what's your weekly dinner menu?

[bisy backson]

right, we are looking for inspiration to stop the spiral of picking from the fridge and takeaways - we used to be very disciplined and cook a proper meal every night, but the shopping has gone to pot a bit lately so we are only buying bits and pieces, not real meal ingredients.

what's a typical week's dinner menu in your house, and do you change each week?

bbxx

[katkinn]

ooh lady, now you know where you need to go for inspiration, don't you......................... the recipe challenge of the week!! :laff: :laff: :laff: You know you want to.............

Seriously though, I've had a couple of great recipes from inspiration on there that are now part of our weekly rotations!!

I don't tend to have a set list that I rotate, more that there are only certain things that I can cook well and that DH will eat!!!

If you need any of the recipes of the below, just yell sugar. None of these take more than about 40 mins to prepare, and that's at the most. Most will take about 20 mins max (and then may need longer cooking time but a lot I will make earlier in teh day and then bung in the oven when H has gone to bed)

I do prepare my menu for a week in advance, but only as it's easier when going to the supermarket/ordering online. (still always have to dash out and pick up supplies though!!! :roll: )

Oven baked wild mushroom risotto
Tiger prawn risotto with lobster sauce
Chorizo pasta
Broccoli pasta
Chicken, leek and broccoli bake
Fish and seafood curry
Fish pie
Moroccan marinated lamb or chicken with roasted veg couscous
Paella
Enchiladas
Salmon nicoise salad
chicken caesar salad
Roast of some description
Homemade burgers
Lamb kebabs with tahini dressing and couscous or flatbread
Pork chops with creme fraiche and apple sauce
Marinated lamb with pesto potato salad (this is the only one where I buy the lamb already marinated :oops: )

That's it off the top of my head. See - definitely need some more inspiration myself!!!!

Other than that, we will supplement it with bought pizza (for dinner this FRiday!!), takeaway, or DH will cook a stirfry (i have a total inability to do this somehow :oops: )

We never have anything like cheese on toast, or baked potatoes etc etc. Personally can't stand that sort of food and would much rather have something bulked out with veg or salad :oops:

katkinn
xxx

[bisy backson]

just to let you know i'm moving in tomorrow (i'll bring my own knife and fork)

YUM!

there are some great ideas in there, thanks blossom.

i very much like the look of the prawn risotto, the chicken bake and the morroccan thingy for starters. could i have the recipes for those please?

will pop over to the recipe thread now if i have to :wik:

ps don't you know that sunday night is pizza night, der!

bbxx

[Chocolate Lips]

I normally cook a roast dinner once or twice a week

along with..

Toad in the hole
Shepherds Pie
Chilli Con Carne
Spag Bol
Broccili and chicken pasta bake
Chicken and mushroom pasta
Chicken breast in pitta with cheese and pineapple marinated in a Nandos sauce
Fajitas
Gammon, egg and pineapple
Lasagne
BBQ sticky chicken (chicken breast baked with BBQ sauce, bacon and covered in cheese)

and sometimes when we are feeling slummy and need comforting...

good old Sausage and mash (actually one of my favs!)

Sorry, nothing to exotic in there!

[Biba]

Katkinn could i have the recipes for these two?

Chicken, leek and broccoli bake
Moroccan marinated lamb or chicken with roasted veg couscous

We really need to add some new dishes to our normal weekly fayre. I have found some recipes for seasonings like creol (sp) and jerk so i can marinade up some meat but those two recipes sound nice :lickslipssmiley:

[katkinn]

Right

Chicken Leek and Broccoli Bake Serves 4 normal people or 2 hungry people (with leftovers for small fry the next day!)

Poach 3 chicken breasts (or fry) and chop up into bitesize pieces.

Steam a couple of handfuls of broccoli along with 2 medium leeks till tender.

Mix two tins (see this is where it gets classy!!) of Condensed Campbell Mushroom soup (I use the 95% fat free one - works fine!) with two tablespoons of mayonnaise (again I use low fat - absolutely fine) And half a tsp of curry powder. Season with pepper (I don't use salt as I find the soup can be salty)

Put the chicken, leeks and broccoli in a baking dish, cover with the sauce and mix together.

Cover with topping of breadcrumbs and grated cheese (I tend to use a lot of topping :oops: )

Bake in oven for about 30 mins. (more if you made it earlier and left it to cool)

YUM SCRUM!!! Trial and error - all the above can be increased or lessened to taste.

Moroccan marinated lamb with roasted veg couscous

Now I use a moroccan spice mix which you can get from most supermarkets (think it's by Barts). Mix a couple of tsps of spice with olive oil to make a paste. Rub into lamb steaks (I don't use chops - use either rump or leg steaks) and leave in fridge for 10 mins, couple of hours, or overnight.

Roast in oven till how you like it (I tend to do it for about 20 mins as like ours pinkish!!) For last 10 mins of cooking time, spoon a layer of greek yoghurt over lamb.

Couscous - Mix couscous with chicken stock (I always use this rather than normal boiling water) as per instructions on packet. (normally I use 200g of couscous to 250ml of liquid)
Mix a tsp of harissa paste into couscous (more or less depending on how hot you like it) Mix in large handfuls of chopped parsley and mint into couscous. Mix in large handful of chopped apricots. (I also add a tin of chickpeas if I need to pad it out for more people!!!)

Roast couple (I actually do about 4 as they go to nothing!) of sliced courgettes, red, yellow and green pepper and a couple of chopped up ( I cut them into 8ths) onions (red or white) I just drizzle with olive oil and dried herbs and roast in oven for 40 mins or so.

Mix all the veg in with the couscous.

Top with sliced lamb steaks. Make dressing of greek yoghurt and harissa paste (again, to taste) and serve with the couscous and lamb. I also add a couple of lemon wedges to serve!!

Both are pretty quick - ok to do for guests, healthy and scrum. Not particuarly expensive iether.

The risotto is a total cheat but is absolutely divine from Delia. Go on to www.deliaonline.com and in recipe put Tiger Prawn Risotto. One thing I would say is that it needs LOADS more cooking than she says. Definitely leave it in the oven till it is stodgy and all teh rice is soft - about 20 mins longer than she recs.

HTH

katkinn
xx

[Biba]

Thanks Katkinn Oh is going to wonder if I have been swapped for a domestic godess next week at tea time :laff:

[Dancing Queen]

Wow Katkinn, this all looks so good! :yes: I thought we had a varied menu til I saw all that :shock: :doh:

[Violet]

Our menu is much the same as Joannas only less exotic :laff: OH is v.fussy so we are a bit limited.

I usually work out roughly what I'll cook for the week but I usually have a couple of night where I can be arsed and end up having soup/beans on toast and OH has something out of the freezer like (frozen:shock: ) fish and chips!

We have:
Lasagne
Spag bol
Shepherds pie
Lamb stew
Beef stew (somtimes with dumplings)
Bangers and mash with onion gravy (J/Oliver recipe) YUM!
Cheese and onion tart and h/m oven chips and beans/salad
Chicken enchildas
Spanish omlette
Pie and mash-usually Veggie Linda/Mc pie but I've made J/Oliver chicken and leek pie a few times and that's lovely.
Pasta in tom and marscarpone sauce
Macarroni (sp) cheese and crusty bread
Fish and chips (out the freezer:oops: )
Toad in the hole
Roast chicken/lamb

And Saturday night is Pizza night!

I'm trying to add new things all the time. I fancy trying a Chicken Curry recipe next.