I've previously mentioned how I use technology to plan my meals and write my shopping list. Of course, not everything is digital - I still have handwritten, scribbled notes and many favourite, sauce splattered and annotated cookbooks.
Try something new
I like to try at least one new recipe a week, and this may come from a cookbook, an idea posted on another blog, or something I invented in my sleep (this happens fairly often). This meal is usually scheduled for a weekend or a day I'm not in the office. I like to make things as easy for myself as possible.
Keep it fresh
My planning also takes into account my access to fresh produce. I prefer not to freeze steak or seafood for example, so I will always plan those meals around when I can buy fresh.
Save time with bulk cooking
I also like to ensure that at least one meal a week is something that can be doubled or tripled. I prefer not to have the same meal twice in a week but instead will use the extra from the first meal to make something a bit different. Alternatively I will prepare something and freeze it so we won't starve if I'm sick or I get home late.
This week I spread out some cookbooks and clicked through some favourite foodie websites. My husband chose Jill Dupleix's Angelhair with crab and lemon as the new recipe on this week's meal plan. He gets extra bonus points for choosing something quick, easy and light. He usually doesn't!
Photo credit: Betty Crocker by 427
Keep records
My planning system also includes recording each day's meals on our synchronised google calendars. It avoids the mid-day phone call, "what are we having for dinner tonight?" And here it is for you.
Monday:
Garlic and chilli king prawns stir-fried with onion and still crispy red capsicum, green beans and broccoli, lightened with oodles of fresh parsley, served on steamed Basmati (I use Basmati a lot as it is lower GI than other types) rice. I'd prefer brown rice but I haven't won that battle in my household yet.
Tuesday:
Home-made chilli and herb crumbed chicken schnitzels (oven baked), with macaroni cheese, roast grape tomatoes, baked herb field mushrooms, steamed greens. For some reason unknown to me, my macaroni cheese provokes bizarre reactions of rapture amongst my friends and family. My husband regularly begs me to make this, and due to the fact it is so insanely easy, I do indulge him. My version isn't too heavy either - the sauce is a roux enriched with mustard, cheese and herbs and lightened with low-fat milk.
This meal will give me leftovers - extra cooked chicken schnitzels to go into the freezer (I can then pull them out later, defrost in the fridge overnight, then top with a tomatoey sauce and cheese, then chuck under the grill) plus leftover macaroni cheese to have with a salad for lunch on Wednesday.
Wednesday:
Angelhair pasta with crab and lemon plus a simple garden salad. With any luck I'll be able to buy some fresh pasta from the Italian place down the road, but if not I have some decent quality dried pasta in the pantry. I don't mind making my own pasta but I'm better at ravioli or lasagne sheets that don't need as much precision!
I'm not in the office on Wednesday so I can skip over to the fishmonger and then the butcher for tomorrow's dinner.
Thursday:
Seared beef and rice noodle salad. I can make this one in my sleep and it is lovely and fresh and flavourful.
Friday:
My grandmother, my sister and her boyfriend are coming over for dinner to have my famous risotto. This one will have prosciutto, tomato, basil and baby spinach. We'll go heavy on the carbs with some home-made bread and a few simple salads. Dessert is likely to be sorbet and fruit or perhaps some cupcakes if I get time.
Saturday:
Duck salad with rocket and baby spinach, just warm slow-roasted tomatoes, red onion, capsicum and snow peas, drizzled with chilli jam.
Sunday:
On Sunday nights we usually have dinner with my parents or in-laws. Otherwise it'll be a quiet night at home with takeaway Thai or a wood-fired pizza with a few glasses of wine.
If you'd like to see what other people are cooking this week, you'll find more meal plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie and Chive Talkin.
Check back later in the week for recipe reviews and results!
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Ingredients: Cake
- 125g self-raising flour, sifted
- 120g caster sugar
- 125g unsalted butter, chopped, room temperature
- 2 extra-large eggs
- one large orange (or lemon): 3 tsp finely chopped zest and 2 TB juice
- 3 TB poppy seeds
- 2-3 TB milk
- good quality marmalade, for glazing
Ingredients: Icing
- 2 TB passionfruit pulp, strained to separate seeds
- 125g unsalted butter, chopped, room temperature
- 220g well sieved icing sugar
Method: Cake
cupcake glazed with orange marmalade
Preheat oven to 180C (not fan forced) for mini cupcakes, or 200C (not fan forced) for standard size cupcakes.
Take eggs, butter and milk out of the fridge to come to room temperature. While that's happening, measure out the other ingredients and get everything ready.
Stir 2 TB milk into the poppyseeds in a small bowl. The poppyseeds should start making 'zingy' noises.
Combine flour, sugar, butter, eggs and 2tsp of the orange rind in the large bowl of a food processor, don't over-mix.
Add the freshly squeezed orange juice through the top of the processor while pulsing the mix.
If more liquid is required to make a smooth batter, add half to a TB of milk.
Fold the poppyseeds into the batter with a metal spoon. Add remaining chopped orange zest to taste.
Spoon the batter into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. The mixture will make 36 mini cupcakes or 12 regular size.
Bake mini cupcakes for 8-10 minutes and regular cakes for 15 minutes. The tops will spring back when gently prodded.
When done, immediately take the cupcakes out of the tins and onto wire racks.
While cakes are still warm, use a pastry brush or bread knife to carefully spread gently warmed marmalade on the tops of the cupcakes.
Method: Icing
iced with passion fruit butter cream
Beat butter with electric beaters until pale and fluffy
Beat in half of the icing sugar and half of the juice from the passionfruit pulp until combined
Beat in the second half of the icing sugar and passionfruit juice.
Add a little extra milk (1/2 to a TB) if required to make a very light and fluffy icing
Pipe icing onto cooled cupcakes.
If desired, decorate with reserved passionfruit seeds or curls of orange zest.
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photo credit: Had a bad day, dear?
The best bit is that cupcakes are as easy (and as inexpensive) to make as you want.
My never-fail recipe for coffee cupcakes follows. If coffee isn't your thing (shame on you) then you can use the recipe as a base for a multitude of different variations. Let me tell you how.
My recipe is heavily inspired by Nigella Lawson, whose cupcake recipe can be found in her classic book How to be a Domestic Goddess. My variations involve substituting coffee for milk, homemade buttercream for packet icing and cutting down the sugar to a less sickly level.
Even though this recipe cheats and uses a food processor instead of creaming the butter and sugar in a mixer, the cupcakes turn out beautifully light and fluffy. I don't know how it works but it does, you'll just have to trust me.
This recipe uses pantry basics and costs almost nothing to make. The tiny portions mean that there will be enough to go around in the staff room and you will impress everyone with barely any effort.
Ingredients (cake)
- 125g unsalted butter, softened and chopped
- 125g self-raising flour, well sifted
- 100-120(ish)g caster sugar (adjust to taste)
- 2 eggs
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 TB fresh espresso, cooled
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of allspice
Ingredients (icing)
- 125g unsalted butter, softened, chopped
- 220g pure icing sugar, sifted
- 2-3 TB fresh espresso, chilled
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- food colouring (optional)
Method (cake)
Pre-heat oven (not fan-forced) to 190 degrees celcius.
Prepare mini-muffin tins with tiny paper muffin cases. This recipe will make 36. (Alternatively you can make 12 regular sized cupcakes, just adjust the cooking temp to 200 C and cook for 15 minutes.)
Combine all cake ingredients other than the espresso in the bowl of a food processor. Whizz until combined. Pour the espresso down the food processor's funnel and process on 'pulse' until the mixture forms a smooth, dripping consistency.
Use a teaspoon (and an extra one to push the mixture out) to evenly fill the mini-muffin cups.
Cook the cupcakes for about 7-8 minutes or until lightly browned and the tops spring back when gently prodded. Allow to cool on wire racks while you make the icing.
Method (icing)
photo credit: buttercream
Beat butter and vanilla extract in an electric mixer until as white as possible (this will take a while).
Beat in icing sugar and espresso in two batches (I usually add 100g of sugar and 1 TB of espresso each batch, adding more to taste).
Add food colouring if desired, and mix through.
Pipe buttercream onto cupcakes. If you don't have a piping bag and can't be bothered making one out of greaseproof paper, smoosh the icing onto the cakes with a butter knife or palette knife.
Serve. The cupcakes won't last long!
Have you tried my recipe for orange and poppy seed cupcakes with passionfruit butter cream yet?
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