Italian lunch/16 recipes

We have the Italians to thank for bringing this humble soup into our kitchens. Originating in Tuscany centuries ago as a means for the poor to use up stale, leftover bread. Today, we are just grateful that we have a hearty, tasty way to use up leftover ingredients that create a deeply-satisfying meal that is not only well-balanced and healthy, but simple to throw together. While it may not have been a dish for the wealthy, we think you will be peasantly surprised.

This Nicoise Salad is a beautiful play off its French counterpart. It keeps the traditional string beans, potatoes, boiled eggs and tuna, but it adds an Asian inspired dressing that elevates this salad to the next level. By changing the usual white potatoes to sweet potatoes, it becomes a healthier version of the recipe. Sweet potatoes provide more vitamins and minerals than regular potatoes and they have fewer calories. Add in the Omega-3 benefits in the tuna, the protein of the eggs, and fibre-packed beans, and you have got a power packed lunch that tastes like a million dollars. This recipe will certainly be singing to your taste buds tuna.

The mere sight of this cute-looking yummilicious noodle, served on a plate, will make you salivate, and if you eat it, it will make you reinvigorated too. This Italian dish is a brilliant blend of arrabbiata sauce and squash in the form of noodles. The carefully spiralized noodle and diced tomatoes make this dish very appealing to the eyes. But it doesn’t stop there, its appearance is as great as the taste. Oh… The squash noodles are rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre which make the body healthy. They also have a minimal amount of fat, are rich in protein and are relatively low in calories and carbs. It is a great source of energy for the body—and a great delight to the mouth! That’s also very important. Now, let us see how we can prepare this tempting dish. Shall we!

This delicious omelette recipe makes the perfect healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner and is a great way of using up leftover veggies. It can be served on its own or with a side salad for a more substantial main.

This delicious warm noodle salad makes a perfect light lunch or side salad and it only takes 10 minutes to make. The tangy lime flavour is sure to impress. This simple dish is a fantastic accompaniment for leftover roast chicken and it also tastes great with fish too.

We’ve created this recipe for Fertility Road magazine so it’s full of fertility boosting ingredients. It’s high in folate, zinc, selenium, vitamin E and vitamin C, making it the perfect fertility boosting lunch or dinner. Cooking to conceive has never been so easy and delicious. The base of this tart is made using ground almonds, we’ve used a food processor to mix together all the base ingredients, however it is still possible to make this recipe without it, you can also mix the ingredients by hand and still achieve the same great taste, there will just be a slightly crunchier texture.

Sweet potato noodles are our new favourite thing, and this delicious new recipe is such a tasty and nourishing meal. This coconut curry is mild, healthy and makes a great lunch or dinner. If you’re stuck for time and need to make something quick – it can be ready in under 30 minutes!

This easy to prepare and delicious lunch or dinner recipe only has 239 calories per serving, so it’s perfect for those wanting to cut the calories and lose weight. It can be ready in under 10 minutes and is full of nutrition and goodness. Hope you enjoy it!

These crostinis have a beautifully blended mix of flavours. They would be ideal as a party snack when you’re entertaining or for lunch when you fancy treating yourself to some bread, but want to balance it out by covering it in a highly nutritious topping.

Here is a meat-free, gluten-free, nutrition packed recipe, which you can add to your collection in readiness for National Vegetarian Week, which starts on the 15th May. Chickpeas are a high protein alternative to meat, they contain a whole host of other benefits like Selenium (not found in most fruits and vegetables) which helps to detoxify cancer causing compounds and decreases tumour growth rates. The herbs not only provide flavour but each play a part in improving our health from boosting the immune system to lowering blood pressure. Enjoy this healthy, tasty twist on an Italian classic.

A healthy flavoursome take on an Italian classic. Nutritional yeast has a nutty cheesy flavour making it a good alternative for a vegan diet, especially as it is a complete protein. Other benefits are all the B vitamins which are important for everyone’s health but more so for those on a vegan/vegetarian diet. This yeast is rich in Selenium which helps to repair cell damage therefore helping to reduce the risk of cancer. It has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties, it improves digestion and as it is rich in folate pregnant women should include this in their diet. Just a few reasons to get familiar with this cosmopolitan dish.

This burger won the vote in this week’s healthy recipe pick, and these delicious veggie burgers are healthy, nutritious and super easy to make. They make a tasty alternative to beef burgers and the perfect healthy starter, lunch or main.

We really love spanish omelettes because they’re super tasty, healthy and really quick and easy to make. Traditional Spanish omelettes are made using potatoes. We’ve decided to mix things up a little bit with this version and substitute the potatoes for parsnips, so it’s a great nutritious recipe for someone who wants to cut back on carbohydrates. If you’d prefer to still use potatoes, you can still use this recipe and swap the parsnip for one potato or one sweet potato. This makes a delicious and nutritious breakfast or light lunch recipe.

This tasty salad recipe is so easy to make and makes the perfect healthy and nutritious lunch.

This delicious salmon salad recipe is super simple, really refreshing and totally delicious. It makes a fantastic easy lunch or side dish and you can even prepare it the night before and take as a grab and go lunch. For this recipe you can use fresh lemon juice instead of adding a dressing.

Turn a potato into a full blown sandwich by stuffing it into this SPUDWICH!