Quick, Tasty Dinners to Try at Home
Most of us have a little more (or a lot more) time at home recently. More time at home means more meals to cook so we’ve prepared some easy, delicious, energy boosting dinner recipes that you can mix and match with various proteins and carbohydrates to keep the excitement flowing! Whether you’re a fantastic chef in need of some new recipe inspiration, or whether you’d like to spend this extra time at home improving your culinary skills, these recipes are quick, easy and sure to go down a treat!
P.S… The great thing about these recipes is you can make extra portions to freeze for later, making sure nothing goes to waste.
Let’s start each meal with a vegetarian base, then you can add a good quality protein (meat, poultry, fish, seafood or pulses, nuts and seeds) to each meal to bulk it out. This also ensures the recipes are not only versatile, but suitable for vegetarians too! You can choose 1 base and make different meals by just adding different protein sources. Easy, right? Absolutely.
Vegetable Stir-Fry Base
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 red onions, sliced thinly
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Piece fresh root ginger, about 1cm/½inch, peeled and grated
- 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
- 1 red pepper, cut into thick matchsticks
- 100g baby sweetcorn, halved
- 1 courgette, cut into thick matchsticks
- 150g sugar-snap peas, trimmed
- 2 tbsp low-salt soy sauce
- Twist of cracked black pepper
Method
- Heat a wok on a high heat and add the coconut oil.
- Add the onions, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute, then reduce the heat. Take care to not brown the vegetables.
- Add the carrot, red pepper and baby sweetcorn and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
- Add the courgette and sugar snap peas and stir-fry for a further 3 minutes. Toss the ingredients from the centre to the side of the wok using a wooden spatula. Don’t overcrowd the wok and keep the ingredients moving.
- Add 1 tablespoon of water and soy sauce and cook over a high heat for a further 2 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked but not too soft.
- Add your choice of protein (beef, poultry, fish, tofu, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds) and cook thoroughly.
- Serve on its own or with noodles or rice.
Casserole Base
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, peeled and sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 parsnips, peeled and diced
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 250g swede, peeled and diced
- 600ml (1 pint) hot vegetable stock
- 400g can tomatoes
- 420g can butter beans, drained (optional)
- A handful of chopped parsley
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and fry slowly for 5 mins.
- Add the carrots, parsnips, celery and swede, cover and fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes, so they start to soften.
- Pour in the stock and canned tomatoes, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. 4. Stir in the beans and cook for another 5 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- Add your choice of protein (beef, poultry, fish, tofu, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds) and cook thoroughly.
- Sprinkle the vegetable stew with chopped parsley and serve.
- Serve with a carbohydrate of your choice (e.g. Noodles, Rice).
If you want to add a carbohydrate, try some of these great additions to the meals above:
- Noodles: Rice noodles, Udon noodles, Soba noodles and Yaki-Soba noodles. These are easy to add to any of the meals above and are a great source of energy.
- Rice: Basmati rice, Brown Basmati rice, White rice, Brown rice, Wild rice, Jasmine Rice and even Quick Cook rice can give you the energy boost you may need to add to your meal.
The mix and match combinations of the vegetarian base with the option to add protein and carbohydrates makes these the most versatile recipes, so go on, experiment until you find a combination you love!
We would love to see you try out these recipes! Share your creation to Instagram with the #SlendertoneSnacks!
Best of all, you can wear your ab toning belt while preparing meals – yet another winning combination. Happy cooking!
