Monday Menu Plan: Week Beginning 16 January

My KitchenAid Mixer - beautiful and full of grunt

I got a magnificent surprise in the mail today.  Not in an envelope which had been addressed by hand.  Not in a package delivered early in the morning by the parcel post man.  Although I find both of those exciting.  Today it was a letter from the Deputy Head of School at Uni.  It was a very encouraging letter acknowledging academic achievement whilst maintaining family, work and other pursuits.  When you study online sometimes it feels like you are studying in a bit of a void - but apparently not.  I suspect I will keep that letter close at hand to encourage me on those days when I sit here and think "I do NOT know how I am going to get this assignment written".  Trust me, it happens!

We've a trip to Costco planned for later in the week, so this week's menu is all about making room in the freezer and using up some more of what is stashed in there.  You'll remember that I posted about my diving into the depths of it for meals a couple of weeks ago.  After a week away, I'm back to my diving.  I think almost my entire menu plan this week is free of the need to buy meat.

Monday:  Slow roasted beef; vegies
Tuesday: Marinated chicken wings; salad
Wednesday:  BBQ steak; salad
Thursday:  Pasta bolognaise (using leftover frozen meat sauce)
Friday:  Osso Bucco; pasta
Saturday:  Orange crumbed chicken; vegies
Sunday:  Pumpkin & sweet potato soup; bread & butter

I'm having one final attempt at producing a moist succulent beef roast.  It is the one thing that has continued to allude me.  That and light, fluffy scones.  I've slow-roasted it and managed to keep the temperature right.  The vegies are in the oven now, so we'll see how it all turns out soon.  The steak planned for Wednesday will be the topside roast cut into steaks.  I somehow don't think topside is conducive to a nice roast, when you're as challenged by this as I am.

Joolz commented on yesterday's post to tell me about a great blog with lots of slice recipes.  Guess what I'm going to be doing this week?  Yep - simple baking.  I haven't looked around the rest of the blog yet.  Perhaps tomorrow.

What are you having for dinner this week?