Meals of the Week, June 30th - July 6th, 2024

 

Here we are, another Sunday and we all know what that means by now. Its time for my weekly, Meals of the Week post. The one where I share with you, my readers, all of the deliciousness that I have enjoyed over the past seven days for my main meals each day!

As a person living on their own, this can sometimes be a challenge as I hate waste, and I hate repetition.  I tend to cook things which I can downsize dramatically, or that freeze well, so that perhaps later in the year when I am in the mood or in a rush, I have something tasty in the freezer to enjoy.

I try only to eat out once a week, maximum, although some weeks this is a challenge also. This week was my sister's birthday, so, in addition to our weekly supper out with my dad, we had a meal out on my sister's birthday. Normally, however, I don't spend a lot of time or money eating in restaurants.  (I am usually really disappointed when I do.)

Sundays I usually have a family dinner over at my sister's. Occasionally they will come here, but it is usually at Cindy's place.  In all instances of eating out I have provided "like" recipes to substitute in the place of the meals which I ate out.

Most days I will have either granola (homemade) with yogurt and fruit for my breakfast or a protein smoothie. Lately I have been enjoying the protein smoothies almost every day.

I tend to eat my main meal (Dinner) at noon as I don't like to go to bed with anything heavy on my stomach. This is usually possible unless I am eating out with family or friends.  Just one of the joys of having an aging digestive system!

Supper most nights (which is what I call the lightest meal of the day which I will have late afternoon or early evening) will almost always be a salad, or some toast (I really like peanut butter on toast).  Sometimes, very rarely, I will have a bowl of cereal.  Usually if I am feeling too lazy to make anything else.  Cheerios are my favorite cold cereal. Plain old cheerios, not the fancy smancy modern flavors.  I am very old school when it comes to my cheerios, although I will sometimes buy a box of the multi-grain ones.

Other than that I try not to eat between meals. (Very hard when you are a grazer like myself.)  I only ever rarely have dessert. At home if I am going to have something sweet after a meal, it will usually be fruit of some kind, or sugar free jello with some whipped cream.  But, truth be told, I will more often than not save that for a cheeky snack!

I try to keep things varied, and not overly expensive. I am on a Senior's budget.  I try to incorporate lots of veggies whenever possible.  (Usually in the form of a salad most days.) I do keep raw veggies in the fridge for snacking. Carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumber sticks, raw radishes.  I used to love raw cauliflower and broccoli, but my body cannot tolerate those two favorite veggies raw anymore.  (tmi I know)

And so, here we go, these are my meals of the week for the past seven days! It was a bit carb heavy this week with a hotdog, burger and melt sandwich, but some weeks are just like that!  In any case, I hope you will be inspired to want to cook at least a few of these things for yourself!

SUNDAY, June 30th - Family Dinner at my sister's

On Sundays we usually have a family dinner at my sister's.  This week was no different.  Usually it is a roast dinner, but this week Cindy made Shake and Bake Chicken Drumsticks, which we enjoyed along with some delicious Spinach Rice and fresh string beans.  I enjoyed it all. The rice was fabulous. That link is to the recipe she used.  Oh my goodness. I could have eaten just a plate of that and nothing else.

In place of the Shake and Bake Chicken Drumsticks I am sharing my recipe for Oven Baked Chicken Drumsticks.  They always come out crispy skinned and full of flavor!

MONDAY, July 1st - Canada Day

Monday was Canada Day. I celebrated it simply with a lovely grilled hot dog, which I enjoyed with some of the delicious Hot Dog Grainy Mustard I had picked up at the farm market, some relish and chopped fresh onion. 

On the side I made a delicious Fresh Corn Salad.  Oh my but this was some tasty! With loads of color, plenty of texture and fresh delicious flavors, this went down a real treat.  I had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. (I am a person who loves leftovers for breakfast every now and then!)

TUESDAY, July 2nd - Dinner Salad

It was quite a warm day on Tuesday.  I was not in the mood for cooking anything too much and was not overly hungry to be honest.  I made myself a Dinner Salad.  I love Dinner Salads. 

This one has bits of leftover grilled chicken (although you could certainly use store bought cooked chicken), boiled egg, cucumber, tomatoes, chunks of avocado, lettuce, red onions, and a delicious homemade Honey Mustard Dressing.

It was perfect, and I enjoyed some delicious fresh cherries afterwards.  Win/win!

    WEDNESDAY, July 3rd - Dinner out with Dad

On Wednesdays we always have dinner out with my father and his friend Hazel.  They like to go to the same place each week.  The food there is hit and miss. Some weeks it will be good and others not so good.  The place changed hands in January and they don't seem to have found their stride yet.  They lost a lot of their waiting staff as well so the waiting staff is mostly all new people. Its always really busy however, so they must be doing something right.

This week both my sister and I had the Fish and Chips.  The fish was perfectly cooked, which was nice. I can always take or leave the chips.  I gave half to my dad anyways.  It always comes with coleslaw and tartar sauce. 

Dad had a toasted Western.  Hazel had the grilled haddock dinner. None of us had dessert. I am sharing my recipe for Beer Battered Fish in the place of my fish. It has a lovely crisp and light batter. I highly recommend if you are wanting to try making battered fish at home.  

THURSDAY, July 4th - Sausages, corn and Leftover Boiled Potato Casserole

I had picked up some really lovely looking new potatoes at the farmers market on the weekend and so I boiled up a mess of them to use in fried potatoes, potato salad, etc.  I used some of them to make this fabulous casserole, which was quick and easy to make and filled with oodles of flavor. Three kinds of cheese, spring onions, sour cream. Really lush and delicious.

The sausages were the Schneiders frozen breakfast sausages and I have one word for them. DON'T.  I did not enjoy them at all, but I am a bit of a sausage snob having been able to enjoy really good bangers in the U.K. for so long. I even tried dipping them in mayonnaise, (which is what we always did growing up) but meh.  Not so good.  

FRIDAY, July 5th - Classic Tuna Melt with a tossed salad on the side

Every now and then I just have to treat myself to a Tuna Melt.  I love them.  I had been shopping for most of the afternoon so I really just wanted something quick and easy for my supper. It was also stinking hot out so I didn't want to put on the oven or anything.  Tuna Melt, perfect solution! Creamy crunchy tuna filling with melted cheese between two slices of buttery toasted sour dough bread. You can't beat it.

  

Normally I would have this with a bowl of soup as a meal, preferably tomato, but it was too hot and so I had this with a nice tossed salad that I had picked up when I was out.  I also enjoyed the rest of the ice cold fresh cherries I had in the fridge for dessert.

SATURDAY, July 6th - Dinner out for my Sister's Birthday

Saturday was my sister's birthday.  I won't tell you which one because she has forbidden me. She really wanted to go to Jonny's Cookhouse in Berwick.  So that is where we went.  It is one of the best places to get burgers, chips, ice cream, fish, etc. in the Valley and they are always super busy.  We were keen to try their Bacon Cheeseburgers, having always been disappointed with the ones we get at the other place, which are sadly lacking in the bacon department.

This is the photo of the bacon cheeseburger on their page. It didn't come out looking exactly like that (what does!) but it was every bit as delicious as it looked and there was plenty of bacon on it.  Nobody was complaining.  I am sharing my Inside Out Bacon Cheeseburgers in it's place, also very delicious. The cheese is secreted inside the patty!

Of course your eyes are always bigger than your stomach and we had fries with them, but nobody could hardly put a dent in them.

Afterwards we went back to Cindy's for some cake.  I had bought a LaRocca Chocolate Fudge Cake (her favorite) for us all to enjoy, and enjoy it we did!  I don't want to know how many trillion calories was in it.   Worth every single one.  

And that was my meals of the week for this past week. Lots of celebrating with Canada Day and Birthdays, but some weeks are like that.  Overall, I would consider it a pretty good week all things considered! Join me back here next week to see how I do over the next 7 days!

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