Our weekly meal plan! 7th - 13th September! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had a quiet one with some family time, F1 and football. It felt like a proper good weekend!

Last week's meal plan went well. Stu ended up cooking sausages, mashed potato and baked beans on Monday, which we all enjoyed and we ate almost everything else I had planned. I was out on Thursday, had a bigger lunch than usual, so we ended up just having corned beef pasties and sausage rolls from Greggs for tea! Yum! We made homemade pizzas on Friday and there were leftovers for lunch on Saturday too so that was a bonus!

I have a few things on this week which will keep me busy and it is Becky's birthday too! How is it even possible that I almost have a 24 year old? She has plans to celebrate with friends and is honouring us with her presence for a family meal out. I am very excited about it as I already know what I am planning to order!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Corned beef hash!

We're starting the week with a proper family favourite! I haven't made this for a little while, so I thought it was time to put it back on the meal plan. It's one of those meals that is simple, filling and doesn't need loads of ingredients, which makes it perfect for a Monday. I'll probably make enough so that there is a chance of leftovers too, some to pop in the freezer and some to have for lunch tomorrow.

Tuesday - Chicken and bacon pasta bake!

Chicken, bacon, pasta and a creamy sauce all baked together with plenty of cheese on top. What's not to like? This one should be nice and filling and it's a good meal for when I might not have loads of time to spend in the kitchen.

Wednesday - Slow cooker beef stew!

We're getting properly into the autumn meals and I love using the slow cooker. I don't use a recipe for this one, I just whack everything in the slow cooker and let it do its thing. Beef, potatoes, carrots and onions all cooked in gravy, with some crusty bread on the side for mopping up all that gravy.

Thursday - A meal out!

For the birthday girl! We are going to one of our favourite places to eat, which reminds me that I need to book a table.

Friday - A help yourself evening!

Everyone can have a look through the fridge, freezer and cupboards and choose whatever they fancy to eat!

Saturday - Chicken fajitas!

This is a meal where everyone can get involved and make their own exactly how they like them. We'll have chicken, peppers and onions with the wraps and all the usual extras. I'm sure there will be plenty of cheese, sour cream and salsa involved too.

Sunday - A roast chicken dinner!

It seems ages since I made a proper roast dinner, so it's time to have one. Roast chicken, roast potatoes and parsnips, stuffing, carrots, broccoli, peas, gravy and of course, Yorkshire puddings!

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 30th Aug - 5th Sept! Week 36 of #Project365

Happy Sunday!! I hope you've all had a lovely week and are enjoying your weekend. We're having a good weekend. The girls were out yesterday with their people and I had a quiet day at home, which was quite nice and just what I needed! I have had a busy week and that shows by my photos. I always take photos of food when I am busy. lol Yesterday I spent the day doing housework, of course, doing some blogging and catching up on the two months of EastEnders that I had to watch. I am still not caught up.

Since September started, it has felt very Autumnal here. As much as the temperature has been hovering around 20C, it has felt chillier since the start of the month. I have actually found myself reaching for a jumper to wear and my blanket to put over my legs. I'm back to not knowing whether to wear a light jacket when I go out. Sometimes it looks grey and gloomy and is actually quite warm and other times it looks sunny and rain will appear.

Now for a photo every day!

242/365 30th August

We've had a week or so of rain and it has really helped the grass in my back garden. It is so much more green compared to a few weeks ago when it was all burned and yellow!

243365 31st August

Official photos are the worst! I needed photos for a provisional driving licence and as much as I know, they're only little passport-style photos. I always find having my picture taken for something official a bit awkward when you are not allowed to smile. I did think about using one of those photo booth things in the shopping centre but they looked like so much could go wrong. So I went to a shop instead where a lovely lady took them and printed them out for me. Much easier!

244/365 1st September

Becky had a day at the beach and brought me a tub of candyfloss back. It was probably about a year ago when she last went and brought me some home. It was a nice little treat. Candyfloss always reminds me of days out and the seaside.

245/365 2nd September

The start of the Carrot & Coriander soup when it was bubbling away in the pan! I usually buy normal carrots, peel and chop them myself but there were none in the shop, so I had to buy the carrot batons instead. It didn't really make any difference apart from cutting out the peeling and chopping. I now feel like I have accidentally found a little shortcut!

246/365 3rd September

I was out shopping and stopped off for lunch. I had an all-day breakfast! It did make me happy that the tomatoes and baked beans were in little metal tubs so I could put them where I wanted. I did like that idea. I don't like my tomatoes touching the egg or making the hash brown go soggy!

247/365 4th September

I was all set to catch up on commenting on blogs on Friday and I couldn't. I thought it was just me until I went on the Blogger Support forum thingy and lots of people were saying no comments were going through on any Blogger blogs. So if you tried to comment and you couldn't, it wasn't my fault. From what I can see, it's all fixed now! Phew!

248/365 5th September

Last week it was the new Gilmore Girls PJs. This week it's a mug! I couldn't leave it in the shop. It was the last one on the shelf and a bargain price of £2.99. I don't think Stu has noticed it, he hasn't said anything but a few months ago put me on a mug ban until I got rid of some of the older ones. Oops. It came from Home Bargains, in case you were wondering.

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

This week my Word of the Week is:

September has arrived and it is definitely starting to feel a little autumnal around here with the cooler weather which I am quite enjoying. I do love summer and always feel a little sad when it starts to get darker earlier and the sun is shining less but I am also excited for Autumn. The kids have all gone back to school and college around here. I was in town the day the college went back and it was so cute hearing all the new starters chatting about their timetables and how different it is from school. Bless them!

Ellie had her birthday last weekend, which I wrote about in my Friday Favourites post and during the week we went out shopping to pick a few extra things up for Becky. She wanted all the sensible things like socks, some jeans and new slippers. It's all practical things that she would have bought herself but now I've saved her the money. Birthdays definitely change as the kids get older. When they were little, there was always so much excitement, presents, birthday cake and all the things that go with them. Now it's more about spending time together, getting them things they actually want and making sure they have a nice day!

Stu went back to work after his week off and he said the week has really dragged on. He did not want to get up when his alarm went off and hit snooze a couple of times, which was very annoying for me, who didn't have to be up that early. Becky, on the other hand, has been loving life and has this and most of the next week off for her birthday. She went for a trip to the beach. It wasn't the warmest of days and everything seemed to have shut for the season, another sign that summer is almost over but she still had fun and brought me some candy floss back. hehehe

I had my first pumpkin spice drink of the year from Starbucks this week and it was perfect! I did think about getting one from Greggs but wanted my first one of the season to be done properly, so Starbucks it was. I chose a pumpkin spice Frappuccino instead of a hot drink as it was still quite warm outside. Give it a few weeks when it has got colder and I will move on to the pumpkin spice lattes. hehehe Some people think pumpkin spice season starts far too early but I don't care. If it's on the menu, I'm having one! I also got one of the Greggs Bonfire Toffee Muffin! It is a toffee flavoured muffin with toffee pieces and a burnt toffee-flavoured filling, topped with a chocolate and salted caramel flavoured icing and toffee butter crunch. It was very sweet but very nice!

In other news, I did something this week that I've been meaning to do for a long while. I applied for my provisional driving licence. Before anybody thinks this means I'm about to start learning to drive, it doesn't. I'm not saying I am booking lessons now but it is something I am thinking about. Getting my provisional licence is the first step in the right direction, it's a baby step and if nothing else, at least I will have some proper photo ID.

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 to join in with her Word of the Week linky!

What I have loved this week! Week 36. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week. We have had a fantastic week and all of my favourites this week are about my youngest girl's birthday. Ellie turned 19 over the weekend and we had such a good time celebrating with her. I am of course linking up with Erika and Andrea to share what I loved about her birthday.

The right gifts!

The older my girls have got, the harder I have found it to buy gifts for them. If they want something, they just buy it themselves. I am happy to say that Ellie was very happy with her gifts. There were some things she needed, like new headphones and a hairbrush, then other things that she mentioned she had seen in town, like a Nightmare Before Christmas hoodie and a couple of T-shirts and then a couple of surprises. I still overbought for her. I always tell myself I won't buy too much and then I see something and think ooh, she'd like that and something else and so on. Oops.

Paralives!

One of Becky's presents to Ellie was a game for her PC called Paralives. I have been watching Ellie play it all week and now I want to buy it for myself. It looks a lot like The Sims 4 game, which I love to play, where you build homes, create characters and then control them in everyday life and so far, you pay a one-off price, around £34 and everything is included instead of paying for every new pack of things that is released. I can see another game purchase happening in my future.

McDonald's Breakfast!

We never get breakfast from McDonald's! If we're ever near one, it's usually after 11am when breakfast has finished, so it was quite exciting to have one delivered at home. It was Stu who came up with the idea of ordering from Uber Eats. Ellie said it really must have been her birthday because he never likes to order food. lol I thought this was a fab idea because it meant none of us had to get dressed or leave the house. Stu and Becky got breakfast wraps and Ellie and I went for pancakes. Everything was good but the best thing for me was the hash browns. I forgot how much I love them!

Some quiet time!

After opening presents and having breakfast, we had a good few hours when everyone just did their own thing. I really enjoyed this part of the day. There was no rushing around, we were all just at home pottering around. I did a bit of blogging, Ellie was playing her new game, Stu was playing on his PC and Becky was messing about on social media. It doesn't sound very exciting but those are the little moments I enjoy. Having everyone home!

A family meal +1!

To celebrate Ellie's birthday, we all got dressed up and went out for a meal at one of our favourite places to eat. We had a +1 with us, Ellie's special friend. hehehe It was the first time we had spent a good chunk of time with him. He's a lovely lad and it was nice seeing Ellie so happy. The food was of course lovely but I am a bad blogger. I didn't take any photos. Oops!

A night out!

After we'd eaten, we decided to head into town and carry on the birthday celebrations. We had such a good night. There were alcoholic beverages drunk, we sang along to pretty much every song that was played and we danced to a fair few too. My little legs were aching by the end of the night. I am totally blaming the Cha Cha Slide and The Macarena! I don't know what it is about those songs but when they come on, you have to join in. The cheesy songs are always the best ones.

Friends!

It seems like everyone decided to go out on Saturday night. All our favourite people and some people we hadn't seen in years. There were Becky's friends, Ellie's friends and even people Stu and I knew out and there was a lot of catching up and gossiping! I found myself with Ellie standing outside talking to one of her friends when someone I knew appeared and we had a chatter. There were plenty of "I haven't seen you in ages" and "what have you been up to" going on!

Bedtime!

We hadn't planned to stay out as late as we did, no one was watching the clock and I am glad we didn't as I would have panicked with how late it was. We didn't get back home until coming on for 5am in the morning. Eek! It was straight to bed for us all but amazingly, Stu was up just after 9am and I got up just after 11am. The girls didn't get up until midday. Eek!

What have you loved this week?