This working mother thing is H-A-R-D.
I recently burst from my maternity leave bubble and went back to work full time.
And as almost every working mother who has come before me would know, it’s pretty tough.
Juggling cooking, washing, cleaning, childcare drop-offs, time for me and my husband – well it’s a lot to do.
Plus there’s the added pressure of really wanting to eat healthily (would that last 5kg please just bugger off) and my husband’s and my pledge to avoid giving our daughter, Molly, added sugar for the first 1000 days.
I've found so far that preparation makes everything easier.
So our freezer is currently stacked with loads of meals that we can just whip out, throw in the microwave and enjoy.
Here's my top picks for how you can make your working week easier too.
All the recipes freeze well, are easy to make and are low-salt and sugar free. Perfect for babies, kids and the whole family.
Plus if you like these recipes you can check out more healthy family friendly food for the whole family from 6 months to 106 on my blog.
I've got a killer No-Bake Apricot and Almond Slice that's also super easy and perfect for easy snacks to munch on during the working week. Yum!
Slow-Cooked Beef and Plum Stew
Ingredients
- 500g plums
- 500g diced beef
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 medium celery sticks
- 1 brown onion
- 2 cups low salt beef stock
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup whole green lentils
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves (1/2 tablespoon if using dried leaves)
- 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
Method
- Rinse carrot and celery and roughly dice. I leave the skin on the carrot for extra nutrients however if you prefer, peel the carrots.
- Roughly dice the onion.
- Wash plums and cut into wedges, discarding the seeds.
- Remove rosemary leaves from stalks and roughly chop.
- Heat oil in a large thick bottomed saucepan with a lid (I use a le crusset) and cook carrot, onion, celery and garlic on medium heat for about five minutes or until slightly softened.
- Add beef and cook until just browned.
- Add cornflour and stir beef until coated.
- Place stock, water, lentils and rosemary in saucepan, cover with lid and bring all the ingredients to the boil.
- Move the saucepan to the smallest element on the stovetop and leave to cook, covered, on low heat for 1.5 hours. Stirring occasionally to ensure ingredients don't burn on the bottom of the saucepan.
- In the last 15 minutes of cooking turn up heat slightly, remove lid and allow mixture to thicken. Stir more frequently during this step to ensure the mixture doesn't burn.
- Spoon mixture into a food processor and whiz for a minute or until stew is of a desired consistency. Alternatively you can also use a stick blender.
Meaty Fingers in Tomato Sauce with Pasta
Ingredients:
- 500g beef mince
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1 medium carrot
- 2 teaspoons of chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1 x 700g jar passata (look for the one with the lowest salt)
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, no added salt (the macro organic ones have no added salt)
- Half a tub (70g) of no added salt tomato paste
- 200g uncooked pasta
Method:
- Wash and grate the zucchini and carrot on the small grater setting (the one you normally use for Parmesan cheese). I normally leave the skin on the carrot for extra nutrients and just give it a good wash beforehand.
- Combine mince, one teaspoon of garlic, oregano carrot and zucchini in a bowl and use your fingers to mix together.
- Shape handfuls of mince into sausage shape sticks that your baby can easily hold in their hand.
- Place meat fingers on a plate and put in the fridge for at least half an hour to rest (this is really important as it ensures the fingers don’t fall apart when cooking.
- While the fingers are resting in the fridge combine passata, tomatoes, remaining garlic and tomato paste in a large saucepan (I use a Le Crusset) and warm on low heat.
- After the fingers have rested, cook them in a non-stick pan on medium heat until they are browned on both sides and almost cooked through.
- Place fingers in the tomato mixture and cook on medium heat for around 15 minutes. I generally leave the lid on whilst cooking and take it off with around 5 minutes to go but if you want a thicker sauce, leave the lid off.
- While the tomato mixture is cooking, place pasta in a saucepan of boiling water and cook until tender.
- Drain pasta and place on a plate with meaty fingers and tomato sauce.
Chicken and Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients:
- 300g arborio risotto rice
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 3 cups reduced salt chicken stock (I use the massel ultra cubes as they have the lowest salt content)
- 2 cups water
- 180g mushrooms
- 300g chicken breast
- Handful of baby spinach leaves
- 1 brown onion
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves
- 100g salt-reduced cheddar, grated
- Sprinkle of parmesan cheese
Method:
- Roughly chop chicken and heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a large thick bottomed saucepan on medium heat.
- Cook chicken until fully cooked through. Set aside in a bowl.
- While chicken is cooking combine stock and water in a small saucepan and leave to simmer on medium-high heat with the lid on.
- Peel onion and either use a food processor to chop it finely, or chop by hand. Place in a bowl and set aside.
- Rinse mushrooms and use a food processor (no need to rinse after onion) to chop finely. Alternatively if you don’t have a food processor you can chop by hand. Place in a bowl and set aside.
- Put chicken pieces in the food processor and whiz until fine and crumbly. If you don’t have a food processor you can shred with two forks. Place chicken in bowl with mushrooms.
- Rinse spinach leaves and slice finely.
- Chop herbs.
- Heat 1 teaspoon of oil on medium heat in same saucepan that you first cooked the chicken in and cook onion, herbs and garlic until it starts to soften.
- Add rice to the onion mixture and cook for about a minute or until the rice starts to go slightly translucent.
- Add two ladles of hot stock and stir continuously until the stock is completely absorbed by the rice.
- Continue adding ladles of hot stock until the rice is almost cooked through.
- Stir through chicken, mushrooms and spinach and continue adding stock until rice is completely cooked through.
- Remove from heat and stir through cheese. Leave to rest with the lid on for several minutes.
- Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and pepper and salt for the adults and older kids.
Tasty Lamb Lasagne
Ingredients:
- Lasagne
- 500g lamb mince
- Fresh lasagne sheets
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 250g mushrooms
- 1 medium carrot
- 2 medium zucchinis
- 1 brown onion
- 3 tablespoons no-added-salt tomato paste
- 1/2 jar (350g) passata
- 1 400g tin of diced tomatoes
- 70-80g kale or baby spinach
- 1/4 cup shredded parmesan or grated low-salt cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- Cheese sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup low salt mozzarella cheese or low-salt cheddar cheese
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 180C.
- Wash carrot, zucchini, and mushrooms.
- Peel onion.
- If you have a food processor with slicing/grating attachments use the smallest grater attachment and throw 1 zucchini, the carrot, onion and mushrooms in the food processor to prepare. Alternatively, you can grate the carrot and one of the zucchinis and finely chop the mushrooms and onion.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium heat and brown the mince.
- Once mince is browned, add the prepared vegetables and cook for several minutes until they begin to soften.
- Stir through tomato paste.
- Add the canned tomatoes and passata.
- Turn heat to low and simmer with the lid off to thicken.
- Rinse kale/spinach leaves if required and thinly slice.
- Slice the second zucchini lengthways into 5mm strips.
- Place cornflour into a small saucepan and add a small amount of the milk. Mix carefully to form a thick paste.
- Add remaining milk to the saucepan and place over the stove on high heat. Use a whisk to continuously stir the milk mixture.
- When the milk begins to thicken, remove from the heat and whisk through cheese. It should be a custard-like consistency.
- Use a large casserole dish to assemble the lasagne and start by spreading a small scoop of the meat mixture in the dish and placing the first lasagne sheet on top.
- Make three meat and lasagne layers finishing with a layer of meat.
- Place the sliced zucchini on top of the meat.
- Scatter the kale/baby spinach on top of the zucchini.
- Evenly pour the cheese sauce on top of the kale/baby spinach and sprinkle parmesan/cheddar cheese on top.
- Bake in pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Super Rice with Crispy Chive Chicken
Super Rice ingredients:
- 1/2 cup white rice (I use Jasmine)
- 1/2 cup white quinoa, rinsed
- 2 cans (190g) tuna in springwater
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 3/4 cup no-added-salt tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon herbs (I used thyme for the photographed dish because that's what I had in the fridge at the time but you can use any herb you prefer. Oregano, thyme and parsley go best with this dish)
- 50g salt-reduced cheese, grated
Crispy Chive Chicken ingredients:
- 500g chicken breast
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 2 teaspoons dried chives
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder or dried garlic granules
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Super Rice method:
- Place rice and quinoa in a rice cooker or large saucepan and add two cups of water. Cook in rice cooker until all the water has absorbed.
- Cook peas in microwave or in a saucepan and then drain and mash into smaller pieces.
- Place quinoa and rice in a large bowl and add peas and all remaining ingredients.
- Give the mixture a good stir and serve.
Crispy Chive Chicken method:
- Place almond meal, chives and garlic into a large bowl and combine.
- Slice chicken breast into bite-sized strips (around 1-2cm thick otherwise the cooking time will increase).
- Toss chicken pieces in almond mixture until completely coated.
- Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium-low heat until sizzling (make sure the pan is not too hot but also not to low heat other wise the coating will cake on the bottom of the pan).
- Place chicken pieces in pan and cook for around 4 minutes each side or until cooked through.
- Cover pan with foil and leave chicken to rest for several minutes.
- Cut one chicken piece in half to ensure it is cooked through.
Lanai is the National Political Reporter for News Corporation and runs her own blog.
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