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So I am sat thinking about what we should have for dinners next week and all of a sudden my mind wanders off into a vast field. In my mind’s eyes, I am seeing a lot of my personal favourites over the years. Has that ever happened to you?
I thought of the range of new recipes I learned in my last two schools when my GCSE students wanted to make them and asked my opinion. Those were some stressful days, as, no matter how much I told the kids they needed the whole recipe, they always just wrote or printed off the name of the recipe, and the ingredients listed. What a nightmare that used to be.
Then I thought about foods I had gotten from trips to restaurants or to different countries and how much I enjoyed them.
Just before I ‘woke up’, I thought of our time on Shop Smart Save Money and the dishes we cooked on the show.
The long and short of this is that for next week, we are going to be revisiting some of our favourite foods from growing up, from our friends, from holidays, and one from our time on Shop Smart Save Money. Next week is going to be a good one. We do have a packed schedule each day, including working with brands, a mammogram, a dental appointment, and scraping out what we hope to be the last of the ‘summer sun’, so we need to be well organised with everything we need.
A quick check of the cupboards tells us we have a lot of herbs and spices that need using up, and we also have a lot of veggies in the fridge that need using up too. We also have the bulk of the store cupboard ingredients for the dishes I am dreaming up. We will need to buy some meat and other ingredients too. Still, a quick walk up to Aldi will satisfy our need to walk for at least half an hour and also we hope to find the few bits and pieces we need at a cheaper price than going for a drive to Asda or Tesco.
So here’s our plan for next week using some of our favourite recipes
Sunday
Sunday Roast dinner
The traditional British Sunday Roast has never been a tradition in our house but this Sunday we will do one using my Mary Berry inspired recipe for Yorkshire puddings. We know the girls love the Yorkies especially and we mostly love the oohs and aahs we get when we smash making them. We think they look amazing, don’t you?
Monday
Chicken Biryani
This is the first time I am going to attempt to make a Biryani. Ever since I got some from a friend, I have watched at least 20 videos on making it! Then another friend gave me some and I am hooked. I just love that mix of flavours. I am also hoping to do it in a slow cooker. Since before the summer, I bought this packet mix and I am hoping to use it to make mine.
If you do have any top tips for us on how to make this easy and flavoursome, do let us know.
Tuesday
Three Cheese Macaroni and Cheese
The one we made for the tv show is so cheesy, we won’t cook any meat or another protein source. We will just have it with a salad. So many persons have said they like the fact that the top is so crunchy and yet the inside is so creamy, soft and cheesy. We may or may not add the turkey slices, it all depends on whether or not there is any in on Tuesday. To be honest, it doesn’t really need it.
Wednesday
Sweet and Sour Chicken with rice
We haven’t had this in a long time and, to be honest, we do try to stay away from it as it is too much sweet than we want to have. So this will be a treat for us and we will enjoy this homestyle fakeaway. It is so simple to make but if you don’t know, you just don’t know.
Thursday
Seasoned rice
This might sound funny to some people reading this but it is a really simple dish that uses whatever you have in to make a one-pot rice dish that is really cool! We usually rely on a pack of Maggi flavour cubes or noodles to add more flavour.
Friday
Fish curry with Polenta (turned cornmeal)
Saturday favourite recipe
Oven chicken and chips
We do love spicy foods and these spicy chicken pieces from Farmfoods always hit the spot when we feel like having a fix of spicy chicken and chips. It’s easy to just pop them in the oven, turn then over once midway through, and then give them another 15 minutes in the hot oven. Depending on whether we have them in or not, we might do some mozzarella balls and or garlic bread.
There goes just a small gist of some of the foods we like and long to eat.
What foods are you dreaming of? Why don’t you cook some of them and bring the nostalgia back? Do share with us and Katy Kicker as we share meal planning ideas each week.
