Last week ended up not being entirely to plan: leek lasagne turned into Spag Bol (Quorn version for my vegetarian brother); I let the potatoes over-boil on Thursday and the mashed potato was too salty, leaving them inedible; and a little accident for Ioan on Friday (bashing his mouth, leading to a chipped front tooth) meant I was too stressed to be bothered with lamb steaks on Friday and so we opted for an Indian takeaway instead.
Now I have calmed down from the news about Ioan’s tooth (the chip is barely noticeable and he isn’t bothered about it any more), I feel that my panicked call to the dentist to arrange an emergency appointment was slight overkill. But I am still not looking forward to his first trip to the dentist to check on those … slightly chipped … pearly whites.
The lamb steaks were relegated to Saturday, and were still delicious; and the leek lasagne is hopefully going to make an appearance this week, as I have a fridge full of leeks!
Our beef stew with dumplings was a success, despite the weather being unseasonably warm:
I distracted Ioan from his chipped tooth with some baking (Welsh cakes) on Friday evening:
He really loves helping out in the kitchen, and as soon as I ask him to help me, he drags out his little foot stall to wash his hands and make a mess!:
I went to visit pregnant friends on Sunday and so made them some cookie dough for them to keep in the freezer for when they need a chocolate hit (this recipe), and the dough received Ioan’s seal of approval:
This week is a bit of a funny one for me, and so I’ll struggle to manage much in the way of meal planning: later today I have to rush home from work to take Ioan out of nursery so that we can go to the dentist and get his chipped tooth checked out, then rush him back to nursery (assuming he is not too traumatised) so that I can leg it home and jump on a call, before getting on with work for the rest of the afternoon. On Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday I’ll be in Paris. My usual 7pm train home is currently – and very inconveniently – not running, so I won’t be home until around 10.30pm, meaning two evening meals on the Eurostar this week … and mum will be in charge of meals at home.
I will be in the office on Thursday – I usually work from home and so make dinner in between phone meetings – so I have to be even more organised. Andrew is working at the weekend and we have one of Ioan’s little friends’ birthday parties, so we won’t have a restful weekend either.
So, in an attempt to be super-organised, super-mum, super-worker on this International Women’s Day week, I am planning to make the following:
- Monday – leek lasagne
- Tuesday – garlic chicken breasts with mashed potato and veg for Andrew and Ioan (prepared in advance by me, and easy for Andrew to re-heat)
- Wednesday & Thursday I will leave to my mum (I don’t know what I’d do without her help!)
- Friday – homemade fish and chips
- Saturday – pork chops, new potatoes and vegetables – Ioan has recently become a fan of pork, so I’ll do him a few pieces, without the bone
- Sunday – roast dinner, meat TBC
Do you have anything nice planned for this week? Or any tips for how I can deal with Ioan’s first ever trip to the dentist?