On The Menu This Week

Inspired by my Nan, MasterChef & our trip to the Rocklea Markets on Saturday I'm doing the grocery shopping a little backwards this week. Usually I start with the recipe and then buy the ingredients but this week we bought fruit and vegetables that were cheap and in season, and today I'm coming up with the recipes.

Here's the beginnings of our dinner menu for the next (hopefully) two weeks:

• Cauliflower puree from this recipe (look at all that butter!), with Salmon or Tuna steaks (if the budget allows, otherwise it might be with chicken)
• Vegetarian lasagne from my Women's Weekly cookbook
• Warm potato salad from here, with some kind of crumbed beef
• Pumpkin, spinach and ricotta gratin from here, no idea of the accompaniment as yet

So I guess you can figure out we bought cauliflower, eggplant, capsicum (red pepper), kipfler potatoes and a whole pumpkin. We also picked up some avocado, bananas, grape tomatoes, onions, carrots and broccoli all for just under $20.

I'm one of those people that enjoys variety with what I cook and eat, so from the above recipes the only one I've ever made (and I've only made it once) is the lasagne. I'm a little concerned about how the cauliflower puree will turn out but I need to make it to satisfy a craving that MasterChef instilled in me. I'll have to add a spatula to the shopping list so I can pull this baby off!