My Menu Plan 20th Oct - 19th Nov 2014

The time has come to write my menu plan again.  I'm glad I do a monthly one as I can write it up in half an hour then I don't need to think about it for another month.  With the weather getting slightly warmer I'm adding a few salads to my menu plan as a gradual transition into Summer.   Some people love salads as soon as the sun shines.  My family doesn'r mind them,  just not too often

Here's my menu plan -

Mon 20th Oct - Salad ,  fish portions and baked potatoes.
Tues 21st - Honey mustard chicken and rice.
Wed 22nd - Meat pie and greens
Thurs 23rd - Salmon patties,  rice and zuc slice
Fri 24th - Freezer meals.
Sat 25th - Chicken curry in slow cooker with rice.
Sun 26th - Get your own but feed me

Mon 27th - Meatloaf, mash and veg
Tues 28th - Sausages,  salad and bread stick
Wed 29th - Lasagne and salad
Thurs 30th - Salmon portions,  salad and baked potatoes
Fri 31st - Chicken schnitzels,  mash and veg
Sat 1st Nov - Chop suey and rice
Sun 2nd -Get your own but feed me

Mon 3rd - Spag bol
Tues 4th - Crumbed chicken drumsticks,  mash and greens
Wed 5th -  Roast beef in slow coker with roast veg
Thurs 6th - Tuna pasta bake
Fri 7th - Bits and pieces of meat and veg
Sat 8th - Freezer meals
Sun 9th - Get your own but feed me

Mon 10th  Meatloaf,  salad and pasta salad
Tues 11th - Sliced meat,  smashed potatoes,  pasta salad and mixed lettuce
Wed 12th - Roast chicken with roast veg
Thurs 13th - Tuna casserole and greens
Fri 14th - Hamburgers and wedges
Sat 15th - Nasi Goreng
Sun 16th - Get your own but feed me

Mon 17th - Saucy chicken drumsticks,  mash and veg
Tues 18th - Sausages and salad
Wed 19th - Silverside in slow cooker with roast veg

NOTES -

*  Potatoes have doubled in price recently so we are having rice a little more often.
*  The bits an ieces meat is jst that.  I have small packages of leftover lamb,  beef and tow ( uncooked chops.  Everyone can pick their own.
*  For those who are new to my blog,  Sundays are when Darren and the girls cook their own dinner and prepare something for me.  It's a great chance for them to practice and expand their cooking skills ( and give me a night off ).
*  Salads are nothing grand.  Just lettuce,  tomato,  cuccumber, cheese,  eggs and beetroot if we have it.  It also depends on the prices of the salad ingredients.
*  All foods are cooked from scratch.  The only prepackaged food is the fish portions..

Tuna casserole with corn flakes on top

Lasagne big enough for three meals for the family.

Homemade hamburgers and wedges

Roast beef and veg

Meat pie  yummy !!!

Lunchbox Chocolate Choc Chip Muffins

Making muffins was the very first baked item I learnt to make as a newlywed nineteen years ago.  Back then I started my baking passion by using a packet mix.  The flavour was vanilla and I made it exactly as the packet said to.  The next time I made them I added choc chips.  The next time I added choc chips and cocoa.  The fourth time I added a little oil to the other added ingredients.

These days I make my own from scratch.  I found a recipe on the internet back in 2002 and as usual,  I changed the recipe around to suit my family's tastes.  They are delicious and because they are chocolate you can hide black chia seeds,  linseed meal,  oat bran and lots of other goodies to make them healthier.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do

3 cups of self raising flour
1 cup of sugar
4 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups of milk
2 eggs
150 grams of melted butter
3/4 cup of chocolate chips / bits

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees.
In a large bowl mix the flour,  sugar and sifted cocoa powder.
Add the milk,  melted butter and eggs.  Mix until just combined.
Add the chocolate bits and mix until combined.
Place spoonfuls into greased muffins tins or use patty cases. 
Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes until the tops spring back when touched.
Remove from the muffin tins when slightly cool.

Makes about 20 medium muffins or about 30 small muffins.

Notes -

*  These muffins freeze well.  Add them frozen to your kid's lunchboxes and they'll be thawed by morning break time.

*  To add extra goodness,  mix two tablespoons each of black chia seeds,  linseed meal and oat bran to the dry ingredients.  Kids will love them as the muffins are slightly crunchy.  You might need to add a little extra milk if the mixture is too stiff.

*  For vanilla muffins omit the choc chips and cocoa powder.  Add two teaspoons of vanilla extract.

*  These muffins are great for kids birthday parties.  Ice with different colored icing and top with smarties,  sprinkles,  coconut or crushed nuts.

A plate full of lunchbox muffins

Making the muffins

Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuits

Here it is.  The much asked about,  much talked about Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuit recipe.  I first came across this recipe on the Cheapskate's website a couple of years ago.  I love homemade biscuits and was looking for a different type of biscuit.  The name had me hooked straight away. Darren likes to call then " Hooten Nannies ".  I think the original recipe might have come from America as it had pecans,  plain flour and bi carb in it.  I've changed the recipe around to make it my own.

1/2 cup of butter or 125 grams
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups of self raising flour
1/2 cup of rolled oats
1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
1/3 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup of white choc bits
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.  Line a biscuit tray with baking or silicon paper.
In a medium bowl mix together the butter,  egg,  vanilla extract and sugars until creamy.  Add the flour,  rolled oats, cranberies,  choc bits and walnuts.  Mix until combined. 
Drop heaped teaspooonfuls onto the biscuit sheet and flatten slightly with your hand.
Bake for about 10 minutes until the edges start to brown.  Cool on the biscuit trays.

Notes -

*  You can use any nuts you like.  I use walnuts because they are cheaper than pecans.
*  I chop the cranberries so that they go further in the biscuits.
*  Biscuit dough can be frozen in log or ball form.  Allow 15 minutes for the logs to defrost before slicing.
*  I use a big Kenwood mixer to make the dough.  Hand mixers can be used to beat the sugars,  egg,  vanilla extract and butter but you need to switch to a wooden spoon when you add the other ingredients.
*  I make a double batch to save time.  Some to bake for eating straight away and the rest of the dough goes into the freezer
*  They make great presents wrapped in a cello bag with ribbon.

The finished product - Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuits

Logs of dough from the freezer

Flattened dough on a biscuit tray

 

I hope you enjoy these biscuits ( cookies ) as much as my family does.  Let me know if you get a chance to bake them.

This Week's Frugal Tasks

I've had a very productive week at my house.  Lots of cooking,  lots of baking,  some gardening and a few tasks that will help stretch my dollars a little further.  Looking at my list I'm feeling a great sense of accomplishment.  My freezers are full and the cookie jar holds some yummy treats.

Megan my youngest daughter was beside herself with excitement when she came home from school on Thursday.  There was a roast in the slow cooker with roast vegies in the oven.  I was making lots of cranberry hootycreek biscuit dough ( for the freezer ) and baking some to eat.  She proclaimed that "  Life doesn't get any better than this ".  You can bet that my heart swelled with happiness.

Here's my list of frugal tasks for this week -

*  Cooked three meals of spag bol for the freezer.

*  Cooked four meatloaves ( at the same time ) for the freezer.

*  Picked lettuce for homemade hamburgers and wedges one night..

*  Megan made forty scones.  Half went into the freezer and the other half were served for morning tea at church with homemade plum jam.

*  Cooked meat for two pies and froze it.

*  Made dough for eight pizzas and froze it.

*  Refilled and diluted the shampoo and conditioner bottles in both showers.

*  Made a lasagne for three meals.  We ate one meal that night and froze the other two meals.

*  Made two jars of lemon butter.

*  Made nineteen pumpkin scones .  They are now in the freezer for my morning teas.

*  Bought chicken fillets at $5.99 kg.  I bought $31 worth and portioned them into twelve meals and froze them.

*  Made seven jars of strawberry jam for $7.50.  I'm hoping that our strawberry plants give us lots of fruit this year so I can make more jam at a cheaper price.

*  Made chicken stock in the slow cooker with the skins from the fillets.  There is enough to make two batches of chicken soup.

*  Made a triple batch of cranberry hootycreek cookie dough.  Most of it was portioned into logs and frozen for future baking.

*  Made a triple batch of peanut butter choc chip cookie dough.  I portioned it all into logs and froze it.

Homemade hamburgers on homemade rolls with homegrown lettuce and homemade chips.

Scones with plum jam for morning tea at church

This lasagne will be portioned into twelve serves ( three meals )

Cranberrry hootycreek biscuits for afternoon tea.

 

What frugal tasks filled your week ?  Do you bulk cook some of your meals ?

Menu Planning

I've had many people over the years ask me how to menu plan and where to start.  Menu planning is the best way to save a lot of money on your food budget.

 I can remember many years ago when my girls were little,  I'd spend about half an hour in front of the pantry,  fridge and freezer trying to find something different to cook that night.  Money was very tight and I didn't have great cooking skills.  Spag bol and chop suey were cooked once a week.  I loved those meals but even I was getting a little tired of eating them so often.  Inspiration was hard to come by when you are looking at the same old, same old ingredients.  In desperation we'd have eggs on toast,  spaghetti on toast or crumpets.  I cringe when I think of it now.

The first step to writing a great menu plan is to write a list of all the meals you can cook.  Include even the basic meals like spag bol,  fish fingers and eggs on toast.  When I first wrote my list I think I had about 15 - 20 meals on it.  As time went on I learnt to cook a few new meals each year.  If they were a success I'd add them to my list.  I now have about 45 meals I can cook.  Some are cooked more regulary than others.

Once you have your list,  grab another piece of paper and write the day and date of each day down the side for the whole month.  Then work out how often you want to eat certain types of meat each week.  For example it might be fish x1,  chicken x2,  beef x2,  pork x1 and lamb x1.  Then you need to work out what meals work best on each night.  If you have swimming with the kids on Thursday night then a roast won't work unless you are happy to eat at 9pm.   If you ae all home on a Sunday night,  then the roast might work better then.  I always have a different meat each night for variety.  If I served chicken three nights in a row,  we'd all be tired of it.  If there is leftover meat from a roast,  it's either frozen or served two night later.

Cheaper meals are included to offset the dearer cost of roasts.  I also don't cook on Sunday night.  This isn't for religous reasons. We quite often have church functions for lunch on a Sunday or family gatherings. By the time tea comes around we are only wanting something simple and light.  I cook from scratch six nights a week so Sunday night in our house is called " Get your own but feed me ".  My girls and husband are quite capable of cooking something simple and it gives them a chance to improve and expand their cooking skills.

Here's my current menu plan -

Mon 18th - Lasagne and veg
Tues 19th - Honey soy chicken drumsticks with mash and veg
Wed 20th - Roast beef with roast veg
Thurs 21st - Tuna casserole and greens
Fri 22nd - Chicken curry in slow cooker with rice
Sat 23rd - Rissoles,  gravy,  mash and veg
Sun 24th - Get your own
Mon 25th - Meat pie and veg
Tues 26th -  Honey mustard chicken with rice
Wed 27th - Chicken flan with mash
Thurs 28th - Fish ( from box ) with rice,  zucchini slice and veg
Fri 29th -  Hamburgers with wedges
Sat 30th - KFC style chicken drumsticks with mash and veg
Sun 31st - Get your own
Mon 1st - Spag bol
Tues 2nd - Wedding anniversary - not sure what we'll have
Wed  3rd - Roast beef with roast veg
Thurs 4th - Salmon patties with rice and veg
Fri 5th - Freezer meals ( pick your own )
Sat 6th - Rissole casserole with mash
Sun 7th - Get your own
Mon 8th - Meatloaf with mash and veg
Tues 9th - Sausages,  mash and veg
Wed 10th - Silverside in slow cooker with roast veg
Thurs 11th - Tuna pasta bake
Fri 12th - Homemade pizza
Sat 13th - Beef stew in slow cooker with mash
Sun 14th - Get your own
Mon 15th - Lemon chicken drumsticks with mash or rice and veg
Tues 16th - Nasi Goreng
Wed 17th - Roast beef in slow cooker with roast veg
Thurs 18th - Tuna caserole with greens
Fri 19th - Lasagne with veg

I do my big monthly shop on the 16th of each month so I  write my menu plan the night before I shop.  If for some reason I can't shop then,  I have a few days up my sleeve on the menu plan.

Chocolate self saucing pudding

Desserts are not written on the menu plan.  If the main meal is a light one then I'll make a dessert as a treat.

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

This recipe is for two 700g loaves of bread baked in 700g bread tins

450 grams of plain white flour
450 grams of plain wholemeal flour
1 tablespoon of dry yeast
9 grams of bread improver
3 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
600 mls of very warm water
1 tablespoon of olive oil

EXTRAS - These can be added to the flour for extra goodness.  You can't see it in the bread like you can with multigrain.

2 tablespoons of white chia seeds
2 tablespoons of oat bran
2 tablespoons of linseed meal

Place all dry ingredients in mixer with dough hook amd mix well. You can use a large bowl and spoon ( or hands ) if you don't have mixer.  Pour in warm water and oil and mix until all ingredients are combined.

Place the dough onto a floured surface and knead for one minute.

Place the dough into large bowl and cover with a freezer bag and two hand towels.  Leave in a warm place until dough rises to twice it's size - about 40 mins.

Knead the dough lightly and divide into quarters. Place two quarters into each lightly greased bread tin. Spray well with water. .

Place tins in warm oven or warm place until dough almost reaches the top of the tins - about 30 mins. Take out of the oven .

Turn oven on to 220 c for electric or 200 c for fan forced. This takes about 10mins to heat up. As the oven heats, the dough will rise to the top of the tins or just above

Bake for 30 mins. I rotate the tins halfway through baking for even browness.

Remove from tins straight away while still hot. Allow to cool completely. Slice with a good quality bread knife 2 - 3 hours later.


NOTES -

If you don't have bread tins,  this recipe could make three smaller loaves if you use meatloaf pans.  You could also use round tins too.

Once you've made this a few times, it beomes second nature. I don't even look at the recipe. It's important to put a timer on for each stage so that you don't loose track of time.

 I also use no name flour.

You can make white bread from this recipe using 900 grams of plain white flour.

This recipe can make 16 standard sized rolls.

Although it takes about two hours to make the bread, I clean up the dishes as I go and find other jobs to do like putting a load of washing on or vacuuming.

I store the bread in the freezer in recycled bread bags.

This bread is best eaten fresh or if you freeze it,  it's great as toast.

Ingredients for bread making.

Dough mixed together

Dough in a bowl with a plastic bag and two towels

Dough has doubled in size

Dough in bread tins

Dough has risen to the top

Yummy baked wholemeal bread ( with extra goodness ) 

I hope you enjoy baking this bread as much as I do.