3 super quick and healthy recipes every new mum needs (or really every mum)
- Main meals, Mama Health, Postpartum Health, Uncategorized
Before having our baby we’re given fair warning about the sleepless nights, the need for a good baby carrier and a steady stream of caffeine.
What people don’t talk about is how you will literally have no motivation and energy to get in the kitchen to cook a healthy meal.
You’d rather be snuggling your baby. Or having a shower.
After having a very sick pregnancy I thought I’d be over the moon to get back into healthy eating, until I realised that my version of healthy eating pre-kids was time consuming and honestly, not that appealing. I was a breastfeeding Mum that wanted carbs not just kale, so my old approach to eating wasn’t going to cut it.
As a Nutritionist I knew what I should be eating, it was the how-to-make-it-happen that I was struggling with.
By the time my baby was a couple months old, my energy levels continued to plummet and I started to feel burnt out and run down. I knew I needed to find a way to get healthy food into my body so I didn’t fall in a heap.
I googled and Pinterest-ed, scouring the web for healthy recipes that were quick and simple but most were basically held together by cheese (which I was avoiding). And the healthy options were way too time consuming or complicated for this tired mama.
So I started trialling every shortcut I could to make meals quicker but still be healthy and taste good. And it was life changing.
Focusing on making all my healthy meals quick and easy helped me re-claim my health after pregnancy and support my recovery postpartum because I could actually do it. This made the healthy option, the easy option!
This is the best approach new mothers can take towards healthy eating – making it enjoyable, balanced, quick and easy so we can (and want to) do it consistently.
These are 3 of my favourite dinner recipes that are a lifesaver on those hard afternoons when you can’t be bothered even thinking about dinner let alone cooking.
They’re healthy, delicious, take less than 10minutes hands on time and easy enough to make in a sleep deprived state. Enjoy!
Dairy and Gluten Free Broccoli Tuna Pasta Bake (no boil)
A pasta bake that takes 5 minutes to prep -No need to pre boil the pasta! Dairy and gluten free, full of veggies and protein, this is a weeknight winner.
Servings: 4 serves
Ingredients
- 1 Large Head of Brocolli
- 1 Cup Frozen Green Peas
- 2 Heaped Cups dry gf pasta penne or spiral
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup broth or stock
- 1 cup canned coconut milk
- 1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
- 1 large (420g) can spring water tuna
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C and lightly grease a baking dish/casserole dish.
- Pour in pasta, stock, coconut milk and garlic powder and nutritional yeast, give a good stir.
- Chop broccoli into small pieces and place on top of pasta with peas, covering it.
- Cover will al foil and place in the oven for 15minutes.
- Take out of oven, uncover and give it a good stir. You can add extra nutritional yeast on top if you wish.
- Return to oven uncovered for 10minutes. Stick a fork in the pasta to make sure its cooked through (return to oven for 5 minutes if it needs extra).
- Let it sit for a few minutes before serving - It will thicken up as it cools.
Oven Baked Chicken and Creamy Rice
5 minutes prep, the creamiest rice you've ever tasted with flavour filled chicken. Serve it up with some greens and you've got the easiest and yummiest dinner sorted!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup of water
- 400 ml can coconut milk
- 3/4 cup white rice
- 1/4 tsp Paprika
- 2 tsp Garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 4 Chicken Breasts
- Coriander or parsley to garnish optional
Chicken Spice Rub
- 1/2 tsp ground paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C and lightly grease a baking dish
- Add rice, coconut milk, water, 1/4 tsp paprika and 2 tsp garlic powder to baking dish, stirring well to combine.
- Lightly coat chicken with olive oil and rub with 1/2 tsp each of paprika, garlic and 1 tsp of cumin.
- Place chicken on top of rice, cover dish with foil and bake for 45minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5-10 if it looks really liquidy. Remove from oven and let stand for 5minutes then stir the rice before serving.
10 Minute Asian Rice Noodles (Vegetarian)
A super quick, delicious and fresh dinner that the whole family will love. Gluten and Dairy Free
Ingredients
- 1 Pack thin rice noodles vermicelli
- 1 large red capsicum
- 1/2 bunch kale
- 1 onion
- 1/4 cup fresh coriander
- 2 loves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 4 Eggs or more to your liking
Dressing
- 1/4 cup tamari GF soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 2 TBS Sesame Oil
- 1 TBS Olive Oil
- 1 TBS Honey
- 2 TBS water
- 2 Limes juied
To Serve
- 2 TBS Sesame Seeds
- Fresh Coriander
- Avocado
- Lime
Instructions
- Finely chop/die all veggies, heat olive oil in a large fry pan and add ginger, garlic and all veggies
- Meanwhile add rice noodles to a bowl of boiling water for a couple minutes until they're softened
- Push veggies to side of pan and in the other side scramble the eggs, then mix through veggies.
- Add noodles to pan with the dressing ingredients and combine everything together well
- Stir for a couple minutes then serve up and top with sesame seeds, coriander, extra squeeze of lime and avocado.
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