbs, barley, split peas, stock and water and season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over a medium heat for 45-60 minutes or until vegetables are tender.


Serve chunky, or give a rough blend or mash if a smoother consistency is desired.


Note: If soup is too thick add extra water until a desired consistency is reached.


This recipe results in quite a large yield, however, the recipe can be halved, or the remaining soup can be frozen and reheated at a later date.


It was a really yummy soup, lovely flavours and perfect for the cooler months, plenty of vegetables to help with those nasty colds too.  I hope you enjoy it too.


xo

Menu Monday

Do you sometimes have days where nothing gets done but other days where you are so motivated that you just have to run with things and get lots done? I was having one of those days on Sunday, along with the usual things like ironing and lunches I actually managed to get a menu written for the week and today got the ingredients for it, so hopefully I won't need to visit the shops again this week. Here's my menu:

Monday - Sweet Potato Soup with Chilli Corn Bread
Tuesday - Lamb Rigatoni Bake
Wednesday - Mild Curry of Chicken, Sweet Potatoes and Split Peas
Thursday - Beef and Vegetable Curry
Friday - Leftovers ( Meals frozen from the week)
Saturday - Pizza (Homemade base with toppings)
Sunday - Tacos

It's so much easier having a menu planned out and not having to think about what to cook. Although I have the days planned, if I feel like something else I usually swap things around. So tonight we had the soup and I thought you might like the recipe. It's really simple, tastes lovely and sweet, and perfect for the cold nights we've been having.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
700g sweet potato, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup pouring cream
sea salt and cracked black pepper
1/2 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley leaves

Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and onion and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the sweet potato, stock and maple syrup and cook for 20-25 minutes or until the potato is tender. Use a hand-held blender to blend the soup until smooth. To serve, stir in the cream and top with the salt, pepper and parsley.

Do you menu plan? Have you got any great recipes you like to eat during Winter? I'd love to hear them.

I hope you had a great Monday.