Simple, Healthy, Easy Meals

Beans and greens. Fast, easy and healthy. The veggie version - sautee a bunch of garlic in olive oil, throw in a large chopped bunch of greens (we usually use kale or rapini), saute a few minutes, add a can of white beans and cook until greens are done (depending on what kind usually 5-7 minutes more). Serve (by itself or over whole grain pasta or polenta) sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan. If we have Italian sausage (last night used chicken sausage), I will brown that first, then add the garlic, then greens and beans. Bacon and chopped cooked sausage like soprasseta work too.

salad with protein (chicken, tuna, beans, egg, soy).
sloppy joes.

stovetop chicken. in a shallow pan with a lid, sear your choice of chicken (many like thighs for this), add all or any of the following onion, garlic, carrots, potato, peppers, tomato, chorizo, sausage, bacon
then add enough liquid- chicken/ beef/ veg stock, tomato sauce, wine to cover 2/3 of the way.bring to boil, then simmer with the lid on but ajar till the meat has cooked through.

I hear you! With two kids playing baseball, if it doesn't rain we have baseball 4 nights a week. (Thank God for the rain this week. The kids really needed the downtime :-)

Love Micky's ideas. We do that quite a bit.

We also do tacos and fajitas. The really don't take long, and the kids love them.

You can cut up some chicken ahead of time and throw it in a skillet with some veggies (frozen veggies are ok, too, and there are so many varieties) and soy sauce. Prepare the rice the night before, and you've got stir fry chicken.

Some nights we have cold cuts.

We also do leftoevers. Remember, dinner doesn't always have to be cooked just before you eat it. And it doesn't always have to be fancy in order to be healthy.

Can you tell my semester is done and I'm excited to start cooking better for my family? I've been thinking about this for awhile!

I make nearly everything in the crock pot.
Soup, roasts, taco stuff (chicken or beef), pork chops, oatmeal, pasta....

It is your best friend, and with all of it, you just pile in the ingredients in the morning and you are set to go when you get home.

Hi! I know the "busy life" well. For me, the best thing is pre-planning. We have 5 menus that we rotate in our home. We are vegetarian and VERY health conscious. I would be happy to send you them...they even have the recipes on them :)
Send me a PM with your email and I will be happy to share!

B.

Whenever chicken cutlets or boneless breasts are on sale I buy 6 or 8 packaegs. i spray them with "pam" sprinkle montreal chicken spice, or cajun or mesquite spice on them and grill them all. then throw them in ziploc freezer bags in the freezer. We can add them to salad, pasta with veggies & broth, put them on a roll, use flour tortillas & cheese in the microwave for quesadillas, use them for taco or enchilada filling, eat them plain, etc.

I also make chicken meatballs (use panko instead of breadcrumbs) and run carrtos, celery, zucchini & onion through the food processor and add into the meatballs. I bake them in the oven. My daughter likes pesto - so I add pesto into half of them, my son like buffalo style so I add hot sauce an crumbled blue cheese into the other half. I also toss these into freezer bags in the freezer.

I have to say about half our meals last week came from these two things. In the winter I make chjicken chili and beef burgundy or lemon chicken and I always make 2 or 3 times as much as one meal and freeze the rest. I use a lot of freezer bags!

At the beginning of the week I buy a hube bag of organic carrots and make carrots stick, put them in separate sandwich bags. I do the same with red peppers, brocoli, baby cucumbers, etc. (the carrots stay crisp the longest). when my kids look for a snack that hour before dinner I put them out with some yougurt sauce or blue cheese dressing and they get their veggies without much thought. Even at 15 and 18 they will eat these because they're easy and available. otherwise they look for chips & cookies.

i hope you get lots of helpful ideas!

I would use a crock pot, throw things in there in the morning, set it on low
and it will be ready when you come home.:
-beef, potato, carrot stew
-chicken soup etc.

You could, also, pick up rotisserie chicken, macaroni or potato salad from
the store on your way home in a pinch.

You can make veggie soup:

Onion, celery, garlic, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, tomatoes (I freeze my ripe tomatoes and toss them in the soup later), and kidney beans or garbanzos, with chicken broth. Add a little pasta and make them a grilled cheese or turkey sandwich on the side. If they are old enough, set everything out and they can make it themselves. If sandwiches are too much work and you want to add protein, add a spoonful of (cooked) ground beef, then top the soup with cheese.

Okay, but it's 100 degrees here!!!
I follow the instructions on a box of "Classic" pasta salad. In a separate pan, I put a little onion, garlic, celery; add cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, a couple of green beans; 3 parts water, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. Add salt, pepper, dried parsley, and dried oregano. Turn the fire to low and let it cook for about 3 - 5 minutes. You will see the broccoli change from vibrant green to dark green. It should still be stiff so that when it is cold it has a little crunch. Remove from heat and remove the oil & vinegar mix. Toss with the pasta salad. You can add garbanzos or kidney beans, cucumber, and tomato. Refrigerate and serve with a sandwich. Once you refrigerate it, all the oil will soak up and it will lose flavor. You can add your favorite bottled Italian salad dressing, I use Wishbone. The salad has everything else, so you can just set up some simple sliced cheese and sandwich meats with a bag of rolls. I like the Hawaiian sweets, they are always a hit.
*I am not a fan of boxes of food, but this combination works!

I also like to make smoothies. They freeze and thaw well. They are great for breakfast on the side of a small bowl of cereal.

When my strawberries & bananas begin to ripen, I toss them in the freezer. Then I toss them in the food processor (a blender will work) along with a few spoons of plain yogurt and a squeeze of honey. I also ad about 5-10 leaves of spinach. Eat them right away or freeze them in personal sized containers. My daughter came in the other day and ordered a smoothie for everyone out front! I love that she was out there bragging, but OMG! I made the smoothies and poured them into 2 oz disposable ketchup cups and gave them a plastic spoon. They loved them and I loved that I didn't have to give them a pouch of sugar and water.

I do a lot of simple "stir-frys" with a protein, 2 or 3 veggies (fresh or frozen), and bottled sauce(s). The combinations are endless over rice, pasta, or on tortillas, or over salad greens. All take 10 -20 mins or so.

1) chicken, veggies, peanut sauce, over thin spaghetti noodles, sprinkle of cashews
2) chicken/black beans, corn, peppers, salsa, on tortillas with toppings
3) beef/pork, veggies, bottled stir-fry sauce, peanuts, over rice (cooked ahead or frozen microwavable brown rice)
4) chicken & nuts stir fried with olive oil/garlic/balsamic over steamed kale with dried cranberries
5) chicken/pork, veggies, canned pineapple, sweet/sour sauce, over rice
6) steak strips sauteed with olive oil/garlic/balsamic/salt/pepper, over butter lettuce with dried cranberries/cherries, feta cheese, walnuts

I'm also a fan of a big pot of hearty soup that stretches over more than one day.
1) steak cowboy soup
2) chicken tortilla soup
3) bean, sweet potato, corn, salsa chili (just add taco seasoning and put in crock pot

Or crock pot
1) roast beef and a jar of pepperoncinis (just 2 ingredients and great for sandwiches or nachos)
2) pork butt roast and root beer in crockpot, shred and add BBQ sauce at end

We've been have soup on busy nights when hubby workouts. Food network has a terrific 30 minute minestrone. We do chicken noodle, and I did a beef noodle recently everyone loved.

We also have been doing make your own salad night. It's a big success.....another night we do a salad of some sort and BLTs - th bacon isn't that bad for you if everything else is healthy. So sandwiches and salad.

Grilled chicken salad, or steak salad.
Tuna, chicken or egg salad. (Dice apples into the tuna/chicken salad)
Breaded chicken in the oven: tenderloins, dip in egg, breadcrumbs, done in 20 min max.
Large pot of homemade soup--stock the freezer.
Meatloaf, meatballs for hot or Sammie's.
BLTs.

garlic
red, orange and yellow bell pepper - sliced
chicken breast - sliced
black bean sauce
soy sauce

put some olive oil in a large pan, let it get warm add garlic and let it cook up a bit, add chicken, and peppers (you can even slice it all the day before, just sore peppers and chicken separate). when the chicken starts to get all white add some black bean sauce (I don't use measuring spoons sorry) I usually use a regular spoon and add 3-5 heaping scoops of it, and just add soy sauce and simmer until completely done. I serve this over white rice you can even top with sesame seeds, or sliced almonds.
SUPER easy and SUPER good.

fresh mixed baby greens salad with avocado on top. Make a vinaigrette. Then sauté shrimp in some olive oil with lots of garlic. Add a little salt, pepper, and red pepper. Serve on top of salad. Sprinkle w parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper. This was dinner for us last night and it was delicious! Serve with crusty bread.

Crock pot chilli, soup, roast (beef or pork). Cook chicken breasts in crock pot with a bunch of your favorite salsa. Serve with tortillas, or make your own chicken tacos.

Saute thin pork chops or chicken or hamburger patties or thin steak...it's quick and easy. Quickly make some rice or mashed potatoes and steam a veggie or make a salad. Easy. Kids like dinners like this.

Leftover roast chicken. Roast a chicken on a night you have more time. Use the leftover meat to make wraps, or salad wraps (in lettuce leaves) with a peanut sauce and other veggies, or on top of salad, or make homemade chicken salad sandwiches with cut up apples and celery. Or you can prepare enchilada casserole the night before. That day, pour on the sauce and bake it till hot and bubbly.

I find taco night to be easy and fast. I tried the beans and greens dinner a few times mentioned below and it was very yummy. :)

I have found some awesome and delicious recipes off the site budgetbytes.com. Everything is made with items you usually have on hand and it's really good, healthy too!