Christmas (Christian Winter Festive Event) Cake

 

Hello there!  Well, it's October 23rd and my first Christmas cake of the year is in the oven (with two days to spare by my target!).  Hurrah! Obviously I am calling this a Christmas Cake as I celebrate Christmas, but it's also a damn good general heavy fruit cake experience - no matter what your religious inclinations are.  

For the last couple of years I have used Mary Berry's Christmas Cake recipe and I love it - I can't see me changing it any time soon.  You can find it here on Mary's own website and it is lovely and straight forward.  For the first time this year I am making two cakes, one round and one square so today's weighing out ventures were more complex than normal as I wanted to weigh them out at the same time.  To handle this I decided to get a bit geeky and obsessed....

 I had planned everything in advance, of course and has done a Tesco Groceries order just for the occasion which arrived at 0925 this morning so everything I already had was out on the counter before that came.  

I decided to weigh out the ingredients into boxes, two boxes for each cake.  Box number one is all of the fruit, the peel and the brandy.  Doesn't it look lovely! The only tweak I make to Mary's recipe here is that I add some hot water with the brandy to open up the fruit a bit more and I added the peel here too.  

Box (or in this case bowl) number two is everything else, with the exception of the eggs which I added slowly as I had written that down last year... I have no idea why, sadly.  

If you are an obsessive lump remover I would also advise adding the almonds afterwards as I was getting a bit worried about the lumps... idiot!

Adding the eggs slowly worked a treat and it doesn't take lone to come together.

Now that all of the 'cake' ingredients are in together it's time to add the fruit box.  I did not look like this was all going to fit in my mixer at once, but it did - just!  If your mixer has a lid I stronly advise using that!

Once it's all nicely combined it's ready to go in the tin! 

After last years tears over lining the tin (seriously) I have been playing with some new ideas for making this easier and I think I have cracked it...

Tin lining kit:

• pen
• scissors
• grease proof paper
• string
• spray butter or oil
• cake tin

Making the lining is the easy bit!  Draw round the bottom of the tin and cut out the shape about 1cm in from the line from doubled ove grease proof so you have two shapes.  Spray the inside of the tin with oil or butter and smooth one shape in to the bottom of the tin, the spray more and add the second layer.  See how it sticks and sits smoothly?  This is amazing!!  For the outsides, cut a long bit of paper big enough to go around the tin and then a wee bit extra, fold in in half so it's still long, but not as deep.  Spray it inside a bit to stick the two sides together.  Do this again for the outside protective layer.  Now that you have two 'cuffs' spray one a bit and stick it to the inside of the tin, spraying and sticking as you go around.  Do similar on the outside of the tin and tie with some string.  Easy. No jumping spirals of paper, no tears and no needing my husband to rescue me!

Time to plonk the mixture in the tin now, and smooth it over.  You don't need to be gentle with this mix as there is very little air in it anyway.   Once it's smooth round the edges make a wee recess in the centre, maybe about as deep as from the tip of your pinkie to the first knuckle. This is a genius trip for making the top raise evenly.  If you put it in the oven flat topped the centre will rise more and give you a mountain cake - this prevents that.  And that't it really... fling it in the over as Mary tell us to and then tidy up (boo) and do something amusing for the next five hours...

So there we are, cake!  It's in the oven and it smells glorious!  And even better cake two is all measured out, the cake tin is ready, the mixer is clean and ready to go again and I get to lick more treacle from the spoon later on tonight. Whoo!

What's your Christmas cake tradition, do you have a favourite tin, recipe or any magic tricks?  If so please do share them in the comments or send me a photo on Instagram of your cake in action, I'm karenhtodd over there, come say hi!

Thanks for reading... decorating will be happening in December, meanwhile I'll feeding it with brandy!

Happy Birthday, Husband

This is another post I wrote at the start of the year and never published.   Well, I have now!  Happy Belated Birthday Babe.

Sunday: As previously mentioned in my February Specials ramble it is Brian's birthday this week and to that end I have been planning the making of his birthday cake.  I love making cakes and any excuse to make a treat for someone I love is good with me!  

When asked for ideas on what kind of cake he wanted the soon to be Birthday Boy was not slow at all in requesting carrot cake... so that is what he is getting!  I have already planned far enough in advance to have emailed Clementine and asked for extra carrots in this weeks produce box and the rest of the shopping will be done tomorrow and then Tuesday will be the day of the big bake.  Wednesday is Birthday!

Monday:  The produce box has arrived!  And not only does it contain the carrots as requested but a chilli for Brian too as the ladies in the shop know that he loves them.  Thanks!

Tuesday:  So, it is cake making day.  I have assembled my ingredients, broken an egg in error and it's time to get cracking.  The recipe I am using is a Hairy Bikers one as I love them and this has been described as a lighter than your average carrot cake, which sounds good to me.  It also comes with the suggestion of orange cream cheese frosting which sounds delicious!  

The recipe:  

200g/7oz self-raising flour
75g/3oz sultanas
75g/3oz pecans, broken into rough pieces
1 large orange zest only
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ whole nutmeg, finely grated (I estimated this to be about half a tea spoon full as I had grated nutmeg, not whole)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch fine sea salt
3 free-range eggs
175ml/6fl oz sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
175g/6oz soft light brown sugar
200g/7oz carrots, grated
100g/3½oz icing sugar
100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp fresh orange juice
200g/7oz full-fat cream cheese

And the method:

Preheat the oven to 160C/320F/Gas 4.  Grease two seven inch round tins and leave them to the side.   Combine the flour, sultanas, pecans, half of the orange zest, cinnamon, grated nutmeg, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl .  in the mixer (if you have one) cbat the eggs until smooth and add the sunflower oil and sugar and whisk until well combined.  To this mixture add the flour mix slowly and let to combine.  Then add the carrots.   

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth the surfaces. Bake in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is well risen and feels springy to the touch. 

Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for five minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and set aside to cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl and add the butter and orange juice. Beat together with a large wooden spoon until light and creamy. Add the cream cheese and the rest of the orange zest and beat until smooth. Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm enough to spread.

Spread the icing over the cake and sprinkle with extra pecans (I skipped this bit as I had other plans). And you're done!

Remember I said I had other plans instea dof the pecans?  Well, instead of pecans I added  a dog, a fire pit, a chickem, a sword, an axe and a Viking.  As you do...

So, Happy Birthday Brian.  Happy cake.

Veggie Pasta (with meat balls)

I wrote this in March, I don't know why I didn't publish it then but here it is now.  

This is another easy last minute dinner that can be partially prepared in advance so that all you need to do when you want to eat is cook some pasta, meatballs and add them to the heated sauce. 

Cooking pasta is easy, so I won't go into that, but just keep in mind that a human adult portion of pasta is 75g and it's so easy to go over that unless you are careful. Since we are aiming for healthier eating portion control is very important! 

The veggie sauce is so simple to make, and it keeps well if you want to make a few days at once or prepare well in advance. This is another 'what's in you fridge, babe?' recipe. The basic method is this:

Slice two onions, smash up and chop two cloves of garlic and add these to a hot, oiled pan till they are clear, then add any veggies that you like. I favour any combination of celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, sweet corn, leeks or courgette. Add your veggies and cook them down, then add a tin of chopped tomatoes (have another one to hand if you're making it in advance) and let this bubble away till it looks pleasing, I then season it with dried mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Brian also favours some chilli flakes, so if he's been good I oblige him. The reason for the second tin of tomatoes is that when you hear this through again it might become quite dry, so you may need to add the second tin to make it edible. 

So that's pasta and sauce down. Now meatballs. There are two ways to do this and I'm going to give them their own posts in the name of completeness, but my two favourite recipes are for beef meatballs and for pork fridge balls (that sounds a little rude, sorry), but this can be easily missed out completely to keep the dish vegetarian, or served with the meatballs on the side so that you or your guests can pick and choose what they want to eat.  When I was a student and my house mate and I hosted numerous pasta dinners, serving many different pasta 'add ons', two different sauces and two different protein sources so that every one got to choose their own meal. Easy.  

So here we are, put the sauces pasta in the bowls or on the plates, add the meatballs and then season, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve with bread, salad or more pasta.  Could it be any easier?

Oh me oh my, look what the cat dragged in...

Well, hello there!  It's been a long time and I shan't bore you with what I (haven;t) been up to but I am back!  I just wanted to pop on tonight and tell you I'm back, to share some new things that are coming your way and then explain a wee bit about why I'm back.

First up... coming soon:

And my parting shot, five reasons I'm back:

• I need something to aim for each day.  Being unemployed is getting me down and I need some structure in my life.
• My typing has gone to shit lately, that needs to change!
• I have words to say and things to share, I miss writing.
• I have garden news to share, which will hopefully add a whole new area to Not Just Fuel.
• I've been going to a photography night class and food photography is one of the topics, may a well use what I learn!

So there we are.  Not Just Fuel is a thing again and I am jolly happy about it.  Let's do this thing.  

P.S. Seasonal comfort food starts this week, with apple crumble, macaroni cheese and Christian Winter Festive Event (Christmas) Cake. Yes, it is that time of year already!

Top Five - Using Up Bananas

This is an idea that I 'obtained' from one of my school friends via Facebook lateley - on the notion of Facebook there is now a Not Just Fuel community page, want to come join in?  Please do!  

The idea that Katrina had was to share ideas on what to do with the things that we all end up with at the end of the week or that just pile up and your not quite sure what to do with before they go off.

We start with a good one... Bananas.

So there we are, five banana ideas! It just so happens that one of the ladies I watch on YouTube shared a face mask recipe featuring... bananas!  Give it a watch and try not to think 'that would be really nice with graola for breakfast' like I did... oops!

now, forgive me.  I wrote this yesterday and forgot to publish it, I just came back today to add Tati's video!

Sorry!

Menu Planning for Kids

Hello! I am in a planning mood today and I have stolen an idea from one of my friends Rachelle.  She is helping her brother get organised and part of this project is menu planning - he has two children and I was thinking about how to involve the kids in menu planning.  This is an adaptation of a method of exploring food that I have used with Rainbows, Brownies and Guides (girls form 5 years old to 14 years old) so I hope this is useful to you if you have kids or if you have kids coming to stay or visit you and they need feeding!  This is also a fun way to plan as an adult - especially if, like me you can't draw for toffee and your banana split looks like a diagram of sedimentary layers... Oops!

I used the sheet that Eliza made for us, (which you can download here in in four different colours) and drew in the spaces instead of writing... nice and easy!  I then annotated it so that you knew what I was trying to draw!  This is based on one of the sheets that one of my Brownies drew me before our last pack holiday - and yes, she did ask for kiwi fruits for lunch!  With older children they will be able to annotate it independently but younger kids will enjoy drawing in the shapes and then you can annotate it with them.

TOP TIP!  Never try and guess what a drawing is, always ask!  

Obviously kids don't worry about what is on special or what needs used up, but these spaces might be handy for asking kids to elaborate on their requests, what do they want on their spaghetti, for example? I might chance my luck and ask Eliza to design a special kids one if anyone thinks it would be handy!  Please do let me know!

So there we are, how to ask kids what they want to eat and to get them started on their journey interacting with food... makes me wish I had a kid to practice on, anyone got one I can borrow to add to my mini focus group?  

One last thing to note that this exercise can literally open a can of worms so if there are any restrictions on what you want from your kids then be sure to set them out at the start.  Ask them for their favourite fruit and veg that week, and maybe limit the number of 'treats' they can choose, or explain that you're having a guest for tea one night and they don't eat a particular food - challenge them!  It amazed me how much thought some 5 and 6 year old put into this exercise - don't underestimate them but equally try and guide them away from drawing pictures of all the sweets and biscuits that they love! 

Chicken Fajitas... in the Slow Cooker!

We love fajitas in this house and I think most people do.  They are an easy thing to make the conventional way, but when I find a new recipe for a thing I love I can't help but try it!  I saw this on Pinterest (I'm obsessed I know...) so yesterday afternoon I cracked open the slow cooker and filled it full of deliciousness.

This is so easy to do and has become my default meal because I always have what is needed in the cupboards!  It's great for days that I have to be out and about and I know I will be knackered when I get home (like the three medical appointments in one day Wednesdays that have happened in the last few weeks!) - I put this together before I go out and then when we come home it's ready to go!

You will need:

veggies - what ever you fancy! You've got to have onions, and other than that I recommend bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and chilli. 

A quarter cup of fajita seasoning, make your own or use a shop bought version.

A cup of water (a little less if you add mushrooms)

A chicken breast per person.  

And that's all.  Chop up the veg and put it in the slow cooker, then mix the water and seasoning together, pour this over the veggies and then put the chicken on top.  Putting it on top lets it steam more than cook in the water and it goes so wonderfully tender and shreddable.  Put it on high and leave it for three hours, if you need to leave it for longer feel free to put it on for the three hours and then turn it to low and leave it for as long as is needed.  After this time take two forks and shred the chicken, mix it all up and remove the excess water to serve.  Meanwhile you need salsa, cheese, cream cheese, salad to serve and wraps to wrap it all up in!  Easy!

I know it's not the most appetising photo, but it tastes so good!  I have served this up to my husband, my parents and then used the left overs on bagels for lunch! Delicious.  

Have You Met Eliza? Free Printables!

As I'm sure you might have realised if you have read through my blog here I love planning, I love Pinterest and I love a free printable. So I happily scour Pinterest to find the perfect printables and I can never find them... they're never just exactly what I want and I do not have the ability to make them myself, I just draw boxes with ProMarker and write in them... wee while ago I found some printables on Pinterest by Eliza Ellis and I fell in love a bit.

Eliza has a lovely blog and everything is displayed so beautifully that I just cannot stand it.  There are printables for all sorts of things, from Christmas planning to calenders, and there are different colour options, quotes, all sorts of lovely gems.

 It turns out that she and I have very similar ideas in how printables should be - it just so happens she has the skill to make them happen and I don't.  I followed her on Twitter and tweeted to tell her how pleased I was with my discovery and how jealous I was of her talents... Skip forward a few weeks and I went a bit planning mad a few weeks ago in my Menu Planning Produce Box Three and Eliza read it... and had a wonderful idea.

So we have been working together, across the globe all the way from Australia to Scotland, to make some printables that fit in with my mad method to make it less mad and much easier to pass on... and they are ready!  We both have different methods for planning our households, so do go and look at Eliza's version too (there are ideas there I have stolen already, thanks love!) but for now... fanfare please!

The following four are all A4 documents that come in four colours and can be downloaded via the links below.  Look at them! Are they not lovely!

And this one is printable in A3 an A4 so that you can frame it, laminate it, write on it, however you want to use it - but do be kind to it!

And here we have all of the links for all of the lovely colours available.  I started off using hemlock, and then moved on to placid and this week I am all about the orchid!  Peach next I think.  Maybe I need to start colour coding my weeks (can I do that, am I that obsessive?).

Placid:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Orchid:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Peach:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Hemlock:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Exciting times! Get downloading, get printing and get planning!  Please do tell us what you think and any more ideas you have for planning printables... I love them and I hope you do too!

Sorry!

Hello and sorry!  I have not been here anywhere near as I much as I should have been but I have not been well (on top of the usual not well) and I have had no brain power to cook never mind write about it!   I will be back soon and I have treats up my sleeve for you later on today (whoo) and meanwhile I have been playing with PicMonkey and made a thing so I thought I would share it.

Want to download it?  Click here

Innocent on Pinterest. Amazing Resource.

and I thought I'd share it with you.  I am hooked on Pinterest and I am also a massive fan of Innocent.  I love their juice and smoothies, their cookery books, their amazing quirky-ness and their do gooddings.  I just love them.  I have innocent socks that they sent me and I love them too.  Enough gushing.... to the point.  Innocent have a seasonal produce board on Pinterest and I am going to share it with you.  Feel fee to follow me while you're at it if you fancy.  I pin a load of shit, but I love it!

Innocent on Pinterest

Produce Box Four

It's Monday so it's produce box day!  Whoo!  I made a special request for extra carrots this week for Brian's cake and it's all here and it looks lovely!

This weeks box contains:

2 portabello mushrooms,
a bunch of flat parsley,
3 onions (one red, two white),
a broccoli head,
cherry tomaties,
3 nectarines,
2 bananas,
5 apples,
3 oranges,
2 pears,
a leek,
a courgette,
half a savoy cabbage,
a yellow pepper,
a red chilli,
a swede,
sugar snap peas,
dirty fat carrots,
clean carrots for cake, and,
Edwards potatoes.

another marvellous haul I think

This weeks hot spot, what am I doing with these things are:

the swede, and,
the cabbage.

This chap is the biggest mystery...what do I do with him, answers on a postcard please!

Wish me luck!

Cupboard Soup

I don't know if it's the way I was brought up, or the fact I'm from a farming family, or if it's just a thing that happens to some people but I bloody love soup.  There is something so comforting about it and it can be an amazingly quick thing to make happen - yet it's still so rewarding!  I know opening a carton, a tin or a packet is for sure quicker but it's nowhere near as good, as healthy or as filling.  

This soup is based on a Hugh recipe, but I have put my own spin on it to use up what I had that needed using.  I intend to make many many variations of this in the future so I shall keep you updated on what works and what isn't so amazing....

This soup is cannellini beans, pearl barley, carrot, peas, chicken and chicken stock and it could not be simpler to make.

For two people as a main lunch course, or four as a side.

400g tin of cannellini beans,

50g pearl barley,

one large carrot,

chicken stock,

100g peas

a handful of kale (hard stalks cut out), and,

a few bits of left over roast chicken.

Bring the stock (around a pint) to the boil and add the barley.  Leave this to simmer till the barley is softened - this took about 20 minutes.  In this time cut up your carrot, roughly shred your kale, chop up your chicken and drain your beans.  Then have a sit down and relax (or get the rest of the lunch ready!).  Add the carrot, beans and peas to the barley and stock - let this to simmer again for 5 or so minutes till the carrot is softened and the beans are hot.  Add the kale and the chicken, let them warm and wilt.  Season liberally with pepper and a little salt and serve immediately.  

Brian enjoyed this so much that he didn't believe that it had kale in it (he's a kale hater) so I will for sure be using kale up in this way in the future.  It was very tasty and there is enough left over for my lunch another day too.  Excellent!  I think this would be a lovely thing to serve at a lunch this time of year (it's snowing here in Monifieth today, excellent, thanks weather man!), it's hearty, quick and it looks so fresh!  We ate far to many black olive crackers with this today and the salty taste of them went with the beans beautifully so crackers are highly recommended (the ones we are a bit addicted to are from Marks and Spencer's - thanks Mum!) no butter or cheese needed... but I wouldn't say no  if you offered.  

Seasonal Specials - February

February.  How?  Where did January go?  What happened? I think I have spent the whole of January going from appointment to appointment, doctor to doctor and meeting to meeting and I want it to stop!
So February is here and we need to think about what food is going on for February.  There are three special things happening this month, Brian's birthday is this coming week, we have Saint Valentines day to suffer through and at the end of the month we are going on a tiny holiday to the hotel we got married in to celebrate our first wedding anniversary - so for the last weekend of the month I don't need to think about food at all as the amazing team at Rufflets will be dealing with it for me, I shall be taking close notes, lots of photos and asking questions for sure!

But on to what to look out for this month.... to be honest not much has changed since January.  This is what I picked out for January, but of course the times, they are a-changin' - pears are out, apples are still safe in store over the winter so long as you stick to the right ones you can till have delicious fruits!

My beloved Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall (via the method of The River Cottage Year, I don't have him living in my garage, sadly) suggests rice pudding for February, this has been a highlight of my January so I'm not letting go of it any time soon!  He also suggests Spaghetti Cheese Soufflé, which just for the madness of it I want to make it!  I will of course share the results... and there there are pies, stews, soups, casseroles and such.

 I dub this month the
month of comfort food and getting fatter to stand the horrid weather.  Fact.

Burns Day Food Ideas

Em... better late than never?  I half wrote this and it got lost in my brain for a while and I just don't want to waste it... So!  Burns day food ideas.  I'm going to keep this simple, things to do with haggis and how to make shortbread.


Haggis is still on offer in the shops up here in Scotland so it's still fair game to eat far too much of it in my book!  Haggis is a funny beast that lots of folk don't like because they've only ever eaten it with horrid mash and wet turnip, and then there are the folk who just don't like the idea of it.  I am not one of them - I love the stuff.

Shortbread is not hard to make, I promise.  It doesn't have to be hard anyway.  This is one of those things that my Gran Betty can just make happen like magic and my Mum has he same skill.  Maybe one day I'll get there, but I promise it's not hard!  I also think this is the only recipie that I have committed to momory in ounces as it's so easy to remember!

Ingredients:

2oz (55g)  room temperature butter
4oz (125g) butter
6oz (180g) plain flour

And the rest is pretty easy too!

Preheat the oven to 190 deg C and beat the butter and sugar toegther till smooth.  Make sure it's really smooth, no short cuts here!  Stir in the flour little by little and you will end up with a smooth paste. Roll out on a floured board till it's about 1cm thick.  Now shape it however you want to!  Cut it into fingers, cut it into shapes with a cutter, keep it whole in a round and press it with a shortbread brand... use your imagination!  Bake it in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes (if you do a round it will need more time).  When it is baked and golden brown remove from the oven, place on a cooking rack and dust with castor sugar immediately.  Leave till it's cook and enjoy.  Or share.  But mainly enjoy.

And there we are, better late than never!  Yeah?  I promise the next Celebration will be up in time for planning (as I'm away to write it very soon indeed!).

Menu Planning and Produce Box Three

Menu planning has become on of my Monday tasks and I am really starting to enjoy it!  I wait for my Produce box to come and then I make a list of all of the things I have been sent - then I sit down with my folder, with my books and with coloured paper and pens... and get cracking!  

This is my though process for this week... starting with this weeks Produce Box contents.

a small-ish bag of kale,

a head of broccoli, 

400g mange tout,

a box of grapes,

2 bananas,

a massive courgette,

a parsnip,

3 pears,

yellow bell pepper,

2 fat, dirty, winter carrots,

a sweet potato,

3 round fat tomatoes,

a leek,

a red onion,

a white onion,

3 massive tatties,

3 oranges,

2 apples, and,

2 nectarines. 

So now I have my list I work out what I will do with what.  This isn't a science, but the way that is working for me is to pick out the things that I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with and purpose them first then I can work with the rest.  The fruit I do not worry about as I eat it for breakfast and Brian eats it for lunch, and any left over will go in smoothies and in custard for pudding!  I also make a list of what I have left over from last week, what's in the fridge and what I have procured from the Mother and the Mother in Law (I got this and it was buy one free, would you use one? - the answer is almost always yes!).  

The existing, use it up list looked like this:

a white onion,

two lemons,

two small courgettes,

a head of celery,

a leek,

half a cucumber,

new potatoes, and

sugar snap peas.

These become the priorities to use before they are past their best.  

From the produce box list of mystery I picked out:

a small-ish bag of kale,

a massive courgette,

a parsnip,

a sweet potato,

a leek, and,

3 massive tatties. 

Now I think about what we are doing in the evenings each day of the week, and this week looks like this:

Monday - 

Tuesday - 

Wednesday - Silly busy day.  Needs to be an easy meal. 

Thursday - to the in laws for dinner.

Friday - 

Saturday - Lunch - 

Saturday - Dinner - Geekfest night.  No dinner needed as take out is happening at us! Whooo!

Sunday - Lunch - 

Sunday - Dinner - 

So now we finally look at meals!  I don't really plan lunches during the week but I do make sure that there is pleasant enough and planned out lunch at the weekend.  Brian almost always has a flat bread with meat, salad, cream cheese and some form of spicy condiment for the main element of his lunch so he's easily pleased.  I live on eggs, left overs, meat, soup and cheese.  Especially cheese.  

Please note that I was going into the stationary I use to plan all of this madness out, but I will do that separately as this post is turning into quite a thing!  

Ok!  Meal ideas.  I steel my self with a cuppa and grab my books that I refer to most (currently Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstalls River Cottage Veg and the Innocent Hungry?  Book) and we get cracking.  

Hit one - kale.  I am not a big fan of kale but it is excellent in soup, so soup it is.  My plan for this bag of kale is cannellini bean, barley and kale soup (recipe coming soon!) - so that's Saturday lunch sorted.  

Hit two - courgette.  I have been keen to make courgette fritters for a wee while but I'm not sure how I was going to fit them in to a menu that doesn't involve a roast chicken where I can serve them with left overs and new potatoes.  So I shall save that idea and for now the courgettes will go in a pasta bake.  This use of courgette is a good replacement for pasta (cut down the amount of pasta you use) to keep the calorie count lower.  

Hit three - sweet potato.  After last weeks soup incident I am not using this is soup... so what am I going to do with it?  It's getting roasted and we are eating it for Sunday lunch with... er... something.

Hit four - leeks. I have two of these now as I did't use last weeks one (bad Karen!) but I will use this up in my chicken parcels as they go so soft, so sweet and just yummy.  

So now we can fill in the week plan:

Monday - Roast gammon, new potatoes, and, sugar snap peas.

Tuesday - Baked risotto with left over gammon, mange tout, celery, onion, carrot and anything else I fancy!

Wednesday - Pasta bake, left over gammon, peppers, onions, home made tomato sauce. 

Thursday - to the in laws for dinner.

Friday - Mince and tatties, carrots, peas, broccoli.

Saturday - Lunch - Cannellini bean, barley and kale soup and bread. 

Saturday - Dinner - Geekfest night.  No dinner needed as take out is happening at us! Whooo!

Sunday - Lunch - Haggis toasties with cheese, onion and tomato.  

Sunday - Dinner - Chicken Parcels with roasted sweet potato, roasted white potato and mange tout.

And that's us done!  I know it looks complex but I can do this in about twenty minutes now and I actually enjoy doing it.  I do love a bit of a read and a plan.  So there we go... all planned out!  I'm not saying it always works which is why there is one more meal to plan... the emergency back up! This is almost always macaroni cheese, as we both love it, it's easy to make and it can be made in advance - so if I'm having a bad day I can make it early, if we get in later then it can be thrown together easily.  Done!  

I promise.