Autumn Fall Cookbooks My Faves!

I love cook books! I love the photographs, the graphics and even the smell of a good book, lol! I thought I would share my fave family cook books that I bring out in the Autumn Fall season to stay warm and to keep the family nourished! I hope you find some inspiration here in this video for your own family.

There are links at the bottom of the page where you can buy the books from Amazon, (they are affiliated links and I should probably notify you that I might earn 10p or so if you click it lol!!!!) If you have an independent book shop, order them in there and support small local business instead!

With love x


Autumn Monthly Meal Plan

The cold is setting in quickly into this part of the world and I don’t know about you but I’m all about comforting warming dishes this time of year! I love a good slow cooker recipe or pressure cooked stew.

Check out the video below for a look at our September monthly haul and the cosy four week meal plan is at the end of the video. It is also written at the bottom of this page for you.

I hope you find some inspiration for your own family meals, love Angie x

Meal Plan – One Week August

A quick meal plan to warm you up for my monthly September plan coming next week! There are no attached recipes its just to give you an idea on how we plan our meals and vary our diet and to give you some inspiration for different family meals.

Click the video below for a look at the food haul and our meal plan is written below. Lunches are just a variation of tuna, cheese and egg sandwiches and wraps this week and breakfasts were granola, smoothies and toast this week.

Meal Plan Ideas One Week

Monday (Vegetarian) – Five Root Vegetable Soup

Tuesday (Fish) – Fried Breaded Fish

Wednesday (Vegetarian) – Stuffed butternut squash

Thursday (Meat) – Venison Stew

Friday (Vegetarian) – Leek Tart

Saturday – No planned meals

Sunday – Chicken pieces roasted in herbs

Apple Oat Bars

These are such a great breakfast snack and make a perfect make ahead breakfast for busy families!

I used the apple pie butter recipe for the filling but you can also use canned pureed fruit. The recipe is very simple and I hope you enjoy these fruity bars as much as we did!

Love Angie x

Ingredients

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 cup quick cook rolled oats

2/3 cup of brown sugar or coconut sugar

1/4 tsp of baking powder

1/2 cup of butter

1 1/2 cups of apple butter or other fruit filling

Preheat the oven to 180, grease a baking tray and combine the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar and baking powder. Crumble and rub together in the bowl until it looks similar to the crumb topping for apple pie.

Set aside half a cup of this mixture and press remaining into the tray. Spread the apple butter on top of the pressed in mixture and sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top. Press down lightly.

Bake for 30-35mins. Cool, then slice into chunky bars!

Two week meal plan

Another easy and affordable meal plan for two weeks!

The kids are back at school this week so I made this meal plan with that in mind…hearty meals for hungry tummies, easy and quick to make with my new baby in the background and really affordable!

I’ve also included a small tour around the larder cupboard (because its clean for once) and a peek at our bulk snacks order for school lunches and break snacks!

Check out the food haul in the video below and the meal plan is at the bottom of the page! 🙂

Meal Plan

Below is our two week meal plan, I hope it gives you some ideas for new family recipes to make.

Week 1

(vegetarian) Monday – Broccoli & Cauliflower bake with Pasta

(Fish) Tuesday – Fish Tacos

(Vegetarian) Wednesday – Vegetable Stir Fry & Tofu

(Meat) Thursday – Spicy Chicken

(Vegetarian) Friday – Baked Potatoes – Tuna & Cheese, Chicken Mayo

Saturday – Free

(Meat) Sunday – Beef Brisket in BBQ Sauce

Week 2

(Vegetarian) Monday – Vegetarian Lasagne

(Fish) Tuesday – Fish & Spinach

(Vegetarian) Wednesday – Pad Thai Meal Kits

(Meat) Thursday – Venison Stew

(Vegetarian) Friday – Dhal, rice & naan breads

Saturday – Free

(Meat) Sunday – Lamb Stew

With Love

Apple Butter Recipe

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I made this super delicious apple butter recipe at the start of the week last week and used it in over 3 recipes! We had apple butter on banana bread, apple butter filled oat bars and oat muffins with apple butter as an ingredient. It was a real time saver and it was enjoyed by all the family. You can also spread it on toast, dip fruit in it, serve it with ice cream or even use it for pie filling! mmmm pie! 😉

Below is the recipe for this super delish apple butter!

Ingredients

8 Large Granny Smith Apples

3 cups of apple juice

1 cups of sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of ground cloves

1/2 tsp of ground allspice

Peel and chop all the apples up and pop into a large pan with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a quick boil then lower to a simmer for 30mins, stir frequently and mash at the end. Store in a kilner type sealed jar in the fridge to use as needed. Enjoy!

Aug – Family Breakfast Ideas

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We are still in August but to be honest it feels more like September with the colder temperatures and rain we have been having. Below you will find my ‘week of breakfasts’ video which I created from our weekly breakfast meal plan.

We decide on 5 breakfasts for Monday to Friday and repeat those throughout the month. This way I find we eat more variety (yes more!) and we are prepared for breakfast in the morning. Meal planning also helps a lot with budgeting and meal planning and has helped us stick within our budget and even save money from it too.

Click the video below to watch our week of breakfasts in August, I hope you find some ideas for your own family:

Monday – Peanut butter bagels with bananas

Tuesday – French toast sticks with berry topping

Wednesday – Granola and yogurt bowls with fresh fruit

Thursday – Omlette with spinach and cheese

Friday – Granola with almond milk and fruit

With Love

Melanzane alla Parmigiana

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Vegan friendly if you use dairy free cheese!

I love grilled aubergines, my kids are not big fans though I’m afraid but they usually manage a little of this dish due to the creamy cheesy texture. They also love a classic Italian tomato sauce so it tends to go down pretty well because of the flavours. You could also add in some sliced courgettes and perhaps roasted red peppers but I like it simple.

I’m afraid after slicing it up and serving it didn’t look as photogenic as I had hoped for ha ha ha but I can assure you it was delicious! 🙂

I made this dish as part of my monthly shopping meal plan which seems to be working pretty well to keep us well fed and organised. Check out my video in the video section or click the YouTube header at the top of the page. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did.

Ingredients

2 aubergines sliced length ways

Olive oil

1 Tin of chopped tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic

2 balls of fresh mozzarella or dairy free equivalent

Parmesan or dairy free equivalent (roughly 100g)

Grated breadcrumbs

Chopped basil (optional)

Salt & pepper

Instructions

  1. Start by slicing and grilling the aubergine under the grill or in a George Foreman type grill with a little olive oil and seasonings. I love my Foreman I use it for so many things. Once all the aubergines are grilled set aside on a plate.
  2. Next you want to prepare the Italian tomato sauce. I would usually cook up my tomatoes and garlic etc. in a pan for this type of sauce but for super time saving prep I’m using my blender (Vitamix). Put the tinned tomatoes, garlic, a dash of olive oil and salt and pepper into a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside in a jug.
  3. Slice up the mozzerella or dairy free equivalent and set aside on a plate.
  4. That’s all the ingredients prepped now its time to assemble together lasagna style.
  5. Using a small lasagne dish pour a little tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish and place a layer of aubergine slices on top. Cover with a layer of mozzerella slices and a layer of tomato sauce. Repeat with the aubergine, mozzerella and tomato sauce until finished and top off with grated parmesan or dairy free equivalent and grated breadcrumbs. You can add some fresh chopped basil on the top here if you have to hand.
  6. Cook in a medium oven about 140-160 for 35 minutes or until completely browned and golden on the top. Serve up with some fresh salad or greens on the side. Enjoy and love!

If you enjoyed this recipe please pop over to my YouTube channel for more recipes and holistic health ideas for you and the family.


Slow Cooker Weekly Meal Plan

Check out my awesome Autumn weekly meal plan for some nourishing slow cooker family meals!  5 Days of warming meals for a busy week!  Pop your ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning and relax knowing that a healthy family meal will be ready by family dinner time.

 

I love taking advantage of kitchen gadgets to take the pressure off now and again!  I would recommend the Morphy Richards Accents Sear and Stew Slow Cooker 6.5L 48705 Brushed Stainless Steel Slowcooker it has worked so well for us and one of my favourite slow cooker recipes books is the Superfood Slow Cooker: Healthy wholefood meals from your slow cooker there are some amazingly healthy recipes in this book and it is one of my faves for slow cooker family recipes.  Check them out if you need inspiration!

Pinterest is also worth a search for ideas and I also love the BBC website search facility too.

I hope you find some inspiration here in this video for your family slow cooking experiments!

Enjoy my video below by clicking on the play button, if you have any questions or need any help drop me a line in the comments below.  What are your favourite slow cooker recipes I would love to know 🙂

Love Angie x