Monday 14 May 2012

Monday Menu Planning


After a weekend of celebration upon celebration life has returned to normal: work, homework, assignments, preparing meals, a bit of cleaning here and there, bedrooms that need straightening.  I'm sure your 'normal' is not so far different from mine on many fronts.

Mr Busy enjoyed his birthday on Saturday, with Yum Cha for lunch and party food for dinner.  Our tradition is that the children get to choose what they want to do for dinner.  I enjoyed Mother's Day, perhaps truly for the first time in 12 years.  The last Mother's Day I enjoyed as much I was in hospital with a two day old baby boy.  Generally, it's not been my favourite day.  Probably because there's quite a gap between my expectations and my actual experiences.  I forbade the children from buying gifts at the mother's day stall at school and begged them not to give me breakfast in bed.  As a result I received simple, but meaningful gifts and a breakfast with digestive recovery in mind (Yum Cha is quite filling!).  My toast was hot and my tea was perfect.

This morning I got some menu planning in before we set off for the day...and some assignment writing, but that's not terribly useful to anyone but me!

So here we go:

Monday:  Minestrone, toasted Turkish bread & butter
Tuesday:  Ricotta fritters, vegies
Wednesday: Creamy mushroom & bacon pasta
Thursday:  Oven fried chicken, vegies
Friday:  Freezer meal
Saturday:  Lasagna
Sunday:  Tomato soup, English muffin pizzas

For inspiration this morning I delved back into the internet archive "Way Back Machine" and fossicked about in Steph's Country Kitchen Goodness website archives.  The next week or so might see some of those recipes appearing.  And I need to dig through my Nigella and Maggie Beer books for inspiration too.  I hate it when our meals feel rut-like.

How do you celebrate things like birthdays and Mother's Day?  Did you feel special and spoilt on Sunday?

2 comments:

Left-Handed Housewife said...

I did feel special and, as you put it, spoilt. I got an excused absence from Will's lacrosse tournament, got to putter about in the garden and read the Sunday paper, and the boys gave me some lovely garden art for Mother's Day gifts. Nice!

Happy birthday to Mr. Busy!

I'm feeling like I'm in a meal rut, too, and have been pulling out cookbooks for inspiration. What's hard for me is that I live with a bunch of picky eaters who would be happy to have a slab of beef and a baked potato every night. Sigh ...

xofrances

Tracy said...

So glad you had a lovely Mother's Day Frances. You're a very precious woman!

Argh - picky eaters, a would-be gourmet's greatest challenge!