It’s far too easy to stick the same old things on the weekly shopping list and whip up the usual family ‘favourites’ week-in-week-out, but if your best efforts are being met with exclamations of ‘not this again, Mum’, read on…

Harpenden-based mum of two Claire, set up her weekly mealplanning business, Delicious & Real to tackle just this. Her tasty, varied dishes are designed to add colour and fun to family mealtimes whilst introducing new flavours and ideas, too.

Subscribers receive online weekly mealplans which can be tailored to suit different tastes and diets (there are literally hundreds of tried and tested recipes to choose from), and easy-to-follow recipes that will turn dinnertime into a doddle, even for the culinarily challenged.

TAGLIATELLE WITH PRAWNS AND RED PESTO

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 400g tagliatelle
• Oil
• 1 red pepper (deseeded and finely sliced)
• 1 large handful of spinach (finely chopped)
• 190g red pesto
• 250g cooked prawns
• Black pepper
• 50g Pine nuts (lightly toasted in a dry pan)
• 25g parmesan (grated)

Method

Put a pan of salted water on to boil; add the tagliatelle according to the packet’s instructions.  Drain, reserving a small ladle full of cooking water, and set aside. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the peppers until softened (about 10 minutes) – the longer and slower they cook, the sweeter they are. Add the pesto, spinach and cooked prawns to the pan – gently heat through. Add a good grinding of black pepper. Add the cooked pasta – toss to combine. Serve topped with the pine nuts and parmesan.

KALE AND ORZO STEW

Serves 4

Ingredients

• Oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 4 spring onions (trimmed and finely sliced)
• Salt
• 1.litre hot vegetable stock
• 100g orzo pasta
• 200g frozen peas
• 400g kale (shredded)
• Pepper
• 1 tbsp lemon
• 25g parmesan (grated)

Method

Heat the oil in a large, lidded pan. Add the onion and spring onions with a pinch of salt; cook gently (eight minutes). Add the stock; cover and bring to the boil. Add the orzo; re-cover and simmer for eight minutes. Add the peas and kale, season; simmer for another four minutes (lid on). Remove the lid; stir through the lemon and parmesan before serving.

HONEY GLAZED HALLOUMI FLATBREADS

Serves 4

For this recipe, I wanted these flatbreads to be ‘wrappable,‘ so I used plain flour. For a thicker bread, which is more naan-like, use self-raising flour and ½ tsp of baking powder. Then, instead of rolling them out, use the heel of your hand to press them until they are about 2-3mm thick.

Ingredients

• 150g plain flour (and some extra for dusting)
• 150g Greek yogurt (or a non-flavoured alternative)
• Pinch of salt
• 225g pack of halloumi (drained and cut into 1-2cm thick slices)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1-2 tbsp honey
• 4 tbsp hummus
• Handful spinach leaves

Method

Put the flour, yogurt and salt in a large bowl; mix together with a spoon. Once the ingredients have started to come together use your hands and start to form a ball. Put onto floured surface and kneed for a couple of minutes. Separate the dough into four balls and roll each one out. Heat an oiled frying pan; when hot, cook the breads for two minutes on each side (once I have cooked each one, I pop them in the oven on low to keep them warm).

Meanwhile, heat a dry frying pan. Pat dry the halloumi slices with a piece of kitchen roll and then brush a little oil on each side. In the hot pan, sear the cheese slices on both sides until they develop a brown ‘crust’ – this takes about one minute. Once the halloumi has been cooked, drizzle over the honey and allow to sizzle for another minute.

To assemble, lay a flatbread on each plate, top with some spinach leaves, a couple of spoonfuls of hummus and finally a couple of the halloumi slices.

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