Pin that menu plan down!

Quick!  Before either it gets away, or the days roll past without it!

I can't believe that, last week, I completely failed to post a menu plan again.  I hang my head in shame and apologise profusely to those who enjoy reading them.

We had some great things on the menu list as well!  Things like Chicken & Ham Pot Pie (see above) which was gorgeous, ham egg & chips made using the leftovers from the slow cooked gammon joint and a gorgeous Moroccan lamb & lemon meatball tagine.  Well, never fear.  All the recipes that were delicious, will feature soon on the blog so you won't totally miss out.

Now, what's for dinner this week?  Well, it goes like this :

Tues : Impossible quiche with wedges & BBQ baked beans

Weds : Shop bought lasagne, salad and oven chips

Thurs : Chicken taco casserole with a wedge salad

Fri : Creamy haddock gratin with new potatoes, carrots, peas & broccoli

Sat : Country chicken, mashed potatoes, corn & gravy

Sun : Goulash, roasted beetroots & carrots with rice & green peas.

Mon : Teviot pie with carrots & peas.

We had the Impossible Quiche last night and it was like welcoming home an old friend.  I made the basic recipe, i.e. with just the bacon/onion/mature cheddar cheese and it was really good.  I was getting a bit fed up with Impossible Quiche because we'd had it a lot - the break from it has obviously been a good thing, as I thoroughly enjoyed last night's version.

Tonight is a late pickup from school job, so we were looking for something easy to make.  A shop bought Lasagne always hits the spot, so long as it's a good one.  We've not had one for a while, so let's hope that the Sainsbury's one we've got, proves to be that good one!

Loads of limey loveliness!

I'm currently half way through making a Key Lime Pie, which we'll have for dessert.  The lovely Ashleigh at Red Communications has sent me what appears to be a half hundredweight (might be a slight exaggeration - but there's loads of 'em) of small Brazilian limes to play with.  Key Lime Pie just has to be done, especially when you consider (now don't tell everyone) that I have never had anything resembling a Key Lime Pie ~sharp intake of breath~ before.  I know!  Where have I been all this time?  Search me, because I love limes!  I think this pie should be re-named Taiti Lime Pie, as that's the name of the limes we're using.  Now obviously, the recipe will appear on the blog (presuming it's a goodie!).  I suspect you may find a significant amount of other lime flavoured things appearing, as we work our way through the heap!

What us Brits think a casserole looks like ...

Now, I expect you're wondering what "Chicken Taco Casserole" might be.  In this instance, you Brits have to forget the understood meaning of what a "casserole" might be and instead, consider the American meaning of the word "casserole".  Now my understanding of it is "anything that fits into a casserole dish".

... a rather more typically U.S. version of a casserole!

As such, this is a layered chicken/salsa/corn wraps kind of ensemble - obviously, it gets a bit more complicated than that, but not by much - that is baked.  I've been browsing the Recipe Lion website recently, which is a good resource for recipes from all over the world but primarily from the U.S. and Canada - and it's one of theirs.

I thought it would go well with the good old American wedge salad, so that's what I've paired it up with.  Of course, all these salads that are appearing way too soon undoubtedly mean that it will continue snowing for the remainder of this week.  Betcha.

Photo c/o easyteas.co.uk

Hubby is in the kitchen again on Friday when he's preparing his Creamy Haddock Gratin.  As far as I recall, I think this is based upon a Hairy Bikers recipe - undoubtedly given his own twist - and I think it sounds very promising.  It has been an absolute age since I had a fish gratin of any kind, so I'm looking forward to it.

Saturday is another Recipe Lion recipe - for Country Chicken.  Now this is a variation on the American fried chicken recipe, except it is baked and not so high in fat.  As I've never made either the fried or the baked variety, it will be interesting and I'm crossing my fingers that a) it works and b) it's tasty!  I've paired it up with the traditional (or my understanding of what's traditional) mashed potatoes and gravy, together with some sweetcorn and maybe some stringless green beans.

Sunday's beef Goulash is a family favourite that's perfect for the snow that will undoubtedly be hanging around because I've served a couple of salads this week.  I'm intending on having a go at roasting some beetroot to accompany it (assuming we can source some raw beetroot) which should be scrummy.  The rice is there to provide carbohydrate and something to wrap the goulash sauce up in - and the peas for colour.

Hubby will be having a go at my recipe for Teviot pie on Monday.  For those who have never heard of the thing - a Teviot pie is basically a Cottage Pie bottom (minced beef) with a savoury suet sponge top.  Very naughty, but very nice.  Actually, it's not so naughty as we always use the veggie suet as opposed to full strength beef suet, so I have brought it down a notch on the naughty scale.  We'll also be using up any of the vegetables that are left in the fridge, with carrots and peas as backup.

Now, I have yet to make that Victoria Sandwich cake that I said I'd make a couple of weeks ago - and hubby is mourning its loss.  So my intention is to try to get it made on Friday - when hubby is cooking the evening meal - ready for the weekend.  I won't be able to make it over the weekend, as I'm doing both days' dinners - and that will be enough for me, if my knees are anything to go by at the moment!

I also want to make a Mary Berry's Bread & Butter Pudding.  Did you see the Bread & Butter pudding she made on the autobiographical t.v. programme about her recently?  Oh, it just made my mouth water.  Hmmn ... I wonder what it would be like with lime in it?  *wink*