Meal Plan Monday

MONDAY

Spaghetti Bolognese

TUESDAY

Midweek Roast Chicken

WEDNESDAY

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Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Duck Salad, Giant Croutons & Cheats Rice Pudding
(I have searched all over the web. Sadly, this recipe can now only be found in Jamie Oliver's book "Jamie's 30 Minute Meals")

THURSDAY

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Bolonese Pinwheels & Simple Salad

FRIDAY

Eggs Windarra

SATURDAY

Night Out

SUNDAY

Slow Cooker Beef Curry & Steamed Rice

LUNCHBOX

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Instead of making a large cake, divide batter evenly between a 12 hole muffin tin lined with paper cases. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
When cooled, top with frosting and store in the freezer in an airtight container. 

Grandma Smith's Slow Cooked Sweet Beef Curry

Recipe By: Grandma Smith
Serving Size: 6

Ingredients:
500 g chuck steak, cubed
2 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons butter
1 brown onion, diced
1 carrot, sliced
1 green apple, diced
1 tablespoon sultanas
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
500 milliliters beef stock

Directions:
1. Place the flour, curry powder and salt and pepper in a large zip lock bag and shake to combine. Pop the beef pieces in the bag and shake until the beef is coated in the seasoned flour. Set aside

2. Melt butter in a saucepan over a medium heat add the beef (reserving any excess flour) and fry until lightly browned.

3. Add carrot, apple and onion. Cook for about five minutes or until softened. Add sultanas, sugar, lemon juice and stock. Cook for a few minutes until pan is deglazed (all the brown bits come up off the bottom). Add any left over flour to the liquid, stir to combine.

4. Tip all of the mixture into the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours, or until the meat is meltingly tender. Serve with steamed rice.

Grandma Smith's Eggs Windarra

Recipe By: Grandma Smith
Serving Size: 2

Ingredients:
2 eggs, poached or boiled
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon plain (all-purpose) flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons fruit chutney
2 slices bread, toasted

Directions:
1. Prepare eggs to your liking*. Set aside

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add flour  and curry powder, and stir for 30-60 seconds while it bubbles. Turn off the heat. Gradually add the milk, stirring well between additions until smooth. Turn the heat back on and bring to the boil. Allow to bubble for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until nice and thick. Turn off the heat and stir in the chutney.

3. To serve: butter your toast, pop an egg on top (roughly chop the egg if boiled) and top with a generous amount of sauce.

*When I'm poaching, I usually have the sauce finished before the water has boiled! It really is that quick.

Meal Plan Monday

MONDAY

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Roast Chicken with Honey Glazed Carrots, Potatoes & Silverbeet

I've got to be honest, we found the flavours of the ground cumin and coriander a bit overpowering in the vege dish. Far be it from me to think I know better than the great Curtis Stone, but if I were to make this again I would substitute the ginger for some crushed garlic, omit the ground spices and add a little fresh thyme. The chicken however was DELISH!

TUESDAY

Curried Sausages, Creamy Mash & Steamed Seasonal Vegetables

WEDNESDAY

Nachos Supreme - YES, AGAIN!

THURSDAY

Chicken Skewers with Satay Sauce and Stir Fried Vegetables

FRIDAY

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Beef Schnitzels, home made chips & salad

SATURDAY

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Homemade Cherry Tomato & Prosciutto Pizza with Garlic Bread

 TIP: There is nearly 2 hours to wait for the dough to prove (rise), and about 20 minutes cooking time. I use this time to do other things like, put on a load of washing, vacuum, dust (or do nothing at all!) There is only about 30 minutes, if that, of active prep.

SUNDAY

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Thai Red Curry Prawns & Jasmine Rice

This is a Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals recipe. I am totally in love with this book and tend to include at least one or two of these recipes in each fortnight's meal plan. They don't take me 30 minutes, closer to 45 I think, but that is usually for a main, one or two side dishes and a dessert! I have omitted the cucumber side salad and the dessert tonight though.

LUNCHBOX

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Chocolate Slice

TIP: When cooled completely, wrap individual servings in cling wrap, place in a large zip lock bag in the freezer. Take out as required each day to add to lunchboxes.

Curried Sausages

Recipe By: Food.com
Serving Size: 6

Ingredients:
1 kg sausage
2 brown onions, finely sliced
2 1/2 cups Beef Stock, salt reduced
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
1 tablespoon malt vinegar

Directions:
1. Cook the sausages in a large frying pan over a medium low heat, turning frequently. When cooked through, slice and set aside.

2. In the same pan the sausages were cooked in, sauté the onions until soft and slightly transparent. And the flour and stir for around 30 seconds or until combined and slightly brown.

3. Mix together the remaining ingredients in a jug then add to the pot to thicken (about 5-10 minutes). Add the sausages back to the pan to heat through.

4.  Serve with creamy mashed potato and steamed seasonal vegetables.

Getting Ahead {School Lunches}

I will admit, that even with all the systems we now have in place at home, school mornings can be really hectic. So I am always looking for ways to cheat a little more time back.

Making school lunches can be a bit of a chore, so here's a little trick that my mum used when I was in primary school and my brother was a newborn.

MAKE AHEAD SANDWICHES

What you will need

1. Loaf of bread (I have two children and one loaf plus 1 or 2 slices is usually enough)
2. Butter
3. Toppings of choice (see below for suggestions)
4. Sandwich bags

What to Do
(I'm sure I really don't need to give instructions on how to make sandwiches ;) But here is what I do.)

1. Lay out enough"pairs" of pieces of bread for one week's worth of sanwiches
(for us that is 2 kids x 5 days x 2 pieces of bread = 20 slices)

 2. Butter and fill with your choice of toppings. As you can see, polony and sauce is a favourite in our house.

3. Flip the "lids" on and cut into halves or quarters. Pop into sandwich bags and seal. I like to put them in a little storage basket.

4. Put in the freezer. Each morning just take out the number of sandwiches required and pop in the kids lunchboxes. They will be defrosted by the time lunch comes around. Alternatively you could take them out of the freezer the night before.

Suggested Toppings

• Sandwich meats (polony, ham salami, roast beef etc)
• Cheese
• Spreads (Vegemite, honey, jam)
• Condiments (mustard, mayo, relish etc)

Not Recommended

•  Lettuce, tomato, leafy veg etc.

I'm not too concerned with the nutritional  implications of not having veges in the sandwiches as I always include chopped up veg and/or fruit in their lunchboxes (which can be prepared ahead of time also!).

I like to do this on a Saturday or Sunday when I have a few minutes. Imagine how much time could be saved on school mornings if there were three or four or five children in the family??? 

Meal Plan Monday

MONDAY

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Cumin Salt CrustedPork with Braised Buk Choy & Baby Carrots

TUESDAY

Tandoori Butter Chicken with Wilted Baby Spinach

WEDNESDAY

Steak Bearnaise with Home Made Chips & Simple Salad

THURSDAY

Chicken Fettuccine Carbonara

FRIDAY

Cook's Night Off!

SATURDAY

No Packet Tuna Mornay and Creamy Mash

SUNDAY

Chicken Parmegana & Salad

LUNCHBOX

Home Made Muesli Bar Slice