Meal Plans for Next Week

So far, so good on the meal planning front. 2 weeks in and the weekly shop was £65 for the first week and £71 for the second. This is miraculous as it's normally nearer to £150 (blush). Plus we've been throwing less food away which is also good.

So plans for next week are:

Curry and rice (am liking curry a lot at the moment!). This one will probably be potato and carrot as have those to use up and maybe some tandoori paneer with it too.
Leek and potato soup
Lentil stew with mashed potatoes, broccoli, carrots and braised red cabbage
Veggie fry up - bacon, sausages, beans, eggs and hash browns
Omelette, chips and salad
Stir fried veggies in teryaki sauce with quinoa and lentils

Random Ingredient Lasagne

The veg box delivered a load of courgettes which I have to say are not one of my favourite veggies. So I thought I'd make a lasagne with them where they'd be semi-hidden and there was some ricotta to use up in the fridge too. The ricotta however was sell by 26 June 2009 (yes today *is* September 11th 2009), so despite it tasting OK I didn't want to risk it and ditched it in favour of some quark (which was also past it's sell by date, but only by 12 days this time!!).

I never used to be able to make a decent lasagne and after years of trying decided that maybe it was my lasagne dish that was letting me down. It was! Lasagne now tastes edible in my house and tonight's concoction was pretty tasty.

Tomato and courgette lasagne
Ingredients
Tomato sauce
2 medium onions, chopped
1 tin toms
1 carton passata
spalsh balasmic vinager
1 tsp veg stock powder
pinch sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Courgette layer
4 courgettes, roughly diced
3 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
1 tub quark (ricotta would taste better imho)

Lasagne
6 or so sheets lasagne
2 good handfuls of grated cheddar
1 good handul grated parmesan
either 1 roughly torn mozzarella ball or 10 or so mini mozz balls

First make the tomato sauce. Saute the onions in the oil and then add everything else. Simmer for 10 mins till slightly thickened.

For the courgettes fry them in the oil for a few mins then add the garlic and salt and pepper. Saute for 10 mins or so until tender. Add the quark/ricotta and stir till mixed. Take off the heat.

Assemble the lasagne by putting 2 sheets pasta in the bottom of a dish and then adding a half the tom sauce. Add more pasta then the courgette layer. Add more pasta then the other half of the tom sauce. Top with the cheese and bake in a hot oven (180 degrees) for 30-45 mins till cooked and bubbling.

Serve with salad, crusty bread and lashings of wine. Rather superb for a friday night supper, and at least 4 of your 5 a day portions!

Noodles

I had a pack of marinated tofu in the fridge that needed to be used up today so something had to be based around that. After seeing some yummy looking noodles at a conference dinner on Tuesday night I decided to try and recreate something along those lines. This is what I came up with.

Vegetable and Tofu Noodles

What you need:
1 pack marinated tofu (or do your own!)
3 bundles noodles, cooked according to pack instructions
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1 large leek, finely sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1/4 cup light soya sauce
1/3 cup sweet sherry
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 inches ginger, grated

What you do:
Start by stir frying the leeks in a large wok. Then add the veggies and the soya sauce/sherry/vinegar. Place a lid on the wok and steam fry the veggies till the carrots and broccoli are tender.
Meanwhile cook the noodles.
Add the noodles and tofu to the wok and heat through.
Serve in bowls topped with corriander, sweet chilli sauce, toasted sesame seeds and more soya sauce to taste. Delicious, quick and healthy!

Breakfast Smoothie

I am not a breakfast person. Well actually that's not true. I am, but only on the weekends or when I have proper time. For some reason I wake starving but my body doesn't actually want any food in it for a couple of hours. This is moreso on a week day when I cycle to work. The thought of food before a 5 mile commute makes me cold! Smoothies tho, do seem to be tolerated by my fickle body. My current fave combo is banana and raspberry. I recently brought a new stand alone blender to replace my aging food processor goblet which had seen better days (it was 16 years old!). I heartily recommend the Kenwood K-Mix as it makes a sublimely smooth smoothie. And a pretty good frozen Margaretha too ;-0

Whizz to a smooth puree the following:
1 ripe banana
2 large handfuls frozen rapsberries (frozen ones work the best as they thicken the smoothie)
150-250 ml soya milk depending on how thick you like it
1 tsp runny honey (or to taste). If you want to keep it vegan then add some agarve nectar or sugar or something...

Sweet Potato and Chick Pea Curry

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I couldn't really make a curry as DH wasn't that keen on them. He'd tolerate them politely, but it wasn't something I felt I could do that often. Thankfully after an extended trip to Pakistan, curry is back on the menu, which is pretty good seeing as where we live we have access to a huge variety of Asian ingredients.

I'd been playing about with the idea of making a nice chickpea and sweet potato curry for yonks, so threw some bits and bobs together and was very happy with the result. So here it is in order for me to make it again next time I fancy it.

Ingredients
Veggies etc:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1 tin toms, whizzed to a puree
75g ground almonds
75g butter (or oil for vegan version)
1 tin drained chickpeas or equivalent frozen/freshly cooked peas

Curry paste
6 cloves garlic
3 small chillies
3 inch piece ginger
5 tbsp veg oil
2 tsp tumeric, garam masala, corriander, cumin

Whizz all the paste ingredients to a puree.

Fry the onion in a little oil for a few mins then add the curry paste (about 4 tbsp, freeze the rest or leave in the fridge and use within a week). Add all the other ingredients aside from the butter and almonds and simmer for 20 mins or so till the potatoes are tender. Add the butter and almonds and stir through. Add a little more liquid if you want more of a gravy.

Serve with cucumber salad and roti. Beware the stinky farts that will ensue ;-)