Meal Planning Made Easy
It’s easy to fall into a habit of eating cereal for breakfast, a sandwich and a packet of crisp for lunch, a mid afternoon coffee with a chocolate treat! However it’s important think about nourishment from our meals - how to eat more vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, legumes, nuts and seeds, etc. Try swapping:
💚 The greasy fry up with scrambled eggs with wholegrain toast
💚 The 11am pastry with natural yogurt and fruit
💚 Include Two Fish and seafood dishes per week; One oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, trout, herring and sardines.) Seafood includes clams, mussels, prawns, crab, white fish and all types of seaweed. Seafood is an excellent source of selenium, zinc and other minerals.
💚 Fermented foods containing probiotics Try natural yogurt ; sauerkraut or Kimchi (fermented cabbage) ; kefir (a fermented milk drink) ; kombucha (fermented tea).
🥗 Simple Meal Suggestions 🥗
Below are a few quick and simple meal suggestions, which can help plan healthy nourishing meals throughout the week:
Breakfasts 🥑
A bowl of porridge topped with a handful of berries or raisins.
A pot of natural yoghurt, a handful of granola, handful berries and a teaspoon of honey.
Two slices of wholegrain toast with peanut butter and sliced banana.
Scrambled egg on wholegrain toast with grilled tomatoes and mushrooms.
A homemade smoothie. Add handful of fresh or frozen fruit, small pot of natural yoghurt (frozen) or tablespoon nut butter for protein, 100ml unsweetened fruit juice and a tablespoon chia seeds.
A multigrain bagel toasted, cottage cheese, rocket, and smoked salmon.
Lunches 🥣
A baked potato topped with baked beans or some cheese, served with a side salad.
Multigrain crackers with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, half an avocado, salad leaves and balsamic dressing.
A large bowl of lentil or bean soup with wholemeal bread and a handful of nuts.
A wholemeal pitta filled with rocket, tuna, diced apples, raisins and mayo dressing.
A wholegrain wrap filled with beetroot hummus, roasted vegetables, fresh tomatoes, green peppers and a little chopped chicken or cheese.
Mixed beans, quinoa, chopped cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, handful spinach, and tablespoon pumpkin seeds.
Wholegrain sandwich packed with chicken, red onion, grated carrot, tomato chutney and roasted red peppers.
Easy Dinners 🍽️
A grilled chicken breast, served with a baked sweet potato, green beans and peas.
Spaghetti Bolognese made with lean mince beef, lots of kidney beans, plenty of chopped veg in the sauce, whole wheat pasta.
A grilled salmon steak with Cajun spices, two heaped tablespoons of quinoa mixed with 4 tablespoons roasted veg and a mixed side salad.
Quorn pieces, your favourite vegetables, brown basmati rice, 10 cashew nuts and 2 tablespoons black bean sauce.
A two-egg omelette filled with tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach and a handful of cubed feta cheese, with a large side salad
Homemade pizza –plenty of frozen or fresh veg and topped with chilli prawns.
Homemade vegetable or chicken curry – include lots of chopped veg, apples, raisins. Can drizzle some Greek style yoghurt on top.
Snacks 🍇
- Chopped raw vegetables e.g. cucumber, pepper, sugar-snap peas, carrots, celery with a spicy hot hummus.
- Unsalted mixed nuts or a handful of almonds or walnuts
- A handful of mixed seeds and dried fruit e.g. apricots.
- A pear or a handful of grapes.
- An apple cut in wedges topped with peanut or cashew nut butter.
- Oatcakes topped with almond nut butter and sliced banana.
- Rye crispbreads with guacamole.
- An oat based nut and seed bar.
- A handful wasabi peas or edamame beans.
- Cocoa drink.
- Plain popcorn
- Dark chocolate.
Dinner Party Recipe
Sunshine Hake Recipe
Serves 4
Cooking time: 20 minutes
This Bord Bia ‘dinner in one’ recipe is packed full of flavour. You can substitute the hake with haddock or whiting and get the similar results.
A portion contains 477 calories, 33g of protein and 5g of fibre. It has a fabulous balance of fats, mostly mono and polyunsaturated fats.
Ingredients:
- 4 hake fillets, about 150g each, skinned and boned
- Salt (optional) and lots of freshly ground black pepper
- 4 dessertspoons of olive or rapeseed oil
- 4 medium potatoes peeled, cooked and chopped
- 2 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 2 courgettes, cut into batons
- 24 pitted black olives
- 100g semi sun-dried tomatoes, drained
- 1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves
- Juice of ½ lemon
Method:
- Season the hake with black pepper and a pinch of salt.
- Heat a large frying pan, add half the rapeseed oil. Place the hake, flesh side down, in the pan and cook for 4 minutes on each side. Remove and keep warm.
- Add the rest of the oil to the pan and quickly fry the cooked potatoes, onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes. Then add in the courgettes, black olives, tomatoes and thyme leaves and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Season with black pepper and lemon juice.
- Plate up the Veg with the hake on top and drizzle over a little juice from the pan.
Bon Appetit 👩🍳
