Tag Archives: healthy dinner recipes

Quick Easy Meal Ideas with Fish

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Every diet, nutrition, or health book will tell you the same thing: eat more fish! Studies show that those who consume more fish are less likely to have diabetes and heart disease, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. This is namely due to fish’s omega-3 fatty acids, which have been known to regulate your body’s inflammation. Luckily, fish dishes can be easy and extremely quick to make. Try out some of these quick easy meal ideas, which only take about 20 minutes a piece!

  • Tilapia in Garlic Butter: Garlic butter is delicious and can be great on any kind of fish, really. This butter tastes especially wonderful with tilapia, which doesn’t have an extremely fishy taste like many other fish. Brush your tilapia with garlic butter, along with other spices like garlic, pepper, salt, and paprika to extra taste. Bake for about 15 minutes and serve with a salad or some pasta for a delicious meal.
  • Pan-Seared Paprika Trout: While trout contains about 5 grams of fat, these fats all come from omega-3s, making them both delicious and healthy. Just one, 3 ounce filet carries about 19 g of protein, making it a great pick for those who need a hearty dose of protein in their diet. All you have to do to make a paprika trout is season fish on both sides with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and cook for about 4 minutes on each side. Serve with broccoli and a spicy sauce for a great meal.

  • Soy and Ginger Broiled Salmon: Salmon is the reigning king of omega-3s and some studies have shown that this fish may even help with joint cartilage and insulin effectiveness. Luckily, a salmon dish only takes about 25 minutes to cook. Try a soy and ginger salmon, which can be made by simply throwing a marinated salmon in a broiler for about 8 minutes. Serve with peanut noodles and an Asian-style salad with ginger vinaigrette.
  • Pan-Seared Halibut with Tomatoes: Halibut only takes about 10 minutes to prepare and tastes great when seared in a large saute pan, prepped with grapeseed oil. Serve along with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and parsley on a bed of fresh greens.
  • Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry: Shrimp, like tilapia, is approachable and mild, and perfect for people that aren’t exactly fish fanatics. Shrimp tastes great in a stir fry with a sweet and sour sauce with lots of vegetables, like mushrooms, bean sprouts, broccoli, and scallions.

If you absolutely despise fish, we understand. Try taking a high quality fish oil supplement to get a good dose of your omega-3s. However, for you fish-lovers out there, next time you want to whip up a great quick easy meal try one of these recipes. The omega-3s in fish may make you feel better than ever!

Tips for Creating Great Sunday Supper Recipes

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We’ve all heard the benefits of eating with the family. One survey done by the Obesity Prevention Program at Harvard Medical School found that 9-14 year-olds who ate dinner with their families frequently ate more fruits and vegetables and less soda and fried foods. Additionally, researchers at Brigham Young University conducted a study of IBM workers and found that sitting down to a family meal helped working moms reduce the tension and strain of long hours at the office. While sitting down for dinner helps kids eat healthier and moms alleviate stress, family dinners are also fun and a great opportunity for the whole family to spend some time together and catch up. Instead of ordering in this Sunday, have a traditional Sunday supper. Here are some tips to create the perfect Sunday supper recipes:

  • Plan in advance. You don’t want Sunday to roll around and have no idea what you’re going to cook. Additionally, braving the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon can sometimes be a nightmare with frenzied mothers and children running amuck. Avoid the lines and grocery store and do your meal planning, recipe selecting, and grocery shopping beforehand.
  • Keep your Sunday supper classic and stick to recipes that everyone will love. Think of suppers that your mother or father used to serve you, like classic roast beef with home fries and gravy, lemon rotisserie chicken with fresh rolls and honey butter, or maple glazed pork roast with garlic potatoes. Once you find a menu you love, you can create your own family tradition.
  • Keep it simple. Don’t spend your entire Saturday and Sunday cooking and cleaning. Make as much as you can beforehand (like desserts, in particular) and try to save time by buying sauces at the grocery store rather than making them at home. Minimal cooking means minimal stress.
  • Get your family to lend a helping hand. This isn’t a one-woman show! Get everyone involved, from the chopping and peeling, to the cleaning. Normally, non-cookers get dish duty.
  • Pick a filling meat as the entree, like pork, beef, or chicken. These hearty meats are the anchor and soul to any Sunday supper.
  • Sneak in veggies if you have to and make it healthy. You don’t want to associate Sundays with pigging out and unhealthy eating. Instead, give your kids a positive example of what a meal should look like, with a balance of healthy carbohydrates, protein, and plenty of veggies. A side salad or grilled asparagus could add a little green to your supper recipes.
  • Make a dessert. Every supper recipe deserves a dessert for the special meal. Cheesecake, carrot cake, or even something as simple as Jello and some fruit are great complements for a Sunday supper. Try and prepare something that pairs well with your entree.
  • Pick a standard time to eat supper every week and stick to it. This will assure that everyone in the family keeps their schedules wide open for a wonderful, relaxed suppertime meal.

If you keep all of these tips in mind, you will surely prepare Sunday supper recipe to remember. Just beware: after one, your family will want a Sunday supper every week!

 

Easy Meal Planning: Guide to Perishable Foods and Preventing Food Waste

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No one likes to see food waste away in the fridge. As we all know, food waste is considered a huge problem in America. A study in Tompkins Country, NY, showed that 40 % of food waste occurred in the home and another study by Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab found that 93% of respondents acknowledge buying foods they never use. Books have been written about it, research has been procured, and plans to convert our enormous amounts of wasted food into energy have been initiated–yet still, the average American wastes much of their food.

While letting food go to waste may be bad for the environment, it’s also bad for our wallets. When we throw a head of lettuce or some rotten apples in the garbage, we’re really throwing our money right into the dumpster. Instead of letting food rot in the fridge, gauge your easy meal planning based on the shelf-life or fridge-life of fruits and veggies. This will allow you to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to your grocery shopping and, most importantly, adequately meal plan. If you buy an extremely perishable vegetable, for example, you should put it in your meals at the beginning of the week, whereas veggies with more longevity can be eaten on the weekend.

Fruits and Veggies that You Should Eat First

These produce items are healthy and wonderful buys, but you should plan to put them in meals that occur at the beginning of the week. If you’re doing your grocery shopping on the weekend, for example, plan on serving or eating these fruits in the beginning of the week. Plan to eat these fruits and veggies straight out of the grocery cart, as they’ll perish in a heartbeat:

  • Artichokes: Great for making artichoke dips or even eating with a drizzle of olive oil straight off the grill, they’ll start tasting a bit funky after about five days.
  • Asparagus: Raw asparagus is best used within two to three days for maximum freshness.
  • Avocados: If you’ve already cut an avocado, take out the pit and rub the surface generously with lemon juice to prevent browning. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. The avocado probably won’t last any longer than 36 hours.
  • Bananas: Buy your bananas a bit green at the grocery story if you plan on using them later in the week. Don’t throw out your old bananas! Overripe bananas can be used to make banana breads, muffins, or even banana ice cream.
  • Basil: Wrap the ends of basil in a wet paper towel to keep them moist. Even with proper refrigeration and storage, basil won’t last any longer than 4-5 days.
  • Green beans: This versatile veggie with probably only last in your fridge for several days without getting a rather off-putting sticky film. Not attractive. Plan to make your green bean casserole at the beginning of the week to avoid this refrigerator mess.
  • Mushrooms: Mushrooms, like green beans, are going to get a bit slimy if they’re bad. Make your mushroom-cream sauces or throw sautéed mushrooms into an omelet but don’t keep ‘em past five days.
  • Strawberries: Alas, this vitamin C-filled treasure is extremely perishable, only lasting us about 6 days, at best. Make strawberries into ice cream to preserve them, whip up some strawberry jam, or just throw the bulk of them into a fruit smoothie before they go bad.

Fruits and Veggies with Longevity for Easy Meal Planning

Plan to use these fruits and veggies at the end of the week. They’ll taste just as good as when you bought them!

  • Apples: Apples last weeks and weeks. Store your apples in a crisper drawer of your fridge to retain maximum freshness. When they’re getting a little testy, slice them and make them into applesauce.
  • Oranges: Oranges will last you about 4 weeks, whether you store them at room temperature or in the fridge.
  • Blueberries: When you’re blueberries are getting to the point of questionability, you can freeze them on a cookie sheet, then put them into a Ziploc bag. Use your frozen blueberries as ice cubes for lemonade in the summers–they’ll last for six months or so. Fresh berries should be eaten within about 9 days.
  • Grapefruit: Grapefruit keeps for about 2-3 weeks in the fridge. Eat with plain sugar, throw it in a fruit salad, or make a grapefruit cocktail.
  • Lemons: The basic rule of thumb for lemons is that they’re fine until they don’t look fine (shriveled, moldy, or brown). Throw leftover lemons in your drinks for a kick of vitamin C. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
  • Pears: Pears are great until they’re a bit yellow or soft. You’ll know that a pear is still good to eat when it has a great aroma and it’s barely tender.

Keep in mind that you can always get frozen veggies or canned fruits for your extremely perishable goods. When you’re drafting out your easy meal planning, make sure that you keep perishable produce in mind and plan from there. Knowing your food timelines will make easy meal planning easier than ever!

 

Family Meal Recipes: a Luscious Lean Burger

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Sure, burgers have received a pretty bad rap as of late, with rumors that claim red meat can be the cause of all sorts of ailments. Many nutritionists, however, contend that lean beef can be a great part of any diet. Registered dietician Nancy Anderson, for example, claims that though ground beef shouldn’t be eaten more than 2-3 times a week, it’s a great source of protein and iron. While the whole family enjoys a hearty, fatty burger, you may want to keep an eye on your family’s health by opting for the lean, healthy alternative or other healthy family recipes. However, many people have no clue how to cook a lean burger to make it just as luscious and delicious as its fatty counterparts. Don’t worry — there are plenty of tips that can help you trick your family into thinking they are eating the real deal.

Choosing the meat

All lean burgers start at the meat. Turkey burgers taste great and carry the same consistency as beef burgers. You could also try bison burgers or even veggie burgers if you’re feeling a bit adventurous.

  • Turkey Burgers: Ground turkey, bread crumbs, onion, egg whites and garlic can be combined to make a mean turkey burger. Turkey burgers should reach an internal temperature of about 180F.
  • Bison Burgers: If you want to go the bison burger route, look for 80-90% lean meat. Less than 10% fat may result in a dry burger. Cook your burger until it’s at least 160F internally. A continuous heat of about 475-500F will result in a well done bison burger.
  • Veggie Burgers: Black beans, panko breadcrumbs, eggs, scallions, basil, garlic and various spices make a delicious black bean burger and red beets, black beans, and brown rice can be combined to make a burger with a strikingly beef-like consistency.

Cooking Tips for Lean Burgers

You could go with turkey, veggie, or bison burgers, but lean beef reigns supreme when it comes to the “healthy” burger. Lean meat is defined by the USDA as meat that has less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 100-gram. All these factors combined and you have yourself a healthy burger. Keep these tips in mind if you want to cook up a lean burger tonight:

  • Outdoor grilling is ideal for your meat to give it massive amounts of flavor and a juicy interior.
  • Try to handle and shape your burgers as little as possible when making them into patties and never press down on your lean burgers as they cook. This will keep them nice and juicy.
  • Leaner burgers require a lower cooking temperature and could be easier to cook with added ingredients, which help increase moisture. Ingredients that give you a bit of moisture include sauces, toppings, or add-ins. Use veggies like onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and pickles, to give your burger some moisture.
  • It doesn’t stop at the burger. If you pair your lean burger with French fries and a soda pop, you may be defeating the whole purpose of the meal. Instead, bake sweet potato fries and serve your dish with iced tea.

Next time you’re at the grill, try to prepare some family real recipes that aren’t saturated in fats. Make sure your family is taking in great, healthy meals for a healthy and happier lifestyle.

Easy Fast Dinner Recipes: 15 Minute Meals

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A recent survey revealed that the average family dinner time has shifted from 5:30 PM, about 10 years ago, to the very late 8:00 PM. A poll linked with the survey showed that 58% of adults blame today’s increasingly busy lifestyles for the later eating times. More work and later eating times may mean that moms and dads need to get a hearty dinner on the table in a flash. While we would all love to feast on squash gnocchi with garden-fresh tomatoes or beef tenderloin with brandied mushroom sauce, some of us just don’t have time. If you’re in a time crunch, try an easy fast dinner recipe. Dinners don’t have to take a lot of time — in fact, they can take under 15 minutes! Cook up a 15 minute meal and get the whole family at the dinner before the late time of 8:00 PM.

Easy 15 Minute Meals

  • Macaroni Tuna Casserole: This macaroni tuna casserole only takes about 15 minutes to bake. Simply throw in some mac n’ cheese dinner mix a can of tuna, cream of chicken soup, milk and cheddar cheese for a dinner that will please the whole family.

  •  Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs: Chopping the chicken and veggies and throwing them on a skewer shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Marinate your chicken in honey for a sweet kick, or serve your grilled kabobs with a spicy or tangy sauce on the side. Kabobs are a great way to get the family eating their veggies.
  • Baked Mashed Potatoes: Baked potatoes are inexpensive, easy-to-make, and delicious. You can pop a potato in the microwave and have it out in about five minutes. Garnish with salt, cheese, sour cream, chives, and bacon bits and serve with a side salad or a soup.
  • Bean and Cheese Tacos: Bean and cheese tacos can be made for the whole family for about $5 and they’re a no-brainer to prepare. Grab some cheese, refried beans, and tortillas at the store for a complete and fibrous meal. You can serve a Mexican-style salad with your tacos, like some iceberg lettuce with salsa and corn chips, or make a healthier version of bean and cheese tacos by using black beans and whole grain tortillas.
  • Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms: Grab a can of cream of mushroom soup, saute diced onion, brown chicken breast, and pour everything over noodles for an undeniably delicious dish that will be done in a flash.

Dinner doesn’t have to be a pain, it can be ready in an instant! Next time you’re thinking of making an easy fast dinner recipe, consider trying to make 15 minute meals. You’ll be surprised at how fast you can get dinner on the table when you’re working with easy fast dinner recipes.