Meals of the Week, March 16th to 22nd

 

Hello everyone and welcome to my weekly Meals of the Week Post.  Every Sunday I like to share with you, my lovely readers, all of the delicious meals that I have enjoyed over the past seven days as my main meals.  That is a lot of tasty going on as I like to say!

These are the meals that I have enjoyed each day aside from my breakfast and a light supper. I usually enjoy my main meal mid-day to early afternoon, unless I am eating out or with friends.  Then I will keep to their schedule.

As an older woman (70 in August) who is living on her own, cooking and feeding myself can present a bit of a challenge, but if there is one thing I am up to that is a challenge and so I have challenged myself to eat a healthy and nutritious and budget friendly home cooked meal every day of the week.

The temptation can be there to eat a ready meal, or a frozen dinner, or even a takeaway, but let's be honest they are loaded with things we don't want to be eating a lot of when we get older.  Things like sugar, fat and salt.  Not to mention preservatives. I like to be able to pronounce everything that is in my food as much as possible.

I usually do eat at my sister's with the family every Sunday and so in that case I have provided a "like" recipe to use in its place.  I will sometimes eat out and will provide a recipe that you can make for that as well.

I will usually have a protein shake for breakfast, or sometimes a muffin if I have baked any, or my homemade granola with some yogurt and date syrup on top.

I will have my main meal around the middle of the day and then I will have a light supper of maybe a salad sometimes cereal, toast perhaps, or even some fruit, or a sandwich.  Trust me when I say I don't go hungry, but I do try to have it eaten before 7 o'clock. I don't like to eat anything after than.

Everything is fairly nutritious and falls within a budget.  I am a pensioner so money counts.  I do keep a variety of homemade ready meals in the freezer that I can haul out, if need be, but again these are made by myself from scratch.

I love to eat, and I love good food, and thankfully I also love to cook!  It is a challenge to go from cooking for a large family down to cooking for one, but I think I am managing things quite well, with not a lot of waste if I can help it.

Here are my meals for the past week, along with the pertinent recipes and menu suggestions!  I think you will agree with me when I tell you that it was another really tasty week!

 

SUNDAY, March 16th - Sunday Dinner at Cindy's

I had my usual Sunday dinner at Cindy's this week. She had done her famous oven roasted pork spareribs, which we enjoyed with mashed potatoes and carrots. My sister makes beautiful ribs.  We use the baby back ribs.

I have shared her recipe here for Best Oven Barbequed Ribs.  These are so tender they melt in the mouth.  They are a real treat.  We save recipes like this for when ribs are on offer and this week they were.   I bet you could do some tasty pork chops in the same manner. They just would not need to cook as long!

MONDAY, March 17th - Reuben Casserole

I had cooked a small piece of corned beef so that I could do something with the leftovers to share on here. It was just enough to do this recipe that I am sharing and I can tell you this was fabulously tasty. Reuben Casserole.  Everything you come to love in a Classic Reuben except in the form of a casserole.

With layers of buttered rye bread on the top and bottom and tasty layers of corned beef, sauerkraut, cheese and Thousand Island dressing inside.  I enjoyed some of this with some simple boiled new potatoes. It was lovely!  You really don't need anything else as the casserole contains plenty of protein and vegetables. I count sauerkraut as a vegetable.

TUESDAY, March 18th - Croissant Turkey Club Sandwich

On Tuesday I treated myself to a club sandwich, croissant style.  I probably wouldn't be able to eat a normal club sandwich now. I haven't the appetite. Three slices of bread and all of those fillings are a bit too much.  I can handle a simpler and smaller one in a flaky croissant however!

Here you have layers of crisp salty bacon, lettuce, thinly sliced tomato, shaved turkey and cheese, all tucked into a buttery flaky croissant with some mayonnaise as a dressing.  You could have some potato chips or fries on the side as well if you wanted, and have a heartier appetite, but on this day I was quite content to enjoy this just as is.  Deliciously filling it was!

WEDNESDAY, March 19th - Potato, Cheese & Onion Pie

Usually I will go out with my dad for supper on Wednesdays. I am taking a bit of a break from it for now.  He and Hazel went for Chinese Food this week.  I stayed home and enjoyed a nice homemade Potato, Cheese and Onion Pie.  This was something I had been craving for a while now. 

It's not really a pie at all but somewhat of a British Traditional meatless mashed potato casserole.You can either serve this as a vegetarian main or as a side dish to something else.  What you have here are delicious cheese and onion mash, with an egg beaten in to make it puff up in the oven and topped with sliced tomato.

It really is delicious. I enjoyed it with some baked beans (very traditional) and pickled beetroot with some buttered spelt sourdough bread on the side. 

THURSDAY, March 20th - Pork Chop Schnitzel

I treated myself to a pork chop on Thursday!  This time I did it up in the same manner as a schnitzel.  It was battered and breaded and then fried to tender and juicy perfection.  Crispy coated on the outside and juicy inside.

I enjoyed this with some lemon wedges for squeezing, mixed veggies and some steamed rice.  A nice creamy gravy would also go very well with this! (In which case I would enjoy it with mashed potatoes, but I had just had potato pie the day before so no. lol)

FRIDAY, March 21st - Creamy Tomato Soup with Sharp Cheddar Dumplings

Meat-free Friday for Lent with a delicious Tomato Soup, which was hearty and filling and incredibly delicious.  The soup on its own is amazing, with plenty of chunky tomatoes and onions. You can also blitz it smooth if you want it to be creamier.  I left the tomatoes in chunks.  

This is topped with some really delicious buttery sharp cheddar dumplings, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and onion.  This was quite filling and so I did not need anything else. I did have a cheeky piece of blueberry pie for dessert however.

SATURDAY, March 22nd - Loaded Baked Potato with a salad

Sometimes you just crave a baked potato, with a crispy skin and soft fluffy insides.  That was my fate on Saturday. Baked potatoes make a beautiful canvas for many other flavors.  You can enjoy them topped with cheese, or chili and cheese, baked beans, tuna mayonnaise, etc.

On this day I enjoyed one loaded with lots of steamed broccoli, cheddar cheese, crisp and smokey bacon, sour cream and spring onions. Oh, my but it was a real treat!  I had a mixed salad on the side with an herb vinaigrette and felt quite self-righteous as I was eating it all. Lots of vegetables and just a touch of bacon and cheese.  It was almost healthy!  ha ha!

And there you have it, my meals of the week for this the middle of March. I think I did rather well. Everything was tasty. Everything was simple. Nothing broke the bank! Please join me again next Sunday when I share my meals of the week again! I predict another delicious week!

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