I have never been good at planning our weekly meals in advance. I’m more of a fly by the seat of my pants cook. I shop most days and decide what dinner will be. But since having Quinn I have found that some of the joy in cooking is gone. I used to love deciding what we would eat, and cooking elaborate meals. Now I am more than happy to buy a few basics, and let my hubby take over. He is a great cook thankfully. So I wanted to share some simple meal ideas that we have most weeks, and some ways to spice things up!

Each week we try and have a range of different proteins for dinner – lamb, beef, turkey, fish, and lentils. You may notice I didn’t mention chicken – whilst this has always been a favourite of ours, it came up incompatible on the Hair 500 test – so we have eliminated it for 6 months. If you’re interested in which foods you shouldn’t be having, click the link and have a read.

So how does this look on a weekly basis?

Week 1 options with recipe below:

• Monday: Roast vegetable soup. Very quick and easy
• Tuesday: Meat or fish with sweet potato chips and Asian vegetables
• Wednesday: Slow cooked lamb
• Thursday: Thai green curry with turkey mince and vegetables
• For the rest of the week – Part two coming soon!

Roast Vegetable Soup:

• Chop a range of vegetables into cubes, season with olive oil and a little sea salt and roast for 45 minutes – 1 hour at 180 degrees C. I like to use sweet potato, pumpkin, swede, beetroot, carrot, zucchini and garlic. You can also use onion and capsicum however we have eliminated them following the Hair 500 test results.
• When the vegetables are almost ready, heat up some water in a large pot, and flavour as desired. We chop up leak, and celery, and add in stock, bone broth, or spices – the Moroccan Souk spice below works well. Otherwise grated ginger, turmeric, and fresh herbs like coriander, dill, or parsley is divine.
• Add the roast vegetables to the pot, and eat as is, or blend for a lovely nourishing puree.

Meat or Fish with sweet potato chips and Asian vegetables:

• This is a staple in our house, and can be easily adapted. You can use whichever form of protein you feel like really – chicken, steak, fish etc, and accompany it with sweet potato chips, and sautéed broccolini, asparagus and Asian vegetables
• This simple meal takes around 45 minutes, due mainly to the cooking time of the sweet potato chips. Chop them first, sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt, and a spice mix, and put in the oven at 180 degree C.
• Now prep your protein – baked chicken thighs, baked salmon, pan fried rockling, steak, sausages or rump? what will it be today..
• Chop up your veggies, add to a wok with some coconut or olive oil, and add a dash of fish sauce, tamari, or sesame oil. Crush and add a few cloves of garlic, grate in some ginger, add some chilli – whatever is to your liking.
• Vegetables that work well are – broccolini, asparagus, beans, snow peas, buk choy, pak choy, Chinese broccoli…

Slow Cooked Lamb

• The flavour you get from something like this is amazing, with minimal ingredients.
• Add celery, carrot, and leek to your slow cooker, along with 500mls water, and some spice mix – I like to use Moroccan Souk Spice (below)
• Put your lamb into a frying pan to lightly brown – you can use diced lamb, shanks, or chops – forequarter and chump work well.
• Add the lamb to the slow cooker, set to either High for 4-6 hours, or Low for 6-8 hours and walk away. You can turn the meat occasionally, but it does not all have to be covered.
• This can be served with mashed sweet potato/pumpkin/potato, cauliflower puree, or quinoa. Or if you eat wheat, a great way to soak up excess liquid is to add some risoni pasta in the last half hour.

Thai Green Curry with Turkey Mince

• Chop up and sauté some leek, and carrot in a wok or large fry pan, and then add in 500gm of turkey mince. Stir and break apart with a wooden spoon until browned.
• Add in extra vegetables – zucchini, mushroom, broccolini, peas, etc etc and stir through
• Choose a spice mix – thai green or red curry works well, as does the Malay curry spice. 2 tsps is normally enough, but taste before serving.
• Pour in a tin of coconut milk, and extra water if required, and allow to simmer until cooked – but allowing the vegetables to still have a little crunch.
• Taste – add more spice, or some fish sauce, and sesame oil.
• Serve with rice, quinoa or just have as is. Delicious with crunchy fried onion on top!

I didn’t realise until I was adding some tags, that all of these recipes are, or can be, paleo, gluten free, and dairy free. Not by design – but when we reduce these inflammatory foods our bodies feel better for it 🙂

SPICE IT UP!

If you haven’t been to Gewurzhaus yet you need to get there asap! Their huge range of spice blends keeps up happy and inspired each week. This is not a sponsored post! I just love their blends.
In our cupboard we currently have:

Moroccan Souk Spice – absolute favourite. Goes with everything! Chicken, lamb, turkey, amazing on sweet potato chips..
Green Curry Spice – tastes almost as good as your local thai, without having to leave the house. Some fish sauce, and sesame oil brings out the flavours.
Bavarian Roast Chicken Spice – this is wonderful on chicken or turkey, especially if you can find some with the skin on. Pat dry, sprinkle, bake.
Malay Satay – this is delicious with some turkey mince, veg, and coconut milk
BBQ glaze spice – so far this has only been used to make epic sweet potato chips
Spaghetti alla bolognese – this is a delicious variation on italian herbs and much improves a good spag bol
Tandoori Masala – they suggest mixing with lemon juice and yoghurt and using as delicious marinade (add that to next weeks meal plan!)
Spanish Skewer & BBQ spice – this would be so good over roast potatoes, patatas bravas style.

Ok… now i’m hungry! I hope that helped you simplify this weeks menu – let me know what you try!

If you’d like help with meal suggestions – or how to include more nutrients in your daily diet, book an appointment! I am available face to face, or over Skype.