easy healthy dinners--ideas needed

[Anonymous]

The do you cook thread got me thinking that we could do MUCH better in the healthy dinner department.

Would you be so kind as to post your healthy and relatively simple dinner meal suggestions? Thanks very much!

[Anonymous]

Baked salmon or other fish - 400 degrees 25 minutes - can season with dijon mustard, olive oil, and dried dill spice. - For white fish, try McCormick's Jerk Seasoning or Lemon Pepper Seasoning Salt
Frozen veggie (e.g., broccoli) - microwave with sprinkled olive oil
Frozen brown rice - microwave (Trader Joe's sells pouches in a box)

[Anonymous]

PP Here -

Burritos (I use medium/taco size tortillas - microwave 15 seconds to soften)

- Instant rice (or regular)
- 2+ cans Black beans - season w/ Adobo from Hispanic aisle (red cap one!) - heat on stovetop 5 minutes
- Chopped up veggie like red pepper or tomatoes
- Low fat sour cream
- Optional: hot sauce

[Anonymous]

I swear by the recipes published in Real Simple magazine. You can get them for free on their website.

My 4-year old has requested this one for dinner tonight: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chicken-wild-rice-grapes-00100000066460/index.html

I'll be using breasts instead of thighs.

[Anonymous]

Buy an organic whole chicken and throw it in the oven for a few hours

[Anonymous]

I like whole chickens that come with the poppers to let you know it's ready (they are sort of idiot proof) - like Perdue Oven Roasters. It takes roughly 1.25 to 1.5 hours.

Directions: Rinse, rub on olive oil, sprinkle McCormick Lemon Pepper Seasoning Salt, bake in a pan with 1 cup of water in it. Of course, you have to pull out the bag full of innards they stuff inside the hole and rinse it first before you season it and put it in the oven. The packaging should have the cooking time/temp on it.

[Anonymous]

Buy the book "South Beach: Quck and Easy Meals" i use A TON of stuff from there. Most of them are good for you (they are low carb and whole grain but be careful with cheese and oil amounts). My pages are falling apart I use it so much.

[Anonymous]

Check out skinnytaste.com for lots of good ideas. Her soups in particular have been big hits at my house, even with my super picky and veggie-averse husband.

[Anonymous]

DC foodie recipes - http://www.keepitsimplefoods.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy an organic whole chicken and throw it in the oven for a few hours

I cook a whole organic chicken every other week. Cooking time is never more than an hour. I use a method I learned from Mark Bittman which works really well for me. My only change from his instructions that I start with a 400 degree oven. When I did 450, as he suggests, I had the fire detectors going crazy and the house was all smokey.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/the-minimalist-simplest-roast-chicken/

A big part of the reason I cook chickens often is to make stock from the carcass. Its not really "quick cooking" but its a great way to make other things taste fabulous easily. Like lentils cooked in my rich chicken stock taste great with minimal other seasoning.

For quick meals that have to come together in 30 minutes or so, we try to have a couple precooked staples in the fridge. Like we cook up a pot of black beans on the weekend. Then we can come home from work and cook some rice, grate some cheese, and put the salsa on the table and call it dinner.

Another common quick dinner is pizza's made on whole wheat lavash. Our 3 year old loves to help. While the pizza stone heats up, we take all the fixins out of the fridge and assemble a couple of pizzas.

[Anonymous]

I second skinny taste. My dh and dd love the recipes and I have lost 10 pounds since January, just cooking healthy. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We eat a lot of salad. Spinach salad with grilled chicken, mushrooms and peppers. Caesar salad would
with homemade dressing. Salad with bacon and hard boiled eggs in it. I tend to prefer cold dinners in the summer when its hot out.

Oh, gazpacho is good too. I usually serve with shrimp cocktail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buy an organic whole chicken and throw it in the oven for a few hours

I cook a whole organic chicken every other week. Cooking time is never more than an hour. I use a method I learned from Mark Bittman which works really well for me. My only change from his instructions that I start with a 400 degree oven. When I did 450, as he suggests, I had the fire detectors going crazy and the house was all smokey.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/the-minimalist-simplest-roast-chicken/

A big part of the reason I cook chickens often is to make stock from the carcass. Its not really "quick cooking" but its a great way to make other things taste fabulous easily. Like lentils cooked in my rich chicken stock taste great with minimal other seasoning.

For quick meals that have to come together in 30 minutes or so, we try to have a couple precooked staples in the fridge. Like we cook up a pot of black beans on the weekend. Then we can come home from work and cook some rice, grate some cheese, and put the salsa on the table and call it dinner.

Another common quick dinner is pizza's made on whole wheat lavash. Our 3 year old loves to help. While the pizza stone heats up, we take all the fixins out of the fridge and assemble a couple of pizzas.

Wowza. I like my chicken cooked at low temps for a long time.

[Anonymous]

I keep breast meat chicken and salmon steaks in the freezer (from Sam's). Thaw in the microwave, then brown in a little butter, add a chiffonade (fancy name for a rough chop) of fresh basil. Cook until the basil is slightly wilted, then squirt a half a lemon over the meat. Serve with a whole grain brown or wild rice pilaf and steamed veggie of choice.

I've also done with same dish with a light homemade teriyaki sauce (soy sauce, a little minced garlic and ginger, a dash of red wine vinegar, a dash of sesame oil and either hoisin or oyster sauce). You only need a small amount and toss it over the meat when browned. Then just turn until coated and let sit for a minute or two and then serve.

Love this recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/317393/chicken-lemon-and-dill-with-orzo

If you like "fried chicken" I make oven fried chicken. Take chicken breasts, dredge lightly in flour or cornstarch, then egg and then in crushed whole wheat crackers. Put a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Put the breasts on, spray with a light spray of olive oil (you can use Pam, but I also have a oil mister filled with olive oil), turn, spray the other side, then bake. Really good and healthy, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buy an organic whole chicken and throw it in the oven for a few hours

I cook a whole organic chicken every other week. Cooking time is never more than an hour. I use a method I learned from Mark Bittman which works really well for me. My only change from his instructions that I start with a 400 degree oven. When I did 450, as he suggests, I had the fire detectors going crazy and the house was all smokey.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/the-minimalist-simplest-roast-chicken/

A big part of the reason I cook chickens often is to make stock from the carcass. Its not really "quick cooking" but its a great way to make other things taste fabulous easily. Like lentils cooked in my rich chicken stock taste great with minimal other seasoning.

For quick meals that have to come together in 30 minutes or so, we try to have a couple precooked staples in the fridge. Like we cook up a pot of black beans on the weekend. Then we can come home from work and cook some rice, grate some cheese, and put the salsa on the table and call it dinner.

Another common quick dinner is pizza's made on whole wheat lavash. Our 3 year old loves to help. While the pizza stone heats up, we take all the fixins out of the fridge and assemble a couple of pizzas.

Wowza. I like my chicken cooked at low temps for a long time.

I'm the PP you quoted. Care to share your recipe/technique?

I've heard that pasture raised chickens need a long slow cooking to be moist and tender.