Our weekly meal plan! 6th - 12th April #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend and if you were celebrating Easter that it was filled with all the good stuff. We don’t really celebrate Easter in our house but we had fish and chips on Friday which is a proper Good Friday thing to do and we definitely made the most of all the chocolate. Our weekend was filled with family time, homemade pizza, watching football, a bit of gardening, movies and of course, the usual housework.

All of last week's meals went down really well! We ate everything on the day I had planned so it felt like I was winning at life. My favourite meal was the Peanut Satay Chicken Burger, the satay sauce was amazing, I think the sauce is becoming my new favourite thing and it's crazy to think I probably hadn't eaten it until this year. My family loved the Creamy Chicken Korma With Sesame Seed Chips! They were gutted that there were no leftovers, Becky had planned to have it the next morning after work.

Stu has a few days off work this week and Ellie is of course off college for her Easter break. We have a couple of things planned for later in the week but nothing is set in stone yet so our meal plan might change around a bit. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have ordered a Gousto Box for this week as it never seems to go to plan when we are all home.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Gousto meal - Chip Shop Basa & Chip Burger With Curry Sauce!

This one just sounds like a bit of fun and I am sure we have had it before. It’s everything you’d expect from a chip shop tea but shoved into a burger. Crispy battered fish, a soft brioche bun, a pile of chips and then a drizzle of curry sauce over the top. It’s going to be one of those messy meals but those are usually the best kind!

Tuesday - Gousto meal - Smoky BBQ Chicken With Pepper & Corn Salad!

This is a favourite of ours. The chicken gets coated in a sticky BBQ-style mix with tomato paste, Henderson’s relish and smoked paprika, then cooked until it’s all caramelised and smells amazing. It’s served with crispy potatoes and a fresh pepper and corn salad and looks way fancier than it is!

Wednesday - Gousto meal - One Pan Alpine-Style Sausage & Waxy Potato Hash!

This one’s a new meal for us and I already feel that my family is going to love it. It’s a one-pan meal too, less washing up is always a good thing. The sausages and onions get cooked together with crushed potatoes until everything is golden and crispy around the edges. Then it all gets coated in butter and herbs with a bit of thyme and topped with melted cheese.

Thursday - Gosuto meal - Japanese-Style Chicken Thigh Curry Udon Noodles!

Another new meal for us! Thick udon noodles, tender chicken thigh and lots of veg all coated in a rich, katsu-style curry sauce sounds so good and the type of meal that you just sit and slurp your way through.

Friday - I have no idea!

I’m leaving this one completely open because we’ve got plans, we just don’t fully know what they are yet. lol It could be a meal out, a last minute takeaway, or it could be something quick and easy when we get home. Who knows?

Saturday - Stu is going to cook!

I rarely get a Saturday off cooking, so this will be a nice treat! I have no idea what we will be eating but I am betting it's going to be something nice.

Sunday - Pie and mash!

Nice and simple for a Sunday. Pies out of the freezer and home-made mashed potato covered in lashings of gravy!

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 29th March - 4th April Week 14 of #Project365

Happy Sunday and Happy Easter! We don't really celebrate Easter in my family but we do enjoy the chocolate eggs and I have been telling the girls all week that they can't have their eggs until today so I quite expect them to be devoured by tea time. I will take my time with mine, chocolate always tastes better in egg form!

I hope you have all had a good week. Mine has had its ups and downs. I felt like I was starting with a cold at the beginning of the week but felt better by Tuesday afternoon. It must have been the adrenaline of getting my first tattoo that scared the cold away. lol Everyone is home over the weekend, which has been nice. It doesn't happen often so I make the most of it. We had homemade pizza last night and just watched TV but it was good to be together because Becky has a busy couple of weeks coming up with breaks away, concerts and seeing a show.

Now for a photo every day!

88/365 29th March

I started watching The Pitt which is on HBO MAX! I have been limiting myself to just 2 episodes a day at the most, as I don't want to rush through it. It's so good but so stressful to watch. Not everyone gets to live. Eek! The first season is 15 episodes and each episode covers one hour of a single ER shift, so it feels like it's happening in real time and you are right there with them!

89/365 30th March

Chicken soup for lunch. I wasn't feeling great, so I wanted something comforting and chicken soup was it. I had it in my Halloween mug that Stu said I wouldn't use as soon as October was over, he was so wrong. It is the perfect size for soup and chicken soup just makes everything feel a little bit better.

90/365 31st March

Just a little tattoo that I got, I did write a whole blog post about it yesterday and how it came about. Everything I have ever said about tattoos, I take it all back!

91/365 1st April

My dad went shopping and saw the cheap veg being sold in all the supermarkets and came home with a box full. I had my pick and he took some to my brother too. I chopped lots, cooked it and popped it in the freezer. It will be great for using in the future.

92/365 2nd April

The dandelions are taking over the back garden again. It's fine, I know they are weeds but I like them. They are a cheery flower and I even like them when they turn white into the puffballs.

93/365 3rd April

Good Friday can only mean one thing: fish and chips from the chip shop! It’s one of those little traditions over Easter that we do stick to but to be honest a chippy tea is a regular Friday thing here. I learned from last year and ordered half an hour before we actually wanted them because I know how busy it gets on Good Friday.

94/365 4th April

Homemade pizza for tea and I could make the dough from scratch but I buy it ready made. This is a new one for us so it better be good! I could have taken a picture of the pizzas made but I wanted to take a photo of the dough so I remember which one to buy in the future or not. lol

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

This week my Word of the Week is: Tattoo!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

Remember at the start of the year when I wrote a blog post all about Ellie getting her tattoo, how I didn't really approve of or like tattoos. I take it all back.

It all started on Friday evening. Becky's "friend" was talking about a tattoo she was getting this week. She was booked in to get, I think her 7th. Becky started saying she wanted to get one and would if I would. Becky had already come up with her tattoo idea months ago, a simple duck. She is crazy about ducks, so for her it doesn't seem that mad. It sounded like a good idea at the time and I didn't think much else about it until Sunday. I was in two minds about it. A tattoo is so permanent.

I thought about getting a Harry Potter one or a Wrestling related one but I wanted something more personal and with the help of Google Gemini AI, I came up with this.

I wanted something which meant something to me and the heart beat lines made me think of what my girls went through with their heart defects but it still wasn't right. I still wasn't convinced about the tattoo and forgot about the idea. I left it and then on Tuesday morning I had a clever idea. One heart was pretty but I wanted two hearts, one for each of my girls. I went back to Gemini and had it changed in a couple of minutes. This was perfect and exactly what I wanted but still wasn't 100% I would go through with the tattoo. I didn't even know if they could fit us in.

Becky and I were there before Becky's "friend" and her friends Nanna who was also getting a tattoo and as I know the tattoo people, I went in for a chat and asked about if they could do a tattoo for Becky and me and how much they would cost. I think we got a bargain price and surprisingly, the nerves didn't kick in. The designs were printed out, consent forms were signed and we were good to go!

The person doing the tattoo was so lovely, she was chatty and really put me at ease. She is just one of those people who has a calming personality. I joked and said I could do with one of her to follow me around in life to keep me from stressing about everything. I chose to go first, as I think if I saw anyone else get a tattoo that day I would have chickened out.

I didn't know what to expect with the pain from a tattoo but what I felt was not what I expected. I imagined lots of pin pricks but it felt more like someone scraping something sharp on my wrist. Like a cat scratching you but more than just one scratch. It was done in about 5 minutes. It took longer for the cleaning before and after. 

I expected a lot of pain afterwards but there has been none. I have been putting the aftercare cream on 3 times a day, it's nothing fancy, it's just the Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula that the tattooist recommended.

Becky was panicking when it came to her time to get her tattoo but she went through with it and didn't chicken out like I thought she was going to do. She was surprised about the pain, or lack of it. 

I know getting yourself permanently marked is not something to be proud of but I am feeling pretty pleased with myself. I don't think I will rush to get another one but at the same time I am thinking about another one. I am glad I got this one. I saw my brother shortly after getting my tattoo and he thought it was hilarious. We turned back into kids, him saying wait till dad finds out, you'll be grounded, you can't just wipe it off. Me saying what's dad going to do, he can't ground me. My dad did find out and he was less than impressed but the best argument was that I have gone 46 years without a tattoo, why one now? I don't know why one now but it's there now and I love it!

It wasn't something I really discussed with Stu, so when he rang on his lunch break, I told him and he didn't believe me. I sent him a photo of mine and Becky's tattoo and him and his friend at work discussed them and came up with the idea they were just images stolen off Google. Eesh! I sent him another photo of my arm in front of my face and he was a little more convinced but still thought we were winding him up. It was only when he got home and saw them for himself that he knew it was true.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one! I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay and her Word of the Week linky!

What I have loved this week! Week 14. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a good week. Mine has been a fun one with some interesting things happening! As always, I’m linking up with Erika and Andrea to share the things that I have loved over the past week.

A late night out!

My youngest, Ellie, was heading out with her friends, so Becky, my eldest and I thought we’d make the most of it and go out ourselves, have a meal with Becky's "friend" and then meet up with Ellie later and all get the last bus home like sensible people. That did not happen. We ended up going to a nightclub and bumped into more people that we know. There was lots of singing and dancing to all the cheesy pop songs. I felt very proud of myself for being sensible with my drinks. I had a few glasses of wine and some shots and then mostly soft drinks. I woke up the next day feeling absolutely fine with no regrets, no headache. I was just a bit tired after not getting the taxi home until the early hours.

Sweetcorn!

All my seeds seem to be growing well apart from the melons so far. My sweetcorn is doing the best! I am determined to grow some this year. A couple of years ago, I was doing really well with it and then we had a little break away on the hottest weekend of the year and they died and then last year I just couldn't get them to grow, so hopefully this year is the year I get a crop!

The clocks changing!

I was very sensible and went to bed early on Saturday night and woke up when the clock said 10am, which felt like a little lie in, so I didn't feel the loss of the hour. It's not getting dark until coming on for 8pm now, which I am loving. It would be nicer if mother nature could get the memo that it's spring and warm up a little but I will take the lighter nights for now!

Lambs in the field!

This one makes me happy every single year without fail! Spring is really here as there are lambs in the field.

The Pitt!

We finally got HBO Max on our TV over the weekend and I jumped straight into watching The Pitt! I love it!! I was expecting something like Grey's Anatomy but it is nothing like that apart from other than the hospital setting. It is filled with tension all the way through. I've found myself crying a few times and saying what? She can't die. I saw someone on Grey's Anatomy go through the same thing and be OK. I am trying not to rush through it as so far we only have as far as the first episode of season two but at least that means there are still plenty of episodes to come.

A tattoo!

I have a whole blog post about it tomorrow but I did something wild for me and got a little tattoo on my wrist. This is a sneak peak straight after I got it done and it was still wrapped in the plastic stuff.

Getting the hang of the bin situation!

This sounds like such a boring one but it has been a big part of our week. Our rubbish collection changed and suddenly we’ve gone from a simple system to having multiple bins for different things. I did write about it on Saturday. We now have three bins in the kitchen and three big ones outside and it feels like a challenge to pick the right bin. I’d stand there holding an empty yoghurt pot thinking," Where do you go? It feels like a tricky question and it is because it needs washing out before I put it in the bin. lol Things have been put in the wrong bin and fished back out but I think I’m getting the hang of it now. My family are doing well too and if they get stuck they just leave their rubbish on the side and then I go into the kitchen and sort it out.

What have you loved over the past week?