My top quick dinner recipes

Sweet mince with pepper, peas and broccoli

· Chop and start to steam two handfuls of small broccoli florets.

· Stick on the frying pan to a medium – high heat and add ½ tsp of sesame oil. When warm add 500g mince to the pan along with 2 gloves of minced garlic.

· While that is frying off, whisk together 4 table spoons of low salt soy sauce, 2 tbsp maple syrup (if wee ones are under one year old) or 2 tbsp honey, 1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, ½ tsp mild chilli powder, few dashes of ground ginger.

· When the mince is brown drain off any juices and return to heat then stir in the sauce mixture.

· Chop and add one small red pepper, remove broccoli from steam and add them, stir well

· Add 1 cup of frozen peas and turn heat down to medium, stick a plate over the pan and cook for a few more minutes.

· Serve with rice – any kind of boiled or microwave

Omelette and wedges

· Preheat over to 200oC or whack the grill onto the highest setting

· Chop a few spuds into wedge shapes, drizzle with olive oil, stick in a bowl with a lid and put in the microwave for 10 minutes.

· Meanwhile whisk some eggs, add a handful or so of mild cheese and then pour over a frying pan on medium to high heat. Try and have one half over the heat more than the other.

· After a few minutes add whatever you can find in the fridge to the side with less heat. What works well in our house is some reduced salt ham (can find anywhere, in SuperValu, Lidl, Aldi etc), chopped with some chopping tomatoes and spinach with the stalks pulled off otherwise the eldest won’t eat ‘leaves’. I have even thrown in some left over pizza toppings on occasion.

· Fold over the side you heated the most to cover the toppings, turn heat to medium.

· Removed spuds from microwave and drain them in a colander, give them a good bashing to make them crumbly at the edges (I am great with cooking speak). Bit more olive oil or some paprika sprinkled over them to give a bit of flavour and stick them into the pre heated oven or under the grill to crisp them up. If you have an airfryer you can throw them in there for five minutes or so.

· When the omelette is cooked serve with your crispy wedges

Chicken stir fry with noodles

· Stick pan on high, add few glugs of olive oil, when hot add a packet of pre sliced chicken breast and season with a bit of black pepper.

· Whisk together 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cup chicken stock, 1 tablespoon corn starch (or more depending on how thick you like the sauce), 1 tablespoon honey (or maple syrup if baby is under one), 2 teaspoon sesame seed oil, 1 teaspoon rice vinegar, 1 tbsp of ground ginger and two gloves of garlic minced

· Once chicken is browned and cooked through add a bag of stir fry veg (again you can get them anywhere so I usually grab them on the way home from work when I know I need a quick dinner). Stir well and leave for two minutes

· Add your sauce and stir

· Add a packet of egg noodles (Tesco fresh ones are lovely for this and thick enough for little hands to pick up). Mix well and cooked for another 3-4 minutes stirring regularly until noodles are hot.

Pasta cheat

· Ring your local Italian restaurant on the way home and ask them for a portion of Bolognese sauce.

· Collect it

· Come home, stick on spaghetti for six minutes

· Dish out spaghetti with Italian restaurant sauce

Waffles, beans and chicken goujons

· Buy chilled breaded chicken goujons, stick them in the oven and cook per instructions

· Dig out waffles from the freezer and stick in the oven with the waffles

· Open a tin of bins and microwave in a bowl

· Serve everything when hot

Go all out

· Get out your phone

· Call your favourite takeaway

· Order your favourite dish and something not totally shit unhealthy for the kids.

· Wait for delivery

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Karen