Please tell me what else I can prepare as main meals!

[WellTidy]

I am an ok cook these days, having previously never cooked a single thing. I make most things from scratch, but we do have the odd convenience things when we fancy them like ikea meatballs and fries. But I’m stuck in a rut. Essentially we have the same three weeks’ worth of meals on rotation and I’d like to branch out. We eat pretty much anything except mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower. I don’t like creamy sauces either. We like all flavours though. It’s me, DH and 14yo DS.

This is what we have regularly (made from scratch unless I’ve said otherwise) -

Pizzas
Chicken katsu and rice
Pasta bolognese
Lasagne
Whole chicken with harissa, red onion and peppers
Fajitas
Burgers and corn
Salmon en croute
Sausages (bought) and mashed potato
Hot dogs (bought sausages)
Salmon fish cakes with potato/sweet potato wedges
Chicken korma with rice and samosas
Lamb tagine
Pasta, pesto and bacon
Lemon king prawn linguine
Beef and red wine shortcrust pastry pie
Roast dinners
Cottage pie
Chicken satay and peppers
Wagamama recipe for chicken udon
Coca Cola ham

They don’t have to be substantial meals. I’ve just realised that I have never made a soup, so maybe that would be a good one to add.

All ideas and recipes very welcome!

I'd buy a couple of recipe magazines - BBC Good Food, Olive and Delicious are all pretty good. It's a great way to get seasonable ideas.

Also, sometimes I think it's about doing things slightly differently - you like pasta and sauces, so explore alternative sauce options.

We did this arrabbiata recipe earlier this week (serve with a cheese of some sort as we found it delicious but not sufficiently filling without protein the time before).
In summer, slowly fried courgettes with lemon zest, garlic and chilli and topped with feta goes down well.
I often use sausages or bacon as a base for pasta sauces, adding onion, whatever other vegetables are around and I like and then adding tomato or just a splash of wine and a splash of milk to make a "sauce".

Agree with risottos. We do pea or roasted butternut squash most often. this is similar to how I do butternut risotto or pea risotto (I usually just boil the frozen peas and mash with a little butter or cream).

Chicken can be done lots of different ways - google chicken tray bake recipes - for example, or just experiment with different flavourings on your roast (we like fennel and lemon, or garlic and thyme). Similarly, try different side dishes to make it feel different. eg, I might do a risotto or pilaf with a roast chicken one day, "traditional" sides another and a third day do it with salad and new potatoes.

Pasta bakes/macaroni cheese always an easy one.
We have homemade chicken nuggets wraps which always go down well.
Lamb orzo
Hunters chicken
Casseroles
Stir fry’s
Salmon lasagna lovely if you like salmon

The bbc good food website is brilliant.
I use Jamie Oliver online a lot too. I find him irritating but his recipes are great, especially as a vegetarian.
Recipes I like get printed and put in a big folder.

Turkish chicken pilau is something I do and also tuna fish or lentil cottage pie - can also make lentil pie with a pastry but this is more fiddly.

Stir fry.

sometimes - yes I know it's lazy - fish and chips - but with battered or breaded fish.

fishfingers chips and beans - quick, easy and yummy!

also slightly lazy - but the old El Paso stuff - I went through all their dishes which looked nice including quesiladas, tacos etc and just tried them out. If they were horrid I left it.

I also recall a really nice salmon (tinned, aubergine and cream) with something else in it - all in one meal.

Coq au vin or boef (beef) bourginon is surprisingly easy or a tagine. and meatloaf with whatever you like with it - mine is a plum tomato sauce and french beans. Also nutloaf can be really nice with gravy and veg.

There's a gorgeous chicken meal recipe book which has a chicken with mediterranean veggies meal and also a Andalucian chicken which is basically breast, with a sauce with lemon, sherry, shallots and served with rice and salad.

Both the above are delicious but kids may prefer simpler med veggies one.

Those who do their own chicken nuggets - I've also made stuffed peppers and also homemade chicken kiev - using cream cheese. Really yummy and garlicky.

last one from me - hamburgers - really easy to make served with or without a burger bun.

also don't discount things like sausages with fried eggs and chips etc - just for a change. Doesn't have to be breakfast food.

here's another idea to add to tuna pasta bake.

Make a ratatouille (basically aubergine, courgette, pepper, tomatoes (italian), celery, onion and garlic with oregano, basil and bay leaf). Make cheese sauce. stir in conchiegle (shell pasta) the large ones. top with bacon slices. Bake in oven. quite carb heavy but delicious pasta bake. serve with garlic bread to add more carbs! Lovely cold too.

carbonara is not creamy; the sauce is just bacon/pancetta/guanciale , egg, pecorino/parmesan, plenty of black pepper and a bit of pasta water

This soup is lovely and filling and tasty. Its one of our regularswww.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/spiced_lentil_and_butternut_squash_soup.html

Here are a few of our dinners -
Salmon Teriyaki - marinate some salmon in teriyaki sauce and then fry until crispy on skin side. Serve with stir fried veg and noodles.
Chickpea curry - this is the recipe I use but I add in spinach and mushrooms to bulk it out and also more coconut milk.www.nigella.com/recipes/members/ericthekats-chickpea-curry

You could start with mixing up what you cook, so instead of salmon on croute make it with chicken and garlic.

Passata can make a meal out of lots of things from pasta bake to pork ribs and beans.

Toad in the hole instead of sausage and mash?

Make your own meatballs, you can do Italian with tomato sauce or Asian in a broth.

Mix up your cottage pie with carrot and swede mash or add different veg.

Gnocchi is dead easy. Have baked potatoes one day but cook too many potatoes, the next day scrape out the potatoes into a dish, mix with flour and roll into a sausage, cut into 2cm pieces and add to boiling water - use your lemon linguini dressing/sauce.

Replace your chicken with turkey mince in your curry.

Only thing I can think to add is meals made with pastry. As long as you are not trying to loose weight! My DCs are skinny but always keen to eat anything that involves pastry and we have

Quiches and flans with new potatoes and veg or salad
Make your own slice- roll of bought puff pastry and everyone gets a quarter and puts on a topping to their liking
Minced beef or other pies (we have some turkey and ham filling in the freezer from Christmas that I’ll turn into a pie soon)
Sausage plait - massive sausage roll
Minced beef roly-poly with suet crust pastry - could easily do a veggie filling and use vegan suet - roll it up like a Swiss roll and bake
Pasties ( can be meat or veggie, DD likes a cheese and potato one, DS likes a spicy chickpea one, DH wants traditional steak and swede)

We really like tuna, sweet potato and chilli fishcakes.

Cod wrapped in pancetta
Sausage, potato apple and shallot tray bake
Butternut squash falafel
Lemon, garlic and herb chicken skewers
Gammon with sweetcorn, pineapple and chilli salsa

@TheOldLadyOfThreadneedleStreet

Only thing I can think to add is meals made with pastry. As long as you are not trying to loose weight! My DCs are skinny but always keen to eat anything that involves pastry and we have

Quiches and flans with new potatoes and veg or salad
Make your own slice- roll of bought puff pastry and everyone gets a quarter and puts on a topping to their liking
Minced beef or other pies (we have some turkey and ham filling in the freezer from Christmas that I’ll turn into a pie soon)
Sausage plait - massive sausage roll
Minced beef roly-poly with suet crust pastry - could easily do a veggie filling and use vegan suet - roll it up like a Swiss roll and bake
Pasties ( can be meat or veggie, DD likes a cheese and potato one, DS likes a spicy chickpea one, DH wants traditional steak and swede)

@TheOldLadyOfThreadneedleStreet - you literally have me drooling at my sofa here on the pastry bits. My DM makes a delicious quiche

Sweet potato and chorizo enchiladas

Hugh's soy and ginger beef

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/beef-vegetable-casserole - this recipe works with chicken or sausages too

For risotto my go to is leek, mushroom and roast tomato. I know you said you don't like mushrooms and I don't either but I chop them up very small and don't notice them. I'm sure it would be delicious without them if you really can't bear them.

Stuffed peppers?

The Yotam Ottolenghi vegetable paella is wonderful. It’s easy and it tastes really beautiful.
We love tarragon chicken-chicken diced and browned cooked in white wine, bit of stock, Dijon mustard and tarragon. We add a dash of cream at the end-it’s not really a cream sauce, just annice savoury one.
We like the Knorr seasoning papers to cook chicken.
Beef stroganoff is a favourite.
Spaghetti Norma or puttanesca.

I didn’t spot the username straight away!

I make my coleslaw with Greek yoghurt and a small squirt of mayo for the sauce, it’s so easy.

I love the sound of the courgette and feta recipe upthread. I’m getting lots of new ideas.

Thai curries are really easy to make. If you don't like creamy sauces, then you can add less coconut milk, or leave it out completely for your portion. Goulash is also easy to make, and a good dish for winter.

I think I would look to change some of the spicing in your usual dishes. So lasagna can be made with roasted vegetables, bean burgers instead of meat (I like a combination of kidney beans and chickpeas, serve with Indian pickle), shepherd's pie instead of cottage pie, etc. Make enchiladas instead of fajitas. If you can make chicken katsu, then you can make schnitzel.

Make your beef filling that you normally use for a pie and serve it with mash, or polenta, or over egg noodles.

Soups are easy to make too. I just cook some veg in chicken stock, then blend until smooth. Lentils are good in soup, and very filling.

The Quick Roasting Ton book arrived an hour ago and I love it. I can see so many things that we will all enjoy and some really nice options for me to make for DH and DS.

I really appreciate Kate the advice about changing things in what I already cook. I am not an intuitive cook at all - everything I make is by following a recipe. So I don’t think like proper cooks do about adapting or substituting. It’s eye opening

Kate = all

A few things we do and really enjoy.

www.mobkitchen.co.uk/recipes/crispy-beef-ramen

www.gousto.co.uk/cookbook/chicken-recipes/crispy-lemon-chicken-with-chilli-rice

Chicken arrabbiata stew with parmesan dumplings
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-arrabbiata-stew-parmesan-dumplings

www.gousto.co.uk/cookbook/chicken-recipes/filipino-chicken-adobo-vegetable-rice

pinchofnom.com/recipes/enchilada-lasagne/

www.recipetineats.com/jambalaya-recipe/ ( I skip the prawns)

www.gousto.co.uk/cookbook/chicken-recipes/chilli-chicken-ramen

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/oven-baked-risotto

www.recipetineats.com/chicken-parmigiana/

www.yeprecipes.com/img-meatball-bake-with-ciabatta-dipping-toast-840.htm

www.recipetineats.com/chicken-sharwama-middle-eastern/

The world Roasting tin book is only 99p on kindle today, if that is helpful.

I’ve planned this week’s meals using some of these suggestions. I’ve made sun dried tomato pesto today (to have with pasta and bacon) and will use some of it to make the chicken arrabbiata stew with Parmesan dumplings tomorrow. I really like the Quick Roasting Tin book, and can see lots in there that we will all enjoy. I am going to make the bolognese later on in the week from the Italian cookbook (it’s quite weighty!) also recommended.

I have loads of options now, which is great.