Meals of the Week, June 1st to June 7th, 2025

 

Welcome to my meals of the week post for the first week of June 2025!  Every Sunday I like to share with you, my dear readers, a roundup of all of the delicious meals that I have enjoyed as my main meals over the past seven days!  I also share the recipes and any menu suggestions that I might have. 

I live on my own and don't ever want my meals to be boring or uninspired. I also don't want to be a person who only eats ready meals, or things that come from cans or frozen dinners. They are loaded with salt, sugar and fat.  That can be a huge temptation when you live on your own as I do. As much as possible, and for as long as possible, I want to cook for myself. I also want to keep what I eat as healthy and nutritious as possible.  Sharing that with you on here helps me to stay on track. 

I also live on a limited income as a Senior citizen. I know many of you are in the same boat. With the cost of food increasing as it is, I also endeavor each week to make my meals as nutritionally sound as I can whilst also staying within my budget.

I do eat a family dinner at my sisters most Sundays. Some weeks they will come here. I was eating a meal out with my father once a week, but I have stopped that as it was too expensive and to be honest the food was not all that great. He lives with my sister, and he likes to go out to eat once a week. This also gives my sister the opportunity to cook something for her and Dan that is a bit out of the ordinary like Mexican or Indian food. My father does not like either of those types of food.  

I have offered to have him come here for a meal, and I would cook him one of his favorites, but he wants to go to the restaurant and eat substandard food at an exorbitant price. It's his choice! I might still join him occasionally, but really, I could cook the same frozen crap at home for a fraction of the cost. That's really all they do.  I suppose you are paying for the luxury of not having to cook it for yourself!  😐 To be honest there are no really good restaurants where I live, with the exception of the new Indian place that opened up in the next town over. We ate there when my brother was down and it was excellent!

This is one of the drawbacks of living in a really rural area of the province. When it comes to eating out you are really stuck. There are about half a dozen or more pizza places, two fried chicken places, McDonald's, Wendy's and a couple of really lame family style restaurants that basically just reheat frozen entrees they bring in from larger suppliers. Sad but true. People seem to value quantity over quality.

I am really excited about the Indian place however, and I hope it stays open for a long time!

So anyways, without waffling on any longer here are the delicious main meals that I enjoyed over the past seven days. I hope that you will be inspired to want to cook at least one or two for yourself and your family!

SUNDAY, June 1st - Dinner at my sister's

It was Dan's 54th Birthday this week so we did the Birthday dinner on Sunday. (His birthday was Monday.)  My sister made his favorite meal, Lasagna which we enjoyed with homemade garlic bread, salad, etc.  For dessert his favorite chocolate cake. It was a fabulous meal.

In its place I am sharing my recipe for a small batch Classic Lasagna.  It is rich and hearty and can be easily doubled to feed a larger family.   I am also sharing my Herbed Garlic Cheese Bread recipe.   Also, very simple and delicious!  I could really pig out on this!

MONDAY, June 2nd - Butterbean Soup with a grilled cheese sandwich

I had some of this delicious Butterbean Soup in the freezer, so I took some out and enjoyed it along with a grilled cheese sandwich. Simple ingredients put together in the most delicious way.  A can of butterbeans, you can use any kind of bean you wish, but I like butterbeans as they have a mild velvety texture and flavor. They melt in the mouth. Carrots, onions, celery, stock and some seasonings. That's all it takes, and you have a really delicious soup.

The soup is really tasty and quite filling and so I made my grilled cheese with only one slice of bread folded over in half. I wouldn't have been able to eat a whole one. It was a fabulous combination!

TUESDAY, June 3rd. - Easy Portuguese Chicken

I am in love with this chicken. I made it on Tuesday, and it came out perfectly beautiful. Succulent and juicy, not too spicy. Lemony and herby with just a bit of a bite. Just right. Of course, you can vary the heat by varying the amount of chili that you use. Do plan ahead as the chicken needs to marinate for 8 hours ideally, although certainly you can marinate it for a shorter time. The longer you marinate it the more flavor the chicken takes on. You can cook it indoors or out on the grill. Its your choice. I did the oven.

I enjoyed this chicken with some rice that I cooked in my rice cooker and a mix of frozen peas and corn. It was lovely.

WEDNESDAY, June 4th - Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry with Rice

I had some rice leftover from Tuesday and I made myself a stir fry using a small piece of steak from the freezer. I made a simple 5 Minute 5 Ingredient Stir Fry Sauce. I cut the steak into thin strips and marinated it in some of the sauce for about half an hour and then I quickly stir fried it along with some bagged stir fry veggies I had in the refrigerator, adding more of the sauce at the end and heating it all through.

This was quick, easy and delicious. I found myself wishing I had a spring roll to enjoy along with it, but I didn't, which was probably just as well!  This was pretty healthy I thought!

THURSDAY June 5th - Early Dinner out with Cindy

My sister and I had some running around to do on Thursday and spent most of the day driving up country to pick up a few bits that we needed. We went all the way almost to Wolfville, hit a few farm markets on the way back, went to the Cambridge Convenience store and then ended up at Jonny's Cookhouse in Berwick for a cheeky early supper of fish and chips! There went the diet! We just couldn't pass it by without indulging. Their fish and chips are excellent.

This was really naughty, deep-fried haddock in a beautiful English style batter and served with beer fries.  Plank cut fries that are dipped in a beer batter prior to frying.  Oh boy but it was some tasty. If you would like to make your own fish and chips at home, I have an excellent recipe for Beer Battered Cod and Chips. This an excellent recipe and was even featured in the Canadian version of Hello Magazine several years ago! I suppose if you wanted to you could even dip your chips into the beer batter before frying them. In for a penny, in for a pound!

FRIDAY, June 6th - Crustless Veggie Quiche

In light of the sins of the night before, I elected to go veggie and have a much lighter meal on Friday with a delicious Crustless Veggie Quiche.  This makes a great supper dish and without the extra calories of a pastry crust, it is not all that unhealthy. (We won't talk about the cheese, lol) 

This makes a quick and easy supper for two. Crispy tender vegetables are popped into the bottom of a buttered dish and topped with some onion and grated cheddar. A rich egg custard is poured over top and then the casserole is simply baked until nicely puffed and golden brown. Delicious served with some oven chips, or a salad. (I had a salad on this occasion.) You can even use half fat cheese if you want to. I saved the other half to enjoy as a cheeky breakfast on Saturday morning, it being the weekend and all that!

SATURDAY, June 7th - Four Can Chili

No fuss, no muss and it doesn't heat up the kitchen. This is an old store-cupboard favorite, using four cans of store-cupboard ingredients and not much more! Four Can Chili is a delicious slow cooker meal that is very simple to make.  It's also a great hot weather meal to put together because it won't heat up the kitchen.

It makes four servings and freezes very well.  Whenever I make the full batch, I freeze three of the servings individually.  That gives me several quick meals in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking or its too hot to cook. Simply thaw and then gently reheat in a saucepan. I like it with some cheese and chopped onion on top. You can enjoy it with crackers or with some crusty bread. Its delicious any which way.

And there you have it. My main meals of the week for the past seven days. I ate very well.  I hope you will be inspired to want to cook a few of these things for yourself or your family, and that you enjoy them as much as I do!!

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