All in Mains

Easy Chickpea flatbread - Socca

Easy Chickpea flatbread - Socca

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

This is hand on heart the easiest flatbread you can make and it’s naturally gluten-free! Socca is a traditional French dish from Nice where I partly grew up. It was probably my favourite street food. Cooked on very hot grills, they were usually served in a cone of brown paper with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt and pepper, maybe thyme or rosemary. It it was one of those South of France classic for which everyone has their own technique for cooking, but the ingredients however are pretty much always the same: equal parts chickpea flour and water, add olive oil, that’s it. That simple!

carrot, lentil & black bean chilli

carrot, lentil & black bean chilli

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

This recipe came about at the beginning of the 2020 lockdown when suddenly I had a massive surplus of carrots. I needed to get inventive as the family were getting bored of steamed carrots! My husband loved this and it instantly became a great way of using up a carrot surplus! If you don’t have the parsnip or sweet potato, just add more carrots!

mild curried vegetarian chickpeas

mild curried vegetarian chickpeas

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

I came up with this recipe during Lockdown. My daughter was getting fed up with the amount of meat her brothers were demanding at mealtimes and was begging for some vegetarian meals. Although the title states curried, this is a very mild flavour as my daughter doesn’t like super heat - she’s more of a masala girl! It’s super quick to make and so can easily be rustled up alongside other meals. You can eat this on its own, or add some brown rice for a slightly more substantial meal.

Easy French moules marinieres

Easy French moules marinieres

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

Mussels are usually something I don’t prepare at home. I tend to have them as a foodie treat when I go back home to France. But as I write, we are in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restaurant trade has collapsed. So local fishmongers normally selling to pubs and restaurant are selling direct and have an amazing selection of seafood, including mussels. Please don’t be scared by them as they are the easiest to prepare. I hope you have a go!

turkey and coriander meatballs

turkey and coriander meatballs

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

Turkey is an underused meat, but I think it should feature more on our plates. We all need to increase the diversity in our diets and adding not just different vegetables, but also different meats goes a long way to help this. You could serve these with a simple tomato sauce with some brown rice and green vegetables or include in a wrap with some salad. Using thigh meat will make them more succulent. They can be eaten hot or cold.

family friendly salmon and coconut curry

family friendly salmon and coconut curry

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients for the curry paste - this makes double the amount needed for this recipe and you can store the leftovers in the fridge or freezer for a super speedy curry next time. I used green beans from the freezer. I have started buying these so I can easily add some green to meals without shipping from miles away during the winter months. For a low carb meal serve this curry on its own. Or else serve with a small amount of brown or wild rice. If serving with rice then you will probably have leftovers of the salmon curry.

vegetarian chickpea and pepper stew

vegetarian chickpea and pepper stew

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

We always talk about eating the rainbow - incorporating lots of different colour foods, especially vegetables, in your diet. The benefits of each colour is to provide your body with different phytonutrients. This pepper stew includes red, yellow and green peppers. So many people just reach for their favourite pepper each week so we decided to celebrate all the colours with this stew. We also added both a red and yellow chilli to again increase diversity.

Butternut and black bean spicy one-pot

Butternut and black bean spicy one-pot

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

This recipe is for all of you out there who like a simple tasty one pot that keeps on giving! We all need those one-pot recipes in our busy lives. Simple, yet delicious heart warming, ideal to prep in advance and…packed full of vegetables, plant based protein, fibres and all round goodness. Leave the chorizo out for a vegetarian option. Delicious served with a warm corn tortilla wrap, mashed avocado and soured cream.

buckwheat and mushroom risotto

buckwheat and mushroom risotto

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

During the winter months we need warming comfort food and a risotto is perfect. This is lighter than a traditional risotto and uses buckwheat groats rather than a risotto rice. Buckwheat is a seed that is related to rhubarb and is naturally gluten free. See the tip below for the health benefits of buckwheat. This risotto is made with mushrooms. In the photo I have used chestnut, but use any kind you can find - a packet of mixed wild mushrooms if you can find would be perfect.

Slow cooked venison winter stew

Slow cooked venison winter stew

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

Nothing beats a stew when the shorter darker cooler days arrive. It is not only delicious, warming and comforting, it is also so simple and a real time saver. I chose venison from our local farm and butcher for this recipe. Being wild and grass fed, venison is much leaner than beef, and contains less saturated fat. Diced venison from your local butcher is also very affordable. We have used a slow cooker to cook this dish, which means that you can prepare it all in the morning and then get on with the day coming home to a perfectly cooked meal. For a conventional oven place in a low oven for 4 hours until the meat is tender.

Savoury tomato & herbs crumble

Savoury tomato & herbs crumble

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

If you have never tried a savoury crumble, now is the time with this recipe! This is a fun, really quick and easy vegetarian meal you can put together in the evening for kids. It can be used as a side or as a main dish. Add Oregano as you herb of choice and it will taste like a pizza! Add olives and Herbes de Provence and you’ll find yourself in sunny South of France. I’ve had massive thumbs up and great success with kids with this recipe and you could turn it into a pick and mix where kids make their own veggie choices and share the crumble topping in individual dishes!

Olive, feta and red pepper bake- "cake aux olives"

Olive, feta and red pepper bake- "cake aux olives"

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

This is hand on heart the easiest most delicious bake you could ever make ahead and keep for a healthy and balanced lunch.
Growing up, in France, I probably had something like this once a week! The flavour combinations are endless, vegetarian or not, you can go with the flow of seasonal veggies, add spices and even play around with flours. What’s not to like? My favourite is olive with anything.

spiced green healthy falafel

spiced green healthy falafel

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

Deliciously spiced, easy to make and very green these falafel are sure to be a hit. Falafel are traditionally deep fried, but we have baked them with just a brush of olive oil to make them healthier. We have spiced them using a Zhoug paste from Belazu that is seasoned with coriander and jalapeño. It’s easily available from supermarkets.

spicy aubergine pasta

spicy aubergine pasta

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

Enjoying and embracing a balanced healthy diet means there is a place for everything and that’s exactly why a good pasta recipe or two is essential for those weekends when comfort food and family crowd pleasers are required. The base for this is vegetarian and full of gorgeous mediterranean vegetables and flavours and so a little chopped chorizo works wonders added to it.

roast tomatoes with chorizo and red rice

roast tomatoes with chorizo and red rice

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

This dish uses camargue red rice, which has some great health benefits and is even more nutritious than brown rice (see tip below). We have added choirzo to this dish as it goes so well, however to make this dish vegetarian simply leave it out - it will still be delicious. Look out for nitrate/nitrite free chorizo in your supermarket. This is a great dish for using up a glut of tomatoes or turning large and sometimes rather tasteless supermarket tomatoes into something delicious.

ginger prawns with coconut black rice

ginger prawns with coconut black rice

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

So incredibly easy to throw together, this bowl is such a quick, simple and delicious dinner for 2 or a crowd pleaser for a dinner party. Packed full of bright, colourful, zingy and nutty flavours, since making it for the first time I have come back to it serving it cold as a starter or warm as a main, perfect for a Friday night with friends. Despite being quite simple to prepare it wows every time with its exotic asian flavours. I have made it with prawns here but panfried salmon works brilliantly too.

Butternut squash chunky oven fries

Butternut squash chunky oven fries

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

One of our aims at The Health Boost is to help families with everyday simple tricks to eat more healthily, and adding more vegetables and fibre in our modern diet is up there as a priority. So what if I told you that you could tell the kids that there’s chunky chips on the menu today but still get an extra portion veg in the process? Here comes the butternut squash chunky oven fries, made tasty with the help of a little oat flour, parmesan and rosemary! To make these dairy free replace the parmesan with nutritional yeast.

easy sweet potato rosti

easy sweet potato rosti

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

These are so tasty that even my husband who has decided he doesn’t like sweet potatoes loves them! And for him to go back for seconds on a veggie dish is high praise indeed! They could be served for breakfast with a poached egg on top or alongside a green salad for lunch. For most people 3-4 rosti would be enough for lunch – although my husband did eat 6 the first time I cooked these for him!!

chickpea, aubergine and courgette easy curry

chickpea, aubergine and courgette easy curry

Val Simpson
Recipes, Mains

This is NOT just another vegetarian curry option. It is one of those really satisfyingly easy dish to pull together for a mid week meal or a Friday night with friends. Packed full of flavours, purple and green vegetables, good amounts of protein and fibre. What’s not to like? I have previously served it as a main or side dish, with brown rice or quinoa or simply flatbreads. Chicken or lamb are the perfect meat to accompany.

chicken and spinach tikka masala

chicken and spinach tikka masala

Kat Bright
Recipes, Mains

We all love a curry in our house and Saturday nights have become a curry night ritual. Pleasing different palates is not always easy - some like a hot curry and others not so much. However this tikka masala seems to please everyone! I know it’s not traditional to add spinach to a tikka masala, but i like to add another vegetable whenever I can! I use 6 chicken breasts to feed my brood of 5 as my two teenagers are permanently hungry. However, unless you too have growing teenagers then adjust portions by using 1 chicken breast per person.

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