Simple Family Meal Ideas with Fountain

Brought to you by Fountain

I’ve had a renewed vigour for cooking this year, so when the Fountain Flavour Craver campaign came up, I was like YES! Fountain is an iconic Australian brand we love; I’ve worked with them before and it’s such a pleasure to be partnering with them again. We enjoy sauces at our place, I think mainly because we tend to keep things really simple, and sauce has that ability to jazz everything up. If you’re looking for simple meal inspiration, I’ve detailed below some of the ways we use various sauces in every day cooking. Along with the much loved tomato and barbeque classics (that also come in a no sugar recipe), Fountain also has a variety sauce range including the following:

• Hoi Sin
• Hot Chilli
• Mint
• Satay
• Soy 
• Soy Honey
• Spicy Red
• Steak
• Sweet Chilli 
• Thick Mint

The sauces are available at Woolworths, Coles and selected IGA stores nationwide.

1. Make Your Own

My children enjoy meals when everyone makes their own. For example, wraps, burritos, spuds, nacho bowls and things like that where I lay out the ingredients and everyone helps themselves. Another hit at our place is rice paper rolls. They are so fresh and yum and uber simple to throw together, there are just a few tips to keep in mind which I’ll share below. I added two dipping sauces to cater for different tastes: sweet chilli and satay.

Ingredients

Essentially, add whatever filling ingredients you like! This is what I used:

• Rice paper
• Wombok cabbage (sliced finely)
• Capsicum (sliced finely)
• BBQ chicken (shredded)
• Bean sprouts
• Coriander and mint (leaves pulled)
• Fried noodles (for a bit of crunch)
• Fountain Satay Sauce (tip: the sauce is delicious and thick, however if you want more of a dipping consistency, just add a tablespoon of warm water or coconut milk!)
• Fountain Sweet Chilli Sauce

Setting up

This is a simple, easy meal; however it does pay to do a few steps in the setting up to ensure the paper works well for everyone.

• We set up all the ingredients on a board, including the dipping sauces.
• The ideal way to handle rice paper is to place it on a clean, damp tea towel. So this becomes each person’s working area (instead of a plate really). Then, as you want to wrap, simply run the rice paper quickly under warm water, both sides (I did this step for the kids) before placing it on the tea towel.
• It will continue to soften quickly. Simply fill, roll and dip!

Wrapping

My daughter demonstrates how we wrap a rice paper roll.

• Add desired ingredients in the centre of the circle
• Then fold each side in
• Starting from the end closest to you body, fold the end up
• Use a rolling action to tightly roll the remainder of the roll. Be firm as you roll; the rice paper is really sturdy even though it looks fragile

2. Crave the Flavour

Sweet Chilli is such a big hit at our place, and I often use it in recipes, for example scrolls for the lunch box or in my meatballs. You can find the recipe for these meatballs that are full of veggies here. These are fabulous for freezing so you can make a big batch for later. The sauces can also be used in many other regular dishes to enhance flavour, for example, Spaghetti Bolognese and stir-fries. There are helpful tips on the Fountain website if you’re looking for further inspiration on how to use the different sauces for a variety of purposes.

3. Glaze Away

I added a mint sauce glaze to a lamb roast in the oven along with fresh mint from my garden. You can find the recipe here. You could also do this in the slow cooker, so if you’re time poor on a particular day, do it in the morning and the meal is ready when you get home. Just add some greens and ta-da – dinner done.

4. Finger Food Platter For the Win

I would say this is our family’s all time favourite way to eat food. I use a big board, and lay out a variety of finger food options and everyone digs in. I’ve done this many times with a variety of different ingredients including cold meats, cheese, fruit, olives, spring rolls, sausage rolls, mini wraps and crackers.

This time I included:

• Meatballs (that I had prepared a few days prior)
• Carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Cherry tomatoes
• Olives
• Grapes
• Strawberries
• Cheese
• Crackers
• Fountain Plum Sauce for dipping the meatballs (so good!)
• Sour cream with Fountain Sweet Chilli Sauce drizzled over the top

One of my favourite things about this meal is it’s super easy to clean up. This was all that was left.

5. BBQs 4 EVA

Coming in just behind the food platter, the classic Aussie BBQ is always a winner at our place, and we often do BBQs when we have visitors over too because it’s so easy. Marinate the meat for a few hours (or a day) before hand to enhance the flavour. I used the Fountain Steak Sauce for red meat and the Fountain Satay Sauce for the chicken.

This simple meal consisted of:

• BBQ Meat
• Coleslaw
• Green Salad
• Flat bread (we also cooked on the BBQ)

Food is a joy and I’m often reminded of that as our family shares moments of connection around a meal together, especially on weekends. There are two main things I’ve learned over the years about fostering these moments:

1. Keep meals simple so it’s easy to achieve and add flavour.
2. Create a family food culture underpinned by good food options, choice and balance.

Having a stash of Fountain sauces, too, is a bit like having a magic wand for adding flair to our simple family meals and I like it! If you’re lacking inspiration, I found the Fountain Hints & Tips for different sauces really helpful. Lots and lots of ideas.

Coordinated by Nuffnang