what's for dinner tonight?

My Linda McCartney roast dinner

Kathryn at Limes and Lycopene did a really interesting post today on how many different meals you actually cook. A survey in the UK has shown that the top meals cooked by British families are:

• spaghetti bolognese
• roast dinners
• shepherds’ pie
• other pasta dishes
• meat and two veg
• pizzas
• casseroles/stews
• sausage and chips or mash
• Indian curries

One in four families make the same meal on the same day of the week - and I remember there being a bit of a routine when it came to meals when I was growing up. Friday night was always some kind of treat night, usually involving chips! We also had stew, sausages and mash, chow mein, zucchini slice, tuna casserole, roast chicken...not necessarily on the same days each time but they all tended to make a regular rotation.

I find this all very interesting - I love hearing about what other people cook :)

I try and cook different things each week, mostly because I love cooking and food and enjoy experimenting with new foods, but a lot of the time I do stick to my tried-and-true dishes for ease of preparation if nothing else, especially after a long day at work, a walk home and then, nine times out of ten, a run or yoga. And that's if I'm home for dinner - two nights this week I haven't been!

While I do cook similar things, like soup and curry, it's never the same each time I make it because I use what I have at that moment in the house, and it might be totally different each time. I might follow a recipe the first time I make something, but then I'll add a dash of this and a spoonful of something else the next time, green lentils instead of red, butter beans instead of cannellini beans....variety keeps life interesting and your taste buds guessing!

Fresh, healthy, lots of veg and high fill-factor are usually what I aim for when thinking about what to cook for dinner so, any night of the week, you'll usually find one of these on the menu at my place:

• Cauliflower dhal with chickpeas, spinach and basmati rice
• Mexican wraps made with soy mince, chilli seasoning and tortillas, with lots of fresh salad, tomato salsa, Japanese mayo and hummous (if we have it)
• Pasta with roast vegies, fresh spinach and spinach pesto
• Pasta with rocket, spinach, garlic and chilli
• Thai green or red vegetable and/or tofu curry with brown rice
• Red lentil and lemon soup
• "Chicken" spinach and risoni soup
• "My" minestrone soup
• Homemade pizza
• Frittata made with potato/sweet potato/pumpkin, courgette, spinach and other fresh vegetables, served with salad
  
• Roast dinner made with Linda McCartney vegetarian roast, roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts and other green vegetables, and (if I'm in the mood) cauliflower cheese
• Lasagna
• "Tom's Wok" - a kind of laksa he makes with noodles, vegetables and tofu or Quorn pieces

Just from this list I could have something different every night for nearly two weeks - I think that's pretty good!

Of course seasonality plays a part in determining my menu too - in the summer, we eat lots of salads and food we can barbecue. The cooler weather does tend to mean soups, stews, roast dinners and lots of warm, comforting (but still healthy) stuff!

Tonight, just for something different, we're having Mock Duck! Inspired by our delicious lunch we had at Shu Yuan while in Hobart last month.

What are you having tonight? What sort of things regularly turn up on your dinner table? Do you like to experiment, or do you mostly cook the same things? Please share, I'd love to know :)

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PS: Remember: 5 days left to vote for me!