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Healthy Pasta Sauce – Carrot, courgetti and tomato

This is one that we use all the time if you need to get a lunch or dinner together in no time. Usually we just grate a carrot into in as it gives a lovely flavor and texture, plus loads of vitamins. We only made one meal for the twins so there was sauce left to keep for another day.

Ingredients:

1 grated carrot gratedCoconut oil (any oil you prefer)
1 small or half a medium onion finely choppedDried mixed herbs or oregano (Fresh is fine too!)
1 small or half medium courgetti gratedTomato paste
1 can of chopped tomatoesWe use a little Maple syrup to balance tomato
Garlic optional (We didn’t use it, but you totally can)Balsamic vinegar
Any Pasta, I cut the shells in half once they were cookedButter
Mild cheddar cheese grated (15g/ child portion)Chilli flakes

Basically, you just cook it all in one pan, starting with the veg that take the longest. First, we fry off the onion until it browns or goes translucent (it shouldn’t be completely cooked, add the carrot and a small nob of butter fry it for 1-2 minutes till lightens in colour. Then add your courgette and fry all till the water from the courgetti has evaporated, put in a pinch of your chosen herbs, I wanted it to brown but it was taking too long so I moved on. If anything gets stuck to the pan deglazed with some balsamic vinegar, just give it 30 seconds or a minute to evaporate.

Add the can of chopped tomatoes, you can use passata if that is all you have. If you only have plum just chop them up and throw in all the juice from the can. I rinsed the can with some of the pasta water, about half a can. Let the sauce simmer and reduce for 3-5 minutes add the tomato paste and Maple syrup, you can use a ½ teaspoon of any sugar you have. At this point you can remove some for the babies and add chilli flakes for the adult portion.

Stir the sauce through the cooked pasta and add cheese once it is removed from the heat. I added another splash of pasta water, as you would normally when making pasta. I good amount of sauce was left that we will use either for another meal for the children or for a lunch for us.

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Packed Baked Beans

Named such because they are much more interesting than the version from a can but also packed with nutrients. This one is straight forward; it’s one of my ‘throw it all in a pot’ and simmer ones. Ill break it down a bit, but at its care that is all it is. Double the recipe if you want to freeze some, as I guarantee you will want some for your lunch and I found that one tin wasn’t enough.

Ingredients:

Tin of haricot beans2 tsp Tomato paste
Baby spinach finely cut (½ hand fulls)1 Tbsp BBQ sauce
Small onion finely dicedPepper, salt to taste
¼ punnet of mushroom1 teaspoon paprika
300ml water, this is not exact, judge how much you needPinch of thyme
Grated cheese and yogurt 

Method:

Fry off the onion in a bit of oil, once brown and soft add a small nob of unsalted butter and add the mushrooms. Once they are cooked add the beans, spices, herbs, water and spinach. The beans are sometimes a bit hard straight from the can, I checked mine and decided how much water I’d need.

This is wahat it looks like once you have added the herbs, spices, spinach and water.

Now add the tomato paste and BBQ sauce and simmer, I had to add a little more water and reduce for 10 minutes on a simmer. You are looking for the consistency in the image below if it is still a bit watery reduce more. I mashed the beans slightly and then added cheese and yogurt for the children.

For my lunch I topped a bag of rice & quinoa with cheese and the beans with a dollop of yogurt. Very delicious!!! Just waiting for the energy boost. If you have coriander you can top it with some or some avocado on the side. Put your own spin on it.

Childrens meal