Shopping List and Menu.

This weeks menu for family of five:

Family of five
Garlic mozzarella pizza, potato wedges, tomato, basil & mozzarella salad, cucumber strips
Roast Lamb with mashed potatoes, sweet potato crisps, roasted parsnip & green vegetables
Chicken, Rice and Vegetable Soup with homemade Bread
Roast Chicken with vegetable couscous and gravy
Moroccan lamb with rice, couscous, roasted tomatoes, yogurt raita and pitta bread
Garlic and Rosemary hearthbreads with cold meats and salad

Kids only
Macaroni Cheese
Chicken noodle soup and baked potatoes with tuna mayonnaise and cheese salad
Fish fingers, chips and baked beans

Helen & Brian
Linguine with spicy tomato, feta, pine nuts and spinach
Linguine puttanesca
Fried spinach and potato curry with rice and paratha

Breakfast
Cereal, porridge, toast, homemade fruit loaf, chocolate and hazelnut buns (made with Nutella) and danish pastries.

Lunches
Sandwiches, soup, cheese, biscuits, bread, bananas, apples, crackers.

Snacks
Pickles, bread, French toast, mini chocolate muffins

There are nine main meals, some of which will use items already in the freezer. The leg of lamb will be roasted, the leftovers used for the Moroccan lamb and some frozen for later on, for curry.

The receipt came to £50.92.

Tonight's fayre is homemade garlic and mozzarella pizza with potato wedges, tomato, basil (grown in a pot) and mozzarella salad and cucumber strips.

The potato wedges are made by quartering and then halving Maris Piper potatoes with the skin on and covering with olive oil and sea salt. Use your hands to coat each potato wedge thoroughly. Place in an oven at 240 degrees Celsius, 10-15 minutes before the pizza goes in; they should cook in approx. 30 minutes, depending on your oven.

Garlic & Mozzarella Pizza
The pizza dough I normally use works well with this but I prefer to use 200g strong white bread flour and 50g plain flour when not using tomato sauce.

Pizza Dough
250g flour, 200 strong white bread flour, 50g plain
1 heaped teaspoon easy-blend dried yeast (half 7g sachet)
Half teaspoon salt
150ml warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pizza tray with holes, or baking sheet, oiled with olive oil

Combine flour, yeast and salt and mix. Pour in water and oil and mix to form a dough, adding more water if necessary. Knead for 5 minutes. Put into an oiled bowl, turning once to oil both sides of the dough, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour.

After an hour or so or once dough has doubled in size, punch all the air out of it and knead for another minute. You can squeeze it to fit into your chosen tin but I tend to hold it in two hands firmly, shake it, moving it around from hand to hand quickly. As it starts to get larger, keep moving so that you don't end up with too many tears. Lay it on the pizza tin and then press out to fit. It's ok to have a thicker rim, this makes for a lovely crust.

Dimple the dough with your fingers and pour over some olive oil; enough to cover the dough lightly, not too much that it dribbles through any holes or falls over the sides. Sprinkle over crushed garlic...around 2 cloves or more if you prefer, a good pinch of sea salt and then lay thinly sliced mozzarella around the middle of the pizza. Drizzle over a little more olive oil. I like to place a basil leaf right in the middle, just for me and aesthetics!

Place in pre-heated oven...it should already be at 240 degrees c for the potato wedges and bake in the middle for approx. 15-20 minutes or until browned and bubbling.

Serve with the cucumber strips, which the kids love and the mozzarella, basil and tomato salad, which is my favourite.

The kids like to add a little melted butter to the crust which is lovely or you can add another little drizzle of olive oil, which I usually do. Bon Appétit!