Salmon and lemon rice pastry parcel

For dinner this evening we had Salmon and lemon rice pastry parcel from the September 2012 issue of the GoodFood magazine.  We will be having leftovers for dinner tomorrow night, so this recipe will feed the 4 of us for 2 nights.  The recipe states that it serves 6, and so we are able to get two nights dinners out of this quite easily.

Alterations
My husband and children don't like eggs, so I omitted these from the recipe when I made it. Though I did brush the pastry with whisked egg, as per the recipe, as I figured they couldn't object to something they didn't realise they were eating!!  I also left out the capers as no one in my family really likes them.

The hot-smoked salmon fillets that I used had cracked black pepper on them.  I used the same salmon the first time I made this recipe and it tasted lovely so I decided to stick with it.


Top tips - lemon basmati rice
The first time I made this recipe (about a month and half ago) I couldn't find the lemon basmati rice the recipe needs when I was doing my grocery shopping.  I did however find Martha Stewart's recipe for making lemon basmati rice on her website, and as I had all the ingredients in I decided to make my own.

After making the lemon rice, I had a lot more rice than the pastry parcel recipe called for, so I once again took to the Internet to check to see if it was possible to freeze cooked rice.  The short answer is - you can, but you need to cool it quickly.  For more information on how to freeze and defrost rice click on the link.

This morning I lifted my puff pastry and rice from the freezer to allow them to defrost for use in the dinner later in the day.  It is possible to re-heat the rice from frozen in the microwave, but I decided to not to do this so that I didn't have to wait for the rice to cool before I mixed it with the other ingredients.  The rice tasted fine when defrosted and reheated. 

After seeing how straight forward it was to freeze, defrost and re-heat the rice I think I might double up on portions of rice that I am boiling in the future in order to freeze half of it. 

Menu plan 17/11/2012 to 23/11/2012

Once again I've managed to not find the time to post my menu plan for the last few weeks.  I figured while I had the computer on, checking the ingredients I need for my shopping list, I would make a quick update. 

Anyway, my menu plan for the 17th November to the 23rd November is as follows:-
Saturday dinner - Mince and onions (from the freezer), potatoes and baked beans
Sunday dinner - Salmon and lemon rice pastry parcel
Monday dinner - leftover salmon and lemon rice pastry parcel
Tuesday dinner - Chilli
Wednesday dinner - Chicken with creamy bacon penne
Thursday dinner - Fish, chips, peas and sweetcorn
Friday dinner - Roast ham, potatoes and veg

For lunches this week we will have sandwiches, leftover chilli and salads.

At the moment I am trying to run down my freezer again before Christmas as I'll probably have a lot of leftovers to freeze (my husband insists on getting a big turkey and freezing what we don't eat as we only ever have turkey once a year).  This week, all the meat I will be using is from the freezer, except for the salmon for tomorrow's dinner which is in the fridge.  This will allow me to gain a lot of space in the freezer, as well as saving a bit of money as I will not have to buy any meat.

My husband has classes on Tuesday evenings, so I will make the chilli ahead on Monday evening so that he can take some to work to eat before he heads to class.  Having the chilli ready ahead of time will also help save some time in the evening when I get home which will be handy as I will be trying to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible as well as trying to entertain the kids. 

When I make chilli there is usually leftovers, but rather than put them in the freezer, like I would normally do, I will use any leftovers for lunches.  There is nothing quite like a nice warm filling lunch at this time of year.  Unfortunately I am still trying to lose weight so I'll be having salads!

Menu plan 20/10/2012 - 26/10/2012

I know, I know.  The week is almost over and I am only now getting around to posting my menu plan.  Apologies for being late, but you know what they say - better late than never and I have had quite a bit of the never lately!

Anyway, here is my menu plan for Saturday the 20th October to Friday the 26th October:-
Saturday dinner - Leftover beef and Guinness stew
Sunday dinner - Pork chops, baby potatoes and broccoli
Monday dinner - Chilli
Tuesday dinner - Leftover chilli
Wednesday dinner - Salmon, baby potatoes, green beans and broccoli
Thursday dinner - Sausages with creamy lentils
Friday dinner - Sticky pan roasted sausages

Lunches will be ham salad sandwiches, leftovers or soup.

Menu planner for 13/10/2012 to 19/10/2012

Another week another menu plan!

Recently I decided to join Weight Watchers (again!) in order to lose the weight that I put on after having my second baby.  Better late than never I suppose!  Anyway, I have bought a couple of the WW magazines recently for some inspiration and have come across a couple of recipes that I want to try out.  I figured that this week is as good a week as any to start!  I'll be adding details of the recipe for each dish, so if you see something you like check back later in the week for more details and some feedback on the recipes.

My menu plan for Saturday 13th October to Friday 19th October is as follows:-
Saturday dinner - Pork fillet with roasted parsnips and carrots (Nov 2012) - 5 propoints per serve
Sunday dinner - Lemon roast chicken with barley (Oct 2012) - 11 propoints per serve
Monday dinner - Leftover roast chicken
Tuesday dinner - Spicy sausage casserole (Oct 2012) - 5 propoints per serve
Wednesday dinner - Leftover spicy sausage casserole
Thursday dinner - Beef and Guinness stew (Nov 2012) - 10 propoints per serve
Friday dinner - Chicken wraps

For lunches we will be having ham salad sandwiches, soup and leftovers where there are some.

The November 2012 WW magazine is currently available to buy in shops, so if you fancy having a look at some of the recipes for yourself you can pick up a copy.  Otherwise you can wait until I post about them!

Menu planner 6/10/12 to 12/10/12

I guess you may have noticed that it's been quite a while since my last post.  Although I've been putting together my menu plans each week I haven't had a chance to post any of them.  Finally I've managed to find some time to write a post!

My menu plan for Saturday the 6th October to 12th October 2012 is as follows:-
Saturday dinner - Quick chicken chasseur
Sunday dinner - Pork loins with stir fry vegetables
Monday dinner - Sausages with creamy lentils
Tuesday dinner - Pizza
Wednesday dinner - Chicken and chorizo jambalaya
Thursday dinner - Mary's paprika pork in a pot, rice and green veg
Friday dinner - Salmon, baby potatoes and green veg

For lunches we will be having sandwiches, ham salad wraps or leftover chicken and chorizo jambalaya.

Tut tut!

Well, August is almost over and this is my first post this month!  Tut tut me!  We were on holiday the first week of the month and I just never got a chance to post since we got back for one reason or another.  Anyway, now that I have a new laptop (grrrrrr - the things we could have used the money for) and a bit of time to myself I thought I best put a post together so that I can at least have one post in August!

So, it looks like this will be my only meal plan for August.  This week we will be eating;

Saturday lunch - chicken salad
Saturday dinner - Spring salmon with minty veg (yes - I know it's not Spring, but it ain't Summer either so I figured, why not!)
Sunday lunch - chicken salad wrap
Sunday dinner - roast beef dinner
Monday dinner - leftover roast beef dinner
Tuesday dinner - Chorizo, pepper and pasta
Wednesday dinner - Chicken and mushrooms in red wine sauce, potatoes and veg
Thursday dinner - Mussels, spaghetti and dill
Friday dinner - Wraps

Lunches will be sandwiches, soup and corn on the cob.

When a few adjustments to the weekly menu plan are needed...

...don't be afraid to make them!

No sooner had a I returned from the grocery shop on Saturday evening than my husband suggested that perhaps we could have a BBQ for dinner instead of whatever I had planned to make.  I had nothing in for a BBQ!  After initially saying no, I ended up agreeing to a BBQ - after all, it was our one half decent Saturday this 'Summer' so far and for all I knew it might well be out last!!  This caused me a little menu plan dilemma. 

Firstly I had to go and get the meat required for the BBQ.  Unexpected additional grocery shopping, but as I've already said, it may just be the only Saturday we get to have a BBQ for a long time so I forgave myself for the extra spend.  We ditched the idea of soup as we had to go out to the butchers again and needed something that would be a little faster to make.  Queue sandwiches!

Secondly, I had already lifted the pork loins out of the freezer before I took off to get the grocery shopping so I had to decide what to do with them.  The reason why we were to have pork loins two nights in a row was because I had five frozen together.  I was going to cook two on the Saturday night for my husband and I, and three the next night to feed up as all.  I knew they'd still be fine to cook on the Sunday, but was a bit worried about cooking them on the Monday night as they were lifted out of the freezer on the Saturday morning (I really should read up about freezing/defrosting meat and how long it is 'ok' for after it has been defrosted).  As luck would have it my mum called to say that she and my dad would be visiting on Sunday, so I needed five pork loins for dinner after all!

After being invited to a birthday party on Sunday evening, we decided to have our main meal earlier in the day.  I made the Bacon and sweetcorn chowder at the same time as preparing Sundays dinner.  I initially intended for us to have this for lunch during the week, but we ended up having it for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow night we will have the soup again, then we will have the mixed bean chilli on Wednesday and Thursday night.  The only night this week that we will eat the dinner I intended will be on Friday night.

I guess you could say that things haven't exactly gone as planned!

The other thing about spending extra money on meat for a BBQ - I went slightly over my €50 budget for the week.  I'll write a bit more about this later this week as I intend to have a review of my July challenge to work out exactly how I did...

Menu planner from 21/7/2012 to 27/7/2012

On to week 4 and the final week of my July challenge, though I think I might keep it going for one a 5th week.  Once again I am working off a list of items that are in my freezer, fridge and cupboard to try and use what I have in already as far as possible in order to keep the cost of my groceries down.

So, my menu planner for 21st July to the 27th July is as follows;
Saturday lunch - Bacon and sweetcorn chowder
Saturday dinner - Braised chops with borlotti beans and wine and Boulangère potatoes
Sunday lunch - Leftover bacon and sweetcorn chowder
Sunday dinner - Braised pork chops with cider vinegar and prunes with leftover Boulangère potatoes
Monday dinner - Mixed bean chilli (my own recipe)
Tuesday dinner - Leftover mixed bean chilli
Wednesday dinner - Fish fingers, waffles, peas and sweetcorn
Thursday dinner - Smoky beef stew served with tortillas
Friday dinner - Pizza (for me and daughter), chicken breast and gravy with potatoes (for husband)and other freezer dinner for baby (using up odds and ends from the freezer here!)

For lunches during the week we will have ham sandwiches, tuna salad and any leftovers from dinner.

Last week I spent below my €50 budget once again by spending only €43.80 on my groceries for the week.  I am hoping that this week I manage to stick to my €50 budget once again.  If I do, that will mean that I will have managed to stay below €200 for the four full weeks in July, leaving €200 to go to our savings account.