Thinking of something to make for dinner every night can be exhausting. So many, myself included, often return to the classics because they are easy, we know exactly how to make them, and we know that the family will eat and enjoy them.
What if I told you there was a way that we could inject some COLOUR into the classics, and in doing so, we could have a really beneficial impact on our mental health and the mental health of our young people?
Let’s start with some context. Did you know that you are made up of trillions of bugs? I didn’t learn this until I was at university, and it quite literally blew my mind. These bugs live in us and on us. The relationship we have with the bugs is symbiotic. This means that we can’t live without the bugs, and the bugs can’t live without us.
These bugs are predominately found within our large intestine. Fun fact, the weight of all the bugs in your large intestine weighs roughly the same as your brain. It’s pretty amazing! I hope this fact gives you an idea of just how many bugs we have.
These bugs play many roles, they:
- Digest our food
- Run our immune system
- Play a pivotal role in supporting our mental health
Let’s zoom in on the mental health support these bugs offer. We have a nerve that runs from our brain to our gut called the ‘vagus nerve’. This nerve allows the gut to speak to the brain and the brain to speak to the gut. The main way they are able to communicate is via ‘neurotransmitters’. Think of these neurotransmitters as walkie talkies that allow the two to communicate. One of the main producers of these neurotransmitters are our gut bugs, and they do much of that production in the intestines.
One of the neurotransmitters you might be familiar with is serotonin, which helps to regulate our mood, manage stress and anxiety, helps us to concentrate and gives us the motivation we need to do the things we love too! In order for serotonin, created in the gut, to get to the brain we need to have a diverse range of gut bugs to produce the serotonin and we need a well-functioning vagus nerve.
The most important thing we can do for our gut bugs is to eat. The food we eat is their fuel and it gives them the energy they need to perform their many functions. So, what do they like to eat?
In the same way that we all have our own personal food preferences, so too do our gut bugs. The foods that give our bugs the most energy are high fibre plant-based foods. These foods are, typically, colourFULL!
Did you know that foods that come in different colours such as capsicums, apples, pasta, rice, carrots, and lentils all feed different species of our bugs? This is why it is really important that we have a diverse diet. If the gut species don’t get the food they need, they will either become extinct or start munching on the lining of our gut… we definitely don’t want that.
With all that in mind, what are some high fibre plant-based foods?
- Fruits and vegetables in every colour
- Grains (rice, oats, quinoa)
- Seeds (chia seeds, pumpkin seeds)
- Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts)
- Beans (chickpeas, black beans)
- Legumes (lentils, green peas, snow peas)
- Herbs (basil, mint, thyme)
- Spices (cinnamon, turmeric, pepper)
Amazing Food Ideas
Alright let’s bring it all together and think of some ways that we can brighten up our dinner classics to make them colourFULL!
No doubt you’re feeling very hungry after reading all of that. My point is, ADDING colour into our diets doesn’t have to be complicated and it doesn’t require you to completely change up what’s on the menu each week. Embracing the ADD mentality invites you and your young people to get curious when it comes to food and also makes meal times more interesting and exciting.
Now you didn’t think I was going to leave you without some recipes to try did you?
Here are a couple of EASY weeknight dinners that you can actually prepare on the weekend for a super quick and easy Monday or Tuesday night dinner. It is also very easy to double the quantities in these recipes so you can have some leftovers for an easy lunch the next day for either you or your young people.
One-tray chicken fajitas (serves 3-4)
Ingredients:
- 500g chicken thighs
- 3 capsicums (I love buying the trio pack with red, yellow, and green)
- ½ brown onion
- Sweet paprika
- Ground cumin
- Dried oregano
- Granulated garlic
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- Salt
- Olive oil
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180C.
- Thinly slice your onion and chop up the capsicums into thin strips and pop them both into a large non-stick tray. Sprinkle a tsp of paprika, a tsp of ground cumin, a tsp of dried oregano, ½ tsp of granulated and a sprinkle of salt over the top. Drizzle generously with olive oil and use your hands to coat all the veggies in the spice mix. Set aside.
- In a large bowl add in the chicken, soy sauce, a tsp of paprika, a tsp of ground cumin, a tsp of dried oregano, ½ tsp of granulated, a sprinkle of salt and a few tbsp of olive oil. Use tongs to coat the chicken in the spices and then gently nestle the chicken amongst the veggies.
- Pop it in the oven to roast for 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through.
Serving suggestion: There are SO many ways you can serve this. You can serve these in tortillas with some guacamole on top, you can make fajita bowls and serve it on a bed of rice with some diced tomatoes and chopped avocado OR you can simply have it as is with a side of roasted potato or mashed potato. Choose your own adventure!
Tips:
Tip 1 – You can make this recipe meat free by using firm tofu in place of the chicken. Simply remove excess liquid from the outside of the tofu, cut it up into strips, and follow the same process as you would for the chicken.
Tip 2 – You can prepare this ahead of time. Simply cover and pop it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook it (just make sure you remember the date that the chicken goes off).
Creamy pumpkin pasta bake (serves 3-4)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 250g kent pumpkin (approx. 2 cups chopped pumpkin)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 750g whole grain or pulse pasta (chickpea, red lentil, whole meal, spelt, buckwheat)
- 2 cups spinach
- Parmesan cheese, grated
- Olive oil
- Salt
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Remove skin and seeds from pumpkin and chop into large chunks.
- Put the pumpkin in a tray and drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and roast for 45 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add two whole cloves of garlic (in their skin) to the tray and allow them to roast alongside the pumpkin.
- When the pumpkin is almost cooked, add the cashews to a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 10 minutes and then drain the water.
- Put on a pot of water with a sprinkle of salt and bring to the boil for the pasta.
- When the pumpkin is cooked, add the pasta to the boiling water. Cook according to package instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking, in a food processor, add in the drained cashews, roasted pumpkin, garlic (skins now removed), chilli flakes, almond milk, Italian seasoning, and a really good sprinkle of salt. Blend until it forms a smooth and creamy mixture. Taste for seasoning and adjust if you need to.
- Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot. Add in the creamy pumpkin mixture and spinach and mix until every piece of pasta is covered and the spinach has wilted.
- Pour the pasta into a baking dish, add some shaved parmesan to the top, and bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top.
Tips
Tip 1 – You can skip the baking and just serve it from the pot if you’re short on time and it would be equally delicious!!
Tip 2 – This is a great one to prepare ahead of time. Do everything except bake in the oven two to three days before and bake it the night you’re having it for dinner (it might just need a few extra minutes in the oven).
Remember, it isn’t about perfection. There are going to be night where adding something new in is the last thing on your mind and that is completely fine. Ideally we want to make slow and sustainable changes over time. If you add one new thing each week that is a WIN!
For more recipe ideas to make your family’s diet more colourFULL you can follow me on Instagram @thisisyourbody_nutrition where I post new recipes every week in a bid to inspire you to ADD more to your meals. You could also visit my website if you would like to learn more ways to help your teen build a joyful relationship with food and their body.
Reviewed by Carmen Fourie (MProfPsych; BA-Psych(Hons) and Ross Carlyon (BA, DipEd, Med Studiesm DipSchoolAdmin)
