Weekend menu?

[Fengshui]

Thinking of what to cook this weekend (that fussy buggers in my house) will eat.

Today:

Italian sausage and grape stew (thanks Ina Garten) with polenta for me and plain pasta for the Dcs.

www.food.com/recipe/barefoot-contessas-roasted-sausages-and-grapes-507530

Tomorrow,

Roast chicken with all the trimmings. Dull but a Chicken and vegetable soup for MOndays is a staple for us nowadays! I am evern going to do bread sauce, which I usually only do at Christmas and LOVE!!

Breakfasts... well i realised I have fallen into a trap toast and honey toast and nutella lately so will make a really good fruit smoothie (with added frozen yoghurt and cocoa powder for the DCs so they think it is a milkshake). Does anyone have nice breakfast ideas to inspire me?

Thanks!

well i could not find polenta for love nor money today. So will use couscous instead.

The shelves were stripped bare at Tesco today!

I did not buy any meat though for a roast, but a caulifower to make cauli cheese.

For breakfast, how about baked eggs or a strata? You can throw in lots of veg, cheese and even some bacon or sausage. They last for weekday breakfasts as well.

a strata? Not heard of this! [off to google]

Tonight, beef eye fillet with red wine jus, creamy garlic mash, beans, asparagus, brussies, leek, broccoli and baby carrots, tomorrow night home made hamburgers with chunky home-made chips.

Oh delicious. If I can motivate myself to the market again tomorrow I might go back to my original roast idea....

A strata is basically baked eggs with a bread layer. You take stale/older dry bread and layer it on the bottom your dish (after buttering the dish). Mix up your eggs with milk, herbs, veg, cheese and meats (bacon, ham or breakfast sausage). For seasoning I use black pepper, a bit of salt, thyme, and sage usually in the winter. Paprika is good. Garlic and onion definitely.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread then put it in the fridge to absorb the egg mixture. You can leave it overnight or just a few hours. Heck, I don’t even let it absorb more than 20 min sometimes because I don’t plan ahead as much as I should.

Add some more cheese on top. You then bake it for about 30 to 50 minutes at roughly 190C depending on how big your dish is and the temp of your oven. Check for doneness by inserting a knife to see if it comes out clean.

It’s extremely flexible and adaptable to whatever you have in your house at the moment.