Healthy Dinner Recipes

It's well known that many of us in the United States are both overweight and lacking in the nutrients contained in a healthy diet. Somepeople gain a lot of weight by frequent stops at the fast food places, just because it's more convenient and we don't have any cleanup or we're simply short on time. With a little planning and foresight, you can make balanced, nutritious and healthy dinner recipes ready to serve in 20-30 minutes from beginning your cooking. You'll win all the way around, enjoying better health, saving money and maybe losing a few unwanted pounds.

Start by setting aside a half an hour each week to look over your pantry and think about what you want to eat next week. Plan your dinner menus, making sure to include foods from the “food pyramid” of healthy choices.

This is more common sense than a strenuous exercise in principles of nutrition. We all know we need fruits and vegetables, protein, dairy and grains included in our daily meals. Easy enough. Everyone has their favorites in each group, so just choose foods you enjoy.

One dish meals, like crock pot dinners, casseroles and pasta or rice combined with veggies and a little meat will fill the bill with all the components of healthy dinner recipes.

You can cook up a big batch of rice on the weekend to be used throughout the week. Portion the cooked rice into three or four containers sufficient for one meal, suited to your household size. Rice can be frozen and quickly reheated in the microwave. Fresh vegetables may be chopped en masse and frozen for “instant” use another day. Investing a few hours on the weekend preparing ingredients for the coming week lets you throw together attractive healthy dinner recipes on the fly in no time at all.

Similarly, you can prepare quantities of meats for quick inclusion in your healthy dinner recipes. Cook a couple of pounds of hamburger, chicken or sausage and divide into two or three portions. Season each a little differently. For example, hamburger might be seasoned with a Mexican flavor for tacos or chili, Italian for a lasagne dish or a bouquet garni for that slow cooker Bourguignon.

Slow cooker dishes are your friends in producing healthy dinner recipes with little effort. You need only toss veggies, broth and meat into the pot in the morning and come home to tempting aromas and a ready to serve dish. Just add bread.

Soups, made in quantity with healthy dinner recipes, can provide dinner for weeks to come. Make a batch of hearty gumbo and freeze in single portions, ready to eat in minutes.

You'll be surprised at the variety of dishes you can have on hand with less effort than you'll expend on driving to the takeout. Healthy dinner recipes are as close as your imagination. Best of all, you'll be enjoying nutritious meals, saving money and trimming the fat in one fell swoop!