Easy dinner recipes for exhausting days
From Rukmini Iyer's One-pot Kerala Prawn Curry to a No-Chop Roast
If I had a pound for every time I’ve caught myself thinking about what to have for dinner when I should be catching up on sleep… well, I’d have enough money to hire a personal chef.
A good meal has the power to turn around a rubbish day and can be just the sanity-saving energy pep you need when suffering from sleepless nights.
But while you may have plenty of time to fantasise about three course feasts while your child naps/fidgets/grumps [delete as appropriate] in your arms, you may find it is virtually impossible to actually chop and sauté ingredients, due to aforementioned small child in your arms.
By the time your ‘little darling’ finally allows you to put them down in the evening, chances are you no longer have the energy to do more than bung on a ready meal.
But there are some nights when instant noodles just won’t cut it, so I’ve found myself searching for recipes that involve little prep and can be made ahead.
Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin cookbooks have been a game-changer for me. They’re full of ideas for dinners that involve just throwing ingredients into a dish and letting the oven do its work, while you wrangle your child into bed. If you’d like to get a taste of what the books are like before deciding whether to buy them, two recipes I’ve made frequently are: Avocado and chicken salad with pomegranates and brown rice and One-pot Kerala Prawn Curry.
I’m not the only parent who has become a devoted fan of Iyer’s recipes. When I asked other parents on Twitter for their go-to dinner recipes for busy days, Angharad Planells said: “I hated cooking before these books, even without a toddler. The quiche is super easy and so good! We've made it most weeks during lockdown. And LOVE the caramelised banana tart too.”
Other recipes parents shared to add to your repertoire:
Slow Cooker Chilli
Emma, (who tweets at Me, The Man & The Kids) said she remembers “using naptime in the morning to put something in the slow cooker, so come the evening I didn't have to cook! Most often a chilli.” When asked for her go-to recipe she said “Always wing it! Can of tomatoes, splash of Worcestershire sauce, kidney beans, peppers, onions, various spices including chilli - obviously the strength of this changed as the kids got older and started to eat it”.
Magic Curry
This is a staple at Rachel Boyett’s house, she’s the author of Little Veggie Eats and her Magic Curry recipe can be found on her Instagram here - to make it even simpler, use pre-chopped ginger, garlic and veg. “I’m a big fan of cooking food for all the family - so the baby/toddler meal is just adapted later on for you to eat,” says Boyett.
No-Chop Roast
Roast dinners have got a reputation for being a lot of work, but actually they usually just involve throwing stuff in the oven and checking on them every so often - forgo the fancy extras like Yorkshires and red cabbage and you’ve got a really easy meal.
Lucille Whiting has a hack for making it even quicker to prep - accompany your roast with frozen veg and new potatoes cooked whole. “I just pop a whole chicken in a cast-iron stockpot with a little water and leave it,” she says. “The water can be used to make gravy once cooked. New potatoes are super quick if you use a deep enough pot. I'm cooking for seven and work from home - everything's quick but from scratch.”
Taco Meat
Matt Zitron likes to batch cook mince then serve it in a variety of ways to keep it interesting on different evenings. “Fry onions, add meat. Brown, add beef stock, add two cans of chopped tomatoes and maybe BBQ sauce,” he explains. Reduce it and serve as tacos or with rice.
Nutritionist Know-How
Registered nutritionist and mum-of-one Laura Matthews has also shared her tips for making mealtimes less of a chore:
Use frozen herbs, to avoid having to prepare and cut up fresh ones.
Use the food processor to cut up onion, pepper etc. rather doing it my hand.
Use tinned beans and lentils in soups and sauces, rather than have to pre-soak them before using, who has time for that?!
Can You Help With A Little Thing?
An upcoming issue of The Little Things will focus on how to cope if your child/baby hates being in the car. Do you have any advice to share? If so, you can let me know by replying to this email. Thank you 😊
The Little Lowdown
“Being completely alone, with no visitors, wasn’t how I expected my first few days with my son... I was broken." Amy Packham’s birth diaries series on HuffPost UK gives a fascinating insight into women's experiences of giving birth during the pandemic.
If you’re thinking about taking your kids to newly re-opened playgrounds, Popsugar UK has gathered up some advice on how to stay safe - although bear in mind that government advice does not state that children have to wear masks.
‘I was wailing over the fence’: what single parents learned from lockdown – the headline on this Guardian article focuses on the difficulties, but Hannah Booth also shares how living through this pandemic has brought about positive changes for families too: “Perhaps the biggest change is that we’ve become a more democratic unit. I have never been good at putting myself first. But with two of us at home, jostling to accommodate each other, that thinking has shifted. So my writing group continues to meet once a week, and she has to keep herself busy for an hour.”
There’s not a lot of information out there for freelancers who plan to take maternity leave, but this article by Caroline Allen is full of useful information, plus insight into how she plans to make it work for her family.
About Me
I’m Ellen Wallwork, a sleep-deprived mum-of-one, incessant worrier and freelance journalist. I’ve been writing about parenting for more years than I care to remember and previously launched the Parents section on HuffPost UK. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (but be warned, I’m not a prolific poster).
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Disclaimer: This newsletter does not provide medical advice and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. The use of any information contained in this newsletter is solely at your own risk.