Menu-planning Monday

Quickly borrowing John’s laptop to post up the Menu Planning Calendar (which seems the best way to do things atm, bearing in mind I’m mostly using my Kindle to work off).

I appear to be getting a little more organised, although there are still a few more entries needed towards the end of the week 🙂  Below is the plan so far (clicking on the entries will bring up more details where I’ve entered them).

Usually gluten-free here, but have been asked to eat gluten whilst an endoscopy and biopsy.

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Menu Planning Monday and gluten-woes

I’m borrowing John’s laptop to do a few updates, but I’m behind with planning as I’ve been getting used to the tablet and trying to work out a way to do menu-planning on there (whilst my laptop isn’t working).

In addition, I saw a gastroenterologist on Monday (as I was referred back due to my very low B12 and folate levels) and have been referred for an endoscopy (and biopsy).  For this to give a more true picture of what’s going on inside, I’ve been asked to eat gluten for the next 4-6 weeks (whilst I’m waiting for the appointment to come through). So temporarily gluten is back on the menu (as I will likely cut it out again once the endoscopy is done because I know it causes me discomfort).

So a couple of changes on the planning front and the solution I’ve come up with is to use Google Calender, for the time-being and, as such, I’ve made it a ‘public’ calendar and linked to it below.  Sometimes I may elaborate more or link to a recipe online within the entry (if you click on it it should bring up further details):

It’s still a work in progress, but hopefully I’ll get more into it as the week goes on and by next week should be up and running again.  Do bear in mind that I plan around a weekly box from Riverford Organic Farms and don’t know until the Friday before delivery on a Tuesday (here) what will be in the box (although I do usually add things to the basic box).

Menu Planning Monday #2

Almond and Honey Kefir Cheesecake (grain-free)

Here’s the plan for the coming week:

Monday

Breakfast: Almond & Honey Kefir Cheesecake leftover from Sunday dinner dessert
Lunch: Scrambled Egg & Mushroom
Dinner: Roast Chicken; Bean Salad; Green Salad

Tuesday

Breakfast: Bacon & Egg Scramble with Garlic Mushrooms
Lunch: Mixed Lamb & Veg Soup
Dinner: Cottage Pie & Veg
Dessert: Banana ‘Icecream’

Wednesday

Breakfast: Plum Clafoutis
Lunch: Courgette, Pea & Mint Soup with Parmesan
Dinner: Beetroot Burgers; Green Salad; Roast Swede

Thursday

Breakfast: Boiled Egg & Avocado
Lunch: Celeriac & Apple Soup
Dinner: Spiced Cauliflower with Chickpeas & Pinenuts; Halloumi Salad

Friday

Breakfast: Coconut Pancakes
Lunch: Veggie Stir-fry (with almonds)
Dinner: Middle Eastern Style Lamb & Lentils; Spring Greens; Rice

Saturday

Breakfast: Banana Pancakes
Lunch: Carrot & Coriander Soup
Dinner: Veggie Chilli with Roast Butternut Squash

Sunday

Breakfast: Butternut Squash Pancakes with Baked Beans
Lunch: Mushroom Burgers with Green Salad
Dinner: Coconut Chicken; Carrots & Coriander; Quinoa

***

I still have to think of at least one more dessert (for Sunday). I like to try for us to have a dessert twice a week (one of those days being a Sunday), but since going gluten-free and cutting out gluten-free flour mixes (as part of working towards being grain free), we haven’t done as much baking as we might otherwise do and quite a few of the usual desserts I might make are grain-based, so I’m having to get used to a different way of thinking.  Recommendations would be gratefully received.

I’m considering making the lovely chocolate torte that one of my friends made for when I visited her (vegan, grain and dairy-free – although I’d likely swap the maple syrup for honey, which would move it away from being vegan) which tasted absolutely amazing, but it is rather rich and possibly more a ‘special occasion’ dessert. I’m looking for something a little more ‘every day’ (like the banana ice cream, something that I will be trying for the first time as I have a bag full of over-ripe bananas to use!)

What are your menu plans for the week?

Menu Planning Monday #1

A week ago I posted up a menu plan for last week. I’ve included it below with the changes that happened over the week.

Monday

Breakfast: Butternut squash pancakes with baked beans
Lunch: Various leftovers
Dinner: Beefburgers, garlic mushrooms, salad and potato salad

Tuesday

Breakfast: Stewed plum & kefir
Lunch: Courgette, pea and parmesan soup
Dinner: Pot roast chicken; purple sprouting broccoli; roast swede

So the first two days went fine.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Avocado with Potato & Bacon Fritters Banana Pancakes as Nin and Ted requested it and Erk was staying with friends (he doesn’t like banana, one of the very few things he doesn’t like)
Lunch: Lettuce Soup We ate late and nobody wanted anything at lunch
Dinner: Chickpea, spinach and mushroom curry with carrots & coriander and spiced rice

Thursday

Breakfast: Apple or pear clafoutis
Lunch: Leftover chicken and coconut soup Lettuce Soup (as it was what was going to be made for lunch the day before
Dinner: Meatloaf (using mince and leftover home-made pate from the freezer), salad and roasted swede Lamb stew quite a bit of lamb came of the bone (from a lamb Sunday dinner) which I used to make some stew, so it made sense to make a stew.

Friday

Breakfast: Banana pancakes Breakfast Scramble (leftover mash from the stew with some streaky bacon and mushrooms all scrambled about in a pan with some eggs)
Lunch: Butternut Squash soup (from the freezer) Omelette
Dinner: Asian-style Chicken Salad

Saturday

Breakfast: Spiced mince sausage and garlic mushrooms Banana Pancakes (again, Erk @ friends)
Lunch: Root Veg soup (from the freezer) Nin, Ted and Erk were out.
Dinner: Beetroot curry Beefburgers, garlic mushrooms, salad and potato wedges Yes! Twice in a week because everyone really wanted them!

Sunday

Breakfast: Butternut squash pancakes with baked beans Mushroom Frittata because someone forgot to put beans on to soak and only realised on Saturday evening when it was rather too late!
Lunch: Celeriac and Apple Soup Ate a late breakfast so skipped lunch
Dinner: Pot-roast beef; honey & thyme carrots; roasted swede & celeriac; peas.

Dessert: Almond and honey kefir cheesecake.

So, looking back, Saturday was a bit of a write-off menu-planning-wise and Sunday didn’t quite go to plan either.  I think I was rather thrown off by the Saturday, to be honest, although that still doesn’t explain why I didn’t soak any beans.  This week was always going to be a little different as Erk is visiting, so an extra person to account/cook for.

If you have any questions about how anything was made, do ask 🙂

I’ll post the menu plan for this week in the next post.

Menu Planning Monday

I’ve been giving the subject of food a lot of thought in recently.  Once again I’ve had blood tests that show that I’m VitB12 and folate deficient – this isn’t the first time, indeed it’s been a bit of  theme with me and I need to have regular injections (well, once I’ve changed my GP to the local surgery as I have to go every other day and the 40 minute bus-ride to my current GP doesn’t appeal!)  I haven’t been vegan for about 9 years and eat quite a bit of meat, so it is rather a mystery to me as to why I am B12 deficient (and, for the record, I eat a lot of leafy green vegetables, amongst other folate-rich foods) so what is going on?

I’ve been referred back to gastroenterology and this time I want to go back fore-armed with some questions to ask.  For quite some time (well, years, to be honest) I have been looking into the possibility that perhaps something I’m eating is affecting my ability to absorb these vitamins and then not doing anything about it (for various reasons, not least because it looks bloody hard work!)

I have been gluten and dairy free in the past and definitely felt better, but struggled with lack of support in the home and the cooking of multiple meals (and having to prepare my own food separately) was hard and then with various stresses, things slipped (especially whilst I was working outside of the home – the rather manic shifts I worked weren’t conducive to home-cooking!)  A combination of this and the various many stresses that have happened over the past few years all added up and I’ve had all sorts of health issues, including being diagnosed with IBS.

During the past couple of years (after being diagnosed with IBS and, of course, Joint Hypermobility Syndrome,) I’ve steadily clawed back cooking properly and have been doing so for a while, but still have some difficulties and things just ‘aren’t quite right’ – add to this the recent blood tests and deficiencies and I’ve been having another serious look at what I eat, which, whilst certainly not the typical so-called SAD “Standard American Diet) diet, is clearly not entirely right for me.  As a result I’ve recently cut out gluten again and am in the process of cutting out all grains and looking towards GAPS or SCD.

I’ve been menu planning again since Anna was born (save for a couple of months in the autumn – that served to remind me how useful menu planning is) and as I transition what we eat here, I think it will become a more valuable tool.

Adrie’s recent Get Real – Making Dinner post (and those of the other ladies involved) and a recent discussion on one of the groups I’m a member of on Facebook, were timely for me and set me thinking about how so many people are interested in menu planning and how discussion, support and ‘just seeing what other people are doing’ can be so helpful! Well, to me anyway…

So I’ve been wondering whether a link-up might be a good idea and thought I’d do my own Menu Plan Monday (linky at the bottom of the post).

To kick-off, here is this week’s menu-plan here (which is based around a weekly veg box from Riverford Organics):

Monday

Breakfast: Butternut squash pancakes with baked beans

Lunch: Various leftovers

Dinner: Beefburgers, garlic mushrooms, salad and potato salad

Tuesday 

Breakfast: Stewed plum & kefir

Lunch: Courgette, pea and parmesan soup

Dinner: Pot roast chicken; purple sprouting broccoli; roast swede

Wednesday

Breakfast: Avocado with Potato & Bacon Fritters

Lunch: Lettuce Soup

Dinner: Chickpea, spinach and mushroom curry with carrots & coriander

Thursday

Breakfast: Apple or pear clafoutis

Lunch: Leftover chicken and coconut soup

Dinner: Meatloaf (using mince and leftover home-made pate from the freezer), salad and roasted swede

Friday

Breakfast: Banana pancakes

Lunch: Butternut Squash soup (from the freezer)

Dinner: Asian-style Chicken Salad

Saturday

Breakfast: Spiced mince sausage and garlic mushrooms

Lunch: Root Veg soup (from the freezer)

Dinner: Beetroot curry

Sunday

Breakfast: Butternut squash pancakes with baked beans

Lunch: Celeriac and Apple Soup

Dinner: Pot-roast beef; various veg and roasted swede

* * *

So, that’s the plan for here, for the week.  What’s yours? Either link up using the widget below or leave a comment (or both!)