What's been cooking - 28 March 2010

Last week I started a new series of posts about my weekly menu plan. This is an attempt to motivate me to actually write menu plans, as I've read they're a great way to save money and reduce grocery wastage. 

My second week of menu planning has gone really well. Even with some last minute visitors staying a couple of nights during the week, I didn't need to change the plan at all. It was nice not having to stress about what I was going to feed them. 
I'd love to hear from others who menu plan. Please type your plan in the comment box below, or use the comment box to link to a plan on your personal website. 
This is what we cooked over the past week:

Sunday: Soy and ginger glazed salmon, Three-cheese stuffed peppers (I posted this last week but want my menu plans to start on a Sunday so am repeating it in this post.)

Monday: Corn and bean salad (part of a shared dinner for Monday group bible study)

Tuesday: Tacos (filling made with beef mince and red lentils, seasoned with Mexican seasoning mix and packed full of veges including chopped tomatoes, onion, capsicum, zucchini/courgette and carrot). (I didn't photograph the tacos but they looked something like the image below.) I also baked Zucchini chocolate chip cookies to use up more zucchinis from the garden.

Wednesday: Tuna pasta bake (made with penne pasta, tuna in spring water (drained), jar of pasta sauce, grated carrot, grated zucchini, diced red and yellow capsicums, and a sprinkle of mozzarella and Parmesan (left over from Sunday's meal), as well as Colby cheese and oregano on top). 

I also baked a chocolate cake for an antenatal group get together at my place the next day.

Thursday: Leftover tuna pasta bake

Friday: Dal Makhani (It tasted a lot better than it looks. (It was inspired by the Eat from the Pantry Challenge, this was made with a tin of Dal Makhani that was about to expire, 6 home-kill sausages, 1/2c cooked red lentils, one diced onion, one 400g tin chopped tomatoes and 1/2c light coconut milk that was left over from a dinner last week. We served it on Basmati rice cooked in water left over from steaming vegetables earlier, to get extra nutrients into it.)

Saturday: Pan seared Tarakihi on Summer cob salad