Beyond Beeton» roast

Meal Plan Monday: What we’re eating this week

Rachel — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:22:55 +0000

Inspired by Amy at Feasibly Fit Mom, I decided to post this week's meal plan.

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!

Lamb Racks and Love Handles

Rachel — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:05:11 +0000

It has been one of those weeks. The only possible cure of which is a new pair of shoes or a roast dinner. Apparently we're in the midst of a Global Financial Crisis so I went with the roast.

Good thing too, because as it turns out husbands tend to be awfully forgiving of a wife's foibles when the smell of roast lamb, garlic and rosemary is caressing their nostrils. (Maybe I should have got the shoes as well?)

Smear (please use your hands - trust me) a paste of mustard, olive oil, garlic, fresh chopped rosemary and parsley over lamb racks. Cover and hide the lamb racks in the fridge for as long as possible, overnight if you can manage it. If you're doing it at the last minute as I often am, pop the lamb in the fridge and get started on some accompaniments.

BTW: I find that soup on the stove can hide a multitude of sins (or at least an utter failure to start dinner at a reasonable hour) so home-made soup in the freezer (or a good quality bought product) can be useful!

The lamb needs a quick sear in a medium-hot pan for 1-2 minutes on each side, then, depending on the size of the racks, about 15-20 minutes in a hot oven. Cover and rest the lamb (and yourself) for about 10 minutes.

Deglaze the pan and pour the pan juices over the lamb and serve with roasted vegetables, paris mash potato, (or for a lower GI option) sweet potato rosti, steamed greens or whatever takes your fancy.

Healthy Eating Update

While the addition of olive oil and the carbiness of roasted root vegetables meant our dinner wasn't all that low-calorie, it was delicious, healthy and satisfying.

I find I need carbs in the evening to prevent me craving over-processed sugary sepulchres in the middle of the night. A glass of wine also helps me sleep and avoid the binging. It seems to be working - it may be my imagination but I'm feeling a little lighter!

So there we have it. My love handles are still prominent but I'm healthy and happy.

(Challenge for later: weigh myself. Regularly.)

Quick and easy weeknight “roast”

Rachel — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:15:58 +0000

There is something comforting about a roast dinner on a cold winter's night. However it is not altogether practical when you don't have time to spend all afternoon preparing and you don't have an army to feed.

This is my "cheat's roast" which will be tonight's dinner.

Smoosh a couple of cloves of chopped or pressed garlic into a couple of beef fillets. Massage some balsamic vinegar (or red wine) into the meat, cover, and put into the fridge to marinate for 15 minutes or more.

raw beef

While that is happening, chop up some veg. Tonight I used some kipfler potatoes, skin on, chopped into rough chips. Sweet potato, carrots, red onions, pumpkin etc would be great too - whatever you have on hand. I tossed the potatoes in a generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil, flaked salt (I used Murray River pink salt but you can use Maldon or whatever takes your fancy), heaps of cracked pepper and some fresh thyme and spread them out onto a baking dish.

chips

I also put some tiny roma tomatoes into a mix of eevo and balsamic vinegar, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper in a small oven dish. You can also use cherry or grape tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters depending on how much time you have to cook them.

tomatoes (I realised i needed to chop these after the photo)

I had some large flat field mushrooms so I topped those with eevo, salt and pepper and some breadcrumbs and put them onto a tray.

Slide the veg into a hot oven, pour yourself a glass of red and tidy up the kitchen. Once that's done it will be time to cook the meat. Drain and then massage some oil into the meat. Chuck the beef onto a hot pan and cook to your liking. The balsamic will make the beef rather dark so don't worry.

Rest the beef while you set the table and pour more wine. Top the tomatoes with some crumbled fetta and pile the potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms and beef onto some warmed plates, maybe with a bit of just wilted spinach. Deglaze the pan and pour on top of everything else.

I didn't have a lot of time to present this nicely because my husband was about to knock me out to get to dinner. So here it is.

dinner

Please forgive the awful photos, I am just learning. Feedback is more than welcome!

How to plan your meals (flexibly) – part 2

Rachel — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:08:24 +0000

I recently posted the first in a series of I don't know how many yet, on how to plan your meals.

This is the second part in the series. This is the bit where you will write a master list. This list is not your weekly shopping list. This list forms the basis for everything in your fridge, pantry and freezer. This list, if written properly, will save you oodles of time.

The trick is not to copy someone else's list (not even mine). It needs to be tailored to the way that you live, work, cook and eat. It is no good building a pantry of polenta, lentils and cous cous if you're a meat and 3 veg kind of guy, even if it sounds like the right thing to do.

A few things about me:

I hate microwaves
I am lazy
I love saving money
I have a fairly big pantry
I prefer my meat/fish etc fresh, not frozen
2 people live here but other people like to eat here - with no notice

So with those things in mind, I know that my master list is *not* going to include half a cow in the freezer, nor is it going to include microwavable convenience meals in the pantry.

What my list does include, for example: a variety of different oils and vinegars (canola oil, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, balsamic, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, white vinegar) that are used for frying, as the base for salad dressings, dressing roast veg etc; spices (saffron, cloves, etc); flours, sugars and baking essentials; a variety of different types of pasta and rice, a cheating stash of stock, curry pastes and pickles, coconut milk and cream and much more.

My goal is to not waste food and not waste time at the supermarket.

As you change the way you cook, you will also need to tweak your master list. For example, we were given a breadmaker as a wedding present. Perfect gift for a lazy tight arse really. So I now always have flour and yeast handy to make bread, pizza etc.

A huge quantity of pizza dough takes 45 minutes in the breadmaker - then I roll it out and brush with a mix of eevo, fresh rosemary from the garden and garlic. I pop it into my benchtop pizza maker (which is the best thing ever) for 5 minutes and it serves as a great distraction while I'm getting dinner ready. Or for a quick dinner I just chuck some smoked salmon, rocket, fine rings of spanish onion and crumbled fetta on top of the pizza bases once they've come out of the oven.

There are a multitude of things you can make just from 'stuff' in the pantry - if you follow a basic pasta and sauce with a chocolate self-saucing pudding you'll still be in the good books and you won't need to head out to the shops.

This post is still in progress and is very much dependent on what you want. If you want me to post a list of my pantry/fridge/freezer essentials I will do that. If you want some quick recipes that can be made out of those basics I can do that too. Just leave a comment and let me know.

The next post will be how to plan a week's worth of meals and how to set out the list.