Monday, September 24, 2012

Menu Plan Monday 5:2 Eating, Week 2

We are in to our second week of 5:2 eating and so far, so good. 

This week's meals are inspired by two magazines I had laying around my house:
Everyday with Rachel Ray, October 2011 and Food Network Magazine, October 2012

Monday: (fast day) Hungry Girl Chicken Fajita Lettuce Cups (the kids get their filling in home made corn tortillas)
Tuesday: Corn Chowder Mac and Cheese --Rachel Ray magazine
Wednesday: Pot Roast with Yorkshire puddings
Thursday: (fast day) Broccoli and Mushroom Quiche--Eat, Shrink and Be Merry Cookbook
Friday: Bratwurst with Potato cakes--Food Network Magazine

For lunch this week: Tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons--Food Network Magazine

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Menu Plan Saturday 5:2 Diet Week 1

Richard and I have recently started following the 5:2 Diet plan.  This means that two days of the week I will live on 500 calories in a day and Richard will live on 600.  The rest of the week we will eat normal, healthy meals.  My menu is going to stay family-friendly, but I will make sure that I have something very low-cal to go with whatever the kids are eating on fast days.


Sunday: Smothered Pork Chops and mashed potatoes
Monday (Fast Day): Sausages and Tomato Chickpea Spinach simmer
Tuesday: Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice
Wednesday:Pasta Fagioli Soup and Cheese toast or this one
Thursday:  (Fast Day): Beef and Broccoli stir fry with noodles
Friday: Pizza rolls
Saturday: Buffet

Breakfast treat this week: Crock pot apple cinnamon oatmeal
Special treat this week:  Anniversary cake

On fast days I won't be eating the sides with dinner (so no sausages or noodles for me on those days).

Once I am a couple of weeks in to my new diet plan I will blog some more about it and the results I am seeing.  Until then, if you have any questions, leave a comment!

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Pulled Pork Pot Pie

Today is Wednesday. It is going to be this year's Hell Day.  Why? I lead a playgroup in the morning, have kids come home for lunch, and then have to take a little girl to her violin lesson after school.  This means I am going to aim to do my lunch prep after breakfast and my dinner prep after lunch.  This will mean the crock pot gets called in to action on many Wednesdays.

Today I was chatting online with my friend Ashlee and between the two of us we came up with a way to use up some leftover pork roast  I had in my fridge.  This pie looks so good I am jotting some notes down here so I can remember what I did.

This is a "by the seat of your pants" casserole so the measurements here are very big guesses--eyeball it. It's casserole, not souffle!

Pulled Pork Pot Pie

Peel and cube 4-5 potatoes.  Simmer on the stove or microwave until tender. Mash with buttermilk, some grated cheddar cheese and some no-salt garlic herb mix.  Set aside.

While potatoes are cooking, in a large skillet fry 1/2 of a large onion in a couple of tablespoons of butter.  When golden, sprinkle over a couple of big spoonfuls of flour.  Add in a couple of cups of chicken broth (or do what I did and add in a couple of spoonfuls of vegetable bouillon and pour water over from the kettle to cover the bottom of the skillet) Add in one grated carrot, the kernels of one ear of leftover corn, 1/4 red pepper diced and about 1 pound of leftover cooked roast pork.  Simmer, stirring constantly, until gravy thickens.  Add in a big squirt of your favourite barbecue sauce (I love President's Choice Beer and Chipotle flavour).  Pour filling into a large casserole dish.  Top with mashed potatoes. 

Heat in a 375 degree oven until filling is bubbly and topping is browned a bit.

Eat.