Lunch is a daily mid-day meal. As a rule, it serves hot dishes. The organization and preparation of a hearty meal in each family is subject to its traditions and laws. It all depends on the lifestyle of each member of the family. Of course, nowadays to gather the whole family at the dinner table is an almost unrealistic task. However, choosing and making a menu for lunch is a very exciting and interesting work.
The article contains recipes for dishes that can be called very tasty, healthy, valuable and balanced. It will turn out to please everyone: both capricious little gourmets and conservative parents.
What is lunch?
Each of us sits to eat daily. But not everyone wonders what a hearty meal is. If we turn to encyclopedic dictionaries, then this term will be called the second or third meal after breakfast. Among the entire human diet for a day, lunch is considered the most satisfying and plentiful meal. According to the "classics" it should consist of:
- snacks (their volume is always small, give in to the main course, are designed to stimulate appetite and have a beneficial effect on the digestive system);
- first courses (soups);
- second courses (a more diverse and satisfying part of the lunch);
- desserts (sweets, pastries, fruit salads and the like).
A modern person, whose living conditions make them constantly rush and late, a hearty lunch is the first dish and the second without a snack or dessert. But even in spite of the fact that we lead a crazy way of life and always rush somewhere, modern housewives still ask themselves what to cook with tasty food.
Snacks
If you have enough time to organize a full meal in the middle of the day, we recommend that you pay attention to snacks. It can be various marinades and pickles, as well as light vegetable salads with seafood, fish or cheeses. Tartlets, sandwiches, stuffed eggs and canapes can also be served as snacks.
Remember that snacks must be light: after all, the time will come for a tasty, hearty dinner. Their duty is only to arouse appetite, and not to fully saturate the human body.
German salad
As a simple and quick to prepare snacks, we suggest making such a salad. To prepare, you need the following set of ingredients:
- three potatoes;
- two eggs;
- onion;
- green onions;
- small gherkins;
- tomatoes - optional;
- 6 slices of herring fillet of weak salting;
- a spoonful of sweet mustard;
- ground black pepper.
Cooking
Any recipe for a hearty meal begins with the preparation of the ingredients. Potato tubers should be washed well, boiled in a peel, cooled and peeled. Cut them into small slices. Eggs are also boiled, cooled, peeled and cut into large pieces. Cut the cucumbers along and chop into small cubes. We clean the onion, wash and cut it very finely. Salt for this dish does not need to be used, since it is in sufficient quantities in the herring.
Mix sweet mustard with a little sunflower oil (can be replaced with olive). We combine all the prepared products in a common salad bowl, mix and fill with dressing. If desired, you can use mayonnaise instead of mustard and oil, as well as diversify the taste of the salad by adding a sour green apple.
Broccoli Cream Soup
I would like to continue the “easy” topic, telling about the preparation of both a hearty and healthy dinner. It will be a delicious diet cream soup made from cauliflower and broccoli.
It will be required:
- broccoli - 1 pc;
- cauliflower - 1 pc;
- a pinch of salt;
- some garlic;
- 3 tablespoons (tablespoons) of olive oil;
- ground black pepper;
- onion;
- 180 ml cream.
How to cook
Broccoli soup is a simple and hearty meal that will appeal to capricious children, and women who follow a diet, and men who like to eat tasty food. This dish contains a huge supply of vitamins and minerals. Another advantage is the fast cooking. Even a novice hostess will cope with the task.
We wash broccoli and cauliflower and put it on a towel in order to get rid of excess fluid. When it dries a little, we divide everything into inflorescences and sprinkle with salt. Spread on a baking sheet, put in the oven for 20 minutes. The temperature is 200 degrees. To give juiciness and add flavor, sprinkle with fresh herbs and pour over olive oil.
We take out the baking sheet, set aside one fourth of the vegetables in a small plate. They will come in handy to decorate our hearty dinner. The remaining vegetables are mixed with chopped garlic and fried onions. We shift everything into a small stewpan, put it on the stove, adding 600-700 ml of water to the container. Mix. Bring to a boil. We cook the dish for 10 minutes. Reduce the gas. Dip the blender directly into the pan. Grind the contents, gradually adding cream. Cook the soup for another 7 minutes. Now we shift the delayed “in reserve” baked vegetables into a common pan. Top you can add a little more fresh herbs or sprinkle with plenty of cheese.
Potted Meatball Soup
You must admit that diet soup from vegetables will not suit everyone. Therefore, we propose to cook a delicious hearty dinner, consisting of such a first course as soup with meatballs in pots. This recipe requires only the correct preparation base - then the oven does all the work.
Below is a list of products that are enough to prepare six pots. If you need to make half as much, respectively, we halve the number of ingredients:
- 6 potatoes;
- 2 onions;
- 2 carrots;
- 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- ground black pepper;
- 420 g of minced meat;
- liter of finished broth;
- salt;
- 20 g butter;
- a large bunch of herbs (parsley, basil, dill).
Process
Earlier it was noted that any recipe for a hearty meal begins with the preparation of vegetables. This dish was no exception, so first of all we clean the potatoes and cut them into thin cubes. We divide and decompose the entire volume of vegetables into the available number of pots. The second layer is carrots, sliced in circles, and onions, chopped into half rings. A bit of salt. If desired, the onions can be fried in advance, but this is not a mandatory process.
What a hearty meal without meat? Minced meat is mixed with spices, a small amount of chopped garlic, salt and herbs. Then we form from the resulting meatball mass. They will become the final layer in the pot. Add the hot broth, close the lid, send to the oven. The temperature in the oven should already reach 170 degrees. Cooking time is 40-45 minutes.
Before serving, open the lid, add generously fresh herbs and a small piece of butter.
Beans with meat
Perhaps, you can’t come up with a more satisfying meat dinner. Beans are not only a storehouse of vitamins, but also adds satiety and calorie content to any dish. About meat and say no. To prepare the second dish, take the following products:
- 230 g chicken (can be replaced with beef, turkey, pork);
- 120 g of beans;
- a pinch of salt;
- a spoon (tablespoon) of vegetable oil;
- 80 ml canned tomatoes in their own juice;
- one small cucumber.
Fresh herbs and spices are optionally added.
How to cook a hearty quick lunch
We start cooking this quick and tasty meat dish. We wash the chicken fillet (or any other), dry it with a paper towel, cut into pieces. Fry using a small amount of butter until crisp. It is advisable to soak the beans overnight, but if this is not possible, then a few hours are enough. For very lazy and busy housewives, the use of canned beans is allowed. Boil the beans until tender: the beans should become soft, and the water should completely evaporate.
Mix beans with chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. For a greater taste, add the marinade, in which there were tomatoes, as well as several pieces of hot chili pepper. Mix beans and meat.
By the way, this is a great option for a hearty lunch at work. Transfer the beans and meat to a container, and the cucumbers can be placed separately. Such a dish will be delicious, even if completely cooled.
Mackerel with potatoes in the oven
We continue to sort out the recipes of hearty dishes for lunch. We have already studied the meat option, now let's move on to the fish. We bring to your attention a delicious baked potato with mackerel. This is a very quick and easy to prepare dish that does not take much time from a modern busy housewife.
By the way, this option of the second dish will look great even on the festive table. Fish and potatoes are a win-win option for lunch, dinner or celebration.
What is required:
- 2 mackerels;
- 800 g of potatoes;
- two onions;
- 15 g butter;
- salt;
- 120 g mayonnaise;
- ground black pepper.
How to bake mackerel with potatoes
A quick and satisfying dinner is always successful if you think over the list of ingredients in advance and then lay out all the products in front of you. This organizes the cooking process and reduces the time it takes to find the right vegetable or seasoning. So, before you are: potatoes, onions, seasonings and fresh mackerel. We start cooking, of course, with fish. Mackerel must be rid of the insides, cut off the head, remove the skin and remove the bones. Then cut the fish into portions.
Peel the onion, cut in half, and then in half rings. In a deep container, gently mix fish, onions, seasonings. Leave the products for 10-15 minutes in a cool place. This time will be enough so that the fish is saturated with onion juice and the aroma of spices, and the hostess has time to peel and cut the potatoes.
Pour some oil on a baking sheet, put the potatoes with fish and onions. Top with mayonnaise. We cook the dish for 40 minutes in the oven. The temperature is 170 degrees.
desserts
Any very tasty sweetness or favorite treat should end with any hearty dinner. What to cook for dessert? We suggest you choose from several options:
- fruit salad with ice cream;
- jelly;
- sweet pancakes with tea;
- baked apples with cinnamon and honey;
- cake;
- a piece of cake;
- pancakes with milk;
- light fruit canapes.
Cottage Cheese and Pumpkin Casserole
An experienced modern hostess, as they say, never seeks easy ways. She will always come up with something new and unusual to pamper her family with. We suggest you cook a delicious casserole of cottage cheese, pumpkin and poppy seeds. This dish will win the hearts of children and adults. Despite the fact that it looks very elegant, luxurious and “restaurant-like”, it is prepared at home very quickly and simply. Dessert can be prepared both in a conventional oven and in a slow cooker, which further simplifies and speeds up the cooking process.
What products will be required?
In order to complete a hearty meal with curd and pumpkin casserole, you should take the following set of ingredients:
- 520 g of cottage cheese;
- one orange;
- 40 g of corn starch;
- 130 g of fat sour cream;
- 20 g of poppy;
- 5 chicken eggs;
- 750 g pumpkin;
- 220 g of sugar;
- 25 g butter;
- a few leaves of mint.
Cooking a casserole
Pour poppy seeds into a small saucepan, add water and cook for 15 minutes. Do not forget to constantly interfere with the contents of the pan. The fire is medium. Experienced housewives recommend periodically trying poppy "on the tooth." As soon as it stops crunching and becomes larger in volume, you can drain the water. Put it on a paper towel to dry a little. In a plate, mix cottage cheese, poppy seeds and granulated sugar. Using a mixer or a hand whisk we make an air mass. Add starch and a couple of eggs. Mix thoroughly again, but with a spoon or fork.
The pumpkin must be peeled and baked in the oven, previously cut into small cubes. It will be enough 20 minutes. We take gauze, put it in three or four layers. Squeeze the pumpkin. Divide the mass in half. One part is needed to prepare the casserole, the second is empty for filling. Mix the zest from one orange with sugar and add to the pumpkin. There we put one spoonful of starch and break the remaining chicken eggs. Mix everything thoroughly.
Separately, in a pumpkin blank, as well as in the curd mass, put one spoonful of sour cream. We take a detachable form, cover it with baking paper and grease it with butter (slightly melted) with a brush. Do not forget to lubricate the walls of the mold. We begin the assembly process. We send several spoons of cottage cheese to the center. When it spreads a little, add a spoonful of pumpkin dough. We do this until the finished products are over.
The pumpkin mass should be the last layer.
If you want to make the dish more effective in appearance, then with the help of a wooden skewer we make a "cobweb" (stick the skewer in the center and draw lines from the middle to the walls of the mold). Place the casserole in a preheated oven. The temperature is 190 degrees. The baking time is 40 minutes.
To prepare the pumpkin fill you will need: the remaining sugar, one egg, 120 g of sour cream and the remaining one hundred grams of pumpkin puree. Mix all the ingredients, we get a bright orange mass. Pour the casserole with the resulting filling, level it. Again we send the form for 10 minutes to the oven. After cooking, do not rush to get the dish out of shape. Allow the casserole to cool slightly, only then remove from the baking dish and chop. Do not forget to decorate the curd and pumpkin treat with a sprig of mint.
Enjoy your meal!