From My Kitchen - Sunday 15th April

It will be a busy few weeks for me as I work to get my PhD research proposal and Ethics application handed in. Balancing study with a full-time job is hard work and doesn't leave much time for play! That said, I have a Tupperware party on Tuesday to look forward to, as well as a session next Sunday to 'get my colours done', as well as a complete wardrobe sort! Hopefully this means that the mountains of clothes I don't wear will either be revived or moved on, and my shopping in the future will have some direction. I'm quite excited!

Most of my recipes this week are from this amazing site. I love that you can search by season, ingredient, or type of recipe. Check it out for some amazing whole food inspiration!

Here's the menu for this week:

Dinner
Sunday - ginger soba noodles with roasted garlic butter zucchini rounds (ok, it's basically a marrow...)
Monday - something from Paddy's brain
Tuesday - sushi bowl with organic chicken, avocado, brown rice and spring onions
Wednesday - red lentil soup with lemon and kale with wholemeal chapatis
Thursday -  lemony chickpea stirfry (minus the tofu)

To Do
- soak brown rice
- soak chickpeas
- make chapati dough
- make wholegrain sourdough

From My Kitchen - Sunday 1st April

Last week of term = busy Amy! We also have family coming to stay for the weekend; the house needs a clean and the tins are empty, so it will be an even busier week than usual! I also need to make at least one batch of hot, hot buns! I usually do one batch a year, on Easter Sunday (I never bother with the cross, hence the name). I use a lovely recipe from River Cottage that includes crystalised ginger. Yum! Hunt it down and have a try if you are looking for a new recipe this year.
Here we go:

Dinner
Sunday - hunza pie with green salad
Monday - coconut cream mushroom cabonara
Tuesday - off to a Tupperware party so a big bowl of kale salad prior to will do me fine
Wednesday - pumpkin and millet cakes with jewel salad (a version of these but with pumpkin instead...)
Thursday - zucchini fritters with homemade chorizo crumbs and green salad

To Make
- weekly batch of muesli
- weekly batch of sourdough (Recipe coming soon. Have you made your starter yet?)
- zucchini chocolate cake (to help use up all the zucchini I have in the fridge!)

From My Kitchen - Sunday 25th March

Due to sickness and other events such as friends visiting etc, last week was a right off meal planning wise! However, I am back this week with a fridge full of delicious veges and a plan. A bit late maybe, but you know, life happens! I've got a yummy salad recipe this week, to help make a dent in that cabbage we all have lurking in the back of the fridge; and the first part of making your very own sourdough starter; so stay tuned!

Dinner
Sunday - slow-cooked Asian style pork shoulder with jewel salad and roast potatoes, with quince crumble for dessert!
Monday - leftover pork made into rice paper spring rolls with carrot, capsicum, zucchini, coriander and soy chilli dipping sauce
Tuesday - last cooking class of the term, this week it's lamb vindaloo with Bombay potatoes
Wednesday - feta, spinach and roast pumpkin cannelloni with green beans
Thursday - homemade pasta with roasted tomato sauce

To Do
- make sourdough
- make muesli

From My Kitchen - Sunday 11th March

Last week went by in a blur of activities - I didn't bother doing a meal plan as I only ate at home once! This week will hopefully be much more subdued as our visitor has left and evening events calm down. I haven't even opened my research proposal this week, which is a bit a naughty. I am aiming for 1000 words per week (not as easy as it sounds while also working a full-time job!) so will have to work extra hard this coming week to make up for it. I am really loving the work I am doing; the worst bit about it is trying to split my brain into work mode and writing mode; it can be very hard to separate out the two.

Anywho, here's the menu for this week:

Dinner
Sunday - leftovers! Free-range chicken and vege soup with Chinese dumplings (made with friends last night)
Monday - Paddy special: potato cakes with mushroom sauce and green salad
Tuesday - cooking class: this week it's beef in tamarind sauce with Nonya-style vege stirfry
Wednesday - spaghetti with roast pumpkin, sage, brown butter and greens
Thursday - marrow stuffed with brown rice and veges, topped with tomato sauce and cheese and baked until awesome!

Baking
- wholemeal, multi-seed sourdough
- homemade muesli

To Do
- nothing this week, it's all quick and easy!

From My Kitchen - Sunday 26th February

I've been sitting at my computer for the past 4 hours, working away on my research proposal for my PhD, so I am going to make this quick! Luckily it has been a rainy afternoon, so with a purring cat on my knee and dinner bubbling away on the stove, it hasn't seemed like much of a burden at all to be working on my weekend. Next week will be much calmer in our house, as Paddy's play has finished and he is back home at night. I might even be lucky enough to get a night off cooking dinner.
Here's the menu this week:

Dinner
Sunday - free-range, organic Chicken Marbella with dinosaur kale on brown rice
Monday - vegetarian quesadillas ala Paddy with navy beans, veges, salsa and homemade guacamole
Tuesday - cooking class: this week it's lamb and lentil curry with chapati
Wednesday - spaghetti with tomato, zucchini, lemon and garlic
Thursday - quinoa burgers with corn-on-the-cob and a huge green salad

Baking 
- wholegrain sourdough (I'm trying to replicate an AMAZING loaf I bought at the market this weekend)
- muesli (recipe to come)

To Do
- soak beans for burritos
- soak quinoa

From My Kitchen - Sunday 19th February

Well it has been a week of potentially exciting opportunities... Nothing I can share yet but things look like they may be changing quite a bit around here, sooner than we thought! (No, not a baby!). I have had a fairly lazy weekend, which has matched the changeable weather - housework was done, washing folded, animals tended to, a bit more garden has been taken over by things I want in it, time has been spent with friends, and a lot of blobbing out... Pretty good for a weekend, really. Paddy is in yet another play this week, which means a week of evenings alone at home. Although, my nights are actually quite full now, as I go to the gym, yoga and cooking class on different nights of the week. By the time it's the weekend, I am usually quite happy to be home! However, flying solo means dinners will be quick and easy. Here's whats on the menu this week:

Dinner
Sunday - a huge salad with mung and adzuki beans, kale, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, capsicum, apple, spring onion, sourdough croutons and a parmesan/garlic dressing.
Monday - fresh corn, capsicum and feta salad with chorizo
Tuesday - cooking class special. This week it's beef with black bean; honey chicken; and steamed fish with sour plum.
Wednesday - wholemeal flat breads with zucchini, feta and lemon topping, and a green salad.
Thursday - mushroom stroganoff with smashed new potatoes and a green salad.

To Do
- soak mung and adzuki beans
- make flatbread dough

Baking 
- wholemeal sourdough
- peanut butter bliss balls

From My Kitchen - Sunday 12th February

It's been another busy week here, with a new arrival to our family - an SPCA cat called Lola. She is possibly the most affectionate cat you will ever meet (she pretty much adopted me herself), cheeky, and soft as a cloud! Since I can't have any children for at least the next wee while due to study commitments, animals are providing a good distraction (even though it seems like EVERYONE is pregnant at the moment!).

Dinner
Sunday - off to the Chinese Lantern Festival, so something yummy from a stall
Monday - tom kha gai soup with organic chicken thighs, greens, red cabbage and capsicum
Tuesday - cooking class special: chicken gulai with carrot and cucumber salad (both Malaysian)
Wednesday - penne with mashed courgettes, basil and parmesan, and kale salad with apples and blue cheese
Thursday - vegetarian bean burritos with green salad

Baking
- more bliss balls (these are amazing!)
- wholemeal sourdough

To Do
- soak beans for burritos
- make chicken stock for tom kha gai

From My Kitchen - Sunday 5th February

It's a long weekend in NZ and I am LOVING having an extra day ahead of me before work starts. Last night was our house-warming, and it was so nice to see our new place filled with lots of our most special friends. I love entertaining, and I know that was the first of many, many to come! Today I have had a very lazy day, catching up with friends, and then blobbing out with my favourite TV series'. I don't usually watch TV as a habit, but I do have a few shows that I love. It's my own form of escapism, and a dreary, grey day in Christchurch is a good time to escape.

I'm doing a cooking class this term with a few friends, so every Tuesday my dinner will be something delicious and Asian-inspired from class. I'll be sure to share a few treats!

A new goal for me is to take more food to work. I usually take leftovers for lunch but never any snacks, so by lunchtime I'm starving (I have breakfast at 6.30am) and by home time I'm exhausted (not good when facing an hour long drive home). I stocked up on fruit at the farmer's market this weekend, and I plan on making some bliss balls and taking chopped veges and hummus too. This will be good, as it will also force me to step away from my work for more than just 15 minutes over lunch.

Dinner
Sunday - fresh spring rolls with chicken, carrot, cucumber, capsicum, lettuce, basil and a soy chilli dipping sauce
Monday - roast baby beetroot and feta salad with lentils and greens
Tuesday - cooking class special
Wednesday - garlic and thyme quinoa patties with kale salad
Thursday - spicy pork noodles with green salad

Baking
- wholemeal sourdough (I made new batch of starter for my new house!)
- bliss balls

To Do
- soak lentils
- make hummus for snacking on
- chop some veges for on-hand snacks (carrot, celery, capsicum)

From My Kitchen - Sunday 22nd January

Well, it's been a long time since I have written a meal plan! Now that I am settled into our new home and the work routine is back up and running, it seems sensible to revive this old regular as well. I've had a busy weekend in the garden, getting a rather spacious herb garden established. It's blissful to have all this space, and I am definitely going to make the most of it! Herbs are so easy and cheap to grow and so very expensive to buy. Anyone, no matter how small their garden is, should aim for at least a few pots of the cooking staples (I love thyme, corriander and rosemary). It will save you a fortune and you won't ever find yourself half way through a recipe, without the herb in question.

Dinner
Sunday - everything-in-the-fridge vege soup with cheesy spelt rolls
Monday - broccoli, mint and feta sauce with penne pasta
Tuesday - satay noodles with seasonal veges
Wednesday - vegetarian Tom Yum soup
Thursday - zucchini and mint fritters with smashed new potatoes and coleslaw

Baking
- banana, chocolate, chia and oat biscuits

From My Kitchen - Sunday 11th September

I haven't done a meal plan for a few weeks and it throws me all out of routine when I don't! My time has been taken up with mountains of paperwork that needs to be completed in order to apply for my PhD, and luckily Paddy has been home more this past week and able to contribute to cooking, which has been lovely!

We are still getting most of our veges from the market (having eaten the garden empty) but I am very much looking forward to the contribution the plot will make to our food stores! I adore summer food and can't wait to be eating fresh from my garden once again. Until then, here's what's on the menu this week...

Dinner
Sunday - mac n' cheese at the neighbours, BYO green salad
Monday - coconut curry soup with pumpkin, asparagus and brown rice
Tuesday - mung bean salad in homemade wholemeal tortillas
Wednesday - creamy lemon spaghetti with roast brussel sprouts
Thursday - vegetarian sushi with miso and edamame

Baking
- homemade muesli bars
- lemon curd
- five seed sourdough

To Do
- soak brown rice
- soak mung beans
- make tortillas

From My Kitchen - Sunday 21st August

It has been such a lovely weekend in Christchurch. After our second snow storm in three weeks, it has been such a treat to see the sun! I was very inspired yesterday to get out in the garden and started to feel positive about the space again. I had been feeling very unmotivated about the whole thing ever since the earthquake, but now I feel revived and ready to get stuck in again. I planted some new fruit trees, tidied up my herbal/medicinal garden and gave my strawberry bed a bit of VIP treatment. My plants had been furiously making babies and I managed to get 20 free plants from the runners! These are a wonderful variety of strawberries, which fruit continuously from about December till April/May. I managed to squeeze nine more plants into my patch and gifted the rest to my neighbour, Sharon.

The only thing left to tackle in my garden is the vege plot. As I have a small patch, I don't have the luxury of any kind of crop rotation, and I tend to be always planting, which means my poor soil never gets a rest. I have decided this week to try and empty whats left in my plot, and then give it a hefty fertilise/compost, so it is happy and ready to go when Spring planting starts. I might end up being a few weeks behind but it will be worth it in the long run.

So, this weeks meals are all planned around my vege plot. It currently contains: spinach, beetroot, carrots, kale, red onions, spring onions, broccoli and brussel sprouts and my goal this week is to eat it empty! I am also drawing on inspiration from a few different recipes I have tagged on Pinterest lately. I love trying new things, especially when it relates to food!

Dinner
Sunday: noodle salad with spinach, carrot, spring onion, homemade grilled halloumi and a pesto dressing
Monday: broccoli and homemade feta pasta sauce on wholemeal penne
Tuesday: raw tuscan kale salad with roasted brussel sprouts and quinoa risotto
Wednesday: upside down potato and onion tart with grated beetroot and carrot salad
Thursday: spinach souffle with roasted vege and quinoa salad

Baking
- wholemeal sourdough
- muesli bars

Coming up this week:

- halloumi tutorial
- homemade natural toilet cleaner
- my experiences with ditching shampoo...

From My Kitchen - Sunday 14th August

Well I am sitting here writing this and hoping for yet another snow storm to hit! This time it will be much more exciting and enjoyable as we now have a fully functioning heating system and are all snuggled up warm inside. The weather has been wild all day but still no sign of snow... Fingers crossed we wake up to a decent layer of white tomorrow morning...

I have borrowed a Moroccan cookbook off a friend and have ear-marked a few recipes to experiment with this week. On the stove at the moment is a pot of ridiculously easy split red lentil soup, it only takes 10 minutes to cook, smells amazing, and is made with ingredients I have in my cupboard - sounds pretty good to me! Here is what else I'm cooking for dinner this week...

Dinner
Sunday - Moroccan split red lentil soup with sourdough flatbreads
Monday - miso, leek, mushroom and soba cha noodle broth with pork and ginger dumplings
Tuesday - tagine of kefta meatballs with tomatoes and eggs (from my Moroccan cookbook!)
Wednesday - vegetarian shepard's pie with steamed broccoli and kale
Thursday - buckwheat kasha with roast veges

Baking
- wholegrain sourdough
- chocolate and craisin biscuits

To Do
- soak lentils and chickpeas (for shepard's pie)

Coming up this week (so I'm accountable and actually get around to posting things!):
- split red lentil soup recipe (cos' it's so darn easy and you should all make it!)
- my version of the super easy and delicious self-saucing chocolate mug puddings
- miso, leek, mushroom and soba cha noodle broth recipe
- an exciting new make-over project

From My Kitchen - Sunday 7th August

I'm a few days late this week as things are busy, busy, busy in my neck of the woods. I've been helping out with Paddy's school production, which opens tomorrow night and with the gym and acupuncture, I'm only just getting to sit down for a few minutes now! We have booked a trip to Melbourne in October, and to save money for it I have set myself a goal of not buying lunch for a single day this term. Usually I am pretty good but I can get a bit slack and it soon eats away at my money (no pun intended). I normally try to make sure I cook enough dinner for us to both have some for lunch the next day, and this works best if I dish it up when I serve dinner, so we aren't tempted by second helpings! However, on those days when there isn't enough I have a few go-to tricks to feed a hungry tummy. Watch this space for some cheap, quick and easy lunch ideas for thse busy working bodies out there. Anywho, here's dinner for this week:

Dinner
Sunday - dinner at the neighbours
Monday - lemon and caper chicken on brown rice with steamed broccoli
Tuesday - coconut cream mushroom cabonara with wholemeal penne
Wednesday - warm roast pumpkin, orzo and chorizo salad with a spicy dressing
Thursday - grilled halloumi on a lentil and greens salad with Asian dressing

Baking
- sourdough
- perfect recipe for self-saucing chocolate mug puddings (recipe coming!)

To Do
- soak brown rice
- make halloumi
- soak lentils

From My Kitchen - Sunday 31st July

So, this week is the first week back for the school term, after a lovely break from work. I have lots on this week - the gym on Monday night, accupuncture on Tuesday night and a few other bits and pieces to get through as well. Tomorrow night's dinner is a quick crock pot meal, but this week I am really lookin forward to Tuesday's meal - I've had this recipe filed away on my Pinterest for a while now and can't wait to taste it made up! I loooove peas, and we have a huge bag in the freezer from mum and dad's garden last Spring. Which reminds me, it's actually about time I planted my own peas, as I'm excited to say, it's allmmmooosst Spring here!

Dinner
Sunday - free-range pork sausages, roasted Brussels sprouts and kumara wedges
Monday - curried coconut pumpkin and chickpeas on brown rice (made in the crock pot)
Tuesday - spaghetti with green pea pesto
Wednesday - steak and mushroom pie with steamed broccoli and swede mash (we didn't end up having it last week!)
Thursday - fresh vege and noodle salad with creamy avocado dressing

Baking
- sourdough
- rhubarb muffins (also didn't end up having them last week)

To Do
- soak chickpeas
- soak brown rice
- defrost pie filling

From My Kitchen - Sunday 24th July

Brrr it's a cold one here at the moment - I can hear hail on the roof as I type this and we have had snow flurries throughout the day. Normally I would love this stormy weather but as we lost our heatpump to an aftershock about a month ago, it is not quite as nice to be huddled around a struggling oil heater instead. And you better believe getting out of bed is a mission in itself! Luckily, we are supposedly on an 'emergency waiting list' and should hear from someone in the next 7-10 working days but I am not hopeful... Until then, soup is most definitely on the menu!

Dinner
Sunday: curried mushroom soup with homemade ciabatta
Monday: warm lentil salad with roasted baby carrots and cauliflower cheese
Tuesday: I'm getting taken out for a dinner date, lucky me!
Wednesday: individual baked pumpkin soups (like these, how cute are they!) with cheese sticks and a green salad
Thursday: steak and mushroom pie with a green salad

Baking
- muffins for the freezer - perhaps rhubarb, as I have quite a stash in the garden
- spelt sourdough

From My Kitchen - Sunday 10th July

It is the last week of the school term this week, which means I am almost on holiday! After such a busy term and a hell of a year so far, I have decided to take a whole week off during the holidays to catch up on some house stuff and generally relax a bit. I want to attempt a 3-day detox and buy an all-you-can-go hot yoga pass to help with the detoxing and relaxing. I am so excited to be able to spend some time just chilling out and calm my soul for a while. This week will likely be a blur, as I rush through to get everything done before my holiday. Dinners are quick and simple this week and baking is almost non-existent. Trying out a few new baking recipes is definitely on my list of things to do these holidays!

Dinner
Sunday - dinner with the neighbours
Monday - free-range sweet chilli chicken with spinach on brown rice
Tuesday - pumpkin barley risotto with crispy sage leaves and roasted balsamic beetroot
Wednesday - miso soup with mushrooms, greens and soba noodles
Thursday - roast vegetable frittata with greens

Baking
- sourdough spelt

To Do
- make coconut kefir
- make kombucha
- soak brown rice
- marinate chicken

From My Kitchen - Sunday 3rd July

Well, it's been a very cold week in my house. Our heat-pump decided to spontaneously break last Sunday and finding an Electrician in this city is proving near impossible. Unless you want to wait 3-4 weeks, of course. We have now been a whole week without any substantial heating and it's freezing!! So, soup and lots of clothes are on the menu for this week. The soup I will be eating and the clothes I will be wearing; unless things get desperate...

Dinner
Sunday - Asian chicken noodle soup (a variation of this recipe)
Monday - slow-cooked spicy Italian sausages with cannellini beans
Tuesday - something with mince, courtesy of Paddy and his craving (only a boy would crave mince!)
Wednesday - mushroom soup with wine and creme fraiche
Thursday - roast pumpkin and homemade feta cannelloni with greens

Baking
- spelt sourdough

To Do
- soak cannelini beans
- make kombucha
- soak and sprout mung beans
- make coconut milk kefir

From My Kitchen - Sunday 26th June

As you can see from my last post, things are a bit rough around here and I'm really very tired. But, I'm trying my best to keep up a routine, and meal planning really helps with that. So, here's this week's menu:

Dinner
Sunday - pasta with to-die-for tomato sauce
Monday - broccoli, cauliflower and blue cheese soup with spelt sourdough and cultured butter (yum!!)
Tuesday -Thai green curry with free-range chicken thighs and greens on brown rice
Wednesday - free-range chicken livers with onions, garlic, mushrooms and red wine sauce on spelt sourdough toast with a green salad
Thursday - Moroccan pumpkin and chickpea casserole with homemade garlic naan

Baking
- spelt sourdough

To Do
- soak brown rice
- soak chickpeas
- make coconut kefir (for breakfast smoothies)
- make weekly kombucha

From My Kitchen - Sunday 12th June

Finally, a week that will have some sense of normality to it! Paddy's play finally closes on Tuesday night after a successful, sell-out season and I get him back at night! Well, at least until the next one starts... Dinners this week are very much seasonally inspired, after a fresh batch of mushrooms from my mum (we buy a kilo a fortnight from a grower at her work) and a huge delivery of avocados from Paddy's mum, who was down to visit for the weekend. If you have never tried avocado pasta before I highly recommend it! I have a few different versions of my own, but the linked recipe is a great start too. There will definitely be avocado in the rice paper rolls as well; I can't get enough of the stuff! The mushroom barley risotto is a take on this recipe. I made it tonight as I cooked Sunday's dinner, since Monday's is my busy gym night. It smells amazing and I can't wait for dinner tomorrow night to have some! I will post the recipe in the next few days, as it's another cheap and delicious staple.

Here's the plan for this week:

Dinner
Sunday - free-range pork sausages with potato-celeriac mash and roasted yams, broccoli and brussels sprouts
Monday - mushroom barley risotto with raw spinach salad
Tuesday - creamy avocado pasta with greens
Wednesday - organic chicken curry on brown rice
Thursday - Vietnamese rice paper spring rolls with satay dipping sauce

Baking
- some flavour of raw truffles for snacks
- spelt sourdough

To Do
- soak brown rice
- soak cashews for truffles
- weekly kombucha

From My Kitchen - Sunday 6th June

A day late again, but since it's a holiday, I'll forgive myself. It has been a busy and relaxing weekend in my world. Paddy's play finally opened on Saturday night, and I have had time to catch up with three different groups of friends this long weekend, as well as finishing a long awaited knitting project! My favourite thing about long weekends is the short week that coincides, and this week coming is no exception. This is the last frantic week for a while, as Paddy's play will close next week and life will return to some sense of normality! Dinners this week are all being cooked the night before, as Paddy needs to eat and leave the house by 5.30pm each night, which is before I even get home! Luckily, my lovely neighbour Sharon has offered to feed us for a couple of nights, so I don't have too much to worry about. But for the remaining days, here's the plan:

Dinner
Sunday - out for Vietnamese with friends
Monday - mushroom cabonara (from Sharon) with homemade spelt sourdough
Tuesday - slow-cooked free-range pork chops in a soy, ginger and chilli sauce on brown rice with steamed greens
Wednesday - dinner at the neighbours (silverbeet and mince 'Pleasent Peasant' dish)
Thursday - roasted vege and chickpea salad with extra greens

Baking
- a thank-you cake for the neighbours!

To Do
- soak rice
- prep veges the night before each meal
- soak chickpeas
- weekly kombucha