Of all the things that come with being an adult, having to come up with something to feed the family every single day is very high on my top 5 list of boring tasks I wish i didn’t have to do! Cooking low carb while also catering for children aged 8 and 12 makes the whole thing that little bit more tricky and so I end up cooking the same stuff over and over again and now I don’t want to eat any of it…
So, inspiration for dinner on 800 calories anyone? What are your favourite spring/summer meals please?

Hi Britta,
I go through phases of being bored with cooking too, and I’m only cooking for 2 of us both on the BSD.
My go-to’s at this time of year tend to be stir-fry / tray-bake / protein and salad – and I mean as a technique, not as a recipe.

Stir-fry:
Beef/lamb/pork/chicken breast/prawns – add 2 (maybe 3) types of veg, things like pak choi, courgette, oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, broccolli, peppers, shredded cabbage (Hispi cabbage is nice), bulb fennel – if you use the stir-fry as the technique and alternate the protein with 2-3 veg which work together (mushrooms and broccolli with sesame oil and soy sauce as an example) the meals won’t all taste the same. For the carb-eaters in the family you could serve them a portion of steamed/boiled rice or noodles.

Tray-bake:
Beef/lamb/pork/chicken thighs or drumsticks/salmon – again, 2-3 types of veg, things like aubergine, peppers, courgette, onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, bulb fennel, cauliflower florets, and for the carb eaters maybe some small new potatoes or sweet potato wedges or butternut squash cubes.

Steak/sausages (rusk-free for BSD), homemade burgers/lamb chops/pork chops – with a mixed leaf salad and dressing / sliced raw fennel salad / coleslaw / remoulade – with potato wedges for the carb eaters?

For example Sunday night we had a beef rib roast – no Yorkies or spuds on this WOE, so we had it with salad. Last night was cold sliced roast beef and salad. That’s now got boring, so tonight is melanzane – aubergine bake with tomatoes and mozzarella. The rest of the beef will make its way into lunch today and/or tomorrow.

Hope this helps.

Traybakes! That’s brilliant, quick to do, easy to add a carb for the kids, and easy for the kids to pick out offensive vegetables – it’s a winner!

Hi Britta

I cook a fair amount of burgers (made just with mince and egg) and I have it with salad and a cheese slice, my partner has a bun and some beans with it as well as the salad

I also make a hell of a lot of variations on the “chicken in a sauce” theme

Almost all involve sweating an onion and mushrooms with garlic, then add chicken and brown, then I go to town – so I might add say yoghurt and paprika to make it sort of stroganoff, or chilli and tinned tomatoes for more or an arrabiata vibe, or whole grain mustard and yoghurt or something like thyme and creme fraiche. Etc. Sometimes I add some Serrano ham at the start, sometimes chicken stock and reduce it down – there’s loads of things you can do with it – usually serve with veg for me or cauli rice and my partner has rice or pasta

Orrrrrr we eat a lot of Mexican – fajitas – I have mine with salad, him in a wrap, if you make your own spice mix you can make it as spicy as you want – I cook my mix on a tray in the oven, so I’ll have peppers, onion and chicken strips (or beef, or even halloumi works well) mixed with some dried oregano, chipotle paste, paprika, garlic and whatever else takes your fancy, bung it in the oven for 20 mins and serve with salad and some grated cheese (if you have calories left), some yoghurt (instead of sour cream) and guacamole (if you like it)

We do enchiladas too, chicken in a spicy tomato based sauce cooked on the hob, then wrapped in cabbage leaves and cooked for 15 mins in the oven, or just do wraps for the kids and you can have yours inside a pepper maybe??

Cauliflower rice risotto – really easy and cooks much quicker than real rice – five mins really

Meatballs? With a small amount of passata sauce (literally the easiest sauce in the world, just a bit of onion, a mushroom, add passata and seasoning, done) with courgette for you and pasta for the kids?

I do a lot of stir fry’s too, I usually keep mine quite simple with just soy, ginger, garlic and whatever veg you fancy. If you remember to marinate the meat a few hours earlier it makes the world of difference, I add fun toppings like crushed nuts or sesame seeds for an extra nutritional boost

Pesto chicken traybake – cut some chicken breast into strips and coat in pesto (whatever colour you like). Spread on a tray and also add some chopped peppers, onion, courgette etc. Potatoes for small ones. Sprinkle everything with garlic and lemon juice, bung it in the oven for 30 mins done.

Or I do a chicken thing topped with Philadelphia cheese – you can either mix plain with some mustard or pesto or something or use the preflavoured ones, if you roast it with some cherry tomatoes it’s amazing, could even add some ground nuts or seeds for a crunchy topping.

Generally I try and keep things simple, I can’t be bothered spending hours in the kitchen, I very rarely spend more than 10 minutes actively cooking and I rarely have things in the oven for more than 30 – I think the key is using a few, but very flavourful, ingredients, I don’t mind “spending” some calories on pesto or yoghurt or nuts or something as part of my meals as a little goes a long way and it makes it really delicious!

Lauren xx

Hi Britta, my go to simple meal is mince with peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes. Make a batch and split it up for freezing then turn it into whatever you want. Lasagne with aubergine or courgette slices for you and pasta for the kids, make individual ones. Spag bol with courgetti for you and pasta for the kids, chilli with cauli rice for you and real stuff for the kids and not too hot. Hubby is not a very inventive cook and I insist he cooks twice a week since lockdown. I must say it is the thinking of what to have that is the problem and I still dont get out of that and have to give him guidance or it gets to 5pm and there is nothing out of the freezer. One he likes to do is a pork and bean pot or, like tonight, a very mild chicken curry. I find I dont need anything else with it and he has a mini pitta bread.

I’m so glad I posted this question! Thanks for this, just finished a traybake and will continue down the list for the next week – nice and simple recipes too. I know that some people cook separately for kids but I’ve always been a “we all eat the same thing at the same time” sort of mum. I can’t believe I’ve never thought of making two small “lasagnas” instead of one – genius, then I can even have the aubergine bake!

Hi Britta, some great suggestions above. I also like to use The Stone Soup blog. Jules Clancy who writes it specializes in 5 or 6 ingredient meals that are simple and quick to put together. The best part about her recipes I find is the variations she puts at the end. There you’ll find suggestions for making meals higher carb or more substantial for other family members.
https://thestonesoup.com/blog/category/by-dietary-requirement/low-carb/

I find the David Unwin recipe from the older cook book quick and easy: broccoli, mushrooms and chopped bacon, stir fried with a bit of Worcestershire Sauce. I’ve also tried changing the bacon for diced pork loin and that was lovely too.

Another favourite is a burger on a flat mushroom, topped with small amounts of cheese and pesto and servied with salad.

I second the aubergine lasagne idea, I make that a lot too.

Stir fries, of course, but I get bored of them – too worthy, but okay maybe once a fortnight. The trouble with living alone is that you often have the same dinner two or three nights to avoid wasting food!

[*Apologies to the veggies and vegans}

Lately I have been enjoying a bowl made up of sauteed leek, zucchini and sliced mushrooms and shredded chicken breast, topped with crumbled vintage cheddar cheese and sliced avocado. A strange combination probably, but I have eaten it 6 nights in a row 🙂

So I made a “chicken in a sauce a la Lauren” this evening – great success and dead-easy, will definitely be doing more of that!
Aubergine lasagne lined up for tomorrow.
Happy days!

Ooh what variation did you use Britta?

We had chicken in a sauce tonight too – leeks, Serrano ham, whole grain mustard and Greek yoghurt with a few sun dried tomatoes! Sausage and cauli mash tomorrow with purple broccoli – yumbles!

L x

I improvised a bit and had onions, garlic, mushroom, courgette, paprika, passata and yoghurt, served with broccoli (pasta for kids). I like the sound of the serrano ham and leeks version, will give that a go next I think!

Sounds nice Britta!

RubyG those traybakes are genious! Did a roast veg, sausage and chicken traybake this evening. Sausages for kids and husband, chicken for me and chicken and roast veg left for me for lunch. Only had to do a portion of couscous for kids. I’m really into making an extra portion so I have something I can just stick in the microwave the next day.
Also I have discovered this recipe which I cannot recommend enough, I had it with cabbage the first time and liked it so much I did it with aubergine a couple of days later and that is also great (I ran out of tahini so had it without the sauce second time which was absolutely fine)
https://www.rebelrecipes.com/baked-hispi-cabbage-in-smokey-tomatoes-and-tahini/