Sunday

Ingredients (1 portion)

• 1 eating apple
• 100 g frozen blackberries
• 30 g porridge oats
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 150 g plain Greek-style yoghurt
• 1 tsp honey (optional)

Method

1. Core and chop the apple into small cubes, skin on. Put it in a small saucepan with the frozen blackberries and 2 tbsp of water. Cover and cook over a medium heat for 6 minutes, stirring once, until the apple is soft and the fruit is juicy.
2. While it cooks, toast the oats in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring, until they smell nutty and are lightly golden. Stir in the cinnamon and take the pan off the heat.
3. Spoon half the yoghurt into a glass or a bowl, add half the warm fruit, then repeat the layers.
4. Scatter the toasted oats over the top as the crumble and drizzle with the honey if you like.

Why it is a healthy start

This is a crumble in spirit with no butter or sugar. The fruit gives fibre and vitamins, the yoghurt gives protein, and toasting the oats gives a crunchy topping.

Swaps

Frozen raspberries or a chopped pear in place of the blackberries. A few chopped walnuts on top of the oats.

Ingredients (1 portion)

• 1 portion Scotch-style vegetable and barley broth, from Saturday's lunch (kept in the fridge)
• 1 slice wholemeal bread
• 1 pinch black pepper

Method

1. Tip the cold broth into a saucepan. Add a splash of water (about 50 ml), because the barley will have soaked up some of the liquid.
2. Heat it over a medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring, until it is bubbling and steaming hot all the way through. (Or microwave, covered, for about 3 minutes, stirring halfway.)
3. Toast the bread. Season the broth with a little pepper and serve with the toast.

Why it is a healthy lunch

It is the easiest lunch of the week, and the flavours are even better the next day. Five vegetables and a whole grain, with no extra cooking.

Swaps

Grated cheese on top. A slice of cold roast pork or a spoonful of leftover beans stirred in. A swirl of yoghurt.

Ingredients (4 portions of pork; the vegetables are for tonight's portion)

• 1 kg boneless pork shoulder joint, fully defrosted if frozen
• 1 small onion
• ½ cube reduced-salt chicken stock cube
• 150 ml hot water for the stock
• 1 tsp olive oil, for the joint
• ½ tsp dried sage
• 1 pinch black pepper
• 1 carrot, cut into large chunks (tonight's portion)
• 1 parsnip (about 100 g), cut into large chunks (tonight's portion)
• 200 g potato (1 medium), cut into chunks (tonight's portion)
• 1 eating apple, cut into 6 wedges (tonight's portion)
• 1 tsp olive oil, for the vegetables (tonight's portion)

Prep (about 15 minutes)

1. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Take the pork out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking. Trim off any big pieces of hard fat, pat the joint dry with kitchen paper and rub it with the 1 tsp of oil, the sage and a good grind of pepper.
2. Peel the onion and cut it into thick slices. Put the slices in the middle of a roasting tin and sit the pork on top. Dissolve the stock cube in 150 ml of boiling water and pour it around the joint (not over the top).
3. Prepare the carrot, parsnip, potato and apple now and keep them in a covered bowl in the fridge until you need them.

Cooking (about 3 hours, mostly hands-off)

1. Put the tin in the oven for 20 minutes to brown the outside. Take it out, cover it tightly with foil and turn the oven down to 150°C (130°C fan).
2. Return it to the oven and cook for 2 hours. Check that there is still liquid in the bottom of the tin, and add a splash of hot water if it looks dry.
3. Take the foil off. Toss the carrot, parsnip and potato with the 1 tsp of oil and add them to the tin around the pork, with the apple wedges. Turn the oven up to 200°C (180°C fan) and roast, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes, turning the vegetables once, until the pork is very tender and golden and the vegetables are soft.
4. Check the pork is cooked: it should be piping hot and white all the way through, with no pink, and fall apart easily when you push a fork into it.
5. Rest the pork on a board under foil for 15 minutes, then slice or pull it apart with two forks. Serve one quarter with the roast vegetables and apple, and spoon over some of the juices from the tin.
6. Divide the rest of the pork into three containers, with a little of the juices on each, to keep it moist.

Why it is a healthy dinner

A single joint cooked slowly gives four meals with no extra effort, and trimming the fat keeps it lean. Roast apple and root vegetables make the plate sweet and filling with no gravy mix or added sugar.

Swaps

Boneless chicken thighs, cooked for about 1 hour at 180°C, if you want a lighter and quicker version. A swede or a sweet potato in place of the potato.