Meal Planning Monday

Hey Guys, We've had a sick household all weekend so I didn't achieve much other than lots of time spent with my 2 unwell little men, Mr 1 & Mr 7. I too am sick so I don't think this meal plan will be too adventurous..

Monday (Meatless Monday) Tomato Soup & Toast (told you it wouldn't be too adventurous!)
Tuesday: Herbed fish w/ vegetables.
Wednesday: Apricot Chicken on Rice.
Thursday: Ravioli with Tomato & Basil Sauce.
Friday: Homemade Pizza's
Saturday: Salmon & Vegetable Bake.
Sunday: Sunday Roast (chicken) with Veggies.

Bake List:
Choc chip cookies
Vanilla cupcakes
Pikelets

You might see Iv made Monday, 'Meatless Monday' something a little different to always having meat with our meals (other than scrambled eggs or spaghetti dinners! Lol)

Till next week ~ happy cooking xx

Meal Planning Monday W/E Sunday 27th January 2013

I can't believe we are down to the last week of school holidays! Iv loved having the kids at home but after 6 weeks off I can tell they need to go back badly!!! I'm a bit bummed though because tonight I started them back on 'school routine bedtimes' and Hubby returns to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off. It's been nice having an extra pair of hands around during the day.. I can feel a stressful day coming on tomorrow! But oh we'll, here is my Meal Plan for this week. Keeping in mind some easy going meals for the last week of the hols!

Monday: Oven cooked Salmon & Vegetable bake with Rice

Tuesday: Beef Burgers with salad.

Wednesday: Chilli Con Carne with Rice

Thursday: Spaghetti Bolognaise
Friday: Grilled Fish with Salad
Saturday: AUSTRALIA DAY BBQ -- Lamb & Snags on the Barbie! :P
Sunday: Roast of the week with vegetables

Bake List:
Vanilla Muffins
Chocolate Cake
Vegemite & Cheese Scrolls (back to school)
Savoury Muffins (back to school)

Meal Planning Monday (Week Ending 20th January 2013)

Spaghetti Bolognaise - A family favourite

 

Yes it's Tuesday once again & I had meant to type this up last night but I fell asleep with the iPad on my head so didn't get very far with much last night at all.. Exhaustion from my Birthday celebrations I'm sure.. :) This week I'm meal planning for 2 adults, 4 children & 1 toddler. This week I'm going to be blogging about meal ideas for larger families (smaller families will have great freezer leftovers!)

My meal plan is as follows;

MONDAY : Spaghetti Bolognaise
TUESDAY: Sausage sizzle with the lot!
WEDNESDAY: Homemade Chicken Soup w/crusty bread rolls
THURSDAY: Salmon Patties w/ Salad.
FRIDAY: Tomato, Onion & Olive Chicken (slow cooker) served w/ Pasta.
SATURDAY: Baked Fish (Hoki) with vegetables.
SUNDAY: Apricot Chicken w/ rice. (slow cooker)

Bake List:
Chocolate cake
Choc chip cookies

Recipe's to follow shortly...

Meal Planning Monday w/e 14th October

This week my meal planning is for 2 adults, 2 children & 1 baby. Since it is the first week back at school, I can't envisage any culinary cooking adventures, however, an emphasis on good nutrition & convenience will be the focus;
Monday- Back to school homemade burgers.
Tuesday- Honey Mustard Chicken served with rice, spinach & rocket.
Wednesday - Anniversary dinner :)
Thursday - Lasagne & salad.
Friday - Steak & vegetables.
Saturday - Home made chicken soup.
Sunday - BBQ something :)

Bake or Make List:
Anniversary Cake xoxo
Jelly & custard (a fave!)
Tapioca pudding (my fave!)
Banana & honeycomb muffins.

Meal Planning Monday

I keep forgetting it's Monday! The school holidays & a change to my husbands work schedule has me completely thrown out & I keep thinking its either Sunday or Tuesday... So grocery day tomorrow & time for another weekly meal plan. I keep trying to remember to take photo's, but usually by the time dinner is on the table, I'm so starving I completely forget all about taking a happy snap & am happier just to eat!

This week I'm cooking for 2 adults, 2 kids as my Stepkidlets are spending the holidays with their Mother.

Monday: Sweet chilli chicken wraps with spinach/rocket, tomato, cheese, beetroot & onion.

Tuesday: Lasagna with salad.

Wednesday: Homemade pizza's (cheese, spinach/rocket, mushroom, onion, capsicum, ham, pepperoni) with garlic bread.

Thursday: Devilled sausages on rice.

Friday: Thai green chicken curry on rice.

Saturday: Beef, mushroom, zucchini & onion casserole (can't get enough of this!)

Sunday: Roast turkey with roast veggies.

Bake List:
Mini profiteroles with strawberries & cream.
Jelly & creamed rice.

Meal Planning Monday

Finally! The last week of school before 2 weeks of holidays.. There is just something so nice about not having to be 100% (ok so maybe 98%) organised by 8am. And although holidays aren't full of sleep-in's anymore (cue Toddler at 6am) they do come with a certain change of pace that I love!

Speaking of change of pace, the last week of the school term also comes with a pace of its own.. Busy! So dinners this week whilst still falling inline with our healthier approach to life also need to be fairly easy.

Monday: Beef, mushroom & zucchini stew/casserole.

Tuesday: Chicken schnitzel topped with ham & tomato, served with tossed salad (spinach, rocket, mesculin mix, mushroom, tomato, cheese) and corn on the cob.

Wednesday: Meatloaf served with vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, beans, carrot, corn & zucchini) and gravy.

Thursday: Grilled hoki with tossed salad and corn on the cob.

Friday: BBQ! Yummy way to end the term & the working week.

Saturday: Thai Green Chicken Curry served with rice.

Sunday: Spaghetti Bolognese

Baby Puree's & Foods!
- Pumpkin & sweet potato
- Pumpkin, sweet potato & zucchini
- Pumpkin, potato & carrot
- Potato Cheesy Mash
- Potato & carrot

Bake List:
Banana muffins

Meal Plan Monday! (Mon 5th March - Sunday 11th March)

Meal Plan for Week Ending Sunday 11th March

The majority of the past week has been raining and dreary around here, but still quite humid, so on the menu has been a lot of salads, light meals and quick and easy dinner fixes with Hubby and I eating dinner at 11pm 3 nights in a row!! (Needless to say the kids ate earlier, but last week we had some family drama's so many days were sheer write-off's for me!). 

This week to eliminate the 11pm dinner 'dates' of last week, I purchased a few Weight Watchers meals to have on stand by in the freezer in case we get caught off guard again and we could just heat one of these up. I actually ended up serving one of the Weight Watcher's meals tonight as a regular meal and put a side salad with it, it was really nice.  

So yes, here is to less chaos and a smoother running meal plan this week!

Monday:  Weight Watcher's Butter Chicken with Rice served with a side salad.

Tuesday:  Baked White fish fillets, served with steamed vegetables and balsamic sauce.

Wednesday:  Devilled Sausages served with rice (using Woolworths reduced fat/salt sausages)

Thursday:   Chicken thigh fillets cooked in a lemon pepper and herb 'cook in bag' served with a greek salad. 

Friday:    Lean Beef Burgers served with homemade sweet potato fries.

Saturday:  Tinned tomato's on toast with grated cheese. 

Sunday:  Spaghetti Bolognaise served with rice for us, pasta for the kids.. 

Make/Bake List.

Homemade Pikelets -- I made pancakes on Sunday morning and used the leftovers to make pikelets.. they turned out super yummy, so i'll make up another batch for morning tea's this week.

Custard.. Hubby is usually the one who makes the custard from custard powder in this house, but tonight I gave it a shot and it turned out really well.  I'd run out of yoghurts  to send with school lunches so I gave this a go instead and chilled it in some plastic containers, ill see how they like it tomorrow!

Vanilla cupcakes with mars bar icing.. (super evil for cupcake monday!)

Lime Jelly! (might even put it with the afore mentioned custard!)

Meal Plan Monday! (Mon 20th Feb-Sun 26th Feb)

I am really excited about this weeks meal plan.. I have some awesome foods to work with as we took a trip to the Boggo Rd Markets on Sunday (formerly the Boggo Rd Jail) and got some fantastic free range meat from a Butcher there, we bought Salmon, 8 chicken thigh fillets and corned beef.. I also rediscovered ALDI this week and was able to get some fantastic bases for meals also.. So here is our menu for the week! :)

Monday:

Pan Fried Norwegian Salmon with green salad and garlic bread.

** Since I'm writing this on Wednesday, I must say this was AWESOME! I used a little more olive oil than I normally would in my frying pan and gave each side of the salmon a good grind of both salt and pepper. Each fillet was approx 200g and tasted DIVINE! -- Side salad consisted of Mesculin, rocket and spinach leaves, Roma tomatoes, grated carrot and beetroot, reduced fat cheese, kalamata olives & cold peas. 

Tuesday:

Chicken Thigh Fillets done with a lemon pepper crust, served with mashed potato and vegetables.

**Very simple -- pop 6-8 thigh fillets into a baking bag or baking tray and give a good dose of lemon pepper seasoning & the juice of one fresh lemon.. it all runs together to make a yummy saucy coating over your chicken.  

Wednesday:

Corned Beef with Vegetables & White Sauce. 

Thursday:

**Take Away**

Friday:

Aussie Hamburgers..

**I saw something similar to this on Everyday Gourmet with Justine before my Dr Phil fix today and OMG they looked amazing! I knew I had to add them into this weeks menu SOMEWHERE!! you will need (I need to make 6..)

- 6 Hamburger Patties.. (you can either make your own or buy pre-made. I love the Lean Beef Patties from Coles -- 4 equals about $6.00) 

- 6 Bread rolls.. 

- Condiments including: Butter, tomato/BBQ sauce, mayo, sweet chili sauce.

- Beetroot

- 6 eggs

- Reduced fat tasty cheese..

- Lettuce (or equivalent) leaves I use mesculin and or spinach leaves.

- Tomato 

Its basically like any other Hamburger, except when cooking the patty, put the cheese on top when its nearly finished cooking and the cheese will melt into and around your meat patty.. looking very evil, but SO TASTY!

Saturday:

Tuna Pasta Bake.. 

I saw all of the ingredients for this at ALDI the other day and we haven't had it in a while as hubby and I, despise it.. but, the kids love it, so I made it for them.. I happened to make enough to have one for the freezer too, so no cooking for me on Saturday night! Yippee.. Grab yourself 500g Pasta, 1 jar of Aldi Tuna Bake Sauce, Large tin of tuna (I also got mine from Aldi in Sunflower oil.. different.. I usually buy Spring water..) 1 tin of corn (you could use frozen if you wish) and I added some capers for something different and topped with low fat grated cheese.  

Sunday:

Spaghetti Bolognaise :)  

A classic way to finish off the week.. and I grate 2 zucchini's, 6 mushrooms, 2 squash and 3 carrots into it too and the kids don't even notice! WIN WIN! Hubby and I have rice and the kids have theirs with the leftover Penne from the 1kg Bulk Pack I bought from Aldi.. :)

BAKE LIST:

**Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing..

**Trifle

Meal Planning Monday

I dont know why I just dont call this post, 'Meal Planning Wednesday..'  once again it's Wednesday and im only just getting around to putting it up for the week.. Im going to blame school holiday fun this time round (I say its healthy to always have an excuse or two up ones sleeve..) Lets see how I go with meal planning 'Monday' incorporating the Easter long weekend..

The picture above is of a delicious easter cake I made yesterday and although it came out of a packet (Betty Crocker - Devil's Food Cake) I had so much fun making my first official double layered cake and it was super easy.. I used 2 cake tins and sandwiched the 2 together with jam and fresh cream. I topped it with the included icing & some candied chocolate eggs from Big W.  I ended up making 2 of these, 1 for an easter morning tea we went to & the other for our eating pleasure :-)  (per hubby's request..) 

Monday - we had yummy chicken breast with pumpkin, potato, broccolini, peas, corn, capsicum and carrots with gravy!

Tuesday - My son had chicken and prawn noodles for dinner & a plateful of cheese and cherry tomato crackers, I intended on getting back up and having pea and ham soup (as hubby was working late) but I dozed off and didn't end up eating dinner at all..

Wednesday - Beef and Vegetable Casserole, done in the slow cooker..

Thursday -    Hot Dogs with the lot.. (bacon, cheese, onion, mustard and tomato sauce)

Friday -        Since it's 'Good Friday' i'm saying fish and cooked green prawns & salad on the side.

Saturday -    BBQ of some description..

Sunday -      Usually I am one to go with a traditional easter roast (but I will be making

that on Monday) tonight for lack of time, spaghetti bolognaise is on the menu :)

Monday -     Lamb Roast with roast vegies. 

Tuesday -    Back to school - Kid's choice.. :-)

Baking List:

Choc Chunk Cookies

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Recipe's I would like to try this week;

Baked Fish on the BBQ

Garlic Prawns

Homemade Potato Salad

Meal Planning Monday

It seems hubby has taken over the duties of cooking over the past few nights, which has been a pleasant change, I dont know what it is about someone else cooking for you, but it always tastes much better when its popped down in front of you, minus the endless hours of slaving over a hot stove! So iv been quite spoilt the past few nights as I have been feeling rather exhausted.. But tomorrow night I shall resume my cooking duties & let hubby kick his heels up, before we all look rather rotund (his meals are always far more calorie laden & extravagent than mine! - pan gravy and all!)

This week the meals will be relatively straight forward & nothing too 'out there' and will be reliant on a lot of vegetables as my cravings have been leaning towards meat and veg lately (not to mention chocolate.. but you'll see that from my baking list!)

Monday - Tonight we had lasagna, vegetables & beer battered oven fries.

Tuesday - 
Fish and Salad inc. Baby Spinach Leaves, tomatoes, olives, asparagus, lebanese cucumber, beetroot, grated cheese & carrot.   

Wednesday-
Silverside cooked in the slow cooker with white sauce and vegetables (broccolini, cauliflower, carrots, peas & corn).

Thursday-
Lemon Pork Chops (saw this on a recipe card today & it looks yum!) with vegetables.

Friday-
No cook night!

Saturday-
Mini Pizza's made out of ciabata bread, the kids can help put their own toppings on.

Sunday-
Roast of the week - Roast Chicken with Roast Vegetables (potato, sweet potato, corn on the cob, carrot, pumpkin, zucchini and peas) with chicken gravy!


BAKE LIST:
Smartie Rainbow Sprinkle Cookies.
Triple Choc, Chocolate Muffins.
Pikelets
Chocolate Cake.
Some easter cooking..

Other recipe ideas I would; like to try this week
1. Eggs in a basket -  I saw this cute little recipe on Bianca's blog, A Little Delightful and I thought it looked so yummy!
2. Sardine, Cheese, Spinach, egg and tomato bakes (in individual ramekins)

When I work out how to add The Organised Housewifes new Meal planning button I shall, but in the meantime, check out her link to her meal planning.. great recipes!

The Organised Housewife

The Rest of the Recipe's...

Sorry they are a bit late, finally got a breather from work, play and rest (in that order) to update the blog!

Beef, Tomato and Mushroom Casserole..
This is another great one for the slow cooker or the stock pot as the weather gets cooler.. It is great for freezing and you can easily make excess by adding additional ingredients..

What you will need;

• 600g of gravy beef/casserole beef or similar.
• 2 x Tin of Whole Peeled Tomatoes
• 12 Mushrooms halved  (or as many as you like)
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 medium/large onion sliced
• 4 washed potatoes
• 2 x Oxo Cubes or Maggi Packet Mix.

To Make;

I used my slow cooker to cook this batch of casserole as I was working that day and love coming home to the aroma of a well cooked dinner! 

1. Add the diced meat to the slow cooker or stock pot and crumble the Oxo/Stock cubes over the top of the meat.  Alternatively you can add a Beef Provencale Maggi Packet mix.
2. Add the Potatoes, Carrot, Onion and Mushrooms to the pot with the meat.
3. Add the 2 x tins of canned tomatoes
4. Cover the ingredients with water
5. Allow the ingredients to cook, In the slow cooker I will leave on Auto for 6-8 hours or if using the stock pot, keep an eye on the ingredients, if they boil, turn down the heat and allow the casserole to simmer..
6. In the final hour of cooking in the slow cooker I also add a handful of baby spinach leaves.

Enjoy!


Beef Nacho's
Easy weekend meal that the kids and adults will enjoy.. can also be made as a lunchtime treat.

What you will need;

• 1 x packets of corn chips (CC's, Dorito's etc..)
• 500g of Lean Beef Mince
• 1 x tin of diced/crushed tomatoes
• 3 x Mushrooms
• 1 x Onion
• 1 x tin of mixed beans
• Sour Cream
• 2 x Cups of grated tasty cheese.

1.  Heat some olive oil in your frying pan and brown the 500g of beef mince and the diced up onion together in the pan.
2. Once the meat/onions are browned you are able to add the sliced mushrooms and tin of mixed beans to the mince concoction, cook these until well mixed and cooked through.
3. Add the jar of salsa to the meat and continue to cook through.
4. Add the packets of corn chips to a large baking dish. 
5. Spoon the meat over the top of the corn chips, ensuring you have a relatively equal distrubution over the entire pan of corn chips.
6.Sprinkle the grated tasty cheese over the top of the corn chips and meat mix.
7. Pop the Nacho's into an oven preheated to 180 degrees until the cheese is melted nicely and the chips are warmed through.
8. Top with sour cream and finely sliced shallots and serve into individual bowls/plates or as a baking dish for finger food.. 

Some more simple recipe's... Part 2

As promised here are some of the simple recipe's that I have cooked/will be cooking this week as part of our Meal Planning Monday, weekly meal plan.

Chicken Soup..

I have had an absolute craving for a homemade chicken soup since late last week, so it was so indulgent to be able to finally cook and eat this wonderful hearty soup!

What you will need:
(you can increase/decrease the ingredients to suit your family size etc)

• 6-8 Chicken Drumsticks (you may also choose to use chicken pieces/chicken breast etc)
• 2 small onions (or 1 large.. I only had 2 small)
• 2 carrots
• 4 washed potatoes
• 1 stick of celery
• Salt and Pepper
• Mushrooms
• Baby Spinach Leaves
• 4 Cups of Chicken Stock or equivalent
• 250 ml of water

I chose to cook our chicken soup in the slow cooker as I had a few errands to run in the evening and wanted to keep the meal simmering to ensure maximum flavour, however, cooking it in your stock pot works just as well and the recipe runs the same (just alter the cooking times)

1. Place your chicken into your pot/slow cooker. There is no need to brown it first.
2. Add your chopped Carrots, Onions and Potatoes to the pot. It depends how you like your vegetables as to how you cut them. I halve my Potatoes, cut the carrots into rings and cut my onions into quarters.
3. Add your 4 cups of chicken stock over the top of the chicken/vegetables. If the meat/vegetables aren't entirely covered, you will need to add water until everything is just covered by the water.
4. Season with salt and pepper and any herbs you may like.
5. Allow to cook in the pot or the slow cooker.. I usually use a low heat, so it takes quite a while, I find the flavour better and love how the chicken falls apart by the end of the cooking process.
6. In the slow cooker, I wait about 4 hours, then I add my mushrooms, baby spinach and black olives and then continue to cook.
7. Towards the end of the cooking you may wish to take your chicken legs out of the slow cooker and separate the meat from the bones, then you simply add the meat back to your pot and discard the bones.
8. After about 2 hours in the pot or 6 hours in the slow cooker usually the soup is ready to serve!

Super yummy and super freezable.. I always make larger portions so I can freeze some for later :)

Chicken Caesar Wraps..
This is a super simple recipe, great for dinners or lunches when you couldn't be bothered cooking!

What you will need;

• 8 Tortilla's or you may choose to use mini tortilla's for younger children.
• 500g chicken breast (or you can use a box of chicken tenders)
• Washed baby spinach leaves
• Chopped cherry tomatoes
• Grated tasty cheese
• Black sliced kalamata olives
• Caesar salad dressing

1.
Start by either dicing and cooking the chicken breast in the fry pan or adding your chicken tenders to the oven.  If I am cooking my chicken breast from scratch, I will also add diced onion to the frying pan also.

2.
Whilst the chicken is cooking, it is best to prepare all of your salad items for the wraps.  So when the chicken is cooked you can start to put the wraps together. Spread your wraps with some avocado, add the grated cheese, the spinach leaves, chicken and top with tomato and olives. Once you have added all the ingredients onto your wrap (you can of course change these to suit your tastes) you are ready for the sauce.

3.
We buy a Caesar salad dressing and add this as our sauce, but you could easily use sour cream and sweet chili sauce, BBQ sauce, tomato chutney - whatever suits your tastes.

4.
Fold the wraps up and enjoy!


I will post the remainder of the recipe's in the upcoming days..

Meal Planning Monday

Well I guess I'd best get back into the swing of things after a week of feeling quite under the weather. I still feel quite unwell, most likely a cold - ill bundle myself off to the doctors today and get the groceries afterwards!  No rest for the wicked.. :) 

Here is the meal plan for the week, my apologies for not getting the recipe's from last week on here, as I was sick, some of my meals were changed or hubby cooked for the evening. For example tonight we went with Tomato's on toast.. exciting huh?! LOL.

So here goes; The meals highlighted in red will get their recipe posted later in the week :-)

Monday: 
Chicken Soup! (I think its in order for this sick girl!)  Plus I love it, and ill make a large batch and freeze the extras!

Tuesday:
Ceasar chicken wraps.

Wednesday:
Spaghetti Bolognaise Pasta Bake - a slight twist on the original because Mr 6 has decided he no longer likes Spaghetti Bolognaise & I think ill be able to con him into eating this way!

Thursday:
Beef, Tomato and Mushroom casserole.

Friday:
No cook night!

Saturday:
Beef Nacho's with sour cream & guacamole.

Sunday:
Roast of the Week - Lamb! :)

Recipe's to come during the week.

Meal Planning Monday (Yes, I know its Tuesday..)

Oops, Meal Planning Monday has ran over into Tuesday this week as I felt a little off yesterday and didn't get a chance to post. Ill be doing my grocery shopping this afternoon, so it still works out ok.

Monday -
Steak, Egg and Salad burgers (cooked by Hubby! - they tasted awesome!)

Tuesday -
Ham and Salad (It is so hot today, I dont think I could cook in a hot kitchen tonight!)

Wednesday -
Steak with vegetable bake (potatoes, sweet potato, pumpkin and corn) Green salad on side.

Thursday - 
Beef and Mushroom Casserole.

Friday -   
Kitchen Free Night - Eat out night..

Saturday - 
Home Made Pizza Subs.  

Sunday -   
Savoury Mince.

I will post my recipe's for Beef and Mushroom casserole, vegetable bake, Savoury Mince and Home Made Pizza Subs as the week progresses so stay tuned. Right now, im off to the shops to escape the heat and indulge in some air conditioning!!!!

Meal Planning Monday...

Well I have my brother staying with me this week, so the meals I plan will have to be large enough to accommodate 3 adults and 1 child most evenings and i'm finding that now swimming lessons have started back up, Monday and Wednesday nights have to be a meals of convenience (or slow cooker meals) as we're not back from the pool in time to cook anything too involved!  Iv also had to mix up my non-cook night & weekly roast to accommodate next weekends upcoming activities, glad we can be flexible :P

So here is our weekly meal plan for this week;

Monday -      Caesar Chicken Wraps.

Tuesday -      Devilled sausages served with mashed potato & vegetables.

Wednesday -  Beef Stroganoff served with rice.

Thursday -     Pork Cutlets served with side salad.

Friday -         Roast of the week - chicken with roast vegetables.

Saturday -     No cooking night!

Sunday -        Hot dogs with the lot...

I will add recipe's and pictures as the week progresses..

A Couple of My Favourite & Easy Recipe's..

I thought id share with you some of the yummy recipe's iv been cooking this week, they have been super simple, cost effective & the best part is, they feed a lot of people (or you will have leftovers to freeze).  Both recipe's are taken from Meal Planning Monday on my blog. Be sure to check back next Monday to see what meals I have in store..

Apricot Chicken: 

What you will need;
600g of skinless chicken breast, packet of dry french onion soup mix,  
405ml can of Apricot Nectar, Mushrooms, 1 brown onion, sliced black/kalamata olives.
Serve with rice or mashed potato.

How to make;        

1. Heat olive oil in frying pan & brown sliced up chicken breast & sliced up onion, fry until brown & the chicken is cooked through.

2. Combine the can of Apricot Nectar and the packet of french onion soup mix in a jug and pour over the chicken/onion. Mix the sauce through the chicken until its all coated.

3.  Add the sliced mushroom and olives and allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, this will thicken the sauce. (this is the time I cook my rice to serve the Apricot chicken on, I do so in the microwave)

4. Serve the Apricot chicken alongside the rice or on a bed of creamy mashed potato.. Yum..

Sausage Pasta Bake:

What you will need: 

500g of pasta of your choice (I chose Woolworths Organic Elbow Pasta),1/2 kilogram of beef sausages, jar of your favourite tomato based pasta sauce (I used basil and tomato for added flavour), 1 tin of whole peeled tomato's (you could use diced) 1 cup of grated tasty cheese, sliced black olives (optional).

How to Make:         

1. Cook and drain your 500g packet of pasta in a saucepan, while doing so brown your sausages in a frying pan (you can brown onion to mix in also if you wish).

2.Once your pasta is cooked, drain it and add to it the pasta sauce & whole tin of tomato's.

3.Once the sausages are browned, slice them into bite size pieces & return them to the frying pan to cook through..

4. Add your pasta mix to a baking dish and top with cooked sausage/onion pieces.

5. Spread grated cheese over the top and sprinkle your black olives over. 

6. Pop it all into a preheated oven of 180 degrees, for approx 20 mins or until cheese is all  melted.

Dish up alone or with vegetables if you prefer.. This made a lot of pasta bake, in addition to feeding 2 adults and 1 child (he loved it - success!) the bonus was LEFTOVERS for the freezer! which I have put into my glasslock containers, 2 dinner size portions and 2 lunchtime portions (you may wish to add additional grated cheese to these prior to freezing/reheating).

Shared on the Organised Housewife's Meal Planning Sunday Link Up.. Check it out..

Meal Planning Monday..

The weather is still quite warm, so many nights I just crave a simple salad and not too much excessive cooking in the hot kitchen! My favourite addition to my salads at the moment are; mini Roma tomatoes, balsamic dressing (KRAFT FREE) and beetroot.. yummo.  We've had quite a random weekend of food, however, and I'm really looking forward to a big plate of veggies so some of my food choices may reflect this! 

Monday - Apricot Chicken Breast with Veggies.
(peas, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot & pumpkin).

Tuesday - Pasta Bake with additional tinned tomatoes & a tomato based sauce.

Wednesday - Baked Fish and Salad w/garlic bread.
(spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, olives, cheese, carrot, asparagus & beetroot)

Thursday -  Spaghetti Bolognaise with rice.

Friday     -  Eat out night! :)

Saturday -  Green chicken curry with rice.

Sunday -     Roast pork with roast vegies! (and of course GRAVY!)
(jacket potatoes, pumpkin, corn cobs, zucchini, capsicum & carrots)

Meal Planning Monday...

Well technically it is 'Tuesday' but it's still the middle of the night (and I fell asleep earlier..) and Meal Planning Tuesday just doesn't have the same ring to it! So here is what's on our dinner agenda this week!  Cupcake Monday due to my crazy cleaning urges of late has been delayed until tomorrow!

Monday -       Beef Stroganoff (My ultimate favourite!!!)

Tuesday -      Homemade Mini Pizza's!

Wednesday - Chicken Taco's using chicken breast & Soft taco shells.
                   (So looking forward to these..)

Thursday -    Beef Provencale Casserole - so rich and tomato infused!

Friday  -       Night off from cooking - YAY!

Saturday -    If the weather is fine a BBQ, if not, Spaghetti Bolognaise..

Sunday -      Roast of the week.. (ummmm.. Chicken??)
                   followed by Apple Crumble and custard.

Now the meal planning is taken care of for the week, shopping tomorrow will be much easier!  

Oh and if you've got a little time spare, feel free to check out my new blog page which you can access across the top tabs, 'Before Chaos and After Organisation'..