Our weekly meal plan! 2nd - 8th February!! #MealPlanningMonday

Hello and happy Monday! Another week, another meal plan and I’m sitting here feeling pretty smug about having my life together, at least when it comes to food. hehehe

I hope you all had a good weekend. I had a good one. I binged the new episodes of Bridgerton and also watched a bit of wrestling! It was a quiet one with Becky at work and Stu busy planning some redecorating. There was lots of measuring, lots of standing back with hands on hips and plenty of him saying think we should... Stu’s suddenly obsessed with redecorating, is because he’s bought himself a new computer desk. The kind that means the entire dining room now apparently needs freshening up and this then led to us realising that the dining room hasn’t been painted since we moved in almost seven years ago! Every other room has been done at least once, some twice but the dining room has been ignored. Oops. Anyway, once the old desk is out for a few hours, he’s decided he might as well paint.

Last week's meal plan went amazingly well! We ate everything I planned and on the day I had planned too, that rarely happens so I am feeling pretty good going into this week and I'm hoping to do it again! Usually we only have 4 meals from Gousto in a week but this week we have an extra one because when I was picking the meals I couldn't decide as they all looked and sounded so good.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Gousto Meal - Sausage Meatball & Tomato Sauce With Fresh Orecchiette!

We're starting the week strong with pasta! This one is sausage meatballs cooked in a rich, herby tomato sauce, served with fresh orecchiette. We only discovered orecchiette a few months ago and I don’t know where it’s been all my life! Those little ear-shaped bits of pasta are brilliant at holding onto sauce, which means every mouthful is a good one!

Tuesday - Gousto Meal - Stove-Top Pork Meatloaf With Red Wine Glaze!

Pan-fried pork meatloaf, a rich red wine glaze, crispy potatoes and buttery veg on the side. Meatloaf is one of those things I forget I like until I’m eating it, then I wonder why we don’t have it more often. The family all love it too!

Wednesday - Gousto Meal - Creamy Pulled Chicken Thigh Soup With Garlic Bread!

This is a new one for us and I’m really looking forward to it. Chicken soup already sounds like a hug in a bowl but then you add garlic, thyme and chunky veg and I can't wait!

Thursday - Gousto Meal - Bacon Fried Rice With A Fried Egg And Spicy Ketchup!

Thursday dinners need to be quick but still feel like real food. This one is bacon lardons fried with garden veg and rice, topped with a fried egg and finished with a drizzle of sriracha ketchup. I love anything that involves putting an egg on top.

Friday - Fish finger sandwiches!

Friday nights are not for complicated cooking. Fish finger sandwiches are a firm favourite here. Crispy fish fingers, soft bread, plenty of butter and maybe a bit of ketchup.

Saturday - Gousto Meal - Herby Pork & Egg Burger With Fries!

A herby pork burger on buttery brioche buns, topped with a fried egg, mustard ketchup and crispy onions, served with fries on the side.

Sunday - No idea!

Stu is doing the cooking, so it could be anything. I am hoping for something with mashed potato, mash just feels right on a Sunday.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 25th - 31st January! Week 5 of #Project365

Yay! It’s the 1st of February and January, the month everyone seems to dread is finally over! I didn’t hate it this year. I think keeping myself busy really helped the days not drag. I had a cold in the middle of the month but even that had a silver lining, forcing me to slow down and enjoy days without pressuring myself to be busy every moment.

This week has been a mix of staying busy indoors and avoiding the miserable weather outside. I’ve had enough rain for a lifetime. Every time I peeked out the window it seemed to be raining! We got a sunny, dry day mid-week and it felt like magic! It made me start thinking about my plans for the garden this year, seeds and growing things and yesterday was dry and sunny too which boosted my motivation and I got some jobs done around the house. I can't wait for spring! 

Now for a photo every day!

25/365 - 25th January!

On Sunday, I was catching up with the wrestling which was on in the early hours. We have been spoilt this week. There was an extra show last Saturday, a 5pm start on Friday and a big show last night too.

26/365 - 26th January!

Just a chocolate eclair, an after-tea treat! It came in a box of two and I let Ellie have the other one, she loves sweet treats too.

27/365 - 27th January!

I finally finished my Hagrid’s Hut Terrarium! The plaster of Paris pieces from last week were the hut and the pumpkins. They are now painted and fully assembled into a little magical scene. I love how something so small can brighten a corner of my room.

28/365 - 28th January!

I made a batch of scones and decided to try something different. Normally I brush them with milk before popping them in the oven but this time I used a beaten egg. They came out shiny with golden brown tops that looked extra fancy but I still prefer the look that milk gives.

29/365 - 29th January!

I joined the library to get free audiobooks and they have so much to choose from. I have made a list of books which have taken my fancy and I’m excited to start working my way through them.

30/365 - 30th January!

I stepped out into the garden, to put some rubbish out and get a bit of fresh air. It was looking pretty dismal out there with the rain, the weeds and overgrown flowerbeds. It all looked pretty sad and ugly. The garden needs sorting out soon.

31/365 - 31st January!

Pancakes for tea along with bacon and eggs. A nice easy one because I wanted to be sat in front of the TV at 7pm ready to watch the wrestling!

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

This week my Word of the Week is:

If you had told me this time last year or even this time last month I would be obsessing over books, I would have laughed in your face. Me and books haven't been a thing, not since I was a teenager. Life is busy and I could never sit still long enough to turn pages and get fully sucked into a book. For years I just gave up on the dream of being a reader but then Audiobooks happened!!

I don’t even remember what made me try one properly this year but once I did, that was it! Audiobooks are a total game changer. I don’t have to sit still, I don’t have to stare at words and give them my full attention, I can just listen and somehow that works with my brain in a way reading never did. I can be doing something else and still get completely pulled into a story.

The first time I properly got into an audiobook was when I was sorting out my wardrobe. I had my headphones in and while folding my clothes I had a story unfolding into my ears. It didn’t feel like I was doing a boring job that I had been putting off for ages. I started listening while cooking tea, while walking, while folding laundry and even while sitting at my laptop blogging. Instead of rushing through jobs I don’t enjoy, I am now looking forward to them because it means I can carry on with whatever book I'm listening to.

I’d been using Spotify for audiobooks because we already pay for Spotify Premium and I thought audiobooks were just part of the deal. I got through a few books fairly quickly and was feeling very pleased with myself. Then Wednesday happened! I was in the kitchen cooking tea, headphones in, happily listening to The Woman Who Got Her Spark Back by Fiona Gibson when the story suddenly stopped and I heard a voice say something about "You have reached your listening limit." I had no idea there was a limit but Spotify only gives you 15 hours of audiobooks a month and it resets when your bill is paid. Our bill goes out mid-month, which means I’ve probably listened to about 30 hours already in January without realising.

I wasn’t ready to give this up. I was enjoying listening to books far too much, so I did what I always do when something annoys me. I went straight to Google. There were lots of options for audiobook apps, most offering a free trial and then charging around eight or nine pounds a month. Which isn’t terrible but I really didn’t want to add another subscription to my life. So I started searching for free audiobooks and I found quite a few but not really the sort of books I wanted to listen to and then I came across BorrowBox.

BorrowBox is a free app that lets you borrow audiobooks and ebooks from your local library and download them straight to your phone or tablet with no payment, no subscription and no hidden limits. How did I not know about this before? I do wonder how many other people are missing out on this too?

The only thing that nearly stopped me was the thought of joining the library. The last time I even thought about it, you had to take ID and proof of address before they would issue a library card but I checked the website on the off chance and it turns out joining is now simple. I didn’t need to prove anything. I just filled in my name, email address, home address, chose my local library and that was it. So I went back to the BorrowBox app, signed in with my new library card details and suddenly I had access to so many books, way more choice than Spotify, too! New releases, familiar authors, books I’ve heard people talk about for years and never got round to reading.

The borrowing system works just like a proper library. You borrow a book for a set amount of time, which is around 20 days and when that time’s up it automatically returns itself. Some books weren’t available straight away, which confused me at first because it’s an audio file, but then I realised libraries work on licences, so only a certain number of people can borrow each book at a time. You can reserve them though.

I now have a list of about 15 books. I haven't reserved any apart from the one I'm listening too but they’re all new to me, which makes it feel exciting. So sorry Spotify Audiobooks, you’ve been dumped. Well almost. I’ll be back once my hours reset so I can finish the last hour of my current book and then we're through.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m a reader now. Not in the way I imagined, I’m a reader while being busy and instead of reading the books with my eyes, it's with my ears!

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 5. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! It has been another wet week here and it has been chilly but I’m trying very hard not to complain because I’ve been keeping an eye on the weather reports from the US and wow! The snow, the ice, the temperatures all looks brutal. I really hope everyone across the pond has managed to stay warm and safe because just watching it on the news makes me want to put the kettle on and wrap myself in another layer. I am of course linking up with Erika and Andrea today to share the things which I have loved from the past week.

Lots of wrestling!

If you know me, you won’t be shocked that wrestling is top of the list again. It has been a big week in our house. We had an extra show on Saturday night and there’s another extra show coming up tomorrow night, which has made the whole week feel a bit more exciting than usual. The event is the Royal Rumble which is always one of my favourites. It’s the one that really sets all the storylines up for the next few months in the WWE. This year it’s being broadcast live from Saudi Arabia, which means we’re being treated to earlier start times. Tonight’s show starts at 5pm and tomorrow’s at 7pm! The Saudi shows are always impressive but this one has really blown my mind. A month ago the site where the arena is was flat ground and over the the last few weeks they've built a full-on custom arena. The speed they work at is unreal.

Hair dye!

Saturday afternoon was hair-dye day. If you dye your hair bright colours you’ll know it’s never a quick job. This was an all afternoon thing. First the bleaching, then washing it out, then the dye, then waiting, then rinsing again. By the end of it I was so sick of the process but happy with the result. I love having bright coloured hair, I always have and I probably always will. Despite what some people think it makes me feel like me and life’s far too short to be boring.

Slow cooker meals!

Every now and then I forget just how brilliant the slow cooker is. I’ll go a few weeks without using it and then wonder why on earth I stopped. This week it made a very welcome comeback. There is something nice about throwing everything in, putting the lid on and letting it do its thing while the house slowly fills with the smell of something delicious. On Tuesday evening, we had pork belly and winter veg pot roast. It’s an oven recipe but it works perfectly in the slow cooker. The meat was soft, the veg was full of flavour and it felt like proper hearty food which was just what we needed on a cold, damp day!

My monthly goals!

At the start of January, I wrote a blog post about my goals for the month. At the time I wasn’t sure if it would be a one-off or something I’d keep up with. As I’m writing this I’ve only got one thing left on that list that I haven’t done and I feel so chuffed with myself. Writing everything down really helped. It gave me that little nudge to actually get things done instead of thinking I’ll do them at some point. I’ve already started writing down ideas for my February goals, which feels like a good sign. I think this is going to turn into a monthly thing.

Harry Potter Hagrid's Hut Terrarium!

I’ve had this Harry Potter Hagrid’s Hut terrarium kit sitting around for ages and I finally got around to starting it last week. I did had to pause to let the plaster of Paris set but I cracked on with it this week and got it finished! I think I did a good job and it's so cute. In a few weeks it will look even better when the grass starts to grow.

Harlan Coben's Run Away!

A gripping 8-part Netflix thriller following Simon Greene, a father searching for his drug-addicted runaway daughter, Paige. After finding her in a park, a violent altercation with her boyfriend, Aaron, leads to a murder investigation where Simon is the prime suspect. The series dives into a dangerous underworld, revealing dark family secrets, betrayals, and the extreme lengths a parent will go to for their child. I am half way though as of writing this and I am enjoying it. There are so many twists and turns.

What have you loved over the last week?