Healthy Food Guide Cowboy Casserole

A delicious, quick and easy family dish for these cooler nights - and best of all it's ready in super quick time!

This is a family favourite - healthy and filling comfort food made with ingredients you are very likely to have in your kitchen, and thrown together in around 30 minutes!

The casserole alone contains:

• Protein from the mince and beans: protein is important for growth, repair and maintenance of body tissues, and it helps to fill you up for longer.

• Carbohydrates from the pasta: carbohydrates are our bodies preferred energy source. Pasta is also delicious, so there's that.

• Fibre from the beans: great for bowel health (gotta keep things moving and keep those friendly gut microbes happy), and it also helps you feel fuller for longer.

• Iron from the mince and beans: iron is important for the transport of oxygen around the body, as its an essential part of haemoglobin in our blood. The mince contains heme iron, and the beans contain non-heme iron. Both the presence of the meat and the vitamin C in the tomato paste will enhance the absorption of the non-heme iron.

• Calcium in the cheese and the beans: not only important for bone health, but nerve and muscle function, blood clotting and some hormonal functions. When eaten as part of a meal, the calcium is more readily absorbed, and the acidity from the tomato paste will help too.

Then if you add a few colourful veggies on the side, maybe some...

• Quickly microwaved frozen corn and peas

• Steamed carrots and broccoli

• Corn on the cob

• A mixed-leaf salad with grated carrot and sliced tomatoes

...you will add even more goodness to the family meal.

You can find the HFG Cowboy Casserole recipe here

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Within the dazzling array of delicious recipes, you will find plenty that are likely to become firm favourites in your household too.