Beef up your meat meals

Like many families, meal times for us involve walking the tight rope between what we know we should eat, what the kids won't fight us on and what we are conditioned to like such as meat (mainly 'cos it tastes good!).

Here I'm going to share a few of the tips we have learned to beef up our meals nutritionally and to make them more economical ... and, here's the clincher, without the kids even noticing!

Basically, what we do is sneak in more veg and lentils into almost every stew, soup and casserole that we make.  The trick is in the sneaking ...

Now, both my little hair shirts would turn their adorable little noses up at some if not all of these in their ordinary state

 

Here, a grater is your best friend ... very fine chopping also does the trick

 Viola - a big pan full of veg even before any meat is added there is a significant proportion of our meal already comprised of healthy food ... (the larger sticks are broccoli stalks and we all like them so no need for disguise!)

 

 

For lentils - the trick is to select the right lentils.  Split red lentils, while being very good for you, almost disappear in the sauce of any dish.  Soak them first (half an hour will do) and then rinse before adding.  You may need to consider a little more moisture as the lentils will absorb a little of the sauce from your dish.

 

Now it can just happily simmer, as you can see the lentils and veg have almost vanished from sight already (but all of their goodness remains) and the meal has stretched a whole lot further in its value both economically and for us!