Weekly Meal Plan Week 14

With this week’s meal plan we will try to re-balance our system’s overindulgences and take into account our shortage of time during the school holiday period.  Trying to keeping the dinners lighter and as easy as possible.

Did you overindulgence in Chocolate over Easter? How are the school holidays going? Just one more week to go then you can get back to our usual routine!

Monday: For Meat Free Monday  try Black Pepper Stir Fried Noodles  from Pinch of Yum. These are delicious, serve with extra Chinese greens on the side.  We did not use Udon noodles but replaced with the Japanese Ramen noodles instead.  I bought hard tofu but it was still quite soft, it may be best to head to a specialist store like CitySuper. 

Tuesday:  Kale & Quinoa Minestrone Soup  –  Because sometimes one meat free meal just isn’t enough!  

Wednesday:  Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce  Not exactly the quickest meal to prepare but if you’ve got a spare hour it really is well worth the effort.  It’s not complicated or tricky and you could get the kids helping roll the balls! Also you can keep this meal lighter by not eating it with pasta, have you tried spiralized courgette as a pasta replacement?

Thursday:  Something quick and easy  today with minimal prep, along the lines of a simple Tray Baked Chicken.  If you had the tray baked chicken recently then replace with pork instead.  Same principle, just use: 600-800g of Pork collar cut into cubes, place in a baking tray, season with salt & pepper, add plenty of garlic cloves, a few sprigs of thyme.  Cook at 200C for 30-35 minutes or until nice and golden brown, verging on crispy.  Serve straight from the baking tray, with a side salad and crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Friday:  Pizza – Make the dough the night before and let rise overnight in the fridge for a slow fermentation which will result in a super tasty dough. Top with no more than 3 or 4 toppings and serve with a salad.  Alternatively, For those fiercely wanting to keep things on a lighter tone this week – have you tried Cauliflower Crust Pizza yet?  I just experimented with it this week – it was surprisingly tasty, the only problem is the base did not crisp up. Here’s the link to the recipe I used.  Let me know if you make it, would love to know your results and any tips on getting that base more crispy!

At the Weekend:

Baking: Still got lots of Easter chocolate hanging around?  Get the kids in the kitchen helping out with this dead simple no-bake Chocolate Crispy Fridge Cake. Oh no, you ate all your chocolate?  Get down to the supermarket, there’s probably a surplus Easter chocolate on sale!  

Did you make anything from last week’s weekly meal plan?  If you did, let me know how you got on.   All feedback and suggestions welcome. Don’t be shy to share your ideas and thoughts in the comments box below. I’d love to hear from you.

Have a good week!

gx

P.S. Don’t forget you can follow me on INSTAGRAM for lots more recipe inspiration!