menu planning – Tonotopics

March 16, 2021March 18, 2021

Fireside Dinner Menu # 23 – the week of the traybakes

I may or may not have mentioned before that these menu’s are not “real time” in that I only started posting these a while after I started logging our meals and recipes. Sometimes, therefore, you will get 7 unique meals but it would not always be Monday to Sunday. Sometimes I skip the confession that we had yet another takeaway or that we had cake for dinner (and with we I mean me) or that dinner involved something from a box that you could stick in the oven.

As I then type these up I am often reminded of a special meal or lovely company or something that did not come out as I intended it to. These recipes are therefore not only recipes but also little moments in time. And that my friends, is why I eat too much!

This week is also the week of the tray bakes. In essence it just means it is something that you spread out and stick in the oven. Gotta love it!

December 2, 2020December 1, 2020

Fireside dinner menu # 17

This week features a lot of sweet potatoes because I had a craving. We also cleaned out all the extra’s from the freezer so yes, Wednesday night’s dinner came from a box…

I told you about the lamb shank saga. The recipe is here.

Thursday night introduced me to a mac ‘n cheese braaibroodjie. Do not knock it until you’ve tried it, you will not be sorry!

You can download the full menu below, linking to some of the recipes.

FSM-17-menu Download

September 8, 2020September 9, 2020

Fireside dinner menu # 5

This week there was a lot of chicken mainly because I felt guilty about starting the week off with fillet. How spoilt can you be?

The Thursday night pasta dish is one of my ultimate one-pot dishes. And the fancy little star indicates that a recipe will be dug up soon and shared with you. It currently exists in Afrikaans in my mother’s handwriting, so I just need to take a little time with it. The links to some of the other recipes are available in the downloadable PDF.

Fireside-Menu-5 Download

The cornbread on Sunday is however the perfect little loaf and I am happy to share that with you here:

1 small packet of self raising flour

1 tin of whole kernel corn (drained)

1 tin of milk (use the corn’s empty one)

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

Mix everything together, pour into a loaf pan and bake at about 180 degrees C for 35 to 45 minutes.

August 15, 2020August 20, 2020

Fireside introduction

For the first time today, I am not planning out my post in my notebook and searching terms in my thesaurus… it’s going to be quick. Up to now, I have ever so often touched upon how I love cooking and menu planning and of course eating. When lockdown was initiated in March 2020 I realised that the days that are suddenly filled with all of the same things would need some form of celebration in the evenings, and so the plan was hatched to have a unique dinner every evening. Please do note that this was when I thought that lockdown would last a mere 21 days.

We are now on day 142 and I am pleased, and somewhat surprised, to announce that we have in fact had a unique meal every evening, even if it was only a different combination of things. I have logged each of these and thought that I would share my weekly menu’s with you, together with the links of where the recipes can be found.

I also have to warn you that the majority was prepared on the fire, because we are a family who enjoy unwinding outside at the end of the day. But many of these are recipes that can (and probably should) go into the oven, we just adapted them to be prepared outside.

Today, therefore, is the birthday of a new section on Tonotopics entitled Fireside (which I am not yet entirely in love with and may change). The plan is not yet clearcut, but I figured, I have done all this insane planning and cooking, I have made all the grocery lists, I have gained all the weight and drunk all the wine… I might as well preserve it here.

Please come to dinner… Here is the first menu.