The other day whilst having my hair done with my lovely hairdresser we discussed her upcoming nuptials. A beautiful woman, just as she is, she told me how her and her husband to be were going to start eating healthy this week. So refreshing to hear someone say ‘eat healthy’ instead of the word diet! They were stuck, however, as at the end of the day they couldn’t be bothered with a salad or vegies to go with their meat and potatoes. She felt it was too much work. So together we chatted about how it could be made easier to get something on the plate, without it seeming too hard.

One of the things I like about being in a community- a group comprising of friends, family, school mums, work colleagues, is food is always a topic of interest. ‘What’s for dinner’, ‘My child won’t eat what I give them’, ‘I hate cooking’ and so on. I haven’t got the answers, but as with my hairdresser a conversation can help people come up with their own ideas. The sharing of ideas and experiences of food is such an exciting thing, especially if you are lucky enough to have so many cultures in your community.

So here are some hints that have come from talking and sharing, to get salad or vegies on your plate at the end of the day when it is all too hard;

•  Cut up some carrot and celery sticks and place them in an airtight container. You can snack on these, take them to work/school, serve them up with dip, or have them with your dinner. If you like cucumber or capsicum I don’t recommend cutting them up in advance as they don’t last already cut, cut them as you want them
• When you get home with your bag of lettuce leave (mixed lettuce, spinach, rocket, whatever you get at the shops) separate it into freezer bags and put them in the fridge. When you’re ready for salad with a meal dress the leaves in the bag, tip the bag out and there’s your salad. You can do that while your meat and potatoes are cooking! As you get more organised and motivated you can add some cherry tomatoes, cucumber or avocado to the salad
• If you’re making a bolognaise add your mushrooms, zucchini, celery and carrot to the sauce. Blitz the vegies to mush in the food processor or thermomix and add to the mince. My kids love their vegies but I do this anyway
• Have a stir fry. This doesn’t help if one of you likes meat and potatoes but you can empty a whole packet of stir fry vegies in to a wok and be done with dinner in 5 minutes
• Frozen peas and corn. Yes, nothing is better than fresh, but unless you have time up your sleeve to shell peas and only want them one time a year then go frozen. Once cooked smother them in butter, and season with salt and pepper
• Make an avocado guacamole with lots of lemon. This will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days. It’s green and tasty and healthy and can go with your meat and potatoes, over the lettuce leaves you’ve previously portioned or be eaten as a snack with the vegie sticks you’ve cut and prepared earlier
• Make your dressing in advance. Below is the recipe for just a simple lemon dressing. Unless I’m having a dinner party then I don’t tend to make the dressing in advance but if you’re struggling to be motivated to make a salad and find time then this is handy. You can add a teaspoon of mustard, a clove of bruised garlic or herbs but simple is best to start with

I hope you’re loving these easy food ideas

LEMON SALAD DRESSING

Juice of 2 lemons

1Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1tsp salt (or to taste)

3Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place all the ingredients in a jar and shake. 

Put in to the fridge until ready to use

Shake well before use

A salad out of coriander, spring onion, tomato and celery. I prioritised having coffee instead of doing the shopping so come dinner time I made a salad out of what was left in the fridge