The last week's recipes - in a nutshell!

Minced Beef & Onion Pie

You remember how I was hoping that the week would stay as planned and not fall apart at the seams?  Yes, well, that was a bit of a forlorn hope as it turned out.

It all started off well, with the Posh Porks.

From there, the meal plan all went to proverbial worms.

I can't remember why, but instead of having the Leek & Bacon Bake on the Wednesday, we wound up having Fish & Chips.  Which was all very nice, plus being very naughty of course!

Pie making

Thursday's Minced Beef & Onion Pie happened most creditably, but with a slight change to the vegetable list in that we used up the Tenderstem Broccoli, instead of breaking into a Swede.

Hubby did a great job with the pie and declared it a very simple thing to create, so will be doing another variation on another day.  Sounds good!  He used shop-bought shortcrust pastry, plus shop-bought liquid gravy to pep up the mince mixture.  So creation of the pie filling was simply a matter of cooking some onion until it was soft and beginning to brown, then browning the mince.  Add in the gravy and a few other flavourings such as Mushroom Ketchup, Worcester Sauce, ground black pepper, reduce the sauce to the right consistency and bingo!  One pie.

The lovely-looking Chicken, Tenderstem & Cheesy Dumpling Casserole got bumped in favour of the Leek & Bacon Bake.  Well, you see, we were building up for Son & heir's birthday on the Monday by then - and organising his diary for two sleepovers and a day spent at Splashdown (an indoor water park) plus all the normal shopping etc.  So time was becoming something of a premium and the bake was easier to produce than the casserole.


As it turned out, I was a bit disappointed by the Bake.  It was the second time of cooking it and the first time we'd really liked it.  I'm not sure what went wrong this time - unless it was because I didn't have quite enough creme fraiche, which left the whole thing rather dry.  I had thought that one pot was the full amount of 300ml, but saw - too late - that it was 200ml instead.

Goodness knows, it was a simple enough recipe - you simply fry off the bacon, slice the leeks into the bottom of a baking dish, cover with the bacon, seasoning and creme fraiche. Then in goes a layer of grated cheese, breadcrumbs, finishing with more cheese - and into the oven. Not much to go wrong there!


For me, though, the dryness was an issue plus the bacon seemed incredibly salty and the leeks over-oniony.  It may well be that I just wasn't in the right mood for this one this time, so until I make it again and it goes well, I won't blog it just yet.  I like to only blog the recipes that have been successful for me, because then at least I know what I'm recommending is good!


Saturday was a sleepover night, so we all had Pizza.  It was just easier that way.  There aren't many children out there who don't like Pizza, whereas there are many more who are liable to be picky over a chicken casserole or a toad in the hole.  The pizzas went down without a murmur and all were sufficiently fed.  Can't ask for more than that.

Sunday's roast chicken was lovely - it really is so much better to buy a £6 chicken and have it go for two meals, than buy a £3-4 small chicken.  Unfortunately, doing a whole roast dinner - even with help from my sous chef with the cutting, chopping and peeling - was a teensy bit beyond me at the moment.


It was as much as I could do, to hobble from the kitchen to the dining table at the end of the cooking.  All of which brought home to me how much of a downward turn the Arthritis has taken just at the moment.  Pondering on it that evening, we suddenly remembered that my Glucosamine supplements had run out last Wednesday and we had forgotten to get some in the Friday shopping.  It is too much of a co-incidence for that to be anything but a contributory factor to the increase in pain I was experiencing - so we made sure to get some when shopping on Tuesday!


Son & heir's birthday dawned on the Monday and a very disgruntled birthday boy made his way dejectedly off to school.  He'd decided to leave opening his presents until he got home that evening, on the reckoning that getting the presents then having to leave them again five minutes later, would be worse than having to wait.  I think that was a very adult decision, from a 13yr old.

It was the taste that counted - not the decoration!

Still, he was full of the birthday spirit once school was over and got stuck into opening his presents with gusto.  I think he was pleased with the loot that he scored - and even got lashed into his Chocolate & Beetroot Birthday Cake.  He did have the good grace to apologise for his "can't you leave the beetroot out" comment, when I was half-way through making the thing at the weekend.


The other half of the roast chicken went down well in its incarnation as Coronation Chicken wraps and everyone felt just that little bit pleasantly nauseous as one does when too much rich food has been consumed.  I think, for Son & heir, the can of Root Beer was probably the last straw, however following a little lay down he rallied and spent the next half an hour peppering the bathroom door with foam bullets from his new Nerf Gun, followed up by an hour or so getting to grips with his new Ebow for his electric guitar, winding up the festivities with a few numbers on his new electronic keyboard.


*phew!*  I think we made it!

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Adaptable meal planning to include a birthday

It's son & heir's 13th birthday on Halloween - the 31st October.  Yes, he's a Halloween baby - and we brought him home from the hospital on Guy Fawkes' Night.  There's two dates I'll never forget!

As a consequence, this week's meal planning is going to have to be adaptable in the extreme owing to the rate at which our plans have changed.  So far, I think we're onto Plan E or F - all of which might change, depending on when his friends are available.

However, we have a plan at the moment - and I'm hoping it'll hold!

Here's how it's looking :

Tues : Posh Porks, carrots, tenderstem broccoli & white rice

Weds : Leek & Bacon Bake, celeriac mash, carrots & peas

Thurs : Minced Beef & Onion Pie, carrots, swede & green beans

Fri : Chicken & Cheesy Dumpling casserole

Sat : Toad in the hole, chips & baked beans

Sun : Roast Chicken, chipolatas, roast potatoes & parsnips, carrots, broccoli,

Sage & Onion Stuffing, bread sauce & Yorkshire puddings

Mon : Coronation Chicken Wraps with chips.

Tonight's Posh Porks (which you may recall was scheduled for last week, but never made it) may very well be under threat already, as we forgot to take the pork out of the freezer this morning.  So we may opt for Fish & Chips tonight and move it on to tomorrow.  However, all that is actually okay as it is good to have a dinner "in hand" so to speak (and a relatively easy dinner too) just in case plans change.

However, let's assume that plans don't change, the pork defrosts in time and the plan continues, with Wednesday offering a reprise of another dish I first cooked before I was writing Rhubarb & Ginger.  It involves cutting the leeks into little logs and laying them into a baking dish.  Add bacon, creme fraiche, breadcrumbs and cheese and bake.  I can remember that we all very much enjoyed this the last time around, so see no reason why it shouldn't go down well again.

I was planning on using up the other half of the celeriac (a good source of Vit. K) with some mashing potatoes for celeriac mash and pairing it with some carrots (for Vit. A and beta-carotene) and peas (Vit. C).  Simple, but very nice with it - and has the added benefit of getting lots of lovely vegetables into a reluctant teenager.  If only he knew how good for him all these lovely vegetables were - and began to look at them in a different light - it would make my meal planning a whole different affair!

Artist's impression : Beef & Onion Pie

Thursday brings a new venture for hubby.  He's going to have a go at making rough puff pastry - and converting it into a Minced Beef & Onion Pie.  He's never made a pie from scratch before, so we'll both be interested in the results!  We're pairing his pie with the ever-popular carrot, some swede and green beans.  Goodness, but the boys won't be getting scurvy this week!

Friday's casserole is a recipe I discovered when I was learning more about the lovely Tenderstem Broccoli and was browsing the website dedicated to it.   You can find the original recipe here - and plenty more!

I like the sound of the casserole part with its chicken, shallots, bacon & carrots.  The boys like the sound of the herby cheddar dumplings.  We all love Tenderstem Broccoli, so sounds like a deal, to me!

My last effort - let's hope it's better than this!

Now we're getting into delicate territory from the Plan's point of view, come Saturday.  Son & heir plus a pal, are supposed to be spending the day at a local tourist attraction.  Because of his new-found age and responsibility (yes, I am crossing my fingers as I say that) he's going to be allowed to go without parental accompaniment.  Needless to say, we'll be on the end of the telephone ready to bail him out should anything untoward occur, so of necessity, Saturday's dinner needs to be simple.

So maybe hubby's first go at making Toad in the Hole isn't such a great idea for that night?  *chuckle*  Pray for calm seas and a following wind - we'll get through it somehow.

Sunday is demonstrating all the tell-tale signs of a day in which the parents of the birthday boy are going to be needing to de-stress.  Probably in an armchair with regular applications of coffee, tea and as we go through to the evening, a light alcoholic beverage.  So I'm gong to be making a no-holds-barred, full blown, going for it kind of roast dinner.  I must need my head examining, but I'm told that the key to successful production is in the preparation, so I'll be doing all I can before kick-off is announced.

At last, on Monday (and the day upon which poor old birthday boy has to return to school) the long-awaited birthday will dawn.  He's already said that he doesn't want to receive any birthday presents until he returns home from school, but we'll see how long that resolve lasts!

I did ask him what he wanted for dinner on his birthday and didn't get much response.  As a result, we're having my interpretation of his favourite dinner of the moment - Coronation Chicken Wraps.   I know, in the past, he's said that he could eat these until he was sick - and we'll prevent him from getting that far - but hopefully, they'll be well received.  Add to that a huge slice of chocolate birthday cake (ssssshhhh! Don't tell!) and - fingers crossed - we're sorted for the week.

Oh!  One quick note before I go - last night's Full English Breakfast (eaten at dinnertime) was divine.  Top marks to hubby for a superb dinner - and yes, I did make it through the lot.  Just.

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