The Barbecue Chicken Experiment....

Due to the boringness of my weekly meal plans, I set myself a bit of a meal plan challenge last week which involved me cooking a different meal each night.  Thursday's new meal was barbecue chicken but Mr Frugal and I disagreed on how to make it so we ended up making two different versions and having a bit of a taste test at the end....

My version was a chicken breast with barbecue sauce spread on top, wrapped in bacon and sprinkled with cheese:

Mr Frugal's was a typical man mess:

He wrapped his chicken in bacon and poured barbecue sauce all over it before sprinkling some grated cheese on top and presenting it to me as a work of art!

This is our tasting plate and it's clear (to me) that my version is the best presented version and after a quick taste of each one, we both decided that the winner of the best tasting barbecue chicken was............  Me (was there ever any doubt lol)

The Barbecue Chicken Experiment....

Writing Workshop - Dreams of Rhiannon

You might have seen the picture above on your travels around Blogland and wondered what it was -  the Writing Workshop is something organised by Josie over at Sleep is for the weak - every week she post's prompts to help you to write about something that you may not normally choose as a subject.

I've cheated a bit this week as I am using a piece that was written by my brother before he died.  As soon as I read the prompt 'My Life in another Universe', I knew I was going to use this.

He battled mouth cancer for several years and had three operations to remove it but it just kept coming back.  He had half of his tongue and jaw bone removed which meant he couldn't speak properly or eat anything solid. It also made people stare at him sometimes which he hated.

He used to post quite a lot on a cancer support website and the piece below was posted on there not long before he died.  It's called Dreams of Rhiannon, I don't have a clue why though.

Dreams of Rhiannon

Today I woke up to the sound of snow falling ( I'm a light sleeper! ).  As I got half dressed I strolled into the kitchen and put the kettle on and emptied the cereal into the bowl and threw coffee into the cup! As I wash I stuck my tongue out at myself in jest! Damn I bring new meaning to the word ugly! Who cares I'm happy.

As I watch Sky news while eating my cereal I can hear my dog barking outside, Oops I've not let him in again!!! It's now 7am and time to set off for college,the bus as usual is full of school kids screaming and shouting abuse at each other and no-one has a second glance at me.

As I walk though college into the refectory giving all the young things cursory glances ,stopping off at the shop for a coffee. and a Mars I sit down to read the paper & wait for the rest of my class to join me to catch up on the weekends events.

Today is another presentation day;this where we do a talk on different topics, mine is MS and goes well with Q & A's at the end of my presentation. It's now dinner time and as I order Tagliatelle & a baguette, the rest of the class are already sitting down! I'm the only male in my class and face constant innuendo and harrasment, but hey someone has to do it!!

As I devour my pasta no one gives me a second glance and I laugh and joke with every-one!After college I walk into town and grab pies & crips for my tea!( no diet!!) Tonight ny son calls me and tells me about his day at school and asks me what I did and when can he visit me?As I settle down for the night endless phone calls from friends mean I don't dose off till 1am.

Just as the alarm clock goes off!! I wake up and look at the scars on on my face, look at what's left of my tongue! I have another day of people staring at me,another day of feeding by P.E.G., another day where people struggle to grasp what I'm saying!! Just another day!! And another dream of what used to be!!

Makes me cry every time I read it to think what he went through.

I did post this last year but I wanted to repost it as part if the Writing Workshop - I hope it's OK that I cheated a bit this week.

Writing Workshop - Dreams of Rhiannon

The Gallery....

Tara over at Sticky Fingers has come up with a fantastic idea to encourage us budding photographers. Every week she will post a prompt to inspire a photograph and we can then share our photos with each other.

This week's theme is numbers and I was really looking forward to getting all creative but I haven't really had the chance so I decided to use a photo that makes me smile every time I look at it:

Eight little snails enjoying a summer BBQ

I took this one at a BBQ last Summer, one of those last minute gatherings that turn out to be   - while we were enjoying a nice bottle of rose with our friends in the garden, the kids decided to go on a snail hunt and arrange a little party for them on the bird table. 

I hope it makes you smile too ;-)

The Gallery....

What a week!

It's been a bit of a stressful week so far in the Frugal Household.

We've all been feeling a bit yukky since the weekend and I've been really stressed over a big interview at work but thankfully everyone's feeling a lot better today and my interview was this morning so.... you'll be glad to know (I hope) that I'm back!

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow ;-)

I'm also really excited because I'll be announcing a huge giveaway in the next few days so keep popping back for more news on that.... I will leave you with a little hint - it's something that might interest all you potential Vloggers out there. 

What a week!

Meal Plan - Better late than never....

Aaaagh - I can't believe it's taken me so long to get this sorted.  Would you believe that I have had another trip to A & E!  This time with Miss Frugal.

Bless her, I can safely say that next time she asks a boy for a kiss and he says no, she most certainly will not chase him upstairs to his bedroom and use her hand to block him from slamming his door!  She managed to get three of her fingers crushed in her quest for a snog.

I have honestly never heard screams like it, she literally shook for about fifteen minutes while screaming at the top off her voice.  Add one little boy devastated and screaming because he hurt her so much and one mother who does not cope well with blood (me) and you have a recipe for disaster.

Luckily, after an x-ray, the doctor said nothing was broken and the swelling seems to have gone down loads today so there's been no lasting damage thank goodness.

It was awful seeing her in so much pain and I felt really shaky and teary when we got back from the hospital so Mr Frugal ran me a bath and put me to bed as soon as we had settled her down.

So now my traumas over, here's my meal plan.  It's pretty basic this week as I have no energy left to think!

Monday
Lunch - Sandwiches
Tea - Egg, chips and beans (told you it was basic lol)

Tuesday
Lunch - Sandwiches
Tea - Cottage Pie and Yorkshire puddings

Wednesday
Lunch - Sandwiches
Tea - Corned beef and potato pie and new potatoes

Thursday
Lunch - Egg on toast
Tea - Chicken Satay and Rice

Friday
Lunch - Sandwiches
Tea - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Saturday
Lunch - Bacon sandwiches
Tea - Home made pizza 

Sunday
Lunch - American Style Pancakes
Tea - Sunday Dinner.

If anyone else wants to share their meal plan, add to the McLinky below....

Meal Plan - Better late than never....

How not to cook Chicken Quesadillas....

I've really enjoyed my week off work cooking meals that I wouldn't normally cook as part of my meal plan challenge.  On the menu last night was chicken quesadillas:

If you ask any of my family, they will say that I lovingly prepared the quesadillas with my own hands but I actually bought an Old el Paso Quesadilla kit from Tescos and made it while they were all playing on the wii.  The kit came with the corn tortillas, the spice mix and tomato salsa, I just bought the chicken, cheese and sour cream. 

The instructions on the pack were really simple to follow and they were absolutely gorgeous....

....But, there's always a but isn't there, I have just figured out that by the time I bought the quesadilla kit, the chicken, cheese and the sour cream, it wasn't a frugal meal by any means.
 
So although the meal itself was gorgeous and is definitely one to add to the meal plan, I am going to need to find a cheaper way to make it. 

How not to cook Chicken Quesadillas....

How many meals can I make using this?

I've just bought a bargain gammon joint from the Sainsburys Basics range.  I have bought a few things from their basic range before and it's usually quite good so I have high hopes for my little gammon joint.

It's starting it's food journey in the slow cooker where I plan to cook it to perfection (probably not knowing me lol).  I'm going to use the stock to make a nice soup with dumplings for lunch tommorrow and I'll see if I can find some new ideas for recipes to use the ham for.  I'll let you know what I find.
I have a couple of recipes that I have used before to cook gammon and to make the Soup and dumplings but I am going to try and find something different to do with the joint following the success of this weeks meal plan challenge (more about that later).

I know a lot of people don't buy cheap meat for many reasons and I do try to buy organic, free range food wherever I can but if I made the decision to only eat meat that was organic and free range my food budget would need some serious work.  I think it's a gradual thing for me, I will only buy free range eggs and I have started to buy free range chickens too so I'm getting there.... Slowly but surely.

If anyone's got any ideas what I could make, please feel free to share ;-)

How many meals can I make using this?