Saturday, May 28, 2016

Home Sweet [Northern] Home

It's official - we've moved into our new house! The bad news is that I don't have wifi for another week or so, but the good news is that gives me plenty of time to unpack and get used to the new kitchen so I can get back into posting some yummy recipes!


I've already scouted out the local greengrocer and butcher, and both are amazing. We picked out a BBQ grill right away and have already taken it for a test drive with some Manchester sausages, mahoosive 1/2 pound burgers, and amazing local asparagus. 


I'm also thrilled about having a gas stove and oven for the first time in 2 years. Made a roast chicken on our second night in the house (because the first night we needed to test drive our nearest Chinese takeaway, obviously. Ps- it passed the test). So excited to be cooking after living out of suitcases for the past 2 1/2 weeks. I can't emphasize that enough. 


So, see you in about a week and a half's time with some new recipes! 


Monday, May 2, 2016

Mealplan Monday: Week of May 2nd

I know that Meal Prep Sunday is a thing, but my week begins on Monday. I highly recommend grocery shopping on a Monday, because most supermarkets don't get fresh deliveries on Sunday (and some not even on Saturday), so if you shop on a Monday you can be sure that you're getting the freshest food possible. Ok, rant over. Here's what my shopping bags were filled with this week:


You may notice some brand overlap, and that's because we went to both Aldi and Lidl. Spinach, blueberries and tomatoes are all 59p this week at Lidl, so I made sure to stock up. After a smoothie, a veggie quesadilla, and a vegetarian curry for dinner tonight, we've almost used a whole bag of spinach already!

The meal plan this week goes something like this:

Monday (Today!)
Breakfast: Kakaoboll (homemade, without all the sugar of the traditional recipe!)
Lunch: Leftover pulled pork & veggie quesadillas
Snack: Blueberry, strawberry, spinach & ginger smoothie - I've been trying to get as much fresh ginger into my system as possible to beat this cold I've got!
Dinner: Chickpea, butternut squash and spinach curry

I'm really excited about this milled linseed, sesame, cranberry and blueberry nonsense I found at Lidl. They also had a chia & goji berry one, but since I already have a Costco-sized bag of chia seeds, I opted for this one for my smoothies. Yum.
Tuesday
Breakfast: Overnight oats with blueberries & strawberries
Lunch: Leftover curry
Snack: Strawberries with balsamic vinegar - one of my favorite treats since childhood - and one of these delicious Pumpkin & Cinnamon fruit bars from Aldi. They have lots of other amazing flavors (sweet potato & ginger, blueberry & seeds, date & orange, cranberry & cherry) and yes, I've tried them all.
Dinner: Salmon Bahn Mi bowls - all the flavors of the beloved Vietnamese sandwich, with fresh salmon with a fish sauce caramel glaze, on a bed of buckwheat soba noodles.


Wednesday & Thursday
We are really busy both of these days, driving all over God's green earth to view houses for our move at the end of this month, so I'm guessing we'll probably eat out for lunches on both days. For dinners I might just make homemade pizzas topped with pesto, tomatoes and spinach, but it depends on how tired I am. For breakfast we have a big box of (Lidl's home brand) Weetabix to eat on the go, or as a quick bowl of cereal, come what may. I have a bag of dried apricots and some Gala apples to snack on in the car, as I inevitably get the munchies as soon as I leave the house.

Friday
Breakfast: Oaty breakfast smoothie with apples and cinnamon
Lunch: We have plans during the day, so probably eating lunch out (at Wetherspoons most likely, because *bargain*, and I love the grilled chicken and avocado salad there :)
Snack: Pumpkin & cinnamon bars
Dinner: Roasted vegetable panzanella, using up the leftover 1/2 butternut squash from Monday's dinner (which is still whole, wrapped up in the fridge and should keep just fine), roasted tomatoes, red onion, garlic, peppers, and homemade croutons on a bed of spinach (or lettuce, if we use up all of the spinach by then).

Saturday
Breakfast: Orange "creamsicle" oaty smoothie (milk, orange, vanilla, oats)
Planning to have a picnic or a BBQ if the weather cooperates, for which I'll go shopping in the morning, so no meal plan yet.

Sunday
Using up all of the leftovers in the house, and cooking up a bunch of lentils for use in salads and meals throughout the week.