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!

Related posts:

1. Menu Plan Monday – take two
2. How to plan your meals (flexibly) – part 2
3. Menu Plan for Flexibility

Vietnamese Prawn Salad

I made it for dinner last night, with a few changes to reduce the calorie content.

Firstly, I used snow peas instead of snake beans, because the snow peas looked great at the local greengrocer whereas the beans looked a bit tired.

To cut down the fat I didn't fry the prawns - I bought extra-large boiled prawns to go with the cold salad. I just peeled and de-veined them (leaving the tails on). I used more prawns than the recipe specified - prawns are low-cal and low-fat and 4 per person just didn't seem enough.

Coles now stocks palm sugar in my local supermarket (in the asian foods aisle, right on the top shelf) but you can use brown sugar instead.

If you like the look of this, you can click through to get the recipe for Vietnamese Prawn Salad.

Leftovers magic:

While I was fiddling about with the vermicelli and prawns I also peeled some prawns completely and wrapped them into some rice paper rolls with finely sliced cucumber, cooked and rinced vermicelli, coriander, vietnamese mint and thai basil. They were delicious eaten immediately, dipped into hoisin sauce.

Related posts:

1. Easy weeknight dinner – Bill Granger’s seared beef and rice noodle salad
2. Easy low fat dessert: Turkish yoghurt cake
3. Recipe round up:3 recipes I’m trying next week

I want to get rid of my pot belly but don't want to give up the pork belly.  I also have no intention of quitting being a grumpy old cow, so here comes the compromise.

credit: Bev (SugarBloom Cupcakes)

Smaller portions.  Eating slowly.  Enjoying every mouthful.  No diets, shakes, pills or powders.  No sacrificing pleasure for righteousness.  But pleasure has to be the key.  No idle snacking.  No bland, boring food for the sake of eating. If it isn't going to give me pleasure, I'm not eating it.

So here's my challenge.  I have six months to settle into a rhythm of only eating for pleasure and sustenance.  With any luck my body will also settle into its own healthier rhythm.

credit: mawel

I had already pre-planned meals up until Thursday this week.  Tonight we are due for..erm.  Honey roast duck salad with rocket, semi roast tomatoes, and red onion with chilli jam. I can serve the duck without the skin, leave the sweet cherry tomatoes alone and fresh instead of roasting them in olive oil and accompany it all with a crisp sparkling water instead of the wine.  Small steps.

Will it work? Feel free to let me know in the comments.  I'm starting now and I need your help to keep me accountable.

Related posts:

1. Speedy mini post: Vietnamese Prawn Salad
2. Bathroom scales and a kilo or two of guilt
3. Meal Plan Monday: What we’re eating this week

This is my speedy, healthy-ish, completely not-Indian, not-curry version.

Mix a couple of tablespoons of good quality curry paste (if you're in Perth and haven't already, check out Prime Products) with roughly the same amount of plain yoghurt. Low fat yoghurt works perfectly.

Smear the curry paste mixture over a couple of chicken breasts (beef or lamb works too) and marinate in the fridge for at least 5 minutes. Chargrill until just cooked through (chicken breasts take 4 minutes on my Breville electric chargrill thingamy) and serve with basmati rice, vegetables of your choice and pickle or chutney.

If you cook double the chicken, you can serve it cold the next day wrapped in roti bread with salad, pickle and a bit of yoghurt.

Related posts:

1. Easy weeknight dinner – Bill Granger’s seared beef and rice noodle salad
2. Lamb Racks and Love Handles
3. Quick and easy weeknight “roast”

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:

1. I hate microwaves
2. I am lazy
3. I love saving money
4. I have a fairly big pantry
5. I prefer my meat/fish etc fresh, not frozen
6. 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.

Related posts:

1. How to plan your meals (flexibly) – part 1
2. Meal Plan Monday: What we’re eating this week
3. Menu Plan Monday – take two

I'm making it for dinner tonight because it is easy (and I like easy) and it tastes pretty good too! (This does not purport to be an authentic Thai style salad.)

photo credit: -RobW-

Ingredients (to serve 4):

• 250g rice stick noodles
• 4 150-200g pieces sirloin steak
• 1 1/2 tbs peanut oil, plus extra to brush
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 red chilli, seeds removed (or not), finely sliced
• 1 1/2 tbs caster sugar
• small piece of ginger
• 2 lebanese cucumbers, cut into strips
• 1 small red (spanish) onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
• lime wedges, to serve

Method:

• Place noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 6-7 minutes until softened or follow packet instructions. Drain thoroughly and refresh if you like.

• Preheat a frypan or bbq until hot.

• Brush steaks with oil, then sear for 2 minutes on each side, if you like rare beef. (ed: If you don't, just keep cooking until the meat is all dried out and awful. )

• Transfer steaks to a warmed plate and rest for 5 minutes, then slice.

• Combine soy sauce, vinegar, chilli, sugar, peanut oil and ginger in a bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add noodles, beef, cucumber, red onion and tomato. Toss well.

• Top with mint and serve with lime wedges

While we're on the Thai style thing, there's a fabulous recipe for Thai Coconut Soup at The Food in my Beard that I think you may enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Speedy mini post: Vietnamese Prawn Salad
2. Quick and easy weeknight “roast”
3. Not Indian – dinner in a flash

The book is a monument to truly awful eating.

This particular recipe was supplied by George Bush (snr).

Mexican Mound

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground hamburger meat
Lawry's taco seasonings mix
1 pkg Doritos
1 cup grated yellow cheese
1 or 2 small chopped onions
10 chopped black olives (ed: 11 is obviously way too many)
1 chopped tomato
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 can frozen avocado dip (ed: this should be illegal)

Method:

Easy to make, loved by all who love Mexican food. Ingredients easy to keep in the house. Children or guests can all help with chopping or grating. It's fun!! Follow instructions on taco seasonings mix for browning meat. I serve this meal in my kitchen, a big pot of meat simmering on the stove. A wooden salad bowl of Doritos and 7 bowls of the remaining ingredients around the table. Start with a mound of Doritos, a spoon of piping hot meat, cheese etc. Makes 8 servings.

Mmm yummy, Bush brain food.

This one came from Mrs Alan Simpson.

Party Vegetable Casserole

Ingredients:

2 pkgs frozen peas
2 pkgs frozen lima beans
2 pkgs frozen Fresh green beans
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (use Kraft in can) ed: or you could use some dried skin shavings instead

Method:

Parboil vegetables until tender. Layer in buttered casserole dish. Whip cream, add mayonnaise and parmesan cheese. Pour over vegetables. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 325F. Makes 12 servings. Can be prepared ahead and refrigerated.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Speedy mini post: Vietnamese Prawn Salad
2. Orange and poppy seed cupcakes with passion fruit butter cream
3. How to plan your meals (flexibly) – part 2