Whoops Menu Plan Thursday?

Well Easter has screwed me up, I keep thinking it's much earlier in the week than it is. We're doing really well with our meals though, I think the last time we had takeaways was when my Mum was here.
We had friends over for dinner on Saturday and had a lovely meal of barbecued ribs, baked potatoes, coleslaw and green salad. I also served pastizzis (Maltese spinach and ricotta pastries) with drinks and a lemon frozen pudding for dessert. We finished the evening with cheese, muscatel grapes, some divine blood plum paste and Muscat liquer and a good time was had by all. They have a little girl about two weeks older than Jacob and they were very cute together.

I roasted a leg of lamb for dinner Easter Sunday and then on Tuesday we had the leftover lamb in a white sauce with onions and mushrooms, very interesting. Monday we had veal cordon bleu from the freezer and Wednesday we had penne boscaiola, or at least my version of it. Tonight we had Tuna and Risoni Salad with a crusty loaf that I got free from Baker's Delight with my loyalty card. This is one of my favourite meals as it makes me feel very virtuous and healthy although the ricotta on the top of the salad probably detracts from this.

Tomorrow night it's frozen Swedish meatballs from IKEA and I'll try to remember the lingonberry sauce this time and Saturday we're having Beef and Haloumi Skewers with caper butter. Sunday we're having a Bacon, Leek and Potato Tart made using a frozen pie shell as I really don't have a hand for pastry.

We're going to the Easter Show this Saturday and I'm really looking forward to it. It's supposed to be amazing here and I'm particularly looking forward to the traditional events like the best sponge cake.
Jacob's just amazing, I had the new carseat installed in the car today and he looks so grown up. He now is rolling on to his front a lot and occasionally rolling from his front to his back which is a lot harder but usually he just yells for Mum to roll him back. He also is think about moving forward once he gets on to his front but not too inspired yet although I think it might be the cats that get him moving, he's very interested in them especially Puck.

Menu Plan Tuesday seems to be norm here

These are photos of Jacob's first swim in our local pool and then him exhausted afterwards.

sigh I miss my Mum. She's just spent a week here and made my life so easy, she took care of all the washing and the dishes, did some gardening and all Luke's ironing and now here I am sitting in my pjs at midday waiting for my boy to wake up from his nap so I can shower him. I'm so unorganised but in my defence I'm getting over a cold and was up twice in the night coughing so I'm not feeling my best.

We've resolved to have at least one vegetarian meal a week hopefully to save a bit of money but also to be healthy. So last night we had Vegetable Pie - made with a rice crust, sautéed curried veges and a cheese sauce. The pie was made with me carrying Jacob in his sling - not the best way to cook but the best way to keep him quiet and I think it tired him out so much watching everything I was doing that after a snack of breastmilk he had an afternoon nap something that's quite rare over here.
I did wonder as I made the roux for the cheese sauce if it might not influence his career choice that I made the sauce from scratch with butter, mustard powder, flour, milk and grated cheese, not from a packet as I imagine a lot of others might do. Will my little boy turn out to be a chef, food critic, vintner, or hotelier? Do the things I do with him determine his path in life? But then I think that my mother also cooks things from scratch so to speak, taught me to make scrambled eggs when I was 4 and while I love food, consider myself a good cook and read and write about food I'm a librarian not a chef. So maybe all I'm teaching my boy is a love of food and the ability to care for himself, both important things.

Tonight it's Japanese grilled chicken with rice and stir-fried veges and tomorrow veal with tomatoes and olives served with herb rolls and a green salad. Past that I'm not sure but hopefully friends will be visiting for dinner on Saturday night and if so I've planned to have bbq ribs

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Menu Plan Monday whoops Tuesday

Last week was pretty successful as far as our menu went.
28th February was the anniversary of my positive pregnancy test, it's hard to believe it's only been a year since that morning, I remember getting up early, peeing on that stick and then watching in disbelief as the faint line grew in the 1st box. I raced into our bedroom, jumped on the bed and shoved the test under the nose of my sleeping husband and demanded if he could see both lines :-) He very sleepily said "what?" and then agreed that there were 2 lines and we were both rather stunned. It was our first attempt at "trying for a baby" and we thought it would take much longer.
Now the result of that test is sleeping on my shoulder Awwwwww

Monday - Swedish Meatballs served with mashed potatoes, peas and lingonberry sauce
Tuesday - Lamb Sausage and Salad Pitas
Wednesday - Pasta with Zucchini, Prosciutto and Lemon
Thursday - Steak Sandwiches a la Jamie Oliver
Friday - Quick Kedgeree served with a green salad
Saturday - Tortellini salad with crispy prosciutto and spinach
Sunday - Corn fritters, bacon and a green salad

The Swedish meatballs come from IKEA frozen and then you buy the packets of meatball sauce too. It's extremely yummy but we forgot the lingonberry sauce this time. We've now run out so time for another trip to IKEA

Why yes Puck is sitting on Jacob's head