What to Eat this Week: Delicious, Easy & Comforting for The Cooler Evenings

Hi friends,

Welcome back to What to Eat this Week - a space for real meals that feel good, taste great, and take the pressure off your planning. Whether you're using one idea or the whole menu, I hope this helps bring more ease (and tastiness) to your week.

Here’s what I’ve been eating lately - maybe something here ends up on your plate too!

This Week’s Menu Overview

Breakfast

• Simple Overnight Oats

Lunch

• Roast Veggie & Hummus Wrap

Dinners

• Chicken & Feta Meatballs on Orzo

• Silverbeet, Ricotta & Pesto Lasagna

• Easy Tofu Ramen

• Roast Pumpkin & Feta Salad with Cajun BBQ Chicken

Scroll down for full recipes and prep tips!

Breakfast: Simple Overnight Oats

The easiest way to ensure you have a great balanced and filling breakfast ready to go in the morning. Only takes a little prep and you can make more than one batch at a time to be organised for the whole week.

• 1/2 cup oats

• 1 tbsp chia seeds

• 1 tbsp greek yoghurt

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 cup milk of choice

Toppings

• 1 Tbsp greek yoghurt

• Defrosted berries

• 1 tsp nut butter

Method

In a container combine oats, chia seeds, yoghurt, vanilla and milk. Mix well to combine. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

When ready to eat add topping or you can ad the toppings once mixed so its ready to just grab and go from the fridge.

[serves 1]

Lunch: Roast Veggie & Hummus Wrap

A really easy lunch, I like to cook a big batch of roast vegetables at the start of the week that can be used in salads, wraps and bowls when putting together quick meals like this. Tip: if you are taking this as a packed lunch, combine everything apart from the wrap in a container and then mix well and add to the wrap when you are ready to eat to avoid a soggy unappealing lunch time.

• 1 wrap

• 1/2 cup roast vegetables (pumpkin, capsicum, sweet potato, or any veggies you like)

• 1 Tbsp hummus

• 1 handful spinach

• 1 fire-roasted red pepper, sliced

• 25g feta

Method

Spread hummus onto wrap, top with roast veg, red pepper, feta and spinach. Fold and enjoy!

[Serves 1]

Dinner: Easy Tofu Ramen

Midweek comfort food. These are so warming and tasty, you can use any noodles you like and even include the packet seasoning if you like too! Mix and match toppings to suit your preferences or use up what you have in the fridge.

• 300g firm tofu, diced

• Drizzle of olive oil

• 2 Tbsp soy sauce

• 5 mushrooms, sliced

• 1/2 capsicum sliced

• 2 packets instand noodles

• 2 Tbsp miso

• 2 eggs

• 2 handfuls spinach

Method

Soft boil eggs by bring a pot of water to the boil. Add eggs and cook for 7 minutes. Remove and let cool in a bowl of ice water for 4 minutes before peeling.

Dice tofu and pan fry with a drizzle of olive oil and soy sauce. Set aside.

In the same pan, fry off the mushrooms and capsicum, until tender. Remove and set aside.

Cook noodles according to packet instruction. Once noodles are cooked add to bowls but reserve the liquid. Add miso to the noodle broth and stir to combine.

Add spinach, veggies, and tofu to noodles. Pour over broth and finish with eggs sliced in half.

[Serves 2]

Dinner: Chicken & Feta Meatballs on Orzo

This is potentially a new favourite weekday dinner and the meatballs could be served with all sorts of different pastas or salads. You could also cook the meatballs in a airfryer rather than baking.

Chicken Feta Meatballs

• Chicken mince

• 4 tbsp panko breadcrumbs

• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 1/2 tsp dried basil

• 1 egg

• 100g feta

Tomato Capsicum Orzo

• 1 red onion, diced

• 1 drizzle olive oil

• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 1 capsicum, diced

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1/2 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 can cherry tomatoes

• 1 tsp honey

• 1 handful spinach

• 1 1/2 cup uncooked orzo pasta

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In a large bowl combine all meatball ingredients. Wet hands (this will help prevent the mixture sticking) and roll mince mix into meatballs. Place on a lined baking tray and bake in the over until cooked through and golden. Turning over part way through cooking.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to the boil and cook orzo according to packet instructions.

In a large pan with a drizzle of olive oil, saute onion and garlic. Add capsicum, paprika and oregano. Cook for a further 1-2 minutes until capsicum starts to soften. Add tomato paste, canned cherry tomatoes and honey. Mix to combine and bring to a simmer. Once sauce has reduced a little into a thick pasta sauce, add cooked orzo and spinach, mix to combine and season with salt and pepper.

Serve orzo topped with meatballs and sprinkle over a little extra feta to finish.

[Serves 4]

Dinner: Silverbeet, Ricotta & Pesto Lasagna

You simply have to try this lasagna! There is something so comforting and warming about lasagna and this one has plenty of extra veg too. Best served with fresh salad to make it extra satisfying.

Ricotta Pesto Mix

• 1 large bunch of sliver beet

• 2 spring onion, chopped

• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 205g ricotta

• 1/2 cup grated cheese

• 1/4 cup pesto

• 2 eggs

To Assemble

• 2 courgette, thinly sliced

• 600-700g jar passata sauce

• Lasagna sheets

• Grated mozzarella, for topping

Method

Preheat oven to 180-200 degrees.

Roughly chop silverbeet and add to a pan with a lid. Saute silverbeet until wilted.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine spring onion, garlic, ricotta, cheese, pesto and eggs. Add cooked silverbeet and mix well.

In a baking dish start with a layer of passata sauce, then pasta sheets, followed by ricotta mix and a layer of courgette slices. Repeat layers and finish with a layer of pasta sheets topped with passata sauce and sprinkled with mozzarella.

Cover in tin foil and bake in the oven 30 minutes. Remove tin foil and bake until top with golden and crispy. Remove from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Serve lasagna with a fresh green side salad.

[Serves 4]

Dinner: Roast Pumpkin & Feta Salad with Cajun BBQ Chicken

Light, tasty and chicken is always best cooked on the BBQ. This makes for great lunch leftovers and cooking extra of the roast pumpkin and chicken is a great way to easily prep lunch for the next day with no extra time.

• 1/2 butternut pumpkin, diced & roasted

• 100g feta, crumbled

• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half

• 2 large handfuls leafy greens

Vinaigrette

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard

Cajun Chicken

• 2 chicken breasts, diced

• Drizzle of olive oil

• 2 Tbsp cajun spice mix

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Slice butternut pumpkin into slices and spread out on an tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast until tender and starting to crisp at the edges.

An a jar, combine olive oil, vinegar and mustard. Shake to combine.

Cut chicken into bit sized pieces. Add to a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and spice mix. Toss to coat evenly. Cook chicken on a bbq or in a pan.

Assemble salad with greens, roast pumpkin, tomatoes, feta and drizzle over vinaigrette. Serve salad with chicken.

[Serves 2]

I hope you enjoy these recipe ideas to help you eat well this week, and let me know if you make any of these by tagging @harriet_well on IG.

See you next week for another menu full of feel-good food!

-Harriet x