A different kind of gratitude list and meal planning

 

So I've been reading all over the internet about these gratitude lists.

I'm a very grateful person but I've never been able to keep a gratitude journal. Isn't that strange? The best I did was last year when I gave my day a rating out of 10 for a whole month to keep a coaching client company :)

Today I'm grateful for ... 

1. a post on Facebook that still makes me laugh every time I think of it. A certain blog friend wrote, "I'm grateful for a husband who is very good with his hands" and of course, I couldn't help but think dirty thoughts :) LOL
2. my new work laptop that finally arrived today at 4 pm after working with a defective PC for 3 months. I was a MACHINE until 5 - I'm sooooo happy I can actually leave my desk and not worry about a blue screen when I return
3. 6 meals in my freezer - yes I cooked on the weekend and tonight
4. light at the end of the iphone tunnel
5. a really neat and tidy study. About to go do two shelves inside the cupboard while I'm in the mood.
   
   But let's talk some more about meals and meal planning.
   
   One of my friends has her menu planned out for the whole week - they eat the same thing every day.
   
   I love the idea of knowing what's coming up but I get bored with food far too quickly so I like lots of variety.
   
   As you know, I've been menu planning nearly 7 years so I write out the meals Mon - Fri on a pad on my fridge and then I move things around within the week if I feel like it. Like tonight, I didn't cook Mon's meal because I wasn't in the mood for pasta when I got home.
   
   I do make sure we don't have the same carbs two nights in a row - so it'll be rice, pasta, potatoes, wraps, etc.
   
   What I've been toying with though is to have a chicken night, meat-free night, pasta night, fish night, etc.
   
   But tell me about your system.
   
   Do you plan your meals?
   What's your system?

Sunday senses, a recipe and a menu plan

Well, well, I'm doing a meme just for the fun of it. And to make Rebecca happy :)

Sight
A lovely, tidy room (study) marred by D's messy desk (I am banned from "helping him" although I want to throw all his paper in the bin.

Hearing
the hum of this old computer, me tapping away on the keyboard and .... silence :) If I strain my ears I can hear the TV in the lounge

Touch
Warm air on my legs and the cool plate on my legs where I'm balancing my supper.

Taste
Chicken salad - recipe below

Smell
Mayonnaise! And the smell of summer through the open windows.

This is my healthy chicken salad recipe

20 g onion, 40 g mushrooms, 40 g broccoli = 1 veg on Weigh Less
100 g deboned, skinless chicken, chopped into cubes = 1 medium protein
140g cooked pasta = 2 complex carbohydrates
1/2 medium Granny Smith apple = 0.5 fruit
50g cooked kidney beans = 0.5 low fat protein
1 tablespoon mayonnaise = 1 fat

I stir fry the veg and chicken in 2 drops of oil and water, transfer to a bowl, add the rest of the stuff, mix it all up and scoop onto a plate. Add ground chilli flakes if you like a bit of kick, salt and pepper to taste - I hardly have any salt but pepper is my friend.

Then I refrigerate for about 30 minutes - I like it nice and cold - and then enjoy :)

You can use any veggies you like - I've used carrots, cucumber, etc. It is delicious and I don't notice that I'm hardly having any pasta...

While we're talking about food, here is my menu for the week:

Monday
Chicken and broccoli, with rice

Tuesday
Baked potatoes with bolognaise sauce (this should end all my frozen portions)

Wednesday
M - tuna and rice bake, salad
D - Hawaiian chicken

Thursday
Chicken pasta salad (this time I'll use lentils)

Friday
Burgers and salad (I know the more observant of you will have noticed I have this on my menu every Friday. I still have not actually made this because we end up finishing foods in the fridge, or not wanting this, etc.)

That chicken pasta salad is a favourite around here in summer (except the babies don't eat mayonnaise - I also went off mayonnaise while I was pregnant...) and I made some tonight because we've had it a grand total of 3 times this summer. Totally unacceptable for something that good.

What are some of your favourite meals to cook? :)

P.S. Coming up this week - I need to blog about the new milk, a very successful lunch today, the s*x book and how I'm prettying up my life :) I'm going to blog the organising projects on the other blog - leave me your email if you want that blog info.

Do you also make a list of things to blog about?

P.P.S I'm 36 and a half today. Only 6 months left to finish my 36 things list.

Etsy, blog browsings and my menu for the week

Last night I was bad again and busy reading blogs til 11:40.

I blame it on etsy.

That's another of my naughty things that I do.... I browse etsy and sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) buy things.

At the moment I have 4 orders on their way to me - my courage necklace, a gorgeous art print, some bags (to keep things organised in your bigger handbag) and some other necklaces - I haven't decided if I will keep those or give as gifts yet.

Anyway, so the lady I ordered the art print from wrote me a beautiful email when she was ready to ship my order. I, of course, LOVE little notes and so I was DELIGHTED.

I saved her links to browse when I had more time.

Which was yesterday.

So I happily spent a few hours getting to know her and her daughters and before I knew it, 11:40.

In my browsings (I read tons of decorating blogs to delight my senses without having to spend the $) I found the most gorgeous little French cottage - I have bookmarked the link and am busy "selling" D on the idea to go spend a week there. After all, we have our newly renewed passports and the world's our oyster. Babysitting? Well, I will have to factor in the cost of flying my mother up to help V.
Go look - is that not delightful?

And now, my menu for the week.

Monday
Stirfried beef, veggies with leftover macaroni (made a delicious healthy version of macaroni cheese with cottage cheese and carrots - kids and D all loved it)

Tuesday
Baked potato, bolognaise sauce and salad

Wednesday
Potato lentil curry, rice and broccoli

Thursday
Fertility babies group
(I'm told we are having) chicken lasagne
D - * apricot chicken and rice/ peas

Friday
Burgers and salad

* Apricot chicken is the easiest dish on the planet :)

Ingredients
800g - 1 kg chicken pieces - skinless but with bones (I buy thighs)
1 packet brown onion soup
1 can apricots (our standard cans are 410 g) - I buy WeighLess apricots, any will do

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Rinse chicken and place in an oven dish.
I spray any casserole dishes with Spray and Cook beforehand to make washing up easier (remember I don't have a dishwasher - yes, indeed, the last person on the planet).
Sprinkle the brown onion soup liberally all over the chicken pieces. If you want to get all fancy you can do both sides but I don't find it necessary.
Pour the apricots with juice all over the chicken.
(it looks like a mess but be patient...)

Bake for about 30 - 45 mins (I think the official time is 40 minutes - my oven is very hot) - it will bubble and smell delicious.

Serve with rice and a green veggie (the green is important so it looks pretty with the orange-yellow apricots :)). I like broccoli, D likes peas. To each his own.

They will think you're a rock star and meanwhile, it's so easy. I told my sister about this recipe and now she and her hubby also think I'm a rock star :)

That makes two meals for me and D alone, otherwise 1 meal for all 4 of us plus someone gets leftovers for lunch.

Tell me how you like it if you make it.

After I hit publish, I will painstakingly plot out the rest of my meals on my spreadsheet to make sure I'm eating enough proteins and veggies every day (my downfall :))

How was your weekend? Louisa and Hayley, are you all moved in?

A little of this and a little of that

There was a whole discussion on a blog a good few weeks ago about how sweets (candy) are called different things in different countries.

Well, these are what we call fizzers and smarties :)

If some of you are thinking, "who cares?!" it's because I'm the type of person who LOVES seeing everyday things that happen in different countries (I always make a trip to a local supermarket when we travel to look at all the toiletries, breads, etc.).

I am easily amused.

In the things that make me stupid excited post, I mentioned my square purple bowls. I now present my new favourites :)

They go so beautifully with these plum plates that I've had for about 5 - 6 years. Mmmmm, see all the pepper? Another one of life's little pleasures.

While we're talking food, here's my menu for the week:

Mon
Pasta with chicken and broccoli

Tues
Chicken divan, rice and carrots

Wed
Tomato sausages with sweet potato bake, peas/ carrots
I have issues following recipes (I can't no matter how hard I try) so while this started out with good intentions from my Reluctant Entertainer book, it quickly morphed to whatever I felt like throwing in. (click to see bigger)

Thurs
Apricot chicken, rice and broccoli (I will blog the recipe for the apricot chicken maybe next week - I planned to do it now but the whole Picasa collage above took sweet forever and I have a date with my 3rd book of the month at 10 pm)

Friday
Burgers and salad

And last, but not least...

Here are the pics I was running around having printed yesterday. I did them tonight while D was bathing Connor. Kendra and I were having girl time playing with photos. I have a little "brag book" (I don't brag; it really is called that!) which she loves, so she pages through saying, "Daddy, Connor, Mommy/ Mummy, Kendra", and on and on. VERY cute!

here is the work-in-process pic (that little book with the flowers is the brag book)

this one is in the corridor outside the study - ignore bad pics. I only took them for proof!

this frame was my Christmas present at the infertility support group's end-of-year function. those are some of the beach pics.

and these are the last two. I decided the one of me is worthy to be printed so it can inspire me in person, not just for other people on my website :)

We've had some flood warnings but yesterday was beautiful weather (warm but not boiling hot) and today it has been raining pretty much the entire day.

Connor loves messing in the rain - I normally don't mind but not when we're going to church and I don't have spare clothes with me. Poor kid was whisked in and out of the car within seconds.

All the rain meant .... SOUP. I made a gigantic pot of very good soup. We all had some for lunch with garlic bread (us) and toast (them) and I took a bite of the toast because the melting butter smelt so good and I went, "MMMMM", like I normally do when I taste heaven.

Connor laughed like a crazy boy - apparently he likes his mother's sounds because when we were out shopping on Friday, I walked past a smoker and said, "ugh" at the smell and again, more crazy boy laughter.

So how has your weekend been?

Weekly menu and a recipe - potato lentil curry

So I've decided to post my weekly menu.

It's all part of planning our meals as I'm going to start weighing my food again to work on my portion control. It's not about eating the wrong things with me; it's how much I love the carbs.

Oy!

I only do Mon - Fri since on weekends we finish up any bits and pieces and generally go light.

Since I often get this question, let me answer it here too.

Doing a menu plan does not hamper my spontaneity - I like being prepared and I switch the meals around (within the week) about 80% of the time because sometimes I've planned a salad-y meal and it's freezing, etc. And I'm not one of those people who can enjoy a salad on a cold night.

Monday
Chicken a la King, rice and carrots

Tuesday
Pasta with beef, tomato and spinach sauce; salad

Wednesday
Potato lentil curry, pumpkin and rice (my meat-free meal of the week)

Thursday
Spaghetti bolognaise and salad

Friday
Burgers and salad

And if you're interested, tomorrow for lunch I will have 1.5 slices/60g wholewheat bread, 100 g chunky low-fat cottage cheese with cucumber slices on top and, of course, salt and lots of pepper.


Right, onto the recipe.

Potato lentil curry
(no pics because it's not the prettiest meal in the world)

I found this recipe on a blog somewhere but alas, I don't have the link. I was lazy so I wrote it down instead of printing... I do remember the woman said her husband normally didn't like lentils and even he liked this. So if you know who that is (I googled and checked the first page and then again, got lazy), let me know and I'll add the link.

Found it! This is the link I saw

1 cup lentils
1 can coconut milk
1 Tsp curry powder (after experimenting I'd say the medium one works the best)
water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and pepper to taste

• Throw lentils into pot.
• Add 3.5 cups of liquid (coconut milk and water) - I like to be precise so for me that's 875 ml which means my 400 ml can coconut milk. I then use the same can and fill it with water and then another little bit.
• Add curry powder, cover and cook for about 20 minutes (a nice rolling bubble).
• Stay in the kitchen... the smell is DIVINE! Mmmmm.
• Stir, then add the potatoes, salt and pepper (for me it's about a level teaspoon salt - I don't like too salty), stir and cook uncovered for another 20 minutes.
• Stir frequently otherwise your potatoes might stick.
• At this point I taste, either add some more pepper or maybe cook another 10 minutes or so.

That's it.

Easy and very, very tasty.

According to the recipe, you should be able to eat it just like that with a dollop of plain yoghurt on top (YUM!) but I serve it over rice (as mine had quite a bit of liquid) with some veggies on the side.

(Like the blogger's husband, D is also not a huge fan of lentils but he loves this meal. Connor also eats it but Kendra hates it :)).

And just like that, the weekend's gone.

What are you eating this week? Do you eat lentils?