Meal Planning Monday - 2nd April

Oops! I missed the boat this week - I'll put it down to our moving house this coming weekend and all the preparation that goes with it. We are set for a jumbled week because as well as the house move my little one is going away for the weekend with his grandparents. So a trip to London to drop him off on Thursday will put me out of the kitchen for the evening, and we have a full-on weekend planned what with the move and visitors too. So here we have my Meal Plan for a hectic week...

Monday - We had the Hairy Bikers' Corned Beef and Onion Pie I'd planned for Saturday last weekend.
Veggie Tuesday - Tuna pasta bake, I have a feeling this'll be our fish dish for the week too!
Wednesday - Chicken and pest with pine nuts
Thursday - There'll be frozen cottage pie for my boyfriend tonight, I'll be eating at Mum's
Fishy Friday - Beans on toast!! No time for new meals this week!
Saturday Pie -
Sunday -

I've left Saturday and Sunday blank this weekend as we're moving and I have no idea how much we'd have unpacked. Also we have Nick's parents visitng on Saturday / Sunday and I'd like to go out for dinner with them instead - preferrably to a lovely Italian in Broadstairs called Posilippo.

Classic Trifle

Fruit trifle is one of my favourite desserts, and although I am perfectly happy with a shop-bought trifle I just had to give it a go myself.

You will need:

1 box of trifle sponges
454g tin of fruit cocktail, drained
1 sachet of Hartley's raspberry jelly
2 tbsp Bird's custard powder
2 tbsp caster sugar
100 mls of milk
Squirty cream

First, I lined the base of my Mum's lovely old glass bowl with trifle sponges, which I cut to size to fit nicely.

I then spooned the whole tin of drained fruit cocktail over the sponge and made the raspberry jelly up according to the instructions on the sachet. I poured the jelly over the fruit and allowed to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Once the jelly had set, I made the custard by mixing the custard powder and sugar together in a small pan and adding a small amount of milk to make a paste. Over a medium heat I gradually added the rest of the milk, stirring continuously, until a thick custard formed. After allowing the custard to cool slightly I topped the fruit and jelly and popped it back in the fridge until I was ready to serve.

To finish I piped swirls of squirty cream on top of the trifle and served with a BIG spoon!