One of my mates once asked me if I could take a pill and not be hungry, receive all the nutrients of a full meal and not have the desire to eat would I take it instead of eating a meal?
Hands down, yes. I find eating quite inconvenient. I really do wish I was Edward from Twilight, not ever needing to eat or sleep. Twinkling in the sunlight would be an added bonus.
I love sitting down to slow meals with friends on the weekends but on a Wednesday night when I’m bashing through a crochet design or trying to meet a writing deadline, having to plan, cook, eat and clean up after a meal takes about an hour every night and that’s the easy meals. I enjoy food and I enjoy cooking but if I didn’t have to do it on weeknights, that would be so ace.
This winter I’ve been getting in to roasting super hard because it’s SO EASY. You just whack on the oven and you’re good to go. Here’s a meal that’s been getting a bit of a work out around these parts on crazy weeknights when I just don’t give a crap what I eat, I just need it to be quick, easy, healthy and preferably able to be eaten with one hand.
Roast Veggies With Beef
Ingredients
- 400 g thinly sliced roast beef
- 1 large carrot
- 2 medium-sized fresh beetroots
- 500 g sweet potato
- ½ cauliflower
- 1 bunch Dutch carrots
- 3 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
- 3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
- Salt, to taste
- 1 cup white quinoa
- ½ cup hummus, to serve (optional)
- ½ cup tzatziki, to serve (optional)
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 200C. Chop veggies into similar-sized pieces and place on a baking tray spray with olive oil. Sprinkle veggies with salt, rosemary and thyme and cook for about 30 minutes or until they’re done to your liking.
- Rinse quinoa and drain. Add quinoa to a medium size saucepan with 2 cups (500ml) water and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid, reduce to a simmer and allow quinoa to absorb water for about 20 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Divide quinoa between two plates and top with beef and roast vegetables. Add hummus and tzatziki (if you fancy it!) to taste.
Tips
This meal can be served hot for dinner and keeps beautifully overnight to be served chilled for lunch. This will keep in the fridge for at least a few days so it’s ideal for lunches. You can roast your own beef or just grab some slices from the deli – depending on how much time you have.
One of my favourite things in the world is dinners that keep for lunches the next day. The least amount of food prep possible is my main goal in life.
What’s your most favourite easy winter dinner?
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6 Comments
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I’m big on roasting at the moment too. Lunch is always a problem for me. I’ll make my daughter a peanut butter sandwich and it ends up being a bread binge for me. So now I roast a huge tray of mixed veg, stir in some chickpeas or lentils and spinach at the end and eat that all week for lunch with a tiny bit of feta on top. 🙂
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Author
I think that’s the hard part for parents – having kid food around constantly! Mr Smaggle is allergic to gluten so we don’t even have bread in the house which is good because I love buttery toast and I’d just eat it way too often!
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Oh I am down for anything easy on a weeknight!!! I am with you – I love love love the slower experience of food when I have the time but mid week, with all the craziness? No thanks! A pill would suit me fine! I am thinking seriously about getting back into using my slow cooker – I think I need to go on a big recipe hunt x
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Yes! Me too! Slow cooker food is always so stodgy though, full of potatoes. Need to find healthy stew style recipes with lots of veggies!
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I’ve also been roasting it up, but I also do that in summer. Ha! Love a roasted veggie. One of my favourites is crumbed eggplant and roasted veggies. Does take more prep though. Or in winter I get into making big batches of soup or boeuf bourguignon (or any casserole) on the weekend and then freeze them into one serve containers for reheating on nights I don’t want to cook or to take as a lunch to work.
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Same – I love roast veggie salads cold in summer. I generally cook a big dinner a few nights a week and have left overs for lunch the next day. I also work from home and I have a supermarket right across the road so I don’t have to plan too much stuff.
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