Meals of convenience!

I'm slowly getting the hang of this working Mum thing.. making the most of my down time getting washing done, making lunches at nighttime and getting some extra sleep to see me through the day. Up until this week my poor slow cooker was sitting in the cupboard feeling rather neglected but I dug it out and made a really yummy Sausage casserole for Thursday nights dinner - It was ever so easy too and so ideal to come home to a home cooked meal all ready to go! (unfortunately I forgot to take 'after' pictures!)

Ingredients;

8 Thick Beef Sausages

2 Onions

2 Carrots

2 Potatoes

Tomato Paste

Large jar of Tomato Cooking Sauce

Herbs - fresh or dried (I used oregano and basil)

Salt and Pepper

2 tins of crushed tomatoes

Kalamata Olives

Add whole sausages, sliced carrots, onions and diced potatoes to your slow cooker casserole dish. Add 2 tins of crushed tomatoes, cooking sauce and herbs and give a stir - add salt and pepper, tomato paste and herbs to suit your tastes.Toss in the olives and any other vegetables you desire..

I placed my slow cooker on low for 8 hours, however, you could use the automatic or high settings to cook the meal faster. Served over a bed of rice this dinner was super filling and very yummy for a wintery evening! Other dishes I like to prepare in the slow cooker are beef casseroles and silverside. I came across a recipe for rice pudding in the slow cooker this evening and cheese and bacon rissotto, i'll have to road test these and see how they taste.

I have decided to start using a recipe/meal planner to plan out my weekly meals which will make our grocery shopping and daily routine a little smoother. There are plenty of printable menu planner

templates online I personally like the one on the following website;

The Project Girl - Menu Planning Board Free Download. After I sit down tomorrow afternoon and map mine out i'll post how mine looks all set out for the week..