Meal Plan - Oct 7

Yesterday I got my longest run (16.97km) done since completing the Brisbane half 2 months ago. It was hot but it felt good. Not my fastest time but I am truly just happy to be out there and hopefully inspiring a couple of other friends to keep going. I do have to be mindful of the wildlife though - at one stage a quite large brown snake was inhabiting the same path as I was running along. I chose to let him have the path and ran along the road instead.

On a food note, another week of meal planning is done after a couple of slack weeks. It really helps to not only save money and time but also means that we eat healthier as I don't end up buying impulse items at the supermarket every afternoon.


Monday

 Tandoori Chicken
For some unknown reason I've been craving this one lately but never got around to making it until now. Simple to prep and quick to cook. It's great done on the BBQ too.

Tuesday

Steak and roast potatoes
It's great BBQ weather here at the moment. Warm but not too hot and no mozzies, yet. My boys ask for these potatoes nearly every week when I ask for their input on the week's meal plan. What i love about the site where I got the recipe (Natasha's Kitchen link here) is that she posts the how to photos for each recipe. Personally, it makes it so much easier to decide if I'm going to like a recipe.


Wednesday

Slow cooker Chicken and Chorizo pilaf
Quick and easy. Perfect for mid week.

Thursday

 Teriyaki Pork meatballs
I 'd feel weird if I didn't have a recipe from Budget Bytes (link here) in my meal plan. Beths site is one that i regularly check for new recipes. The last time that I made this one both of my boys had given it a 10/10 before I even had a chance to sit down and start eating myself.


Friday

(Herb crumbed) baked salmon
I cheat and use pre-packaged bread crumbs and I normally add more/different herbs than just basil - parsley and chives work well. A few comments suggest adding lemon rind which I have done when I have a lemon in the fridge and it makes a nice flavour addition. One of the comments said that they add pinenuts to the crust mix which sounds delicious so I will try that this week.
I'm going to make home made baked chips to go with this one rather than a salad

Recipe - Healthy muesli bars

Healthy muesli bars

Ingredients

2 bananas

2 cups quick oats (also called minute oats) Regular oats will also do i just like the fineness of quick ones

1 tbs LSA mix

1/4 cup cashews and almonds  - chopped. You can chop them as finely or coarsely as you like. You could even leave them whole but as I was making this for kids I needed them to be chopped. You can also use any nuts you like - I simply had almonds and cashews in my cupboard today

1/4  cup choc chips - Optional. If you'd prefer to leave out the chocolate simply add more nuts to make up to half a cup in total

1 tsp vanilla ess - Optional
Honey

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (approx 355 F) and line a rectangular pan with baking paper.
2. Mash the banana

3. Add the oats, LSA, nuts, choc chips (if using) and vanilla (if using)

4. Mix until combined

5. This is where the honey comes in. If you feel that the mix is a bit dry simply add some honey. I sometimes only add 1 tbs just to help with the binding. The mix can be dry if you've used regular oats or if the bananas were on the smaller side. If you don't feel that you need it simply leave it out.

5. Press the mix into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for approx 20-25 minutes. Cool and then chop into muesli bar slices.

Great for school lunches and I find mine will keep for a few days wrapped in baking paper and in a tupperware type container