Your regular meal ideas?

Someone in another thread got me thinking that people out there must have a list of their regular/standard meals- not one off magazine recipe try-outs or special occasion meals but what some term Tuesday Night Cooking. Would you like to share what you cook on a regular basis? Eg some of mine
Pataks chicken curry
Mince things- spag bol, sheperds pie, pie etc
Stuffed chicken breast and salad or vegies
Frittata or quiche and salad/vegies
Pasta with lemon, tuna, rocket and capers.

So I am looking for some fresh new ideas, really!

Meat & three veg (chops, steaks or sausages)
Honey soy chicken drumsticks with rice
On a real lazy day fried rice & spring rolls (I think that's what they are called? My brain just died...lol)
Risotto
Tuna pasta/mornay
Spag bol (of course!)
there are probably others but can't think of them right now!

Spag bol
Lasagna
Chicken parma (chicken breast with salsa and ham and grated cheese) in oven
Thai green chicken curry
Bangers and mash (got a butcher with yummy gourmet snags eg thai chicken with pine nuts and pumkin)
Chicken curry drumsticks in slow cooker
beef stroganoff in slow cooker
pasta bake
chicken kievs
peeking duck breats (buy allready marinated form butchers)
chicken wellingtons
Roast chook, lamb, pork or beef
marinated chicken wings

umm cant think what else

Stirfries, stirfries & more stirfries.. I would live on them if DH would let me!
Curries, curries & more curries...DH is quite happy to live on these so we do lots of Tikka Masala, Vindaloo (which isn't that hot really, I was expecting to have my tastbuds burnt off but nada!) & Thai Greens & Reds - always have jars of paste in the fridge.
Pad Thai
Chilli con carne - only a little mince and lots of beans
Chicken pasta with ham & brocoli

That's all I can think of at the moment...we don't really do very many spag bols tbh, I'm not really into them. I still love a tuna mornay/pasta but don't do them very often at all these days.

spag bol (with mince or chicken) - slow cooker normally
pasta bake made with the spag bol or with creamy sauce of some kind
chicken and vegie bake in cheesy white sauce
chicken fried rice
roast lamb with the trimmings
shepherds pie with leftovers
mince with gravy (lotsa veg - either with mash beside or on top as cottage pie)
steak sandwich
chicken parma

damn, i can't remember what else! i just grab stuff and run with it!

oooh, burritos
kievs
bbq
meat and veg
braise with lots of veg

we tend to have regular meals, but don't eat the same within a fortnight

Risotto
Roasts (could be chicken, slow roasted pork belly, roast pork, marylands wrapped in prosciutto)
Curry
Pasta (I have a bazillion pasta recipes I use)
Pan fried meat (Pork in cider mustard cream sauce, Crumbed cutlets, pan fried fish, veal scallopini)
Baked Fish
Bolognaise/Lasagne/Pastitsio
Quiche (I do a quiche/fritatta thing with spuds dijon, bacon and its yum!)
Paella/Jumbalaya/Kedgeree/Lamb Pilaf/Fried Rice
Drumsticks/Sticky Wings/Hot wings
Homemade Pizza (with H/made dough)
Shanks and other slow cooker stews etc
Soups/Stews/Congee
Mexican
BBQ Steak or Honey Mustard Chicken on the BBQ

And then a couple of times a week I like to add a few other things to my repertoire from my food porn collection.

Spag bol
Curries
Tuna bake
Risotto
Stir fries

Goodness Rouge! Set an extra place at the table, I'm coming to your house for dinner!!
Gonna try out for MasterChef?? :lol:

spag bol
lasagne
chilli con carne - then either as is, in burritos or as enchilladas
pasta - my latest fave is a gnocchi with pesto, bacon, cream
homemade hamburgers
risotto
stir fry

Mexican ie plain mince tacos,crispy chicken tacos,chicken enchiladas,burritos
spaghetti bol
scotch fillet steak cooked on the bbq served with potato bake and salad or just veg
chicken snitzel
lamb cutlets with mash and veg
sweet & sour chicken and rice
satay chicken and rice
butter chicken and rice
curried lamb
pork ribs cooked on the bbq either marinated or plain
Roast leg or shoulder of lamb with all the roast veg
chicken kebabs with fried rice(easy friday night dinner)
rissoles and veg
home made burgers

DH is very plain ie meat and 3 veg. I'm slowly converting him. Only taken me 11 years to try pasta :rolleyes: lol. I used to cook us different meals each night until I put my foot down and said its such and such or nothing lol. So he's slowly coming round to try different things.

yep all of the abouve we also have
soups
chicken caesar salad
corned beef and vegies (slow cooker)
fresh fish and usually salad/chips

Thanks KR - I was wondering the same thing. Thanks ladies for the ideas!

In addition to those things already mentioned:
Spinach and ricotta canelloni
Calamari salad with crunchy bread rolls
Moroccan Fish Stew
Pan fried Salmon with veges
Zucchini Slice
Homemade burgers
Meatballs
Pumpkin, spinach and chickpea curry
Chicken/Lamb souvlaki

Can I also say I love the What's for dinner thread for ideas too! Rouge has given me some great suggestions - pureed or roasted cauliflower being my latest favourite - amazing!!!

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Risotto

Quiche (I do a quiche/fritatta thing with spuds dijon, bacon and its yum!)
Paella/Jumbalaya/Kedgeree/Lamb Pilaf/Fried Rice
.

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hmmm, i'd love to read how you make the quiche
and the paella things.

My Tuesday night thing (easy cooking?) is

- organic felafel out of the box (just add water), let it sit for 20mins, fork it, then roll it into balls and squish them flat. shallow fry them, rest on kitchen towel paper.
Serve on a bed of cous cous and with green salad.
My toddler helps rolls the balls and we can do this at a table (away from stove) so very toddler friendly. she loves "elping mummy".

- dipping basa fish fillets into egg and plain flour, shallow frying with basil and ginger, serve with steamed veg or stirfry veg.

- homemade pizzas made on pita bread as the base (i'm so impressed that some people MAKE the pizza dough).wow.

What is the secret to cooking a small roast chicken?
i've tried to do it twice now, and after 90 mins at 180, the meat is still not falling off the bones. the potatoes are still a bit hard.
Are you meant to line the oven tray/pan thing with alfoil or not?

i've just printed out the "8 tips to meal planning" and a whole bunch of slow cooker receipes (all off belly belly), hoping to find lots of inspiration there. Esp for meals that don't involve much meat. i'm not vego, just on a budget.

i would love to learn North African flavours, like Moroccan cooking. Love plaintains, coriander, cous cous, cardamon etc. (Mak's Morrocan fish stew??).

half the battle of cooking seems to be, working out which flavours go together.

i've had some health issues to do with processing info, so having a WELL SET OUT receipe, text uncluttered, also helps me do it step by step, instead of getting overwhelmed.

i like to see recipes set out like this:

• Ingredients needed
• equipment needed
• method step by step, not just one rambling paragraph
• measurements/cooking temps in metric
• glossary to explain unusual terms, unusual ingredients
• medium text size to make it easier to read and find my place again when in the thick of it

oh, and i would love a recipe to make carbonara sauce (that doesn't involve half a dozen eggs!).

i am very grateful for these meal planning threads on bb, they are helping/inspiring me to do better. i love reading about what others do, gives me ideas of what i could do, or what to aspire to . . . . one day!

We LOVE Pataks here - at least once a week (plus leftovers)
I had to shelve most of my regulars once we found DH couldnt' have gluten and haven't really come up with many good ones

easy microwave risotto
chilli - we do it with lots of extra beans, too. Was thinking might try it without meat next time
chicken & tomato thingy - can't remember the name but it is basically seasoned chicken pieces cooked in tomato puree. very simple and yummy

Thanks for the ideas

Most of the usual ones above (but there are some great suggestions I'll be trying out now!) as well as:

*grilled salmon with packet pasta to which I add lots of chopped veges (carrot, brocolli, zucchini, beans, peas etc)
*tuna pasta - tuna, onion, garlic, herbs, sundried tomatoes, chicken stock powder with evaporated milk (or cream if I'm feeling naughty!)
*frozen fish with chips/garlic bread/fried egg/veges/salad (not all those, just some!)

I also love pizza made with wholemeal pitta bread as the base and topped with pesto and grilled veges (e.g pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, onion) plus e.g. sundried tomatoes, herbs, garlic, olives and cheese. And tomato paste, anchovies and bacon or ham for DH! It's great cos we make our own with exactly what we like.

Going through carb cravings (mainly pasta) atm in case you hadn't guessed! I vaguely remember eating less carbs at dinner time, but couldn't tell you what I used to eat...

bump (would love to hear more)

Gigi, I make a 'real' carbornara, which means it doesn't have cream in it.......would you like the recipe? It's very easy. I allow about one egg for each person I'm cooking for, so no need for half a dozen eggs, unless you're cooking for 6 people LOL!

Spag bol
sweet & sour chicken or sweet & sour meatballs on rice with stirfry veg
steaks and veg with mash or potato bake
chicken and salad
chicken parma
pie with chips & salad
toasted sandwiches
sausage hotpot in the slow cooker (DD loves this)
Tacos.. mmmmm

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Gigi, I make a 'real' carbornara, which means it doesn't have cream in it.......would you like the recipe? It's very easy. I allow about one egg for each person I'm cooking for, so no need for half a dozen eggs, unless you're cooking for 6 people LOL!

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Yes, i would LOVE a carbonara recipe that doens't use heaps of eggs. one egg per person is just fine with me. that would mean two eggs which is do-able.

thanks Janie!

Gigi, I don't really have a recipe, so please bear with me........

Ingredients

250g spaghetti
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
sea salt
1 garlic clove finely chopped
10-12 slices of prosciutto chopped(or use bacon if you prefer, about 150g should be fine)
2 eggs (I use XL eggs, you might need more if using smaller)
1/4 cup spring onions chopped(though it works without these if you don't have any)
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan
fresh ground black pepper

Method

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat (easiest in a non-stick if you have one), add garlic and a little salt, toss around for half a minute. Add prosciutto (or bacon) and cook until starting to crisp up, turning often. Add white wine, allow sauce to really bubble up then turn onto low heat. It will then only take about 5 minutes for the sauce the thicken up and look a bit 'sticky'. But the consistency isn't too important, so don't worry about it. If it starts to look too thick (like it's going to totally evaporate) before everything else is ready, then just take it off the heat, or add a little more oil.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs together with the cheese, onions and pepper.

Cook the spaghetti in pot of salted water. It's really important that everything else is ready when the spaghetti has finished cooking. Because I've made this alot, I now do all my prep work, chopping etc, while the water is boiling and oil heating. I usually put the spaghetti then start the prosciutto pan, and do the egg mixture once the wine is in, if that makes sense.

Drain spaghetti, and return to pot. Add prosciutto with all the garlic and oil from the pan, and toss through spaghetti. Then add egg mixture and QUICKLY toss it through the spaghetti (with tongs is easiest), the heat from the spaghetti cooks the egg. If you take too long about it, you'll end up with scrambled eggs in your spag :lol:. Which is not the end of the world, just not your preferred result LOL.

Serve in bowls with yummy fresh grated parmesan on top.

I really hope all of that makes sense Gigi, it's hard when you're not following a recipe, and guessing amounts etc. Please sing out if there's something that doesn't seem right......:)

thanks Janie! i've printed it out, need to buy white wine first, been bf-ing for three years now, so no wine in the pantry.

i like the tips you added, real life stuff.