Domestic Goddess Talks Food. So what's new?!

Categories: life-in-general

Tags: Food

Date: 30 October 2009 12:43:28

I was paddling in t'internet and came across a site called "Dine without Whine" which encourages you  to fork out a "small" monthly fee  to receive, each week, a week's menus plus shopping list and recipes. I suppose it is a vaguely good idea, as, according to the site, "An average home manager" spends one and a half hours a week planning their food/shopping list. Really?! I do mine in about half an hour on a slow day. So, for those of you out there who feel in need of such a service, I have decided to offer you my weekly menus. Mouse Without Grouse, perhaps?! If you fancy the dishes, you can ask me for the recipes. You can sort out your own shopping lists!

Mind you, I am so bad at remembering things, this may be the only time you get Mouse Without Grouse.... Note, I go shopping on a Wednesday afternoon, so my menus run Wednesday to Tuesday.

Wednesday: Lunch: It's getting near shopping, so this is a "Bit Lunch" - see what bits are in the fridge and use them up.                                                                                                                                         Dinner: Mozzarella Pesto Pasta with left over chicken from Sunday. (also used in Monday's Leek & Chicken Pilaf and Tuesday's Chicken and vegetable soup.) Because I teach until 6.00 and don't get home much before 6.45 this is Mr D's cooking night. It doesn't need to be an easy recipe, but I think he prefes it if it is!                                                                                                            

Thursday: Lunch: I'm teaching some distance away, until 1.00, so I'm taking sandwiches and having a picnic. So: Tuna sandwiches with cherry tomatoes on the side, banana, dried apricots and a caramel wafer.                                                                                                                                            Dinner: Sweet chilli burgers, Slimming World oven chips and salad.

Friday: Lunch: Pizza. More precisely Flammenkuchen, bought from Aldi. Served with salad.                                                                                                                                                                             Dinner: Aubergine Parmigiano. And mushrooms, because I've bought quite a lot and they're going shrivelled.

Saturday:Lunch:Jacket potato, beans and cheese. Saturday's Mr D's cycling day so he needs a good carbo lunch                                                                                                                                                         Dinner:Devilled sausages, sweet potato mash and roast vegetables

Sunday:Lunch: felafels and cucumber & yoghurt dip plus chilli jam. And tomato salad.         Dinner: Boozy beef casserole, gratin dauphinoise and more roast vegetables (I'm hoping there'll be some left over from yesterday, so I don't have to cook any more!)

Monday:Lunch: Carrot soup (I overestimated when I bought carrots last week. They really do need using up pronto.) and pork rillette sarnies. I'm working till 12.30 so won't get home till 1.45 ish. So sarnies are the easiest.                                                                                                                           Dinner: Spanish chicken - a one-pot dish includng rice, tomatoes and peppers. Maybe I'll include some carrots as a side, but it probably includes 2 vegetable portions, so it mightn't need it.

Tuesday:Lunch: Probably the same as yesterday. Imagination deserts me occasionally!        Dinner: Pasta and chickpeas. And maybe a salad.

And then we start again! Usually I enjoy thinking of menus, but sometimes inspiration does seem to be sadly lacking, but I have a couple of books where I've stuck in fairly quick to make recipes, so I can dip in there when I need to. Because we live some distance from supermarkets I do a big weekly shop. The local shops are okay, but they are expensive, and we're trying to be more frugal. I won't compromise on meat, and will buy free range chicken and sourced pork/beef wherever I can. So I'm trying to have a few more vegetable based meals and make the meat stretch a tad further. I was pleased with my €7.77 chicken which gave us warm chicken,bacon and avocado sandwiches on Sunday (it was planned to be roast chicken dinner but we were unexpectedly out for lunch and didn't want a roast meal in the evening - but the chicken needed cooking!), the aforementioned chicken-and-leek pilaff, two pots of soup from the stock plus a tasty addition to the pasta.

So, there you are. Domestic Goddess Talks Food!