Quick/Healthy Suppers

I love the suggestions you have received so far! I just want to add... Steamfresh veggies are amazing, and they only take 5 minutes in the microwave. Also, you can buy healthy precooked chicken breasts in a bag for when you're in a tight spot - just throw them in a pan for 5 minutes on each side and you have a great main course. So when your time is limited, you can have a great protein and two perfectly steamed sides in 10 minutes flat! I love to keep this stuff on hand... we eat this meal in several different iterations several times per week!

S.,

While getting ready for work in the morning, I will defrost several chicken breast and then put them in the fridge. When I get home, I put them in a skillet with a little garlic salt and then sprinkle on Italian seasoning that you can get for 50 cents at Wal-Mart. I don't use any oil, it's fast, and tasty. For bigger meals, I bring out my crock pot. Dinner's done when I get home!

Don't think quick...think all day, love my crock pot and allrecipies.com has hundreds of great ideas.

We also get frozen meatballs and have spagetti in 30 minutes.

salmon grills fast, a little pepper and a little lemon and my 18 month old and 3 year old love it!

sometimes I mix a cup of instant rice, a can of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken, diced raw chicken, frozen broccoli and cheese. It bakes at 350 for 30-45 minutes. I mix it up in thje morning and stick it in the oven at night.

stouffer's lasagne takes 1.5 hours, but it is no work.

Bertolli skillet meals are great, have a lot of veggies in them and cook fast!

If you don't have a crock pot run go buy one now! In the morning you can put chicken in it with just water or you could add a soup such as cream of mushroom or broccoli and cheese. turn it on low and let it cook all day, effortless. when you get home at the end of the day your house will smell yummy and dinner will be ready! Sometimes I throw a beef roast in there with peeled carrots and potatoes with a little water and that is yummy too. they also make crockpot liners so you won't have to scrub it out daily, just carefully pull the liner out and it is ready to go again. Sometimes when I make chicken in the crockpot with just water and a little butter I will cut it up and mix it with chopped boiled eggs chopped water chestnuts and mayo and there you have chicken salad. Also if you have a schwans man around you can buy pre-cooked meals at a pretty resonable cost and just heat it up. they have lots of healthy stuff. Also don't forget tuna casserole it is very healthy just two cans of tuna drained mixed with half a cup of milk, one can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 1/2 cups of boiled noodles a little salt and pepper a can of peas if you like and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-22 minutes, if you like cheese you can melt it on the last few minutes it is baking. Good luck!

One of our family favorites is Chicken Taco Soup. I quadruple the recipe and freeze containters of it so that we can have it about 6 other times while only making it once. Recipe: 1lb boneless, skinless chicken boiled and shreaded with fork; 2T olive oil; 1 pkg. taco seasoning; 1 onion, chopped; 1 T minced garlic; 1 4oz can green chilis; 1 15 oz can stewed tomatos (I usually use crushed instead- my kids don't like to see chunks) 3 C chicken broth; 4-8 oz green chili salsa - adjust to taste; 1 15 oz can back beans; 1 15 oz can pinto beans. Saute onions in olive oil, add garlic and cook until onions are clear. Add other ingredients and cook until thoroughly heated. Can top with cheese, sour cream and corn chips.

Spinach stuffed meatloaf(I also make lots and freeze for later): Remember you can always mince other vegetables and work them into the meat. Spinach Stuffed Meatloaf

1 ½ pounds of ground beef
2 egg whites
1 C soft bread crumbs
1 ¼ teaspoons of salt, divided
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t dried oregano
1 10 oz pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
½ cup white cheddar cheese
1/8 t ground nutmeg
¼ t ground pepper
¼ Cup ketchup (optional)

Combine the beef, egg whites, bread crumbs, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Add the shallot, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and oregano. Using your hands, squeeze together almost as if kneading bread, until evenly mixed.

Squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach. Combine spinach with the cheese, nutmeg, pepper and remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt.

On a piece of wax paper, shape the meat into a rectangle approximately 12 x 8 inches. Spread the spinach mixture on top, leaving about ½ inch clear around the edges. Roll up, starting from the shorter side. Use the wax paper to help you do this, by bringing it up and pressing gently to form a firm loaf. Press the ends together. Spread ketchup on top, if desired.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 for 1 hour.
I do things like mincing zucchini (sp?) and adding it to spaghetti sauce. The kids never know!

I work 10-hour days, my husband is a full-time student with two part-tme jobs, and both of us have active lives after work, so sometimes we don't have much time to eat dinner. So that we can actually sit down and eat together, I use my crock-pot a lot to make sure that we have healthy, substantial meals.
Fill it up with vegetables and chicken (cut up or whole pieces), stew meat, pork chops (whole or cut into bite-size pieces), meatballs, etc. first thing in the morning, set it on low, and let it do the cooking while you're doing other things. At dinner time, cook a pot of rice, pasta, or quinoa, any of which take about 20 minutes, and dinner is served.
Beans, chili, spaghetti sauce, and roasts can also be done in the crock pot. Just make sure that you soak the beans overnight before putting them in the crockpot.
Tuna or salmon steaks cook quickly, as do tilapia filets - we cook tuna, salmon , and tilapia by melting butter in a skillet, adding a bit of garlic powder and dill to it, and searing them for a couple of minutes on each side.
Stir-fry is also quick - the meats and vegetables cook in about the same time as the rice.

Use a crockpot. There are so many great healthy meals that can be prepped the night before, turned on in the morning, and ready to eat when you get home.
My favorite is
Boneless Porkloin (seasoned to your taste)
Cover with beef broth
One packet of Onion Soup Mix
Cook on low all day
Add vegies (carrots, green beans, potatoes) 30 minutes before serving

You can use any meat with beef or chicken broth (which ever is appropriate for your meat)

At our local grocery stores they have pre-packed crockpot meals in the meat section - it comes with the meat, vegies and seasoning.

If you don't have a freezer, you can get a small chest freezer for under $200 at Sams or Walmart. Invest in some freezer containers.

Never cook one meal at a time. You have 4 burners on the stove plus an oven. Make use of them. Get large pots. You can cook a week's worth of meals at once this way, sometimes two weeks. I usually cook on the weekend. While I have chicken cooking on one burner, I have spaghetti sauce on one, stew on another, meat loaf in the oven, etc. Then I break things down into meals and freeze them.

At meal time, thaw a pre-cooked meal in the microwave while you cook some rice, potatoes, make a simple salad and/or cook some veggies.

Another good thing to do is to cook your chicken (I boil it just until done), break it down into meal sized portions and freeze it. I usually cut it into cubes or something similar before freezing it. Then it's perfect to thaw quickly and add to a recipe. You don't have to wait until the chicken is cooked. This is great for chicken quesadillas or salads.

Beans are really easy, you can soak them in a pot of water overnight, and cook them in about an hour when you get home (or cook them in the crockpot). Also, veggie beef stew is easy to do in the crock pot. Lasagna takes about an hour just to cook, but you can make it before hand, and freeze it in the glassware. Then just go from freezer to oven (cold-start on the oven: not preheated). Spaghetti is another weeknight easy meal, my hubby sometimes makes it for me if I'm running late from work. Lastly, get some individually quick-frozen tilapia filets. They're great timesavers, just thaw in sink for about 15 mins, season, and grill on the George Foreman or pan-sear. Good luck!

In addition to chicken, tuna is also healthy. It is quick (in a can), cheap and healthy. You can make tuna salad, sandwiches and tuna helper. Also, if you have a crock pot, make stew. You can buy canned peas, carrots, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes diced, and if you put some chopped meat in there (beef or really anything) and some bullion cubes and let sit, is very good, quick and healthy.

If your family likes fish I have two tilapia recipes that I've just recently tried. Both are super easy, quick, and healthy. You can buy a large bag of indivually wrapped, frozen filets from Wal-Mart, thaws quickly!

Tilapia with Pimiento Sauce Recipe

Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, cut into thin wedges
1 clove garlic, minced
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup sliced cremini or button mushrooms
3/4 cup pimiento-stuffed olives, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 6-8 ounce tilapia fillets

1 In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute more. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring sauce to boiling.

2 Gently place the fish fillets in the pan and scoop some of the sauce over the fillets. Return to boiling. Reduce the heat and cover. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. With a wide spatula, lift fish from skillet to a serving dish. Spoon sauce over fish. Serve with rice, and/or crusty bread.

Serves 4.

This one is even easier and quicker...

Ingredients
4 tilapia fillets
salt
freshly groud pepper
flour
milk
finely chopped pecans
olive oil
lime (optional)
mango peach salsa (optional)

Season both sides of fish with salt and pepper. Cover both sides with flour like you would chicken breats. Dip in milk then cover completely with pecans. Place fillets in the skillet with heated olive oil. Cook throughly only flipping once. About 5 minutes total.
The recipe I used didn't make the lime & salsa optional. It called for squeezing half a lime into 1 cup of salsa and serving it on the side.
I couldn't find the salsa so I made my own & squeezed a little lime juice right on top of the cooked fish. Which took away from the quickness. The fish would've been just as good without it though.

Get yourself a good recipe book for the crockpot, and get one of those if you don't have one. They are wonderful and the food comes out great. It doesn't use much electricity at all and it's so easy. I fix the meal I want to make for the next day and just put it in the refrigerator overnight, then put it all in the crockpot in the morning and forget about it. It doesn't get any easier than that!

If you don't have a foreman grill I'd buy one...it's the fastest way to cook most meats and you can do veggie skewers on it too. We use canned or steam fresh frozen veggies that can be quickly cooked in the microwave, frozen chicken breasts, boneless pork chops and ground deer or deer steak for most of our meat consumption. ground deer in homemade spaghetti takes long enough to brown the meat and add tomato sauce, worchestshire, italian seasoning, garlic, a bay leaf and a can of diced tomatoes to a pan, start your boiling water and you have most of a meal...add a salad and you're done.

I pan sear deer steak (you could use cube steak) then add a can of diced tomatoes and a can of beef broth/french onion soup and reduce heat and simmer while making rice in the microwave and green beans on the stove.

Chicken and rice casserole is easy, just mix rice, cream of mushroom soup and water in a casserole with mushrooms and brocolli if you like, then top with chicken peices and bake covered for 35 minutes at 375, uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes...add some salad, carrots, or other veggie and it's getting cooked while you review homework.

taco salad--salad greens, diced onion, diced tomato, sour cream, cheese, salsa, black beans, ground seasoned meat...easy, filling and healthy

we do lots of layered salads (look them up on recipes.com or some other website for ideas, then create one that your family would eat).

shepherd's pie, fettucini alfredo is fast and easy (though high in calories), grilled chicken and veggie skewers, grilled salmon, grilled tilapia...all easy on a foreman grill, brush with some italian salad dressing for oil and flavor.

bake packet meals for easy clean up and cooking while working on other stuff...take fish, chicken or pork and place inside a small piece of foil with italian salad dressing, diced onions, peppers, and any other veggie you like (we do grape tomatoes, squash, zuccini, and asparagus), wrap to form a packet...bake chicken for 45-60min at 375, pork for 20-30 min at 375 and fish for 10-20 min at 375...time it takes to cook depends typically on the thickness of the meat and whether the meat has bones in it or not.

I'm loving all these ideas. One quick meal we all like is I buy turkey smoked sausage (one package is less than 2 dollars at Walmart) cut it up and brown it in a skillet. We have baked beans and frozen corn on the cob. Very fast and all my kids will eat it.
Some of the frozen chicken strips aren't too high in calories or fat. Sometimes we have those with whole grain mac and cheese and canned green beans. If you simmer your green beans with a tsp or so of minced garlic (I buy it canned in the produce dept), and a beef bouillon cube (if you have time a little minced onion is good) they actually are tasty.
You might check out Kraft foods online. They have several healthy quick meal ideas.
Sloppy joes can be healthier using lean meat or turkey and whole grain buns. My kids like carrot sticks and ranch with theirs.
Good luck!