Dinner, 30/6/20: Vietnamese Spring Rolls

These were delicious, though they proved very difficult to take a picture of.  We used rice spring roll wrappers, and a selection of fillings: rice noodles, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, radish, peanuts, chilis and a satay sauce.  Very tasty.

Dinner, 28/6/20: Pinto Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas

We love a quesadilla in our house, and eat them with many different fillings, most of them meatless. When Liv is home, I just use vegan cheese in hers instead of dairy cheese - the emphasis is really on the fillings, so the cheese is just something to stick it together a bit. These have spiralised sweet potato in them, which is the orange that you see - this worked really well as a filling, along with pinto beans and other bits and pieces.

Book 40: Wonder, R J Palacio (re-read)

We were watching the film of this at lunchtime at school this past week and I wanted to remind myself of how the book differed, so I had a quick re-read. What a good book.

Dinner, 27/6/20: New Potato and Green Bean Istoo, Tamarind Shallots

Two dishes from the cookbook East by Meera Sodha.  The tamarind shallots weren't, in the end, very tamarindy, as Alex misread the recipe and put tumeric in, instead, but actually, they were still very yummy. The bean and potato istoo is a curry. 

Dinner, 26/6: Rustic Beans and Spinach with Garlic Yogurt

We love a butter bean stew, and do several variations. This one just has some optional yogurt, so easy to accommodate any vegans you may have hanging around...

Dinner, 25/6/20: Feta & Leek Frittata, Salad

Tomorrow I'm off to collect Liv from Birmingham, so there won't be many meals featuring eggs in the immediate future (even before she became vegan, she didn't like egg-based things like omelettes and frittatas).  But this was yummy. Nice eggs, baby leeks & spring onions and some feta. Tasty. 

Dinner, 24/6/20: Aubergine and Mushroom Curry

Aubergine and mushroom curry. Not one we can eat often, as the kids don't like aubergine. Alex had a try of this - he just had mostly mushrooms and sauce and rice, with very little aubergine. But still not a huge hit. Geoff and I like it, though.

Dinner, 23/6/20: Kung Pao Prawns with Asparagus

Book 39: One of Us is Next, Karen McManus

A young adult crime novel, sort of sequel (or follow-up perhaps) to a book I read before. Quite a light read, but that's a good thing at the moment. Well constructed.

Book 38: Blood from a Stone, Donna Leon

The next in this series. Makes me want to visit Venice again, as they always do, but even more so at the moment, as I can't go anywhere for the foreseeable future!

Dinner, 21/6/20: Pasta with tomatoes, olives, capers; homemade focaccia

I often reserve the last day of the week before the shopping arrives for a "what needs using" type of meal.  This week, what needed using was tomatoes, so I did a pasta with tomato sauce and olives, capers, anchovies, chili - kind of a puttanesca, but not exactly. Also made some homemade foccacia to go alongside.  This would work equally well with no anchovies, so could easily be vegetarian/vegan.

Dinner, 20/6/20: Broccoli and Kohlrabi with cheese sauce, oven potatoes

Oven potatoes, broccoli and kohlrabi with cheese sauce. Everything is better with cheese sauce. It's just one of those facts of life.

Dinner, 19/6/20: Teriyaki Salmon Noodles

Salmon, noodles, summer greens, teriyaki sauce. And there you go.

Dinner, 17/6/20: Pork Mince Ragu with Papardelle

Geoff wanted a ragu of some sort, so he cooked this one with pork mince and pancetta. He usually cooks most of the mince-based meals in our house (ragu, shepherds pie, etc) mainly because although I'm fine with eating them, they aren't really my favourite thing to cook or eat, so I leave him to it - he does a good job.

Dinner, 16/6/20: Broad Bean Risotto, Salad

Broad bean risotto to use the broad beans from the veggie box - last time we just had them plain. It's a fairly short season for broad beans, and although you can buy them frozen, it's nice to have the fresh young ones!

Book 37: Watership Down, Richard Adams (re-read)

I've read this a number of times - not sure how many - but not in a few years. Can't remember what conversation it was that sparked a desire to re-read, but it was lovely to visit the rabbits again.  I love about this book that every time I read it, it's still tense and exciting and you still wonder if the rabbits are going to make it.

Dinner, 14/6/20: Braised Chicken & Lettuce; Mashed Turnip & Potatoes

Sunday at the moment tends to be a day reserved for a meal made up of whatever needs using up (because at the moment, the shopping is coming on a Monday); this week there wasn't much, so although I did use the two large turnips (mashed with some potato) and the lettuce (braised), I also dug out some chicken breast to make a kind of quick casserole.  Some weeks we have a lot of veg hanging around waiting to be used up, some weeks, not so much.

Dinner, 13/6/20: Onion & Goat Cheese Pizza, Caramelised Carrots

A glut of onions (as usual) prompted these pizzas/topped flatbreads - caramelised onion and goat cheese pizzas. On the side, some caramelised carrots with a green salsa. 

Dinner, 12/6/20: Sausages, Broad Beans, Turnips & Potatoes

A simple meal of sausages, broad beans from the veggie box and oven cooked turnips and potatoes (also from the veggie box).

Dinner, 11/6/20: Spinach, New Potato & Chickpea Curry

An old favourite; this time it was a little different because I bought a different (and better!) brand of curry powder than normal, so it was a bit spicier. Served with flatbreads from our local shop.