Time poor? Want nutritious meals on the table fast? Can’t be bothered cooking every night? This post is for you!
I believe that anyone can cook. I believe that colourful foods are quick to cook and delicious to eat.
Whether you love cooking or not, cooking for a large family or just yourself, getting healthy meals on the table should be easy. And one way to achieve this is through my magic pudding meals.
The magic pudding is a dish you cook in bulk that can be eaten throughout the week, or frozen. You make one big pot and then turn it into 5 different meals.
When thinking about your base dish make sure that it is jammed packed with lots of different coloured vegetables (some red, orange/yellow, green, white/brown/purple) and a protein source (beans, eggs, fish, chicken, red meat).
My top magic pudding dishes
Anything Sauce (click for recipe)
Meal 1: serve on pasta with a side salad
Meal 2: serve on a roasted potatoes
Meal 3: make burritos
Meal 4: wrap sauce topped with a little cheese in a pancake
Meal 5: make cottage pie – place sauce in a oven dish and top with mashed/roasted potato and cheese and bake for 30 minutes
Your favourite stew or curry
Meal 1: serve on a bed of polenta
Meal 2: mix stew with some cooked quinoa
Meal 3: make bread pies – hollow out some multigrain bread rolls, fill with stew and replace lid and bake on 180 for 20 minutes
Meal 4: serve on rice (basmati or brown rice) with a side salad
Meal 5: warm cous cous salad – mix stew with cous cous and fresh baby spinach
Roast meat and vegetables
next time you cook a roast, make double and try some of the below dishes:
Meal 1: Warm chicken salad
Meal 2: Chicken wraps
Meal 3: Chicken pie. Place chopped roast chicken, leftover sauce (gravy or mushroom sauce), chopped roast veggies (add extra grated veggies if needed) into an oven proof dish. Top with one slice of frozen puff pastry and bake in oven for 40 minutes
Meal 4: Omelette (mix with beaten eggs and fry in a fry pan, flip once)
Meal 5: Soup (sautee some onion and garlic in oil in a saucepan, add roast meat and veggies and top with stock)
Risotto (make it a veggie packed one)
Meal 1: Risotto balls (simply roll cold risotto into balls, top with grated Parmesan cheese and bake for 10 minutes)
Meal 2: Stuffed red capsicum or tomatoes (hollow out a tomato or capsicum, fill with risotto and bake)
Meal 3: Risotto cake (place half of cold risotto into a lined spring form cake tin. Top with thin slices of cheese, zucchini and sun dried tomatoes. Add remaining risotto and sprinkle with grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake for 30-40 minutes)
Meal 4: Soup – just add stock
Meal 5: Riso al Salto (like a pancake or fritter) – heat some oil in a pan. Add some risotto, flatten and cook until golden, flip and cook the other side.
Eggs
Technically not a magic pudding, but they are just such a great quick dinner that here are eggs 5 ways:
Meal 1: Breakfast for dinner (toast, eggs, fried mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach with some multigrain toast and baked beans)
Meal 2: Omelette
Meal 3: Frittata or veggie slice
Meal 4: Baked eggs
Meal 5: Gado gado (make a dipping sauce with some peanut butter and lite coconut milk. Serve with veggies and hard boiled egg)
Other great, quick dishes for time poor people
- Foil Fish (place fish on foil. Top with lemon juice, sweet chilli sauce, coriander, basil (can use squeezable herbs) and veggie sticks. Wrap and bake in oven for 20 minutes)
- Stir fry
- Fish curry
- Colourful Soup
- Gozleme
- Japanese Pancakes
More tips for time poor cooks
- Be colourful
Fill your plate with lots of colourful fruits and veggies – aim for half of your dinner plate to be colourful veggies. - Use your freezer
Make a couple of magic puddings for your freezer. Also keep frozen veggies and berries so you never run out of colour! - Be organised
Fill your cupboards with ingredients to make quick and easy meals. Shop for the week so you always have ingredients on hand with which to cook.Click here to see all the magic pudding recipes!
