Whether you are dining alone or have an army to feed we are all faced daily with the question “What’s for dinner??”!! There is so much importance placed on meal-times; breakfast with its ability to kick start the day and lunch as an opportunity to take a break to re-fuel and focus the mind. So what about dinner?? Dinner is equally important as it has a number of essential functions.
Dinner for the majority of us is the last meal of the day and therefore it is so important that we make good healthy choices as it is possibly 10 hours before we eat again. We need to ensure that our bodies have a steady supply of glucose to use as fuel for the essential processes that take place while we are asleep. The most common cause for insomnia or broken sleep is when our blood sugar level is low, this then leads to the body releasing stored glucose causing us to wake and leaving it hard to fall back to sleep (it’s just like why no one in their right mind would give kids anything sugary close to bedtime, they get completely wired)!! To counteract this happening it is essential to eat a good dinner that combines both protein and carbohydrates which ensure a steady release of glucose into the bloodstream, leading to more peaceful sleep pattern.
Not only do we need to eat to help balance blood sugars we must also ‘feed the mind’.
It is essential for our mental well being to eat correctly to get the right amino acids, a major part of the building blocks of our body. Amino acids work as neuro transmitters in our nervous system and are critical in promoting well being and mood. Take serotonin for example, we achieve this mood enhancing chemical through the body breaking down foods which contain the amino acid ‘tryptophan’. Good sources of tryptophan include chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon, nuts, seeds i.e. PROTEIN. It’s important to remember that tryptophan is carried to the brain via carbohydrate so that’s another good reason to combine protein and carbs for dinner! Deficiency in serotonin is associated with not only sleep problems but also mood disturbance and aggressive and compulsive behaviours. We all need our happy chemical!!
When you work full time and are responsible for cooking for a family, meal times can become yet another added pressure to our daily lives. I used to get a bit stressed
over wondering what to cook when I got in from work and it used to ‘eat’ up a lot of my evening between the prepping, the cooking, the dining and the wash up. This is all before I started planning my weekly meals as I write my shopping list. Life has gotten that wee bit simpler. Saturday mornings see my kitchen filled with a mix of aromas as I prep, cook and freeze my week ahead family dinners. Yes it’s a busy couple of hours and the kitchen can be up in a heap but the pressure it takes off the rest of the week is phenomenal!
Every household is different as to what kind of evening meals are preferred but I try to make a lot of ‘One Pot Wonders’ simply because you can load them up with lots of nutritious ingredients without the kids being any the wiser!! Your dinners should focus on a few key ingredients but the one to take centre stage should be your protein. With this add your veggies and indeed your wholegrains. The key with carbs is without doubt portion control and ensuring they are healthy carbs. Healthy carbs like wholegrain rice, quinoa, barley etc provide long lasting energy giving you that fuller for longer feeling which helps prevent the want for a sneaky midnight snack!
A few of my favourite recipes to freeze have to be Homemade Turkey Meatballs with Italian Tomato Sauce, Healthy Shepherds Pie (using extra lean lamb mince and lentils topped with Sweet Potato Mash), Chunky Chicken and Veg Curry which I serve with cauliflower ‘rice’ and on the top of my list is Spanish Chicken Stew!
Spanish Chicken Stew is one of the easiest and healthiest meals to rustle up and is almost always on my menu winter and summer!! There are many different recipes available, I just pretty much throw a heap of ingredients together and let it slowly simmer away while I get cracking on prepping the next meal. I heat a little rapeseed oil in a deep pan and fry off sliced chorizo sausage with sliced onion until lightly browned. I then add 3-4 sliced up chicken breasts and a sliced red pepper, about 2 tsp of smoked paprika a ½ tsp of cumin and a good pinch of chilli powder and stir until all chicken is coated in the spices. Pour over one to two cans of chopped tomatoes, a can of mixed beans, a small can of chickpeas and a handful of pitted olives. I let it simmer away for about 20 mins and then take it off the heat and add a bag of baby spinach and mix it through, season with salt and pepper and hey presto, dinner is served! You could either serve this with a small portion wholegrain rice or pasta but I prefer a small wholewheat pita to mop up the flavoursome juices!
All these dishes freeze really well and are so handy to defrost in the fridge for busy weekday evenings without ever contemplating a quick fix takeaway!! So stock up on the Tupperware, make your lists and prep….there really are no excuses not to eat healthily!!
Until next time,
Louise
