Did you know that a staggering 70 million children worldwide now suffer from obesity? That’s pretty shocking. Living a healthy lifestyle – not just short-term fads and trends – is something I’m extremely passionate about, even more so now that I’m a mum and have my own family. Eating well and exercising needn’t cost the earth or be too time consuming; it’s all about being savvy, prioritising and maybe doing a bit of planning but that’s it!
That’s why I’m really excited to be working with AO (as part of a paid partnership), who are working with Beko on their new Eat Like a Pro campaign. It aims to help parents around the world feed their children more healthy food; by showing children what their heroes eat (footballers in particular), it’s possible to help make healthy food exciting.
Since I started weaning Thomas at 5 months, I’ve introduced a whole range of things into his diet to the point now where at over a year old, he’ll eat most things – although don’t get me wrong, he’s started to a bit more fussy and he has developed a sweet tooth which isn’t really ideal! One week he’ll absolutely love strawberries and pears for instance, then the next he refuses to touch them… So sometimes, spending time preparing meals for Thomas to leave or spit out can be soul destroying!
That’s why I enjoy making healthy meals we can all eat which cuts down time and money too – plus I love the social aspect of eating together as a family when we can during the week or on a weekend. I’ll aim to include plenty of fruit/vegetables in a meal and sometimes try and disguise things, particularly if there are some textures Thomas isn’t that keen on – blending in sauces, mashing up or mixing with other ingredients is always a winner 🙂
My challenge as part of this campaign was to recreate 5 healthy Beko meals from the recipe page to highlight how eating well can be enjoyable for the whole family. Here’s what I chose and here’s what the dishes looked like. Oh and were they tasty? Yep!
Baked Salmon, Potato and Zucchini in Parchment Paper
Ingredients:
- 1 potato
- 1 zucchini
- 1 fillet of salmon
- ½ lemon
- Salt
- Pepper
- 15 ml oil
- Thyme
Get making!
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- Fold a large piece of parchment paper. Lay zucchini and potatoes on the parchment paper, then top with shallot, thyme and lemon slices.
- Season with salt, pepper and oil.
- Fold parchment over salmon.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes.
Sweet Potato Crust Spinach Tart
Ingredients
- 30 g olive oil
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 125 g feta cheese
- 1/2 natural yoghurt
- 2 beaten eggs
- 150 g fresh greens (baby kale, spinach, arugula)
- Pepper
- Salt
Get making!
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
- Add olive oil and peeled sweet potatoes and fry on both sides until tender. Remove and place on a paper towel and repeat.
- To the same pan, add the onions and garlic and saute.
- Then toss in the greens and cook until wilted. Transfer to a cutting board and finely chop.
- Transfer cooked greens to a medium bowl. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir.
- Line prepared springform pan/tin with the cooked sweet potato slices. Pour in spinach mixture.
- Bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
Wok Vegetable Lasagna with Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 sheets of lasagna noodles
- 1 leek
- 200 g shiitake
- 200 g broccoli
- 2 carrots
- 1 zucchini
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes
- 300 g fresh spinach
- 400 ml cream cheese
- Grated cheese
- Olive oil
Get making!
- Boil lasagne sheets. Leave to cool and store.
- Oil the wok. Saute the leek, shiitake, broccoli, carrots and zucchini.
- Add sun-dried tomatoes, saute and store.
- Saute the spinach in the wok.
- Cover with cream cheese.
- Make the lasagne with layers of sauteed vegetables. Cover with light cream cheese. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees C.
Broccoli Crust Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 head of broccoli
- 2 eggs
- 1 g salt
- 1/2 g pepper
- 50 g pizza sauce
- 60 g grated Mozzarella
- 30 g grated Parmesan
- 130 g cheese
Get making!
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- Chop the broccoli in the food processor. Place broccoli in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 1 minute until steamed.
- Cool and pour broccoli on a clean cloth and squeeze the liquid out of the broccoli until you are left with a dry ball of broccoli.
- In a large bowl combine the broccoli, eggs, cheeses and seasoning with a spoon until fully combined.
- Pour the mixture into the pre-lined baking sheet and shape it into a pizza crust ½ an inch thick. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Spread the pizza sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake for another 10-12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before cutting.
Cottage Pie
Ingredients
-
- 1 kg beef / steak meat
- 30 ml olive oil
- 50 g leek
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 2 garlic gloves, finely diced
- 2 sticks of celery, finely diced
- 15 g tomato purée
- 6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 500 ml tock (beef or chicken)
- 4 spring of thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- Salt, pepper and herbs
Topping:
- 3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
- ½ small head of cauliflower
- 1/2 of medium celery
- 300 ml almond milk
- 15 ml olive oil
- Pinch of salt
Get making!
- Add the mince to a non-stick pan and fry for 5 minutes until brown. Take off the heat.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in another pan. Add the onion, carrot, celery and leek and cook on a low/medium heat until they become soft, about 4 minutes.
- Return the beef to the vegetable pan. Add garlic, tomato puree, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs, fry for 3 more minutes.
- Add the stock and simmer on a medium heat, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, cauliflower and celery into a pot and simmer on a medium heat for about 10-12 minutes.
- Drain and place the cooked vegetables in a food processor, process until smooth.
- Pour the beef mixture into a casserole dish, smooth out to the edges and top with the mash.
- Brush with a little olive oil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.