Menu Plan

Here we go for the next two weeks:

Week 1

Friday
B - Oats with chia and yoghurt
L - Wontons
D - Birthday dinner for little sister - so... yucky Chinese - I like Chinese just not the restaurant we have to go to for every family birthday!

Saturday
B - Baked beans on toast
L - Salad with tuna
D - Leek Tart (Laura Calder recipe from French Food at Home)

Sunday
B - Avocado and tahini on toast (this is my new favourtie)
L - Vegetable Soup
D - Beef Bourguignon (a Guillaume Brahimi recipe via Food Safari)

Monday
B - Oatmeal with chia and yoghurt
L - Leftover veggie soup and toast
D - Chinese chicken wings/tofu and fried rice

Tuesday
B - Baked beans on toast
L - Leftover polenta bake
D - Thai fish cakes (Donna Hay recipe) with cucumber salad

Wednesday
B - Oatmeal with chia and yoghurt
L - Fish cake burger
D - Burritos

Thursday
B - Muesli and yoghurt
L - Miso soup and satay noodles
D - Polenta bake using leftovers from burritos

Week 2

Friday
B - Oatmeal with chia and yoghurt
L - Leftovers
D - Pasta with rocket pesto (based on an Annabel Langbein recipe)

Saturday
B - Tomato and fate pull-apart (from a recipe I tore out of a magazine about 10 years ago!)
L - Miso soup and brown rice
D - Spanakopita (from Food Safari)

Sunday
B - Arabic breakfast (previously my Lebanese breakfast but saw the original again the other day and mine is not really the same as the Jill Dupleix one)
L - leftovers
D - Massaman curry and rice

Monday
B - Avocado and tahini on toast
L - leftovers
D - Masala stuffed potatoes (Christine Mansfield recipe) and pear strudel

Tuesday
B - Oats with chia and yoghurt
L - Cheese and tomato toasties
D - Leftovers

Wednesday
B - Muesli with yoghurt
L - Sushi rice balls (with avocado, cucumber and pickled ginger)
D - Tuna and white bean toasts (another Jill Dupleix)

Thursday
B - peanut butter bread
L - shopping day - lunch out
D - leftovers/frozen meal

Menu Plan

Here is my menu plan for 24/2/12 - 1/3/12

Week 1

Friday
B - Grandma's breakfast tomatoes (recipe coming soon), boiled egg and toast soldiers
L - Tuna melt
D - French Onion Soup

Saturday
B - Home made muesli with yoghurt
L - leftovers
D - out

Sunday
B - out
L - out
D - Mochi with tamari and ginger (solo meal)

Monday
B - Boiled egg and toast soldiers
L - Peanut butter sandwich
D - Zucchini chips with sweet onion dip and sausages (beef and vegetarian)

image and recipe from here

Tuesday
B - Mushrooms on toast
L - Sausage sandwich (the best thing about having sausages for dinner) with mustard
D - Bread Crumb and Porcini Pasta (from Donna Hay's Fast, Fresh, Simple and the recipe is online here)

Wednesday
B - Mushrooms on toast
L - Leftover pasta
D - Baked potatoes with toppings


Thursday
B - Peanut butter bread
L - out (shopping day so hopefully agadashi tofu)
D - Fish Cakes (again Donna Hay - recipe here)

 Week 2

Friday
B - Poached eggs with hollandaise sauce on toast
L -
D - Sweet potato burgers

image and recipe here

Saturday
B - Pancakes (husband cooking)
L -
D - Chicken breast stuffed with cheese and bacon.  Leftover burger pattie with melted cheese (veggie option) and salad

Sunday
B - Muesli and yoghurt
L - Freezer meal
D - Homemade sausage rolls (lamb and rosemary/ TVP with ketchup manis and ginger)

Monday
B - Soy Milk Smoothie (berry)
L - Leftovers
D - Wild Rice Salad 

image here and recipe and image here

Tuesday
B - Soy Milk Smoothie with banana and chia
L - Tuna melt or leftover burger
D - Leftovers

Wednesday
B - Smoothie (berry) and peanut butter bread
L - Leftover rice salad
D - Caprese Salad (Donna Hay: Fast, Fresh and Simple p 72) and Garlic Prawn Pasta (Donna Hay: Fast, Fresh and Simple p 76)


Thursday
B - Boiled Egg and toast
L - Salad Box
D - Roast Veggie and Feta tart (add bacon for the husband)

The Weekend

Be-warned this is going to be a bit of a photo dump at the end!

So, it is quite obvious that I have not been posting every weekend as I have been planning to. Today is Friday and I got so excited driving home for the last time for the week (I have a 2 hour commute on Friday as I live where most people have their weekenders) that I thought I might try doing a post on all the things I am looking forward to doing on the weekend and also put up some photos of the last week (well last few in this case).

So here is my list for August 12, 13 and 14.

• Pore over Sarah Wilson's blog. If you are obsessed with food and the different way people eat and why then this is a good blog for you. It is a lot to do with health and while I do not agree with everything Sarah says or posts about it has a lot of great links to other food-like-minded bloggers/websites and articles.

• Walking along the beach on Sunday morning. I have grown up most of my life near the water (as in 10 metres away) and while I do now live about 20 minutes away I am still relatively close, for the last 2 weeks I have been enjoying this more that I thought I would. I walk for about an hour. This weekend it is supposed to be a bit rainy - which is even better because that will mean less people and generally wilder surf.

• Getting into bed early with a pot of tea (but sadly I have run our of Sleepytime) and cookbooks to flick through and dream up my menu.

• Catching up with family on Saturday morning - I feel like I haven't seen my Grandparents in forever. I will make them some friands.

• Cleaning the house. Yes, it is therapeutic and I have to do it to face another work week.

• Watching the Block with my husband. Sadly we have been drawn into the vortex of a renovating reality show! Argh!

• Getting ready an outfit for the 50's Fair. I have been making a dress for the past year and a bit. First the sewing machine broke and then I got married and blah, blah, blah. But now I have a new machine and I have been married for almost a year (a week after the Fair this year) so should be able to finish.

OK, get ready for the photos:

The above 3 are from some Vanilla Bean Scones that I made last week when I wanted something to eat cream with. They are from Woman's Weekly Tea Time. They turned out well and my husband who was screwing up his face as I offered him one, ate 4!

This is a picture of our spare room, with the new curtains I made. Too blue?




The above three are two Donna Hay recipes I tried from Fast, Fresh, Simple.
Goats Cheese Souffle - with an apple salad
Cheat's Creme Brulee - easy and delicious (maybe not so much sugar next time).

These last two, not-so-attractive photos are what the kitchen normally looks like. A mess and a hovering cat.

Blogging and a Menu

This is y last day of school holidays and usually I feel like I have not done anything worthwhile but these holidays I have done sooo much. But most importantly I got to see my best friend and Bride-to-be. I have not told many family and friends about my blog in the past but we were talking about food I was telling her all of the great food blogs that I follow and it led to me telling her about Vintage Bel.

Best Friend and Bride-to-Be

And now she is going to begin a blog about food! I am so excited and will share it with you as soon as she has it up and running.

Talking to my Best Friend and noticing that lately more people have been visiting my blog has led me to consider what I can do to make my blog more frequent and structured as it is a bit hit and miss at the moment - especially in regards to the frequency of new posts so I think that I am going to aim to blog twice a week. One week will be posts about vintage things and outfits etc and the alternate week will be food and my menu etc.

I notice that I have more traffic when photos of outfits are involved so I will try to remember to take more pictures of all of my vintage style outfits. I also have a tonne of vintage linen and homewares etc so will catalogue that too.

So this week is a food week because my menu is starting tomorrow.

Here it is:
Week One

Monday
B - Brown Rice and Miso
L - Provided at work. Husband - sandwich
D - Rice paper rolls with Satay Sauce

Tuesday
B - Oatmeal with agave and blueberries
L - Salad Box with a can of tuna
D - Steamed veggies with Miso

Wednesday
B - Peanut butter on toast and apple
L - Leftover veggies and brown rice
D - Chowder with croutons and aioli

Thursday
B - Cheese, Nuts and Fruit
L - Leftover chowder and roll
D - Pasta with Mint Pesto and Cheats Brulee (Donna Hay - Fast, Fresh, Simple p 74, p 118)



Friday
B - Brown Rice and Miso
L - leftover pasts
D - Lamb chops and roast Veggies

Saturday
B - Boiled egg and toast
L - French Onion Soup with Croutons (Food Safari)
D - Thai Fish Cakes and Salad (Donna Hay - Fast, Fresh, Simple p 134)



Sunday
B - Mushrooms on toast with preserved lemon
L - leftovers
D - Goats cheese souffle and salad

Week Two

This week I am hoping to clean out the pantry and use more of the unusual ingredients that my husband does not like, when he is working night shift.


Monday
B - Peanut butter on bread
L - Leftover fishcakes
D - Mochi and vegetables

Tuesday
B - Oatmeal with blueberries and agave
L - Salad box
D - Jap Chae

Wednesday
B - Brown Rice Bowl
L - leftovers
D - Polenta with mushrooms

Thursday
B - Muesli and yogurt
L - leftovers
D - Flatbread pizzas - husband cooking!

Friday
B - Brown Rice Bowl
L - Mac and Cheese
D - Takeaway/Leftovers

Saturday
B - Boiled egg and toast
L - Pumpkin and Red Lentil Soup
D - Gralic and Prawn Pasta (Donna Hay - Fast, Fresh, Simple p 76)

Sunday
B - Tofu Scramble/Scrambled Eggs
L - leftovers
D - Roast Veggie Quiche

Menu

I did do a menu for last week but forgot to blog about it - but oh well - here is this weeks.

I used to have a menu planner from stationary shop Kikki K but have used them all up so now I am using a template made by Casey Brown Designs (her blog/website is Casey's Elegant Musings if you would like to find it). It saved as an PDF and I think that she uses it to plan a month of dinners only. I am using to do just a week's menu and am including Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner as usual but am also using the extra spaces to remind myself of things I need to do that day e.g. soak beans. Casey also starts her menu on a Sunday so I will too.

Please also note the return of Mexican Mondays! My brother is visiting and when we used to live together we had Mexican food every Monday. The boys did all the work and it was always great. Very excited!

17.4.11

B - Coffee and fruit salad
L - Vegetable Soup and garlic toasts
D - Standby Porcini Pasta - Donna Hay Fresh, Fast, Simple (p18)

18.4.11

B - Oatmeal and blueberries
L - Chinese Fried Cabbage and Deb - instant mash
D - Mexican Monday (brother visiting and he will cook)

19.4.11

B - Eggs, Toast and Coffee
L - Sandwiches
D - Sushi, Miso and Teriyaki Chicken

20.4.11

B - Fruit and yoghurt
L - Ceaser Salad
D - Whole Baked Brie with a Baguette for dunking (Husband cooking)

21.4.11

B - Breakfast Parfait - based loosely on a Nigella recipe
L - Salad, Soup and Toast
D - Baked Potato with topping (pretty much all the leftovers in the fridge)

22.4.11

B - Toast, Eggs and Coffee
L - Leftovers
D - Roasted Veggies with Haloumi

23.4.11

B - Bagel with cream cheese and kippers
L - will be too full from breakfast
D - Pies with pea puree and gravy.

I have a few food photos to show but not many this week but I do have some other photos to share with you in another post.




This is an example of Jacket Potatos and toppings. I do it maninly because it is easy and you just use leftovers. Here is my husbands and on it I have put: Edamame and corn salad, avocado, bacon, sausage, cheese, sour cream and caramlized onions. I also like it because my husband is a shift worker and gets home when I am ready for bed sometimes and I can just leave the potato in the oven on a low heat and have everything chopped, grated and cooked just to go on top for a few minutes and it's done. It also fills him up - he couldn't eat all the potato but did manage to eat all the toppings.

I also think its great because I can have the same as him minus the meat for the vegetarian version and I am not having to spend time doing separate things or making more washing up for myself. Perfect!




This dish is a result not of careful considered planning but of greed! We went for a picnic to a place with great some great fish co-ops and I wanted to get Balmain or Moreton Bay bugs but there weer none and this looked like the next best thing. Tuna. Two beautiful tuna steaks for $13 - I was pretty impressed.

I rubbed the steaks with a wasabi and soy mixture and then pressed on some sesame seeds and cooked them in a non-stick pan with a bit of extra virgin cooking spray. I am surprised that I did not overcook them and nor were they cold in the middle. I served them with some seasoned sushi rice (done in the rice cooker) and some steamed edamame squeezed from their shells. I put a few drops of sesame oil on top of the tuna and that's it.

Menu

I have a new reader - My Grandma! My Mum showed her my blog and she mentioned that she liked seeing my menu's so I am going to begin posting them again for her along with the stacks of pictures that I take of my food. I know it's not very vintage but a lot of my crockery and recipe books are so it does fit in - sort of!

All of the meat mentioned will be cooked separately for my husband. He does shift work so if he is not home for dinner I just don't bother with it.

Also mu husband is learning to cook so he cooks dinner all on his own once a fortnight. He is very good a roasting veggies but not so good at the more involved things yet.

4.4.11

B - Pear and Ginger muffin
L - Mac and cheese with leftover veggies
D - Carrot fritters from Nigel Slater Tender I (page 174) and baked Moroccan chicken breast

5.4.11

B - Cheese, tomato, dried fruit and nuts
L - Indian ready meal - there are some really good long life ones at the supermarket now which are quite authentic
D - Vegetable pasties

6.4.11

B - Peanut butter toast
L - Leftover pastie
D - Ceaser Salad with smoked chicken breast

7.4.11

B - Oatmeal with yogurt and blueberries
L - Leftover carrot fitters
D - Broccoli and cheese sauce with steak - husband to cook

8.4.11

B - Fruit with soy yogurt and some nuts
L - leftovers
D - Spanikopita with lamb chops

9.4.11

B - Bagels with smoked trout and cream cheese
L - Breakfast is late on Saturday so no lunch
D - Vegetable Korma from Nigel Slater Tender I (page 394)

10.4.11

B - Hot Cross Buns with stacks of butter
L - leftovers
D - Roast veggies with haloumi and pork belly


Here are some pictures of what I have been cooking lately and a few other things:

These are of the planter boxes on our balcony. In one is basil and wormwood and in the other chili's (Birdseye, Habanero and Serrano). I read that if you cut up a chili and wormwood and mix it in a spray bottle with water it makes a great bug spray. I haven't tried it yet - but that's the plan.

Creme Caramel from Bill Granger's new book. It has coconut cream in it which I found too overpowering so will not make it again. He also stipulated to cook the caramel for awhile until it is butterscotch - which I cannot manage to do without it burning. Also that eggs curdled a bit. Not a success though it looks pretty.

This is a recipe from Annabel Langbien. Zucchini and Prawn Bruschetta. It was delicious and you don't have to cook the zucchini. It also has feta cheese in it. The top picture also has steak and ranch dressing.

Obligatory picture of Coco.

This a recipe from Giada De Lauretnis. It is a pasta bake that used a prohibitive amount of cheese. I did not think that it had a lot of flavour despite all the cheese. There are better bakes in her earlier books.

Nigel Slater Tender Volume I. Addictive - especially as bedtime reading.

Bread and Butter pudding with custard made from scratch. My favourite desert.

A Donna Hay reciepe. Pumpkin and feta salad. It was good but I had Greek feta and I think the creamy Danish feta would have worked better here. The grain at the bottom is quiona.

Flambeing Crepe Suzette. This was delicious. I had no idea how much butter and sugar was in them. I have since made this twice and each time I manage to get the crepes thinner but they still are not perfect. Excuse the un-made up Sunday morning face.

Menu Plan Monday

Last week I again, didn't really follow what i had planned except for on two days.  I think I see a trend emerging here...

I made Giada's tomato soup again (delicious) and i made a curry and pilaf rice to take to Church farewell dinner.  Plus I remembered to take a photo:

Here is the start of my Pilaf rice (rick cooked separately and then stirred through)

This weeks menu mostly comes from Donna Hay "No Time to Cook"

Monday: Taco's (my brothers choice)

Tuesday: mum's

Wednesday: Grandma's

Thursday: Potato and Porcini Soup (NTTC - p 94)

Friday: Broccoli, Almond and Lemon Pasta (NTTC- p 109)

Saturday: Polenta with Mushroom and Goats Cheese (p 47) and Lemon and Garlic Roast Broccoli and Cauliflower (NTTC p 145)

Sunday: Bruschetta/Flat bread Pizza

I'm also going out on a limb here and I promise to take a photo of everything I cook this week.  The camera is in the kitchen and everyone is on a pledge not to eat until I have taken the photo!