Harrison will eat anything. Alex will eat next to nothing. Benjamin can be either of those, depending on the mood he is in that day.

Trying to find meals that all three will eat, that are also healthy, quick, easy and affordable can be a little bit tricky at times. If you read our Meal Planning Monday posts, you’ll see we do have quite a wide variety of meals. We eat a lot of chicken (healthy, and one of the thing Alex will usually eat), and the rest of the time is a mix of meat free meals or meals with red meat.

Red meat has been in the spotlight recently, and not all for the right reasons. Experts fear that the nutritional benefits of red meat have been overshadowed by negative and misleading views and claims. The Meat Advisory Panel – an independent group of health and nutrition experts has partnered up with BritMums and bloggers to promote red meat in the diets of children.

When we go for red meat, we generally choose pork. It’s not as ‘red’ as beef or lamb, but the amount of myoglobin (an oxygen carrying protein in meat) in pork does class it as a red meat. The kids aren’t overly keen on beef or lamb unless it’s minced but they do love our slow cooker donor kebab.

We’ve had these Pork Pitta Pockets a couple of times now, and Harrison really likes them. Whether Alex and Ben eat them is very dependent on their mood, but they’re a firm favourite with the rest of us. They’re healthy, cheap, simple and easy enough for even the most incompetent of cooks (me!).

Pork Pitta Pockets

Ingredients:

Pork loin steaks

Olive Oil

Pitta bread

Apple juice

Tomato Ketchup

Brown Sauce

Honey

Instructions

Heat a splash of olive oil in the pan. When it’s hot, add the pork steaks.

Cook until just coloured and then pop into an oven proof dish.

Add a good-sized squeeze of ketchup and the same amount of brown sauce into the pan the pork was cooked in. Add a drop of apple juice and a spoonful of honey. Stir.

Once the sauce is bubbling, pour it over the pork steaks in the oven dish and put in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the pork is fully cooked all the way through.

Toast the pitta bread and slice in half to make a pocket.

Put a pork steak into the pocket and add a spoonful of the sauce.

Serve with salad and sweet potato fries.

Harrison really enjoys these and always clears his plate. Alex and Ben – well, it depends on their mood!

What are your favourite red meat recipes? If you have any to share, leave them in the comments and perhaps we will give them a go!

*This post is an entry for the BritMums #HealthyRedMeat, sponsored by the Meat Advisory Panel.