Monday Evening Quickie

Its been a long cold day today at work we have been perished. 

Unusually for me there seems to be a method to my madness when it comes to meals this week.  I am a simple plain cook but for me the food has to be all about the flavour and you can make a meal very tasty with just a few bits and bobs.

Monday

After the lovely bit of brisket yesterday there was no meat left and I had some stir fry beef strips and some veggies that needed using up.  I had a sweet and sour sauce and did some rice in the microwave and then added some stem ginger in syrup with some extra veggies plus some spiral butternut squash and I must say it went down really well.  There was only a little bit of meat  but the veggies made it go that much further.  It was very tasty and a healthy filling meal and light.  I also added some sesame seeds to the mix.

I had some more strudel and custard to finish off and it all went down very well

Tuesday night

Tomorrow night we have a roast chicken with veggies and mashed potato. I managed to get the chicken reduced to £3 and it is a large chicken. Any chicken left will be used for chicken and salad wraps for work with some chilli sauce.  The carcass can go for making stock for soup and if we get overwhelmed with it, I shall freeze it and make a different variety that way I am creating a stockpile which are easily retrievable mid week to give a nice warming starter or equally yet again can be taken to work and pinged in the microwave.  I am a great believer in having plenty of veggies to hand especially the root vegetables, leeks, onion and garlic but I also like my greens like broccoli, flowering broccoli, spring greens or cabbage, Cavalo nero, kale.  You can use them in so many different ways, Quiches and flans with cheese and peppers the combination is up to you.  I am quite fond of having Quiche or flan served hot with a side salad

Wednesday night

It will be stew in the slow cooker with some hunks of bread for dipping up the juice or gravy served with Champ.

Thursday night

Toad in the Hole - I have some nice sausages and all I have to do is make some gravy, it has to be onion gravy with sausages (and they have to be good sausages with plenty of flavour).  I cook the toad in the hole and serve with mash and shredded cabbage.  Yorkshire pudding is a great filler.  I quite frequently use a sponge flan tin and make large individual toads and then the Yorkshire acts like a bowl (obviously you put it on a plate) but the Yorkshire is filled with the sausage, gravy, mash and veggies with lashings of gravy.

Friday Night

Another Stir fry its a good way of using up bits and bobs and I do not want to be wasteful so whatever I have spare will be used.

Saturday Night

Pasta and Bolognese sauce.  I managed to pick up two trays of reduced mince which I can turn into a Bolognese sauce, make a Lasagne with or make meatballs.  After all I have plenty of Passata and tomato sauce now 

Freezer

Bubble and Squeak Cakes

I have some sprouting broccoli to cook up and steam and will make up a batch of mashed potato to do bubble and squeak cakes for the freezer. 

Home Made Soup and Stock

I also want to make some different soups and also put some stock down for gravies etc. 

Cauliflower Cheese

Come Saturday I will look to get hold of some reasonably priced cauliflower and then do a couple of batches of cauliflower or cauliflower and broccoli cheese which can instantly be brought out for meals.  I have some little metal trays with lids in which to store them.

Quiches and Flans

Another week I intend to do some Quiches/Flans and batch prepare them so that we have something different for the table.

Pies

And another week I intend to make some meat pies and also some fruit pies for pudding.

A quickie pud to make if I have remembered to get out the puff pastry is a  Tarte tatin.  Now that is very tasty especially if served with custard.

Lots of plans now need to get them popped into action.  A Saturday is the best day for me to do things like this as you can really get stuck in.

But every little bit you do yourself keeps the wolf from the door and gives your family the best quality food you can afford.

For the wraps this week I have bought some salad leaves in but once I get mum's heated propagator home I will probably start a kitchen window sill growing section just for leaves as per my Internet Friend Dawn from "Doing It For Ourselves" does.  Dawn can be found here:

http://doingitforourselfs.blogspot.co.uk/

Right upwards and onwards.

Take care and keep warm wherever you are its meant to be a real cold one tonight.

Pattypan

Keeping your appetite interested and not boring it half to death is half the battle but colour and taste to me are everything

Cottage Pie served on its own