On Plan with my Menus

After rejoining Slimming World, needing to organise myself more, having to tighten our belts a bit financially and just enjoying writing lists, I thought I'd start writing a weekly menu. I always take a shopping list with me to the supermarkets, but it feels more organised making the list from the menu... and sticking to it, I'm hoping this will cut our shopping bills down by a little as well.

Our menu for the week was

Tuesday: Bolognese, pasta, cottage cheese and peas

 It was really filling and didn't take long to make (and there's bolognese in the freezer for next week too).



Wednesday: Burgers (from Slimming World), chips made in the actifry (with lots of paprika) and some salad

 Again, it was nice and easy, all I had to do was peel and chip the potatoes.



Thursday: Baked potatoes with cottage cheese, sweetcorn, chinese flavoured chop and salad

I think this was my favourite meal this week, so will probably be repeated next week.



Friday:  Cottage pie with a sweet potato topping and runner beans

Saturday: Vegetable Boulangere with gammon, sweetcorn and watercress

The idea for the Boulangere was from the Slimming World magazine and I've put the method after the menu.



Sunday: Corned Beef, spaghetti and fried potatoes.

 This was comfort food, nice and warming for this cold weather and to use up the potatoes from yesterday.


I made the Boulangere Saturday afternoon, it didn't take long (the longest part was probably waiting for the potatoes to cool down). It also gave me a chance to use our new frying pan, it has a ceramic coating that is supposed to mean you don't need to use oil. I was a little dubious, but wow, you can even dry fry an egg in it!

I started off by par boiling the potatoes.

Then leaving them to drain and cool

While they cooled, I sliced a couple of leeks, an onion and a few garlic cloves

Then softened them in the frying pan

When the potatoes had cooled, I sliced them and placed them in a dish with some pepper to season.

Lots of big, juicy tomatoes were sliced and layered on the potatoes.

On top of this went the leeks, onion and garlic , then a few more potatoes, tomatoes and seasoning with a little drop of vegetable stock followed by a sprinkle of cheese

In the oven for 30 minutes at gas mark 6

It was delicious!


I took pictures of our meals and popped them on Instagram (cherylbowsie if you want to come and say hi) each day, hopefully to inspire me in the 'harder' weeks.

Take care
xxx

Healthy Living Lasagne

It's been such a gorgeous day today. So sunny with a clear blue sky most of the day. We've been busy in the garden all day (I did find some time to sit and read my book in the sunshine too) until it became a bit chilly, then into the kitchen to do some cooking.

I'm really pleased with how I'm doing at Slimming World, so far I've lost 22lbs. Long way to go, but I'm really enjoying all the cooking (I've always enjoyed cooking much more than baking).

Lasagne didn't need much of a tweak from how I usually make it. We always use as lean mince as possible, and if there is any fat, it's always drained off.

So... browning the mince, added chopped tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, lots of herbs, garlic and a big spoonful of Marmite. For those of you frowning in horror at the Marmite... I really don't like Marmite... yuck, yuck, yuck, though hubby loves it. I often use it in cooking though, with mince, in stews, with gravy as I find I can't taste the Marmite as such, but it does enhance the flavour of the meat!

It's a nice easy meal, but so tasty. Into the dish

a layer of pasta sheets (I use dry rather than fresh as it's less fat and calories)

At this point I used to add either a cheese sauce or maybe ricotta (depending what we have in). I've swapped it for a low fat cottage cheese. I wasn't sure about doing this as even though I don't mind a little bit of cottage cheese, I wouldn't like too much (or the smell).

It keeps in the fridge and though I wasn't sure... yes, it freezes well too. Tastes very gorgeous with chips done in the actifry (a teaspoon of oil mixed with paprika) and peas.

Very yummy, very filling and all 'free' on the slimming world plan.

Take care
xxx

Actifry Chicken

Firstly I'd like to thank everyone for all your lovely comments and well wishes. I get so excited when people leave comments on my little blog and look forward to reading them. I'm feeling much better now (I'm dressed in proper clothes not pjs... yeahhh) and will start catching up with everyone else's blogs again - I've missed reading about all your happenings :)

I thought I'd show you something else cooked in the actifry besides chips today. Last night's tea was some yummy 'fried' chicken drumsticks with some mash, sweetcorn and coleslaw.

I used some herbs and spices

Chicken drumsticks. Andrew prefers white meat, but enjoys these as they're so juicy and full of flavour, I prefer dark meat as I find it has more flavour, generally meat on the bone tends to be more flavoursome.

They were given a light coating before popping in the actifry.

Then just straight in, switch on and set the timer for 30 minutes, no other settings to worry about.

Couldn't be any simpler, and very moist, well cooked (so important with chicken) and full of flavour. Fried chicken, but healthily cooked with only a teaspoon of oil!

Take care
xxx

Cooking up odds and ends

We've had some nice simple meals recently, using up the odds and ends in the fridge before going to waste.

One of Andy's favourites is pie and chips. He says it's all the different flavours that make it so tasty and it's handy to pop a slice in his pack up for work the next day.

I dry fried the bacon pieces in a pan (I always dry fry) then added onion to fry alongside.

 Lots of nice chunky mushrooms to balance the bacon flavours... smells good :)

 I used ready made puff pastry to make a shallow pie and filled it with the above, covering with lots of fresh red tomatoes and just a sprinkling of cheese.

 It was nice and easy to prepare in the afternoon, and then just pop in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes while the chips were cooking.

The chips are handcut - the best sort. As I've mentioned before, we cook our chips in an actifry, so I peeled and cut the potatoes in the afternoon and left them to drain (they taste better when they go into the actifry dry).

They take about 30 to 35 minutes with their one small spoon of oil.

They smell gorgeous, crisping nicely just like fried chips. The timer ticks down by the minute, beeping when they're ready.

Very yummy chips...

Yummy pie, enough for 6 servings. A very tasty and economical meal.

Another favourite here is chili pasta bake. We always have mince in the freezer and pasta in the cupboard, again something quick and easy. And yes... more tomatoes :)

I don't use beans of any type because as much as I wish that I liked them, I really just can't abide them!

Lots of peas and sweetcorn and chili to taste - we like quite a bit :)

A nice, warming dish as well as very filling.

Good with some Parmesan sprinkled over the top.

Take care
xxx

Sun and Doggies!

The sun is shining again, I'm so happy :) Lots more time to spend in the garden again today, except today was more about sitting back, relaxing and enjoying all the hard work (well OK, for me it was, poor Andy was still fence painting). The dogs went from trying to find a piece of sun to lay in, to seeking out some shadow

Gary was the clever one, he hopped up next to me and into my crochet bag!

I think he looks really cute, though I did have to move him a couple of times to get some wool out.

It was nice to be able to take some crochet outside for the first time. I carried on with Adam's blanket (I'm not picking it up as often as I should really, and I'm feeling impatient for it to grow!) and found the rhythmic motion very soothing.

I did manage to drag myself inside to prepare some chips for tea. We bought an actifry last year after much um..ing and ah..ing (will it become something that gets used a couple of times than goes to hibernate in a cupboard for ages), it was such a good buy! The chips taste lovely, so much nicer than oven baked ones, but without all the fat :)

We had some with chicken and a nice big salad for tea. Felt very healthy and virtuous :)

Here's one more photo of Bruce :)

It's too hot mum!

Take care
xxx