I blogged about this in August last year, to the sound of crickets. But it's something I love to do every week, so I thought I would give it a go again. Also - I have a few more readers these days.
Hello!!! *waves madly*
Every week, generally Monday, I sit down with a cup of coffee, take stock of what food is in the house, & plan a weeks worth of dinners accordingly. I like this for 3 reasons;
- Everyone can see what dinners are coming up, & therefore don't need to fret that their favourite isn't on the horizon.
- It forces me to use what we have, & keeps the grocery shopping on track & therefore hopefully in budget.
- It eliminates the brain drain of the 5 o'clock cry "Whats for dinner?" because sometimes I just don't have brain cells available at that time to cope with such a question.
The list isn't written in stone, things get switched up or moved around (or occasionally abandoned). Sometimes I plan more than 1 weeks worth: yesterday was such a day.
- Roast pork & potatoes, homemade gravy, broccoli, peas & carrots. Monkey Boy loves this dinner, he calls it 'Pig Skin'. I will pan fry some tofu for the vegetarian.
- Panzanella (Italian salad of fresh tomatoes, basil, torn sour dough, & a few other things) with BBQ sausages or tofu. I might just eat the salad because,YUM.
- Apricot Chicken with Rice & a green vege. How Retro! The Gentleman loves this dinner, he thinks it ever so posh. The Vegetarian isn't so keen..
- Honey Pepper Pork (using left over pork from the roast) with vegetarian fried rice (using leftover rice from the Apricot chicken) The Vegetarian will have the rice with an egg on top.
- Asian style sesame meatballs with noodle salad. I made this last night & it was delish.
- Roast Chicken with Lentils this is a Donna Hay recipe that I am dieing to try out. It looks awesome & I have lentils to use.
- Chicken pot pie. Crap mamma has a nice recipe on her blog that I am keen to give a go. The Vegetarian will have spinach & feta instead of chicken under her puff pastry.
- Homemade Pizza I think I have perfected my crust, after many years of experimenting. Toppings are generally whatever is available, although are likely to include
- Plain Cheese
- Salami or Bacon, maybe both?
- Bolognaise with cheese
- Fresh tomatoes from the garden, feta & rocket.
- A Mr BC Special which is anchovies, kalamata olives & rocket.
- I'm keen to do a feta & beetroot seeing they make such a yummy salad. Also I have 1 last beetroot in the garden looking for redemption.
- My fave of all time is chili prawns with (after it's cooked) avocado & sour cream, but we are on a budget seeing it's Christmas soon ;(
- There is a lot of Cavalo Nero to use up so I might make a vegetarian lasagna & have it with a nice garden salad.
- This week I also want to make The Gentleman's Birthday Cake, as well as some biscuits & Donna Hay's chocolate sorbet, which looks freaking amazing.
These dinners are served at the table so that everyone can help themselves, generally they will grow to include a few extra small serves of something something..you know I love a 'table'.
So what works for your family dinners? Do you write a list or throw everything together at the last minute? Are you a bit of both?
xx