Hello everyone and welcome to my weekly Meals of the Week post! On Sundays I like to do a recap with you, my dear readers, of all the deliciousness that I have enjoyed over the past seven days. This week I think I ended the month of November 2024 spectacularly!
As a person who lives alone and on a limited income, preparing and cooking delicious meals for myself can be somewhat of a challenge. I know a lot of Seniors who tend to eat out of ready meals, frozen dinners or cans. I am determined to not be that person, no matter how tempted I may be to do so,
Those kinds of meals are highly processed and are usually loaded with fat, salt and sugar. Decent ones can also be somewhat expensive in comparison to cooking good, nutritious and wholesome food from scratch, and as far as the cheap ready meals go??? They are just plain nasty in my opinion, and you can quote me on that.
Occasionally I will resort to a frozen dinner, but it is a very rare thing. I usually like to make my own frozen dinners when I have cooked something that yields more than I can eat in one sitting. I will portion it into single sized portions and freeze it in freezer containers. Properly labeled and dated they are a really nice thing to have in the freezer and are, penny for penny, much better for you than anything you can buy premade and packaged.
I do try to vary my diet as much as I can and to try to get in as many vegetables as possible. Sometimes this is in the form of a salad on the side.
I usually will eat a breakfast of a protein shake, or sometimes some toast or my homemade granola with yogurt and a drizzle of date syrup. I tend to eat my main meal around 1 o'clock in the afternoon unless I am joining other people. I have been eating my main meal at midday for many, many years now and it is what suits my lifestyle and my digestive system. I don't like going to bed with a heavy meal on my stomach if I can help it.
My suppers are usually eaten early in the evening and will be a salad, or some fruit, maybe a sandwich, sometimes toast and I have even been known to eat a bowl of cereal from time to time. (Rice crispies and bananas are a real favorite.) Usually, this meal is something very light.
I try to keep my diet balanced, fairly healthy if possible and within my limited budget. I also like to make my meals as delicious and interesting as I can. This is what makes me happy. Here are the meals that I enjoyed for my main meals over the past week. I hope that you can be inspired to want to cook a few of them for yourself also!
SUNDAY, November 24th - Dinner at Cindy's
Usually on Sundays I have dinner at my sister's place with her, Dan and my dad. Last Sunday was no different. I love being able to get together as a family for meals like this. I really miss this when I was living in the U.K. Family is so important to me.
She had made a lovely Beef Stew in her Instant Pot that she got from Tablespoon. It was delicious. We enjoyed it with bread and butter, mashed potatoes, and squash. In its place I am sharing my recipe for Oven Braised Beef Stew. This is one of my absolute FAVORITE stews with a thick rich gravy flavored with browned meat juices, aromatics and herbs. Its so delicious. That photograph of it is making me wish I had a bowl full of it right now to enjoy!
MONDAY, November 25th - Chili in a Bowl
On Monday I small-batched a recipe I have had for a very long time to suit the smaller family. Chili in a bowl. A delicious bread bowl is baked and filled with a quick, easy and delicious chili for serving. The dough for this is almost like a choux pastry. It is light as air and flavored with grated Parmesan cheese and chili powder.
The chili itself is very simple and uses only a few ingredients. It is done in the time it takes for the bread bowls to bake. I enjoyed this with some cheddar sprinkled over top. Sour cream and spring onions would also be very nice.
TUESDAY, November 26th - Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs
On Tuesday I thawed out a few chicken thighs that I had in the freezer. Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs are one of the ways I like to enjoy this moist cut of chicken. This method of preparation results in chicken which is every bit as delicious as fried chicken without any of the hassle or the high calories of deep frying.
The chicken always comes out tender and moist and that coating is finger-lickingly delicious! I always like to enjoy it with some fluffy mashed potatoes and a vegetable on the side. If you wanted to you could also add some tasty gravy.
WEDNESDAY, November 27th - Flat Meatballs and Gravy
On Wednesday I enjoyed Flat Meatballs and Gravy which is one of my absolute favorite meals. It is very rare that I would eat red meat any more than once in a week, but this was one of those rare weeks. I actually had some hamburger leftover from Monday that I needed to use and so I made myself a small batch of these flat meatballs. I absolutely love this dish. It was always a favorite of my children also.
Normally we go to the Big Scoop for dinner on Wednesdays, but we haven't been going that regularly lately as dad's friend Hazel is not wanting to drive in the dark on Wednesday nights. It will only be an occasional thing until the nights start drawing out again.
I enjoyed with some steamed rice and corn on the side. Carrots are also very good. Any vegetable is really. These are more like tiny ground beef patties than balls and they are cooked in a delicious mushroom gravy. This is a dinner that everyone enjoys
THURSDAY, November 28th - Brown Sugar Pineapple Pork Chops (for one)
While all of my readers and friends in America were enjoying their delicious Thanksgiving dinners I was enjoying Brown Sugar Pineapple Pork Chops. This was a recipe I discovered online. It looked so tasty and sounded fairly simple, so I downsized it to just one portion and made it for just me.
It was fabulous. The sauce was the perfect blend of sweet and tangy and the pineapple ring added a lovely touch of fruity pleasure. Fruit and pork are perfect partners. I enjoyed this with some rice, green beans and mashed squash.
FRIDAY, November 29th - Tuna Loaf with Mustard Cream
I was really craving some fish on Friday. I like to have fish at least once a week if I can. Usually, it will be in the form of tinned tuna or salmon, which are real budget savers. They are also considered oily fish which is very good for you.
This week I made myself a Tuna Loaf with Mustard Cream. I downsized the recipe to make a much smaller portion, cutting the original recipe in half. I also chose to bake it in custard cups rather than in a loaf tin. Difference size, but still delicious. It also cut the bake time down a bit.
I did make the lush mustard cream to go with it. The two are perfect partners. I confess this time I enjoyed it with some oven wedged potatoes that I cooked in the oven as well and some mixed frozen vegetables. This was a delicious and simple meal. I was able to freeze the extra portions of the tuna for another time.
SATURDAY, November 30th - Pizza Night
My sister called me on Saturday afternoon and invited me over for Pizza Night. I can never say "NO" to pizza and my sister makes a great pizza. It is always super delicious. We enjoyed it with some salad on the side and had sugar free jelly with squirty cream for dessert.
In its place I am sharing my recipe for New York Style Pizza. With foldable crisp slices, a delicious marinara sauce and lotsa lotsa cheese. I've never been to New York, and of course never tried their pizza, but I have read about it. Dreamt about it. wished for it. This is my delicious version of what I have read about. I can promise you, authentic or not, it is a very good pizza.
And there you have it, my main meals of the week for the past seven days! I truly hope that you will be inspired to want to try at least a few of the recipes for yourself and that you have found this post to be helpful in planning your own meals!
The ground meat patties with sauce are good, I make something almost the same with the addition of mushrooms. Tuna loaf is a good two for one meal, I would kill two birds with one stone by giving the leftovers to my cats for a special cat treat night.
ReplyDeleteI am sure your cats would really enjoy the tuna loaf. The meatballs are fabulous. I hope you will give them a go! xo
DeleteLove bef stew, haven't made it for ages. Tuna loaf is always good, hubby loves tuna but not in a cooked, prefers sandwiches. So it always makes a couple of dinners for me.
ReplyDelete