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All tagged quick recipe
Butternut squash is one of our favourite winter ingredient as it is so versatile, colourful and filling with its high fibre content. Good quality chickpeas are essential to make this soup insanely smooth and creamy. Ras el Hanout if you don’t know it is an excellent blend of spices bringing warmth without being too “hot” spicy. Very very simple comfort food at its best. Even better if you make double and keep for another lunch or evening.
Soups are a wonderful way to pack essential nutrients into a delicious meal. One of my favourite taste combo is chilli and ginger anti teams up perfectly with all the winter root vegetables. This is a treaty soup you can happily eat on it’s own or with a nice slice of garlic grated toasted sourdough. I always add a little crunch with lots of seeds to serve. Leave out the chilli if you have young kids who don’t fancy it. Oh and that little bit of bacon, if you chose to use it, makes such a difference.
This is the perfect soup when you have leftover chicken. Often when we cook a whole chicken or some individual portions we add either another chicken or some extra portions for leftovers. This is such an easy win in meal prep as it takes no extra time and provides you with a great protein source for the next day. This curried chicken soup is a heart warming bowl of goodness that makes a heart lunch or evening meal. To make it vegetarian see notes below.
This super tasty salmon stir fry recipe is a perfect quick and easy midweek or friday night dinner. The miso marinade can be made ahead and also used with chicken. Stir fries are a quick delicious way to add a large variety or vegetables, colours and nutrients in your diet. This marinated salmon is also delicious served with steamed veggies and even eaten cold for lunch the next day with this asian style slaw.
This is a such a super quick and easy soup that is spring in a bowl. Wild garlic grows in March and April in shady, woody and wet environments. The smell will probably hit you before you see it. If you are in doubt rub the leaves between your fingers. If you don’t smell garlic then leave well alone.
This is a spicy vegetarian curry that will warm your soul as well as body. It’s packed with plenty of turmeric which has amazing health benefits (see tip below). We have served with a homemade naan bread. They are so quick and easy to make and once you have tried you won’t ever buy shop bought again. The recipe for the naan/flatbread is not unique, but we have become huge fans of making them and getting our kids of make them too. They make great pizza bases.
This warming vegetarian one pot is made with chipotle paste which gives it a delicious earthiness. You can of course leave this out if you don’t have - but it does make it extra special and so it’s worth hunting out this Mexican mix of jalapeño peppers, spices and vinegar. This chilli is delicious on its own - but if you need something extra then serve with a little quinoa or brown rice.
Soups always help making lunch quick, easy and healthy. The secret, as always, is in the planning and prepping! If you want your soup to keep you full until supper, you need to make sure it contains some protein and healthy fats. This soup contains coconut cream ticking both boxes. You could always swap for greek yoghurt, but the coconut does work really well with the garam masala spice. Perfect comfort food!
I make this soup using my slow cooker, but you could do in an AGA, or slowly on a stove.
I love a soup for lunch during the colder months - but so many just leave me hungry a few hours later. The reason is they just don’t contain enough protein or fat. We often add lentils to our soups for this reason, but when I had some leftover quinoa in the fridge I decided to use this instead. The result is this delicious soup. So easy to prepare - just put all the ingredients in a roasting tray in the oven and then blend and add the quinoa.
Soups make an easy lunch in the colder months. They are easy to prepare ahead and can be taken into work in a thermos flask. The key to a soup keeping you sustained for the rest of the day is to include some protein and healthy fats. In this soup we have two sources of protein and healthy fats - the coconut milk and the almond butter. If you are allergic to nuts just leave the almond butter out it won’t make this any less delicious.
As the winter months hit I crave bowls of warming stews to nourish me. This can easily be made vegetarian with the omission of the bacon - but it provides a lovely smoky finish. This pleases both the meat and the bean lovers in our house as it caters for all. I have added lentils to this dish. If you have children that don’t like lentils then use the red ones as they disappear to nothing - the puy lentils are good if you have someone sensitive to lentils as less likely to cause bloating issues. Likewise with the beans choose your favourites - although the darker ones such as black, kidney and aduki work best.
My husband loves a creamy mushroom soup - but we’ve recently discovered an intolerance to dairy so he’s gone dairy free. I have used some coconut milk to give this a creamy feel - but it doesn’t taste too coconutty as I’ve balanced with tamari sauce. You can blitz this smooth - or leave a little chunky it’s up to you.
This recipe came about at the beginning of the 2020 lockdown when suddenly I had a massive surplus of carrots. I needed to get inventive as the family were getting bored of steamed carrots! My husband loved this and it instantly became a great way of using up a carrot surplus! If you don’t have the parsnip or sweet potato, just add more carrots!
I came up with this recipe during Lockdown. My daughter was getting fed up with the amount of meat her brothers were demanding at mealtimes and was begging for some vegetarian meals. Although the title states curried, this is a very mild flavour as my daughter doesn’t like super heat - she’s more of a masala girl! It’s super quick to make and so can easily be rustled up alongside other meals. You can eat this on its own, or add some brown rice for a slightly more substantial meal.
This dish uses camargue red rice, which has some great health benefits and is even more nutritious than brown rice (see tip below). We have added choirzo to this dish as it goes so well, however to make this dish vegetarian simply leave it out - it will still be delicious. Look out for nitrate/nitrite free chorizo in your supermarket. This is a great dish for using up a glut of tomatoes or turning large and sometimes rather tasteless supermarket tomatoes into something delicious.
These are so tasty that even my husband who has decided he doesn’t like sweet potatoes loves them! And for him to go back for seconds on a veggie dish is high praise indeed! They could be served for breakfast with a poached egg on top or alongside a green salad for lunch. For most people 3-4 rosti would be enough for lunch – although my husband did eat 6 the first time I cooked these for him!!
We all love a curry in our house and Saturday nights have become a curry night ritual. Pleasing different palates is not always easy - some like a hot curry and others not so much. However this tikka masala seems to please everyone! I know it’s not traditional to add spinach to a tikka masala, but i like to add another vegetable whenever I can! I use 6 chicken breasts to feed my brood of 5 as my two teenagers are permanently hungry. However, unless you too have growing teenagers then adjust portions by using 1 chicken breast per person.
I almost didn’t write this up as a recipe - after all it’s nothing complicated and fancy. Just 6 ingredients thrown together. However it’s been a winner in my house with all the family and so I thought I would share with you - after all we all need those quick and simple recipes to keep us going day in day out! To serve 4 or even 6 then just alter the amount of chicken breasts. My two teenagers seem to be going through a growth spurt at the moment so I often cook 6 chicken breasts for the 5 of us!
This is a perfect dish when you want a vegetarian meal that looks a bit special. Can easily be doubled to provide a meal for four if needed. It’s very easy to make, but still looks impressive. I am always looking for ways to include more mushrooms in my diet as they are so highly nutritious for us. See the tip below for all the benefits.
