Looking for healthy easy dinner ideas

[james'mommy]

DH has declared I need to cook more. And he says he doesn't want to eat anything that came from a box. I have a crock pot but never use it. I'm looking for healthy low fat meals.

 

[rdevine10]

This is one of my favorites and its SO easy:

Salsa Chicken:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts (I cut each breast into 2 to 3 pieces depending on how big they are.

Place in casserole dish.

Pour on the whole jar of your favorite salsa. Regular is awesome, as well as varities such as newman's peach or pineapple.

Bake covered at 350 until done (? 35 min).

Serve alone, with rice or salad, veggies... whatever

 

[Nicsmom]

I'm not a fan of cooking either. I do use my crock pot though. I have two easy recipes that I made up. 1) chicken breasts, can or two of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, green pepper or two and an onion, let it cook on low for 8 hours. I serve this with Trader Joes brown rice and 2) chicken breasts, 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, 1/2 cup beef broth, cook on low for 8 hours. I usually shred it Easy and yummy.

 

[HLDisney]

Have you checked out this thread?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2367027

Helen

 

[dawson5]

Be careful on some of the jarred and canned stuff. I know you said healthy dinners. Take a look at the sodium on some of those. We are rethinking our diets right now, I always thought I was a pretty healthy cook. Hubby had chest pains on Christmas eve, went to his family doctor on the following Tues, cardiologist on NYE and in the hospital on Tues for a stent--80% blockage at 44. He has been put on a low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium diet. That low sodium stuff bites you in the behind, the rest seem obvious. I never knew how much sodium were in things. Amazing.

 

[tink20]

I make a Taco soup

1 lb lean ground beef
1 pk burritto seasoning mix packet
1 can chicken broth
1 can kidney beans (I use light red) (drained and rinsed)
1 can black bean (drained and rinsed)
1 can whole kernal corn (drained)
1 can rotelle tomato (with lemon and cilantro)
1 pk ranch dip mix
1 8 oz. sour cream (could use light)

Brown meat, drain, add burritto seasoning. Add next five ingred. to crock pot.
Mix ranch dip mix to sour cream, add to crock pot. Add meat. (make sure your crock pot is already hot) You can make this on the stove top. I make it in the crock pot, (on low,or even warm) because it just taste better after cooking for awhile.

 

[Justsyd2]

The healthiest diets include:

Low fat meats
Legumes and brown rice
Fresh veggies and fruits
Low sodium canned items
Real butter (better for you than margarine)


Try to cook meats in the oven without breading, steam veggies and eat salads with lots of vegetables. Use low fat dressings. Serve fruit for desserts. Use spices for flavoring on the meats instead of dressing up with a can or jar of this or that.

Bake Chicken or Pork Chops with hearb seasoning
Steamed Rice
Steamed Veggies
Salad
Fruit

Makes a great, easy meal!

 

[Molly Meow]

At the risk of sounding like I'm plugging myself, I have a blog about this very thing. I have been been diagnosed with an inflamed gallbladder and told to eat low fat.

I don't have much posted yet, but every night after dinner, I'm going to be adding a new posting as to what I made. I include my husband's thoughts on the dinners as he has no interest in changing his diet, so if he says it's good when it's low fat, it must be!

Good luck to you, once you get started on cooking every night and develop a routine, it gets a lot easier.

http://www.madeupmeals.com

 

[blanq]

DH has declared I need to cook more. And he says he doesn't want to eat anything that came from a box. I have a crock pot but never use it. I'm looking for healthy low fat meals.

It took me a minute to get past the "demands" it appears your DH just placed on you. That said, grilled meats are a great option. We eat lots of them. You can throw in a baked potato and a salad and it is a good and healthy meal. This week I made a great spinach salad with grilled shrimp, mandarin oranges, turkey bacon, feta cheese, sliced almonds and light raspberry vinaigrette...it was yum and quite healthy. Another meal I like is whole wheat pasta cooked and tossed with grilled shrimp, fire roasted tomatoes, fresh basil and feta cheese. I like Weight Watchers cookbooks. They have fairly simple, but healthy recipe options. I guess I would suggest getting a few cookbooks, and trying some new recipes until you settle on some stand-bys you can count on.

 

[antmaril]

I am recovering from a heart attack and have been cooking a lot more than ever before. A simple recipe I use is to take boneless, skinless chicken breasts and coat them with spicy brown mustard. I then roll them in seasoned breadcrumbs and bake them at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or so.

I also like to make oven fries. I cut two white or russet potatoes into long strips. Measure out two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil and coat the potatoes. Season with a little kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes or so depending on the size of the potato strips.

Here's a simple recipe for the crockpot. Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts - I cut each one into two pieces. Put them in the bottom of the crockpot. Combine one can of Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup with about 1/2 package of onion soup mix. Pour over the chicken and cook on high for 4 hours (low for 6-8). About one hour before the chicken is done, add 1/2 cup of lowfat sour cream. I serve with brown rice and a veggie or a salad. I am only cooking for two people, so I'm only using a couple of chicken breasts. If you are making this for a family, I would use two cans of soup, a whole package of onion soup mix and one cup of sour cream.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Here are some of the side dishes I do... (Yes grilling is good so having some go to side dishes will help)

Tomato Zucchini

3-4 small zucchini diced or cut in thin circles
1 onion diced
2 tomatoes diced (I remove seeds)
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup parmesian cheese

In a pan over medium-high heat put onion in pan with water and steam til semi clear. Add rest of veggies, cook til your doneness. Drain most of excess liquid. Sprinkle parm cheese, cover, turn to low heat until cheese melts.

4 Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 70.3
Total Fat 2.8 g
Saturated Fat 1.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Cholesterol 6.5 mg
Sodium 160.9 mg
Potassium 264.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 7.5 g
Dietary Fiber 1.5 g
Sugars 0.0 g
Protein 4.8 g


And a sweet one - Hot Chunky Cinammon Apple Sauce

6 medium apples - cored, peeled, cubed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons cinammon
1/3 sugar

Put lemon juice in pan, add apple, cook on meduim heat. Use potato masher to break into your favorite consistancy. Add sugar and cinnamon, cook about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

6 Servings
Amount Per Serving

Calories 137.1
Total Fat 0.6 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 1.2 mg
Potassium 187.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 36.1 g
Dietary Fiber 6.2 g
Sugars 11.2 g
Protein 0.5 g

(You can do no sugar if you really want with the applesauce).

I find that getting a good mix of side dishes with fruits, veggies, and grains is the key to eating healthy at our house.

 

[bunny213]

just read your blog...I love it...keep it up!!! you made me smile!! Barb in Texas...

 

[Lorix2]

I am recovering from a heart attack and have been cooking a lot more than ever before. A simple recipe I use is to take boneless, skinless chicken breasts and coat them with spicy brown mustard. I then roll them in seasoned breadcrumbs and bake them at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or so.

I also like to make oven fries. I cut two white or russet potatoes into long strips. Measure out two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil and coat the potatoes. Season with a little kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes or so depending on the size of the potato strips.

Here's a simple recipe for the crockpot. Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts - I cut each one into two pieces. Put them in the bottom of the crockpot. Combine one can of Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup with about 1/2 package of onion soup mix. Pour over the chicken and cook on high for 4 hours (low for 6-8). About one hour before the chicken is done, add 1/2 cup of lowfat sour cream. I serve with brown rice and a veggie or a salad. I am only cooking for two people, so I'm only using a couple of chicken breasts. If you are making this for a family, I would use two cans of soup, a whole package of onion soup mix and one cup of sour cream.

i am going to do the oven fries tonight! thank you for posting on how you do it About the crock chicken, do the onions from the soup packet dissolve? My Dh an kids will not touch anything that has a bit of onion on it

 

[OceanAnnie]

just read your blog...I love it...keep it up!!! you made me smile!! Barb in Texas...

I second that, Molly Meow! Thanks for sharing. I put it on favorites.

 

[redwingfan3991]

This is one of my favorites and its SO easy:

Salsa Chicken:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts (I cut each breast into 2 to 3 pieces depending on how big they are.

Place in casserole dish.

Pour on the whole jar of your favorite salsa. Regular is awesome, as well as varities such as newman's peach or pineapple.

Bake covered at 350 until done (? 35 min).

Serve alone, with rice or salad, veggies... whatever

I make this all the time , but I put it in the crockpot so dinner is ready when I come home from work

 

[antmaril]

i am going to do the oven fries tonight! thank you for posting on how you do it About the crock chicken, do the onions from the soup packet dissolve? My Dh an kids will not touch anything that has a bit of onion on it

Yes, the onions from the soup packet dissolve. You don't really know they are there, but, of course, they add flavor. I got this recipe from a little book called "101 Things To Do With Your Slow Cooker." Another easy recipe from that book is 4-6 boneless pork chops, 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce and a small can of crushed pineapple. Put the chops in the slow cooker, mix the bbq sauce and the pineapple, pour over the chops and cook on high 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Yummy over rice.

 

[KKB]

Whole chicken or breasts on bone...just throw them in, season & you are good to go.
Skinless/boneless breasts cover in chicken broth, salsa, italian dressing, marinades, canned tomatoes.
Any chuck, sirloin steaks, throw in chopped veggies and cover w/ canned tomatoes or tomato soup or beef broth.

Actually, healthy & simple work very well. I can get supper on the table in 30 min. even if I didn't crock. Fish & chicken bake or grill quickly. Fresh or frozen veggies in the microwave. Fresh fruit. I avoid carbs, but gotta fill up the kids, so that can range from ww pasta to garlic bread to baked potatoes.

When you get home from work, get a pot of water boiling/preheat oven first thing (if you are needing those...) On Sundays I plan menus, shop,then prep as many veggies/fruit as I can. Evenings before I go to bed I set things out for crockpot (unless refridgerated)

 

[KKB]

The healthiest diets include:

Low fat meats
Legumes and brown rice
Fresh veggies and fruits
Low sodium canned items
Real butter (better for you than margarine)


Try to cook meats in the oven without breading, steam veggies and eat salads with lots of vegetables. Use low fat dressings. Serve fruit for desserts. Use spices for flavoring on the meats instead of dressing up with a can or jar of this or that.

Bake Chicken or Pork Chops with hearb seasoning
Steamed Rice
Steamed Veggies
Salad
Fruit

Makes a great, easy meal!

I must respectfully disagree...butter iis not a mainstay of a "healthy" diet. Yes, a slight step above margarine. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE butter...and a tiny bit to saute can add a great deal of flavor. BUT your healthy fats are topped by olive & canola oils (and a few others not used as often).
Butter is animal fat and full of saturated fats...NOT good for you. Yes, margarine has that nasty transfat--not good for you either.

 

[semo233]

Although you will need to check ingredients, my favorite websites are crockpot365.com and recipezaar.com. The second includes nutritional info. Check out crockpot365's rotisserie chicken....MY FAVORITE!!

 

[KKB]

Stay away from white flour & sugar as much as possible. Go fo whole grain carbs (check labels...wheat bread may not be any better than white...look for 100% whole wheat or check fiber content. 1g or less is not good fiber)
My kids are hooked on Wonders Whole grain white bread...5g/fiber/serving.
WW pasta, WW breads, brown rice. Watch out for those cereals that say "whole grain"--sometimes their fiber content is nominal. We also watch the sugar content of cereals. My kids LOVE pop tarts...but they have virtually no nutritional value. The don't like Fiber one poptarts, unfortunately.
Another tip...avoid iceberg lettuce, no nutritional value. Any other lettuce is better. At least mix iceberg with other lettuces is the taste attracts you.
Sodium is a toughy...low sodium items are often flavorless. Sodium is a concern if you have high blood pressure; if yours is normal, a bit of sodium for flavor won't hurt. (a BIT...we try to use low sodium as much as possible and use herbs for flavor; it is a trial & error process)