LUNCHES

In honour of our super saver monthly series where we are looking at SAVING ON SPENDING and SAVING ON TIME – ALL THE WHILE making sure that what we are feeding our families is nutritious, delicious and locally and seasonally available, we are putting together a combo of lunches that are based on what menus and meals we have put together recipe wise that are all under the JANUARY banner and working with leftovers and whatever else we have in the store cupboards, what can we get going for lunches that will tick everyone’s boxes?

LET’S GO:

CHICKEN EGG FRIED RICE

This couldn’t be easier to make with leftover chicken, rice, veg etc – Day old rice always works best as it seems to hold the flavour better but no worries if not you can still spend the whole 10 mins making a fresh batch.

TIP: Cook your rice in chicken broth to really get some gut healthy benefits and added flavour!

This recipe calls for:

  • Shredded chicken
  • A cup of rice
  • 3 eggs
  • Peas and corn
  • 1 chopped spring onion
  • Sea salt to season
  • 1tbsp Soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil and garlic powder to season

All you need to do is start off by cooking up your chicken and veg for a minute or 2 in a tbsp of butter- Just warm it through. Then add your rice. Move to the side and add your eggs. You can crack them straight into the pan and whisk them in there. Scramble all the ingredients together. Season well with all other ingredients and chopped spring onion. Send kids off to school with lovely warming rice that will fill their bellies

CHICKEN JALAPENO AVOCADO SOUP

So, AVOCADOS are in season in January so if you can get them, GET THEM! They are a great source of fats and antioxidants that are fab for your gut so, whack them in a spicy jalapeno popper chicken soup with some toasted sourdough!

Super easy: You’ve done your BROTH and you may or may not have leftover shredded chicken. Try making sure that you always have a supply on hand – Because all you have to do is make a base for your soup:

Fry up an onion, some garlic and 1 jalapeno (more if you dare) and once its softened, add your chicken, white beans and 4 cups of chicken stock. Let it all simmer for about 15 mins then take 1 cup of the soup and blitz to thicken and add back in.

To finish, season heavily with lime, sea salt and fresh chopped coriander, slice up your avo and mix in – Serve with toasted sourdough and a dollop of cream if you like!

SCOTCH EGGS

Ok, so this wasn’t on the shopping list but we did buy sausages for our TOAD IN THE SOUR HOLE however, if you buy an extra pack, you can make the most INCREDIBLE scotch eggs that are literally sausage meat mixed with a finely chopped onion, garlic powder, sage powder and all you do is

  • MAKE YOUR CRUMB – Mix together some day old or on the way to be stale breadcrumbs. Blitz them so they’re quite fine and roll them out in a thin layer on a baking tray
  • Boil up 8 eggs for 6 minutes then pludge straight into freezing water and leave for 5
  • Mix up your sausage meat and spices. A splash of worcestershire sauce in the meat mix is really fab!
  • Roll them out into equal balls of 8 and then flatten to a thin burger type of pattie.
  • Put the egg on top and then cover the egg with the meat
  • Set in the fridge for 20 mins to firm up.
  • Then roll them in flour, then egg wash, then the bread crumbs
  • And to finish, either fry them up in some high heat fat (I like my homemade tallow) but you can also oven bake or air fry though they’re far crispier in the fry fat!

SUPER LITTLE LUNCH SNACKS PERFECT FOR A COLD WINTERS DAY

SOURDOUGH OPEN SANDWICH A LA OMELETTE

SOURDOUGH TOAST WITH AVO MASH, GOATS CHEESE OMELETTES AND SAUERKRAUT SALAD

This is super easy with all the little pantry ingredients we tend to have on hand. Whether you are making or buying your sauerkraut you can always keep it sliced in the freezer so you can take out slices as you wish, then simply top with whatever you have on hand to make a fab open sandwich

We are big lovers of sheep and goats cheese given where we live (Sunny Cyprus – though not so in January I assure you) so We try to incorporate local produce as much as possible. You can switch it up to whatever is popular to your local area but cheesy omelettes and a side of gut healthy sauerkraut is a fab little winter light lunch. To give it that extra warming touch, why not have a cup of golden milk or chai to go with?

I’m actually not a fan of salads through winter though a rocket and herb salad with some spring onion is good as a side to a sandwich or toastie. Let’s not overcomplicate things!

Another great idea to put on an open sandwich for January would be

  • Garlic sauteed mushrooms
  • Pate
  • Smoked ham and a side of our fab BEET SALAD

And in case you’re wanting a bit more of a visual hit on what else you could make throughout the month of January, here are a few winter warmer oldies from our social pages