So if you are like me, sometimes there just seems to be no time to make dinner. Especially when you are late back from work or just tired, these are my saviour dinners! It is even busier when both the children have clubs after school and you are going backwards and forwards to pick up and drop off your children.

Take your chef’s hat off and just cook a tasty and healthy meal from scratch in minutes for all the family.

There are lots of super quick and easy healthy meals to make. These include pesto pasta, special fried rice, pasta arrabbiata and vegetable noodles.

PESTO PASTA

What can be easier than adding dairy free pesto sauce to freshly cooked pasta? Try using the fresh egg free pasta for a tastier version and even make your own pesto sauce using fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. This is the fastest 5 minute dinner especially with fresh pasta which takes minutes to cook.

SPECIAL FRIED RICE

This is based on a Mary Berry recipe that included chicken but it is just as filling without the meat. Use any vegetables that you have available. This is such a tasty and fresh dish and it is so quick to make.

Ingredients

225g long grain rice

1 tablespoon of honey (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion

1 courgette

1 carrot

handful of peas

1 red pepper

1 stick celery

small piece of ginger

2 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce

1/2 lime juice

1 tablespoon curry powder (optional)

Method 

Cook the rice in boiling water, drain, rinse and set aside.

Finely chop the onion, celery, garlic and ginger. De-seed and cut the red pepper. Peel and chop the courgettes and carrot into small pieces.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion, celery, courgette, carrot, peas and red pepper and stir for 5 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and curry powder and fry for a further 1-2 minutes. Finally add the cooked rice, soya sauce, honey, chilli sauce and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

PASTA ARRABBIATA

Another fresh and tasty dish that can be ready in 10 minutes. Also the sauce can be made ahead of time and just heated up and added to cooked pasta. So this is also a good dish if you can’t all eat at the same time.

Ingredients

Pasta (approx. 100g per person)

3 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

(or use dried herb mix)

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

24 cherry tomatoes

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato puree

juice of half lemon

Method

Cook the pasta in boiling water.

Finely chop or crush the garlic cloves and cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters.

Add the garlic, chilli flakes and herbs (oregano and thyme) to a frying pan with hot olive oil. Stir for 2 minutes and then add the quartered cherry tomatoes with the tinned tomatoes and tomato puree.

Cook for around 5-6 minutes until the tomatoes are softened. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Stir the sauce into your cooked pasta and serve.

STIR FRIED VEGETABLES AND NOODLES

This is another super quick, tasty and healthy recipe. This is perfect for an easy dinner when life is too busy!

Again, you can use any vegetables you have available. We have been growing alfalfa seeds and these are also perfect to add on top.

Ingredients

Rice noodles

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon chilli sauce

Sesame oil

1 onion

2 spring onions

1 small piece fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic

2 peppers

Green beans

Broccoli

Juice of 1 lime

Method

Heat water in a large saucepan until boiling. Cook the rice noodles as per the packet instructions, and keep stirring to break up the noodles.

Finely slice the onion, garlic and ginger. De-seed and chop the pepper into small pieces. Top and tail the green beans and break the broccoli into smaller florets. Cut the spring onion into small pieces.

Mix the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, chilli sauce and lime juice in a small cup or bowl. Add 1/2 cup of water.

Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan or wok and add the onion, garlic and ginger and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the broccoli, pepper and green beans and cook for 3 minutes. Add the sauce mixture and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Finally stir in the cooked noodles and add the freshly squeezed lime juice.

You can serve this with a slice of lime, some roasted peanuts or alfalfa seeds.