Meal planning has just gone by the wayside for the last month or so, and I can really tell the difference! Both in my attitude toward cooking (couldn't be bothered!) and in our grocery spending. I shouldn't let Christmas and the holidays put me out of routine, but they always seem to. So it is time to get organised again!
I had a browse through the library cookbook shelves and brought home these lovely books.
I love Julie Goodwin. She was the winner of the first Australian series of Masterchef, before it went all pretentious. Sorry, just my opinion, but I don't watch Masterchef any more. I liked the first series - Julie is a mum like me, and won Masterchef with recipes that she cooks at home. Now it seems to have become more staged, with ridiculously fiddly recipes that would be ridiculously expensive to cook.
Julie's recipes are great cook at home recipes - no half page long lists of ingredients or complicated techniques.
So I will be cooking from these books this week.
Monday
Vegetable curry puffs with stir fried greens and honey carrots
Jelly and ice cream (bit of a kid's dessert, but it is a HOT day today!)
Tuesday
Zucchini slice with potato wedges and salad
Pineapple upside down cake
Wednesday
Vietnamese chicken salad
Rhubarb and apple pie
Thursday
Spicy beef burritos
Mango parfait (love parfait - sounds so posh but really just layers of whatever I feel like. This one will probably be fresh mango, coconut yoghurt and crushed gingernut biscuits).
Friday
Chicken parmigiana with sweet potato wedges, cheat's tabouleh (so-called as it uses couscous instead of bulghur) and coleslaw
Walnut and pear gingerbread cake
Saturday
Aussie burgers and chips
Custard tart
Sunday
Egg and bacon pies and green salad
Fruit salad and ice cream
Lemon slice
Finger buns
Cherry Ripe brownies
Fig bars
Hazelnut biscuits
Let's see if I can get back into the swing of things this week!
I have also realised that I need to keep better records of the meals I cook and the family's reaction to them. For example, when I try a new recipe and everyone raves about it, I need to make note of that. I always think I will remember, but I never do! I have just been using these blog posts as a record, but I think I will go back to my old-fashioned handwritten ones as well, so I can make notes on them. How do you keep track of your successes (and failures!)?
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I used to post those little sticky notes into the cook book, providing it was my book of course. Making a note of reaction and adjustments to the recipe. Hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea - can instantly see where the recipes are.
DeleteI really like Julie Goodwin too; she makes delicious family meals. What a menu! Do you eat leftovers for lunch? I use sticky notes in my cookbooks and I scan and print recipes from library books and write recipes and file them in a folder. I remove the sticky note or copied recipe immediately if a recipe doesn't work. Rob is at home for two weeks and has done a lot of the dinner cooking so I haven't quite got my meal planning mojo sorted yet. It's been a lovely break.
ReplyDeleteHolidays certainly change up the routine - for the good though! I do eat any leftovers for lunch, so normally don't need to make lunch for myself. One of my to-do list items is to sort all my photocopied recipes into a folder.
DeleteI have so many cookbooks that I am also trying to use one a week for my meal planning - Julie Goodwin sounds like my kind of cook - enjoy your meals!
ReplyDeleteI have so many cookbooks that I really need to cull some. I am hoping to cook my way through them and work out which ones I really want to keep.
DeleteYum, yum, yum, I like the sound of everything you're having!
ReplyDeleteThanks - let's hope the family does too!
DeleteYour weekly program is truly inviting, my dearest Jayne, I'd love to be a guest of yours !
ReplyDeleteSending much dear love to you,
my blessed friend
Dany
Thank you. Yet to see how well I will stick to this menu!
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