This post is sponsored by Coles
Growing up I always remembered my grandmother cooking a roast every Sunday, it didn’t matter if she had a house full of guests or if she was cooking for two, without a doubt she would make a roast, it was her family tradition. It got me thinking about regular family meal ideas, and what other families do?
Regular family meal ideas
I really like the idea of having a traditional regular meal, perhaps every fortnight or month. You know me I am an advocate for meal planning, to save time and money, but there are days I find it hard to come up with new ideas on what to eat. I asked our facebook community and learnt that many families have the same meals regularly, here are some of their suggestions:
MONDAY – mince meat, mexican or meatless
TUESDAY – taco’s
WEDNESDAY – whatever’s in the fridge
THURSDAY – pasta
FRIDAY – BBQ, fish and chips, takeout, homemade pizza or leftovers
SATURDAY – spaghetti, soup or burgers
SUNDAY – roasts or something easy
PASTA DINNER IDEA – Pork and beef ragu with spaghetti – This traditional pork and beef ragu goes best with spaghetti for an easy meal, view recipe here.
Sunday Roasts are a tradition in many households. I asked my readers recently what is their favourite roast to cook their family and do they usually cook it on a Sunday?
- Lamb Roast on the BBQ ~ Kate R
- Roast pork with crunchy crackling, apple sauce and stuffing balls ~ Jeannie D
- No way – roast is any night of the week where I want an awesome yummy meal with minimal fuss. It’s either roast pork with crackling or roast chicken in our house. Minimal prep and everything in the dishwasher = winner!! ~ Kelly H
- Growing up it used to be Sunday lunch after church. ~ Tamara H
- Would love to do roasts but sometimes watching everyone devour it in 10 minutes when I took 3 hours to cook it just doesn’t seem worth the effort. ~ Joey M
- Chicken or pork done on the Webber Q. Like to do it Sunday so we can have the left overs in sandwiches for a couple of days. ~ Alana C
- I never had a roast tradition. So I decided our Sunday tradition for me and my boys is corn silverside with roast vegies. ~ Juanita N
Many answered that they had never cooked a roast. And to be truthful I didn’t cook my first roast until I was in my early 30’s, mostly because I was never taught how to, not sure what I was scared of they aren’t hard at all, very easy actually. Now I usually cook a roast beef on a Sunday every 3-4 weeks and have left overs on sandwiches through the week.
Pork Meal Ideas
Roast Pork was the most suggested favourite to cook for their families. I don’t cook pork often, I even went to the recipe section of my blog and there is not one pork recipe. We like Pork, there’s no reason why we don’t eat it as often as the other meats, perhaps it just never top of my mind? However, it is possible to take a simple piece of pork and transform it into something delicious and spectacular, I share some pork meal ideas below.
Coles sell pork in many different forms, all fresh and available each day: chops, roast, mince, fillets, schnitzels, ribs, steak and strips. Coles also have some great ‘made easy’ meal packs, Slow Cook Pork Packs: pork and apple, pull pork or pork shoulder with BBQ Chilli Glaze, these can be found in the same section as all the fresh meats.
Creamy pork and mustard stew – I wouldn’t refer to this recipe as a stew it looks more like a pork chop with a creamy mustard sauce and vegetables on the side. Perhaps they named it a stew because it’s all cooked in the one pan, which makes it a great quick and easy dinner solution for cold winter nights, view recipe here.
Pork & prawn fried rice – Experience a taste of Asia with this delicious pork and prawn fried rice, view recipe here.
Pork pies with damper crust – These delicious pork pies are made with homemade damper crust, view recipe here.
Roast Pork with Caramelised Apples and Onion
After noticing the lack of pork on our weekly meal plan I set out to find a recipe. I ended up making an extremely delicious Roast Pork with Caramelised apples and onion for my family last Sunday. It only required a few simple ingredients, pork, fresh apples, onion and thyme, maple syrup, olive oil and salt. Turns out I forgot to use the thyme, but it still tasted really good!. I used a Boneless Pork Leg Roast from Coles.
This is the 2nd time I have ever made Roast Pork, so I certainly don’t call myself an expert on crackling I still have a lot to learn. I gave it a really good go, rubbing olive oil and salt over the pork. I realised when I checked on the pork after half an hour of cooking that I neglected to rub oil and salt down the lower sides of the pork, so make sure you rub all over!
After 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking it’s time to add in the apples, onions, drizzle with maple syrup and cook for a further 30 minutes. You can see here the side of the pork is not crackling too well.
Mmm, this looks so good, the best part would be the onion and apples on the base of the casserole dish covered in the maple syrup sauce. See how effortless making a roast dinner is!
I served the roast pork with caramelised apples and onion with roast potatoes and glazed carrots and spinach. I also removed the rind from the roast and put it under the grill to crackle further, it crackled up a treat!
You can find full Roast Pork with Caramelised Apples and Onion full recipe here.
Coles Magazine – Bumper Fresh Issue
This month’s August issue of the FREE Coles Magazine is filled with an extra 16 pages of fresh recipes. You can pick up a copy from your local Coles or view online here.
This months issue is filled with loads of recipes using the wonderful selection of fresh fruit and vegetables that are now in season, more pork recipes, the pulled pork burgers pictured above look delicious, some delicious apple and pear desserts as well as a great menu for your next picnic!
What is your favourite pork dish?
This post was coordinated by The Remarkables Group and run in accordance with my disclosure policy.
