Menu Plan for 19/05/13 - 25/05/13

We're having people over for dinner on Sunday, so we will be having dessert as well. I've tried to use some of the leftovers from the freezer as well as trying to be keep the costs of the food down as well. I've tried to also balance out the type of food that we are having to incorporate some fish, meat and vegetables into our diet.

The boyfriend again will be having mackerel soup for 4 days this week. I do expect to have some leftovers from this week. Some of which will be taken in for lunches and some for the freezer.

Meal Plan 19/05/13 - 25/05/13

kidney bean burgers, pitta bread, avocado & bacon salad, banana chocolate souffle

Lamb steak fajitas

Chicken & bean enchiladas

Warm new potato and smoked mackerel salad 

Kidney bean burgers and potatoes / rice

Quinoa, feta cheese, chicken and pepper salad

Peppers, bean and chilli spaghetti

Shopping List

New potatoes £1.40

Pitta bread £2.00

Milk 4 pints £1.00

Apples (0.67 kg) £1.31

Bananas (2.04 kg) £1.38

Fahita seasoning £0.50

Large tortillas £1.00

Warburton newburn gf wraps - Tesco £3.10 *

Frozen mixed sliced peppers £1.00

Garlic £0.30

Smart price sweetcorn £0.32

Mature cheddar (300 g) £2.00

Soured cream (150 ml) £0.60

Smart price passata £0.29

Cooking bacon £0.81

Chopped tomatoes x 2 £0.78

Mushroom (250 g) £0.79

Carrots x 2 (approx 0.22 kg) £0.17

Crème fraiche £1.10

Heinz vegetable soup  * 4 £2.96

Asda mackerel * 4 £3.40

Satsumas £2.00

Horseradish cream £0.66

Lemon £0.27

Watercress £1.00

Smoked mackerel fillets £2.00

Cereal £2.48

Sliced ham £4.00

Lettuce £1.00

Cinnamon £0.62 ** to stock the spice rack up as ours had ran out

Onion £1.00

Kidney bean x 5 £1.35

Pitta bread £0.60

Avocado £1.00

Watercress, spinach, rocket and red chard salad £1.50

cherry tomatoes (350 g) £1.00

Total 46.69

The above are all based on Asda prices (verified on asda.com), all correct at the time of publishing. Items purchased from other stores are indicated above above, which were also correct at the time of publishing.

Store cupboard & freezer leftovers: rice, cornflakes, frozen peas, risotto rice, chicken, spaghetti

Asparagus, Goats Cheese & Bacon Frittata

So tonight's meal was supposed to be goats cheese and asparagus frittata, but we had a few leftovers in the fridge so decided to use these up as well. That's the great thing about frittata, you can pretty much use up everything you have left and it will taste good.

To say this meal was pretty inexpensive and used up some of the leftovers in the fridge, it was really tasty. It had a great flavour to it and I enjoyed the vegetables. Any excuse to have asparagus ;-) .

Now cheese is something I really love, particularly the soft type like Brie. I could literally eat this all day, which is why I don't tend to eat it often so I don't get carried away. 

Serves 3 - 4

Ingredients:

• 6 Eggs, beaten
• Small amount of milk
• 1 small bunch of asparagus, blanched
• 1 pack of tenderstem broccoli, boiled and cooked through
• 100 g french goats cheese, chopped into cubes
• 100 g mature cheddar cheese, chopped into cubes
• 100 g bacon
• Salt and Pepper
• 100 g mushrooms, sliced
• Knob of butter

Method

1. Melt the butter in a medium frying pan
2. Fry the mushrooms and bacon in the pan, until the bacon starts to cook through and any of the water from the bacon has started to evaporate.
3. Add the asparagus and broccoli to the pan.
4. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the vegetables, season and cook a little.
5. Add the cubes of cheese on top of the eggs.
6. Heat the grill up to a medium - high heat, put the pan under and cook for about 5 minutes until its cooked through and starting to brown.

Mushroom and Bacon Risotto

This is a meal that I made at the weekend. I love risotto and to be honest this was quite an easy one,  it was also just what I needed on Saturday night after having a cheeky slice of banana bread in the afternoon. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 150 g of risotto rice
• Knob of butter 
• Approx 500 ml of vegetable stock (be sure to check it's gluten free)
• Approx 50  - 80 g of cooking bacon
• Grated hard cheese
• 125 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp of dried parsley
• Glug of oil (optional)

Method:

1. Melt the butter on a medium heat in a sauce pan. Cook the bacon for a couple of minutes until the bacon starts to cook through, then add the mushrooms. Cook for a few more minutes until the mushrooms start to cook through.
2. If the pan is a little dry then add a little oil to the pan. Add the rice to the pan and coat with the oil / butter.
3. Start to add the vegetable stock to the pan a ladle by ladle, until the stock has completely evaporated.  Add the parsley and keep on adding the stock until the rice is cooked through. 
4.  I sprinkled some of the grated hard cheese onto the risotto and stirred through. I then sprinkled a little bit more on the top.

Notes: I would normally add a handful or chopped fresh parsley rather than dried.

Turkey, Avocado and Bacon Salad

We both love salads when the weather isn't quite as cold, I know today has not been the best example of this with the windy and rainy weather that we've had (at least here in South Yorkshire anyway). We also cooked a full turkey leg yesterday for a Sunday roast, so are making the most of the leftovers.

Serves 2 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bag mixed leaf salad (mine had watercress, rocket and chard)
• A few leaves of iceberg lettuce, torn off and ripped into small pieces.
• 1 handful of of chopped tomatoes
• Leftover cooked turkey 1 - 2 cups
• 1 avocado, stoned, peeled and sliced
• Approx 100 g of cooking bacon

Method:

1. Fry the bacon and add the turkey to the pan if you prefer it warm.
2. Share the rest of the salad ingredients between the 2 plates, then add the bacon and turkey.

We served ours with honey & mustard dressing.

I thought I'd put the method for this up, but it was really simple. This was just what I needed after a long day at work and it tasted really good. I did follow it by a slice of banana bread though..... oops!

Meal Plan 12/05/13 - 18/05/13

We will be using the turkey from the freezer for some of this weeks meals. I'm also starting to have a few more salads now that the weather isn't quite as cold and we have the odd warm day here and there. 

My boyfriend will not be eating with me on  4 to 5 nights this week, as he's eating some mackerel soup concoction. I'll be cooking my meals as usual, any leftovers that are not taken in for lunches for work will be frozen. This will mean that on days where I don't feel like cooking, I will be able to have a quick meal.

Meal Plan 12/05/13 - 18/05/13

Roast Turkey Dinner with Mashed Potato, Carrots, Cabbage and Broccoli

Turkey, Bacon and Avocado Salad

Turkey Soup

Jacket Potatoes with Tuna Sweetcorn Mayonnaise

Turkey, Bacon and Avocado Salad

Asparagus and Goats Cheese Frittata

Goats Cheese and Leek Risotto

Shopping List 

Sweetcorn £0.60

Soup £3.89

Mackerel £4.25

Allinson white bread flour (3 kg) £2.00

Wholemeal seed and grain bread flour 1 kg £1.38

Milk 4 pints £1.00

Organic cornflakes £1.48

Cereals weetos £2.00

Satsumas £2.00

GF Ciabatta £2.00

Green Cabbage £0.80

Trimmed leek  (2 - 0.520 kg) £1.28

Lettuce £1.00

Garlic £0.30

Onions £1.00

Casserole veg £1.20

Carrots (0.335 kg) £1.00

Asparagus £1.00

Avocado x 2 £2.00

Jacket potato (0.275 kg) £0.36

Mixed salad £1.20

Red onion (0.130 kg) £0.10

Bananas (1.095 kg) £0.74

Reduced Broccoli £0.72

Bisto best chicken gravy £1.89

Cooking bacon £0.81

Extra mature cheddar cheese (350 g) £2.00

Goats cheese (100 g) £1.14

Cherry tomatoes £1.00

Cooked Ham £4.00

Smart Price Grapes £1.45

15 Smart Price Eggs £1.34

Sugar £0.88

Pepper corns £2.38

Total £50.19

Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Eggs, Bacon

Lunches: Sandwiches, Leftovers, Salad

Leftovers from previous week: potatoes, porridge, risotto rice, non gluten free bread for the boyfriend, gluten free spaghetti, tuna.

The shopping bill came to a little more than I wanted it to, but I've decided to start making the most of the bread maker and to make home made bread, so we've stocked up on bread flour. The shopping was a bit more than I would have wanted, but there will be leftovers for the freezer and to take into work.

Gluten Free Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

I was given a bread maker a few weeks ago and it's been sat in the cupboard ever since. I thought I'd make use of it today as I had the urge to re-attempt gluten free bread today, which to be honest I think turned out pretty well. I just couldn't leave it long enough to cool before having a slice! I'm going to test it out tomorrow again to see what the taste and texture is like the next day. I will be blogging soon about my latest gluten free bread attempt.

Another thing that I have been wanting to try for some time is banana bread. We had some ripe bananas that needed using up, so I decided I would give this a try too. 

The texture and taste of the banana bread were really good and the chocolate chips in there just made it even better. Another good thing about this recipe is that it has no eggs in. I had some milled flaxseed in the cupboard and as I'd run out of eggs, I decided to follow this recipe. I'm really glad I did and wouldn't hesitate to do this again.

You can find the recipe that I used here.

I'm definitely going to have another go making banana bread, next time though I think I might put some chopped pecans in instead of the chocolate chips. 

I'm really going to enjoy this for breakfast in the morning, although I may have had a cheeky slice when it was still warm from the oven ;-)

Gluten Free Bacon, Pea and Tomato Spaghetti

It's been a bit of a hectic week at work this week, so I think I was having a moment when I made this pasta. It was supposed to be with mushrooms, but to be honest it worked just as well with the peas. 

It was a very quick tomato pasta, made with gluten free spaghetti. 

Ingredients:

• 100 g gluten free spaghetti
• 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of chilli powder (or to taste)
• Approx 80g of cooking bacon
• 1 handful of frozen peas
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Fry the bacon on a medium heat. 
2. In the meantime cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet.
3. Add the tomatoes, chilli, paprika, salt and pepper to the pan. Continue to cook and reduce down while the spaghetti continues to cook.
4. Add the peas at the end of the cooking time, add the cooked spaghetti.

This meal was fairly cheap and very quick and easy to make. It will be made again, but I do normally prefer to reduce my tomato sauce down more than I did here. It will be made again, but probably tweaked a little.