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Wholesome healthy meals for the whole family


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Old 28-04-2009, 08:34
SweetyPie2006
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Morning all,

I love being able to make a full proper dinner for the lot of us in the house (7 in total lol) but I'm starting to run out of ideas and getting uninspired
I like to know that what I'm making is good in the way of low salt, good vegetables, meat etc . You know what I mean?

So I make stew, casseroles, bolognese, chilli, mac n cheese, pasta dishes, rice dishes, soups, bread and on and on.
But lately I've been getting a bit bored with making the same things and need some new ideas.
The kids are great in the way that they love all the variety and prefer home cooked stuff to shop bought ready meals, processed foods etc so they're always open to new things which is a bonus.

Im just hoping to get a few pointers of new ideas to try and hopefully a good few new recipes to try out to keep myself motivated to stay on this track!
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Old 28-04-2009, 09:04
RAINBOWGIRL22
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Stir-frys are simple and healthy - I put tons of veg in mine.... They are so versatile too you can use any meat, any veg (or even do them veggie) you can serve them with noodles, rice noodles, rice.... And they only take a little while to do from scratch!!
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Old 28-04-2009, 14:32
NIKKID
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Sweetypie, you have clearly trained your household well. Not many prefer home cooked these days!!

Jacket potatoes are filling and economical (an issue with 7 to feed im sure!!) Plain and simple with baked beans or left over chilli, tuna & sweetcorn, cheese & ham etc etc.

Homemade burgers with lean meat in buns with loads of salad on top.
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Old 28-04-2009, 23:26
cheesenmarmite
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Have you tried doing anything Morrocan inspired? The recipes are generally very simple, not too spicy (just mild heat/aromatic) and often have a bit of fruit in so perhaps more appetising to kids. I usually serve them with couscous which is soooooo easy to prepare too.

There are literally 1000s of recipes of all types on here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/ so that might provide inspiration too.
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Old 28-04-2009, 23:41
stud u like
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I love a recipe called Kitcheree that uses lentils. It is very easy to make.

lentils
carrots
tomatoes
cumin
other indian spices of your choice
butter
avacado
vegetable Kallo stock cube.

First soak your lentils for a while. Overnight is good.
In a large frying pan melt the butter and cook the carrots.
Add the spices.
In a measuring jug pour hot water onto your stock cube and stir.
Drain the lentils and add them to the pan.
Add the liquid stock.
Cook until it turns into a mush
Add the tomatoes and avacado and gently heat them through.

I always find it tastes better if you experiment with the proportions. I don't use the recipe book any more.

Some people use mung beans and rice instead of the lentils. You can also bung in spinach or cabbage.
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Old 29-04-2009, 06:58
halfacrown
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What about making your own pies, if you fill a large dish with meat, gravy and veg (e.g. chicken and carrots, beef and mushroom) and rolled some ready made puff pastry over the top. You could also do a shortcrust pastry flan and fill with beaten egg and a filling of your choice. Stuffed pork fillets go down well here as the stuffing packs them out a bit and helps them go further.

Heres a little pasta dish too, fry off some onion and put some tinned tomatoes and a dollop of marscapone cheese in a pan and heat gently, add some herbs and pour over some fresh cooked gnocchi, sprinkle with good layer of breadcrumbs and tear strips of parma ham ( or just good ole plain ham if your on a budget) sprinle with parmesan and cook off in the oven for about 20 mins
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Old 01-05-2009, 12:07
moisie
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Last night I just did some pasta, chopped up a load of carrot, courgette, sugar snap peas, yellow pepper, some spring onions and added some peas and cooked them so they were still crunchy in a bit of butter and light oil then added a chopped tomato for a bit of flavour then covered the pan having added some basil, chopped garlic, seasoning and a little pasta water for lubrication then just csteamed it off lightly then added the pasta and grated some parmesan onto it. Light but filling and great fresh flavours.
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Old 03-05-2009, 06:17
OlgaChristie
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Chickpea, spinach and sweet potato curry is very healthy.............simply add a tin of drained chickpeas to a jar of good quality curry sauce add chopped sweet potato and simmer until cooked - 5 minutes before end of cooking add either fresh spinach or those very handy little blocks of frozen spinach and serve with brown rice.
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Old 03-05-2009, 12:13
Abriel
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What about home made meatballs ( we alternate Italian, indian, sweet and sour styles but there are endless permutations and you can use pork, lamb or beef or a mixture, or bulk it up a bit with breadcrumbs if you want to cut down the meat content) or home made burgers- again loads of variations. I'm going to try these next week
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/595645

i saw Bill Granger on tv last week, he was saying he always cooks for his family and his new book is full of quick nutritious family meals, so he claims anyhow. maybe do a search for this recipes? We love his Indian style meatballs too

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...ur_87389.shtml
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Old 03-05-2009, 15:54
SweetyPie2006
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Thanks for the suggestions folks! They all sound yummy!!!
I hadn't even thought about homemade burgers! The amount of times I buy mince and think - ok,, pies? bolognese? or good old mince n potatoes?
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Old 03-05-2009, 16:10
pasodaisy
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For a change i cook chicken pieces in a little stock with herbs, to this i add cooked linguine, spinach and creme fraiche, taste a little and season a bit more if necessary, the kids absolutely adore it and it is very quick

Another chicken dish is pieces of chicken panfried with chopped bacon, put on top of huge salad of any variety you like, we like as much colour as possible and use lettuce,tomatoes, cucumber,celery, sweetcorn, red/orange/yellow peppers and red grapes. The kids also adore this.
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