Meals of the Week, September 3rd - 9th

 

Here we are with my weekly Meals of the Week post. On Sundays I like to do a re-cap of all of the meals that I have prepared for myself over the past 7 days.  This has proven to be very helpful for me. It helps me to keep track of what I have eaten over the week, just gone and helps me to plan my meals for the week ahead.

I think there is a hazard for a person that is living on their own  for cooking meals and eating to become somewhat boring and repetitive.   One might be tempted to eat only convenience foods as well.  Frozen dinners, canned things, sandwiches or cereal, takeaways.  

I am determined to not become that person. I want as much as possible to eat well planned and home cooked meals. I do eat out occasionally. Most Sundays I will either have dinner at my sisters or the family will come here. Normally on Wednesdays, I meet my father and his friend Hazel for a meal out at a local eatery.

This week my sister took us all out for a celebratory meal  on Sunday, and  the local eatery was closed on Wednesday,  so things got shook up a bit, but that's okay. Shaking things up every now and then helps to keep things fresh and interesting!  

I never want my meal times to be boring or substandard.  I want my meals to be fresh and exciting and if possible healthy and well balanced.  I only eat one main meal and day and I want it to be interesting. I may eat cereal or fruit or even cheese and crackers for my other meals, but I want my main meal to be balanced and nutritious.

I am not a person who cooks fancy stuff. My father thinks I do, but really I don't.  Every now and then I might, but for the most part you will see that what I cook is pretty simple and ordinary.  That's doesn't mean it's boring however!  Check out what I enjoyed over the past week below. I think you will agree that it is anything but lackluster!

SUNDAY, September 3rd. - Dinner out with the Family

Usually we all have a nice Sunday Dinner at my sisters. She wanted to celebrate her impending retirement however and this week treated us all to a lovely supper at a seafood restaurant not too far from us in Hillsburn called The Crow's Nest.   The service was beautiful and the food was fantastic.  

My sister had a Seafood platter with scallops, clams and haddock. I had English Battered Haddock and chips. Dan had a Hot Hamburger Sandwich with chips, and Dad had Seafood Chowder.  The photo above is of my own NOVA SCOTIA FISH CHOWDER.  And I can tell you it is FABULOUSLY delicious.

MONDAY, September 4th - STUFFED ACORN SQUASH, with cranberry, apple & sausage stuffing

I had a small squash that I needed to use and so I decided to roast it and stuff it. I created a lovely stuffing using some stuffing crumbs, dried cranberries, diced apple and sauteed sausage.  I cut the squash in half and roasted it first. While it was roasting I made the stuffing.  I then stuffed the partially roasted squash with the mixture, baking any extra along side of it.  

This would make a tasty side dish for the holidays, but also made a lovely main dish for myself with some boiled potatoes and steamed carrots on the side.

TUESDAY, September 5th - QUICK AND EASY CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

I had some cooked chicken breast meat leftover from a rotisserie chicken that I wanted to use up and so I made  myself a tasty supper of Quick and Easy Chicken & Dumplings. It was a recipe I had wanted to try for a while. This recipe created what is called "Flat Dumplings."  They were kind of like a thick flat noodle. 

This was really delicious.  So quick and easy to make as well. I enjoyed a nice big bowl of it and was so full I didn't really want or need anything else.  It made for a nice mid week supper and a wonderful change from the usually puffy Bisquick type of dumplings.

WEDNESDAY, September 6th -  VINTAGE MENU MADNESS 

I started something new on the blog this week called Vintage Menus Madness.  I love Vintage cookbooks and cooking from them. Each week from now on I am going to dedicate one meal to cooking a full menu from one of my Vintage cookbooks.

This week it was the Betty Crocker's New Menus for Two Cookbook.  I cooked a menu which included Crispy Browned Hash, Lemon Buttered Broccoli, Lettuce Raw Mushroom Radish Salad with a French vinaigrette, a slice of buttered rye bread and for dessert, Orange Fluff.  Recipes are included for everything.  It was all very delicious!

THURSDAY, September 7th - CHICKEN & BROCCOLI CASSEROLE

I still had chicken to use up and decided to use the last of it in this delicious casserole. It differs a great deal from my regular chicken and broccoli casserole.  It uses only pure, simple and unprocessed ingredients. Fresh ingredients such as crispy tender Broccoli Florets . . . leftover roasted chicken breast meat . . . thinly sliced onions, crème fraiche, chicken stock . . . cheese, two kinds . . . and toasted fresh bread crumbs, flavored with butter, garlic, seasoning and mixed herbs.

It is much lighter than the other one and is beautifully delicious. I enjoyed this along with a baked jacket potato on the side and some crusty bread to help sop up all of those lovely juices.

FRIDAY, September 8th - CHEESY TATER TOT MEATLOAF CASSEROLE

What you have here is a casserole with a tasty base of meatloaf, topped with a BBQ glaze.  This gets topped with frozen tater tots and baked.  Then you top the tater tots with some grated cheese and crispy fried onions and bake it some more until the meatloaf is bubbling and baked through the tater tots are crispy and the cheese all ooey gooey.

This was quite simply delicious. I served it with some fresh brussels sprouts that I had roasted along side of the casserole and an assortment of pickles. Sweet Pickled Beets and Pickled Beans.  It was a fabulously filling meal to be sure and very tasty! I shared the leftovers with my father.

SATURDAY, September 9th - QUICK NAAN BREAD PIZZA

I spent a great deal of the day shopping with my sister. She always picks up my father's groceries on Saturdays and I often go with her. We then go to his place and she changes/makes his bed, I wash his dishes, we tidy up a bit, put his groceries away, etc. We just spend some time with him and his cat. Its a good thing and I really enjoy it. I love spending time with my father. He is 89 years old now and I do not know how many more occasions I will have to spend time with him like this or do things for him.  My sister does the lion's share of the work.

Anyways, it was later in the day by the time I got home and put my own groceries away so I just made myself a flat bread pizza.  Naan and other flat breads make for a beautiful, quick and easy pizza base. On this particular day I just topped with some pizza sauce, cheese, chopped onions, peppers, mushrooms and pepperoni.  All things that needed using up.  On the side I enjoyed a small tossed salad and I had some cubed watermelon for dessert.  It was more of a late afternoon meal rather than a dinner, as it was well past lunch time and not quite time for dinner yet.

And there you have it, my meals for the past week. I did have a pretty delicious week if I don't say so myself!

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com 

Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!

 

Follow me on Bloglovin