Tray of roast root veg-carrots parsnips butternut squash sweet potatoes and baby new potatoes and grilled/pan-fried halloumi with a garlic and lemon dressing.
Salmon with mirin (Queen Nigella)
Prawn stir-fry-super quick
broad bean pea and feta salad with some good bread and soup/ (gazpacho if this weather continues)
We have a family of four coming to stay for 4 nights with me working a 3 year old and 11 month old next week so I know how you feel! I can't quite get my head round quantities required catering for 8 rather than 4!

This Tuna recipe is amazing

This onion tart is also delicious...could be eaten cold for lunch

Utterly divine porcini pasta sauce

Also:

Nasi Goreng:

Groundnut oil
One onion, chopped
Pack of tofu, chopped into approx 1cm cubes
2 cloves garlic chopped/crushed
1 red chilli finely chopped
Half a bunch of spring onions, sliced
1 cup of (uncooked) thai rice
soy sauce to taste (I use quite a bit, approx 2-3 tbs...maybe more?)
1 fried egg per person

Start boiling the rice.
Fry onion in oil until it starts to soften. Add garlic, chilli and tofu. Fry until tofu is golden.
Add spring onions, drained rice and soy sauce. Heat through.

Serve it topped with a fried egg.

All the recipes are really quick and easy - I have two pre-schoolers, so they are achievable with small people clinging to your knees

PS - if you do salmon, you might want to think about getting the wild variety. We are pescetarians, but only eat non-farmed fish.

pumpkin pasta from waitrose shove from packet int pan - 3 mins

cover with whatever

Ah, I knew MNers could dome up with the goods

We wil definitely eat out at least one night, but lots of lovely ideas and I am writing the shopping list as we speak [type?]

Riven - pescetarian??

Courgette and Feta cheese filo pie
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Simmer 2lb courgettes in 4 fl oz olive oil - I do this the night before - you want to end up with green mush. When it's cool, beat in 3 eggs, 8oz crumbled Feta cheese, 1tbsp dried oregano, salt and black pepper.
Take a pack of filo pastry, and line a ceramic baking dish, bottom and sides, with filo, oiling (or not) between layers. My dish is the size of an A4 piece of paper and about 2 inches deep - maybe a tad more. Pour in the courgette mixture, and then top with more filo. Bake at 180 degrees C for 35 minutes until golden brown.
Great hot and cold and at room temperature. I use an oil spray on the filo which makes it super quick to do - if you do the courgettes the night before, it's just an assembly job. I once baked it for over an hour because I forgot it was in the oven and it came to no harm at all.
Serve with salad stuff.

Rattatouille (sp?) - I make a batch, add a tin (or 2) of chickpeas and serve with cous cous or rice as a kind of Morrocan stew. Depending on taste and ages of those concerned I add cumin (at the start when frying onions for the ratatouille) and cook up with cinnamon sticks, DS (9 months) loves it - spices and all.

Nut loaf -Granose makes yummy mixes that many supermarkets and health food shops sell. Or use a packet of stuffing and add chopped nuts!

Falafel, pitta bread and salad.

"Build your own Mexican" - dishes of veg andmeat chilli, refried beans, salad, salsa, nachos, tacos, tortillas, guacamole, sour cream etc and get everyone to DIThemselves (and finished off with Ben and Jerry's!).

Macaroni Cheese, pasta bake
Veg sausage and mash

DS yelling, gotta go.

These recipes sound lovely but 5 days! Make sure they pay for a takeaway for one night at least so you can have a night off!

1. salmon with lemon cous cous
2. lentil shepherds pie (basically a lentil, bean, carrot, mushroom, onion mix instead of the normal lamb)
3. king prawn fajitas
4. vegetable tagine (root veg layered in pot with small amount water/stock plus large dose of moroccan seasoning)
5. roast veg, yorkshire puds, stuffing and cheese sauce.

job done

I'm doing a lot of risotto at the moment which is super easy.

A lightish summer version is fennel risotto:

1 fennel
(sage leaves optional)
arborio rice (follow instructions on pack to work out how much)
garlic cloves
Marigold bouillon
Twinings sweet fennel tea bags
White wine
Parmesan
Parsley

Make a jug of stock first using the Marigold bouillon and one or two fennel tea bags - leave to stew so that it has quite a fennelly taste and take the tea bags out before using.

chop the fennel and lightly fry in butter with a few broken sage leaves if you like sage. When the fennel has softened a little add the rice and stir it in until coated in butter. Add a generous splash of white wine and stir in. Pour in stock to cover and stir in. Add some crushed garlic (as much or little as you feel appropriate).

Keep adding stock and the odd splash of white wine as the rice absorbs it until the rice is tender enough (the packet should give you a guide as to how long this will take).

Serve with finely chopped parsley and parmesan cheese. A green side salad goes v. well too.

If you want to do a fully italian meal then you could do bruschetta for nibbles then melon and parma ham starter, risotto main course and ice-cream to finish. Very little cooking involved and it all looks impressive.

Spinach & Mushroom lasagne - absolutely delish and a hit with my meat-eating friends too!

115g butter + extra for greasing
garlic
115g shallots
225g mushrooms
450g spinach
225g grated cheddar cheese
nutmeg
basil
60g flour
pint milk
120g cheshire cheese

Melt half butter, add garlic shallots and mushrooms and fry over low heat. Stir in spinach, cheddar, nutmeg and basil. Season to taste and set aside.

Melt remaining butter in another pan, add flour and cook stirring constantly for 1 min. Gradually add milk, whisking until smooth. Stir in half of the cheshire cheese and season to taste.

Layer lasagne into dish, top with remaining cheese and pop into preheated oven (200oC/400oF/GM 6) for 30-40 mins.

Also freezes very well so you could make in advance?

Another fave of mine is kedgeree using salmon fillets and smoked salmon - very filling and very tasty!