Meals of the Week, February 18th to 24th, 2024

 

Here we are again. Another Sunday, another Meals of the Week roundup of recipes! Each Sunday I like to share with you all of the main meals, plus the recipes that I have enjoyed cooking and eating over the past seven days. That is a whole lot of deliciousness!

I live on my own, which can present a bit of a challenge as anyone who lives on their own will know. When you live on your own it can be very tempting to want to eat frozen dinners, or takeaways, or sometimes even live on soup and sandwiches.  

I am determined not to be that person. I love to cook (and I love to eat) and so long as I am capable I will cook myself delicious and nutritious (for the most part) meals. I am also exploring vegetarian/veganism, and am incorporating more plant based or vegetarian meals into my diet, or at least am trying to. It is a steep learning curve.

I don't think I will ever be able to be totally vegan. The area I live in is not that Vegan friendly when it comes to ingredients, but I will try as best as I can. I also do like fish and eggs, cheese and milk.  Sigh . . . I have not really been impressed with the substitutes that are available for those things. They are expensive and they don't taste very good.  

So for now I am keeping dairy, but trying to be more responsible of the type of dairy products I buy.  Organic and local, rather than farmed.  Free range and free from antibiotics, etc. Anyways, I am trying my best. I can't do more than that!

Here are the my meals of the week, plus recipes for the past seven days. I hope that you will be inspired to want to cook at least some of them!

SUNDAY, February 18th - Dinner at my sisters

Most Sundays I have dinner at my sister's with the family. This week she spatchcocked a small chicken and roasted it. We enjoyed it with a variety of vegetables and mashed potatoes, and her delicious homemade gravy.

I am sharing my own recipe for Roast Spatchcocked Chicken with you in it's place. Spatchcocking a chicken is not all that difficult to do and your chicken cooks a lot quicker than it would cooking it in a conventional way. Spatchcocking a chicken merely means to remove the back bone and then flatten the chicken out for roasting.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy and always delicious!

MONDAY, February 19th - Dry Rub Roasted Sweet Potatoes

On Monday I cooked myself a vegan meal, which would also work well as a side to any meat based meal if you wish.  My sweet potato was really large so 1/2 of it worked as a main for me.  I then had the leftovers to enjoy another day.  I accompanied it with a Green Bean Coleslaw.

The sweet potato is cut in half horizontally and then cross-hatched, and brushed with oil to roast cut side down in a hot oven.  Once it is almost done it is brushed with cider vinegar and a delicious homemade rub and roasted a bit longer cut side up until all of those crevices and cracks gild to golden brown.

The green bean coleslaw is delicious also and went very well. It has a simple mayonnaise and Dijon dressing. Together they were made for a really tasty meal. I also added some rocket (baby arugula) which went well with the green bean dressing.

TUESDAY, February 20th - Roast Split Turkey Breast for Two

I had picked up a nicely priced split turkey breast. This had the bone in and was just the perfect size for roasting for a nice meal for two people. It doesn't have to be the holidays to enjoy roast turkey!  This is a particularly delicious way of roasting it and it always comes out very moist and delicious.

A fabulous butter and herb rub is created and then rubbed in between the skin of the turkey breast and then over the top of the turkey breast as well. It then roasts to perfection.  The skin, if you like to eat the skin, gets all crispy golden brown and the herbs and butter baste the breast meat to succulence.

I enjoyed it sliced with a variety of vegetables and the leftover sweet potato from the day before.  I also made a quick Bisto gravy to enjoy with it. Yummy!  I then had some roast turkey to use in sandwiches for the rest of the week.

WEDNESDAY,  February 21st - Dinner out with Dad

On Wednesday night I usually enjoy a meal out with my father and his friend Hazel. Sometimes my sister joins us.  We usually go to a local eatery called The Big Scoop Restaurant and Take Out.  My sister and I both ordered the fish and chips and it was really good. It came with coleslaw, tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon. It was delicious!  The fish nice and crispy and the fries good and hot.

I am sharing my recipe for Beer Battered Fish in it's place. The use of a pale ale makes for a batter that is really crisp and light. I learned how to make this when I was in the U.K. in Culinary School.  This is real British style battered fish!

THURSDAY, February 22nd. - Scottish Tattie Soup

I had a rather busy day on Thursday and it was really cold so I made myself a simple pot of Scottish Tattie Soup. This really warmed my bones. It is such a delicious soup and so easy to make.  Leeks, potatoes, carrots and a good vegetable broth.  This tasty soup is a wonderful nod to Scottish thrift and their ability to make something really delicious out of next to nothing!!

I enjoyed it with some crusty buttered bread on this occasion, and had a cheeky slice of cake for dessert that I had picked up at the shops. You can often buy slices of cake at our local shops. On this day it was a rich chocolate layer cake and boy oh boy it was some good!  In fact my sister and I have started buying a slice of cake on our way home from eating out these days. Its cheaper by half and just as good!

FRIDAY, February 23rd -   Baked Apple Butter Pork Chops

On this day I adapted a recipe that I had found in one of my cookery books.  The Prairie Kitchen Cookbook by Kayla Lobermeier of Under a Tin Roof.  I had picked up a couple of bone in chops marked down by 50% and couldn't resist purchasing them. 

The meat ended up really tender and moist, with the apple butter lending a lovely sweet and spicy flavor/glaze to them. They cooked up very quickly and easily. I enjoyed them with some scalloped potatoes and green beans.  Delicious!

SATURDAY, February 24th -  Four Can Chili

I had a very busy day for Saturday. I was busy getting everything ready for my oldest daughter who is coming to stay with me for the next week.  I decided to make a slow cooker meal that I could throw in and that would be ready when we were ready to eat.  Four Can Chili is a fabulous slow cooker meal.  It is simple to throw together.

A simple store cupboard meal, four simple cans of ingredients are put together in the slow cooker in the most delicious way. Tomatoes, beans, chili (without beans) and two cans of beans, pinto and kidney.  With some seasonings and a few other bits, you end up with a delicious chili that belies the fact of how very easy it is to put together.  

We enjoyed it with some crackers, and  topped with cheddar cheese. I also like to add some chopped onions to the top of mine. It was very delicious! It always is!

I'm really going to enjoy having my daughter with me for the next week. We get along very well.  She is my oldest daughter and lives right here in town. Her husband has gone to Alberta to participate in the National Special Olympic Winter Games so rather than stay in her place all on her lonesome, she is going to be here with me. Good times!

And that was my meals of the week for this past week! I think I had a really tasty week. I know I say that every week, but its true!  In any case I hope that I have inspired you to at least want to cook a few of the things I enjoyed!

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