If you follow me on instagram you may have seen me obsessively posting my dinners over the past couple of months. This has all been for good reason - I wanted to share with you my go to weekday meals. All very tasty, satisfying, easy to make and most can be adapted to meet your January diet needs (!). As you can see our portion size is rather inconsistent - my 'healthy' phases are often short lived!1. Courgetti with meatballs - we have this every week when I'm working as its super easy and quick to throw together... even Rich can do it! I love courgetti and have it as an alternative to pasta or spaghetti whenever I want something a little lighter. Of course, there are those times when I just crave carbs and on those occasions I don't deny myself a plate of pasta, but courgetti is so tasty it doesn't feel like a sacrifice. You can see how I do courgetti here - no fancy/expensive spiralizer needed! The meatballs we buy from Sainsburys and usually use a Loyd Grossman sauce for convenience. 2. Jerk salmon with rice and veg - again, we love this as its super quick and tasty. We spread about a teaspoon of Sainsbury's Jerk Paste onto the uncooked salmon, wrap loosely in foil and bake in the oven for 20-ish minutes. Served with Tilda roasted weg wholegrain rice (its gluten free!) and steamed tenderstem brocolli, it's a mid-week lifesaver. 3. Bangers and mash - needs no explanation! Served with gravy and veg - satisfying and inexpensive. 4. Chilli with jacket potatoes - I have mine with a small sweet potato, salad and dollop of creme fraiche. We make a big batch of this and freeze in portions. You could also serve this with rice and tortilla chips if you fancy changing it up from time to time. 5. Fish pie - you can see my time-saving recipe here. No need to make a rich cheese sauce or source fancy fish, this is a really easy recipe which tastes oh-so-good. We always say we should have this more often when we forget about it for a while!6. Coriander chicken - one of our absolute favourites. Not particularly diet-friendly as I like to use the fattier cuts of chicken, namely chicken thighs, as they are just so much tastier. I do go for filleted chicken thighs though, which are skinless and boneless - I also cut off any excess fat before cooking. You can see my recipe here. Again, we either have this with spaghetti or courgetti. It may not look particularly insta-appealing, but it really packs a punch flavour-wise and is just so yum. 7. Hungarian beef goulash - another all-time favorite. This is best cooked over a long period of time in the oven; I often cook double (sometime triple!) quantities on a Sunday and freeze in portions. It's even better second time round as the flavours intensify when re-heating. And the best news is the recipe is adapted from the Hairy Bikers diet collection - hurrah! See the how-to here. 8. Beef casserole - a winner in the winter months. I follow this recipe, loosely, but cut down on the wine and bacon when I'm counting the calories. Butter beans work really well in beef casserole/stew - add 15 minutes before the end to avoid them disintegrating! Either plonk some dumplings on top (I cheat and use this dumpling mix) or serve with mash - you don't need both. Again, make at the weekend and freeze in portions. 9. Roast chicken with sweet potato wedges - we love this as it's something a little different with a roast. You need about 1.5 hours to cook a small/medium chicken so it's not the quickest of meals, but you'll have leftovers to make a risotto with the next day. Having your chicken with salad and wedges makes it a whole lot lighter and less hassle. Cook it with loads of lemon for a gorgeous summery taste. Of course, there are so many other recipes I could include which we love but these are particularly good for a quick weekday meal. You can see all the recipes I've posted over on my recipe tab above - do let me know if you have a go at any, and how they turn out!
