Our Family Meal Plan for week of 14/07/2014

It's another week of meetings and clinic appointments this week.  Thankfully the meetings are mostly in the evening and when I have clinic appointments my husband will be working from home so he can collect the kids from school.

I have been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes which means that I need to limit carbs, eat wholegrain carbs, limit sugar as much as possible and eat at regular intervals.  I also have to test my blood sugar several times a day and have at least 30 minutes of exercise each day.  Being forced to follow a strict diet and eat regularly is a good thing as I tend to get busy doing things and not eat regularly enough, I don't mind wholegrains as we eat a lot of those anyway, however the lack of the occasional hot chocolate and baked treat is slightly harder to cope with.  My family probably won't notice much change in the way we eat as a family, I'll adjust my meals and portions as I need to.

There's no shopping list this week as I ran out of time to compile it before I dashed off to work.

Breakfasts will be toast with spread, using homemade granary bread, or cereal and milk with a piece of fruit for afters.  I will probably make Crumpets one day on the weekend.

Packed Lunches will be either ham or cheese and chutney salad sandwiches on granary bread with crudites, yoghurt and a small baked treat.  My lunches will be salad based with some protein.

Dinners

Spicy Mixed Bean and Vegetable Lettuce Cups (I'm using lettuce cups instead of tortillas.)

Salmon with Roasted Sweet Potato and Spinach Salad and salad greens

Warm Mixed Vegetable, Chickpea and Halloumi Salad

Chicken Kebabs with brown rice, steamed greens and mixed vegetables

Homemade Wholemeal Pizzas with Lentils 

Beef Koftas with Salads

500g minced beef
1 onion, finely diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
pinch of salt
a few grinds of black pepper

250g couscous
500ml hot vegetable stock

shredded lettuce
2 carrots, sliced into batons
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
3 tomatoes, thinly sliced

Put the beef into a mixing bowl with the onion, cumin, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper. Mix until well combined. Wet your hands and shape the mixture into 6 long sausage shapes around soaked wooden skewers. Place on a foil lined oven tray and grill for approximately 10 - 15 minutes until cooked through.

Put the couscous into a large mixing bowl and cover with the hot stock. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 10 minutes then stir the couscous with a fork to fluff up the grains. Serve the koftas with the couscous and salads.

Salmon Bake with salads

1/2 cup plain wholemeal flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

4 free range eggs, beaten

500ml milk

100g butter, melted

415g can pink salmon, drained

1 onion, finely chopped

70g grated cheddar cheese

1 tsp fresh chives, finely chopped

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, pour in the eggs, milk and butter. Then add the drained salmon, finely diced onion, grated cheese and chives. Mix everything together until just combined. Don’t over-mix it.

Grease a large ovenproof dish then pour the mixture in. Cook at 180ºC for about 45 minutes until the egg has set. I’ll be serving this with salads.

Don't forget to check out all the other Meal Plans in the linky over on 

At Home with Mrs M.