3 quick and easy dinners to please the family

From getting the kids to and from football practice to packing school lunches, to holding down your day job, serving up a nutritious, hearty family meal every night can be nothing short of a challenge.

Beat the weeknight strain with these fast family recipes – they’re enough to please even the fussiest of eaters.

1. Lamb & Quinoa Burgers with Beetroot Tzatziki and French Fries

Dish up these mouth-watering lamb and quinoa burgers with a juicy and colourful beetroot slaw for a no-nonsense midweek family meal that has two of your five-a-day. Even better, you can serve it up in 30 minutes flat. No time to make the fries? I like to use McCain crispy French fries as they take less than 15 minutes in the oven and are super crispy and delicious.

INGREDIENTS

Burgers

· 50g quinoa

· 300g (3 or 4) cooked, vacuum-packed beetroot

· 250g natural yogurt

· small bunch mint, chopped

· 500g lamb mince

· small bunch dill, chopped

· ½ tbsp oil, for cooking (optional)

· 2 large carrots, peeled and grated

· 1 large or 2 small red onions, halved and finely sliced

· pitta bread, wraps or burger buns to serve

French fries

· 1 tbsp vegetable oil

· 2 tsp fine cornmeal

· ½ tsp paprika

· ¼ tsp garlic powder

· 2 large potatoes, cut into 1cm-thick chips

METHOD

· Preheat oven to 200°C. Tip the oil onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for three minutes. Stir the cornmeal, paprika and garlic powder together and add a little salt and pepper.

· Coat the chips in the batter, then lay them out on the tray. Shake well, then bake until crisp and golden, shaking midway through.

· Meanwhile, cook the quinoa in lots of boiling water until soft (it doesn’t matter if it still has a little bite). Drain well and put to one side.

· Grate the beetroot and combine with the yogurt, half the mint and a little seasoning. Refrigerate until ready to dish up.

· Using your hands, knead together the cooked quinoa, the lamb, the rest of the mint, half the dill and a little more salt and pepper. Mould into four burger patties.

· Using a pan, warm up a large frying pan with a splash of oil (if you’re using a non-stick one, don’t worry about adding any oil, as the lamb mince is already fatty).

· Fry the burgers on each side until they have a golden crust and are thoroughly cooked through. Set to one side and leave to rest for a couple of minutes.

· In a bowl, stir together the carrots, onions and the rest of the dill. Warm the wraps or buns, then spoon in the carrot mix. Top with the lamb patties and add a dollop of the beetroot tzatziki

2. Toad-in-the-hole

This all-time British classic makes a knockout meal for the whole family. With a blend of earthy sage and lots of vegetables, including yellow peppers, peas and tomatoes, this colourful meal is the ultimate comfort food.

INGREDIENTS

· 100g plain flour

· 2 free-range eggs, beaten

· 150ml skimmed milk

· 1 tbsp chopped sage leaves

· 2 red onions, cut into 8 wedges each

· 1 large yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into 8 slices

· 1 tbsp olive oil

· 8 sausages

· 8 cherry tomatoes

· 75g fresh or frozen peas, defrosted

· 220g pack tenderstem broccoli

· 1 chicken gravy pot

METHOD

· Preheat the oven to 220°C. Tip the flour in a bowl, season, and gently beat in the eggs and milk so you have a velvety mixture. Combine the sage and put to one side.

· Pour the onions and pepper into a 22 x 28cm ovenproof baking dish and coat with the oil. Cook for 10 mins, then tip in the sausages, tomatoes and peas, roasting for another 10 mins. Take out of the oven, drizzle over the batter and cook until puffed and golden.

· Next, steam the broccoli until softened. Using a pan, make the gravy using the pot and 220ml cold water. Bring to the boil, stirring continually. Simmer for roughly one minute. Dish up the toad-in-the-hole with the broccoli and gravy.

3. Chicken, Sweet Potato and Pea Curry

Nutritious and delicious in equal measure, this family-friendly chicken curry is bursting with flavour and is great served with either rice or roti. With its delicious korma tang, it’s perfect for introducing kids to the world of curry.

INGREDIENTS

· 1 tbsp rapeseed oil

· 1 tbsp korma paste

· 2 skinless chicken breast fillets, each cut into 8-10 pieces

· 320g sweet potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces

· 6 tbsp red lentils

· 325ml can light coconut milk (freeze the rest for later)

· 200g frozen peas

· 220g cherry tomatoes

· 300g cooked rice or roti, to serve

METHOD

· Warm up the oil in a deep-frying pan or wok, add the curry paste and cook until it becomes aromatic. Combine the chicken, then tip in the sweet potatoes and lentils, continually stirring until everything is covered in the paste.

· Pour in 300ml water and the coconut milk. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the chicken and sweet potato are cooked thoroughly and the sauce has thickened a little.

· Add the peas, turn up the heat and return to the boil, simmering for another minute or so. Finally, tip in the tomatoes and cook until tender. Serve with steamed rice, or roti.

From lip-smacking curries to the quintessentially British toad-in-the-hole, the above delicious dishes are sure to satisfy even the pickiest of palates and will no doubt have them asking for seconds!

*This is a collaborative post*