"Making the most of a little" - this week's Menu Plan

Eeyore - very good at making the most of things

Quite by accident, this week's menu plan seems to be following a theme - that of "making the most of a little bit of something".

After our big splurge last week on a leg of lamb, we're having to watch the pennies a little this week.  We're hardly rubbing two brass farthings together, but have just got to watch that we're keeping things under control in a manageable fashion so that we get to the end of our financial month without stress.

Amazingly, only one recipe got bounced from the menu plan last week, which was the Chicken with asparagus and tarragon.  It's a shame we lost that one, but I have the recipe still and I am sure it will make a re-appearance very soon.  I haven't used it this week, because we already had two recipes involving asparagus on the list - and there's only so much asparagus you can eat in a week!

So what have we scheduled for this week, then?  It looks like this :

Tues : Roast Lamb & Chargrilled Vegetable Terrine, salad & baguette slices

Weds : Frankenbeans with rice

Thurs : Chicken Korma curry with rice

Fri : Swedish Meatballs, mashed potato, peas & carrots

Sat : Souffled Crab & Asparagus Tart with salad

Sun : Smoked fish & prawn Koulibiac, crushed Jersey Royals, peas & baby corn

Mon : Tuna pasta bake with garlic bread.

At first sight, it doesn't look like we're making the most of little, does it?

We ate the Terrine (or two-thirds of it!) last night - and it was completely amazing.  I was so worried about it - never having made a terrine before - and was concerned that the stock wouldn't have been flavoursome enough (it was!), that the thing would fall apart when out of the tin (thanks to the clingfilm, it didn't), that it would be murder to cut (again, thanks to the cling film, it wasn't) and that it would just taste horrid (no chance of that!).

So that was the first instalment of making the most of a little, because I had wanted to make the most of the flavours hubby had infused into the meat during roasting.  Using the bones to make the stock certainly helped where that was concerned - but I mustn't tell you ALL about it here, or there'll be nothing to say in the blog post!

So, tonight's Frankenbeans (hubby's name for it) follows fairly closely a recipe for Boston Beans, except it uses frankfurters (we're using our favourite Bockwurst) along with bacon.  In this instance, we're making the most of a jar of Bockwurst that cost less than £2.  Hubby found the photograph on Pinterest - and it looks unctuous and gorgeous.  I think he's going to be making some sort of vegetable rice (sweetcorn & peas, maybe?) to eat with it.  Mind you, we've half a baguette left from yesterday's Terrine which needs eating up!

Thursday's dinner has been sponsored by Spice & Sizzle, who have created some fresh curry kits.  They sent me a selection of their kits to try out - and this is the first.  Apparently all I need to add is the chicken and a can of coconut milk, so I'm intrigued to see how it all works.  The kits contain such a small amount of shallots and spices, I can't wait to see how they all behave. It will be my first go with fresh turmeric - and considering how much I love that stuff, using the fresh version will be very interesting.

Friday's Swedish Meatballs is hubby's idea in response to my desire for "something with gravy".  Well, I suppose it has gravy - and mashed potato - so I'm catered for.  The chaps both love Swedish Meatballs (the ready-made packeted version), so everyone should be happy that night.  It's a cheap and easy dinner to make, too - and we could do with a couple of easy nights, after our recent endeavours in the kitchen.

I'm making a Souffled Crab & Asparagus Tart on Saturday (a Mary Cadogan recipe from BBC Good Food) which involves several different processes before you get the tart into the oven.  It's a bit of a step up from my regular tart-making endeavours but sounds completely delicious from the recipe.  Regrettably, as I am having trouble finding a fresh crab that is affordable, I shall be using tinned crabmeat.  I doubt you could find a fresh crab for the same money - around £2.50.  I agree that the flavour is nowhere near the same, but at the moment, price is the issue.


Asparagus is in season right now, so the prices have reduced significantly - enabling us to use it twice in one week.  We all love asparagus, so I'm determined to use it wherever and whenever I can.

All the way from the 1970's

The Sunday chef is back in the kitchen again the following day, this time making my recipe for a smoked fish & prawn Koulibiac (or Russian Fish Pie).  My recipe is a development from my Mum's recipe for the Russian Fish Pie, where the end result is a pyramid shape, rather than the more classic en croute shape.  We'll be making the most of a half a bag of King Prawns left from last week, as we would never normally buy King Prawns just to include in a dish like this.

The pie filling involves the smoked fish & prawns, in a thick roux-based sauce (either white, or herb, or cheese), with sweetcorn and sliced hard-boiled eggs.   We have been discussing whether to leave the hard-boiled eggs out in this instance, as we've got prawns in there too - so watch this space!


It'll be hubby's first go at making home-made rough puff pastry, too.  He's been researching various recipes online for it and I think has a plan mapped out now.  I can't wait - I love Russian Fish Pie!

We're ending the week on a bit of a fishy note, as Monday night's Tuna Pasta Bake completes the trio.  We all love Homepride's Tuna Pasta Bake jarred mix - it's one of our guilty pleasures!  Plus, it's another chance to just dive into the kitchen and whip up something gorgeous for tea, without having to go through hours of preparation and "will it work, won't it work", which is all fun - but can be a bit wearing on the nerves.

Oh, stop press!  Son and heir has decided to join us in the kitchen and will be making some Lemon Curd Syllabub on Sunday, for dessert following the Koulibiac.  Well, he will, if I remember to include the recipe in the shopping list on Friday!  Wish him luck - he's sourced the recipe from my James Martin's "Dessert" cookbook and taken the initiative all on his own and without encouragement, so I am crossing my fingers for him.  The recipe sounds lovely and relatively simple to make - so it should all go perfectly.


Who knows what else we might wind up making.  After all, at this stage last week, we had no idea that we'd be making a ground-breaking terrine!


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Getting back in harness : Menu Plan w/b 6 Sept 11

I think that title - "Getting back in harness" - is entirely appropriate, as that's exactly what it feels like.  Having been away from interesting and new recipes for a couple of weeks, it feels good to get back to some new ideas.

Here's what's on the menu for this week :

Tues : Son - Pizza. Parents - Borscht & crusty bread.

Wed : Cornish pasties & baked beans.

Thurs : Macaroni cheese.

Fri : Lemon & yoghurt baked chicken with savoury rice.

Sat : Slow-cooker Beef Stew & cobbles, with tenderstem broccoli.

Sun : Roast bacon, roast butternut squash & beetroot with celery gratin.

Mon : Tuna pasta bake.

How does that lot look, then?

Tuesday's pizza day was in full effect yesterday, which enabled us to have Borscht for the first time.  I'd never made it before, much less tasted it before, so it was all a bit of a voyage of discovery.  However, it was a completely delicious discovery, which hubby declared was his "best soup evar!".

Anyway, I've done a blog post in which I talk all about it and give the recipe, so I won't witter on here about it.  Watch the blog, as it's the next one to be published!

Tonight is another go at making the Cornish Pasties that got bounced in favour of an indian takeaway, last week.  I'm in a much better place to be making them today, so I think everything worked out just fine in that regard.  I was going to be serving salad with them, but it's been so cold and miserable outside just lately, we decided to opt for good old Baked Beans instead.

Now, Thursday is an Important Day.  Hubby is cooking a Macaroni cheese, which is something he's never attempted before.  He's following a recipe, rather than just winging it, so we've no reason to believe that it'll go anything other than perfectly.  We've got some lovely streaky bacon and have invested in a small pack of Gruyere cheese (incidentally, have you SEEN the price of that stuff? Are the cows made of gold, or what?) so we're all set for a goodie!

I thought that, on Friday, it would be nice to have a fairly easy dinner.  So I'm making the Lemon & yoghurt baked chicken as described on "Everyday Mom's Meals" blog.  All I've got to do here, is remember to defrost the chicken on Thursday, so that it can marinade overnight!  I'm serving it with savoury rice, which I have to admit, I've bought a couple of packets of the stuff.  So shoot me!

When I lived on my own - when I had the horses - savoury rice was one of my staple meals.  I could mix it up, then pop it in the microwave and take the dogs for a walk while it cooked.  With a couple of sausages that had been baking in the oven, it made a superbly quick and remarkably satisfying meal which was very well received at 9pm after two visits to the horses and a day at work!  So this is a bit of a trip down memory lane for me.

I'm really looking forward to Saturday's beef stew.  I've been yearning for a lovely thick warming stew made with Shin of beef, for ages.  To help hubby out, who has had E-NUFF potatoes for a while, I'll be baking some cobbles (scone-like objects) to go with the stew and I'll add some tenderstem broccoli on the side.  Should be gorgeous!

Sunday's dinner formed in my brain a bit back-to-front.  It all began with my wanting a celery gratin (celery hearts in cheese sauce with breadcrumbs on, baked in the oven).  So then I had to think of a roast meat that would go well with it - hence the bacon turned up. 

Being a Sunday dinner, it required a bit more than just the bacon and celery, so I finally decided upon a butternut squash, roasted in the oven, along with the leftover beetroot that didn't get used in the Borscht and some potatoes to make Son & heir happy.  A bit of an odd way of assembling a meal, but I think it works!  Well, I suppose we'll find out, eh?

Monday, as ever, is a storecupboard dinner day.  There was a time that I hated Tuna Pasta Bake and would have been very happy not to have ever seen one again.  Then (and I am a tad embarrassed to admit this), came Homepride's Tuna Pasta Bake sauce in a jar.  I seriously suspect they've put something terribly addictive in this sauce, as I absolutely love it and would be very happy to carry on eating the bake until either the cows came home or until time immemorial.  Considering how negative I am towards sauces such as this, it really is remarkable just how much I love the stuff.

All of which makes a potentially fairly tedious day's meals a much happier prospect.

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Meal planning - against the odds! W/c 26.7.11

I refuse to stop meal planning!  To be honest, I wouldn't know what to get from the shops if I stopped planning our meals.  I'd be wandering around like a little lost sheep.

Since I put the meal plan together on Monday, and before I've even had a chance to talk about it here, it has changed three times.  Firstly because we didn't get the car back from the mechanic until the following day so had to move the shopping because of it, secondly, because it suddenly dawned on me that it's my birthday on Saturday and we're meeting my Parents for lunch on Sunday and thirdly, because the boys had such huge burgers for lunch on Wednesday, that we just had sandwiches for dinner!


Ah well, onwards and upwards - and fingers crossed that it stays put as a plan, now.

Oh!  I've an interesting new routine where the meal planning is concerned.  Because Son & heir is becoming increasingly difficult (for which, read picky) to cook for, hubby had a Baldrick moment and came up with a cunning plan.

Under this cunning plan, Tuesdays have been declared as "pizza day", in that Son & heir has pizza (which is the meal he asks for whenever I ask for input into the meal planning) - and hubby and I have whatever we want.  Which, of course, opens the door for us to have things which otherwise would be rejected - like the mushroom risotto and stir fries.

Did someone mention stir fry?  Picture c/o Virgin Media

So, here's how this week is looking :

Tues : Pizza & Baked Camembert with french bread, tomatoes, olives & asparagus

Weds : Sandwiches

Thurs : Sausage casserole

Fri : "Kentish Tart" & salad

Sat : Roast Lamb, roast potatoes & parsnips, peas & carrots, Yorkshire puddings

Sun : Lunch out with my parents

Mon : Tuna Pasta Bake.

As today is now Wednesday, we had the Baked Camembert last night.  I think that all there is to say, at this stage, is that I'll be blogging it right after this.  Oh, and if EVER you get the chance to either have or to do Baked Camembert, have it and do it.  This is one of those "things to do before you die" recipes.  'Nuff said.

Oh!  I must tell you - the Stromboli.  I can give it correct billing now, as I've re-discovered the website that it came from : The Keenan Cookbook.  (Thanks, Chris!).  Do go along and have a look (and sign up for the newsletter, too!) at the original Stromboli that caught my attention.   I dare say you'll be able to understand its attraction!

So anyway, Thursday sees Hubby making one of his awesome Sausage Casseroles.  He's not made one in ages and neither of us can understand why not, as they are munchy gorgeousness.  If you add into the equation the fact that he'll be using our lovely butcher's sausages, we're ready for a cracking dinner, that night!

Friday evening's dinner is an interesting one.  Hubby can remember his Mum making a "Kentish Pie" (or tart) which was egg-based like a quiche, but less custardy (so no cream).  It had bacon, cheddar cheese (surely it should have been a Kent-based cheese? ~shrug~ I guess it's not my memory we're trying to re-create here!) and diced apple.  I can't seem to find a recipe that matches that description, so I'm going to have a crack at creating one and we'll see how close it gets.  If anyone reading this recognises the description and can point me in the direction of a recipe, do let me know!

Saturday is my birthday (wheee! 21 again!) and as is our family tradition, you get to choose whatever you want for your dinner that night.  I have been lusting after a leg of lamb (I suppose that'll take care of the little lost one, above!) with vinegary mint sauce, roast potatoes, roast parsnips and onion sauce, since God was a boy.  So I'm hoping we can get a lovely leg of lamb from the butcher without having to get a mortgage and will cook it long and slow.  Dear hubby has volunteered to cook the rest of the roast, so I'm looking forward to it already.

I don't need to worry about a dinner for Sunday, as we'll be meeting my Parents for lunch at The Woolpack, Sopley.  Apparently they have been there a number of times and approve of the place and looking at the menu online it looks lovely.  So we should have a good lunch and it will be lovely to see them again, of course.

After all the good eating that seems to be on the cards for the weekend, Monday brings a return to easy-going, "normal" food with a good old Tuna Pasta Bake.  Now, if we get that far without a change to the programme, I'll be amazed.


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