This week's menu.

It's meal planning Monday so here is this week's menu. We are getting ready to go away for three weeks in July so I am trying to use up what we have in the house so the fridge will be as empty as possible.  I'm also giving up on most desserts between now and then.  I have lost enough weight (finally all the holiday weight has come off) that my dress for the wedding fits and I don't want to sabotage that with extra baking.  

Monday we are having chicken enchiladas made using leftover chicken from our roast chicken last Thursday. I will slice up some bananas and mix them with cinnamon for a side dish.  

Tuesday, Cameron is bringing his girlfriend, Magda, over for tea. We always have fish on a Tuesday so I am making Basa Fish Cakes to serve with salad and boiled red potatoes. The original recipe for this came from Curtis Stone and Cole's.

Wednesday is Connor's 16th birthday. The birthday person always gets to pick the menu on their day so we are having spicy chicken wings, Rachel Ray's Loaded Baked Potato Salad and green beans. This is the only potato salad that Connor will eat and we owe our love for this recipe to my Mom. I cut the recipe in half because the original makes enough for a small crowd.  This is not a low calorie recipe but it certainly is a treat!  We will be having brownies, per Connor's request, for dessert. I'll give you the recipe for them on Wednesday.

Thursday the boys are eating at their Dad's so Larry and I will just have a nice big Greek salad. I make my own dressing and you can find the recipe here. I use a combination of whatever vinegars I have on hand so don't be worried if you don't have exactly what I used in the original recipe. This most recent batch has apple cider vinegar and balsamic.  I also used some oil, and added some cheese, from a jar of seasoned feta cheese cubes instead of the usual olive oil. To make the salad I just put a big serving of mixed greens in a bowl and top with whatever vegetables/pickled vegetables I have on hand.  This time it will be tomato, red onion, green and black olives, pickled hot peppers, shredded cheddar and parmesan cheeses and croutons. Simple but delicious.

Friday will be the usual baked beans on toast. I know, we eat it every week but we never tire of it. 

  

I've not planned anything for the weekend yet because it depends on what we have for leftovers.  

Menu Monday

It's Menu Planning Monday again. Seems like we just did this last week . . . oh wait . . . we did . . .

We are having a pretty easy week, meal wise. Today we had croissants with ham and cheese omelettes on them. We had sliced apples and grapes as a side. Tuesday is fish night and we will be having fish cakes with mushy peas and chips. Wednesday we are having spaghetti and Italian meatballs that I had in the freezer with some garlic toast and salad. Thursday will be roast chicken with roasted balsamic sweet potatoes and a green salad. I plan to add some chunks of onion and carrot to the sweet potato recipe. Friday will be beans on toast. Sunday is Father's Day so my boys will be having dinner with their Dad which means Larry and I will just have leftovers.

Roasted Balsamic Sweet Potatoes
photo and recipe courtesy of
Rufus' Food and Spirit Guide

Menu Planning Monday

It's menu planning Monday again. I love to try new recipes and this week has two new recipes and three tried and true favourites.

Monday:

Toad in the Hole (recipe found here, at the bottom of this previous post). Requested by Larry, who rarely asks for anything specific, so it is my great pleasure when he does mention a favourite meal. Today I will be using Cumberland sausages and serving it with a green salad on the side.  

Toad in the Hole

Tuesday:

Scottish Smoked Haddock Supper- The first of our new recipes, made with smoked haddock poached in milk, served on whole grain toast with a rarebit sauce. We'll have some spinach on the side.

Wednesday:

Guinness Burgers- I have made these once before and they were a huge hit. I use  lean steak mince and will be using smoked Gouda for the cheese this time. We will have chips (oven fries) and a green salad with these.

Thursday: 

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes- another new recipe for us.  I plan to make half this recipe because it makes two pans. Since my chorizo is cured I will add it half way through the cooking time and I am going to put in some cherry tomatoes and green beans as well. I will be using lemon zest instead of orange because no one, except me, really eats oranges here but I always have lemons on hand. (Connor's idea of eating oranges is to suck the juice out and leave the rest.) This is a whole meal in one pan so I will just serve it with some nice French bread to soak up all the juices.

Friday:

"Gourmet" Baked Beans on Toast (recipe found here) An oldie but a goodie and one of mine and Larry's favourite quick meals.

Saturday:

Date night

Sunday: 

We will be having a takeaway tonight because Larry and I are going to the Perth Races with a crowd of people from our local. We went last year and had a great time and expect it to be even more fun this year. Last year it was rainy and cold and this year it looks like it will be a beautiful sunny day. All of the girls get together and we each bring something(s) to share and we end up with a very nice picnic lunch. I am bringing dessert. I haven't decided all what I am making but I know peanut butter cookies will be one of the things.

Scottish Smoked Haddock Supper 

photo and recipe courtesy of 

Fish is the Dish

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes
photo and recipe courtesy of
Pick Yin

Guinness Bacon Cheeseburgers
photo and recipe courtesy of
Care's Kitchen

Fast Day Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Beer Chicken

The original recipe for this came from LaaLoosh.  After reading the reviews, which I always do, I decided to make some changes.  Here is my version of the recipe which you can compare to the original and decide how you want to go.  We really enjoyed this.

Photo credit to LaaLoosh

Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Beer Chicken (5 servings with 250 calories per serving, if you eat only one thigh then it will be 150 calories)

1 can Guinness or any beer that has a deep flavour

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons French mixed herbs (mine has rosemary, thyme, savoury, marjoram and basil)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (depends on your tolerance for spice, we really like it)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I didn't add much salt because I planned to thicken the broth with gravy  mix which has a lot of salt in it.)

1/4 cup dried minced onion

10 chicken thighs, skin removed

Mix all the ingredients, except the chicken, in the crock pot.  After mixing add the chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Remove the chicken from the crock and add some boiling water (I added about 2 cups) and enough chicken gravy mix to thicken.  If you prefer, you can use chicken stock and corn starch to make the gravy.  Add more salt and pepper if needed.  Add the chicken back to the gravy until you are ready to serve.  Optional: remove the bones from the thighs before you return them to the gravy.  I do this because I have Mr. Picky (my son) who hates bones in his chicken.  I served it over mashed potatoes with green beans on the side.  As yesterday was a fast day for me, I had mine over sautéed cabbage instead of mashed potatoes.  Delicious!

Fast Day and Weigh In

My weekly weigh in today puts me down another pound for a total loss of 4.6.  No complaints here!  It is an interesting mind set, fasting on a Monday.  After a week end of indulging it is almost a relief.  This weekend was less indulgent than most because I am still getting over a cold and didn't feel like going out as much as we usually do.  I stayed in Friday night.  Saturday night, Larry and I went to a birthday party for a friend and, in case you have been anxiously waiting to find out, I did manage to pick up a nice outfit for myself. There was a buffet of sandwiches and nibbles and I did have a few bites but saved myself for a small piece of the toffee flavoured birthday cake . . . yummy!  Sunday morning Larry and I went out for breakfast and then I spent the afternoon doing some baking for the boys for the week.  Their Easter holidays ended this morning so I made some chocolate muffins and some Nutella bread for their breakfasts and  I made a peach cobbler for dessert after their dinners this week.  I guess I am getting old because I had a baking brain freeze yesterday.  I was making the muffins, which called for the butter to be melted, so I put it in the microwave to do just that while I mixed up the rest of the ingredients.  And then, of course, forgot to add the butter.  It wasn't until I opened the microwave to put something else in that I realized.  Oh well, the boys ate them this morning, Cam loved them and Connor said the texture was weird but they tasted fine.  

Except for Oxo and coffee, I am saving all my calories for dinner and tonight I am making a recipe courtesy of Karen S Burns-Booth at Lavender and Lovage.  She takes beautiful photos of her recipes and this one is Cajun Chicken Kebabs.  If you have never been to her blog before, get thee there now.  It is very well done and full of great recipes.

Cajun Chicken Kebabs at 209 calories/serving without pita bread, according to My Fitness Pal.  My pita bread is 130 calories per piece which puts the total for this meal at 339 calories/serving.  Other than doubling the recipe, the only thing I did differently was to add 1/4 teaspoon each onion and garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon each of fresh lemon juice and zest, and 1 Tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander to the yoghurt sauce.

Well, I can tell you we enjoyed these very much!

Fast day six

I'm fasting again today.  It's not my usual fast day, that's tomorrow, but I've got a day out tomorrow with some friends so had to switch it to today.  I've planned grilled chicken with spinach salad and a balsamic vinaigrette.  It's a recipe I got from skinnytaste.com.  There are a ton of fabulous recipes on this site and they are all labelled with nutrition, calorie and WW points information.  I'm going to make spaghetti with pesto sauce for the non-dieters in the family to have with this.  The only change I made to the original recipe was to use regular balsamic vinegar, instead of the white balsamic that was called for, and only because that is what I had on hand and I didn't want to buy something else.  

On a random note, I need a new outfit for Saturday.  It's a friend's 50th birthday party and I have nothing to wear.  Not literally but I would really like something new.  After my less than productive shopping trip yesterday, during which I bought a very nice shirt for Larry to wear and nothing for myself, Larry is taking me to go look for something tomorrow night after he gets home from work.  I hate shopping for myself and, as anyone who is overweight can attest, nothing ever looks nice on me. I figure if Larry goes with me he can give me an honest opinion and maybe I will be able to find something.  

Grilled Chicken with Spinach Salad and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Recipe and photo owned by Gina at skinnytaste.com  (serves 4 at 183.1 calories per serving)