Sunday, January 6, 2008

Menu Plan Monday


This is my second shot at sharing my meal plan for the week. I have included one recipe for a main meal and a recipe for a quick and very tasty morning tea treat that I will be making to take to our friends place this week and they can be found at the end of this post.



Menu Plan for week beginning 7th Jan 2008:

Monday – Fried Rice

Tuesday – Chicken Stir Fry with Rice
Baking White Choc Chip Muffins

Wednesday
– Spaghetti Bolognaise

Thursday – Sausages and Salad

Friday – Left overs – clean out the fridge!

Saturday - Chicken wings, corn on the cob and baked potatoes.

Sunday – Oven Baked Fish and Vegetables

Look forward to seeing what everyone else has planned!



Recipe for Fried Rice

Although we call this dish fried rice, the rice is not actually fried so it quite healthy and the kids love it.


Ingredients
2 cups Rice White (yes I know I should use brown, but I just can’t!)
1 Large Capsicum Red chopped finely
3 Large Carrots grated
8 Rash Bacon (I use Shortcut Rindless) chopped
6 Large Eggs
6 sticks of Spring Onions
3 tbsp olive oil


Instructions
1. Put rice on to cook by your preferred method. We have a rice cooker and I use that.
2. While rice is cooking I tend to get each ingredient ready. Firstly I crack all eggs into a bowl and beat lightly.
3. Chop bacon into even pieces, about 1.5cm x 1.5cm.
4. Peel and grate carrots.
5. Finely chop capsicum
6. Slice finely the spring onions
7. Heat a large non stick frying pan to a medium temperature and then pour egg mixture into pan. Cook this like an omelet, pulling away the sides to enable all of the mixture to cook. Once the mixture has firmed and looks like it has browned slightly on the bottom, then using an egg lifter, divide the egg into four parts. This makes it easier to turn each section over to cook the other side. Once the second side has browned, remove from the pan and allow to cool.
8. Add oil to the pan and turn up heat slightly. Once oil is hot, add the bacon and cook to desired taste. I like it to be crispy.
9. Leaving the bacon in the pan, add spring onions and cook, stirring constantly for about a minute.
10. Add the capsicum and carrot, cooking and stirring frequently for about 2-3 minutes.
11. Chop egg into pieces of about 2cm x 2 cm.
12. Turn heat down on pan to low and add rice, mixing the ingredients through.
13. Finally add egg to the pan and mix through evenly.
14. Season with salt and pepper if required.

My children love to have this with some sweet chilli sauce or soy sauce drizzled on top.





Recipe for White Choc Chip Muffins



Ingredients:
2 cups self raising flour
½ - ¾ cup caster sugar (I think it was actually ¾ but I always reduce it to about ½ cup)
¾ cup milk
½ cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 cup white choc chips (if large chips chop roughly first)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Sift flour and sugar into a bowl. Mix and make a well in the middle.
3. In a separate bowl mix the remaining ingredients (except choc chips).
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into well and mix with a wooden spoon. Muffins are best when made quickly and not over mixed.
5. Add choc chips and mix lightly through.
6. Spoon into well greased muffin pans or patty pans in muffin tray
7. Cooking time depends on the size and oven, but 12 -15 minutes is about average for the standard patty pan size.

8 comments:

icklekids said...

The recipes sound really yummy and easy ... the kind of recipes I love! The white choc chip muffins sound great - I'll give it a go this week and let you know! You've inspired me to go outside my usual meal repertoire and plan a bit better! I will be sure to log on and try your recipes!

AnnCee said...

Oh Ive actually got the ingredients for those muffins in my pantry! I think Ill assign that job to one of the teenagers so they will be ready for me when I get home from work. I also LOVE homemade fried rice. Mmmmmm

Bonnie said...

Thanks for stopping by ! Your fried rice recipe looks good. As for the brown rice ... have you ever tried brown basmati ? I don't find it to be any different than white basmati in taste and often use it ... when my health food store has it stocked which is not always. grrr ...

Marcia Francois said...

I'm a planning nerd with you LOL :)

I only discovered what capsicum was when we visited Australia in 2004 (we call them peppers here in South Africa).

Your fried rice sounds delicious - I'm going to try next week! But with brown rice :)

Nice to meet you :)

Michelle said...

it all sounds so yummy:) thanks for the blog visit..have a great day.

Nicole said...

Yummm... the muffins sound really good. I will have to try those. Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

Dara said...

I love fried rice but never make it at home. I think my youngest would enjoy it too, so thanks for the recipe!

Cath said...

Is it fried rice if it doesn't have bacon? (sorry vego's) I love a bit of corn in my fried rice too - gotta be golden circle. I'm loving menu planning monday - it's inspiring. I actually did write down some dinners for us this week, then trotted off to market on tuesday. Because of the heat it was salad week: Mon: grilled chicken salad (fancy lettuce, toms, cuc, etc) with some of tomo's yummy gomo dressing, Tues = teriaki beef & veg skewers with pot mash, Wed = Tuna patties with salad, Thurs = lamb, fetta & olive greek salad, Fri = salad of fish & chips prepared by fishnchip man, Sat - Asian Beef salad with lemon, soy & ginger dressing.