From My Kitchen - Weekly Meal Planning

Every Sunday I spend a few hours getting myself sorted for the week. This often includes baking for lunches, bread for the week, maybe yoghurt or mayonnaise if we need any, soaking and cooking any beans or legumes we may need during the week, and planning our week's meals. As we eat only seasonal and local produce, that comes from either the farmer's market (fresh each week), or our own garden, being organised helps ensure we use what we have, and that the produce is at it's best. This also makes cooking dinner after a long day at work easy, as all the thinking is already done, in a relaxed setting with a clear head! Spending time baking for our work lunches means we save money on buying something, which is often unhealthy and always overpriced, to feed a hungry tummy. Since I am already doing all of this planning, I have decided to start a weekly post to outline what is coming from my kitchen this week. I will also use it as an opportunity to share recipes and ideas for using local, seasonal produce from my area. If I don't publish a recipe you want to try, just ask, I am happy to share it.
Please feel free to share your own weekly meal planning, and if you don't do it already, I suggest you give it a try!

Baking:
- blue cheese and homemade spicy pear chutney scones
- oaty apricot and chocolate chip biscuits

Dinner:
- Sunday: sausages on the BBQ, salt n' vinegar wedges, garden salad (lettuce, baby silverbeet, radishes, carrots, avocado, red onion, fresh peas, herbs) with homemade balsamic dressing
- Monday: chickpea and lentil patties, coleslaw with homemade mayo, grilled asparagus
- Tuesday: chilli bean burritos, guacamole, garden salad (lettuce, baby silverbeet, radishes, carrots, avocado, red onion, fresh peas, herbs) with homemade mayo dressing
- Wednesday: Mediterranean brown rice salad
- Thursday: Paddy is cooking. He is not a huge planner, so it will be a surprise!

To Do:
- soak and cook chickpeas and kidney beans (for burritos)
- soak lentils and brown rice
- make mayonnaise
- make wholemeal rolls for the freezer
- grate and freeze cheese