Menu Planning Monday

Since I have moved my budget from weekly to fortnight, I am trying to only do one large shop each fortnight. Now I have to menu plan for a fortnight and I have to admit it is a bit tougher than I first thought. I have written it "restaurant style" as was originally started by Lightening! :)

1. Tender portions of veal, lightly crumbed in our fresh chunky style bread crumbs. Served with a lean gluten free beef sausage. Served with a selection of seasonal vegetables. (Beef schnitzel & sausages & veggies)

2. Our pizza dough is lovingly prepared from scratch, topped with a simple tomato puree and then served with a choice of the following toppings - grilled chicken, pineapple, gourmet beef sausage, ham off the bone, marinate mushrooms. Topped with our special cheese blensd and individually baked on a stone.(Gourmet homemade pizzas)

3. A portion of a whole chicken, marinated and rubbed with our secrte spice blend. Then lovingly baked slowly, to leave the chicken moist and flaouvsome. Served with baby roast vegetable and zucchini & tomato bake.(Sticky Chicken)

4.Tender minced beef simmered gently in a tomato and vegetable based sauce and served with a mixture of wholemeal and wheat pasta.(Spaghetti Bolognaise)

5. Finger sized strips of chicken, lightly crumbed in fresh breadcrumbs and pan fried. Served with cheesy potatoes baked in a creamy sauce.(Chicken Schnitzel & Potato Bake)

6. Tender thight fillets thinly sliced and sauted with a selection of seasonal vegetables, served in light asian inspired lemon sauce (Easy Lemon Chicken) recipe below

7. Lightly salted beef, lovingly cooked with brown sugar and other seasonings. Served with a creamy mash of potato and pumpkin and lightly steamed broccoli and zucchini.(Corned Beef)

8. Finely minced beef, stir fried with our specail vegetable mixture simmered in a sticky asian style sauce. (Oriental Mince) recipe below

9. Homemade beef and vegetable patties, presented in a fresh bread roll with baby spinach, tomato, avocado, cheese and beetroot relish (Gourmet Beef burgers)

10. A season selection of fish, prawns and other seafood with a side of our specail spicy home style fries. (Fisherman's Basket)

11. Tender strips of beef, marinated in our chefs specail sauce and seved on skewers with a spicy peanut sauce and fluffy basmati rice. (Beef satays with peanut sauce)

12. Tasmanian salon fillets, lightly marinated in chilli, ginger and soy all served an a bed of seasonal vegetables (Salmon steaks with veggie stir fry)

13. It's your birthday so your choice of any dish the chef is able to make :) (birthday dinner for my boyfriend)

14. Organic shaped fluffy tortillas served with delicately pan fried chicken, garlic and zucchini. Presented with a platter of seasonal salad vegetables, for a wrap your own feast for four. (chicken strips, tortillas and salad)

That should keep me busy for a few days huh?
Only really have to top up on fresh fruit and vegetables as well as supplies for the birthday dinner.

I can feel another cheesecake recipe soon :)
I'll post the recipes separately to make them easier to find later :)
I apologise for any spelling mistakes, but google doesn't want to spell check for me anymore :(

I've also joined Menu Planning Monday over at I'm and Organising Junkie - follow the link and get some more great menu ideas! :)

Menu Planning and More!

Well, who would have believed that I had been on holidays all this week! I thought I would get heaps done and I did manage to achieve a few things, but not everything on the list in my head.
I did manage to fit in some exercise, a few swims at the beach, a couple of visits with my parents, helped a friend move house, visits from the electrician and the freezer seal guy and spend part of one day with my best friend (zoe's mum) for her birthday!
I also managed to lose 2.2kg :)
I don't feel so bad now I have listed all of that!

Tuesday I am back at work so I need to organise the following before then:
- Ironing school and work uniforms
- finish a scrapbook for a 40th I am attending tonight
- make sausage rolls for above party
- make biscuits/muffins for lunchboxes
- cook freeze up glut of veggies remaining from my shopping on Sunday (mainly zucchini, mushrooms & plums)

I did manage to menu plan and grocery shop, but since it is already 2.30pm and i really need to get the album finished I will blog tomorrow about it!
Hope you are all having a great weekend :)

Menu Planning

Life still hasn't slowed down for me, so I am working on easy meals this week.

Friday - Ham rosti with salad
Finely grated potato, egg and ham lightly pan fried into miniature patties served with a tossed garden salad.

Saturday - Steak cooked to your liking and served with an assortment of seasonal steamed summer vegetables

Sunday - Corned Beef
Lightly salted beef, lovingly cooked with brown sugar and other seasonings. Served with a creamy mash of potato and pumpkin and lightly steamed broccoli and zucchini.

Monday - Hamburgers
Homemade beef and vegetable patties, presented in a fresh bread roll with baby spinach, tomato, avocado, cheese and beetroot relish.

Tuesday - Chicken stir fry
Delicately sliced & marinated strips of chicken thigh, stir fried with seasonal vegetables and served on a fluffy bed of rice.

Wednesday - Chickpea and Lentil Burgers - recipe is here.

Thursday - A selection of pre-cooked frozen meals from the cold pantry
(leftovers from the freezer)

What's for Dinner?

I shop on Friday so I am a Little late in posting this. Hope Lightening gets some inspiration from this list!

Friday
Tender portions of chicken leg, marinated in a plum soy mixture and oven baked till golden.
Served with a medley of seasonal vegetables & delicate strands of egg lovingly mixed through fluffy rice with a light soy flavour. (plum marinated chicken drumsticks with fried rice)

Saturday
Organic shaped fluffy tortillas served with delicately pan fried chicken, garlic and zucchini. Presented with a platter of seasonal salad vegetables. (chicken strips, tortillas and salad)

Sunday
Tender minced beef simmered gently in a tomato and vegetable based sauce and served with a mixture of wholemeal and wheat pasta. (spaghetti bolognaise)

Monday
Delicate balls of mince, vegetables and oats pan fried and served with creamy mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. (rissoles with mashed potato & veg)

Tuesday
Prime beef steak and gourmet sausages served with crispy oven fries and tossed salad.
(steak and sausages with chips and salad)
Wednesday
Finger sized strips of chicken, lightly crumbed in fresh breadcrumbs and pan fried. Served with cheesy potatoes baked in a creamy sauce.
(chicken schnitzel strips with cheesy potato bake)
Thursday
Gourmet home made pizzas served with your choice of toppings.
(homemade pizzas with whatever we can find)

What's cooking this week at your house?

Menu Planning Monday, or is is Tuesday?

In reality I did my menu plan on Sunday and it was quite easy as I am only here until Thursday night. On Friday morning I am flying to Melbourne with Zoe and her Mum for 4 days. Can you believe she is already 12 weeks old? I'm kind of excited but at the same time I really don't enjoy flying (I suffer really bad motion sickness), but nonetheless it will be nice to have a change of scenery.

Here is my Menu plan inspired by Lightening's restaurant style write up :

Sunday
Plum marinated pork skewers served with a selection of two gourmet salads - Modern Greek salad with sun-dried tomatoes and Orange and avocado salad in a mustardy dressing.

Monday
Tuna and avocado rice paper rolls - a hands on meal - ideal for hot weather - roll your own choice of salad, avocado and tuna slices delicately marinated in sun dried tomato and basil.

Tuesday
Tender chicken leg portions coated in a sticky marinade and rolled in lightly toasted sesame seeds. Served with lightly fried rice and a sprinkle of egg and vegetables.

Wednesday
Thai inspired flavourings season juicy balls of chicken, served with a selection of seasonal vegetables.

Thursday
Asian flavourings combine with crisp vegetables and chicken to make a cool and delectable chicken salad.

I think I need more practice at this! Hope you get a small laugh at least :)

Another Shoestring Sunday

Shoestring Sunday's are a way to review my frugal/green activities for the past week and to look forward to what I might try next week.

MAKING - still working on the apron and haven't yet made my veggie bags!

REMEMBERING - to carry my zip-up shopping bag with me at all times. It takes up a little room in my handbag, but saves me so many times from bringing home another plastic bag. Also to put my "green" bags back in my car boot (trunk) as soon as I have finished unpacking the shopping.

SAYING NO - to plastic bags at the supermarket, by a small amount of rearranging my groceries they did all fit in my "green" bags I had brought from home.

MENU PLANNING - including side dishes in order to avoid wasting food. It seems I was in the
habit of buying the same fruit and veg each week, only to have odd leftovers which sometimes went bad before they got used. (see menu plan in separate post).

INVESTIGATING - Places in Adelaide that I can buy bulk items, like flour and sugar as well as looking for suitable vermin proof storage containers (also working out where to put said storage containers). Any ideas?

PRICING/investigating - Ice-cream makers. Have been thinking about it for a while as I can never quite figure out what to do with the empty containers. I would have one a month, sometimes more in summer, but given my son's limited diet it is one of the few treats he gets to have regularly. My parents are going to purchase my chosen model for me for Christmas. YAY!
Any feedback on this would be welcomed from any Aussie readers who have one - also would anyone know if Choice magazine might have a recent article I can read at the library?

BORROWING - Magazines, Books, CDs and DVDs from the library. This week we are listening to Lily Allen and watching Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.

COOKING - New recipes for Muffins, Greek Salad & Avocado and Orange Salad.

Thank you to Artman for my fantastic new logo :) If you want to join in shoestring Sunday please feel free to take the logo and use it on your page :)

Powdered milk and other gems...

Why is it some weeks just fly by and I feel like I am chasing my tail? The past week has been like this and now school holidays have started here it will probably just snowball for a while.
I did manage to shop and menu plan so here it is (I didn't quite manage two weeks as I wasn't feeling creative enough for more than that).

1. Spaghetti Bolognaise
2. Roast Pork & Veggies (in my new-to-me webber kettle bbq)
3. chicken schnitzel & potato bake (family favourite)
4. chicken wraps and salad
5. salmon, prawns and chips
6. homemade hamburgers
7. roast beef (in the slow cooker)
8. fried rice
9. Moroccan chicken with cous cous
10. rissoles and veggies

I have been making the tortilla recipe from A Vision Splendid to use as our home made wraps. Go on you know you want to try them. They are so easy! I find it make 6 good size wraps, which don't fall apart as you are trying to eat them! Plus they are very frugal to make. My short cut tip is: I make up some powdered milk with hot water, measure what I need and refrigerate the rest - this way I don't have to heat the milk to make them.
Powdered milk is something I have been making up regularly. I tend to use it mostly in cooking, although I have been trying to get my son to drink it as well since he seems to have several glasses of milk a day. It is so much cheaper than fresh milk and if you are only using it in cooking you won't notice the difference in taste.
Here are some hints about using powdered milk.
Did you know you could make your own low-fat milk?
Just mix together regular milk with skim milk powder and water. Mixing equal parts of each will give a milk with 2% fat.
If you are using powdered milk in recipes this might help as well -
2 tablespoons powder and 1 cup of water = 1 cup milk
1 cup powder and 1 litre of water = 1 litre of milk
Thought I might finish off with a fast & frugal recipe - using powdered milk - haven't tried this yet but will report back in a few days when I have.

Fast Fruit and Nut Slice
DOUGH
1 cup SR flour
1 cup wholemeal SR flour
1/4 cup skim milk powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 - 1 cup water

Gradually add oil and water to dry ingredients and mix to a soft dough. Spread the dough into a lightly greased lamington tray.

TOPPING
1 cup raisins
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup crushed nuts
grated rind and juice of 1 orange

Combine topping ingredients and spread over dough. Bake in oven at 200c for about 20 minutes. Cut into 24 pieces. Serve while still warm.
Enjoy!
Take care of you.