Lucy Tweed Shares her tips on How to Avoid Cooking Fatigue
Renowned Australian food stylist and home cook, Lucy Tweed, is the expert in preparing easy weeknight dinners that taste delicious and don’t take hours to prepare. With an increasing number of hours being clocked in the kitchen recently, it’s likely that we’re starting to experience a little home-cooking fatigue. Lucy has partnered with us to provide recipe inspiration and share how she keeps meal time inventive, quick and tasty, embracing the kid’s nightly ‘what’s for dinner’ chorus.
Batch cooking: Getting ahead for the week with food prep doesn’t have to be complicated. Just cook what you would normally, but more - double it (or triple or quadruple) depending on how many people you’re cooking for and how big your saucepans are. I love doing this with almost everything from dumplings and schnitzel to Bolognese and soup at the start of the week or even the weekend – it means you can have the next few nights off doing more of what you enjoy.
Make it a fun: Make cooking a social activity for the whole family and get the kids involved. DIY nights when kids can get their fingers in are a bit messy, but it’s fun and we all do it together. Set out all the ingredients to make pizza, kids can get creative and also choose what toppings they want to eat. It’s a great way spend time with each other.
Utilise the freezer: Freezers are like a time capsule for fresh food. If you’re cooking something like a lamb or chicken, make double and freeze half and you’ll have just done your future self a huge favour. Roast lamb shoulder is great for this, shred the second lamb shoulder and toss in the remaining pan juices, add some frozen peas, put it into a pie dish and top with puff pastry or mashed potato and freeze until a later date. Midweek quick winter Shepard’s pie? Yes please! My recipe for Roast Lamb Shoulder, 2 Ways, is the perfect multi-meal recipe.
Cook what you love: Learn to make something you really want to eat. This is the best way to reignite a love of cooking and it’s really rewarding. So break the routine, learn a new dish, and make it your own. Dumplings are on constant rotation in our house - and really, you can change the stuffing as much as you want, using what you have and testing new flavours. Or maybe it’s something nostalgic, like homemade crispy apple pies – I created both of these recipes using AirFry technology, in my new Westinghouse oven with AirFry.
Tried and Tested: Gather a few easy recipes for your repertoire that can be tweaked slightly to add variation. One of the simplest ingredients to work with is potatoes – they’re cheap, easy to work with and kids love them! Master your preferred style (mashed, roasted, fried) and then simple additions like Indian spices, salt and vinegar, parmesan or Mexican chilli offer a completely different take on a meal-time staple. Check out my 4 different ways to season beautifully crisp smashed AirFry potatoes.
Batch cooking: Getting ahead for the week with food prep doesn’t have to be complicated. Just cook what you would normally, but more - double it (or triple or quadruple) depending on how many people you’re cooking for and how big your saucepans are. I love doing this with almost everything from dumplings and schnitzel to Bolognese and soup at the start of the week or even the weekend – it means you can have the next few nights off doing more of what you enjoy.
Make it a fun: Make cooking a social activity for the whole family and get the kids involved. DIY nights when kids can get their fingers in are a bit messy, but it’s fun and we all do it together. Set out all the ingredients to make pizza, kids can get creative and also choose what toppings they want to eat. It’s a great way spend time with each other.
Utilise the freezer: Freezers are like a time capsule for fresh food. If you’re cooking something like a lamb or chicken, make double and freeze half and you’ll have just done your future self a huge favour. Roast lamb shoulder is great for this, shred the second lamb shoulder and toss in the remaining pan juices, add some frozen peas, put it into a pie dish and top with puff pastry or mashed potato and freeze until a later date. Midweek quick winter Shepard’s pie? Yes please! My recipe for Roast Lamb Shoulder, 2 Ways, is the perfect multi-meal recipe.
Cook what you love: Learn to make something you really want to eat. This is the best way to reignite a love of cooking and it’s really rewarding. So break the routine, learn a new dish, and make it your own. Dumplings are on constant rotation in our house - and really, you can change the stuffing as much as you want, using what you have and testing new flavours. Or maybe it’s something nostalgic, like homemade crispy apple pies – I created both of these recipes using AirFry technology, in my new Westinghouse oven with AirFry.
Tried and Tested: Gather a few easy recipes for your repertoire that can be tweaked slightly to add variation. One of the simplest ingredients to work with is potatoes – they’re cheap, easy to work with and kids love them! Master your preferred style (mashed, roasted, fried) and then simple additions like Indian spices, salt and vinegar, parmesan or Mexican chilli offer a completely different take on a meal-time staple. Check out my 4 different ways to season beautifully crisp smashed AirFry potatoes.
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The Un-Glossy, a celebration of real family life because we know it isn’t always picture perfect. The messy kitchens, temper tantrums, happy tears, belly and the purest love you can find.
