It’s been a fortnight since my last dinner inspiration post - a fortnight that involved nasty colds through the whole house (again) and my hubby M being away for a week for work, so I definitely slowed down on the work front.
I love doing these dinner inspiration posts and shooting our dinner as it’s forcing me to think a little outside the box and not serve up the same things over and over, but it is highlighting our love of a simple pasta dish - I’m not mad about it.
First up is this Lentil Shepherd’s pie, which I won’t talk too much about as the full recipe can be found in my latest recipes here (apart from saying it is -delicious- and meat eat or not, I’d recommend giving it a go).
I share a break down and some recipes from my dinners here, but when I believe the recipe was right on point, I will publish it over at my latest recipes page (where you can find recipes not shared here, too).
Alexander Rating? I didn’t think he’d eat this to be honest as he’s usually not into ‘beans’, but after helping me take the photo he absolutely loved it.
Serve to a younger toddler? Apart from maybe chopping the mushrooms and carrots a little smaller, I would'n’t change much. If texture is still an issue you could blend the filling to more of a soupy consistency.
Next up is this vegetable spaghetti sauce which is such a staple in our house - loaded with veggies, loved by all (including many of Alexander’s littlest friends) and great for freezing. We often make a batch of this and freeze it to take away on trips and reheat with some pasta and cheese. The best bit is, as it’s blended at the end, you only need to very roughly chop the vegetables so it’s easy to make in a hurry.
This was delicious so I am sharing the recipe today…
Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce
makes about 6 serves
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp of tomato paste (optional)
- 2 red capsicums, de-seeded and roughly chopped
- 1 eggplant, stem removed and roughly chopped
- 250g (or so) of button mushrooms, washed and roughly chopped
- 1 zucchini, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp of dried oregano (you could also use marjoram or basil, fresh or dry).
- 1 large (790g) or 2 small (400g) can of crushed tomatoes plus the same volume of water.
Method
1. In a large saucepan, add the onion, olive oil and capsicums on a medium heat - fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Add the eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini, tomato paste and garlic. Stir over medium heat for another minute.
3. Add the canned tomatoes, oregano or other herbs and water, bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 1-2 hours, or until reduced by at least half. If it reduces too fast (less than an hour), add more water and allow it to continue cooking to develop the flavour, being sure to scrape the sides of the pot down often.
4. Once cooked, season with salt and pepper to taste and allow to cook slightly before blending and serving with your favourite pasta, or freezing in batches.
Simple and delicious!
Alexander Rating? He loves this pasta and on this night he ate two bowls - perhaps as we were short on spaghetti and I made him little macaroni, which is one of his favourites.
Serve to a younger toddler? I wouldn’t change a thing!
This wasn’t so much a recipe as it was an opportunity to use up some vegetables before a new order arrived coupled with the opportunity to buy some fresh prawns, so though this was delicious, you could vary it however you like.
The prawns were cooked in olive oil, a little garlic and some smokey paprika which is always a winning combination (you might notice I use a lot of smokey paprika, maybe because Alexander likes it but I think it adds so much flavour with so little effort).
I roasted the last head of broccoli we had because roasted broccoli is a whole other level of delicious in my eyes! I toasted flat breads in a large fry pan with a spray of olive oil (these are Mr Pitta which are so delicious - they’re sold around me at delis, butchers and gourmet supermarkets), then served it all with a good squeeze of Kewpie mayo and honey (trust me, this is a seriously underrated and delicious combo). A twist of black pepper and some sesame seeds which truthfully were mainly for the photo, and we had a delicious and suprisingly filling dinner.
Alexander Rating? He loved this (I am saying that a lot lately), though I did steam his broccoli rather than roast it as he likes it ‘juicy’, and served all his elements separately.
Serve to a younger toddler? I’m not sure I’d make this for a younger toddler - or if I did, I’d use much larger prawns they could grab onto, or chop them up really finely, definitely steam the broccoli and ditch the big chunks of spinach and probably cut the bread into fingers.
This is one of those ideas I think everyone probably has a version or has made a version of, but my version involves pre-steaming chopped cauliflower, making a bechamel sauce (I use half milk half water to make it a little lighter - it works), adding some cheese then stirring through cooked pasta. I pop it in the fridge until it’s ready to bake, then put it in the oven at about 180c with some cheese on top until it’s warmed through. Very easy, always a hit!
Alexander Rating? Do I even have to tell you he loves this…
Serve to a younger toddler? I wouldn’t make it as crispy on the top, but otherwise it’s a great toddler meal.
And that’s it for another week! School holidays are about to start so while I love doing this and will continue to try and photograph our dinners, I’m not sure how it will all unfold…
Next term will be the relaunch of my newsletter so if you haven’t signed up, I’d love to have you.
Until then, stay warm (in Melbourne, if you’re in Italy or somewhere equally summery, please teleport me…).
Nat x