What's for dinner?

Every Sunday morning, I plan my week. I check my calendar to see what's up for this week. One of the major points of my week planning is what we'll have for dinner every day. With 5 kids, I just can't afford to think of dinner only at the last moment. I need to be prepared because otherwise my carefully planned week will fall apart like Humpty Dumpty.

So, what's going on for us this week?

Sunday

We're having leftovers from the weekend.

Monday

I'm taking the kids to Dutch school in the afternoon, so I need to make sure to have dinner ready before I leave the house. I often plan a crockpot meal for this day.

Tuesday

It's my birthday on Tuesday! We are planning to eat out with the kids.

Wednesday

We're eating at my in-laws every Wednesday.

Thursday

I need to plan a meal for this day.

Friday

On Friday, it will be shabat again. Shabat menu planning happens on Wednesday, the day before I do my shopping for the weekend.

Menu planning

This week, I only have to plan meals for Monday and Thursday. Since I need to start cooking on Monday morning, I need to make sure that I have all the ingredients in the house by Sunday evening.

So what will we be eating this week?

For Monday, I was thinking of making vegetarian chilli. That's great for the crockpot, and the kids love it. Especially if I add taco chips and sour cream! The kids love the idea of having chips for dinner.

Thursday will be vegetarian lasagne. I make it with courgette (squash) and salsa rosa. Here is the recipe:

Michal's courgette lasagne with salsa rosa

Ingredients:

- 1 casserole dish, size doesn't matter so much.
- 1 pack of lasagne leaves which you don't need to pre-cook
- 1 big onion, chopped
- 7 or 8 courgettes, you can also use yellow squash or zucchini, chopped fairly small
- 1 small packet of cooking cream
- 2 small packets of totato paste
- ketchup
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- Grated cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F.
Saute the onions until translucent. Add the squash and stir-fry until the squash has a nice color.
Turn the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and stir until heated well. Turn off the heat.
Add the cream and stir well. With an immersion blender, blend well until you get a smooth sauce.
Stir in sugar, ketchup, teriyaki sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

Now assemble the lasagne:
Start with covering the bottom of the dish with lasagne leaves. Make sure the leaves are not sitting on top of one another.
Cover the pasta with sauce. Make sure to spread the sauce evenly, and that the pasta is covered completely. Pay special attention to the corners of your baking dish. They should have plenty of sauce as well.
I love lots of cheesy goo, so I add a layer of cheese here, but you don't have to.
Now alternate layers of pasta and sauce (and cheese if you want to) until you're out of sauce. Make sure to end with a layer of sauce. Top with grated cheese.

Cover the lasagne with tin foil, and put in the oven for 40 minutes. Enjoy!