Weekend Meal Inspo
We all have those weekends where we look forward to doing nothing but potter around the house and cook some yummy meals! Well I do, and if you don’t you will want to after this!
Through the week I keep my meals planned and easy, using as much of the groceries I’ve bought as possible.
This is for a couple of reasons:
To avoid waste
To ensure I reduce temptation on spending unnecessary money by being under prepared with meals for work, etc.
When Friday rolls around I’m usually ready to kick my shoes off and have a wine or two (let’s be honest) with my fiancé and have an easy dinner, usually home made pizzas. Don’t be fooled though, I use Lebanese as the base and top with leftover veg from the week = game changer.
By Saturday & Sunday though, if I’m not running around like a headless chook, I want spend time cooking meals I don’t usually have time for through the week.
Cue @cookerybykasey... I’m blessed to have a couple of five star chefs in my friend circle and Kasey is definitely one of them. She has a real gift for making things from scratch and knows how to balance a meal with all of my favourite things - colour, texture, acidity and ample amounts of tastiness. Her recipes are seriously drool-worthy. Heck, she can even make her own pasta! Yes, really!
These recipes have been developed for you to invest time and love into meals for your loved ones or for yourself on a much needed self love weekend...
Breakfast — Quinoa Brekkie Bowl
A recipe developed by myself and one I make through the week if I have time!
Serves 2 humans
Approx 20 mins
4 eggs
1/3 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil or coconut oil
2 handfuls kale or spinach chopped
6 button mushrooms sliced
8 cherry tomatoes
Handful almonds
Slice of lemon to dress
Salt & pepper to season
Add 1 cup water to a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the quinoa and reduce to medium heat. Stir and cook for 10 - 15minutes or until water has been absorbed. Once ready spoon quinoa to a bowl and leave in the fridge.
Boil a saucepan of water (enough to cover eggs) and boil. For soft eggs set a time for 5 mins, for hard eggs leave for 6 mins. Transfer to a cold bowl of water once they’ve reached their time.
Add olive oil to fry pan on medium heat. Add kale or spinach and cook until softened or to choice of texture. Add mushrooms and cherry tomatoes for 2 or so minutes.
Remove kale mixture from heat and stir through quinoa.
Serve in bowls, top with pealed eggs, season with salt and pepper, almonds and a squeeze of lemon.
Spring Fritters with Seasonal Greens
A recipe developed by @cookerybykasey
Serves 4 humans
Approx 30-40 mins
3 spring onions (with bulbs if available)
400 grams of frozen peas
1 x can of organic butter beans
A handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
Olive oil
Zest of 2 lemons
1 long red chilli
1 tablespoon of flour – we’ve used chickpea flour, but you can use spelt or whatever floats your boat ;)
1 Egg (optional)
2 bunches of seasonal greens. We’ve used tuscan kale and English spinach as they were everywhere at the markets.
Handful of pepitas
Avocado
Flatbreads (optional)
For the sauce:
5 tablespoon of coconut yoghurt
1 tbsp olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon and squeeze of lemon juice
Salt & pepper
How you pull this thing together:
1. Get everything out and prepared on the bench – it’ll make this spring delight easier.
2. Poke a couple of holes with a sharp knife in your red chilli. Heat a griddle (or any) fry pan on medium to high heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook chilli and spring onion until charred and softened, turning occasionally.
3. Put a medium saucepan of water to boil on the stove, and add a pinch of salt once boiling. Add frozen peas into salted boiling water. Return to boil and simmer for 1 minute.
4. Once spring onions and chilli are softened and have a nice char to them, transfer to a chopping board and let cool. Roughly chop the charred onion and chilli. Add parsley, and chop. Season with salt and pepper. Chop it until it looks like you want to eat it haha.
5. Drain the peas. Then drain the can of butter beans and rinse. Add butter beans and peas back to the saucepan and season with salt & pepper. Mash with potato masher until combined and until mixture comes together in a chunky paste. Taste.
6. Add the onion mixture to the peas, and mash together until well combined. Season with salt + pepper. Taste.
7. Add flour, lemon zest and (optional) 1 egg – the egg helps bind the mixture. If making vegan, then leave the egg out. The fritter will just be a touch more crumbly.
8. Wet hands then form using heaped tablespoons and shape into fritters. Aim for roughly 6cm in diameter and no more than 2cm thick.
9. Take seasonal greens (we’ve used baby kale and giant spinach. You could also use any spinach, rocket or kale) and roughly chop. Place into salad bowel and drizzle with; a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of vinegar, a teaspoon of Djon mustard. Salt and pepper to taste and massage leaves until they begin to wilt.
10. Add a tablespoon of coconut oil to a pan, then place on medium heat. Add fritters and cook for approx 6 mins.
11. While the fritters are frying, toast a handful of pepitas in a small fry pan until golden.
12. Flip then flatten the fritters gently with a spatula to approx 1cm thick. Cook for another 6 minutes until golden. Drizzle with a little olive oil to help them get extra crispy.
13. Place yoghurt into a bowl to serve. Add a glug of olive oil, zest of lemon and salt + pepper to taste.
14. Toast flat breads in pan until warmed each side (if using).
15. Add fritters and quartered flatbreads to bowl to serve. Slice avocado and add to bowl. Done!
Tips: You can easily add any veggies you have in your fridge to bulk these fritters out. Other great additions would be zucchini, carrot, asparagus, grated potato, cabbage.
These will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days so make a bunch in advance and you have lunches all week!
Using dark leafy greens for the salad will mean it keeps longer in the fridge. Rocket and baby spinach tends to go soggy quickly with dressing.
Roasted Cauliflower with Freekeh herb salad and Tahini sauce
For dinner a recipe developed by @cookerybykasey
Serves 4 Humans
35-45 mins
1 whole cauliflower
1 cup of freekeh (could also use barley, brown rice or quinoa)
Handful of sultanas
1/2 pomegranate
Handful of mint
Handful of flat leaf parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Salt + Pepper
Tahini Sauce:
6 tablespoons of tahini
Juice of half a lemon
4 tablespoons of cold water
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 c degrees fan forced.
2. Chop cauliflower into large chunks. Chop into smaller chunks for a faster cooking time. Place onto a lined baking tray then drizzle generously with olive oil, salt + pepper.
3. Bake for 45 minutes, turning once. With 5 minutes to go, add a handful of sultanas to bake. If you’ve chopped the cauliflower into smaller chunks, it should only take 30 mins in total.
4. Get your freekeh on. Follow the packet instructions of whichever grain you choose to use. I used 1 cup of freekeh, 1 cup of water + pinch of salt.
5. While the freekeh and cauliflower are in the oven, you can prepare the other ingredients. Cut a pomegranate in half lengthways. Use the back of a spoon to bang out the seeds into a bowl.
6. Finely chop parsley and mint. This goes straight into the salad bowl.
7. Make the sauce by adding all ingredients into a jar and shake. The sauce should be a pouring consistency. If too thick, add a tablespoon of water at a time until reached.
8. Once freekeh is cooked, drain and add to salad. Add pomegranate seeds, juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon of olive oil and season to taste.
9. To serve, place a heaped spoonful of salad on the plate. Top with 3-4 cauliflower chunks. Drizzle with sauce. Enjoy.
HOT TIP: This is another great salad that can be made ahead of time. Great for meal prep! You can also add any other veges you have in the fridge. Or try adding leftover dark leafy greens to the salad.