Our weekly meal plan! 12th - 18th October! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! We had a quiet one with a bit of housework, watching TV and not a lot else. This week looks like it's going to be pretty quiet too. No one has any plans apart from the usual and Becky is away for most of the week as she has a week off work. I just have the normal things to do around the house and keeping everything running smoothly.

Last week's meal plan went well. Everything ended up being a day after as we had leftover pizza on Monday. The eating out of the freezer day was skipped, which was fine as it was the coldest day of the week, so we were glad for the meal to eat cooked in the slow cooker. On Friday we got the Bargain Banger meal from the chip shop. 2 large portions of chips, 4 jumbo battered sausages, a tub of gravy and one of curry sauce for £13.95 which is a great price to feed 4. Usually it would cost £23.20!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Gousto meal - Meat-Free Mince Sloppy Joes With Creamy Potato Salad!

This is one of our favourite meals from Gousto. I remember the first time we had the meat-free mince. I was very curious about it because I'd never used it before. I am pretty sure I didn't even tell my family it was meat-free until after they had eaten it and fully enjoyed it. The sloppy joes are really tasty and messy, which is all part of the fun.

Tuesday - Gousto meal - Chinese Takeaway-Style Chicken Balls With Vegetable Fried Rice!

This is just like a Chinese takeaway at home. Crispy chicken balls with a sweet and sour dip and vegetable fried rice. My family won't eat the sweet and sour sauce out of a jar or from the Chinese takeaway but love the home made one!

Wednesday - Gousto meal - One Pot Spicy Lamb & Sultana Stew!

This is something new and a little different and I think it will be one for the slow cooker. It combines lamb with sweet apricots and a spicy sauce. I'm looking forward to seeing how the sweetness of the apricots works with the spices. My family are not convinced by this one but I think once they come into the house after it has been cooking all day, they won't be able to resist!

Thursday - Pies and mashed potato!

There is the choice of beef & vegetable or chicken & vegetable pies. My dad was in the freezer shop Iceland and saw the offer where you could get 10 items for £10 and ended up buying my brother and I 5 boxes of pies each. I think it's a good deal when you think each pie is only fifty pence as you get two in a box. Pie has to be served with mashed potatoes and lots of gravy!

Friday - A takeaway of some sort!

Friday night is an easy night for me. I don't cook and we order takeaway. It could be Chinese or Indian food or even ordering from the fish and chip shop. We will decide on the day what we fancy. This week it won't be pizza as we have that on Saturday, sort of.

Saturday - Gousto meal - Pork Meatball Marinara Flatbreads!

This is another new meal for us and it looks really tasty! Pork meatballs in a tomato sauce served on flatbreads, easy peasy and it is a nice change from normal pizza. I might make some fries to go with it too, as there doesn't look much there.

Sunday - A Sunday roast of some sort!

I'm not sure yet whether I'll make one at home or we'll go out for a meal. The weather we've been having lately makes me want all the roasted vegetables covered in gravy. If we stay home, I'll have a look at what we've got in and decide what sort of roast to make. It could be chicken, beef or pork, depending on what's on offer and what we fancy. I do enjoy making a Sunday roast but I also like going out for one because someone else gets to do all the cooking and washing up.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 4th - 10th October Week 41 of #Project365

Happy Sunday!! I hope you've all had a lovely week and are enjoying your weekend. We've had a quiet one. Becky was sleeping for work yesterday, Stu was at work and Ellie was out with her friend and I stayed home and did a few loads of washing and had a good tidy up and sort out around the house. I love days like that when I can just go at my own pace and do my own thing.

The weekend has been full of sport so far, with a bit of football, wrestling and F1 and we still have more F1 to watch today and later on this afternoon I've decided to watch the new Spiderman movie. It's £15.99 to rent but as I didn't see it at the cinema I think I will push the boat out and pay to watch. I would have spent more going to the cinema to see it when you include the bus fare, cinema cost and of course, popcorn and a drink. hehehe

Now for a photo every day!

277/365 4th October

Another new flower in my garden and I had no idea what it was! I asked my Plant Identifier app what this one was and it said cornflower. I wasn't convinced because I didn't think it looked much like a cornflower. To me it looked more like a daisy, so I had to ask Google as well. Google suggested it was a strawflower and ChatGPT agreed with Google but also suggested it could be a paper daisy. So I am no further forward, it's a pretty flower and that will do for me.

278/365 5th October

Leaves, leaves and more leaves are on the ground! I do love this time of year seeing the trees change so much.

279/365 6th October

My Great British Bake Off treats this week were the Mr Kipling Fiendish Fancies! These are a Halloween twist on the French Fancies cakes.

280/365 7th October

A little while ago, Stu fixed the guttering and pipework around our little shed and on Wednesday when it was raining I finally got to see it working properly. The rainwater was dripping down into the barrel, just as it was supposed to!

281/365 8th October

The slow cooker was filled and I was hungry all day with the smell coming from it. Inside was lamb mince, carrots and a tomatoey gravy liquid. I chose the perfect day to have it as it was quite chilly out.

282/365 9th October

I took this photo just after 6pm and it was already almost dark! It was nice to shut the curtains and this was the first day the family asked for the heating to be turned on. I was mean and said no, have something to eat and then see how you feel. It's funny how a belly full of food will warm you up.

283/365 10th October

It's that time of the year, the Christmas grocery delivery slots are starting to be released. This time it was Morrisons. I could have booked a slot but decided to hold off as I never have much luck with their available items and substitutions during the year, so I dread to think what it will be like a couple of days before Christmas. I will hold out for Asda or Tesco.

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

This week my Word of the Week is:

This week has felt very autumnal with some proper chilly moments and I'm quite happy about it! It has felt like the first proper autumnal week of the season. The weather has cooled down, the evenings are darker earlier and I've found myself reaching for jumpers and blankets. I know I'll be fed up with the cold in a couple of months but at the moment I'm enjoying it.

When I started writing this blog post it was 9C, which is around 48F and it was coming up to 8pm in the evening. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was sitting here at 8pm sweating, with the back door open and it still light outside. Now I'm shutting the curtains at about 5pm, putting the lights on and settling down for the evening. It's nice knowing that when the evening comes around it's time to slow down a bit.

Wednesday was the ultimate cosy day! I woke up and it was raining. My first thought was that I really didn't want to get out of bed. I could have happily stayed under my duvet for the rest of the day but life doesn't work like that and I had things to do. So I got up, got dressed and got all my jobs done. Once I'd finished, I sat down for a bit and within about ten minutes I was feeling chilly. I decided I needed a jumper and went upstairs to grab one. The first one I put my hands on was my Grey's Anatomy jumper and it made me stupidly happy. It's my favourite. It's the little things like that which make it a good day! I lit a candle, made myself a bacon sandwich for lunch and a cappuccino. Cappuccinos are not hard to make but when I make one they make me feel like I have my life together. Sitting there, I felt so content and quite glad that I didn't have to go out.

Thursday was another cosy day, at least in the kitchen! I cooked the mince part of our evening meal in the slow cooker. We had lamb mince and buttery tatties with minty peas but I ignored the buttery tatties part and made proper mashed potato instead. The weather called for mashed potato. I do love the slow cooker at this time of year. There is something really good about throwing everything into it and letting it do the hard work. The hardest thing is having to smell whatever is in there cooking all day though!

I've been enjoying the normal everyday stuff this week. Getting the housework done, catching up with things, cooking, watching TV and just getting on with life. Nothing big has happened and I'm quite happy about that. I've also been enjoying getting back into watching more TV now the evenings are darker. I am halfway through The Gentleman and I've just started Ted Lasso and watch that when I don't have a full hour to watch something.

I'm writing this after a nice hot shower, I've got my PJs on and I'm under my blanket. Celebrity Traitors is on TV and any minute now I know Stu is going to ask me if I want a cup of tea and I'm going to annoy him by saying, No, thank you, can I have a hot chocolate instead? It isn't even the instant stuff, the milk has to be boiled in a pan, which makes it a bit of a faff when he could just make me a cup of tea in about a minute. It's a good job Stu loves me and treats me to things like that. I could of course, get up and make it myself but where's the fun in that?

I've noticed that the darker evenings are making me more ready to switch off too. In the summer when it's still light later on I always feel like I should be doing something, even if I've done everything I need to do. Now it's dark much earlier and I've noticed that I am feeling ready for bed earlier. It might have something to do with feeling cosy and the hot chocolate!

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 41. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week. I've had a nice week and have a few things that have made me smile so of course I am linking up with Erika and Andrea to share what I have loved this week!

Armageddon - The movie!

I saw it being shown on TV last week a few times and it got me in the mood to watch it again. I do love that film. I always laugh most of the way through it and then cry at the end, even though I've seen it about a million times and know exactly what's coming. Armageddon got me thinking about films from the 90s that I used to love and haven't seen in years. I've made myself a list including The Rock, Face/Off, Con Air, Independence Day, The Mummy, Demolition Man and Air Force One that I am planning on watching soon.

Having time to get dressed up!

On Saturday I had the house to myself, so I had a little pamper session before going out. It might not sound like a big deal but it was lovely having the time without feeling like I was racing against the clock. I had a shower and then had time to let my hair dry while I did a face mask and my nails. I did my hair and make up without rushing, had music playing and it put me right in the mood for a night out.

Lots on TV!

All summer there is nothing much on TV and I spend my time using streaming services but now I seem to be watching more and more normal TV. Mondays there is Geordie Coppers, a show following the police in Newcastle City Centre. Tuesday it's Great British Bake Off, Wednesday there's always something to watch, Thursday and Friday Celebrity Traitors and Saturday The Voice UK and Strictly Come Dancing. There's also Big Brother every night too and loads of new TV shows starting!

Jobs being like buses!

You know the saying: You wait ages for a bus and then two come along at once? Well, that seems to have happened with jobs for Ellie this week! She is now hoping the temporary job she has really is temporary and another job can wait a couple of weeks for her to start. This new one is only a Christmas job running until the beginning of January but it's work for the next few months and more experience to put on her CV! Now she has options!

My big tomato!

It finally turned red! I could have left it a bit longer but was scared to because of bugs and I didn't want it to go mushy! I had a basic tomato sandwich with it and it was so good!

Lighting candles!

I light candles all year around but this time of year I get more excited about them. This week I have had a few burning! I've had a blackcurrant and something one on the go and a gingerbread one. My favourite ones are the ones with the crackling wicks. They make it sound so cosy in here and I can just imagine sitting in front of a log fire.

A fixed roof!

It is fantastic to have a brother who is great at DIY. On Wednesday morning, Stu noticed a dripping noise in the bathroom and left me a note telling me. Instead of calling in the experts I just rang my dad who sent my brother with his ladders, tools and what not and of course, he fixed it! Phew! I'm very lucky to have a family who can help with things like this.

What have you loved this week?