Meal Planning Monday - week 42

I'm a sucker for pretty stationery and love notebooks, sticky notes and so on. I went into Paperchase last week to literally just buy a pencil (for scribbling notes in my choir music) and ended up spending £8 on this magnetic meal planner. How cute is that?!

Each week is a page that you tear off afterwards - I prefer this to the wipe-clean kind even though it is less economical, because I always find the pen that you get with the wipe clean boards runs out or goes missing, and this just looks neater. And if you really wanted, you could keep each week's page for future reference!



It also comes with a shopping list notepad (in the far right of the picture) which is really helpful. My only quibble is that Saturday and Sunday are smaller boxes but it's at the weekend that I do more cooking and plan lunches as well as dinners, so I would prefer to have more room for those days, not less!





We are both back at work this week and at the moment have no social events or evenings out planned, but I feel I have neglected my friends lately in favour of redecorating and my boyfriend and I could use a 'date night' as we haven't had one for ages (unless you count the evening we went round Ikea!). So this week's meal plan may change as and when I arrange to see people. However, I've just read there are tube strikes planned for this week from Tuesday to Thursday so maybe I won't plan to go out after work at all!



I am sharing my meal plan with At Home With Mrs M for her 'Meal Planning Monday' blog hop as I usually do. This time she has started a new regular slot called 'Meet the Meal Planner' and the first person to take part is yours truly. So if you're interested in finding out more about how and why I do my meal plans, head on over to her site and read this.

Monday

I'm at a choir rehearsal in the evening so my boyfriend will have dinner at his mum's



Tuesday

I have to go to some after-work drinks so will be home a bit late and need something quick so have bought frozen pizzas.



Wednesday

Chicken curry for him, prawn curry for me



Thursday

I'm out at a work colleague's leaving dinner so my boyfriend will probably have dinner at his mum's



Friday

Tacos with potato wedges



Saturday

Lunch spaghetti carbonara

Dinner Slimming World cheesy broccoli and potato bake from 'Comfort food that slims' with sausages (Quorn sausages for me)



Sunday

Lunch baked camembert with crusty bread - yes, I know that doesn't really fit with Slimming World...

Dinner Slimming World Mediterranean chicken tray bake from 'Comfort food that slims'

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Island Chicken

This month's letter for Alphabakes isn't an easy one - i. Other than icing, not a huge amount springs to mind. I made Idaho potato cake last time the letter came up for Alphabakes in March 2013 - quite an original idea, I thought. This time I was at a bit of a loss, and hadn't unpacked any of my cookery books since moving house (though they now have their own bookcase in the kitchen which is a joy to behold!). I had a browse around on the internet and came across a dinnertime recipe called 'island chicken'. Which island though, I don't actually know!



This is quite a zingy recipe using vinegar (trust me, it works); the soy sauce makes me think the island in question might be somewhere in Asia but with other ingredients including paprika, celery salt, cloves and rosemary I don't really know. If anyone has a guess as to the origins of this recipe, please let me know!



As I was making it I was a little dubious about how it would taste but it was really nice and I would definitely class this dinner as a success.



I largely followed the recipe from the link above, but missed out the beaten eggs which you dip the chicken in before you breadcrumb it, as it was already wet enough from the marinade. I also didn't have any rosemary and didn't use the green pepper for the 'gravy'.



Also, I used chicken thigh fillets which are fairly small so the chicken didn't need anything like the hour in the oven that this recipe calls for; I think I had it in there for less than half that. I served it with vegetables and mashed potatoes.

The marinaded chicken

In breadcrumbs, about to go in the oven

making the sauce

and serve

I'm sending this to Alphabakes, the challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter I have chosen this month is I.

s chicken pieces

1/2 cup vinegar or lemon juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1/2 teaspoon powdered clove

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

2 eggs (beaten)

1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper - See more at: http://ift.tt/1vWDk1T

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Tinolang Manok sa Zucchini

Tinolang Manok sa Zucchini. I was craving for chiken tinola but I cannot find papaya or sayote at the supermarket, I thought zucchini would be a good alternative. This is not the first time that I used zucchini on some of my Pinoy Dishes. I even have a version of pinakbet using zucchini as one of the vegetable ingredients.

Please note that zucchini cooks quickly and becomes really soft and mushy when overcooked, I suggest that to add the zucchini at the end of cooking do not overcooked it should still be crisp.

I have also used some baby spinach in addition to the zucchini. Cooking is straight forward, it is basically the same with my tinola recipes in the archives.



Tinolang Manok with Sotanghon

Tinolang Manok sa Patola

Tinolang Manok sa Ampalaya

Tinolang Manok sa Papaya

Chicken with Ampalaya Tendrils and Sotanghon

Chicken Binakol

Chicken Halang Halang



Here is the recipe of my Tinolang Manok sa Zucchini.





Ingredients:



1 kilo chicken, cut into serving pieces, bone in

4-6 zucchini, cut into wedges

150 g baby spinach

2-3 thumb size ginger, skinned, cut into strips

1/2 head garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped

1 medium size onion, peeled, chopped

3-5 pcs. long green chili

1 tsp. peppercorns

1/4 cup fish sauce

1 tsp. sugar

salt

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



In a large sauce pan sauté garlic, onion and ginger until fragrant, add in the chicken and stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the fish sauce and stir cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in 4 to 6 cups of water, add in the peppercorns bring to boil and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Then add in the sugar, long green chili and zucchini simmer for another 3 to 4 minutes or until zucchini are just cooked. Correct saltiness if required, add in the baby spinach and cook for another 1 minute. Serve hot.

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Slow Cooker Baked Potato

I haven't used my slow cooker for a few months since I moved in August, so was inspired by the Slow Cooker Challenge on Farmersgirl Kitchen to dig it out. Janice, aka Farmersgirl, has an open theme this month so I had a look around on other blogs to find something that would be fairly easy. I came across a couple of recipes for jacket potatoes done in the slow cooker - it never occured to me to bake them like that. Jacket potatoes take a good 1-2 hours in the oven depending on size (I like to choose the biggest potato I can find) and in a slow cooker they take pretty much all day: about 4 hours on the high setting, or up to 8 hours on the slow setting, which the other bloggers recommended. However, I wanted a baked potato for lunch and wasn't getting up that early in the morning, so I did mine on the high setting.



One useful tip I came across was to wad up little balls of tin foil and place them on the bottom of the slow cooker, and the potato (wrapped in foil) on top. This stops the bottom of the potato from being in contact with the base of the slow cooker and developing a brown spot.



I rubbed the potato with a little oil before I wrapped it in foil but that was all I needed to do. Four hours later I had a beautifully soft potato. The skin didn't crisp up which I do quite like, but then sometimes in the oven I find the skin crisps too much and is inedible (I really enjoy the skin of a baked potato though I know a lot of people don't).

I was in the mood for a sour cream and chive filling but didn't have any sour cream or any chives. Instead, I had a little pot of blue cheese salad dressing so I mixed some of that with a spoonful of mayonnaise and two spoonfuls of fat free natural yogurt, and added some chopped parsley (the only fresh herb I had) on top. It tasted lovely!



I wouldn't normally bake a jacket potato in the slow cooker over doing it in the oven if I was at home, but the beauty of the slow cooker is that you can put it on then go out all day. So if you want a baked potato with your dinner but don't want to wait an hour or more after you get home from work (if like me you aren't home until 7pm) rather than having to do it in the microwave I would definitely recommend doing it in the slow cooker. And the blue cheese and parsley filling was very tasty!



As already mentioned, I'm sending this to the Slow Cooker Challenge, hosted by Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen.

Using a slow cooker is also more economical than using the oven and potatoes are cheap as chips (literally) so I am sending this to Credit Crunch Munch, the thrifty cooking challenge hosted by Hannah at A New Addition on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All.

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Chicken Bopis

Chicken Bopis. To Overseas Pinoys who are lovers of bopis and have for some time craving the dish but cannot cook one because the pork or beef internal organs for some reasons are not available in your locations, I would like to share a chicken version instead. Otherwise try my vegetarian version Vegeterian Bopis.

Occasionally on some supermarkets here in Australia chicken innards are available, and I am sure it may be available elsewhere specialty where there is a large community of Asian or Filipino in particular. For the chicken innards ingredients of my version of Chicken Bopis, I used the hearth, gizzard and liver. Similar to my pork bopis recipes the chicken innards has to be parboiled before chopping to small cubes. Just remember that the gizzards will take longer to cook.



Here is the recipe of my version of Chicken Bopis, bring out the beer! the mango beer?

Ingredients:



1/2 kilo chicken hearth, parboiled, diced, finely

1/2 kilo chicken gizzard, parboiled, diced, finely

1/4 kilo chicken liver, parboiled, diced, finely

1 medium size labanos, skinned, diced finely

1 medium size carrot, skinned, diced finely

1 red bell pepper, deseeded, diced finely

1 green bell pepper, deseeded, diced finely

2-3 red long chili, sliced

2 tablespoon black pepper, coarsely ground

1/2 head garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped

1 medium size onion, peeled, chopped

1/4 cup atsuete / annatto in oil

2-3 pieces hot chili, chopped

1/4 cup soy sauce

3/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup patis

3-4 pieces bay leaf

cooking oil

salt

Cooking procedure:



In wok sauté garlic and onion till fragrant, Add in diced chicken hearth, liver and gizzard and stir cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until it start to sizzle. Add in vinegar and cook for 2 to 3 minutes now add in annatto oil, patis, soy sauce, bay leaf and black pepper, stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add in 3 cups of water and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes now add in carrots, labanos, and hot chili, simmer for another 3 to 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Correct saltines if required. Add in bell pepper and red long chilies, cook for a minute or two. Serve hot with a lot of rice.

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Masterclass: Mike's Amazing Cakes

Mike of Mike's Amazing Cakes

At this year's Cake and Bake Show in London I took a masterclass with Mike McCarey of Mike's Amazing Cakes, a US bakery that is known for producing elaborate three-dimensional cakes for weddings, birthdays and other occasions. He can often be seen on the television channel the Food Network, though I have to admit when I signed up to the class I had never heard of him before - I gathered he was famous though and was interested in what he was going to demonstrate!



I hadn't been to the Cake and Bake show before or booked a masterclass at any similar shows so I had been expecting a small group of us - maybe 12 people - to be learning and creating something under Mike's supervision. Unfortunately that wasn't the case; instead there were about 50 of us sitting in rows, watching Mike do a demonstration at the front. And what's more, he wasn't actually making a cake, but showing us pictures of a cake he had previously made.



Now, I know that sounds like it was rubbish but in fact I learnt a lot. There's no way Mike could have made even part of the cake he was demonstrating in the 45 minute session as he was showing us how to make a standing up dog.



The photos I took are terrible as I was seated several rows back and couldn't see what Mike was doing directly, and had to watch instead what was projected onto a screen, but there were still people's heads in the way and the bright screen doesn't come out well in photos. However, I wanted to share with you a few of Mike's tips and a broad explanation of how to make a 3D cake, without giving away any of his secrets of course!



It never occured to me but a large freestanding 3D cake can't stand up by itself... you need a solid structure to build it around. Mike actually makes his out of MDF and styrofoam, and of course covers any parts that will come into contact with cake.



Here you can see a diagram of the model Mike built for the dog; he measured and drew a sketch from a photograph, enlarged it on a photocopier and laminated parts of it to use as a template.

The type of cake itself is important; sponge cake is too light and won't support the structure (in this case, the dog's head) so he recommends pound cake - I'm not sure what we call that in the UK but I know madeira cake is good for carving. Rather than use a lot of fondant for creating shapes like the dog's head, Mike likes to use modelling chocolate, and he says if you use fondant put it in the freezer to harden it.





He built up the cake layer by layer and then sculpted the sides - you can see the dog's body taking shape here.

Don't try to cover your whole cake with fondant in one go if it's an unusual shape with little details; instead do it in two halves and then work the seam together until smooth. Mike recommends using Massa Ticino fondant but it's not cheap.



Here is the dog with the limbs attached (all made out of modelling chocolate) and then covered in fondant.

Rather than knead colour into the fondant Mike airbrushes his models at the end which allows him to build up layers of colours. I might have to look into airbrushing!



This is the finished cake, doesn't it look amazing? It was just a shame we only got to see a picture and not the real thing!

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Kinilaw na Tanguige sa Strawberry, Strawberry Flavored Kinilaw

Kinilaw na Tanguige sa Strawberry, Strawberry Flavored Kinilaw. This is my second strawberry innovation on a Pinoy dish. May be some of my regular readers would remember that I have used strawberry in one of my sinigang na bangus, Sinigang na Bangus sa Strawberry. That was some fruity sininigang that something to try whe you are tired of your usual siningang na bangus.

For today I tried to add a fruity twist of one of Pinoys favorite, kinilaw. There is no top secret with this recipe it is still similar to my other kinilaw recipes listed below.



Kinilaw na Blue Marlin with Green Tomatoes

Kinilaw na Pusit

Kinilaw na Malasugi

Kinilaw na Talaba

Kinilaw na Dilis

Kinilaw na Tanguige

Kinilaw na Tanguige na may Kamatis

Kinilaw na Lato

Kinilaw na Pusit (Cuttlefish)

To make my Kinilaw na Tanguige sa Strawberry, Strawberry Flavored Kinilaw, I still used the same basic method of preparing kinilaw using a lot of tomatoes which is a popular kinilaw ingredients in the Visayas and Mindanao. To this kinilaw more colorful I used different colors of tomatoes. For the strawberries I used fresh firm only.



Here is the recipe of my Kinilaw na Tanguige sa Strawberry, Strawberry Flavored Kinilaw, try it now.

Ingredients:



1/2 kilo tanguige, cut into large cubes, skin removed

1 1/2 cup white vinegar

2 thumb size ginger, skinned, thinly sliced

2 medium size onion, peeled, chopped

4-6 unripe strawberry, trimmed, cut into slices

6-8 assorted color/rainbow tomatoes, cut crosswise

2-4 red hot chili, chopped

2-3 green or green long chili, sliced

1 lemon

salt and pepper





Method:



In a big bowl place the vinegar and toss in the fish, let stand for 5 to 10 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. Using a sieve drain the vinegar from the fish (do not squeeze) and return fish to the bowl add in all the chopped ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze over the juices of the lemon over and toss until fully mixed. Chill in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes or before serving.

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