Menu Plan Monday!

(On a Tuesday - but its still Monday somewhere!)

Click above to head over to Org Junkie for more Menu Plans!

For Christmas I received '4 Ingredients #2' by Kim McCosker & Rachael Bermingham and for birthday I received '4 Ingredients'. Great books! Highly recommended!

All these recipes are from those two books but some have been slightly modified for the slow cooker/crockpot. I will be adding some links and recipes later today but now I have to run off and get some grocery shopping done! Come back - they are all super yummy and super easy recipes! There is a lot of Lamb this week as we have a lot of it in the freezer and I want to use it up before the next lot of meat comes in (from FIL's farm).

Tues 5^th May – Sun 10^th May

Meals with recipes in BOLD - Recipes Added Below!

Mains:

Easy Casserole - with mashed potato

Chicken Casserole - with rice

Balsamic Glazed Lamb - with garlic potato and honey carrots

Chinese Style Lamb Roast - with roasted vegetables

Irish Stew - with mashed potato

Lamb & Bacon Parcels - with zucchini hash browns

Sides:

Easy Fried Rice

Garlic Potato

Honey Carrots

Zucchini Hash Browns

Kids:

Bugs in a Rug

Fish Cocktails

Vegetable Lasagne

Baby Meatballs

Sweets:

Jam Drops

Custard Tarts

RECIPES:

Easy Casserole

Serves 4 - 6

1kg round steak, cubed

500g bag mixed frozen vegetables, thawed

(or fresh vegies of your choice)

2 cups V8 juice

Place steak and vegetables in a slow cooker, pour over V8 juice, covering contents well. Cook for 3 - 4 hours or until meat is nice and tender.

NOTE: I will be using fresh veggies this time. I'm also making double and freezing half for another meal.

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Chicken Casserole

Serves 4

440g can condensed cream of chicken soup

8 chicken pieces

4 rashes bacon, roughly chopped

Vegetables of your choice

Fry bacon, place chicken, vegetables, bacon and soup in slow cooker and cook for at least 4 hours.

NOTE: Again I'm doubling this one for later meals

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Balsamic Glazed Lamb

Serves 4

12 lamb cutlets

1tbs. Balsamic Vinegar

1 tbs. Honey

2 tbs. fresh Rosemary Leaves

Heat fry pan, grill or BBQ. Mix last3 ingredients. Cook cutlets for 1 - 2 minutes each side or until just brown. Brush with baste and cook a further 3 minutes each side, basting occasionally. Drizzle some juice over cutlets once served.

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Chinese Style Lamb Roast

Serves 4 - 6

1.5kg lamb roast

375ml can evaporated milk

1/2 cup hoi sin sauce

Place the lamb into an oven bag. Combine milk and sauce. Pour about half over lamb (remander can be frozen for another time) and seal the bag, piercing a few holes around the end. Roast the lamb in a 180c oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until desired doneness.

NOTE: Left over meat is great on sandwiches for lunch!

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Lamb & Bacon Parcels

Serves 4

4 loin lamb chops

2 rashers of bacon, cut in half

4 tbs. wholegrain mustard

2 sheets puff pastry

Cut meat off the bone and trim fat. Cut puff pastry sheets in half and spread each generously with mustard. Place the lamb in the middle of the pastry and top with a half rasher of bacon. Seal edges and bake in 180c oven 20 - 30 minutes or until golden brown.

NOTE: Haven't tried this one before, maybe cook the meat before putting it into parcels?

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Zucchini Hash Browns

Makes 4

1 cup zucchini, grated

2 tbs. oil to fry in

2 eggs, beaten slightly

Mixed seasoning to taste

Heat oil in a heavy pan. Mix all ingredients together in a medium size bowl and gently drop 1 tbs. of mixture in hot oil. When brown on one side, turn over and cook on the other side. Stack on a plate and keep warm until whole batched is cooked.

NOTE: Kids love these!

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Bugs in a rug

Makes 12

3 slices brown bread

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup butter, melted

12 cocktail frankfurters

Preheat oven to 180c. Pierce frankfurters all over with folk. Spread tomato sauce on bread, then cut into quarters. Place frankfurter diagonally on each quarter of bread. Bring up edges and secure with a toothpick. Brush with melted butter. Place on greased baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until bread is crisp and lightly brown.

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Baby Meatballs

250g lean mince

1/2 cup mashed potatoes

Preheat oven to 180c. Combine ingredients. Roll into little balls and place on baking tray. Cook for around 20 minutes. Drain excess liquid before serving.

NOTE: I serve these with a side of greens.

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Custard Tarts

Makes 12

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

500g premium vanilla custard

3 tbs. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 200c. Cut 6 rounds from each sheet of pastry and line a non-stick muffin tray with them. Place a circle of baking paper with some uncooked rice on each and blind bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove paper and rice and cool. Spoon an equal amount of custard into each and sprinkle with brown sugar. Place tarts under a preheated grill to melt sugar before serving.

NOTE: Another yummy filling is Caramel Top 'n' fill! Just beat caramel well before spooning into tarts and top with fresh whipped cream - delicious!

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Also posted over at Chive talking Menu Plan Blogroll! Check them out!

Menu Plan Monday

This week I am not allocating days to my meals as I really just want to go with the flow - is that ok?! My meals this week all come from 4 Ingredients 2 and are all cheap and easy.

This week we will be having:

Shepherds Pie:

500g lean mince
1/2 cup fruit chutney
6 potatoes, boiled and mashed
3/4 cup grated cheese

Brown mince, season and mix thought chutney. Pour into casserole dish, top evenly with mashed potato and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 180c for 20 - 30 minutes or until cheese is nice and bubbly. Serve with salad.

Cheese and Ham Chicken Rolls:

2 chicken breast fillets
2 pieces of Swiss Cheese (I'm just using tasty cheese here)
2 pieces sliced ham
1tbs wholegrain mustard

Flatten chicken breast before smearing with mustard. Lay a piece of cheese follwed by a peice of ham on each. Roll up and secure with toothpicks. Bake for 20 minutes at 180c or until brown and cooked through. Cut into rounds and serve. Serve with steamed vegetable.

BBQ Lamb Chops: - we just got half a lamb from the farm so must include lamb in the menu!

8 lamb chops
2tsp soy sauce
3tbs sweet chilli sauce

Mix soy and sweet chilli. Cook chops for 1 - 2 minutes on each side. Reduce heat and continue cooking for 2 - 3 minutes while brushing with baste. Cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with steamed vegetables.

Creamy Chicken Pasta:

4 chicken breasts
4 shallots, finely chopped
4 rashers bacon, chopped
200g button mushrooms, sliced
200g tub cream cheese, softened

Brown chicken and set aside. Combine shallots and bacon in large frying pan, stir until bacon is crisp. Add mushrooms, stir until softened. Add cream cheese and a third cup of boiling water, simmer until cheese is melted. Add chicken, stir through and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Serve with Pasta.
(We are not mushroom fans so I'm not sure if I will be adding those.)

Steak Casserole:

1kg round steak, cubed
500g bag of mixed frozen vegetables
2 cups V8 juice

Place steak and vegetables in casserole dish, pour in V8 juice, covering contents well. Bake at 180c for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is nice and tender. Serve over rice.

Lamb Roast: - again use the lamb from the farm.

Chicken Vol-au-vants:

4 large vol-au-vant shells
485g bottle Chicken Tonight, honey mustard
1 cup shredded cheese
2 double chicken breast, diced

Dice chicken and cook in pan till lightly browned. Turn down heat and add chicken tonight, stir to heat through. Place vol-au-vant shells on a lined baking tray and fill each with chicken mixture. Top with cheese and place in oven at 180c for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve with salad or vegetables.

Other things we will be baking this week:

Apple Slice

Choc-Caramel Ravioli

Lemonade Scones

Rainbow Cupcakes

Head over to Organising Junkie for more Menu Plan Monday!

There's more to the day

then just organising. So yesterday (and this morning) I took some time do some sewing and a bit of baking.

I've nearly completed the shirt I am sewing for Ashlee. Just down to sewing on the sleeves and a bit of hemming. I really hope it fits (it would be to large rather than to small) but more to the point I hope she likes it! Here is a peek....

Ashlee will be home on Wednesday!! Yippee!! (And I'm also looking forward to having Mum here for a few days) We have all missed her hugely here. Mitchell has even taken to sleeping with one of the teddies from her bed at night. He regularly asks when she will be home. Sweet.
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We have been doing a small amount of baking too, Mitchell and myself.

First we made some Yummy Apple Slice....

Image from here

Easy Apple Slice

340g pkt Vanilla Cake Mix
3/4 cup Melted Butter
400g Tin Pie Apple
200g Sour Cream
Cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 180c. Mix butter and cake mix to a dough. Spread evenly in a lined rectangular baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Combine apple and sour cream. Spread evenly over base, sprinkle over cinnamon and return to oven for another 15 minutes. Cool in fridge. Serve cold.

Divine!

(You how I got that great Cook Book for Christmas - this recipe is from there.)
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This morning we made Devil's Food Cake. A packet mix this time but equally divine!



At least Miss Anna thought so!


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On a side note.....see this...

Little Miss got her very first hair cut (thanks to me!). Her fringe was just annoying me hanging in her eyes, so off it came!

Children running riot so better go check it out. Monday Plan Monday up next!

I surprise myself sometimes + Sunday Stash + a recipe!

For the last few days Ashlee has been at me for a new pencil case. Her old one had really bit the dust. Being a small town there was no way I was paying the ridiculous amount they wanted for a small one down at the local general store! Then.....Ashlee had the brilliant idea to 'just make one!'. Well, you say, just make one.......easy for some to say but I have never just made one before and only had a day to do it in. A bit daunting really. So I decided to just do it and see how it all went. Ashlee picked out the fabric she wanted, I decided to use calico for the lining and I also added a middle layer of PUL (this I use when making MCN's) just to give it that extra bit of leak proof. Leaking pens can look ugly! So we don't want to keep you waiting, after a few hours sewing, a trip to the Op Shop for a white zip (which we picked up for a few cents), a bit of unpicking and re-sewing - zippers on pencil cases aren't my thing, I have never put a zipper on a pencil case - we finally came up with this..........(excuse the photos - sun was going down and it wasn't the best light, oh and promise not to look to close!)

Looks good, Ashlee loves it. The little birdie was meant to have a sort of rustic frayed edge look going on. Didn't come out to bad but not as I had pictured. Look out for more little things like this though because I did enjoy trying something new.

Now when I say plus Sunday Stash (week 2) I totally mean 'take a look at the fabric on the pencil case'!. I kinda like it - well I did buy it - but never thought I would be making a pencil case out of it! Find more players here.


I also promised some photos of the super yummy Apple (and Blackberry) Custard Slice. Now bear with me as my 4 slice tins have gone walk about (grrrrrrr!) I can not for the life of me find them so this one got cooked in a smaller cake tin. Worked fine I guess - definitely didn't change the taste, it was soooooo yummy! To explain the blackberries, I only had one tin and being a weekend the shops weren't open. My lovely neighbour kindly offered me her last tub of homemade stewed blackberries! I jumped at the offer and was very grateful.



And here is the recipe for you all:
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Apple Custard Slice

Makes about: 16
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cooking: 1 hour

1 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted
icing sugar, to dust
FILLING:
800g can pie apple
(I used 500g pie apple & 300g stewed blackberries)
3/4 cup thickened cream
2 eggs
2 tbsp caster sugar
TOPPING:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds (I didn't use these)
1/3 cup brown sugar
60g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Lightly grease and line an 18 x 28cm slice pan with baking paper.
2. Combine flour, brown sugar, coconut. Blend in butter. Press mix firmly into prepared pan. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until lightly browned, allow to cool.
3. FILLING: Spread apple (& blackberries mix) over base. Whisk together cream, eggs, caster sugar. Pour over apple (& blackberries). Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until firm.
4. TOPPING: Combine all the ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over slice. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden. Allow to cool in pan. Dust with icing sugar, cut into squares and serve! YUMMY!
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In other news, while I was getting the photo's off the camera I came across some that I didn't take - which is rare. Daddy's been taking pictures of his boy! Here is Zachary, my budding artist.

....And check out the new teeth he is sporting now!

That brings the total up to 10 with the two new molars he has recently cut.

Zach is such a determined little man, even with his limitations he surprises us every single day! Attempting to crawl, trying to climb - unfortunately falling a lot, but trying all the same. His speech is behind but he gets around it and he is super cute to boot!

We also got the long awaited phone call from DADHC regarding Zach's intake. He has been accepted and will start his therapy very soon. Thank you to all those who prayed! This will mean that all his therapy will be government funded and this will save us thousands! We are very happy about this. We are also heading off on Thursday to Sydney to meet with Dr Lowe, that I mentioned before, to hopefully get some more help. Unfortunately this will cost about $350 just to walk in the door but from what I hear it is worth it.

Alright better be heading off - I'm trying to decide (by tomorrow!) if I'm going to join in on the fun with Sew, Mama, Sew! Give-Away Day.......do I have enough confidence??