Meal planning Monday 20th January 2014

Happy Blue Monday! Today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year, so what we all need is some good warming comfort food!

First of all, a quick look back at last week. I'd planned one Chinese mean and one Indonesian one, but I got so carried away at the Chinese Cash & Carry that we ended up having three Oriental meals instead of two, meaning the meals for the rest of the week, although the same dishes, were eaten in a different order to fit in with time and ingredients available on particular days, and the final meal of the week, the chilli, was held over to this week. Mark's turn to cook on Saturday saw him producing a magnificent guinea fowl dish - the details are on his blog.

Last week was a great week for winning things (in case you don't know me wearing my other hat, I'm a comper, and post about competitions and how to win them on my other blog, www.compersgrapevine.co.uk ), and among my wins were a hamper of frozen vegetarian dishes and FOUR recipe books:

The Clandestine Cake Club
Allegra McEvedy's Big Table, Busy Kitchen
Cape Wine Braai Maters
Yeo Valley's The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook

I was very surprised by the Yeo Valley book. I'd expected it to major in dairy products but it is packed with hearty-but-healthy dishes of all kinds, with most of them incorporating lots of veg - just the kind of food we like to eat every day, so I've incorporated a couple of ideas from it into this week's plan. I've also been rummaging through the freezer to see what needs using up, so quite a lot of this week's meals use odds and ends I've discovered in there.

Monday held over from last week, Chilli Con Carne  with brown rice and green beans
Tuesday pasta  with meat balls and tomato sauce - the meat balls and sauce are home made and in the freezer, and I've just noticed a home made focaccia in there too which we can have with it, along with some green salad.
Wednesday Cheddar farls with fried eggs and crispy bacon (from the Yeo Valley book)
Thursday curried eggs with dahl and naan bread (dahl and naan from the freezer)
Friday Green tabbouleh (from the Yeo Valley book) and broad bean falafel (from the hamper of frozen foods)

Saturday and Sunday I'm leaving clear for the time being. On Saturday we're going to a potato festival (!) and planning to come home via a farm shop, and on Sunday we're planning to visit a different Farmers Market, as the Fleet one has closed down. I'm rather hoping we can get some decent sausages, I'm in a bangers-and-mash mood.

As well as the dishes planned above, I have a Mystery Dish to use, maybe as a weekend lunch. It is in the freezer and looks like some kind of vegetable gratin. It's not been in there very long and I can clearly remember making something, finding it filled two dishes rather than the one I'd expected, and thinking, "I'll pop the other in the freezer. No need to label it, I'm sure to remember what it is." The snag is, I can't remember what it is at all!

I'm joining in with Meal Planning Monday  - why don't you? Read all about it on At Home With Mrs M where every Monday you will find a Linky where you can add your own meal plan posts or read lots of others for inspiration.