5 New and Easy Weeknight Meals
I don’t know about anyone else, but every week while at university I find myself picking up the same ingredients to make the same meals every week, and after a few weeks I am stuck in a serious food rut. Maybe it’s because I’m a fussy eater, but I find it so hard to think of interesting meals to make on a student budget that don’t take 5 hours to cook and involve 500 ingredients only found in the aisles of Tesco you’ve never been to before. Recently I’ve been on the hunt for new, easy weeknight dinner recipes, so here are a few I’ve come across, I hope they give you some dinner inspiration!
1.Peanut Butter Chicken
I stole this recipe from a blogger I follow, and it honestly transformed the stir fry I would normally make.
Ingredients: Peanut butter, soy sauce, a chilli, 2 limes, coriander, red onion, noodles, and chicken.
Method: Add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, some soy sauce, the chopped chilli, some coriander and the juice and rind from one of the limes into a blender, or just mash it together with a spoon. Chop up the chicken and put it in a baking dish and cover it with the mixture. Put the chicken in the oven at 180 degrees. Cook the onion and noodles, then mix it with the juice from another lime and more soy sauce. When the chicken is cooked through and you have turned it a few times, add this to the noodles.
You can also add more vegetables in with the onion if you feel like it!
2.Chorizo and Goats Cheese Omelette
Okay, I know this isn’t revolutionary but it involves so little effort and it’s so yummy for a quick lunch or dinner. I won’t go into a recipe for this as it is pretty self-explanatory, but definitely give it a go for a quick and easy meal. You can also amp it up with spinach and peppers to get one of your 5 a day in.
3.Chicken and Leek Pie
This is actually a recipe from the Body Coach, so it’s pretty healthy but gives you all the comforting, homely feels of being at your Gran’s house for Sunday dinner.
Ingredients: 4 chicken breasts, 2 big handfuls of spinach, 250ml of chicken stock, 1 leek, 100ml of cream, 2 tbsp of butter, 1tbsp of cornflour and 6 sheets of filo pastry
Method: Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Heat the butter in a pan with the leeks. Add the chicken until it is nearly cooked and then add the stock. Mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp of water until it’s smooth and then add along with the cream. Cook until the sauce thickens and then add the spinach until it wilts. Put in a pie dish or just a big Pyrex dish, and then crumple the 6 sheets of pastry over the top. Cook for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
This is great for make at the start of the week, and you can freeze it too.
4.Naan Bread Pizza
This is the answer for when you’re craving a Dominoes but have approximately £3.50 in your bank account and a summer bod to perfect by June.
Ingredients: Naan bread, tomato puree, mozzarella, any pizza toppings of your choosing
I won’t go into a method as again, pretty self-explanatory, but this satisfies all your carby cheesy needs without feeling horrendously guilty.
5.Falafel Pitta Bread
I was really not convinced about falafel, but turns out if you pair it with the right stuff it makes for a super yummy and healthy dinner. It’s also pretty easy to make from scratch!
Ingredients: 1 tin of chickpeas, 1 garlic clove, 1 onion, 1 tsp of cumin, 1 beaten egg, lemon juice, halloumi, spinach, pitta bread, tzatziki
Method: Fry the onion and garlic clove. Mash the chickpeas and then mix with the cumin, lemon juice and the egg. Add everything together and then shape into about 14 balls. Put these in the fridge for 30 minutes and then cook until they are golden brown. Grill the halloumi and add the spinach so it wilts. Toast the pitta and fill it with tzatziki followed by all the other ingredients.
I find that one pitta with about 4 falafels in it fills me up!
What are your favourite uni-dinner recipes? Are you going to be trying any of these out?