Meal Plan June 1 - 14

It's that time again, meal planning time! I've come up with one that I think everyone will enjoy this time. The man-child has been missing his meat since I have had a lot of vegetable based dishes. The kids are loving their new and healthy school snacks. So here is the new meal plan. MONDAY Breakfast - Blueberry & Banana Bread Lunch - Mini Frittata & Salad Dinner - Vegetable Lasagna TUESDAY Breakfast - Blueberry & Banana Bread Lunch - Mini Frittata & Salad Dinner - Paleo Chilli WEDNESDAY Breakfast - Pancakes Lunch - Mini Frittata & Veggie Sticks Dinner - Beef Bourgignon & Cauliflower Mash THURSDAY Breakfast - Paleo Cinnamon Rolls Lunch - Grilled Chicken & Veggie Salad Dinner - Roasted Veggie Soup FRIDAY Breakfast - Eggs & Soldiers Lunch - Curry Chicken Stir Fry Dinner - Meatloaf with Sweet Potato Mash & Peas SATURDAY Breakfast - Pancakes Lunch - Curry Chicken Stir Fry Dinner - Coconut Crusted Chicken with Honey & Mango Sauce with Broccoli SUNDAY Breakfast - Eggs & Soldiers Lunch - Cauliflower Crust Calzone Dinner - Unstuffed Cabbage Casserole So there you have it, our food for the next 2 weeks (as I do 2 weeks in a row the same) I will be organizing the shopping tomorrow to see how much it will cost and fingers crossed it is within the $300 budget.

The best chicken burgers

These started off as simple chicken and avocado burgers. My creativity overtook and they because something more.

Ingredients
500g chicken mince
spring onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 avocado (I used 1 next time I'm thinking 2)
1/2 tin black beans
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 cup gluten free breadcrumbs

Method.
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Take 1 tablespoon at a time and shape into patties and grill.
We served them with roasted pumpkin and corn cobs.
There were enough leftover for my lunch tomorrow, I am thinking of having it with some garlic aioli, spinach and red onion in a wrap.

Pulled Pork

Again I failed at taking photos for this one. It was one of those days where the kids are like wild animals on a rampage so it was a get in, get out mission!
It tasted great. Everyone loved it, there was leftovers which worked really well in sandwiches the next day.
Try it for yourself.
This is a little different to the traditional pulled pork because of our restrictions.

Ingredients
2kg pork loin
1 onion chopped
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
Salt and pepper
800ml passata

Rub all your spices on your pork. Place your onion in your slow cooker with your pork on top.
Pour passata over your pork and put on low for approx 8 hours.
You'll know it's ready when you can easily shred the meat.
That's how easy it is!

This served 4 children and 3 adults with heaps leftover.
We had side dishes of cauliflower and sweet potato mash and steamed broccoli

Curried Mince & Egg Burritos

I admit I forgot to take photos whilst cooking this but seriously make it, it's amazing!
Yes I was meant to have mango chicken but I felt like something different. It happens to us all!

So here's the recipe for this spur of the moment creation.
It was inspired by my father  who used to make us a curried Mince and wrap it in crepes.
So I made these egg burritos, no flour, no diary.

Serves 6 with enough left for lunch.

Mince
1 kg mince (i used beef)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin diced tomatoes
680 ml passata
1 zucchini, diced
2 cups mixed veg of choice chopped into small chunks (i used broccoli, carrots, sweet potato)
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Egg Burritos
12 eggs (i will experiment with egg white burritos this week)
1 cup almond milk
Salt and pepper
Spring onions, sliced.

Sautee onion and garlic.
Add spices. Once this is done add your mince and brown.
Add passata and diced tomatoes plus your vegetables and cook for 15-20 mins.
Season.

Whilst your curry is cooking, mix all the burrito ingredients together and add a label full to a frying pan and cook for a few minutes before flipping over. Cook again for a minute or so.

Wrap your meat up in your egg burritos and enjoy. Trust me they're awesome!

Meal Plan (Starting May 18)

Last fortnights meal plan was a huge success, the kids loved most of it, the husband barely realised he was getting fed almond milk and healthier alternatives. So I have just ordered our shopping for next fortnight.

I've been inspired by a friend of mine (in fact I'm pretty sure she's the only one who reads this!!!) to make omelettes in a morning, I love eggs so perfect for us.

Here goes this is what will be filling our plates and our bellies for the next 2 weeks.

Monday

Breakfast - omelettes with mushroom and spinach

Lunch - pumpkin soup

Dinner - mango chicken

Tuesday

Breakfast - cinnamon rolls

Lunch - chicken salad lettuce wraps

Dinner - egg rolls in a bowl

Wednesday

Breakfast - pancakes

Lunch- chicken salad lettuce wraps

Dinner - red lentil and root vegetable tagine with quinoa and almonds

Thursday

Breakfast - omelettes with mushrooms and spinach

Lunch - pumpkin soup

Dinner - chilli con carne

Friday

Breakfast - pancakes

Lunch - steak salad

Dinner - pulled pork sweet potatoes with salad

Saturday 

Breakfast - omelettes with mushrooms and spinach

Lunch - steak salad 

Dinner - nachos with a twist

Sunday 

Breakfast - cinnamon rolls

Lunch - mango chicken

Dinner - beef and broccoli with cauliflower mash

I will be adding the recipes to these as I cook them over the fortnight.

Some of these are already our favourites that I am adapting to be dairy, soy and gluten free.

I will also be adding the following to lunch boxes and will be freely available between meals

Snacks

Roasted chickpeas

"Muesli" bars

Date and coconut balls

Fresh fruit and vegetable sticks

I still have to go to the fruit and vegetable shop but have ordered the groceries which with delivery came to $153.22

I am estimating the fruit and vegetable shop to come to approx $120 but I will update when I return! 

Date & Coconut Balls

Another school week is about to start and I am starting to make the lunch boxes healthy yet appealing still. This recipe was given to me by my friend Emma a few years ago and my kids love it so much I have to hide them so they don't disappear instantly! 

It is super quick to do, the kids can even join in (hence my date and coconut balls being various shapes and sizes!) 

Here is what you do

Get your dates and shredded coconut and whizz them up in a food processor

Then (I find it better with wet hands) take 1-2 tsp at a time and roll into balls and roll again in remaining coconut if desired.

Ta-da! It's that easy and they're super healthy and great for energy. The perfect lunchbox or even workout snack.

(My daughters creation above haha!) 

Excuse our not so brilliant photos we aren't photographers but love to cook and share it.

Recipe makes approx 40 balls

Ingredients:

500g pitted dates, chopped 

4 cups shredded coconut

Method

Place chopped dates and 3 cups of coconut in food processor and blend.

When you are happy with the consistency roll 1-2 tsp of the mixture and roll into balls.

Roll the balls in the remaining coconut.

Best stored in the fridge.

Mexican Inspired Lettuce Wraps

Today is Mother's Day here in Australia and I woke up feeling like something Mexican. So I raided the pantry and came up with this bunch of ingredients.

What I wanted was sort of a mix between a taco and a burrito, obviously using lettuce as my wrap.

So I started off by chopping my onion and mincing some garlic.

I sautéed this with some coconut oil and then cooked my turkey mince and returned the onion and garlic to the pan along with some corn kernels.

Then I added the beans I found in the pantry which happened to be black beans and a 3 bean mix, you can use what you like or even leave beans out. Kidney beans would work well I think.

I then made up taco seasoning (recipe to come) 

I added this along with some tomato paste to the pan and stirred it all through. At this stage I needed to put my rice on (probably should have actually done this earlier.

When your rice is cooked, stir it through your meat mixture.

Chop up your toppings and add it all to some lettuce.

Yum!

Recipe

Ingredients:

500g mince of your choice (I used Turkey)

2 onions

4 cloves garlic

1 can black beans

1 can 3 bean mix

Brown rice

Spring onion

Tomatoes

Cucumber

Taco seasoning

2 cups corn kernels

2 tbsp tomato paste

Method

Sauté garlic and onion.

Brown mince and return onion mix to pan with corn kernels, cook for a few minutes

Add beans and stir.

Add tomato paste and 3 tbsp taco seasoning and stir, cook for approx 2 minutes.

Cook rice according to pack directions and when cooked stir through meat mixture.

To serve place a scoop of meat and rice on some lettuce and top with spring onion, tomato and cucumber.

Usually I also dress with an avocado sauce but as it was a spur of the moment thing I didn't have any avocado. 

Garlic and Mushroom Spaghetti

Firstly I have to apologise for the absence of photographs for this one, I will add them next time I make this dish, which will be soon since my kids loved it and have asked if we can have it again really, really soon. Yesterday was a horrible day, there was a fire at my house in the morning (no it wasn't my cooking!) but it was extremely scary and destroyed a portion of my daughters bedroom including her bed, mattress and bedding, oh and her beloved beanie boos which she had only got for her birthday a few weeks ago. Anyway to better news, the food, which as I said was a hit all round and it is super, super simple. I didn't feel like cooking after the events of the day and was going to caved for packaged, convenience food but I didn't, I thought of the garlic, mushroom spaghetti on my meal plan, 4 ingredients, let's do it! Here's the recipe. Serves 6 8 cloves garlic, chopped really finely or minced if you prefer 300g mushroom, sliced finely 500g brown spaghetti (a little tricky to find, just use normal if you don't have dietary restrictions) 1 cup stock Splash of white wine (optional and I didn't use it) Method In a large pan of water boil your spaghetti Sautée your mushrooms and garlic with a little coconut oil, add stock (and wine if using) and let this dissolve by about 2/3 Drain spaghetti and mix through the mushrooms and garlic. Serve and enjoy Don't be put off by how simple this is, I was skeptical, I thought it had to be bland and not enjoyable with so few elements. I was wrong, it was good and my kids loved it so this will be made again and when I am feeling creative I will do a fancy version of this.

Mushroom, asparagus and spinach risotto

Risotto, everyone loves risotto right?

I haven't made risotto on the stove for a very long time and a day where all 4 kids were home probably wasn't the best but we survived (the toy box didn't!)

I went to a cafe not long ago and on the specials board was this amazing risotto filled with parmesan and topped with enough butter to feed a small army but it was delicious.
Now with our new eating style I wanted to try and recreate this recipe.
This is how I went:

Start off by chopping up your onion, mincing your garlic (or finely chop if you prefer) and chopping up your asparagus.

In a large saucepan with some coconut oil sauté these for roughly 5 minutes until the onion is nice and soft.

In the meantime slice up your mushrooms, then add to the saucepan.

Cook for another few minutes to soften up your mushroom, add a splash of white wine if you're using it, I didn't so just added a splash of stock, I also added some Italian herbs (Marjoram, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Oregano and Basil)

Next we add our arborio rice and stir it all together, wait a minute or 2 to add your stock, you should hear your rice crackle first, then add your stock, 3/4 of a cup at a time and stir, wait a few minutes before adding the next lot, you want to make sure the stock has been soaked up by the rice first.

Don't worry that your risotto isn't creamy for a while, it will be I promise! Keep going adding the stock until you have only a little left, at this stage add your spinach, the remaining stock and season.

Cook for a further few minutes while your spinach wilts and the last of the stock is soaked up,your risotto will be nice and creamy at this stage and certainly doesn't need oodles of butter, if you don't have dietary restriction and want to use butter though that is fine!!

Nothing left to do other than serve now.

I have to admit the photo does it no justice at all, this risotto was amazing!

Recipe: serves 6 or 12 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut oil 

2 onions, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 bunches of asparagus, chopped

Splash of white wine (optional)

2 cups arborio rice

9 cups vegetable stock

500g mushrooms, sliced

A tbsp Italian herbs

Pinch salt and pepper

3 good handfuls of fresh spinach 

Method:

Melt coconut oil in a large pan and add onion, garlic and asparagus, sauté for approx 5 minutes.

Chop mushrooms and add to the pan. Cook for a further few minutes.

Add arborio rice, wine, herbs and seasoning and stir.

Wait for a few minutes until the rice crackles and add 3/4 cup stock.

Wait until stock is soaked up by the rice stirring occasionally.

Add more stock, repeat this until there is only approx 3/4 cup left.

Tear up spinach and add to the pan with remaining stock.

Stir and allow the stock to be soaked up.

Serve and enjoy with a nice glass of white wine (again the wine is optional!)

There is so much experimenting that could be done here, if you eat meat you could add some chicken, next time I'm going to use baby spinach instead of English spinach and a variety of mushrooms instead of just your standard mushroom. Or it's super yum just the way it is.

This served 2 adults and 4 children and left enough for a spare lunch and should freeze well. I will update on that when I defrost the spare lunch down the track.

The first meal plan

I'm very excited to be writing this, the first meal plan to fit with all of our new dietary restrictions!
I am writing one week here but I buy for 2 weeks at a time, for example Sunday night is a broccoli and cashew cream soup we will have that the following Sunday too.
I find it cheaper to shop this way and I get paid this way so it works for us, it may not work for others.
It also fits in with my goal of not spending over $600 a month on groceries.

***drum roll***
We've been waiting and it's here!!!
The plan -
SATURDAY
Breakfast - Raspberry & coconut smoothie
Lunch - Ham and egg cups
Dinner - Garlic mushroom pasta

SUNDAY
Breakfast - Breakfast casserole
Lunch - Moroccan carrot soup
Dinner - Broccoli and cashew soup

MONDAY
Breakfast - Eggs and Soldiers
Lunch - Cashew chicken lettuce wraps
Dinner - Lemon pepper chicken with asparagus and sautéed mushrooms

TUESDAY
Breakfast - Tropical smoothie
Lunch - Moroccan carrot soup
Dinner - Mushroom, asparagus and spinach risotto

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - Breakfast casserole
Lunch - Tomato, kale and white bean soup
Dinner - Meatloaf, sweet potato mash and corn cobs

THURSDAY
Breakfast - raspberry and coconut smoothie with a piece of fruit
Lunch - Cashew chicken lettuce wraps
Dinner - Chicken fried rice

FRIDAY
Breakfast - eggs and soldiers
Lunch - Tomato, kale and white bean soup
Dinner - Italian meatballs with zucchini spaghetti

Wow look at all that soup! Can you tell we have hit our colder months (and I love soup!!)
It may look a little repetitive here and it will get better I promise, whilst we adapt I'm keeping simple, cooking bulk and hoping it all works out!

A whopping 93 items at checkout (including some nappies/diapers) I was dreading it at this stage thinking I had blown budget horribly!
To my surprise it came to $283 (my budget was $300)
This included delivery since my car is currently out of action. When that is repaired I'll be saving even more by buying my fruit and veg and the green grocers rather than the supermarket.
During the week I will post up some recipe links too.
Enjoy