Welcome to my weekly feature – meal planners.
Find out quick & easy dinner recipe ideas from our weekly meal planner – be more organised, cut food waste & enjoy fresh and homemade meals!
Our meals last week were:
- Monday: My beetroot soup (which I made the previous day) – see recipe below
- Tuesday: Prawns soup from Jamie Oliver’s book ‘5 Ingredients’
- Wednesday: Leftover soups from Monday and Tuesday – beetroot one for me and prawns one for Hubby
- Thursday: Homemade burger for Hubby with chips and salad, and for me – veggie sausages with fried Jerusalem artichokes, and salad
- Friday: Hubby had spag-bol and I had quinoa/ rice cakes with soft cheese, tomatoes & alfalfa sprouts as I had a bigger lunch with Max earlier in the day (which was the prawns soup that I froze on Tuesday, slightly bulked up with more basmati rice for a rice stew type of dish – he loved it!)
- Saturday: Homemade pizza
- Sunday: Mediterranean quinoa bowls with avocado, chickpeas and roasted red pepper sauce, inspired by my recent obsession, Pinch of Yum – these will be my quick work lunch ideas, I think!
Overall thoughts:
I started the week feeling really poorly and ended up being off work for the whole week so having a nice hearty soup at the end of the day was definitely needed! The beetroot soup turned out beautifully and is now frozen for a quick dinner during the week. The prawns soup was very simple to make and we intially questionned whether we liked it or not, as it didn’t seem to have too many flavours going on, but the more we ate it, then more we enjoyed it. As I said, I bulked it up with more basmati rice for Max (Leo wouldn’t go anywhere near anything remotely spicy!) so it’s a great and quick option for kids as well.
Traditional Beetroot Soup {Barscht}
2018-02-18 09:14:44
Beetroot is such an undervalued vegetable but packs in so many nutrients and vitamins! I just love the taste of this soup as it reminds me of my childhood in Poland where beetroot soup (also known as 'barszcz' {pron.: 'barscht' not 'borscht' as some websites claim!!!) is so popular and where beetroot is used in many different ways.
This recipe makes a BIG batch which you can freeze for some quick but hearty meals during the week. Or you can just half the ingredients for a weekend family meal instead to enjoy on the day.
This soup can be blended for a cream version or simply enjoyed as it is, with all the lovely veggies in sight which is the way I like it!
A quick word of advice on the ingredient quantities - I've given my approximate proportions but if you chuck in more or less vegetables, then it really won't spoil the soup. You may just need to adjust the amount of water to make it less or more runny. I'm all for freestyling when it comes to souping so don't worry too much about the exact quantities. Also - if you fancy adding another root veg, like parsnips, just go for it!
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 15 min
Ingredients
- Approx. 4-5 litres of water
- 2 cubes of veggie stock
- 3 potatoes, diced
- 3 big beetroots, diced (you may wear gloves to dice them
- 4 carrots, sliced into 0.5cm rings
- celeriac - diced
- 4 celery sticks
- 1 leek, sliced into 1.5cm rings
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp of chilli flakes (optional) - I like adding them to any soup as they add a little kick, and they're great for digestion and clearing your throat too!
- Creme fraiche and fresh parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Boil the water and add stock cubes.
- Start throwing in your veg, with celeriac, beetroot and carrots first as they take a little longer to soften.
- Cook on medium heat for about 10-15mins, testing the softness of your veggies. You don't want them to go too soft too quickly.
- Add potatoes, leek and celery, and cook for further 15mins, on medium heat (potentially reducing it to low).
- Season with salt and pepper (and chilli flakes if you wish).
- At this point, all your veggies should be soft enough but do check and adjust cooking time.
- Serve either blended or as it is, with a dollop of creme fraiche in the middle and sprinkled with some chopped up parsley.
- Yum!
That Butterfly Effect http://thatbutterflyeffect.com/
Do you also plan your meals in advance? Let me know what you think of our meals last week and feel free to share yours as well – we’d love to try out new dishes.
