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Family Recipes That Are Quick, Tasty And Easy On The Pocket

Cooking On A Budget? Try These Cheap, Easy (And Delicious) Family Dinner Recipes
Wholesome Food for Busy Parents

Cooking dinner for the family can be hard.

If you're a working parent, the last thing you want to do after a long day's work is get in the kitchen and drowsily cook a big meal for the family. Or maybe the budget is tight, and all the recipes you see involve lots of expensive ingredients you can only get from speciality shops.

Enter these quick, easy and budget-friendly recipes from Wholesome Food for Busy Parents by Cassandra Fenaughy.

While these meals are budget wise, this doesn't make them any less delicious. They are fresh, healthy and seriously tasty -- and make excellent leftovers for lunch or dinner the following day.

Better yet, these meals require ingredients you probably already have in your fridge and pantry, and you can encourage the kids to get involved and help out, too.

Sliders

On top of looking after the kids, working and squeezing in time for yourself, the idea of going shopping for herbs, breadcrumbs, fancy relishes and three types of cheese is just not realistic.

These burgers are made from simple ingredients that, when you put them together, make tasty and fresh burgers. You could even prep the patties the weekend before and have them all ready to go for dinner during the week.

INGREDIENTS

Beef Pattie:

  • 500g fresh lean beef mince
  • 1 egg
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • ½ small zucchini, grated finely (use a zester grater)
  • 1 heaped tablespoon finely chopped celery leaf or parsley
  • 1 slice of wholemeal bread, chopped finely

Slider Roll and Filling:

  • 6 small slices of cheese
  • 6 wholemeal dinner rolls
  • Handful of baby spinach leaves, washed
  • 6 slices of tomato
  • 1 raw baby beetroot, peeled and grated
  • Good quality tomato sauce or mayonnaise

METHOD

  1. Mix all ingredients for beef patties thoroughly. Using a tablespoon, form 12 balls and flatten into patties between palms of hands. Make six patties for one meal for two adults and two children (the other six can be frozen in an airtight container with greaseproof paper between them for another night, as long as the mince hasn't been frozen previously).
  2. In a non-stick frypan, cook patties over a medium heat until well browned on one side. Flip patties over and place a cheese slice on the cooked side of each to enable it to melt slightly.
  3. Assemble sliders with spinach leaves, tomato, beetroot and beef patties, topping with a good quality tomato sauce or mayonnaise.
  4. Serve with chunky chips.

Easy Cheesy Quiche

Quiche is quick and easy to make, and is a dinner classic the whole family will love.

Try serving this cheesy quiche with a garden salad to amp up the veggie content and bulk it up with bread rolls. You could even substitute the spinach and pumpkin with other vegetables, such as zucchini and carrots. It's a whatever-you-have-in-the-fridge kind of dish so it's perfect for right before your next food shop.

INGREDIENTS

  • 250g packet of chopped frozen spinach (defrosted in the fridge the night before)
  • ½ small onion, finely diced
  • 100g raw pumpkin, grated
  • 5 eggs
  • 80g cheese, grated
  • 80g Danish fetta cheese, crumbled roughly
  • 125ml milk

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan forced and line a pie dish with baking paper.
  2. Snip the corner off the spinach bag and squeeze out excess moisture.
  3. Mix all ingredients, pour into lined pie dish and bake for appriximately one hour or until firm and golden.
  4. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is a seriously underrated dish. Who said pasta has to be served warm, right?

This recipe is enough to feed two hungry kids for a quick and easy meal. For more servings, simply double or quadruple the ingredients to feed a bigger family (or for leftovers for the following day).

INGREDIENTS

  • 90g cooked and cooled wholemeal pasta spirals and shells
  • 1 heaped dessertspoon Greek style yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon corn kernels
  • 1 dessertspoon fresh chopped parsley and/or basil
  • 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • ½ avocado, diced
  • 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice

METHOD

  1. In a medium bowl mix pasta and yoghurt together until pasta is well covered.
  2. Add corn, herbs and tomatoes, and mix through.
  3. In a small bowl mixed diced avocado and lemon juice, add to pasta salad and mix through carefully.

Wholesome Food for Busy Parents by Cassandra Fenaughty (New Holland Publishers) RRP $29.99.

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