For Bossykate: quick and healthy meal ideas anyone?

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Bossykate was talking on the other thread about it being an effort to cook quick and nutritious meals (especially if you're knackered/pregnant) so any ideas anyone? They must be a) healthy and b) take less than 15 minutes. My contribution: cook some noodles (4 mins if you use a kettle of boiling water) and while they're cooking, throw some olive oil, garlic, onions, ginger, honey, soy and lime juice into a wok. Add veg/meat, cook briefly and add to the noodles. I could do with some new quick ideas too.

This is delicious and one of my fave as there is only the pasta to cook.

Dice a load of tomatoes and mix with a diced mozzarella. Finely chop a garlic clove and mix together with fresh basil and olive oil (depends if you are dieting or not! Can still be done on WW just count the points!) add salt and pepper and stir into cooked pasta. The cheese melts and is yummy!

aaawww! thanks, www, that's very kind of you

these recipes sound delicious

i'd be very grateful for more suggestions.

thanks

If you like anchovies (I do - especially the ones with chilli/herbs/garlic) a tin of anchovies, bit of added butter, heat up, add a tin of tuna, squeeze of lemon if you want, eat with pasta (or anything else, really).

Smoked mackerel (or a posher fish if you're up to it, although I wouldn't use sliced salmon) flaked into rice is nice as well. Add peas (cook them with the rice), tomato, artichoke hearts etc as required but dp usually just gets as far as the peas. A fantastic no-brainer staple in the Inferiority Complex.

I can whizz up a puttanesca sauce in v little time as well if you want that recipe - yes there's salt but hey you can't have everything.

A copy of Mr Slater's Real Fast Food is worth snapping up. And Real Fast Puddings is pretty good too...

Risotto Pronto - ready in 12 mins, you can chuck loads of mushrooms in with the mushroom one or some peas, peppers, chorizo, chicken etc in with the saffron one for instant paella.

Pan of boiling stock, add 12 minute pasta, add broccoli florets after 7 mins, meanwhile saute garlic/shallots in olive oil in small pan until pasta/broccoli are done. Drain veg and pasta, chuck oil, garlic and tin of drained anchovies in, stir briskly to break up anchovies and crush cooked broccoli, tuck in. Add grated cheese if desired by small boys. 15 mins from start to finish and always gets eaten up in our house.
Our attitude to fresh garlic in quick cooking has been transformed since I treated us to a really good Tala garlic crusher (£8.95 in John Lewis, worth every penny) and hid dh's p*xy, fiddly, mezzaluna.

Stir fry strips of carrot & parsnip in a little oil in a wok. Add strips of 1 red & 1 yellow pepper & chunks of red onion. When the veg are cooked as you like them, add 1 tin of kidney beans in chilli sauce & cook for a couple of mins till warmed through. Serve with warmed tortillas (or rice if prefered), grated cheese & sour cream.

Had this lastnight and its lovely.

Porvencale cod with french bread or ciabatta

fry onion and garlic together with olive oil until soft
add can of chopped tomatoes with herbs & boil for 5 mins
cut cod fillest into large chucks and tear up some coriander
meanwhile brush the bread sliced with olive oil & griddle til charred a little on each side
add the cod to the pan , season & simmer fo 3 mins
When all done serve up in a large soup bowl and munch slurp !!!

You could also adda charred chopped red pepper to the mixture , but can never be bothered with that aswill !!

I'm hungry

these sound, really good, thank you

more ideas very welcome.

Roast a couple of fillets of salmon in oven for about 10 mins. If time, i rub turmeric, chilli powder, ground cumin etc on fish. Cook lentils (puy are nice) for about 30-40 mins in water. When soft, drain and mix in olive oil, lemon juice S&P and chopped herbs. Spinach too if i have it and serve with a dollop of greek yoghurt.

It's a simplified Jamie Oliver recipe which is dead easy and delicious AND not too unhealthy.

Here's a quick one - lentil hot pot. It takes time to cook but the preparation is fast and it's healthy and veggie. Do this a lot.

Take an onion or 2 and garlic and soften them. Add cubed carrot, potatoes and the recipe says celery but I never do. Add half a pack (one of those whitworth's soft packs) red lentils, a tin of tomatoes, some tomato puree, a bay leaf, some oregano, some veg stock, a bit of tabasco/chillis if you want it hot. Or worcestershire sauce but then it's not veggie. Add more water if it needs it.

Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 45 mins or until veg are done. DO keep checking it doesn't need more water though, am always burning the bottom of this. It's nice with crusty bread and butter and the recipe above makes a huge load but you can freeze it.

spicey beans...
all quantities approx!
2tbsp olive oil - heat and 'pop' tsp of mustard seeds - add... 2 cloves garlic - crushed, 2 inches ginger - grated, 1 flat tsp chilli powder, 4 tsps coriander, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp tumeric 1/2 tsp garam masala.
mix and cook a few seconds -
Add approx 15 floz passata - mix well - add I tin black eye beans and 1 tin mixed beans ( Tesco do a nice 3 bean ''salad'' tin)
Heat through and serve with brown rice.
Very quick ( apart from the brown rice!) and v v healthy.
Freezes very well.

put a chicken breast on a piece of foil, season with lemon juice/salt/pepper/olive oil/sliced onions/rosemary/ or whatever you fancy. Wrap it up and oven bake, doing a baked potato (microwaved first for 5 mins) at the same time. Have with frozen veg.

I just made leek and haricot bean soup. Chop leeks, cook in butter (quite a bit of it) till soft, add tin of haricot beans (organic unsalted ones are worth the money, honestly (ditto chickpeas, come to that)), stock, leave, blend later.

I've used veg stock in the past (the Marigold powder that all the cookery nobs say is perfectly acceptable) although today I did use chicken stock because dp made some out of an organic chicken he cooked the other day and it is, I have to admit, very nice (he uses most of the sodding chicken, snatching the cold bits from my greedy fingers, so it damn well ought to be nice)).

You could blend this up for baby food too.