Meal Planning Monday - Doubling Up

I am guilty of serious blog neglect.  I am just so busy at the moment, the recession is certainly over for me.  I've had so many site starts it's untrue! Great, but I'm working out how to juggle everything.  I've also had work coming in from unexpected sources.  I've been recommended by two people I don't know and had a decent stream of work from People Per Hour.

Meal planning has gone right out the window.  We've just been grabbing food and never have we eaten so much takeaway in one week.  I've a strange week this week though so will have time to cook whilst at home between appointments.

Everything I do cook though will

Meal Planning Monday - Meals on Foot

This week is a double challenge - I need to make an extra portion and provide meals on foot for an ailing relative AND constantly feed hungry boys.

So here's the plan...

Monday: One Pot Slow Cooked Beef (Gluten Free)

Tuesday: Baked Balsamic Salmon & Boiled Potatoes

Wednesday: Jacket Potatoes, Pizza Snails and Home Made Colslaw

Thursday:  Chicken Gougons and Potato Wedges

Friday: Olympic Buffet 

Saturday:  Hey, Hey Takeaway

Sunday: BBQ (optimistic, but it's been such a long time!!)

These are all things which its easy to make too much of and the Olympic Buffet is more olympic themed rather than size and will give us something to do during the day, rather than ask "is it starting yet" all day long.

If none of the above gets your mouth watering, hop on over to Mrs M's Blog where there's loads more meal plans on show!

Have a fab week!

Claire

One Pot Steak Dinner (Gluten free)

I’m all for easy cooking and this is the ultimate.   Just chop a few veg and bung it in the slow cooker.  This recipe is also gluten free.

Ingredients:

4 peices of steak for each person

Small new potatoes

Green beans

Carrotts

Onions (I use frozen – No Tears!)

2 Knorr Marco Pierre White Beef Stock Pots

1 Knorr Marco Pierre White Vegetable Stock Pot

Method

Chop the carrots and place in the base of the slow cooker with the green beans and the onions.

Wash and quarter the small potatoes, I leave the skin on, it’s up to your personal choice.

Place the steak on the vegetables.

Mix up the stock and leave to cool.  The stock needs to cool so it doesn’t start cooking the steak when you pour it in.  It’s not essential to let it cool, it will turn out ok – i’ve thrown it in boiling hot when I’ve been in a rush.

Put in enough stock to cover the ingredients.

Switch the slow cooker on 4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.

The steak should be fall apart soft when done.

Enjoy!

Meal Planning Monday - The Gluten Free Week

Little known fact that one of us in the house is intolerant to gluten.  It's not been diagnosed as full on Coelliac disease but a gluten free diet certainly helps.

So every so often I go all out to try and cook gluten free meals for a week.

If you've tried Gluten free meals, you will understand how a) difficult and b) monotonous this is.  Gluten free food is typically dry and the processed food often tastes metalllic.  Don't get me wrong there are wonderful gluten free foods out there such as Warburtons new Gluten Free Bread Range and the Tesco Free From Range is very good.  But it really is trial and error in finding the good stuff.

So this week, we will be eating:

Monday:
Slow Cooked Gluten Free Hot Pot

Tuesday:
Chicken and Mushroom Pie with Mash Topping

Wednesday:
Roast Dinner
(No great skill required on this one - just use gluten free gravy mix)

Thursday:
Gluten Free Chillli Con Carne with Rice

Friday:
Tesco Free From Fish Fingers, chips and home made mushy peas (why? cos the tinned ones can have gluten in)

Saturday:
It'll all go Pete Tong with a Takeaway!!

Gluten Free Chilli Con Carne

This dish really does taste exactly the same whether gluten free or not.  It can also be made in the slow cooker or just on the hob.  I tend to make it on the hob in the morning, then I can have it on a Jacket Potato for dinner and with rice for tea.

This makes an absolute pile of the stuff.  I usually get at least 3, usually 4 freezer portions out of it.  So value wise it's also fab!!

Ingredients:

1.5kg Minced Beef

3 tins of plum tomatoes

1 carton of pasatta

2 tins of red kidney beans

1 sachet of Mild Chilli Powder (If you buy the refill box, it's one of those sachets)

2 Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pots

Method:

1.  Brown the mince in batches and drain off the fat

2.  Put the mince in a large stockpot and sprinkle over the chilli powder.  

3.  Put the tomatoes, the pasatta and the rinsed (don't forget to rinse!) kidney beans  in the pan.  Chop the plum tomatoes up with a pair of scissors (I use plum rather than chopped tomatoes as I find it provides a richer sauce rather than watery)

4. Mix it all up and stir in the jelly stock pots

5.  Cook for about 2 1/2 hours on the hob or 6 hours in the slow cooker.

6.  Serve with rice.

I usually taste it after about an hour and if it's not spicy enough, I add more chilli powder.

This tastes great after its been frozen.

Chicken and Mushroom Pie with Mash Topping

To avoid the gluten content, this "pie" isn't really a pie.  The mash is spiced up a bit using a stock cube to give a bit of something as it can be quite bland!

This will serve 4 people

Ingredients:
knob of Dairy Free spread suitable for cooking
1 Punnet of Mushrooms, peeled and sliced
3 Chicken Breasts cut into cubes (or in fact - bought as cubes!!)
1Kallo Vegetable Bouillion stock cube
1 dessert spoon of Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain Flour
3lb of potatoes

Method:


1.  Melt the dairy free spread in a Medium pan

2. Add the sliced mushrooms and leave to soften for a couple of minutes

3. Add the flour and stir until mushrooms are coated then set aside

4. Mix up 250ml of the vegetable stock using half of the stock cube

5. Poach the chicken in the stock until cooked through

6. Pour the chicken and the stock into the mushroom pan and simmer for a couple of minutes stirring with a wooden spoon.

7.  Pour all into a pie dish/casserole dish and leave to cool.

8.  Peel and cube the potatoes and put in cold water

9.  Bring to the boil and cook for about 12 minutes

10.  Drain the potatoes

11. Mash vigorously!

12.  Crumble about 1/8th of a Kallo stock cube into the mash, add a little dairy free spread

13.  Spoon the mash on top of the chicken and mushroom creation

14.  Run a fork all over the mash to form peaks

15.  Warm through in the oven

Gluten Free Slow Cooker Hotpot

This really is a no brainer of a meal.  As long as you remember not to use a stock cube with gluten in that is.

So haul out your slow cooker and throw all this in to serve about 6 people.  My slow cooker is a large 6-8 person one so if yours is smaller, you will need less.

Ingredients:
3lb potaotes, peeled and sliced
4 large carrots
2 large onions
350g cubed topside (you can use casserole beef, rump steak, even mince)
2 Kallo Vegetable Bouillon stock cubes (mixed up and left to go cold)
2 Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pots (again, mixed and left to go cold)

Method:
1. Layer potatoes, then carrots, then onion, then meat and keep going until your slow cooker is full

2. Pour over the cold stock until all the ingredients are covered

3.  Cook for at least 6 hours

4.  Serve with Red Cabbage and/or Beetroot.

As this is Gluten free, I make this without a crust.  We tend to have it with gluten free toast as an alternative just to fill us up a bit more.