Menu plan - subject to negotiation!

Lime & pepper chicken wraps with salt & pepper potato wedges

Here we are!  Especially for Seren - and anyone else who misses them when I don't get to putting them up.

This week has been quite a rollercoaster, so far - and I don't doubt it's going to continue rockin' and a rollin' for some time yet.

However, before we get into all that - what happened with last week's menu plan was that it almost happened how it should have!  The pancakes and lime & pepper chicken wraps went according to plan.  Then we had a mad rush of blood to the head and ordered in an Indian takeaway on the Thursday.  Friday's crunchy fish happened how it should have and the lime cured pork from Thursday got subbed in instead of the High Tea on Saturday.  Sunday's Goulash went according to plan and Monday's meatballs turned into a spectacular Pasta bolognese!  So not too bad.

Dad on his 80th birthday

We had some bad news on Thursday evening, to say that my dear old Dad (who only 7 months ago was undergoing heart surgery), had fallen in their kitchen and broken the femur bone up by his hip.  Oooh, ouch!

He was rushed off to Southampton General and is still there, as during the investigations regarding the pinning operation for his leg, they discovered he has an aortic aneurysm (heart again) that needs sorting out as soon as possible!  So it's a bit of a worrying time, involving lots of travel to and from the hospital for my Mum and Brother (around 26 miles one way) and as and when we can, for us (around 38 miles one way).  He has had the leg operation and is now more comfortable there, but we're completely in the hands of the hospital about what happens next.  Not a happy time!

Anyway, from bad news to good news!  I applied - and have been accepted - as a contributor to Gojee Food. Yay!  You may now all commence dancing the happy dance.  Ayethenkyoo!  If you haven't a clue what I'm on about, click on the link here and you'll quickly get the idea.  It is basically a serious food porn site, but instead of just showing pictures, you can follow through to the blogs behind the photographs by clicking on the fork icon.  Additionally, you can use the site for inspiration.  For instance, if you have some ground lamb in the freezer and can't think what to use it for, just click on the magnifying glass and type in "Ground lamb" and it will pull all its relevant recipes up for your consideration.  The photographs on the blog here are of sufficient quality for Gojee now (thanks to hubby's mad skills and his new camera!) so I thought it would be worth while asking - and I am so chuffed to have been accepted!

Now, even though it is Friday today and this week is marching on regardless, I thought I'd better post up a menu plan!  So here it is :

Tues : Takeaway chinese chow mein (Hospital visiting day)

Wed : Allspice chicken and mango rice with red cabbage & apple

Thurs : Takeaway Lamb Shish Kebab and salad

Fri : Hot Punjabi King Prawn curry and rice

Sat : Pesto pasta with ham hock & asparagus

Sun : Beef and ale slow cooker stew (Hospital visiting day)

Mon : Burritos with guacamole, wedges & refried beans.

Hospital visiting hours don't start until 3pm, which considering we have to travel for 45 minutes (probably a little more, including picking my Mum up and dropping her back home again) there and the same again back again, all means that sorting out something to eat is a tricky business.  Because of hubby's diabetes, he has to make sure he eats regularly and having dinner later than our normal 6pm (which is terribly early for me - I used to eat at closer to 8pm in days gone by) leaves him light headed and with an ever diminishing appetite.  So we opted to just go for a takeaway Chow Mein which we could pick up on the way home and tuck straight in to as soon as our bottoms hit the chairs.

This Sunday, when we're visiting again, I've opted to make a one-pot slow cooker beef stew.  I'll put it together in the morning before we go and it can chuckle away in the slow cooker all day, being ready to just dish up into bowls and tuck into as soon as we get back.

Wednesday's Allspice chicken and mango rice with red cabbage and apple was a bit of a revelation in flavour.  None of us are used to the allspice flavour being so "up there" in a dish, so it was interesting and a bit of a challenge for son & heir.  However, he coped very well and ate all but his red cabbage, which is still too vinegary for him.

Allspice chicken and mango rice - turned out very well

Son & heir wound up going for a sleepover on Thursday evening - a rather last minute arrangement - so being rather frazzled by then, his Dad and I opted for the line of least resistance and got a kebab each.  Mine was a Lamb shish, his was a Doner.  To be honest, I think the lamb shish kebab is one of the healthiest takeaways you can get!  The lamb is always as lean as can be and cooked beautifully.  Whether you eat the two enormous pitta breads is up to you - but I never seem to manage it.  Other than that, you get a mint yoghurt sauce (yum!) and a platter of mixed salads - can't get a lot more healthy than that!

I'm looking forward to the Punjabi Prawn curry tonight.  It's a Madhur Jaffrey recipe that looks easy peasy to make - and I'm into easy peasy, right now!

It has just occurred to me that we were supposed to buy a ham hock from the supermarket this morning and I forgot to include it on the shopping list.  However, what we should be having - presuming we can find one in the meantime - on Saturday, is a quick and easy pesto pasta (pesto from a jar) with the meat from the ham hock and asparagus.  Yum.

Hubby is due to be making this one and presuming he does, I'll try to make some "Apple Slump" for dessert, as it can be made during the day and wait until dinner time.  I was intrigued by the recipe, as it seems to be a cross between crumble and cobbler - and Bramley apples appear to be in season at the moment, so why not?

So skipping Sunday (Beef & ale stew - as mentioned above), that leaves Monday's minced beef burritos - which is a simple matter of knocking up a chilli mixture - with home made guacamole (loved that guacamole I made to go with the Lime & pepper chicken wraps), home made wedges and refried beans from a can.  Now that's what I call a compromise!

I think I'm looking forward to all of the meals that are yet to go, so assuming nothing untoward happens in the meantime, we should have some interesting blog posts coming up!