Meal planning

Oh the joys of shopping and cooking (read catering) for the large family and all that entails (mostly madness and chaos but also a little anal retentive organisation). We have come again to "Shopping Day" my busiest day of the week yet also my most cathartic. See I am an organiser, a list maker, a planner and so with "Shopping Day" comes the sheer unadulterated bliss of meal planning and shopping list construction. Being the organisational fury that I am (read micro-manager that must know exactly what is for dinner upon waking every morning) I do not simply plan for one week, I plan for ten days. Creating my "Meal Plan" is not as simple as it sounds, no basic list of ten possible meal ideas here...it is a carefully planned and orchestrated balance between nutrition, tastiness and the ability to be cooked with either help from a child or entirely by a child. Here enters the "Chore Roster" and the near ecstasy that envelopes me when I combine the "Meal Plan" with the "Chore Roster" to create the perfect balance of 'yumability' (a combination of tastiness and child ability...of course).

I thought that today I would share my near orgasmic organisation with you all so that my joy will spread and hopefully at least one person will put their hand up and admit to being (insane) a micro-managing Mum!

• Tues
 - Chicken Soup - Bella

• Wed
 - Pasta & Pesto - Tahlia

• Thurs
 - Fish & Citrus Salad - Nick

• Fri
 - Nachos - Sam

• Sat
 - Thai Beef Salad - Tahlia

• Sun
 - Dim Sum - Sam

• Mon
 - Chicken Salad - Nick

• Tues
 - Stir fry & Rice - Bella

• Wed
 -  Cous Cous Salad - Tahlia

• Thurs
 - Spaghetti Bolognaise - Nick

Now I get to do my shopping list! *cackles maniacally*

Vegie Rolls

Like sausage rolls only with vegies instead...of course!

Ingredients:
4 sheets frozen puff pastry*
Mixed frozen veg (peas, corn, beans etc)
2 large carrots, diced
1 cup cheese, grated
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste

*Thaw frozen pastry on wire cooling racks with plastic still on bottom.

Cook frozen veg and carrots in a saucepan, drain and in a medium bowl mix with cheese, egg, salt and pepper. ~*Lay one sheet of pastry onto a large cutting board and cut in half length ways. Spoon mix in "sausage" shape along one edge of cut pastry. Roll pastry until resembles a sausage roll. Close ends by pressing with a fork and score top of roll. ~* Repeat until all mix/pastry used. Bake on a large cookie tray at 180c until golden brown.

My Rice Slice

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (any variety will work - I have used brown rice, basmiati etc)

2 rashers bacon finely diced

2 spring onions finely diced

1 large carrot frinely grated

1 cup cheese grated

1 zucchini finely grated

1 red capsicum finely diced

3 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients well and press into sprayed/greased slice dish (I use a shallow baking dish) and bake at 180c for approx. an hour. Allow to cool and cut into portions. Keep best frozen - or eat straight away! :-)

Catching up

Well it seems that life in general has been taking over far too much, leaving me no time for blogging (where is the justice), so this is me making an effort to catch up and actually update this poor neglected blog.

I guess the main reason why I find no time for myself let alone trivial stress outlets like this blog would be the delightful fruits of my loin that are currently fighting up a storm as I type. You wonder why I am not abandoning my 2 seconds of time out to stop them? Well before you call DOCS, let me tell you that this is the eleventy billionth time this particular fight has occurred over the last week* of school holidays. Hence my lack of kickassedness mediation. That and the fact that I simply can't be fecked any more. Bring on the return of school and some sort of semblance of normality I say.

I am sure my darling husband is also pining for a return to the norm with work and the gym to take up most of his time out of the house and of course coming home to a cooked meal and a wife and children who bless him with love and adoration upon his arrival. Being a cleaner at the school he also gets to "enjoy" school holidays and all the blessed fun that comes with having all five children home 24/7 with no outlet from each other (or the dreaded parental units) or outlet for their excessive holiday excitement enhanced energy. Needless to say being around children does go hand in hand with working at a school but he does have the joy of simply walking away and being "busy" at moments when he would be needed to step in if he was at home.

Over the holidays we have done an incredible amount of baking which usually mean lots of creative thinking from me...when I am sick of going to the shops fifty times in one day (blasted memory or lack thereof, one day I will use a shopping list) I become rather adept at making do with the ingredients readily available in my pantry and therefore seem to come up with some great recipes (which I do try very hard to remember, one day I will write a recipe down as I create).

I have posted a few of these recipes to my facebook page but over the next few days (probably more like weeks) I will be attempting to get them all on here. Pics will have to come as recipes are cooked later as food simply does not last in the house! The first recipe to be put will be my Rice Slice and will even have pics (although they will be pics of it sliced, wrapped and frozen) as it was cooked today and is yet to be decimated.

Alright I guess my down time is coming to a close so I shall bid you adieu for now and return anon.

Bernadette.




*Why not the whole two weeks of holidays?...GASTRO that's why! Miss A brought the joyfulness that is tummy bug home from Prep on the last night of term, two days of "moan, groan, pooooooooop, moan, groan, poooooooooop" repeate as necessary followed. Of course two days was how long each of us suffered for, that's right it went through the entire family.