I can't believe it but here we are again!  Its Sunday and the day I like to share my meals of the week with you.  I have had a pretty busy week this week. I've had company for some of it, but that doesn't mean that I haven't still eaten quite well!

Some of my family has been visiting me from Prince Edward Island. My middle son, his wife and their three lovely boys!  Its been a busy week off and on and my house and heart have been very full!  The cats have gotten more than their fill of attention and I have been enjoying lots of love and hugs from my gorgeous grandsons and giving plenty of them back.

They were at a family camp until Thursday, so really I have only had them here to spoil on Thursday/Friday, but I did have them for a few days at the end of last week as well, so its all good!

My meals of the week posts, for those of you who are new to the page, is a post I do once a week and in which I share the various meals I have cooked and or enjoyed over the past 7 days.  As a senior baby boomer who now lives on her own, I have determined that I am not going to live on stuff from cans, frozen dinners or ready made meals.

I love to eat and I love to cook and I enjoy sharing what I have cooked. I am also on a limited budget so what I cook and eat usually falls within the parameters of affordability and because I am on my own a lot  of my recipes are small batched, and or easy to cut in half.  Its also summer and the heat is on, so this week, I did try to cook meals that were engineered to get me in and out of the kitchen quickly, with the least amount of heating up my house as possible!

I've been greatly encouraged by these posts. People who follow me on my Facebook page seem to enjoy them.  If I can cook inspiring meals, then my goal is to inspire others to do the same!  And in the most economical and delicious way as possible.

It also helps me to keep an eye on what I have been eating and cooking. Variety is the spice of life as they say!  And without further adieu, here is what was cooking in my kitchen over the past 7 days!

SUNDAY, July 16th - Roast Chicken with Herbs

Sunday Dinner with the family. Every Sunday we eat dinner together as a family.  Sometimes my sister hosts and sometimes I do.  Its always a wonderful opportunity to get together as a whole family and enjoy some good food and company.

This week we had this delicious Roast Chicken.  A fabulous herb butter is rubbed all over and pushed under the skin, resulting in a tender and juicy roast chicken with maximum flavor.  The juices make for a wonderful gravy as well. We enjoyed it with a variety of vegetables.  

Dessert was just sugar free jelly with some squirty cream on top. Everybody was happy.

MONDAY, July 17th - Roast Chicken Soup with Barley & Parsnips

I  took advantage of the opportunity to make a delicious chicken soup from the chicken bones and leavings from Sunday.  There was just enough meat on the bones to make this wonderful soup and it was a somewhat rainy and dull day. I love a hot bowl of soup on a rainy and dull day and this is a real favorite.

With a flavor filled full bodied stock, filled with hearty barley, bits of chicken, cabbage, parsnips, onions, etc. this is a delicious soup. It does make four servings, but I always make sure that I save the extra soup in single serving portions  (air tight freezer containers) and pop them into the freezer. Easy to take out and thaw any time I want to treat myself to a bit of chicken soup comfort!

TUESDAY, July 18th - Easy Baked Penne with Sausage

Tuesday felt like a pasta day to me. When I was married I hardly ever got to treat myself to pasta as my husband did not like it at all. I am enjoying the freedom now to be able to eat pasta any time I wish.

This quick and easy casserole goes together in minutes and uses only a very few ingredients. Italian sausage with a tasty marinara sauce, tossed together with penne pasta, slathered with two kind of cheese and baked to perfection.   I enjoyed this with some homemade garlic toast and a side salad.  Delicious!!

WEDNESDAY, July 19th - Pan Seared Steak with Garlic Butter

I had gotten a nice looking steak on offer and cooked myself a steak for my supper. I ate half on the day with some vegetables and mushrooms and used the other half as a Steak & Pasta Salad for lunch the next day.

Being able to use this steak for two different meals made it more than worth the $10 price tag for the steak, with each meal only costing me $5 for the meat. You can pay more than that for a burger at a restaurant and not blink an eye.

This steak is juicy, tender and beautifully flavored. I cooked some mushrooms in butter to go along with it and steamed some fresh local beans and broccoli as well. Who needed a potato?  Not me!

THURSDAY, July 20th - School Cafeteria Pizza

My son and his family were back from Camp and we made School Cafeteria Pizzas!  This unique pizza has an easy pourable crust. I always make my own sauce to go on top of it and we vary the toppings according to who is there and what they like! 

This with a salad made for a really tasty supper.  Ice creams at the farmers market behind my place for after's went down a real treat!

FRIDAY, July 21st - BBQ Burgers and Hot Dogs

On Friday we all went to my sisters for BBQ Burgers and Hot Dogs. She has a big yard for the boys to run around in and lots of space and it was our one opportunity to get together as  a family while my son was here as they were leaving on Saturday.   My son did the BBQ-ing and we had an assortment of salads, potato chips, etc. on the side.  

I picked up some ice cream treats for the boys to enjoy for after's as well.

This photograph is of my recipe for Tina's Burgers. I have a friend in the UK called Tina. She makes the best burgers ever. Nice and juicy with bacon and sliced tomato, lettuce and a fried egg. Apparently this is an Aussie thing and I can tell you they are fabulously delicious.  If you can eat a whole one of these, then you are a better man than I!

SATURDAY, July 22nd - Pasta with a Butter, Onion & Tomato Sauce

I didn't really feel like cooking anything complicated at all on Saturday.  I made myself a delicious bowl of pasta with my favorite Butter, Onion & Tomato Sauce.  Simple and delicious. This dish only really requires 4 ingredients.  A jar of some really good Italian peeled tomatoes.  A package of pasta. Some butter and an onion.  Its so easy to make and sometimes you just want easy.

A sprinkle of cheese on top, a small salad on the side and I was very happy.

And those were my meals for the past week. As you can see I did eat very well!   I hope you will be inspired to want to cook some of these recipes and tasty up your next week! 

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 guess I have been sharing my Meals of the Week posts with you for a month or so now. I hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy putting them together.  I do like to review the things that I have eaten over the past week. It helps to keep my meals from becoming boring and helps me to plan out my meals for the week to come.

I am determined not to be that person who lives on their own that eats nothing but highly processed ready meals, frozen dinners, takeaways or toast.  I also don't like waste, so I have been downsizing as many recipes as I can to make only one or two servings.

Wherever possible I do give the links most of the time for full sized recipes for those of you with larger families. I do see a need however for smaller sized options for people who find themselves to be empty nesters or someone who is living all on their own for the first time in their lives.

If I can inspire you to want to cook for yourself, then I would consider that a job well done.  I hope that I will and that you will continue to enjoy these curated posts.  Also if you have any ideas of things you might like for me to cook or try or downsize in the future please do leave a comment below!

SUNDAY, June 18th - Father's Day

On Father's day we decided to treat my father to some Kentucky Fried Chicken. (This photo is not of that but of my Oven Fried Chicken, which is infinitely better!) I don't know why we do it, but we get it every year and every year we are disappointed.  It just is not as delicious as it used to be.  

I think that the KFC in the UK was tastier, or at least much tastier than the stuff we get at our local KFC here where I live.  The chips are always disappointing, and the gravy was blah.  They even got the coleslaw wrong. What happened to the good old KFC coleslaw that was delicious?  This was nothing but chopped cabbage in a dressing with thawed cubed frozen carrots? The texture was all off.

In any case if you are wanting some delicious chicken do try my recipe for Oven Fried Chicken. It is coated with potato chips. You can use any flavor of chips that you like.  Always crisp. Always delicious, no faffing about with frying.

We all enjoyed the TikTok Cinnamon rolls my sister made for dessert.

MONDAY, June 19th - Greek Chicken & Cucumber Salad

After the disappointment of the chicken from the day before I made my favorite grilled chicken, Greek Chicken & Cucumber Salad.  It is a delicious recipe I adapted from the NYTimes for a chicken supper that is keto, low carb and diabetic friendly.  

Downsized for two people, you have incredibly tasty marinated and flavor filled chicken thighs that I grill on my indoor grill, accompanied with a fresh and delicious cucumber, tomato and feta cheese salad. The two things served together are an amazing combination of flavors and textures.

TUESDAY, June 20th - Big Mac Tacos (Smash Burger Tacos) 

I wanted to try something new so I downsized a tasty taco recipe that I had seen online.  Big Mac Tacos. They were quick and very easy to make, and surprisingly filling!  I used ground turkey instead of ground beef.

I created my own special sauce and topped the taco burgers with some process cheese, shredded lettuce and chopped dill pickles. I forgot the onions.  Delicious anyways! I highly recommend! 

WEDNESDAY, June 21st - Dinner out with Dad

On Wednesday nights I always go out for dinner to a local place with my father and his friend Hazel. This week my sister joined us.  I ordered the one piece fish and chips, as did Cindy and Hazel. My dad broke with tradition and ordered the Chicken Crunch strips with sweet and sour sauce. He likes that every now and then.  We all had ice cream for dessert.

I am sharing this recipe for Crisp Chicken Strips with a Honey Mustard Dip with you for this day.  Nicely flavored and spiced, they are made from cut strips of chicken breast which has been coated in a delicious breading. I bread them early in the day to give them plenty of time to set up.

They are simply pan fried in a mixture of oil and butter. The sauce is a simple one, made from American mustard and clover honey.  It makes a really delicious dip!

You can also find my recipe for a Beer Battered Cod and Twice Fried Chips here. It is a recipe of mine that was once featured in the Canadian version of Hello Magazine in an article they did promoting British food! I was quite proud of that!

THURSDAY, June 22nd - Grilled Chicken & Sauteed Potatoes with Broccoli Rabe

I had some grilled chicken leftover from Monday that I wanted to eat and so I created myself a delicious side dish using a vegetable that I had never tried before.  Broccoli Rabe, or Rapini as it is also known. It was a delicious combination with fresh new flavors.  You could substitute Kale or Mustard Greens for the Broccoli Rabe if you are unable to get it.

Broccoli Rabe is a type of broccoli that cooks and eats like a green. With an earthy, nutty, somewhat bitter taste, it went very well with the sweetness of the sauteed potato. I add some fried onion, garlic, and hot chili flakes as well, dusting the finished dish with some grated Parmesan cheese.

FRIDAY, June 23rd - Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich and Potato Chips

I had picked up some cube steak earlier in the week and I wanted to use it up. I decided to make myself a Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich.  Chicken Fried Steak is cube steak which has been dipped in egg and a spicy flour mixture and then fried until crisp and golden brown on the outside, but tender and juicy inside.

I served this on a buttery toasted bun, with a tasty garlic pepper aioli mayo that I had made spread on the bottom and topped with some crisp lettuce and a thick slice of ripe tomato. This was fabulously delicious.  Sometimes the heart just wants what the heart want.

SATURDAY, June 24th - Crustless Veggie Quiche

I elected to go meatless last evening and made myself a delicious crustless vegetable quiche. Eggs make a great supper every now and then. I love quiche, but I don't always want to eat pastry.  (Well, perhaps need is a better word to use than want.  I always want pastry, but it should only be a once in a blue moon treat!)

This also 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.)

And there you have it. All of the main meals I have enjoyed over the past week. Everything was delicious. Most of it was fairly healthy and none of it broke the bank!  I do hope that my chosen options will somehow inspire you to want to create some tasty a healthy meals for yourself!  I will be sharing my menus with you again at the end of next week! There is much deliciousness to look forward to!

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 

Admittedly I don't always feel like pulling out all the stops when it comes to making myself something for my tea/supper.  Despite living on my own I have incredibly busy days.  Days where I know I am not going to have a lot of time to cook, but it can't be helped.

That is when the simple supper comes in really handy and the simple supper is something that the British really do well. Most of these ideas I had never heard or thought of before moving over to the U.K. 

 

 

 

Sometimes I just added a grating of good cheddar to the top, allowing the heat of the beans to melt the cheddar in a most delicious way.  Looking at this photo I can't help thinking that a sprinkle of crispy onions would go very nicely.

Yes, today I made myself beans on toast in homage and memory to all the delicious times I had enjoyed beans on toast while I was living in the U.K.  This was the first time I have made them since my return to Canada some 2 1/2 years ago now. (Hard to believe. Time really does fly!)

Of course I had to make do with the ingredients that I have available to me here in Canada.  They do have Heinz Beans, but I find they are not quite the same as the ones in the U.K.  There is a difference. I sometimes order foods from Blighty's and the next time I put in an order I will have to order some Heinz Beans in Tomato Sauce.

I used my next favorite kind of beans and that is the Sprague Beans. I used the Maritime version this time. They do have several different varieties.  I like them all. 

There is a farm market not too far from me that has the nicest Brown Bread. Here in the Maritime provinces we all enjoy our baked beans with Brown Bread.

I do have a recipe for my own homemade Brown Batter Bread, but I didn't have time to make any today and to be honest, I wanted simple and quick.  So there were two things that were not entirely traditional in the Beans on Toast Supper there. Brown Bread and Molasses Baked beans.  They do go together very well however so I went with it.

I did have a good English Farmhouse Cheddar in the refrigerator so I could not help grating a smattering of that over top of my hot beans.

There really is naught so comforting as a simple supper of beans on toast, and whilst my version today was not the most traditional one, it was still very, very good. I am not entirely sure that the cheddar cheese went all that well with the sweetness of the molasses baked beans and the brown bread, but it was good enough and I enjoyed it.

A simple supper is a really nice thing to enjoy every now and then, and it always satisfies, no matter what it is.  I am no stranger to the comforts of a simple supper.  Here are some of my favorite ones.

PERFECT EGG AND CHIPS - Every once in a while I would get my husband to pop down to the local chippie and pick up a plain newspaper wrapped bundle of chips. While he was gone I would fry up a couple of eggs in butter and butter some soft bread to enjoy with the egg and chips when he got back. 

Of course you can make your own chips from scratch, and I often did. I tell you how to do just that in this recipe. There is something pretty wonderful about a simple supper of butter fried eggs, crisp golden chips and a slice of simple buttered bread. 

SCRAMBLED EGGS ON TOAST -  Scrambled eggs on toast were always another favorite. You might think it is easy to make scrambled eggs and yes, it is, but there is a special knack to getting them just right . . . rich, moist and creamy . . .  not dry. 

I show you how to do just that in my post. This is an exceptionally tasty supper.  Sometimes you can add some bacon on the side if you want, but to be honest the eggs and the toast will do just fine.

BACON AND CHEESE ON TOAST -  Another delicious, quick and easy supper is Cheese on Toast. This can be as simple as just making some toast, piling it with some good cheese and popping it under the grill. (A layer of grainy mustard is very good on this between the toast and the cheese.)

You can also go whole hog as in this recipe by adding a sweet and tangy layer of mango chutney between the cheese and the toast and a few rashers of smoky bacon to the top! Very tasty indeed!

I also have a type of rarebit cheese on toast here that you might also enjoy. 

SPAGHETTI ON TOAST - To be honest this one is a no-brainer. Heat up a tin of spaghetti and ladle it over hot toast.  Easy peazy lemon squeazy. Melt some cheese on top of the toast and add a grinding of salt and pepper and this truly is one very delicious comfort style supper.

As you can see toast figures very prominently in the Simple Supper Category.

PROPER WELSH RAREBIT -  This delicious coalition does require a bit more effort than the others admittedly, but it is proper delicious  and worth every extra bit.  Rich and delicious, and yes, on toast.  (What else!)  A few sliced tomatoes and some salad leaves on the side and you have one very delicious supper.

Of course there are a few more simple suppers that you can enjoy that are a bit more effort as well, such as Potato Pie. Lovely served with some pickled beets and buttered brown bread.  This Sausage, Potatoes, Onions and Cabbage also looks very good.

I do believe that I cracked the trick to having really crisp toast.  Let your toast cool down just a bit and then butter it. The butter won't melt right into the toast, making it soggy. It kind of lays on top, semi-melted in a delicious buttery layer and that toast is still crisp and warm on the bottom.

What are  your favorite simple suppers?  Enlighten us all. Maybe we can discover something we had not heard of before.  Lets share!

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