Meals of the Week, August 18th - August 24th, 2024

 

Hi there!  It's Sunday and if you have been reading me for any amount of time you will know that on Sunday's I like to share my main meals along with their menus that I have enjoyed over the previous week/seven days!

One of the main reasons I started doing this was because I found myself all of a sudden living on my own and having to cook for just one person. The temptation when you are living on your own can be to eat ready-meals, or frozen meals, from tin cans, or to eat out.  Not exactly healthy food.

Most ready meals, etc. are loaded with fat, sugar and salt.  I did not want that to be me. I enjoy cooking and eating far too much for that to be satisfying to me in any way.

I had to change some of the way I was cooking and eating, of course. I needed to get much more inventive with the way  I cooked and planned my meals.  I downsized a lot of my recipes and now basically my recipes only make one or two servings.  I have found that very easy to do.

I also am a Senior who is living with the budget constraints of having to live on an old age pension. Hence a lot of what I cook is now quite budget friendly.

I did not ever want my food to become boring.  I want it to remain exciting. I want the meals that I plan to be something I look forward to every day. I also want them to be fairly healthy.  I am bring you along on the journey.

I do eat my main meal about 1 or 2 in the afternoon each day. My digestion doesn't really allow me to eat a heavy meal much later in the day. I do make exceptions when I am eating with others.  I have my breakfast fairly early in the day. Most often it will be a protein smoothie or oatmeal.  Occasionally it will be leftover pizza. (I am only human!)

Later in the day I will enjoy a bowl of cereal sometimes, perhaps some toast, maybe a salad.  Nothing too heavy.  I find that this is what works best for me.

My meals and menus are varied and interesting, economical and fairly healthy. I hope that by my sharing them I can inspire you to do the same! And without further adieu here are my main meals of the week for the past seven days. I hope you will see something that you will want to cook for yourself and if you do, share it with us!

 

SUNDAY, August 18th - Sunday Dinner at Cindy's

On Sundays we usually gather at my sister's for a dinner together as a family. Usually she will cook a roast dinner of some sort. This week, she surprised us all with Pizza. It was lovely. It had sausage, pepperoni, bacon and veggies on it and surprise of all surprises, Dill pickles and I have to say it was lovely!  Dill pickles on pizza are really good!  I highly recommend!

I am sharing my recipe for School Cafeteria Pizza.  And do try putting some chopped dill pickles on it. You will be pleasantly surprised at how delicious they are!  This is an excellent pizza recipe that we all really enjoy!

MONDAY, August 19th - Tuna Melt Quesadillas

I had made myself some tuna salad after church on Sunday and cooked half of it in a quesadilla. It was so delicious I decided to make another one for my supper on Monday.  I made a salad to go along with it rather than potato chips. If you have never tried tuna salad in a quesadilla you are in for a real treat!

Soft flour tortillas filled generously with tuna salad and cheese, grilled to golden buttery crisp perfection!  This was so delicious. It is a new favorite for sure!

TUESDAY, August, 20th - Crispy Pork Chop Dinner

I had some chops to use and so I made myself a really delicious sheet pan dinner, using crumb coated pork chops (I made my own Shake and Bake), and some oven roasted vegetables. Carrots, potatoes and cauliflower.

The chop was tender and juicy with a lovely crisp coating and the vegetables were slightly caramelized from the pork chop juices.  This was really lovely and so very easy to make. I enjoyed with a small tub of applesauce to dip my pork chop in, but you could just as easily serve it with some gravy!

WEDNESDAY, August 21st. - Dinner out with Dad

Most Wednesday nights I go out to dinner with my father and his friend Hazel.  Sometimes my sister joins us.  This week she did not.  I treated myself to a Cheeseburger with Frings. Frings are a combination of onion rings and fries.  You get some of both. We always go to a local place called the Big Scoop Family Take Out. They are known for their burgers and fish and chips.  I do enjoy their cheeseburger and have learned to ask for it with extra pickles and onions.

In it's place I am sharing a recipe for a Smash Burger, which is very similar to how they do their burgers. Also my Air Fryer Onion Rings.  Both are very good and would be great together!

 

THURSDAY, August, 22nd. - Chicken & Dumpling Casserole

I have loads of cooked chicken in the freezer after having spatchcocked two chickens for my video channel last week and so I used some of it up making this delicious casserole for two, except this time I downsized it yet again and made just enough for one. Not hard to do. 

A savory chicken casserole covered with a delicious gravy with a magic dumpling mix which gets poured over top prior to baking and magically turns into delicious dumplings.  This is so delicious and so simple to make.  This week I enjoyed it with a few steamed new potatoes and some fresh local string beans.  It was a very delicious meal!

FRIDAY, August 23rd - Down East Fish Cakes 

 

I had some tasty homemade fish cakes in the freezer and so on  Friday I took a couple of them out and enjoyed them with  some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers and a bit of tartar sauce.  I did not do baked beans with them this time.

If you have never made your own fish cakes, I do suggest that you give them a go! This particular recipe uses salt cod, but you can substitute it with leftover cooked cod or haddock if you wish. You will need to add more salt to the mix. You can also used tinned Chicken Haddie. (A very maritime product!) Chicken haddie is not chicken at all, but a boneless mixture of quality white fish - mainly cod, hake and pollock. It's been a staple in cupboards on the East Coast for over 100 years, passed down from one generation to the next. 

Originally it was introduced during World War I, when Chicken Haddie was shipped to Europe to feed Canadian soldiers on the battlefield. Canada Customs did not include fish as one of the select food items to send overseas, so the canning company used the curious name, Chicken Haddie to avoid scrutiny from the customs people.

 

In those days, fishermen referred to large haddock as “Haddies” and the smaller ones were “Chicks”, thus the peculiar name began and has stuck even though other white fish has now been added and there is very little haddock in the mix if any at all.

SATURDAY, August 24th - Baked Jacket Potato with baked beans & cheddar cheese

Just a simple supper on Saturday with a baked Jacket Potato (Or Baked Potato in the English way)  The English make beautiful baked potatoes.  I enjoyed it very much in the English way as well, with some baked beans ladled on top along with some cheddar cheese melting on top of the hot beans.  I also added a bit of diced raw onion because I love raw onion in this way.

This was a delicious supper and very economical and filling. I had a lovely mixed salad on the side.  Sometimes the heart just wants what the heart wants.  You can also top the jacket potato with tuna mayonnaise if you are really wanting to copy the English.  Well, really anything goes.  They do love their jacket potatoes!

And there you have it, my meals of the week for this past week. Seven days of variety and deliciousness.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing them and that you might be inspired to try out a few of them yourself!

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