Hello everyone and welcome to my weekly "Meals of the Week" post. The one where I share all the deliciousness I have enjoyed as my main meals over the past seven days, along with the pertinent recipes and any menu suggestions I might have!
That's a whole lot of tasty if I don't say so myself! These are only my main meals and does not include my breakfasts or lunches.
Normally, unless I am eating with other people, I will eat my main meals in the early afternoon or middle of the day. I don't really like to go to bed with anything heavy on my stomach. Long gone are the days where I could share anything like a pizza as a bedtime or night snack! When we were in our twenties it was nothing for my ex and I to cook up a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and share it before bed! I doubt either one of us is able to do that any longer!
For breakfast I usually keep it simple. Most days I will have a protein shake. Some days I will have toast, or maybe some oatmeal. A real favorite is my homemade granola with some plain yogurt and a spritz of date syrup.
Later in the day I will enjoy a sandwich, or maybe some soup, or a salad. Sometimes some fruit. Nothing too big. I have even been known to enjoy a bowl of cereal and been quite happy with that.
Because I live on my own now I mostly just cook for one or two servings. Occasionally I will cook a larger meal and then freeze it in single serving portions. I try to keep things fairly healthy and within my limited budget! (I do splurge every now and then because, well, you have to from time to time!)
I prefer not to eat ready meals or frozen dinners. They are loaded with fat, sugar and salt and never taste even close to the promise they share on the packaging. Always, ALWAYS, disappointed.
On the occasions that I do eat elsewhere, other than home, I have given you a similar recipe suggestion that you could do in it's place.
In any case, here are my meals for the past seven days. I do hope that you will be inspired to cook a few of them for yourself!
SUNDAY, June 29th - Sunday Dinner at Cindy's
I went to my sister's place for the usual Family Dinner. She had cooked roast beef again this week. What she does is buy a whole piece of eye of round when it goes on offer. It can cost anywhere between 80 and 90 dollars, which seems like a lot, I know. She comes home and breaks it down into smaller roasts and pieces. She will get about 3 roasts from it and some steak for stewing, which makes it a much better economy than buying those things separately.
She served it with carrots, roasted potatoes, and yellow beans. Gravy as well. We had fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert.
In its place, I am sharing my recipe for a Tender BBQ Beef Roast, which cooks in the crockpot/slow cooker. Tender and juicy every single time, and you don't have to heat up your kitchen to cook it. That BBQ gravy is sensational. It goes well with mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, etc.
MONDAY, June 30th - Dinner Salad
It was a stinker of a hot day, and I didn't really feel much like cooking and so I pulled a few bits and pieced that I had together to make a delicious Dinner Salad. I love a good Dinner Salad.
This one has bits of leftover grilled chicken (although you could certainly use store-bought cooked chicken), boiled egg, cucumber, tomatoes, chunks of avocado, lettuce, red onions, and a delicious homemade Honey Mustard Dressing.
It was perfect, and I enjoyed some delicious fresh cherries afterwards. Win/win!
TUESDAY, July 1st - Canada Day
It was Canada Day on Tuesday and Cindy had invited me over for BBQ. She did Smash Burgers, her pasta salad, a bagged salad and we had an assortment of pickles and relishes.
In the place of Smash Burgers, I am sharing my recipe for Turkey Smash Burgers. These are AMAZING! Truly. Tender and juicy and loaded with tons of flavor. Butter keeps them moist and I apply a special seasoning as well which adds a tasty jolt!
Delicious served on toasted buns with my homemade spicy burger sauce, lettuce, cheese and pickles. If you think you don't or wouldn't like Turkey Burgers, then you need to try one of these. They are fabulous and will turn even the staunchest beef burger lover into a turkey burger lover. I guarantee!
WEDNESDAY, July 2nd - Hot Dogs with Fresh Corn Salad
Another stinker of a day, plus it was raining. I did a simple supper of a hot dog, which I enjoyed, along with a Fresh Corn Salad. This is a fabulously tasty salad, with bright, fresh flavors! This always goes down a real treat. Diced red onion, blanched fresh corn kernels, and cucumber are all mixed together in a tasty fresh herb vinaigrette dressing.
This was a light supper, but it filled me up perfectly. I did not need any more. Oh, I did have some fresh strawberries, simply washed, for dessert.
I like to buy the soft-sided New-England-style style hot dog buns. I butter them and then lightly toast them in a skillet. With an all-beef frankfurter, some honey mustard, and raw onion, this is my favorite way to enjoy a hot dog. Sometimes I will add some pickle. On this day I didn't because the salad was a bit like a pickle.
THURSDAY, July 3rd - Chicken Dinner Poutine
I had posted about this recipe on my Facebook page one day last week and my oldest daughter had remarked about how much she would like to try it. She took rather a bad tumble in the parking lot of her apartment building on Wednesday cutting her lip and hand. It really shook her up. I had not had she and her husband over for dinner in a while and so I picked them up on Thursday afternoon and brought them over dinner.
I surprised her with Chicken Dinner Poutine! Everything you like about a Roast Chicken Dinner in a tasty Poutine, with chicken gravy, squeaky cheese curds, chunks of chicken, dressing and sweet English Peas. She was in heaven. I just made her husband chicken, with fries and peas. He is very fussy and did not want the poutine.
For dessert, we had watermelon and some ice cream. (Neapolitan) We all enjoyed it very much, the whole meal, and of course, the best part was being together!
FRIDAY, July 4th - Salmon & Broccoli Fish Cakes
SATURDAY, July 5th - Creamy Mushroom Alfredo Pasta
Seven simple ingredients and only 20 minutes is all the time it takes to make this delicious pasta dish! I really love it. Ribbons of silky pasta tossed together with a rich and creamy mushroom alfredo sauce. This was a bit indulgent to be sure, but if you can't treat yourself to something like this that you really enjoy every now and then, then life just isn't worth living.
You could add some crumbled cooked Italian Sausage to this if you really wanted to, but I have always been quite happy with it just as it is. I love the meaty flavor of mushrooms, and they work so well on their own in this tasty dish!
I went whole hog and enjoyed this with some garlic toast. I did have a salad on the side as well. It was a hearty and truly delicious meal!
This content, written and photography, is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
I hope your daughter is OK after her fall. I took a tumble while in the UK recently when a lady walked right in front of me and tripped me over. As we get older (61), things like this result in a dent in our confidence.
ReplyDeleteShe has recovered fine. Her lip was quite swollen and her hand bruised and cut, but they are healing well. You are right, these things do mess with our confidence for sure! Stay safe! xo
DeleteLove these Sunday posts! I visit your site almost every day in the morning.Going to make the salmon cakes as I have a small piece in the freezer. Then in my wandering I came across the Black current drizzle cake and so there’s dessert. Love black currants, so will try that too! Thanks so much! Sharon
ReplyDeleteYummy dinnere. Like Cindy I buy larger cuts of meat when on sale and cut them up. There was pork loin on sale recently and it cuts into chops really well. If it is lean I buy it. I made my version of your meatballs again, this time did a bigger batch and froze 3 portions. A great way to cook, especially when it is so hot, just needs reheating. Love turkey burgers and also ground chicken burgers, again buy the meat on sale, make up and freeze. Salmon fish cakes with be my next thing to try. Have a lovely week.
ReplyDelete