Get Cooking Challenge - day 4

A day at home day today - meant to be clearing a pile of orders, although not a lot got done due to a couple of long phone calls

Breakfast - bacon, scrambled eggs and mushrooms

Lunch - leftover Coconut curried pork with a side salad

Dinner - Citrus marinaded pork chops with vegetables

Supper - raspberries with greek yoghurt and flaked almonds

Get Cooking challenge - day 3

Today was a mad day - pub lunch, dentist, AGM - so meals had to be juggled a little

Breakfast - bacon, scrambled egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Pub lunch (no photo)
We go to a monthly lunch club in our local village pub. It is aimed at getting the older people out, and I'm generally the youngest there.  It is a set menu, unless you ask for a vegetarian option.  They probably could cope with special diets, but it is so complicated that I often go the veggie choice.

Yesterday the set dish was chicken casserole with dumplings, with vegetable curry as the alternative.  The first time I had the curry it came with a side salad, so when I signed up for this one I didn't think to say 'with salad', so it came with naan bread.  I gave that away and had extra beans instead!

On Mondays, our church runs a little coffee shop - in our village we are limited to where we can walk to, so we do like to go to support this, as it is only across the road.  This is now the only place that I eat grains, and I suffer later because of this, so I need to think about a solution which will probably mean taking my own cake!  My husband left early to go to the dentist.

Dinner - Baked tuna with carrots and broccoli
We had to do early dinner , as my husband had an AGM to go to - tuna is simple and you can do other things while its cooking!

Supper - raspberries with greek yoghurt and flaked almonds

Menu Planning 11 - 17 November

Well, last week almost went to plan!

I got to Wednesday to find we had no spinach to make the Coconut turkey stew, so it was a case of using the turkey mince in a different way!  So turkey burgers made from turkey mince and cranberry sauce.

Then on Saturday evening I discovered that the pork joint was still frozen - to do the pulled pork you coat the meat with a blend of spices and leave overnight, but I was too sure about doing that to a piece of meat that was still defrosting.  So on Sunday morning, I made the coconut sauce for Coconut curried pork

So this week

Monday Baked tuna - quick and easy when you are in a  hurry to get out!

Tuesday Citrus pork chops

Wednesday Chicken not-pie

Thursday Bacon wrapped meatloaf

Friday Fish pie - uses up the ends of packets of fish

Saturday Mozzarella meatballs

Sunday Pulled pork - easy to prepare and get in the slowcooker quickly when we have to out by 8am

As usual I'm linking with Menu planning with Mrs M

Get cooking challenge - day 2

Remembrance Sunday today which means the boys have Church Parade, and now they are at Explorer Scout age those who turn up to church get to go karting later in the day - this in fact means a second trip out!

Breakfast - Bacon, scrambled egg and butter fried mushrooms
This is a normal breakfast for myself and my husband - we cook a packet of sausage or bacon which will do a couple of days, then he will scramble the eggs in the microwave while I fry the mushrooms.  We sit down for breakfast together 5 -6 day a week, as we eat after the children have gone to school.

Lunch - Ham salad bowl
The salad bowl will have 'bistro salad' which is mixed leaves with grated beetroot, then chopped spring onion, radish, cucumber, celery, sprinkled with mixed seeds and sultanas.  Pour over a vinaigrette made from olive oil and wine vinegar.  Top with chopped meat (or fish)

Dinner - Coconut curried pork
A pulled pork recipe done in the slow cooker.  I tend to pull the pork while the vegetables are cooking, and put it all back into the sauce to serve it.
[the blog I got the recipe has been taken down, so I intend to load up my recipe shortly]

Get Cooking Challenge - day 1

Bill from Real Food for Real Men threw down a 'Get off the Couch and Get Cooking' challenge.
He is promoting a healthy lifestyle of good clean food and staying active

So for the next 3 weeks, the target is home cooked meals that are grain/gluten free.

So these are today's meals

Breakfast - Blueberry and banana paleo microwave muffin (I can't find the recipe, but it has no added sugar with the sweetness from half a banana and about 25 blueberries)
This is the breakfast when I have to be up and out before the rest of my family are ready (once or twice a week) as I can eat this with a mug of hot lemon, and check my emails and facebook at the same time.

Lunch - Curried broccoli soup from Nomnompaleo, chunks of chicken  and 2 satsumas as I was at a craft fair.  When you no longer eat grains, it can be challenging to take a packed lunch and I have found this the most successful.

Dinner - Curried meatloaf with Hungarian sauce and steamed broccoli - the sauce is standard tomato sauce with a teaspoon of curry powder and one of paprika to give it a bit of a kick!  The meatloaf has a tablespoon of curry powder, as well as onion and egg added to the minced beef.  I don't eat dessert.

Unfortunately, the walk/run is not likely to happen, especially coming up to Christmas as this is my busy time as people are buying their Christmas presents.

Menu planning 4 - 10 November

Well at least this week, I know what is going on!
Over the last weekend, I didn't know what was happening  from one meal time to the next.

Younger son is still home this week, although he has to be in school tomorrow morning for a English GCSE exam, but evening meals are as normal.

Monday - Baked tuna

Tuesday - Not stuffed mushrooms

Wednesday - Coconut turkey stew

Thursday - Shepherd's pie

Friday - Salmon

Saturday - Curried meatloaf

Sunday - Pulled pork

I'm linking up with Mrs M's Meal planning again - come over and see what others are doing!

Sunshine soup - easy butternut squash soup

All the recipes I 've found for butternut squash soup, start with you having to chop it up - as anyone who has tried this, it's really hard!

So, this is a simple way of making a tasty soup, the easy way.

Stab the butternut squash with a fork all over

Stabbed with a fork

Put it into a preheated oven at 180C for about 25 minutes - you can cook your dinner at the same time.

This should enable you to be able to peel and chop it with ease (although a little messy).  You will also need to remove the seeds and the fibrous bits with a spoon.  The chunks should be about an inch square, but it doesn't need to be precise.

Peeled

and chopped