What we eat! Our favourite wholesome family meals! | Meal planning made easy
Guys. Is it just me? Every week I sit with a pen and paper and stare at a blank and empty page as I try and figure out what on earth we even cook. Fun fact: I don’t enjoy cooking. Baking I get more excited about… BUT, I love the joy of knowing my kids are getting homecooked meals that can make their bodies strong!
Please note, this is something that currently works for our family within our budget, and even then it’s a bit of a work in progress. Joseph would eat meat for three meals a day, I’m up for high quality meat 1-2 times a week tops. We sit to eat every meal together (Joseph is not with us at lunch) and we all eat the same thing, which means adjustment. I try to avoid fish because I struggle to find high-quality affordable fish, I’m happy with very basic meals and little meals, Joseph likes lots of cheese and big meals. Food has been one of the biggest learning points in marriage- but that’s another blog for another time!
I hope you find this list helpful, please share your top recipes too! I’d love the list to grow and hopefully ease some of those meal-planning moments that can end up taking me a whole evening!
our go-to Meals
Black Bean Quesadillas-
You can either make or buy wraps and then I usually just fry up a mix of whichever veggies I have to hand- onion, courgette, carrot etc. I then add cheese and black beans pop a bit inside the middle of a wrap, fold it and fry it. I’m sure there’s lots of recipes online. We love this with an avocado dip, or some sour cream.
Rainbow Ragu
This is a recipe from Green Kitchen Stories from their latest recipe book Quick & Slow. All their meals are vegetarian but I sometimes add meat to them. I love this ragu recipe with some slow-cooked beef which I then shred. This is one of Heppy’s favourite meals! I chop up the veggies super small to sneak in the good stuff! The recipe doesn’t seem to be online but a similar recipe is here.
Cauliflower Tacos
Roasted cauliflower- roasted for a long time so it goes almost caramelised is up there with one of my favourite foods. I just divide the florets (include the leaves too) and pop on a roasting tray in the oven for about 45 mins on around 200 degrees but check often! I do this with homemade wraps, some roasted chickpeas and sometimes pomegranate, and a dip of hummus or a secret sauce as we like to call it ( essentially a bit of a thousand island-style dressing we make). I like to roast some potatoes or extra veggies to go on the side or in!
Roasted Veg and Eggs
A great one to use up any leftover veg at the bottom of the fridge. We just cut up a big mix of veggies, drizzle with some olive oil, toss occasionally in the oven then add a fried egg to finish. This is good with a tahini dressing!
Spaghetti Bolognese
I loosely follow this recipe and a teaspoon of marmite in there is my secret.
Chilli
I loosely use this recipe as a base and often bulk up with black beans and whatever vegetables we have. I like to add bbq sauce instead of sugar if we have and I like to cook in the oven on low for two hours for added depth! I tend not to add any chilli which is quite ironic but lots of paprika features!
Jacket Potatoes
Pretty self-explanatory, but we bake the JP in the oven after we’ve coated them in oil and salt. We then top with some homemade beans, leftover chilli or whatever we have to hand!
Homemade beans
Loads of different recipes online but I like to use this recipe
Homemade pizza and chips
We’re all not NUTS on pizza, but it’s always a fun/easy one to make! We follow this recipe and I make a simple pasta sauce (see below) top it with cheese and then we roast some sweet potato or white potatoes on the side! I’ve also done this Pizza Roll recipe from a friend which has worked well!
Focaccia and roasted vegetables
I mix around what focaccia recipe I use but as long as you’d don’t overdo it it’s pretty failsafe! I usually go for this recipe. Again super simple, we roast whatever veg we have to hand, usually add some sort of tahini sauce and sorted.
Noodles broth and vegetables with eggs
I love to make a batch of stock from a whole chicken we’ve cooked then boil noodles in the broth as well as an egg and some vegetables. Joseph likes to add lots more sauces to his bowl, the kids and I like to keep it simple.
Cauliflower Mac n Cheese
A simple easy win supper but I love knowing there is some secret veg in there! We use whatever pasta we have to hand and it’s easy to freeze the sauce in advance!
Dahl
A massive hit for me but not so much for Joseph so I don’t make this quite as often as I’d like! There’s so many great recipes but I LOVE this one with some homemade naans on the side!
Loaded Sweet Potatoes
This is another one of Heppy’s favourites and a super simple one! Smother the sweet potatoes in oil and slow roast in the oven until their caramelising. We like to top with cheese, black beans, avocado, corn and sour cream. We sometimes mix it up too and make wedges instead of the individual potatoes and pop it in the middle of the table to tuck in to!
Tiktok Pasta
I’m not sure I’ve caught onto any other viral trends as much as I have this one! Another super simple one on the nights where I have less time! I use the recipe linked, but like to add a splash of balsamic and honey!
I also LOVE this version of it by Green Kitchen Stories
Roast chicken/Roast meat and vegetables
We buy a whole chicken around once a month and can get about three meals out of it! I boil the stock for broth and usually make the leftover chicken into a pie the next day with the broth! I don’t do anything special to the chicken just sometimes whack a lemon inside, smother the chicken in oil,butter, pop in some garlic cloves to the skin and some rosemary if I have some! I make sure to baste every half an hour or so and keep an eye on it so i't’s not overdone!
Roast chicken pie
I LOVE chicken pie and this usually makes a feature once we’ve cooked a whole chicken. We use the pastry recipe linked at the end and this is the chicken pie filling recipe we use/adapt. I tend to go big on the butter/cream!
Gnocci and pesto / Pasta and pesto
I recently started making gnocchi and wow I don’t know whether I can do back! When it works its easier than I imagined it to be…but there have been a few fails along the way too! I use the gnocchi recipe linked below and tend to keep a jar of pesto in for when i need a quick dinner! the gnocchi freezes really well too!
Soup and bread rolls
Tomato Soup is a family favourite, or in autumn we move to more squash-based soups like this one. I like to cook a big batch of bread rolls and we lather them in butter and dip them in!
Red sauce pasta
I usually have some red sauce kicking around and always some in the freezer to hand on those nights I need a quick dinner! I simply simmer passata or chopped tomatoes for an hour or so with a bit of balsamic, a few carrots, courgette, red pepper (or whatever veggies I have to hand) a bit of honey/maple syrup and then blend. I use this for topping pizzas too.
Egg fried rice
Rice boiled then eggs scrambled into it and whatever veggies I have too!
Chicken Taco Soup:
An autumn/winter favourite! Can easily be paired with wraps, nachos or tortillas!
Pastry Recipe: Shortcrust/ Puff
Our most loved cookbooks:
