This week's menu.

As a busy mother of 3 children, wife and dog owner extraordinaire, I often struggle to find time to sit down and plan ahead. This weekend however, thanks to Mr being on good form and the children largely creating their own fun, (ergo trashing their bedrooms, but then we can't have it all!) I was left to my own devises with a cup of fresh coffee and my recipe books, for a small amount of time on Saturday which, not only, gave me time to plan the meals for the week ahead but also order all the ingredients online with Tesco.com. (I don't often order from one specific supermarket, I usually use which ever one is closest, has the best deals or has recently sent me money off vouchers. I'm fickle like that.)
So, the fruits of my Saturday afternoon left me feeling slightly proud of my achievement and I wanted to share it all with you. I do love to cook, as I am a busy working mum, I rarely find time to cook everything from scratch everyday. However, due to my poorly start to the year, the children struggling to get back into the "school" routine and the miserable weather making us incredibly lazy I have decided that this week, everything will be home-cooked from scratch. for our evening meals.
I own and use a variety of cookbooks, this week, all the recipes have come from Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy and Gino D'Acampo's Italian Home Baking.
Monday: Duvet Day Chicken & Noodle Soup Served with Filone Rustica
Tuesday: Really Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Crispy, Crispy Crackling and Garlic Roast Vegetables
Wednesday: Beer Battered Fish with Oven Baked Chips
Thursday: Creamy Pancetta Pasta with Mushrooms and Parmesan Served with Stromboli
Friday: Warm and Cosy Coq au Vin
I have also made provisions to make my own Sausage Rolls, Granola Bars, Ciambellone and Panini al Latte for lunch boxes as well as a Pea & Mint Soup, Prosciutto & Brie Toasties and Satay Chicken for lunches at home and a Ciambellone loaf or two to get us through the week.
I am not against fast food or quick dinners in the slightest, but after nearly a month of 'not finding the time', I needed to make a change. I know we will all benefit greatly from an injection of home cooking and baking over the coming weeks. I am very lucky that my children are all great eaters and will try anything that they know mummy has stood in the kitchen preparing for ages (5+ hours in the case of the slow roasted pork shoulder!) and they love being part of the creation process.
I am thoroughly looking forward to preparing it all, enjoying the delicious smells of fresh-baked breads in the house and, of course, eating it all!
My husband will not be looking forward to cleaning up the kitchen after me!
Have a lovely week everyone!
;)