Healthy Meals for a Breastfeeding Mummy
Do this; Don't do that. Eat this; Don't eat that. Sound familiar? Talk to any midwife, doctor, family or friend and they will all have an opinion founded or not about what we should eat whilst pregnant and then whilst breastfeeding. There's the obvious ones like avoiding alcohol and caffeine, the latter of which I agree with as I really noticed a difference in Alyssa when I had more than one cup of normal coffee in a day. But generally it is common sense; eat healthy; eat a variety; and don't go nuts.
Even though Alyssa was 5 weeks early, I was lucky enough to be able to breastfeed and whether you choose to do so or not, I think it is important for every new mum to take care of herself. Happy mum means happy baby (until the next poo explosion that is!) So, I thought I'd share a couple of my favourite recipes, my go to easy recipes, that hit all the markers on good food but don't take an age and every pan in the kitchen to make. Oh, I should probably add that I am a vegetarian, however I will pop in where you can supplement for some meat, though I am sure it will be obvious!
Lentil & Tomato Soup with Wholemeal Bread
This yummy soup is a great filler, that you can make in large batches as you can freeze it and pull it out whenever you want some. So how do you make it? Well, here we go...
1. Take a decent sized saucepan, pop it on the hob with a splash of olive oil and put it on a medium heat.
2. Chop 1 large onion into smallish pieces and put them into the saucepan and cook until they begin to soften. At this point add 2-4 cloves of crushed garlic depending on how much you love the stuff (If you are like me you will chuck extra in and have a mint after!) and fry for another 2-3 minutes with the occassional stir.
3. Now tip in a tin of chopped tomatoes, 3 tablespoons of tomato puree and 1L of vegetable stock. At this point we add in the red lentils - it is completely up to you how much you add. I always free pour these and you can too... add a small amount if you like a thin soup and more for a thicker casserole consitency. NB Make sure you rinse the lentils first before adding them to the pan.
4. Bring the pan to the boil then turn the heat down and leave to simmer for 20-30minutes, giving it the odd stir as the lentils tend to settle on the bottom. Then season to taste and serve with some wholemeal bread - yum!
**ADD SOME HEAT: If you like some spice to your food, then add a teaspoon of mild chilli powder when you add the garlic to the pan. But careful not to add anymore than that or your baby will be feeling the heat too!!
**INFO: I suggested serving with wholemeal bread because vegetarians need to get their first class proteins by combining the different second class proteins that they eat in order to gain the 10 essential ammino acids which are vital for good health. So here we have pulses combined with grains (wow that sounded good huh?)
Quick List of Ingredients:
Splash of Olive Oil
1 Large Onion, chopped
2-4 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes, opened
3 tbsp of Tomato Puree
1L of Vegetable Stock
Red Lentils, washed
Wholemeal bread rolls
Salt and pepper
Roasted Mediterranean Veg with Mozzarella and French Bread
This is one of my absolute faves, and so easy – 1 pan and an oven that does all of the work for you! The recipe I have provided below will serve 2 people, but just throw in some more of each ingredient to make enough for the whole family. Unfortunately, this one isn’t suitable for home freezing. So how do we make this heavenly dish I hear you ask? Well…
1. You will want to pre-warm the oven at 180 degrees while you prep the meal. So get out your chopping board, sharp knife and a nice big oven tray (with sides, so basically a square tin!)
2. Take 1 courgette, 1 aubergine, 2-3 peppers of any colour and 2 red onions and chop them into decent size wedges/chunks of roughly the same size and put them mixed up into the oven tray. Then peel 4-6 garlic cloves, gently press on them with the knife to split them open and put into the tray with the veg. Drizzle olive oil over the veg and crack some black pepper over the top. Put the tray in the oven and cook for approximately 20-30 minutes until the veg has softened.
3. Take the tray from the oven, and on top of the already softened veg, add 300g of quartered mushrooms and a punnet of cherry tomatoes. Drizzle a bit more oil and black pepper and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
4. Finally, slice a pack of mozzarella and lay the pieces over the top of the veg and put a final crack of black pepper. Take a pack of part baked French baguettes and pop them on a tray and put into the oven at the same time as the veg for 10-12 minutes.
5. Take from the oven, dish onto 2 plates and make sure you serve the liquid from the oven tray too as this is the best bit. Add the warm crusty French bread and you have yourself a feast!
**ADD SOME MEAT: Try adding some leftover/pre-cooked chicken pieces or even Quorn chunks for an extra hit of protein. But be warned as this meal is very filling!!
Quick List of Ingredients (Serves 2):
1 Courgette, chopped
1 Aubergine, chopped
2-3 Peppers, any colour and chopped
2 Red Onions, chopped into wedges
4-6 Garlic Cloves, peeled and pressed
300g Mushrooms, quartered
1 Punnet of Cherry Tomatoes
1 Pack of Mozzarella
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Pack of part baked bread
Veggie Burgers with Jacket Wedges and Salsa
I have only recently started making this recipe but it has quickly jumped up my list of top ten recipes that I have to make on a regular basis. Now, there is a little bit of prep involved in this one, however, it does make 8 burgers and they are suitable for home freezing, meaning you can make one batch last quite a while especially if you are a single mummy like me. I am going to structure this how I would do it in the kitchen, so that all components are ready at the same time, and you don’t just make the burgers and realise you need another 2 hours to make the wedges! So hard hats and aprons on? Here we go…
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, prick some jacket potatoes ( I say 1 and a half per person/serving) and pop them in the oven to bake.
2. Put 150g of dried quinoa in a saucepan, cover with 300mls of water or stock if you prefer (check your packet as different brands say different amounts of liquid) pop on the hob with a lid on and cook on a low-medium heat for 15 minutes. Make sure you check it occasionally so it doesn’t burn.
3. Whilst the quinoa is cooking, to a food processor add 2 carrots grated, 1 400g can of chickpeas drained and rinsed, 1tbsp of dried harissa spice mix or half a teaspoon of the paste, 30g fresh coriander, 10g each of mint and dill and 8 spring onions roughly chopped. Crack 2 eggs into a separate bowl and lightly whisk, then add 80% of this to the food processor and keep the other bit back for in a minute. Add the quinoa which should now have puffed up with all the water having evaporated, then hit the switch and blend the whole lot together until it is a thick chunky paste. Leave to sit for 10 minutes.
4. While the mixture is sitting, take 1 red onion and chop into small pieces and place in a small bowl along with some diced salad tomatoes (2 per person eating.) Add some salt and pepper to taste, cover with cling film and pop in oven til serving.
5. Take a large baking tray and cover with baking paper, then using spoons (for the sophisticated) or your hands, divide the burger mixture into 8 roundish mounds on the baking paper pressing each down slightly. Don't worry about leaving too much space as they don't tend to spread. Then coat each one with the rest of the egg mixture. Pop them in the oven for 20 mins.
6. By this point hopefully your potatoes have jacketed, so remove from the oven along with the burgers, and allow to cool until half an hour before you wish to serve (this waiting time can be removed if you are cooking to eat straight away and not advance cooking like I do.)
7. Take an oven tray, and cut each jacket into 4 wedge shaped pieces and place them on the oven tray. Spray with fry light or drizzle a little oil, then pop the wedges and the burgers back in the oven for 20 mins.
8. Serve immediately with some of your tomato and onion salsa from the fridge on top. Delish!
**ADD SOME HEAT: Lightly sprinkle paprika or mild chilli powder on your jacket wedges before returning them to the oven... remember not too much though or your poor bubba will need a cool down too.
**ADD SOME MEAT: in desperate need of some meat? Add some grilled bacon to the burgers with the fat removed!
Quick List of Ingredients (makes 8 burgers):
150g dried quinoa
2 carrots, grated
1x 400g can of chickpeas
1x tbsp of harissa spice mix
30g fresh coriander
10g fresh mint
10g fresh dill
8 spring onions, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
Jacket potatoes (1.5 per serving/person)
Fry light spray
1 red onion, chopped
Salad tomatoes, diced (2 per serving/person)
These 3 recipes are staples in my diet and appear fortnightly in my meal plans. Don't worry, there's more where they came from, but for now it's back to the kitchen.
Enjoy and let me know how you get on!
