Meals of the Week, October 5th - 11th, 2025

 

Hello everyone and welcome to my weekly "Meals of the Week" post!  Every Sunday I like to share with you my dear readers all of the main meals that I have enjoyed over the past seven days.  That's seven different days of deliciousness, along with their relevant recipes and any menu suggestions that I might have, along with the links to the recipes!  That's a whole lot of tasty right there!

As a woman of 70, who lives alone and on a fixed income, it is really important to me that I keep my meals not only nutritious but also fairly economical. It is difficult at times to keep up with the rising costs of food, but I do my best to get in as many fresh vegetables, etc. that I can. Obviously, it is cheaper and easier during the summer and early autumn months when fresh local fruits and vegetables are readily available!

I try not to eat ready meals and frozen dinners if I can possibly help it. They are almost always loaded with sugar, fat and salt, not to mention preservatives. I try to eat from scratch cooking.  It helps that I enjoy cooking. More and more I have been cutting my recipes down to single or double servings, but nothing that I cook cannot be increased to serve more people if need be. Just ask and I am always willing to help!

These are only my main meals and do not include my breakfasts or light suppers. I will eat my main meal of the day around 1 pm or so each day.  I find it much better for my digestion not to go to bed with anything heavy on my stomach.  Suppers are usually something very light.  

Most days I will enjoy a protein shake for my breakfast, but I will sometimes enjoy some of my homemade granola with some yogurt and fruit, maybe a bit of date syrup.  Suppers will be a salad, or fruit, sometimes a bowl of cereal, or even toast.

I try to keep my meals as varied and interesting as I can. I hate being bored foodwise! Budget friendly and nutritious doesn't have to be boring in the least.  Here is what I ate over the past seven days. I hope some of these meals will inspire you to want to cook for yourself!

SUNDAY, October 5th - Sunday Dinner at Cindy's

I had my usual Sunday Dinner at my sisters. This week she made a beautiful chicken stir fry. She had velveted the chicken and it was beautifully tender.  Loaded with lots of vegetables. We enjoyed this with some rice and sugar free jelly for dessert with a bit of whippy cream.

In its place I am sharing my recipe for Bok Choy Chicken.  What you have here is a delicious  stir fry with beautifully marinated pieces of chicken, stir fried together with some ginger and Bok Choy along with a delicious Asian sauce, that is very simple to put together. It is really good.

MONDAY, October 6th - Cauliflower Chowder

I had a cauliflower that needed using up and so I decided to make Cauliflower Chowder. This is a hearty supper soup that always goes down a real treat.  Filled with lovely chunks of celery, carrot, cauliflower and potato, bits of crispy bacon and creamy Pepper Boursin cheese. Rich, filling and very satisfying it is one of my favorite soups.

You could enjoy this with crusty bread if you wish, but I always like to enjoy it with some buttery crackers crumbled over top.  It really is delicious and hearty.  I had enough to share with my neighbor and freeze for another time.

TUESDAY, October 7th - Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut 

This was a meal that I grew up with. Whenever my father was away, mom would cook us up a mess of Kraut. Pickled pork was the go to meat for it. I love pickled pork. It is like a corned beef but with pork.  I had some in the freezer in single serving containers. (I am trying to empty some space before Christmas rolls around.)

I enjoyed it with some buttery mashed potatoes. That is always what I enjoy with kraut.  This recipe gets slow cooked in a crock pot. Slow cooking the pickled pork in this manner, along with some sauerkraut, yields tender and juicy meat.  The sauerkraut helps to tenderize the pork, and the
pork helps to inject its flavor into the kraut. It's a win/win situation! 

WEDNESDAY, October 8th - Spaghetti Bolognese

I had a super busy day on Wednesday and so, again, I took advantage of my freezer and thawed out some of Spaghetti Sauce. The recipe is called A Really Good Bolognese.  These days I tend to make small batches of most things with the exception of things like stews, soups, bolognese sauce, etc.  These are worth making in larger batches so that you can freeze the excess. It never hurts to have Bolognese Sauce in the freezer.  

This version is particularly nice with a really quality ground steak, some quality tinned Italian tomatoes, red wine and a few other bits and bobs. It is the result of many, many years of my testing, trialing and playing with the sauce until I came up with what I think is the perfect sauce.  It is fabulous on pasta, of course, but is also lovely in lasagna, ziti casserole, etc.  Anywhere you want to use a good Bolognese sauce.  On this day I enjoyed it simply with some spaghetti, with a salad on the side and some crusty bread.

THURSDAY, October 9th - Easy Lemon & Garlic Parmesan Chicken

This is an easy Air Fryer entree. Lemon & Garlic Parmesan Chicken.  This tasty marinated chicken cooks very simply and easily in the air fryer, but you can also cook it in the oven if you wish to, or if you don't have an air fryer.  Sized for two people, this is the most delicious chicken you could make. Tender, juicy and loaded with flavor!

I enjoyed it with some rice and veggies.  It is also great with just a salad. I will often enjoy the leftovers in a salad the day after.

FRIDAY, October 10th - Classic Tuna Melt 

  

I was really craving a Tuna Melt on Friday. I had not had one in a while. It is one of my favorite hot sandwiches and it was Friday so why not enjoy a bit of fish for Friday!   

 I have always loved tuna melt sandwiches.  With crispy buttery toasted bread, a rich tuna salad filling, and melted cheese, this hot sandwich always goes down a real treat with me. You can have potato chips on the side or a salad, or even a bowl of soup. I am often happy with just the sandwich.  On this day I enjoyed it with a cup of soup.  Tomato Cup of Soup that I buy from Blighty's Online British Shop.  I get all of my cup soups there. They are so convenient, and I don't seem to be able to find cup of soups in the shops here except for Chicken Noodle and I don't always want that.

A cup of soup and a sandwich aways makes for a great supper.

SATURDAY, October 11th - Ham Dinner with the Family

I wanted to have my family over for a pre-Thanksgiving Dinner. I had bought a nice bone in ham and cooked my Classic Baked Ham.  We enjoyed it with fluffy mashed potatoes, a root vegetable gratin (look for that recipe soon), some green beans, some homemade Old Fashioned Pull Apart Rolls and butter. I made a pineapple sauce to go with it.  I also cracked open a jar of my bean salad that everyone enjoys and some pickled beets.

We had Apple Pie for dessert.  Warmed up with some Whipped Cream. I would rather have Ice Cream, but everyone else likes whipped cream. 

I will be eating ham for a few days methinks. It was a rather large ham. I did give some to my sister to take home. 

And there you have it, my meals of the week for this the second week of October.  I did a great job of feeding myself, and others methinks. In any case I was quite pleased with it all!  What do you think?

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