Wow! Look at me go! I'm bloggin' up a storm my friends. Anyway enough loving myself sick..
Here is my dinner menu plan for this week. Hopefully you enjoy it and is inspires you to bring out the cook within and try some new dishes for your family, housemates, partners and/or friends! My Monday dish is always a make ahead meal that can be made over the weekend and refrigerated until Monday night but feel free to swap the order around to suit your schedule. The Monday night dish is also freezer friendly so you can still whip it up Saturday or Sunday and then freeze in an airtight container until your busiest or laziest night of the week to make life super easy.
My recipes should always be used as inspiration and a starting point so please feel free to use your passion and creativity to play around. For example if you like garlic - add more, if you don't swap it for your favourite herb or another spice. If you hate pumpkin use your favourite veggies. Never be afraid to put your own spin on something - it's how you make your food your own and fill it with lurve!!
Monday:
Roast pumpkin, spinach & ricotta lasagne (make ahead and freezer friendly) (pic above)
serves 4 - makes one long oblong size lasagne dish - double recipe to make a large rectangular size dish
Ingredients:
500g pumpkin cut into chunks (about 4cm)
375g tub ricotta or 375g fresh ricotta from the deli
1 box frozen spinach - thawed with liquid squeezed or strained out
3 cloves garlic
1 jar tomato passata or pasta sauce
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 pkt fresh lasagne sheets (wrap the leftovers in cling film and refrigerate or freeze for later)
2 cups grated mozzarella or tasty cheese (reserve at least 1/2 cup of this for the top)
Method:
*preheat the oven to 180 degrees
*place the pumpkin and unpeeled whole garlic cloves tossed with 1 tbsp olive oil on a baking tray - season with salt & pepper and place in oven for about 25 mins or until softened
*when cooled slightly squeeze the garlic from the cloves into the pumkin and then mash together roughly with a fork and set aside
*mix the ricotta and spinach with the parmesan cheese and a pinch of salt & pepper in a bowl
*spread a splash of tomato passata on the bottom of the lasagne dish to cover well
*cut a lasagne sheet to size and place on top (it doesn't matter if it's a bit smaller as it will expand when it cooks)
*cover with passata, then layer with some pumpkin, spinach & ricotta mix and mozzarella
*repeat approximately 4 times or until your dish is full finishing with the extra grated cheese
*bake in the oven for about 30 mins or until the top is golden and bubbling
*allow to cool and then refrigerate or cut up and freeze
tip - great served with a side salad and/or some nice crusty bread
Tuesday:
Steak Sangers with sweet potato wedges
(serves 4)
Ingredients:
4 pieces of good steak (porterhouse, rump or whatever you like)
4 turkish rolls
2 medium sweet potatoes
salad toppings of your choice
condiments of your choice (mayo, tomato sauce, bbq sauce, mustard etc)
Method:
*preheat the oven to 180 degrees
*peel the sweet potato and cut in half lenghtways and then into wedges
*place on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper and place in oven for about 25 mins or until golden and tender
*while wedges are baking heat a pan on med high heat and cook steaks to your liking - only turn the steaks once so leave them to cook and caramelise on side one before turning and sprinkle them with salt & pepper before cooking
*when cooked remove steaks and place on a plate loosely covered with foil to keep warm
*cut the rolls in half and toast or grill lightly
*serve the rolls open with the steak on one size and the wedges on the side
*place the salad toppings and condiments on the table for people to add to their sangers
Wednesday:
Italian Sausage Casserole (make ahead and freezer friendly)
serves 4
Ingredients
8 Italian style sausages
1 can diced tomatoes (Italian brands are usually the most flavoursome!)
6 button mushies
1 capsicum (finely sliced in long strips)
1 onion (finely diced)
2 tbspn pitted kalamata olives (optional)
1/2 glass white wine or chicken stock
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
Method:
*cook the sausages in a preheated pan on medium heat until golden and just cooked through -they will feel firm when they are cooked) (don't prick them as it lets all the juices and flavours escape) - remove to a plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm
*add the onion & capsicum to the same pan and cook until softened
*add the wine/stock and the tomatoes and a good pinch of salt & pepper
*slice the sausages on an angle into large-ish pieces - about 6 cm long and return to the pan, immersing them in the sauce
*bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and allow to simmer until the sauce thickens
*toss in the olive and serve with some freshly grated parmesan
tip: great with mashed potato or rice (remember the 90 second rices make life super easy!)
Thursday:
Salmon Fillets with noodles, vegies & honey/soy sauce
serves 4
Ingredients:
4 fillets of salmon (skin on and pin bones taken out) or any other other fish you prefer
1 pkt hokkien noodles
1 tblsp honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 large handful of snow peas (tops & tails cut off)
1 large carrot finely sliced (I like it in long thin stips aka julienne)
6 button mushies (sliced)
1 handful beanshoots
Method:
*preheat ovent to 160 degrees
*heat a frypan on med high heat until hot and then place the salmon in skin side down - cook until skin crisps up and then turn - when both sides are sealed and you can see on the sides that it is cooking take it out of the pan and place on an oven tray and place in the oven for about 15 mins or til cooked to your liking - keep the frypan for later - don't wash it out!
*meanwhile boil the kettle, place the noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water - jiggle them around with a fork as they start to soften to separate
*heat your frypan again over med high heat and add a tsp of oil and stirfry your vegies til starting to soften but still crisped - turn down to low and add the honey and soy sauce and then add the noodles and toss through. If you think you need more sauce then add some more honey and soy - enough to coat your noodles and have some sauce still in the bottom.
*place the veg/noodles on a plate and top with the fish - spooning the sauce left in the pan over the top and serve
tip: it's great topped with some seasame seeds if you have any hanging around
Friday:
Proscuitto wrapped Chicken Breast w/ easy peasy tomato, spinach, mushie & fetta tarts (you could also use veal snitzel, lamb or pork fillets or chops instead of the chicken)
serves 4
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (skinless)
4 thin slices of prosciutto
1 sheet of puff pastry (thawed)
2 tomatoes sliced thickly
1 handful of baby spinach leaves
3 button mushies sliced
60g fetta
1 egg lightly beaten
Method:
*preheat the oven to 200 degrees
*wrap each of the chicken breasts in a slice of proscuitto
*heat a pan over medium high heat until hot - add a splash of olive oil and add chicken and cook on each side until sealed all over - turn down the heat to medium and cook until cooked through (it will be firm when you push on it when cooked)
*cut your pastry sheet into 4 squares
*in the middle of each square, leaving about 2 cm all the way around, place some spinach leaves, followed by sliced mushies, sliced tomato and sprinkle with fetta - sprinkle again with some pepper
*brush the outside edge of the pastry with the beaten egg using a pastry brush or your finger
*place on a baking tray line with baking paper or sprayed with cooking spray and cook until the pastry is puffed and golden (about 10 mins)
*serve the tarts with the chicken
tip: you can turn this into a dinner party meal by adding a nice green salad!
tip 2: to make a sauce after you remove the chicken turn up the heat on your pan and add add 1/2 cup white wine or stock, let it bubble up reduce a bit and then add a splash of cream - turn off and serve over the chicken
I really hope you enoy these recipes and use some of them during the week. Would love to hear your comments about how it goes.
Hopefully being organised leaves you with more time to enjoy whatever it is you like to do on tke weekend and if you can manage to whip up one or two of the meals then you're way ahead and the coming week will feel like an absolute breeze.
Chin chin xxx
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