Meals of the Week, August 11th - August 17th, 2024

 

Hi everyone!  Here we are, another Sunday, another Meals of the Week post!  Every Sunday  I like to share with you, my dear readers, my meals of the week. Everything delicious that  I have cooked and or eaten for my main meals over the past seven days!  

Because I live on my own, feeding myself can be somewhat of a challenge unless I am having company over for a meal.  The temptation can be there to eat frozen dinners or takeaways.  I don't want to be that person. 

Meals like this are a part of the reason I don't want to be a person that eats frozen dinners.  I did try one one day. I fell to temptation.  (Not this week)  Look at the difference between the photo on the cover and the meal that was actually in it.  There is no comparison.  It was decidedly inedible.  I did taste it, but it was yucky. In fact I would call it disgusting.

These ready meals are usually loaded with fat, sugar and salt.  Not things I really want to be eating, and  . . .  they are always disappointing. They never look like the pictures on the box. I have never yet found one that I actually enjoyed.  So  no frozen dinners for me.

So the only alternative is to cook for myself. Its cheaper, healthier and I enjoy the food a lot more.  I do eat out twice a week. Usually I have Sunday Dinners at my sister's, always a delicious home-cooked meal and on Wednesday nights we have dinner out with our Father.  It makes him happy to have us there and we enjoy being together.  It is always at a family style restaurant locally.  Not like a fast food place.  Generally speaking the food is quite good. It can be a bit hit and miss at times, but you quickly learn what to order and what not to order.

Anyways, the rest of the week I cook my own meals and I try to make them interesting and budget friendly.  I also always try to keep them varied so that I am not always eating the same things.  This week was my birthday and so I did treat myself a little bit on the day and repeated something which I had really enjoyed from the week before. 

In any case here are my Meals of the week for this the third week of August. Do let me know in the comments what you think!  

SUNDAY, August 11th - Family Dinner at my sister's

On Sunday my sister had a Birthday Celebration for me at her place.  My brother in law was actually going to be working on my birthday so she wanted to do it while he was there! I didn't mind. She cooked a lovely pot roast supper, with biscuits and all the trimmings and then for dessert she had bought a whole Double Chocolate Fudge LaRocca Cake!  That was the piece de resistance.  I love that cake.  We all do, except for maybe my dad.   In any case everything was delicious, but the best thing of all was being with my family.

I am sharing my recipe for Instant Pot Pot Roast with you for this day.   Its really good. The meat always comes out tender and delicious and the gravy is also fabulous! 

MONDAY, August 12th - Angel Chicken Rice 

I had some leftover chicken to use from having cooked two chickens for my food video on YouTube. It was on how to spatchcock a chicken and then I showed how to prepare it for roasting.  It went very well and the chicken was delicious. You can watch that video here on Marie Cooks Up A New Life. 

Anyways, I had lots of leftover chicken. I froze the bones, etc. for making soup at a later date and I used some of the chicken for this recipe here for Angel Chicken Rice.  A simple and delicious casserole with leftover cooked rice and chicken and a few other bits. Its really tasty and very simple to make.

 

TUESDAY, August 13th - My actual Birthday

Tuesday was my actual Birthday and of course I had already celebrated it with my family and so I had a fairly quiet day.  Just puttering around here. For my supper I was really craving one of those One Pan Egg Toast Omelets that I had made the week before.  Lets face it, on your birthday you should have what you want!  And that is what I wanted. I enjoyed it with some cheeky chips that I did in the air fryer and copious amounts of tomato ketchup to dip the chips in.

And then for dessert, I had another slice of that decadent LaRocca chocolate cake, My sister had given me a few slices to bring home. I took one over to my next door neighbor Sheila to enjoy, and I enjoyed the rest!  And why not!  You only turn 69 once!

 

WEDNESDAY, August 14th - Dinner out with Dad

On Wednesday I had my usual dinner out with my father, Hazel and my sister.  This week I decided to go for the Hot Turkey Sandwich.  There is nothing I love more than bread and gravy.  I could eat a whole plate of bread and gravy and nothing else.  Yes, I DO love it that much!

It was okay. I did not like that they had toasted the bread.  I would have asked them not to if I had known.  They must have toasted the bread on the grill and it was a bit singed on the edges which gave it a bit of a burnt toast taste. And the gravy was only on the outside. Not on the inside.  I ate it all however and I did semi-enjoy it.  It was just not the same as it used to be when the people who ran the place before these new people were in charge.

In any case I am sharing a recipe here for Hot Turkey Sandwiches.  It looks more like what I was expecting.  Dad had a hamburger steak and gravy.  Hazel had a small turkey dinner and Cindy had a bacon cheeseburger with F'rings, which is a combo of onion rings and fries.

THURSDAY, August 15th - Creamed Chicken & Biscuits

I still had some chicken to use up and so I made myself Creamed Chicken & Biscuits for my dinner on Thursday.  I had some biscuits in the freezer that I had baked and frozen, so I just thawed several of them out and gently reheated them before ladling on the creamed chicken.

This was so delicious.  The gravy was rich and creamy, nicely flavored with some tarragon.  There was a generous amount of chicken in it and some peas.   You could enjoy a nice tossed salad on the side of this or some coleslaw.  This is a real winner of a chicken dinner and a great way to use up leftovers!

 

FRIDAY, August 16th - I had my father here for supper

My sister was going to be away for the whole day on Friday and so I got to have my father over here for supper.  He is a very simple man with very simple tastes and really doesn't want much fuss made when it come to feeding him. He likes weiners.  In any way shape or form.  I did him weiners and chips (fries) in the airfryer.  Frozen fries (10 minutes at 356*F/183*C) give them a shake add the weiners, and continue to cook for a further 8 to 10 minutes until the fries and the franks are toasty and golden. 

 My dad was really pleased with this.  I served some mixed vegetables on the side and gave him a slice of bread with butter. Then for dessert he had a small bowl of ice cream with a jam jam cookie.

I did not take a photo of the weiners and chips, but am sharing a recipe I made for lunch one day this week for a Croissant Hot Dog.  Oh boy, so decadent. A once in a blue moon treat!

Which brings us to Saturday!

SATURDAY, August 17th - A Cold Plate

I was out shopping with my sister for most of the day and so I just enjoyed a cold plate for my supper. I actually had sliced ham with mine, not chicken as you see here.  I am all chickened out for this week!  A cold plate is perfect for a hot day when you really don't want to heat up the kitchen.

I enjoyed with some sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce, and some potato salad that I had picked up at the local farm market, along with some deli coleslaw vinaigrette that  I had in the refrigerator and I made a quick Macaroni Salad. 

The potato salad that I had picked up was not that great. I prefer my own homemade potato salad. I would not buy it again. I had often seen it there however and wondered if it was any good or not. They happened to have a very small pot of it there today, and freshly made today so I thought I would give it a go.  It wasn't bad, I just prefer my own. They had put peppers in it and I don't like pepper in my potato salad.

And there you have it. My meals of the week.  That's a whole lot of tasty. Not quite as healthy as most weeks, but over all not bad either!  What do you think?

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