Monday Meal Plan

Well, this week was all planned out... but then went awry.

Factors: the rubber chicken was stretched a different way with the invite to Mum and Dad to come to dinner. Monday is another Christmas party at my brother's house. Thursday is up in the air with travelling friends. Who knows what will happen next?

In theory my calendar shows no appointments for this week. With New Year's Eve and Day, however, I am unsure what we're going to end up doing.

Monday - Dinner at Brother's
Tuesday - Sausages
Wednesday - No idea. Sausages?
Thursday- Somewhere with friends. Possibly NYE party. No idea.
Friday - See Wednesday.
Saturday - ooo, I found some mince! Possibly Turkish style kebabs if I make some yoghurt.
Sunday - Something fresh I expect. Probably monthly shop time.

Meal Plan Monday

Whee! Holidays! No meal plan for me as we're spending a few days at DH's parent's house.

Yay!

:-)

Merry Christmas every one! Have a great Christmas!

Adventy Goodness

I really love the idea of Advent calendars, the kind where you open up a little window and get a small present each day in the lead up to Christmas. Rather than buy one covered in Bratz characters or full of cheap crappy candy that she wouldn't be able to eat I decided to make my own for monkey moo this year. I found a set of 24 mini Christmas books at a discount book store and decided to make a little stocking for each one and hang it from a string on the mantle piece.



I started by making up 12 stockings out of some left over stocking fabric, followed by 12 little draw string bags in other coordinating fabrics.



I stuffed them each with one of the little books and another treasure such as a little wooden tree ornament, some bangles, or a little porcelain animal--all of which I found quite cheaply at the Saturday markets.



I mixed up the colours and pegged all the stockings on the string with mini bulldog clips.



We have been choosing a stocking as part of our bed time routing and reading the little books as before bed stories. Interestingly she picked all the stocking shaped ones first--and particularly enjoys wearing them on her feet!

The best part about this calendar is that I will be able to pack the stockings and bags away with the Christmas decorations and refill and reuse them again next year :)

Dinner From The Garden

Tonight we had San Choy Bau using lettuce grown in my own garden! How amazing is that! And it was great!

DH liked the home grown lettuce, and we had some iceberg my Dad had got for us, and I'd like to grow some iceberg too, but DH says he prefers the mignonette lettuce. Hee! I am so chuffed!

One of the things that used to annoy me about the credo that to save money you should start a vegie patch is that no one ever talks about the set up costs and the return on investments you get out of it. I have a great time gardening, and I enjoy looking out my window to see verdant greenery which produces food I like to eat, but I always wanted to make sure this was going to be worth my time and effort.

Tomatoes are now $5 a kilo for the cheap ones. I am seriously considering frozen and tinned vegetables simply because of the cost. The quality of the vegetables are variable, and it's disheartening to be paying so much money for something that doesn't even look good. If nothing else, the sheer freshness factor is always a good argument for a vegie garden.

So far, the garden has cost $278. That covered a no-dig haybale garden bed, a second equal length garden bed that I am filling with corn, and decent compost and manure to improve other parts of the garden as well. However it's an investment as well as an outlay. I'm still in my apprenticeship. When the next few years are done, I will have a more permanent lay out, chickens, probably a compost corner, and much more knowledge and confidence. My friends and I have built this together. I can't thank them enough for their time and expertise, which is another factor in the outlay and setup I needed to consider.

So, I am going to tally up my garden here. Every time I eat from the garden, I shall count that as savings. I want to make sure that I get $278 worth of vegetables out of my garden. So, I guess salad greens for two adults and a 3year old... I'd say $2. I haven't bought lettuce in a very long time, actually, so I am guessing wildly. There's tomatoes growning already, so I have high hopes. I did plant a LOT of them!

Garden was started on the 13th of November.
Cost of Garden: $278
Saved: $2

Total Cost $276
--
Sarah

Monday Meal Plan

Factors: It's Christmas so everything is up in the air at any given second.

Tuesday - Steak and salad.
Wednesday - Corporate Orphans Lunch - Sweet and Sour Asian Meatballs and Rice using frozen asian meatballs and a jar of sweet and sour sauce from the pantry
Thursday - DH's work Christmas Party (Family invited)
Friday - DH sailing - chicken sausages and salad
Saturday - L's Birthday Party - take meat for BBQ
Sunday - DF's side of family Christmas Party Lunch (I expect we'll be too full to eat a full dinner too) Sandwiches or pasta and tomato sauce
Monday - Night before going to DH's Parents place - leftovers or freezer roast pork with gravy and vegies

(slightly belated) Monday Meal Plan

• Monnday--fish and chips
• Tuesday--satay chicken and ribbon veggie noodles (requested by mrX)
• Wednesday--vegetable quiche
• Thursday--crock pot chicken and veggies
• Friday--omelet friday
• Saturday--san choy bow with thin potato noodles
  
• Sunday--bbq meat and veggies

This weeks missions: 1) test the new veggie spiralizer; and 2) use as much as you can of food already in cupboards and fridge in preparation for moving house in January.

MealPlan Monday - SarahP

Oops, a day late, and in a hurry ...

Tuesday - (tonight) Spaghetti Bolognaise or Lasagne, depending on my enthusiasm for making pasta today
Wednesday - chicken (leg) casserole (probably slowcooked)
Thursday - Dinner at Mum's
Friday - my birthday! No idea. Maybe ... nope, still no idea.
Saturday - Chicken breasts
Sunday - That damned tuna bake which I have avoided the last three weeks
Monday - Mince - possible Turkish style kebabs but that requires tomato... or meatloaf again...

I have no tomato! No tomato tins, no fresh, nothing! I am at a loss! I was going to make chicken curry, but it requires tomato. Gosh! I am feeling the lack!

Tree Blogging

1st of December is usually tree decorating day at our house, but this year we went a day early on account of doing it on the Sunday being much more convenient as a family. I took some photos of the process.

We started with a big pile of boxes containing decorations and a tree, and an empty space on the floor.

First up went the tree, then on went lights, followed by tinsel and garland then baubles.

We finished with a few special ornaments and made monkey moo wait to put the star on as the very last piece. She was most excited about putting the star on top and talked about it for days before hand. It seemed cruel to make her wait, but she managed to hold on til the very end.

Monday Meal Plan--SarahX

Guess who's coming to dinner...



We found these furry little pals in our kitchen tonight, sorry about blurry pic but they didn't seem to much want to stay still and pose for me. I suspect they heard a rumor it was meal plan Monday and dropped in to see what was on offer for the week.

And here is is:

• Monday: Omelet filled with left over salmon pie
• Tuesday: Grilled chicken sandwiches and bean salad
• Wednesday: Chicken broth with noodles and vegetables
• Thursday: Black bean stew
• Friday: Omelets (easiest quickest meals ever so I am going to do it twice:) Actually, I have been practicing making the perfect omelet which in theory takes only one minute to cook--dinner for 3 in 3 minutes, yay!)
• Saturday: Steak, sweet potato, corn and beans
• Sunday: Roast chicken and veggies

Unless you're a possum, in which case Monday night is kiwifruit night!

We have the ingredients for everything there except Sunday's chicken, though tomorrow's grilled sandwiches will require the making of a loaf of bread in the afternoon.

We have a good supply of snacks for the week, we have lots of red delicious apples, and a good stash of dried mango. In addition, on the weekend we made GF cupcakes and chocolate balls (why yes, the chocolate balls are grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, low salicylate, 100 % raw and delicious, thanks for asking).