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

The Catch Up Recipes From Last Week

From Dinners, Dishes and Desserts, one of our meals last week was Roasted Garlic, Chicken and Red Onion Pizza. It was delicious!  The only changes I made from the original recipe was to use the olive oil from roasting the garlic, instead of butter, to make the roux for the white sauce and I didn't have any thyme so I used Italian seasoning instead. I also divided the Parmesan cheese and put about 2/3 in the sauce and sprinkled the rest on the top of the pizza. I put onions on only half the pizza as the boys don't really care for them and I put extra cheese on their half. The recipe says six servings but we got three, plus one extra piece, and Larry and I both had salad with it.

Recipe and photo courtesy
of Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

The other recipe I owe you is for Mince Rolls. Interestingly, Mince Rolls are unique to Dundee. If you go any where else in Scotland and try to order one, the server will look at you like you are crazy.  I had my first ever Mince Roll at my local pub. The manager serves food during half time of the weekend football (soccer) matches and this is one of my favourite things he makes. Thank you, Paul, for the wonderful recipe!

Dundee Mince Rolls

1 pound lean steak mince

1 large onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

2 small potatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup frozen peas

3 Oxo (bouillon/stock) cubes, crumbled

1 (UK) pint (20 ounces) cold water

Pepper to taste

I take the easy way out and prep the veggies in the food processor.  I chop them all into similar size (biggish) chunks then pulse until they are the size I want. I make them kind of small so the kids don't notice them as much. Paul often uses frozen mixed vegetables and that is just as good, no chopping involved.  Brown the mince over medium heat, add the onion and the crumbled stock cubes and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the water and cook for 15 minutes. Add the carrots, peas and potatoes.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.  I like to put it in the crock pot/slow cooker after the meat and onion is browned and then add the rest of the ingredients.  Cook on low all day or on high for about 4 hours.  If the meat is too juicy you can thicken it up with gravy mix or corn starch and cold water.  I don't usually need to thicken it.  Serve on rolls.  This makes enough for 8 rolls.

Dundee Mince Roll