broad beans, hooray. A word on lunch.

now those of you reading closely might be wondering what happened to the overlooked broad beans from Monday 27th. Well, here's the answer: lunch!
I tweaked a Sainsbury's feed your family for a fiver recipe card that I'd used in the past, halved the quantities and made a really simple and scrummy broad bean and smoked salmon risotto. It was nowhere near as poncy or expensive as it sounds. I still had some chicken stock in the fridge from what I made from the pot roast carcass, so I used that. The 2 yr old likes smoked salmon so I often buy the Basics pack of trimmings which costs 88p and keep it in the fridge and she has a few spoons for a snack as and when. I used about half a pack, with the broad beans, and yes I had made the offender pod them, and then I made him "de-jacket" them too! A bit of lemon and and handful of the ever ready frozen diced onions and a few minutes of patient stirring, and lunch was gorgeous, filling and yet light and summery too. And certainly a change from reheating last night's dinner. Lunch has been my budgeting downfall for the past 3 years ish. For some reason during my pregnancy I found myself unable to eat left-overs at all. I've never been a fan of sandwiches, so I found I had to find something altoether different to eat at lunchtime. Add to that the fact I couldn't even vaguely cook or prepare food for about 8 months due to violent pregnancy sickness, and we're looking at take aways, rice pouches, packets of noodles, and lots of scrambles on toast.
Lunches must be budgeted for. Be realistic about what you will or won't eat. My hubby has never liked eating left overs. Taking left over soup or stew to work in a tiffin box is never going to be his thing, but many years ago I used to pack him a lunch box and he was happy with that, he's quite a breadaholic anyway. As I said earlier, I get very anti-sandwich, so I'm normally the one zapping the pasta or stew in the microwave and scarffing it down in delight. If we have people over for dinner, I often don't eat much, so then I do like to have my portion the next day at lunch. When I was a teenager I was also well known for having my portion the next day for BREAKFAST. Especially my mum's kofta curry and spiced basmati rice, both Madhur Jaffrey recipes. These days I stick to no added sugar/salt muesli, but I will do a breakfast post at some point. The point is don't just menu plan the evening meals, or you will go hungry and you will snack/buy junk/be tempted to eat out or order it, but be realistic with what you plan.