Meal Planning Mondays July 21st ~ 27th

Well after a fantastic weekend camping we are now home and back to the daily grind! Unfortunately the sun seems to be taking a bit of a holiday as well as it has clouded over and cooled down, but after the extreme temperatures of last week the cooler temps aren't too bad!

I'm so excited this week as Mum & Dad are coming to visit - yay! We have been on countdown for so long and finally it's just 1 more sleep until we get to see them. That means this week's Meal Plan is taking their arrival into account and I have also had a quick look at the weather forecast as well to make sure I'm not cooking for hours when it's 35C out! Tonight it's just Ben and I so I'm going for a quick and easy Mac & Cheese which he has been asking for for a while. Tomorrow and it's my all time favourite pasta dish - a super simple Fresh Tomato Sauce served with Penne Pasta. You never know how you are going to feel after travelling and being stuck on a plane for hours so I'll have this made up and ready to go but I'll also have lots of Antipasto as well in case Mum and Dad just feel like snacking. Either way I will be delighted as I absolutely love both dishes! Wednesday and with rain being on the forecast and all of the ingredients in the house already I thought a Thai Red Curry would be perfect. Unfortunately the chillies in the garden aren't quite ready but I always have plenty of fiery red chillies stashed in the fridge which I'll serve on the side so that Ben can enjoy it as well! Thursday is my Birthday(!) and my ideal evening is to hopefully sit out in the garden with a glass of Prosecco, a big sharing plate of antipasto and a super thin pizza cooked on the barbecue! Perfect! Now I can control the food but not the weather so here's hoping it cooperates so that we can relax outside. Friday and although I have a few ideas I'm not entirely sure so for now that's still to be decided but Saturday is all organised as we are having a big Birthday meal here. Not only is it my Birthday this week but it's my Mother-in-laws on Saturday and my Brother-in-laws on Sunday! (Busy week for my husband!) so every year we always get together to have a big family meal and this year we are hosting. I am keeping things really simple and everyone is helping out by making a dish or a starter/appetizer. The star of the show will be a delicious Spiral Ham that just needs warmed up and covered with a delicious sticky, sweet glaze. My Sister-in-law is making some Schwarties (delicious potato dish that Scott's family introduced me to and I now love, but Dauphinoise Potatoes would be just as good if you prefer). I'm going to make a big bowl of coleslaw and then will just serve a nice big green salad with my standard viniagrette and a lovely tomato salad as well. Finally on Sunday Scott is making his Best Ever finger-licking Smoked Ribs (recipe to hopefully appear on my blog this week!) to end the week on a high note!

So there you have it! I'm so looking forward to this week. Have a great week everyone with family, friends and of course, lots of good food! x

 Monday July 21st - July 27th

                                  Monday  -       Macaroni & Cheese; Green Salad

                                  Tuesday -       Penne Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce
                                  Wednesday -  Thai Red Curry with Chicken & Bamboo Shoots; Jasmine Rice

                                  Thursday -      Antipasto and BBQ'd Pizza

                                  Friday -          TBD

                                  Saturday -      Spiral Ham; Schwarties; Coleslaw, Tomato Salad & Green Salad

                                  Sunday -        Scott's Best Ever Smoked Ribs (recipe coming very soon!); 

                                                               Coleslaw & Salad

Meal Planning Mondays July 14th ~ 20th

Well I'm not going to lie, this is going to be a quick post because it is scorching here and I literally am melting sitting here at my laptop (just as well I can type really quickly!). The only thing cooling me slightly is the fan I have switched on but even then it's not really cutting it! Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining, I love Summer but 35C/ 95F is more than I can handle! Thankfully it's going to cool down a little after Wednesday and back to a more manageable temperature.

You'd think since it is SOOOO hot that I would have gone for something incredibly easy for dinner tonight, say for example a refreshing salad where I can just grab everything out of my nice cold fridge and throw it together...nope. Apparently I am a complete glutton for punishment but to be honest I came up with most of this week's meal plan last week when it wasn't quite so hot and I went shopping yesterday (where of course the supermarket was nice and air conditioned so you forget how hot it is outside!). So tonight on the menu is Turkey Meatball Korma....I'm hoping it's good and that the theory of eating hot food when you are hot actually cools you done works! Last week I was given a beautiful big courgette/zucchini from my friend's garden. I used some of it on our pizza on Saturday but I still have a lot left so I am making Zucchini & Feta Fritters tomorrow. Wednesday thankfully is a leftovers night so just some quick reheating necessary. Thursday and Ben specifically chose Chicken Strips for dinner which is fine by me as I'll serve them with a nice crisp green salad and perhaps for a treat some homemade aioli or other indulgent accompaniment .... Friday and we're away camping! Yay - I am so excited to go. Of course by the time we get there and set up we want something quick and easy and our first night go-to always seems to be some nice sausages in rolls with perhaps some sauteed onions to top them. Saturday is undecided but I'm hoping perhaps for a nice fresh crab which we enjoy very simply with lots of lemon, some spicy garlic butter and a green salad. What more could you ask for when you are camping?! As for Sunday I have no idea but I am guessing it will be something we can quickly put on the barbecue!

So there you have it! Have a great week everyone with family, friends and of course, lots of good food! x

 Monday July 14th - July 20th

                                  Monday  -      Turkey Meatball Korma

                                  Tuesday -       Courgette & Feta Fritters with Green Salad
                                  Wednesday -  Leftovers

                                  Thursday -      Chicken Strips & Crisp Green Salad Lemon Spaghetti

                                  Friday -          Sausage Rolls (not the puff pastry kind!) with Sauteed Onions

                                  Saturday -      Steamed Crab with Garlic Butter & Lemon; Green Salad

                                  Sunday -        Spaghetti with Crab

Cookbook Review ~ Clodagh's Kitchen Diaries by Clodagh McKenna

I've been so busy lately that I have completely fallen behind with my book reviews! This one I actually tested in April and May so it's a little late on being posted but with it being a year-round book it really doesn't matter.

For those of you unfamiliar with Clodagh McKenna she is an Irish chef that has her own restaurants, television shows, cookbooks and writes regular columns for a variety of magazines and newspapers. Clodagh's Kitchen Diaries is her fourth cookbook and was published in 2012 and then later released in the US in 2013.

The first thing I love about this book is that it's a year-round book with each chapter being a different month of the year, so not only are the recipes relevant to what is in the season at that particular time of year but she also intertwines different occasions that may happen such as Valentines Day and St. Patrick's Day. As well as occasions there are additional themes including trips to New York, her Birthday (May if you are interested!), Summer Picnics and Movie Nights. If I ever get round to writing my own cookbook this is exactly how I always dreamed of doing it so it gets big plus points from me!

So the layout is good but what about the recipes? Well after reading this book several times I knew I was going to have trouble choosing just a few to try as really so many appealed to me. As it turned out I ended up sticking to recipes primarily from April and May.

Tested Recipes:

Mini Cupcakes in an Egg Box

Zippy Fresh Mint Sauce

Lemon Meringue Pie

Oat & Cinnamon Health Muffins

Meal Planning Mondays July 7th ~ 13th

Well I am finally back in the land of living and feeling much better! Turns out after my minor op I got the flu (talk about great timing) so spent the better part of 2 weeks feeling pretty miserable! Thankfully I am now feeling good and back into everything including meal planning - yeah!!

Having just had a fairly miserable, cloudy and wet weekend the forecast shows nothing but sun, sun and more sun for the next week so I'm extra happy! Hopefully Summer is finally here to stay. This week looks like a fairly quiet week but with it being the Summer holidays you never know what each day will bring. So what is on the menu this week? Well it's another case of trying to use up what I have needing used up while making delicious meals that we'll all enjoy. As seems to be the case just now I always have a large container of delicious, sweet cherry tomatoes which need eaten so Monday's Meat Free Meal is my Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes, Chilli & Basil. Quick, easy and delicious. Tuesday and I am testing a recipe from Lorraine Pascale's Fast Fresh and Easy Food which is Chicken Cacciatore with Harissa, Bacon & Rosemary. It looks and sounds absolutely delicious and just the sort of food we love to eat so hopefully it's a good recipe! On Wednesday we are meeting up with friends for dinner which means it's a night off for me! Yay! Thursday is leftovers from Tuesday and Friday is pizza. There's not a lot of things that suck me in in the advertising world but whenever I see pizza being eaten on TV I end up craving it. After watching a pizza special on Diners, Drive Ins & Dives I knew I had to have pizza this week!! I'm going to cook this one on the bbq and go for a super thin crust that will be crisp and slightly charred on the edges - yum! As usual with the weekends we are undecided until I know what our plans are but I know there will be a bbq of some sort, perhaps even two!

So there you have it! Have a great week everyone with family, friends and of course, lots of good food! x

 Monday July 7th - July 13th

                                  Monday  -      Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes, Chilli & Basil

                                  Tuesday -       Chicken Cacciatore with Harissa, Bacon & Rosemary
                                  Wednesday -  At friends

                                  Thursday -      Leftovers 

                                  Friday -          Leftovers 

                                  Saturday -      Barbecued Pizza

                                  Sunday -        Chicken Drumsticks & Spinach Salad
  
As always don't forget you can add links to your Weekly Meal Plans in the comments section below.