Fresh Pasta Menu

Well I bought up big on food last time, and found going into my next fortnight I won't have to buy food in the first week, just some in the minor pay, plus three meals.  Um yeah, makes sense to me lol.  I have put all the pasta recipes together unwisely, but found a good site with recipes with vegetables.  They seem expensive even without buying the pasta, but not too much so. 

Sunday 2nd ~ Gnocchi Bolognaise (uses Leggos bolognese chunky pasta sauce)
Monday ~ Canneloni & Salad
Tuesday~ Lasagne x 2

shopping for:

Wednesday ~ Mexican Corn, Coriander & Tortellini Salad
Thursday ~ Waldorf Agnolotti Salad
Friday ~ Beef Ravioli with Bocconcini & Basil Salad
Saturday ~ Tortellini, Pumpkin, Pancetta Salad
Sunday ~ Three Bean Agnolotti Salad
Monday 10th  ~ Ravioli, Parmesan Bake (uses pork sausages)

Interesting recipes:  Chorizo, Spinach & Tortellini Salad 

In the meantime my daughter had a cheese making class at school, and yesterday brought home a large amount of beautiful feta cheese.  She immediately made herself a Greek Salad  I chose to substitute a chorizo recipe from last week for this:

Spaghetti with Chorizo, Feta & Spinach

and then I am thinking of adding to the menu these two items to use it up and enjoy it, something where the cheese doesn't get lost.

Vegetarian Turkish Pizza
Pumpkin, Spinach & Feta Spaghetti

So I already have means over from last fortnight, amazing.  I guess I will just drop off the Canneloni and Lasagne. 

Christmas Hamper Menu

It will be my birthday just after the hampers arrive and then my daughters.  I have been buying some things for myself already, so the hampers will pay for the phone bill I am a little behind on, I am glad.  I am doing this in advance so I am right to go with the fruit and vegetable order.  

Friday 16th November (trip out to dentist) ~ Bacon & Avocado Burgers
Saturday ~ Ravioli Boscaiola
Sunday ~ Tortellini with Bacon, Tomato, Chilli & Baby Spinach
Monday ~  Tomato & Basil Agnolotti 
Tuesday ~ Prosciutto & Rocket Lasagna
Wednesday ~ Spaghetti with Salami Carbonara
Thursday ~ Tuna Pasta Salad
Friday ~ Vegetable & Chorizo Paella
Saturday ~ Lentil & Kransky Stew
Sunday ~ Pasta Papparadelle with Kabana
Monday ~ Lasagna

Interesting recipes:
Rocket Ravioli with Tomato & Olive Dressing
Mexican Pizza (uses pork mince)

Success from last week:
if you have pork sausages and not much else, try this, you won't feel deprived at all
Spring Rice with Sausage, Egg, Lemon & Pecorino 
 

Visit to the City Menu

This fortnight was pretty good.  I was away on Tuesday, driving to see my older kids.  I promised my daughter I would go to a Kasey Chambers concert for her birthday.  So I went a day early to go to dinner with my son and to have a break from driving.  On the way home on Thursday I stopped at the supermarket 50 minutes from home where I used to shop ages ago, I still love it there, and they still have great and cheap meat.  So I got even meat for this menu.  It turned out well, I didn't have to order fruit, I was going to do it while I was away.  The meat was enough, didn't have to buy much at all for the first week of this menu, just wraps, tomatoes, very little else.  I think hubby bought the pies for his and our daughter's tea one night but we have some left when my other daughter is away for Youth Group one night.  

While I was away I went to a Mexican restaurant, and a Malaysian restaurant, how lucky is that.  I had tostatas which were round and flat with feta on them, and at the Malaysian restaurant I enjoyed the roti and the tea they served. 

Tuesday ~ left overs
Wednesday ~ pies
Thursday ~ bolognaise
Friday ~ Chow Mein
Saturday ~ Sausage Casserole (we found a new way of doing it without using packet French Onion Soup)
Sunday ~ left over Chow Mein & Sausage Casserole
Monday ~ Butter Chicken Wraps
Tuesday ~ Zucchini & Parmesan Pasta
Wednesday ~ wombuk  Speedy Mix & Noodle Stir-fry
Thursday ~ Pork Sausage & Bean Soup (uses four bean mix)
Friday ~ Pies x 3 (eaten by accident)
Saturday ~ Veal Campagnola or Veal Schnitzel with Buttermilk Coleslaw
& Pea Mozzarella & Mint Pasta
Sunday ~ Butter Chicken Wraps
Monday ~  Spring Rice with Sausage, Egg, Lemon & Pecorino (uses Pork Sausages)
Tuesday ~ Mexican Chilli Bean Beef (uses Vegemite and cocoa)
Wednesday ~ Chicken Fried Rice with Egg & Buk Choy
Thursday ~ our hampers are here!!! Stir-fried Beef & Vegetable Chow Mein
or Lamb with Quince Paste for the rest of the quince paste.

Town Menu

 

I have made up a menu regardless if I got to the wholesale meat place, using things I have on hand that I ordered in the fruit and the odd can of things to minimise new purchases.  With some vegetarian to keep costs down.  Some were recipes we didn't get around to because of left-overs.

Wednesday ~ Lamb Sausage & Pumpkin Pilaf
or Japanese pancakes as I have double dipped, will have to make it next week 
Thursday ~ Baked Gnocchi Spanakopita with Currants & Pine Nuts
Friday ~  Char Sui Chicken Wraps
Saturday ~ Chilli Bean Nachos
Sunday ~ Tuna, Leek & Pumpkin Quiche
Monday ~ Chilli Sweet Potato & Beans with Polenta (made it before)

Interesting recipes:  Greek Feta and Vegetable Pie (uses pumpkin)

Spring Menu

Monday it seemed like we had nothing planned.  I ended up with a beautiful meal my husband cooked from Maggie Beer, called Pumpkin Macaroni Cheese.  Admittedly I gave him four recipes so it is his own, there was no feta used, it was sweet and lovely.  I finally got to taste her Verjuice that was hidden away in my pantry, and it is lovely, obviously excellent quality, and I realised Verjuice has a history and is not that silly after all.  

Tuesday ~ Chicken Scallopini with Verjuice, Capers & Asparagus
Wednesday ~ Nicoise Salad (uses buttermilk)
Thursday ~ Chicken Souvlaki (uses pita bread & feta)
Friday ~ Lamb Sausage & Pumpkin Pilaf
Saturday ~ Ham & Broccoli Quiche
Sunday ~ Spinach Impossible Pie
Monday ~ tea out
Tuesday ~ Bolognaise Pasta Bake

Back to School Menu

Condensing my menu down to week by week this time as I have shopped for this week and have menus for this week only.  

Wednesday ~ Sausage & Egg Muffin Burgers
Thursday ~  Greek Pumpkin & Rice Tart
Friday ~ Lamb Sausage & Pumpkin Pilaf
Saturday ~ Spaghetti Carbonara with Broad Beans
Sunday ~ Ham & Broccoli Quiche
Monday ~ Lemon Spaghettini with Egg & Rocket

Interesting recipes:
Angelhair Pasta with Parmesan & Rocket
Silverbeet, Broad Bean & Rice Soup

School Holiday Menu

I am pretty excited.  I had tamarind and lentils on the menu and it didn't look right as a main meal.  This lead on to other things.  I learnt that you can make corn chowder with sausages instead of bacon.  I think that would be very nice.  Now to find a recipe.  I was going through magazines that my husband brought back from America in 2000.  I looked for the magazine titles on facebook to be able to follow them and found a Pumpkin Cheesecake.  

Tuesday ~ Middle-Eastern Beef & Chickpea Wraps with Sumac Cream (uses mince)
Wednesday ~  Taco Salad
Thursday ~ Chow Mein
Friday ~ Sausage Corn Chowder trying to use beef sausages
Saturday ~ Chicken Fried Rice with Egg & Boc Choy
Sunday ~  Baked Gnocchi Spanakopita with Currants & Pine Nuts
Monday ~ Char Sui Chicken Wraps

Baking:  Pumpkin Cheesecake

Interesting recipes:  Apple Crumble Cheesecake (uses pie apple from hampers)
Polish Sausage Corn Chowder
Broccoli Corn & Bacon Chowder

Another combined menu

I am going to pick up something at the shops, so I can buy some things that we may need to cook, that is if I have any money left.

This menu is bothering me, I am tempted to start again.  In the meantime we went to a bulk meat place and got some sausages, sausage and mince.  We bought potatoes and cabbage.  It was all so we had the money to pick up a freezer and get some clothes while we were at the regional centre, it takes all day to do this stuff. 

To start things off, we had on Tuesday ~ Chow Mein
Wednesday ~ left overs
Thursday ~ Chicken & Lentil Hotpot, with very few ingredients bought from the shop
Friday ~ Left-over Hotpot
Saturday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise
Sunday ~ Bigos
Monday ~ Moroccan Shepherds Pie
Tuesday ~ Chilli Con Carne (uses passata)
Wednesday ~Chow Mein
Thursday ~ Sausages
Friday ~ Sausages
Saturday ~ Japanese Pancakes
Sunday ~ left-over shepherd's pie
Monday ~ Party Pies & Sausage rolls


Tuesday ~ North African Chicken & Kidney Bean Soup (uses Ras El Han Hanout)
Wednesday ~ Warm Creamy Pesto Chicken Potato Salad
Thursday ~ Butter Chicken Pizza (uses chicken mince) or Japanese Pancakes
Friday ~ Chicken Fried Rice with Egg & Boc Choy
Saturday ~ Aloo Tikka (uses tamarind & besan flour) tikka masala
Sunday ~ Savoury Mince Ragout
Monday ~ Mince Chow Mein (uses bok choy)
Tuesday ~ Baleadas with Red Beans & Feta
Wednesday ~ Lentils with Tamarind Sauce
Thursday ~ Silverbeet with Lemon & Olive Oil
Friday ~ Silverbeet, Currant & Pinenut Pie (uses feta)
Saturday ~ Baked Gnocchi Spanakopita with Currants & Pine Nuts (similar recipes :/)
Sunday ~ Silverbeet Sourdough Gozlemes
Monday ~ Easy Cranberry Chicken & Brie Pizza (uses cranberry sauce maybe good for using up hampers)

Interesting recipes:  Easy Chicken Chow Mein (uses chicken mince)
Chicken, Bacon & Spinach  Bolognaise (uses chicken mince)
Another pastitsio with beef mince
Nana's creole pecan bars

Italian Sausage, Tomato, Mixed Leaves & Potato Salad

This is an adaption of another recipe, but this one is more what we usually have in the cupboard.  


Italian sausage tomato mixed leaves and potato salad

Preparation Time  10 minutes
Cooking Time  20 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4)
* 650g baby coliban (chat) potatoes
* 375g (about 8) Peppercorn Extra Lean Sausage Italian Style
* Olive oil spray
* 1 x 200g punnet grape tomatoes, halved.
* ¼ cup sour cream
* 1 tbs wholegrain mustard
* 1 tbs white vinegar
* 1 tsp honey
* 1 garlic clove, chopped finely
* 4 celery sticks, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
* 60g (1/3 cup) stuffed green olives
* 100g mixed salad leaves
Method
1. Cut the potatoes into size for salad and steam. Put in large heatproof bowl.
2. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan on med-low,  cook sausages and slice about 1 cm thick, when partially cooked. Cook, turning occasionally, for 12 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
3. Place tomatoes in pan on med-low, season with salt and pepper. Cook, turning occasionally, for 2 minutes or until tender.
4. Whisk together the sour cream, mustard, lemon juice, honey and garlic in a small bowl.
5. Roughly chop the salad put into bowl with sliced celery and olives.  Add the sausages and  tomatoes, gently toss to combine. Pour over the dressing and toss to coat. Serve.

Adapted from:  Italian Sausage, Spinach, Tomato & Potato Salad

Combined Menu

Combined menus from both fortnights.  To make things easier, as I had left overs from last week and have gotten ahead of myself.  Makes it easier to order vegies.

Tuesday ~ Bigos
Wednesday ~ Beef Sausage Minestrone
Thursday ~ Italian Sausage, Spinach, Tomato & Potato Salad
Friday ~ Mushroom & Pancetta Spaghetti
Saturday ~ Cheesy Zucchini & Bacon Slice & Chips
Sunday ~ Salmon & Brie Pizza

Monday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise

Tuesday~  Rocket Pesto & Sun-dried Tomato Fettuccini 

Wednesday ~ Creamy Mexican Bake (uses four bean mix) like Greek Lasagne, very nice

Thursday ~ Aloo Tikka (uses tamarind & besan flour) tikka masala
Friday ~ Greek Style Macaroni Cheese 

Saturday ~ Tuna & Pasta Salad 

Sunday ~ Creamy Lentil Soup

Monday ~ Leek, Bacon & Silverbeet Baked Macaroni

Silverbeet Menu

On facebook I put up a post about what we were having for dinner.  It was actually a complaint, cause I think some people don't like posts about what others are having for dinner.  I don't get any of those in my feed, except one friend used to mention her meals, and I like those posts actually.  So I said, yes I really did want to know!  At the time I was having silverbeet and mince, Mince with Silverbeet & Turkish Spices.  I am bored with mince you see.  I nearly bought a mince AWW cookbook, I wish I had actually. My husband adapted this recipe it really doesn't need chickpeas, and I think we had it with rice, it would be good with brown rice too I think, if that was the same recipe.  I don't often say something would be good with brown rice, it was suggested in the original recipe and it is true.  Here is out adapted version:

Mince with Silverbeet and Turkish Spices

Serves    4
Ingredients
500g of beef mince
1 x bunch of silverbeet – finely chopped
2 x large brown onions – finely chopped
2 x garlic cloves – finely chopped
2 x carrots – finely chopped
3 x tomatoes or 1 x can of tomatoes
1 x tablespoon of tomato paste
1 x teaspoon of ground coriander, cumin and smoked paprika
1/2 x teaspoon of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste  ½ tsp sugar
1 cup rice (uncooked)

Method

1. Brown the onion in olive oil in a large, heavy based pot and let sweat. After a few minutes, add the garlic.
2. Once the onion is translucent, add the mince.
3. When the mince is cooked through, add all the spices, salt and pepper and stir through. Taste to make sure the balance of flavours is good.
4. Now, add the tomato paste, tomatoes and carrots and stir through. If you’re adding chickpeas, now’s the time to throw them in as well. Cover and turn down heat, leaving to simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Once the 30 minutes is up, open the lid, throw in your washed and chopped silverbeet and keep uncovered for another 5 minutes or so. Serve with brown rice (or white) and enjoy!


Anyway my friends, one says he has silverbeet with lemon, it fixes silverbeet.  And the other one suggested silverbeet with pinenuts and another ingredient.  I was not sure what she was thinking exactly, but both of them got me off on a tangent and I found some what I think are nice recipes.  Some people are very talented.  So much scope for us all to be individuals and eat nice homemade food.  So I ended up on the Sydney Morning Herald site, and Good Chef, Bad Chef again.  Lovely, both of them.  I have found though with all these ideas I am ahead of my menu planning by about a month? I will add recipes to this post as I either need them or find other ideas from SMH.

In the meantime I have gone off on a tangent about cranberries and chicken, as suggested by my friend regarding silverbeet,  and found another good site morning television in New Zealand.  Yum.  

We were given some quince paste.  I found a recipe for Vintage Cheddar Scones, that you can serve with Quince Paste.  Yum.  Usually I use the paste for a Thai Lamb stip recipe, but can't get that easily.  

Tuesday ~ Baleadas with Red Beans & Feta
Wednesday ~ Lentils with Tamarind Sauce
Thursday ~ Silverbeet with Lemon & Olive Oil
Friday ~ Silverbeet, Currant & Pinenut Pie (uses feta)
Saturday ~ Baked Gnocchi Spanakopita with Currants & Pine Nuts (similar recipes :/)
Sunday ~ Silverbeet Sourdough Gozlemes
Monday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise left over from menu before last
Tuesday ~ Bigos left over from menu before last
Wednesday ~ Beef Sausage Minestrone left over as well
Thursday ~ Italian Sausage, Spinach, Tomato & Potato Salad (left over)
Friday ~ Easy Cranberry Chicken & Brie Pizza (uses cranberry sauce maybe good for using up hampers)
Saturday ~ Mushroom & Pancetta Spaghetti (to use up mushrooms)
Sunday ~ Cheesy Zucchini & Bacon Slice & Chips (uses 80g vintage cheddar that we have)
Monday ~ Salmon & Brie Pizza (uses left over pesto)

Baking:
Vintage Cheddar Scones, served with quince paste
Nutmeg Slice (uses pecans)
Apricot & Coconut, Choc Cookies (uses pecans)

Baking with quince jam:
Shortbread

Interesting recipes:
Chicken & Silvebeet Rissoles (uses chicken mince)
Sauteed Silverbeet with Hommus on Toast 
Corn Fritters with Pesto Roasted Tomatoes
Ham & Potato Cakes with Wild Rocket Pesto (for hamper left-overs)

Preserving:
Mandarin and Kiwi Fruit Jam