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The midweek dinner revival

Words by Pandora

31 August 2018 | 

6 mins

How to freshen up and health-ify childhood teatime classics. (Don’t fret fish fingers. you’ll always have a special place in our hearts…)

Serious market research has gone into this post. Some of the friendly Field & Flower team have pooled together a collection of their earliest memories for me, to remember their favourite tea time meals! We laughed and got a bit red faced at times… potato smileys and chicken nuggets anyone? Yet, why are so many of these traditional classics so utterly atrocious for our health? A continual source of frustration for parents and it turns out that we were as guilty as charged!

I can tell you, there was more than one of us who used to love tucking into a tin of ravioli at dinner, piping hot from the microwave and smothered in grated cheese. Health is super important when you’re running a family, but you just can’t remove these gems from your afterschool routines, it wouldn’t be the same! I reckon there’d be a genuine boycott (if you don’t believe me then you clearly haven’t met my sister.)

So instead we found a compromise that might just change the way you eat your midweek dinners for ever more…You are about to read some nutritious swaps that I believe will stop you from having to wave goodbye to family favourites in the interest of healthy living! (Of course, sometimes you just want the original no matter the consequences, like Alphabetti Spaghetti… these are golden just the way they are!)

After school dinners: They happen every day and yet there are always some dinners that stand the test of time and stay with us. Here is a compilation of some of our most memorable childhood meals. revived into something wholesome, satisfying and quick to prepare!

Spaghetti Carbonara (Hannah - Shows & Events Manager)

Health-ify:
Easy! Make your own sauce with good quality fresh ingredients! The Italians designed it for speed and deliciousness! Free-range eggs, meaty bacon, fresh grated parmesan, organic cream, garlic, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil is all you’ll need. This dish is packed with healthy fats and lacks all the preservatives, stabilisers and thickeners that are in supermarket jarred. Healthier still? Try using wholegrain spaghetti: a touch nuttier in flavour and grainier in texture, but just as delicious! (Top tip- Mushrooms and sautéed cherry tomatoes are a great vegetable to sneak into this dish!)

Beef Ravioli (Willow - Office and Events Manager)

Healthify:
Ravioli is a tough cookie, but if you can spare an extra 20 minutes this is a great one to take on that even the kids can enjoy taking part with! If you love pasta that’s totally fine, you can try stuffing your own ravioli with delicious and wholesome fillings. A great way to easily use pasta without having to make your own, is to half cook lasagne sheets so that they are pliable but still al dente, then dollop on your own filings. Put a tbsp spoon of the filling at regular intervals down the long side, then slice across, between each dollop lengthways, fold it over and use the back of a fork to press the edges together firmly. Then, make a normal Bolognese but cook it on a high heat, stirring regularly, so as not to stick, until it’s a bit dryer. Equally, if your avoiding gluten, you can use gyoza skins (Japanese rice paper dumpling cases). Healthier still? Try using courgette ribbons! Use a peeler to get your ribbons and lay three in a star for each parcel, place 1 tbsp of filling in the middle and fold them over the filling, flip them so that the weight of the parcel holds the casing together at the base. Don’t boil these, this is a definite one to pop in the oven. Try baking it in a tomato sauce with parmesan on top as a fresh tasty dish that kids will love.

Chicken Nuggets and Potato Smileys (Rachel - Content Coordinator)

Healthify:
Make them! (As if you didn’t see that one coming…) The best way to keep these clean and nutritious is to keep the salt and fat level down. You can do this by baking them and using a more wholesome bread crumb mix. Below you’ll find an easy recipe for this. Prepare both elements first and then put them in the oven together. Prep time for both is 25 minutes, baking time 30 minutes.

Nuggets: Try using a blend of 2 tbsp panko bread crumbs, 2 tbsp of freshly grated parmesan cheese, 2 tbsp Italian seasoned whole-wheat breadcrumbs (make your own with a blender by pulsing Italian herbs and some whole meal bread together), ¾ tsp of good quality salt and a decent amount of black pepper. Chop up good quality skinless chicken breasts, dip the chunks in some olive oil and then role them in bread crumbs to coat. Place them on a tray and bake them on 280 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through. (To test, chop in half and see if its cooked the whole way through, if not return to the oven for an extra 5-10 minutes).

Smileys: Prepare 500g of mashed potato, normal or sweet potatoes will work, and add ½ a tsp of Italian mixed herbs, 3 tbsps. nutritional yeast flakes if your being really healthy, or just some grated good quality cheese, and a pinch of salt. Mix it thoroughly and then role them into golf balls. Then, place them onto a lined baking tray and press them flat into disks and brush these with beaten egg. Coat these in some more of your homemade bread crumbs and then you’re ready to draw your similes. Do this using the end of a knife or a fork. Bake for thirty minutes with the nuggets.

Fish and Chips (Charlotte - Customer Service)

Healthify:
This is another simple one! Healthy swaps mean baked fish goujons or breaded fish fillet with potato wedges opposed to your local chippy. Baking the potatoes keeps them healthy and topping them with good quality seasalt and cider vinegar gives them the chip shop appeal! You can use sweet potato for higher nutritional value but white potatoes are great too. It’s actually the frying in saturated oils and high sodium which really causes the negative health issues in this dish.

Then, for the fish you have two options – for fishfinger replacements, use some meaty white fish such as haddock, brush it with beaten egg or olive oil and coat with breadcrumbs (use the breadcrumb mix from the nuggets). Bake these for 20 minutes or so, turning them after 15 mins, to create the best homemade fish fingers ever.

If you are after a healthy alternative for batter, funnily enough, the paleo diet has this one covered. Try combining ¼ cup of coconut flour, ¾ cup tapioca flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, 2 eggs and ½ cup sparkling water in a small bowl. Then in a frying pan, heat ½ cup of olive oil until hot (drop a little batter in and if it starts to bubble its hot enough. (I know it’s quite a bit, but hot oil is inescapably needed for crispy batter, better olive oil than deep fat fryer oil I promise! Plus, these are healthy fats opposed to trans fats!) Then cut your haddock or cod down to size, cutting diagonally to keep its form, and dab with a paper towel until dry. Then, coat them in the batter and drop them in the oil. Simple! Your want them to cook for about 4 minutes on each side- be wary not to overcook them. Then, pop a paper towel on a plate and transfer them out the pan and onto the sheet before serving (removing excess oil!) Then, add a side of peas… because they are green and round, which is exciting.

Spaghetti Hoops on Toast (Stephen - Head of Digital)

Healthify:
This dish is screaming for protein! I’m not about to suggest that you swap out the main element of this dish … that would be madness. However, I do think adding some ingredients is an assured way to make it a lot more nutritious. Always try to opt for low sugar spaghetti hoops and then you can add some crispy bacon pieces or sliced chipolatas to the mix to up the protein. If you’re trying to reduce your meat consumption, you can add cannellini beans to the sauce which are very rich in protein, or just combine them with a tin of sugar free baked beans. This will do a lot more for hungry tummies. Serve it up on some wholegrain bread, rye or sourdough, for a tasty and balanced light supper!

If you are in for a wild card – try this...

Zupa Klopsikowa (Sandra - Data Analyst)

Polish classic! Cream and root vegetable soup with meatballs. It sounds delicious and its pretty darn healthy too. Only thing you might want to consider is swapping out the cream for some crème fresh or natural yogurt (only after its been taken off the heat or it will split.)

Happy experimenting!