It's my husband's birthday.....

Today is my husband's birthday. As we have three children in the house (5, 8 & 17), and it is a school night we have decided to eat in. The problem is that my husband I have decided after summer holiday indulgences that we are having a grain-free, dairy-free month to get back on track.

We have spent a typical summer travelling and hosting family and the many visitors that join us in Santiago, Chile before they depart on their South American adventures. I love entertaining , so "visitor season" gives me a chance to test out all the new recipes ideas I have been mentally stockpiling. We have had a lot of visitors this year. At one stage I was cooking for 7 adults and 4 children for a couple of weeks.. With so many people there are bound to be intolerences, preferences, and the odd picky eater. So it would be safe to say that I have done a lot of testing. The recipes that are quick, easy, healthy, with minimal ingredients and gets loads of praise get added to my recipe catalogue for my clients. This means that choosing tonight's menu should be a breeze.

To cater for all tastes I tend to do a lot of seperates, or mono-plates. That is, dishes that have only one or a couple of ingredients, say for instance roasted cherry tomoatoes with baby water cress. This makes it easier for everyone to be able to navigate the foods on the table to their own personal preferences. If you are cooking for large groups of people, especially with the rise of food intolerences and allergies this is a great solution. Over the last decade or so of parenting I have found this a good solution for fussy eating, and fight-free meals, and it means there are usually tasty left-overs for lunch tomorrow.

Roasted cherry tomatoes with watercress. Just two ingredients!

#grainfree #dairyfree #ScarbroughHealth #JERF #HealthyEating #nutrition

So, what is on tonight's birthday menu? My husband has made not specfic requests, unlike my children who seem to all feel that birthdays should not be celebrated without their peculiar favourite combination of octopus and slow cooked ribs. Tonight we are keeping it simple, grain-free and dairy free, and hopefully, delicious.

Tuna carpaccio with ginger and soy dressing.

#grainfree #dairyfree #birthdaycelebrations #ScarbroughHealth #JERF #HealthyEating #nutrition