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♥ Monday – Chicken Pad Thai
♥ Tuesday – Sea Bass with Vanilla Butter & Brussel Sprouts w/ Bacon
♥ Wednesday – Pizza night
♥ Thursday – Out/ Takeaway?
♥ Friday – Heston’s Carbonara
♥ Saturday – Lemony pasta w/ poached eggs
♥ Sunday – Seared Beef w/ Soba Noodle Salad
As I mentioned last week I’ve asked Mr Monkey to go through his copy of “Heston Blumenthal At Home” and pick a few meals for me to try. Although they are all fantastic recipes, a few were a bit too involved for me – mostly slow cooking or longer recipes. Still, I managed to choose two recipes that look great.
Today we have Lily’s swimming lesson in the morning, which my parents are coming to watch. After that we don’t have many plans and I’m not sure how long my parents are staying. I’ve planned to make a Chicken Pad Thai with a kit that Mr Monkey bought me from Thailand, but as it is only 2 serves it will depend if my parents are staying for dinner. If they are, I’ll either cook up a chicken risotto or we’ll get takeaway or go to the pub.
Tuesday is grocery day and Mr Monkey is working all day. I’ll pick up some fish while doing the groceries (not sure if I will get Sea Bass) and quickly make up some vanilla butter (simply mix vanilla paste through softened butter). I did some fruit and vegetable shopping on Saturday and was able to pick up some Brussels sprouts. I’m not a huge Brussels sprout fan but Mr Monkey cooked them for me one night (in lots and lots of butter) and they were quite yummy so I thought I’d give the Heston recipe a go. He recommends to separate the leaves so that they don’t over cook and become mushy.
Wednesday will probably be spent doing housework and then the delightful Amy is coming over after work for a pizza and movie night. I can’t wait! It’s been way too long between gossip sessions.
Thursday is Australia Day and at this stage Mr Monkey actually has the day off. My Dad has to work in the morning and then after that he and my Mum are coming up to go to the celebrations in the park across the road from our house. I haven’t planned anything for dinner that night as we will probably just head to the pub or get some takeaway in the park.
Not much planned from Friday to Sunday except for some yummy meals. Friday night I’m trialling Heston’s version of a Carbonara.
For the last two meals I looked at the February edition of The Healthy Food Guide. This is a great magazine with tips for a healthier lifestyle, the latest in health news and simple, healthy recipes. I buy it each month and normally use quite a few recipes. And no, I haven’t been asked to write this and most definitely haven’t been paid to write this. I am simply a big fan of the magazine.
So Saturday is a simple Lemony Pasta with Poached Eggs. It’s our vegetarian meal for the week and I haven’t actually cooked poached eggs before so it should be interesting.
Sunday is a Seared Beef with a Soba Noodle Salad. Sounds good! It includes asparagus & radishes which I’ve never really liked but I thought I’d give them another go.
Another great idea I got from this HFG is their “10 Ingredients = 20 Lunches.” I find lunches very difficult – sandwiches get old quickly, I normally want something that is quick yet tasty and it’s hard to do that with Lily underfoot, or trying to take a break from housework. This is a really simple yet really helpful guide to using just 10 core ingredients to make 20 different simple lunches that can be made at work or at home.
The core ingredients are:
♥Canned tuna in spring water
♥eggs
♥reduced-fat cheese
♥baby spinach or rocket
♥tomatoes
♥potatoes
♥wholemeal pita bread
♥no-added-salt four bean mix
♥green onions
♥avocado
The meals that can then be made from these are:
♥Cheese & Bean baked potato
♥Pita Pocket w/ tuna, baby spinach, tomato & avocado
♥Bean and cheese quesadilla
♥Tuna, spinach, avocado & egg salad
♥Toasted pita chips with dip
♥Grilled cheese and tomato pita toasties
♥Savoury potato and tuna stack
♥Pita pocket w/ beans, avocado and tomato
♥Tuna and potato salad
♥Tuna nicoise salad w/ croutons
♥Salmon and spinach frittata
♥Eggs w/ potato pancakes
♥Tomato and cheese omelette
♥Poached eggs on pita with grilled tomatoes and spinach
♥Vegie scrambled eggs
♥bean and cheese nachos
♥Potato wedges with tuna and tomato salsa
♥Tuna melt with green salad
♥Boiled egg with cheese and tomate toasties
♥Salmon “shepherd’s pie”
I’m sure this seems really simple to other people but for me, this list is fantastic! I don’t have to think about what I could make, I just need to have the ingredients in the fridge and the list of meals on my fridge. Of course, I won’t need all 20 meals but this way I can pick and choose which ones I feel like on the day.
I’m looking forward to trying this idea and I will let you know how it goes!
What do you have planned for this week? And do you find it hard to think of lunches?
