Hello and welcome to my Sunday Meals of the Week Post. Every Sunday I like to share with you all of the delicious main meals which I have cooked for myself over the past seven days. My daughter Eileen is staying with me at the moment so that is helping to inspire me. Sharing these meals with you helps me to keep myself accountable, and knowing that I am going to share what I have cooked also inspires me to cook something tasty for us each and every day. I hope in some way it will also inspire you to want to cook some of the things I have enjoyed.
I have never wanted to be a person who lives on takeaways or out of cans or frozen packets. I have always enjoyed cooking and eating, and admittedly my waistline shows it. It has been a real treat having my daughter here with me at the moment. I do love spoiling her and cooking some of her favorites from her childhood. Sometimes she even gets into the kitchen and helps me.
I am also using this as an opportunity to teach her a bit about healthy eating. Eating processed foods is not all that good for you. Every now and again I do find myself having to resort to something in that genre, but, by and large, I like to prepare everything myself from scratch. That way I know exactly what is going into my food, and I can control things like sugar, fat and sodium. Most processed foods are high in all three.
I try to cook for myself every day. Cooking from scratch does not have to be complicated or expensive. You can eat really well and still stay within a budget. I think I do rather well on that score.
I also try to cook for only one or two servings wherever possible. In many cases I will enjoy the second serving for lunch the next day, or freeze it for future use. I am getting rather good at reducing things to only one serving however.
Not an easy feat when one is used to cooking for crowds. I raised five children and was used to cooking for seven people on the regular and then in my employment I also cooked or large groups of people regularly. When I retired it went down to cooking for just two people and now . . . cooking just for me.
I do enjoy doing these posts. They help me to keep a record of what I am actually eating and inspire me to cook as well. I love sharing them with you and I know that many of you love reading about them and in fact have been inspired to cook some of these dishes as well.
Here are the main meals that we enjoyed over the past seven days! I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did!!
SUNDAY, March 8th - Sunday Dinner with the Family
On Sunday we went to my sister's for Sunday Dinner. She had to pick us up and bring us back as the battery failed on my car. She had cooked a delicious Beef Bourguignon, which we enjoyed with creamy mashed potatoes. Jelly and whippy cream for dessert. It was all very fabulous.
In it's place I am sharing my own recipe for Beef Bourguignon. It is fabulous . . . tasty tender chunks of beef and meaty mushrooms in a rich and delicious gravy. Perfect over noodles or mashed potatoes! You'll want to serve a nice crusty roll with it so that you can scoop up every last bit of that scrumminess on your plate. This version cooks in the slow cooker.
MONDAY, March 9th - Pasta e Piselli
I had a very busy day on Monday. I had to get the CAA in to boost my car and then take it to the Service Station that I go to. My sister had to come and pick me up and bring me home, and then take me back to pick my car up later in the day. The battery needed replacing and I had some tires which needed seeing to. Eileen had a visit with her CSS workers. I also had a telephone appointment with my Doctor. Something quick and easy as the order of the day.
Pasta e Piselli is a simple recipe which uses frozen peas, chopped onion, pasta, water and some cheese. You could call this Pasta and Peas. And it is fabulously delicious. You wouldn't think that you could make something so tasty out of just these few things, but like magic, you can! Poured into heated pasta bowls and topped with some more grated cheese and some hot chili flakes, dinner is served! Voila!!
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WEDNESDAY, March 11th - Dinner out with my father, his friend Hazel and Eileen
Usually on Wednesday nights I have dinner out with my father, sister and his friend Hazel. We always go to the Big Scoop which is a diner just at the other end of town. Cindy didn't go this week as she and Dan were planning on going out for supper on Thursday.
I didn't want anything deep fried this week and so I had the pan fried Haddock which is basically dusted in flour and herbs and pan fried. it comes with lemon, mashed potatoes and vegetables. Also coleslaw and a roll. You can get a large meal or a small meal. I usually get the small. It was also on special, which was good. Eileen had the spaghetti and meatballs, again. Dad had Shepherd's Pie and Hazel also had the haddock.
I am sharing a recipe for Pan Fried Haddock that I did a while back as a part of one of my Vintage Menus. It was delicious. Simple and delicious. There is also the option of baking it rather than pan frying it.
THURSDAY, March 12th - Quick and Easy Cheesy Chicken & Potatoes
I did us a bit of a Asian meal on Friday night. I had not made this in a very long while. Korean Beef. This is a really economical and delicious way to cook ground beef. I use only extra lean ground beef. My sister and I buy our ground beef locally sourced. Its organic, grass fed, and very lean. We get it at our local farm market. One pound of this makes enough for four people, but it also freezes very well.
Delicious and quick to make it is flavored with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, brown sugar and soy sauce, with just a hint of chilies. You can of course add more according to your own tastebuds! I like it fairly mild. I enjoyed some of this with some sticky rice and stir fried vegetables on the side.
You can also freeze this once it is cooked. When I do, I freeze it in one serving sized containers, ready to take out and quickly reheat whenever I am feeling in the mood!
SATURDAY, March 23rd - Chicken with Lemon & Capers
I decided to pull the stops out a bit on Saturday as we had been eating relatively simple all week and I made us some Chicken with Lemon & Capers. It is quite simply one of my all-time favorite chicken dishes and it is really very simple to make.
Chicken breasts are sliced horizontally into thinnish chicken fillets, dusted with some flour and seasonings and fried in butter. A simple sauce is created from the pan juices, lemon juice and bottled capers. I do so love capers.
This is so impressive, and yet it is quick and simple to make. The sauce is rich and delicious. Have all of your ingredients ready before you start and things will run as smoothly as clockwork. We enjoyed this with some angel hair pasta and were in chicken heaven. I also steamed some broccoli to enjoy on the side.
And there you have it, my main meals of the week for the past seven days. A nice mix of things that were all tasty, quick and easy to make and very satisfying. I hope that there was something here that you might also want to cook for yourself!
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