Please, would anyone suggest me some recipes or recipe books to perk my poorly family up?

[Catstwattypoosituation]

Any tips very, very welcome!

To feed we have - one DC about a year old, but with only a couple of teeth and prefers mushy things or very small things that can be sucked to death

• A husband who does a hard physical job who isn't fussy as long as he gets lots of meat.

• One me, who is recovering from being severely malnourished after a long illness (and I need to stop making up for it by eating cake and crisps)

We're not terribly poor but definitely not rich. We have a slow cooker.

We've been relying on a lot of white rice, pasta and jars of sauces and cheap chicken.

We're happy to experiment too. We share cooking and we have about half an hour free a day to bang something together.

Bosh. Done. I sound like Jamie Oliver! :o

What about adding dried pulses - check out some slow cooker recipes - that will provide protein, can be mushed, and go well with cheap cuts of pork. Here's one to start you off (I leave out the sugar though)
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bostonbakedbeans_10471
Can be adapted with butter beans and lamb neck, or cannellini beans and chorizo. Just got to remember to soak beans overnight.

It's a nursery set but things with mince:
Shepherd's or cottage pie
Spaghetti bolognese
Lasagna with the easy cook pasta sheets

Does dh like fish? Fish cakes and fish pie are easy and full of protein.

For dc, if you have a food processor or blender you can just whizz up what you are having so childish tastes are developed.

Toad in the hole?

Would the DC eat sausages? I can't remember what a 1 year old eats.

Sausage and mash.
Sausages in pasta sauce with pasta. Brown the sausages, drain off some of the fat, add the jar of sauce and leave to simmer until cooked.

Thanks for the tips!

I made a stew today in the slow cooker. DC picked the bowl up and tried to lick the bottom of it so that's a good review, I guess.

We do have a blender but it's such a ball ache to clean that I can't be bothered with it.
I worry (not intensely but a little bit :o) that mashed up pasta and potato isn't ok to give him all the time though. Pulses sound like a good idea, and lasagne. He does eat sausages, and they'll go really sloppy in the slow cooker too.

Good suggestions!

Stews are good, you can add veg and beans, pulses etc and experiment with different herbs and flavourings. How about some stewing lamb on the bone very reasonable cut from the neck, hence a few bones with a nice bit of marrow in them, (trim off the excess fat) with garlic to taste, peppers, courgette, tin of tom puree tin of toms and chickpeas. Season and a bit of olive oil and slow cook, melts in the mouth. Serve with rice or couscous or whatever you want.

Soup! You can get loads of different veg and pulses in there, and blend it for your DC. Plus you can make a really big batch and shove it in the freezer.