By MACROS | Published on August 17, 2017
Run out of ideas for your next meal? Are you staring in your cupboard, not sure what to make?
Well, perhaps it’s time to breath some new life into your meals with these new takes on your most basic ingredients. You’ll never run out of ideas again.
Vegetables
Boiled vegetables
Toss any kind of vegetables into a three-egg omelette for a healthy way to start your day.
Soggy salad solution
Stick your limp salad into a blender with some vanilla protein powder, egg whites, honey and berries, and then give them a quick zap.
Odds and sods
At the end or beginning of each week, add all your old vegetables to a large pot with stock. Throw in a little garlic, a fried onion and any meat leftovers and you have a winning soup.
Spud surprise
Old roast potatoes can be reheated and added to an omelette with all the trimmings.
Sweet results
Baking too many sweet potatoes leaves you with an excellent base. Scoop out the soft stuff and use as a replacement for baking things like brownies.
Salad days
Take cooked sweet potato and top with red peppers and coriander, add a few black beans and squeeze with lime, followed by a light sprinkle of salt and pepper for a refreshing yet filling salad. You can also drizzle honey with a little cinnamon and enjoy a warm, guilt-free dessert.
Grains
Rice dessert
Add white rice, milk, caster sugar, one teaspoon of vanilla essence and then warm up.
Savoury rice
Add chicken, mixed vegetables and create a stir-fry.
Stuffed vegetables
Add mixed veggies and chicken and then stuff into a capsicum and roast for 15 minutes.
Sushi rice
Flavour with mirin sauce, then add to a yaki nori seaweed sheet and fill with tuna mayo.
Oatmeal pancakes
Replace any flour with oatmeal and create pancakes by adding an egg, one cup of milk and a dash of salt.
Pasta refresher
Add one teaspoon of brown sugar, two tablespoons of peanut butter, lime juice and one teaspoon of soy sauce and chilli flakes.
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Meats
Make it a sub
Dice or ground your meat and then spread thickly over a rye bread sandwich with mixed salad.
Roll it up
Dice thinly, add salsa, avocado and chili, and then add to a taco or fajita.
Make it a cheat food
Pepper a thin pizza base with the ground varieties of meat and then top it with cheese.
Spanish bake
Place your leftover bolognese mince into a baking dish, crack eggs into it and then bake for several minutes.
Go Italian
Create a healthy lasagne where you use sheets of thinly sliced egg plant, courgette and sweet potato in place of pasta. You can also add spinach and mushroom to give it an extra health kick.
Stuffed peppers
Remove the seeds, fill with mince, top with cheese and spring onions, and then bake for 10 minutes.
Seafood
Fish cakes
Combine cold mashed potato with leftover fish and vegetables. Fashion in patties, then bake for 10 minutes until crisp.
Salmon pasta
In a bowl, mix leftover salmon, cooked mushrooms, garlic, bell peppers and pesto. Eat over whole-grain pasta.
White fish tacos
Reheat the fish or shrimp in a pan with salsa and chili to keep it moist. Add to a taco or fajita.
Shrimp cooked salad
Fish isn’t good cold, but shrimp works well. Toss in a salad with spinach, peas and cut tomatoes. Cook on a medium heat for five minutes and serve with sweet chilli dressing.
Seafood bake
Add leftover sweet potato to a baking tray and top with seafood of any sort. Add two beaten eggs and cream, then bake for 30 minutes.
Canned tuna
Bake a potato, then stuff it with a tuna mayonnaise mix and top with cheese and shallots.
Chicken
Use everything
After a roast chicken dinner you can boil down the carcass and any leftovers for 30-60 minutes to create a stock that you can use in soups.
Make sauce
Take any leftover chicken scraps and add bacon, diced mushrooms, a dash of mustard and cream. Combine on a medium heat for a pasta sauce.
Mediterranean feast
Mix leftover chicken scraps with feta cheese, diced avocado, basil, pine nuts and sliced bell peppers. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.
Salad
Add leftover chicken to a bowl of thinly sliced carrots, cucumber and coriander. Drizzle with garlic, chilli and lime juice.
Make balls
Combine chicken scraps with cooked rice, fresh coriander and any leftover vegetables. Fashion into balls then bake or shallow fry briefly.
Soup
Add chicken to a boiling pot of stock with rice noodles, soy sauce, diced shallots and a sprinkling of chilli to taste.
