How to eat less Pasta and Rice but make it interesting?

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Hi,

I'm looking for some fresh ideas on normal meals that don't contain a pasta or rice / bread element. I'm all over the salad and fish / chicken or steak and stir drys without pasta or noodles.

Its getting a bit boring so I am looking for some fresh idea. Does anyone have any great meals that they are happy to share?

Thx

It's technically salad but Jamie Oliver's street salad is really tasty and a good alternative to green salad.

Cous cous made up with a stock cube & some roasted veg?

Sorry no particular recipe but a tip that pureed/mashed cauliflower is really lovely and a great carb substitute.

Cous cous is pasta...

I'll be keeping my eye on this thread.

One of the only things I cook without any of these is ratatouille

I like the idea of the cauliflower, I don't use that enough.

Shall look at Jamie Olivers street salad too.

:)

Try googling recipes with chick peas or brown lentils. They are generally nice and filling even without additional carbs - you might just want to up the portion size a bit.

I do a ratatouille too, its great.

Celeriac? Butternut squash? Sweet potatoes?

I saw on a thread recently that you can use grated cauliflower as a rice substitute which works really well with most curries - I think that's a Jamie Oliver thing too. Either microwave it or dry fry it, not sure how long.

Are potatoes OK? Lots of great meals with potatoes as the carb element.

Yes grate cauliflower in the processor, add a knob of butter and cover. Microwave for 6-8 minutes depending how big it is. It's a very convincing rice substitute.

Also try using veg like courgettes or carrots made into 'noodles' with a peeler or shredded greens etc as a base for bolognese.

Celeriac makes acceptable chips which are lower in carbs than potatoes and can also be made into mash by boiling until soft and whizzing up with some cream.

Tacos in roasted bell pepper halves instead of shells

Lancashire hotpot or similar, and Shepherd's pie (if you eat potatoes).

I serve chili with sweet potato wedges. Always popular.

Hi Stella,

I love the idea of the tacos in the peppers. Shall definitely be giving that a try :)

The hot pots are also good, I'm trying to cut down on the potatoes, rice and pasta. Sweet potato I think is a better option.

I had the cauliflower last night and all liked it.

Do things like roast dinners just with a big pile of mashed swede as your potato substitute and lots of green veg.

Moussaka? Kind of lasange but with aubergine slices instead of the pasta sheets. In a similar vein you can use opened out leeks or thinly sliced courgettes to build a lasagne.

Fish pie topped with sliced turnips/swede or better still a mix of both

Get a julienne peeler and make courgette spaghetti to do with bolognese/putanesca/carbonara etc

Fry up of bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes

Do a meat curry & a vegetable curry in stead of a curry + rice. Another nice curry accompaniment is roasted cauliflower. Sprinkle tumeric/paprika/cayenne/s&P an generous olive oil over the florets and then roast at about 160-180 for about half an hour, turning once, until soft and golden.

Do a stew with homemade stock & last bits of meat, using shallots, leeks, turnip, swede, carrot, and I like to add shredded cabbage at the end.

Aubergine parmagiana

Cauliflower & broccoli cheese with sausages/steak

Chilli with a salad of diced cucumber, diced tomato, feta cubes, fresh coriander, spring onion, avocado, radish (obv not all required but any mix of these is nice) or homemade coleslaw

Roasted medditerranean veg with meat/fish of choice

I did the courgettes as spaghetti and it was fab!

For the Celeriac chips, how do you cook those? I've only roasted it like a potato or mashed it. But the chips sound good too.

I'm doing Cod cakes in tomato sauce tonight, its only got a small amount of bread in it.....

I like the idea of Chilli with the coleslaw, or salad... Does anyone have a good recipe for Chilli? mine is never a hit.

Lentils, bulgur, wild rice?

I made a quinoa and chicken white chilli last week in the slow cooker and it was lovely. If you're on Pinterest search for 'clean eating recipes' I get loads of ideas on there.

thanks turnofthetv (what a great name!) I'll be searching up that for sure.

Sausages with lentils,toad in the hole,Quinoa with roasted vegetables ,made into salad or in a soup.Chorizo,kale and potato soup or beef ghoulash soup( both lovely warming spicy soups).Or Pho Noodle soup with Thai style beef balls.Google all these as are in Good Food,Jamie or Nigella websites.

Celeriac chips This is how I do them.

Chilli wise, I now make mine veggie so have to work v hard to get flavour into all the pulses, but if you do a meat one it should be easier as at least the beef is beefy!
This is for a serves 4-5 people amount of pulses.
I do very finely chopped onion & celery, grated carrot and finely chopped mushrooms sauteed gently for about 10 mins, add some salt & pepper, about 4-5 cloves garlic crushed and fry for another couple of mins. I then add cumin (prob 2 heaped tsp), oregano (2 heaped tsp), bit of thyme, big spoon of normal paprika, little bit of smoked paprika and cayenne pepper and chilli flakes (amount depending on taste!). Fry the spices for a min or so before adding a good splash of either mushroom ketchup or L&P if you prefer, then a spoon of marigold boullion powder (or a veg stock cube, or obv a beef one if doing meat), sizzle that for a min and then a tin of tomatoes that's been blended, some diced red/green pepper, then a tin of kidney beans, a load of puy lentils, chickpeas, blackeyed beans, any old beans, a tsp of cocoa powder... and simmer for a good hour.
Then I slosh in about half a tbsp red wine vinegar (sounds mad I know, but it works) and let that cook off for about 5 mins, add a big pile of chopped fresh coriander, turn off the heat and slosh some olive oil across the top, mix it through and serve. I have recently discovered that stirring in some roasted squash/sweet potato at the end is also rather lovely but prob not what you are into.

If doing a meat chilli I would prob omit the vinegar and the olive oil at the end, and might not need quite such large amounts of herbs/spices. And I would simmer it longer, maybe 2-3 hours for tender meat, like a bolognaise, and would only stick the kidney beans in about an hour from the end.

It works for us, but I'm sure others have far more authentic recipes!!

hi spilt, thank you. Shall try both the chips and the chilli
:)