Ideas for healthy sources of protein

[Mobly]

I am a lazy cook but at the same time want my DCs to have a healthy balanced diet.

They eat a good variety of fruit and veg. They like plain pasta, rice, bread etc so carbs pretty good too.

I tend to do cook the following: fish fingers veg(broccoli, carrots, sweetcorn, peas mainly) and plain pasta, somtimes salmon fish fingers as in my head these are 'healthier' but I'm not actually certain of this, chicken dippers, veg and pasta, tuna pasta bake with peas/sweetcorn, sandwiches with cucumber, toms.

They snack on bread sticks, olives, raisins, fruit, yoghurt.

They aslo have their fair share of junk if I'm being honest so crisps, cakes, sweets, biscuits, although I do try to limit these and don't always have them in cupboard.

I tried vegetarian sausage the other day too and DS2 liked that, DS1 not so bothered.

So, they are relatively non fussy eaters but I am a lazy crap cook, I would love some suggestions as to what is easy to cook/make for the protein part of a meal, you know instead of bloody fish fingers!

DS2 will eat most meat and chicken (although we are not big meat eaters) but DS1 less so although he does like gammon but think that's a bit salty really.

[Selks]

Buy a stove top griddle pan or a george foreman griller then you can just bung on strips of chicken, fish such as salmon, lamb chops etc.
Other healthy protein includes vegetarian options such as beans and pulses which are great in soups or stews (buy tinned and bung in at the end of cooking) and in pasta sauces etc.
Make hummus - bung in tin of chickpeas, spoonful of tahini, lemon juice, garlic, sald and pepper into a blender and blitz. Serve with chunks of tomato and cucumber and pitta bread strips to dip. Yummy.

[Mobly]

Thank you Selks some great ideas there. It is about time I bought a Goerge Forman- they are good for making toasties too aren't they?

[Mobly]

George!

[DooinMeCleanin]

Quorn or minced meat. My dds both love it.


Fish pie
Pasta and cheese based sauces
Mild chicken curries or used qourn chicken style pieces
Garlic chicken and salad wraps
garlic chicken thighs with home made wedges and coleslaw
spag bol
Cottage or shepards pie
Mince and dumplings
Salmon steaks with greens and new potatos
Minted lamb fillets with garlic and herb roasties, carrots and runner beans
Scrambled eggs and beans

My Foreman is only used for toasties now I found it left meat really dry. I do kebabs on there sometimes.

[DooinMeCleanin]

Don't use used Quorn chicken. Fresh would be better

[Mobly]

How do I make garlic chicken? I have chicken breasts in freezer and I do have a clove of garlic in fridge. I will be buying a Foreman grill as it seems less hassle, easy to clean etc.

[DooinMeCleanin]

I use chicken with skin for garlic chicken thighs. I crush the garlic, mix it with butter and stuff it under the skin. If you were using skinless chicken you could smear it with the garlic butter and wrap it in tin foil.

For garlic chicken wraps I just used diced chicken breast and stir fry it in garlic butter. Garlic butter features a lot in my cooking. Mmmmm.

[Mobly]

That sounds nice and simple, I will try that thank you. Looking forward to getting the grill now- only £14.99 from Amazon! I think it's about time my children started eating proper non-processed meat.

I was even wondering if I could make some kind of quick savoury pasties- would ready rolled frozen pastry still be healthy?