Menu week 2009-09

Chickpea & vegetable korma (NEW!),
with basmati rice

Creamy pasta bake (NEW!)

Beansprouts and vegetables enchilladas

Cheesy vegetable chowder

First snowdrop

Last year the daffodils and crocuses came en masse right at the beginning of February, and this year, with all the cold and snow we have had, even the snowdrops haven't come out properly. I captured the first one in our garden on Saturday morning:

Menu week 2009-08

I don't know what exactly but something went wrong and only half of last week's planned menu was actually cooked. Something to do with both of us being out and coming back late and then we had no time to cook a full meal. Usually it ends up with grilling some Cauldron organic veggie sausages, making some mashed potatoes, and boiling some peas: not very healthy :-(

So, here is our attempt for this week. We will try to stick to it this time! Although I will probably have to fly to Belfast for a couple of days, not sure yet if and when it will happen though...

Stuffed mushrooms,
served with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Carrot and parsnip bake

Tofu & noodle stir-fry

Lentil paté (NEW!)

Menu week 2009-07

Stuffed mushrooms,
served with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Carrot and parsnip bake

Spinach and lentil curry, with basmati rice
based on creamy spinach curry

Cauliflower and broccoli soup

Light lunch

This light lunch was simply delicious. This is the great thing about working from home: even with only 30 minutes break for lunch, you have time to make yourself something tasty, even if there aren't any leftovers from the previous night's dinner.


These toasted ciabatta with halloumi, sundried tomatoes and a baby spinach and rocket salad proved to be a real treat!

Serves 1:

1 small ciabatta bred, sliced in half
50g low-fat halloumi (Cypriote cheese), sliced
4 sundried tomatoes preserved in olive oil, sliced
2 handfuls of baby spinach and rocket salad, washed and dried (or it will taste watery)
1/2 portion of mustard salad dressing (see below)
Freshly cracked black pepper to sprinkle

1. Arrange the halloumi onto the ciabatta halves and place under the grill until it starts getting golden brown.

2. Place onto a plate with the dressed salad and sprinkle with the sliced sundried tomatoes and black pepper.


For 1 portion of mustard salad dressing (serves 2):
1 TBSP dijon mustard
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil (ideally mechanically cold pressed)
1 TBSP Xeres vinegar

Blend all ingredients well with a mini-whisk into a bowl and mix with the spinach and rocket.

Healthy snack

I am most of the time quite good at not eating 'bad' snacks. I guess it's kind of easy since there aren't any biscuits or sweets in the house. The closest thing to sweet treats that we have in a cookie jar are cereal bars.

But everyone needs a snack every now and then, and with the little one growing inside me, it is quite important to eat when I feel hungry. So as an alternative to the yoghurt and fruit salad, here is the 'classic' hummus and crudités snack:

- 2 or 3 TBSP of ready-made low-fat hummus (well, I'm working full time after all, you can't make everything yourself!)
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut into sticks
- 1/3 cucumber, cut into sticks
- 2 celery branches, cut into sticks

Vegetable enchilladas with red kidney beans

These make a very quick and healthy lunch, quite filling too, and very little washing up: what else can you ask?

Serves 4:

4 wholemeal flour tortillas
1 can red kidney beans, rinced and drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
6 sticks of celery, sliced
1 courgette, cut into small chunks
1 green pepper, chopped
2 TBSP millet seeds
2 tsp hot chili powder
1 TBSP parsley
black pepper

topping:
6 slices of mozzarella
1 TBSP pine kernels or sunflower seeds

1. Mix all but tortillas and topping ingredients into a large bowl.

2. Place a layer of the mixed vegetables at the bottom of an oven-proof dish.

3. Fill each tortilla with the vegetable mixture and place in the dish.

4. Cover with mozzarella and pine kernels.


5. Cook for 25 minutes in a 180C preheated oven. Serve immediately.

Menu week 2009-06

No time to published this past week's menu as we had my friend K coming over from Germany, so we had little time for planning for food.

This is the plan for this coming week:

Vegetable enchilladas with red kidney beans (NEW!)

Lentil and chick pea patties,
with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Spicy vegetable soup

Vegetarian paella

Sprouting seeds with bulghur and quinoa

Vegetable lasagne

Spring is approaching...slowly

The bulbs we planted back in October are growing very well, and I am looking forward to seeing some flower buds. We did not do much in the border at the front of the house last year, but hopefully we should have various types of flowers blooming from the end of February till the middle of summer.


So, to complement the yellow rosebush, lupin, grassbush and heathers that we planted last year, we have planted:

- snowdrops
- crocuses
- tulips
- irises
- anemones
- mixed aliums (nigrum, purple sensation, sphaerocephalon, chrisophii, bulgaricum)



And this is how it looked two days later:


And on Thursday 5th Feb:
Ironically, the only bulbs which haven't sprung yet are the snowdrops!