I asked followers what you wanted to see here and the loudest answer that came back was “dinner ideas” so while I’m working on loads of those here’s our latest week in dinners which might introduce something new to you.
This was the first week for a while where I felt that I was a bit more organised about dinners. On Friday night I’d asked the kids if there were dinners that we hadn’t had in a while that they would like to have in the coming week so that helped with the inspiration too. They chose their old favourites, things we’ve been cooking for years and that will always get eaten. Here’s what we ate for dinner last week:
Monday – Pasta All’Amatriciana
Monday night is pasta night, it has been for about a year, it saves me thinking about what to cook and I know it’ll be made quickly and eaten and that the washing up won’t be too bad. The favourite is Pasta All’Amatriciana, a slightly spicy tomato sauce with pancetta in it and finished with fresh basil. I’ve been making it with passata or half passata, half tomatoes lately as some people
Tuesday – Sausage Bean and Leek Casserole
This was Laoise’s request, it’s her absolute favourite dinner, and it goes down well with everyone else too. We had it with creamy mashed potato, comfort on a plate. The recipe is here.
Wednesday – Chili Con Carne
Another favourite, that’s what happens when you ask the kids what they want for dinner next week, they choose their favourites. I made it on Tuesday afternoon so I had more free time on Wednesday (who am I kidding I did the school and gymnastics runs, supervised homework and rescued lunch boxes from bags and then it was time to make the rice). I’ve made the same chili con carne for years- i fry mince and chopped onion, add tins of tomatoes, cumin, coriander and chili powder and mix well, then add kidney beans. I serve with rice and the kids garnish their with grated cheese and eat if from wraps. We had tortilla chips with it this week as I found a bag in the back of the press.
Thursday- Turkey Egg Fried Rice
I made extra rice on Wednesday and stir-fried it to make a turkey version of this Bord Bia recipe. I served mine with sriracha for a kick, the kids didn’t.
Friday – Frozen Pizza
I always keep emergency pizza in the freezer, I was off sick from work and we had tickets for the local panto, so we had freezer pizza before we went, I chopped red peppers and tomatoes and spinach and left them on the table for those who were inclined to have a vegetable. I didn’t photograph it, because I expect you all know what frozen pizza looks like.
That’s the most organised we’ve been for a while, lots of “good dinners” and not too much time spent in the kitchen. Now to try to do it all again, every week until forever. I’m also going to aim to cut down our meat consumption, as you can see it forms a large part of our eating, so to even sub one dinner a day with a veggie option would be a big difference and a challenge to some of my children who are not vegetable fans. Let’s see how we get on.
For more week in dinners posts check out this link Week in Dinners I’ve been sharing them the past few years from time to time so there’s quite a stock. If anyone would like to guest share their week in dinners message me, I just next text, recipe links if you have them and a couple of photos to make the post look pretty. You can message me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or leave a comment below.