Family Dinner Day and this week it was a meal with a bit of an Oriental slant to it, Crock Pot Mongolian Beef.  I love Crock Pot Meals on a Sunday.  Everything just gets popped into the slow cooker early in the day and it cooks all by itself until supper time.  The smell of this is amazing.  Ginger, soy, garlic and brown sugar, with a bit of heat from crushed red chilies.

You can totally adapt the heat to your taste.  This is delicious served with steamed rice and some vegetables on the side. The leftovers make a fabulous  Fried Rice.

MONDAY, July 24th - Curried Beef Fried Rice

I used the leftovers from the roast to make myself some curried beef fried rice. It actually worked out very well.  I love fried rice. You can make it from just about anything. Some cooked vegetables, or raw carrots, frozen corn, peas, onions, cabbage, cauliflower. You name it, it goes!   

A bit of scrambled egg, a bit of meat and Bob's Your Uncle!  Dinner is done!  I like a bit of sauce on mine sometimes.  Usually I like to pour a bit of Ketjap Manis on mine, which is a thickened sweet soy sauce. I make my own from scratch.

TUESDAY, July 25th - Cold Ham and Sweet & Crunchy Corn Chip Salad

We have had a hot and sticky week weatherwise.  I wasn't feeling overly hungry on Tuesday so I had myself some cold sliced ham and enjoyed it along with a salad.  Sweet & Crunchy Corn Chip Salad.  I love this salad which is the perfect mix of crunchy, sweet, creamy, smoky. Bacon, Cheese, lettuce, dried cranberries, corn ships and a poppyseed dressing. What's not to love!

WEDNESDAY, July 26th - Dinner out with Dad, Hazel and Eileen

On Wednesday nights I go out to dinner with my dad and his friend Hazel. Eileen (my oldest daughter) was with us this week.  I had the special, which was a club sandwich panini. It was not near as tasty as my own homemade Ultimate Turkey Club Sandwich, but someone else was cooking it so it made a nice change!

Dad and Hazel had Fish and Chips.  Eileen had Spaghetti with meat Sauce.  We were all happy. I had a slice of raisin pie for dessert (very naughty), Eileen and Dad had Coconut Cream Pie and Hazel had a slice of carrot cake!

THURSDAY, July 27th - Grilled Chicken with a  Summer Berry Salsa

Still hot so we enjoyed some grilled chicken with a delicious berry salsa. This salsa is filled with plenty of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, a bit of zip from a red chili, some chopped coriander leaf, red onion, ripe avocado, and lime juice. Nice and zesty and goes beautifully with the mild flavor of the chicken!   The chicken is just seasoned with some salt and black pepper and brushed with some oil prior to grilling. 

This is a simple supper with lovely fresh tastes. If you wanted a heartier supper you could add some cooked rice or even a baked potato.

FRIDAY, July 28th - Crispy Chicken with Creamy Garlic Pasta

I know, chicken two days in a row, but my daughter and I both like chicken and this was a completely different way of cooking it than the day before.  Plus we were out and about and wanted something really quick and easy.  This is all that and more.  Frozen crispy coated chicken breasts are cooked and while they are cooking you make a delicious creamy garlic sauce to toss with freshly cooked penne.

The two together are really delicious.  Tender and juicy pieces of chicken and that creamy pasta. So good, and done in less than half an hour. You can't beat it for a quick meal. We enjoyed a salad on the side.

SATURDAY, July 29th - Quick Naan Bread Pizzas

We both love these Quick Naan Bread Pizzas.  They use a simple Naan Bread base. You can use a garlic one, or a plain one.  They are brushed with some of the oil from a jar of marinated artichoke halves and then topped with a variety of cheeses and the artichokes and plenty of green olives, and some fresh thyme leaves.  

These are really delicious.  You could go the traditional route and use pizza sauce and regular pizza toppings, but these make a tasty change from the regular.

Again we had some salad on the side.  We didn't want to eat too much because we were going to have a movie night with some crisp vegetable dippers and homemade Garden Herb dip and some hummus.  We also had some grapes and cheese.  Yummy!

And that was the week that was!  My daughter and I ate very well and enjoyed a nice fresh variety of things.  Today we are going to my sister's for supper and we have a whole new week of things to enjoy together coming up! She goes home on Saturday.

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! 

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