As a desperate attempt to try and reduce the amount of money we spend on food, I've started planning out menus.
Pinterest has come in very useful for this! I've been pinning recipes to try and the kids have had fun choosing their favourites.
So far, we've tried
Honey Sesame Chicken and
Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with
Garlic Wedges.
The Honey Sesame Chicken was really nice and really easy and quick to make. I sealed the chicken before putting it in the slow cooker, as I was a bit paranoid. It uses a LOT of honey - almost a full jar! Next time I'm going to cut the amount and see what happens. I added a bit of chilli powder too and some frozen peas to the rice. I'm going to try it with brocolli another time. Everyone loved this, except Romany - ah well, can't please them all ;)
Last night we made the Veggie Burgers. They took a while to prepare as we had to boil the sweet potato before mashing it and par boil the potatoes for the Garlic Wedges. All the kids joined in! Mashing the beans was quite hard (we used cannellini and haricot beans) and I think a food processor on pulse would save time. I didn't have any of the seasonings the recipe used, so I subbed Hot Paprika and Garlic powder. It didn't really work as the burgers were really bland, so lesson learned, I'll use better seasonings next time! Apart from that, they were really nice, good texture and really filling. We had them with home made bread rolls, courtesy of Gabby, salad and avocado (only Gabby and I had the avocado though!) Dorian even had his own baby sized burger :) The Garlic Wedges were DIVINE! They were a bit floury still, so I'll make sure they are more coated in the oil next time.
Tonight we had an old standby - Macaroni (well pasta spirals!) Cheese with Spinach. Everybody loves this and it's quick and easy. Cook the pasta, make a cheese sauce, add the spinach, tip into a baking dish, cover with cheese, grill, eat!
All this searching out food ideas has sparked the kids' interest. Alex made his lovely(adapted)
Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake for me last night (at my request) and Gabby made a lovely Chocolate Cake with Buttercream and Walnuts today. Both were yummy and unsurprisingly they've all gone!
