On my plate: week of August 17-23

I'm hungry. Like, really hungry. An inhuman level of hunger has possessed me. Our meals last week were what I would normally classify as "man food"; the cold rainy weather didn't help either. Here's what I concocted in our kitchen: 

Breakfasts: Homemade oatmeal (porridge) using 1/2cup uncooked oats, a handful of mixed dried fruits, and 1 tsp brown sugar

Lunches: Soup! This is a carrot and coriander soup I whipped up when I picked up a massive bag of carrots on sale. It's not vegetarian because I used chicken stock as the base, then just cooked down carrots, onion, garlic, and the spices (mostly coriander), and hit it with an immersion blender and a splash of cream at the end. Oh, and homemade bread, because it's 1) so super simple that I can just pop a loaf in the oven after work twice a week, and 2) it's cheaper than store bought bread: about 33p (50 cents?) a per loaf. Plus, its delicious and amazing and packaged bread can't hold a candle to it. Here's my recipe. 

        

Dinners! I usually cook enough that we both eat leftovers for lunch the next day. First up to the plate (well, bowl) is my chock-full chili. It has all of the southwest chili flavor, but with the added magic of lots of veg and sweet potato to kick it up a notch, a la Emeril.  The sweet potato was one of my genius additions that has proven to be a real crowd pleaser. 

          

Then I had one of those really naughty down-home comfort food cravings, and resorted to linguine with broccoli and chicken in a pesto cream sauce. (A little note: When I poach chicken for recipes like this, I use the "stock" leftover as a base for soups!) We effectively committed carbicide that day. Don't judge the preggo. 

           

These sausages were picked up at our local farmer's market. They're venison and red currant sausauges, which I browned and braised in a fresh tomato sauce with some peppers and onions and served over creamy parmesan polenta. Rainy day food at its finest. This was actually a small side plate, not even a large dinner plate. It was that filling.     

                                                    

Veggie night (we try to do this at least twice a week): Spinach and ricotta canneloni! With fresh spinach and tomatoes in a really light, fresh sauce. Ok, I was craving Italian this week. At least I mixed it up a little bit. This photo was before baking, because they lasted all of 3 minutes once they came out of the oven. This was the hub's favorite meal last week, if I'm not mistaken. 

       

And that's all the photos I've got! I was inspired to do another post in this series today as I caught up on some much loved blog reading this weekend. Comment below if you'd like me to post any of the recipes (on the blog or by email!)