what is healthy food ? MN has spoiled it for me. simple recipes

[Tortington]

think of the custardo family as a typical family stuck in 1979. it comes from a box in the supermarket freezer section, gets shoved inth'oven after work and gets eaten.

i don't have the time the inclination or the skill.

so, i buy pre-prepared pasta ( is there any other sort?) some is in a packet off the shelf.

some is in a packet from the chilled section.

then i make a nice sauce with pesto, olive oil and garlic.

and i think 'what a healthy meal'

and now it seems its not.

wtf. i am rather depressed.

i am running out of things to eat and about an inch away from 'fuck-it i'll have curly fries and grillsteaks'

so - any chance you can help me out with 'chuck it in the pan/oven' not a lot or pre preperation - and don't go on about how you bake on saturday all the meals for the coming week - becuase i don't want to d'ya hear me? i want to spend saturday in the garden with a beer and the laptop.

i do want to eat healthily but it seems that healthy isn't as simple as one would think.

half your meal made of veg (not spuds)is a good rule.

roasted veg: get assortment (onions, courgettes, peppers) cut it up sprinkle oil salt and pepper. bung it in medium oven for half an hour or so, drink beer. then get it out and eat with a lump of fish or meat you have grilled.

Sorry - can't help as I always thought pasta was a healthy meal too!

Will watch this with interest.

I'd recommend Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food - fab recipes some of which very quick.

Any time you do make something such as casserole or lasagne just make double and freeze one.

Otherwise how about stir fry or frittata - just throw anything in (bacon courgettes peppers etc). Fry then add 5 eggs and sprinkle oncheese.fry then finish under grill

soups. I do not have any recipe for them, I just brown some onions (and garlic if you like it) and throw in any veg I have arround (I do tend to wash them peel tham and slice/cube them before though) pour some hot water on, a bit of salt, pepper, mixed herbs or curry powder depending on mood. just leave it on the stove until all veg cooked and serve or blend before serving.

oooh responses thank you!

so pasta is healthy! yay.

ok

ministry of food sounds like aplan actually. i don't have a tv so never sawit - but i do have a couple of Jamie cook books and its always pretty simple - like shove a lemon down a chickens neck or sommat.

Agree with bred. MOF is a fab book and it taught me how to cook healthy meals from scratch. Its very easy to follow and no big lists of ingredients

i think pastas ok if there's veg with it.my favourite healthy but quick meal is baked beans (they're a superfood don't you know!)and grated chese with yoghurt and fruit for afters.
also fishfingers and broccoli and mashed potatoes (chop potatoes small and they take 20mins to do)

sorry that's baked beans with grated cheese
THEN yoghurt and fruit

I make yogurt and fruit more interesting by chopping fruit and layering the two in a glass then topping with crushed biscs or flapjack - but don't tell dh - I'm sure he thinks it's more effort than that!

Custardo - nearly as easy as curly fries : put new potatoes in a tin, drizzle with a little olive oil add salt if you wish, turn with yr hand so they get coated in the oil and roast for 30 to 40 mins . . We have these with nearly everything.

MOF is good. Roasted veg is fab, and so easy. Things like risottos, stews and casseroles, curries (use Patak's pastes, that was a Jamie tip and I swear I will never buy any other curry paste again) and good old salad with a homemade coleslaw and some cold meat won't go far wrong. Instead of oven chips make wedges yourself, just chuck them in a roasting dish with a swish of oil and a sprinkling of seasoning (I use Schwarz Cajun but salt and pepper is fine).

DP was a heavy relier on what we now term "freezer teas" - we always have some breaded fish, oven chips, pizzas and quiches in the freezer for nights when we can't be arsed spare time to cook but we manage to use that as a fallback once a week maybe. Much cheaper too.

Get a big bag of spinach every time you shop. Just rinse it and bung in pasta, curry or whatever and you make it look all green and healthy!

Roast veg with a piece of meat/fish is such a great idea, simple and tasty. Do you normally have chicken or red meat with it?

my husband has this thing called 'season all' which is a bit of chilly, pepper and salt and garlic i think. terrific on wedges.

why isn't that pasta meal in the OP healthy? nothing wrong with that.

I do a lot of roast veg - chop veg - onion, tomatoes, courgette, pepper, shlosh on olive oil & seasoning (often a bit of dried chili as well), roast. Mix with couscous. Perhaps some chopped feta cheese too - or a bit of pesto stirred in - whatever takes your fancy really.

takes no effort at all really - 5 mins to chop the veg, bung in oven.

Also agree with the spinach tip - I also have spinach in the freezer all the time and add it into every sauce nearly.

my tip.. this time of year ( or any really) what ever your doing.. bung a load of salad with it

baked spuds..with loads of salad
spag bol etc.. quick easy, bung loads of salad with it

fish fingers/ fish cakes .. with salad
you get the jist

potato wedges are just as easy as oven chips.

thanks, brilliant ideas

I'm glad you said what you did in your op...

Sometimes I despair on here when people start saying that baked beans are rubbish and most cereal is too full of salt to be worth eating etc etc.

Do you eat fish? wrap portions in foil and put in oven along with the roasted veg and home made veggies as mentioned above.

Risotto is easy and (ime) does not have to be stirred constantly.

I make a massive pot of bolognese/chilli mixture - add kidney beans or whatever veg you want. If you have time to chop up a couple of extra onions and open a couple of extra tins of tomotoes then you have a few spare portions for the fridge/freezer.

I sometimes buy frozen rice to go with it - just microwave it!

Jacket potatoes also are cheap and good.

Make chicken breasts more interesting, add chopped mushrooms, cheese, ham, red onions finely chopped (probably not all at once!)

Eat what you fancy and take some vitamins on the side Custy.

cheers!
lol@vitamins - i take vit c

must look up how to make a risotto!

Chop a pepper, mushrooms, a leek and a courgette, saute in a pan until soft add some chopped ham and some creme fraiche, heat through and voila a quick healthy pasta sauce.

Easy risotto: (look up quantities of stock etc on the packet, that's what I do!)

Soften an onion for about 10 minutes. (it actually works without onion for fussy kids or those of us who prefer no onion) Add rice - if not using onion add the rice to a bit of hot olive oil.

Depending on what veg and cooked chicken/prawns or whatever you are using add this at various stages. e.g. raw pepper finely chopped add near the beginning. Frozen peas won't need so much cooking.

Add the hot stock bit by bit and stir when you can be bothered fairly regularly, until it looks like risotto (!) and the stock is absorbed.

Sprinkle with grated parmesan or any cheese you want.

p.s. totally identify with your comment about 1979. I still have to get my head round the fact that actually crispy pancakes and spaghetti hoops were fairly rubbishy as a main meal with veg.

Roast a chicken (stick it in the oven and forget about it). Put some potatoes in jackets in at the same time. Microwave some frozen peas.

In fact, frozen veg of any sort. No need to abandon your freezer in the interests of health!

Pork chops in oven with some chopped up leeks/apples and a bit of liquid. Rice. Frozen veg as above. Done.