Need Healthy Easy Recipes

Zucchini pasta - feeds about 4

1 zucchini
chopped onion (to taste)
1 garlic glove (I like garlic and use more)
1 can Italian stewed tomatoes
Angel hair pasta

Saute one zucchini, chopped onion and garlic. Boil angel hair pasta. Mix everything together (including tomatoes) and serve.

You can add any meat -- leftover roasted chicken, shrimp, crab.

Hi Elizabeth,

I too was interested in finding healthy meals for my family. I happened upon a website called sparkpeople. I think the link is www.sparkpeople.com. This is a free site that is so much more than healthy recipes but they do have awesome recipes to choose from. I have tried several and my family has loved them. I like it because there are ratings for the recipes and tons to choose from. I hope this helps.

Check out the request from Amy B on

Fri. Jan. 02, 2009

Here was my response.

We do a ton of grilling. I grill chicken, (chicken legs are great for young kids) just spice with a little salt and pepper. Do a double or triple amount and freeze the extra. One night serve the chicken with BBQ sauce, a veggie and a fresh fruit salad.
Another Night serve it with rice and a veggie.

When pork chops are on sale, purchase a large quantity. Grill them and freeze. Season it with a little garlic salt and pepper. This is good with spinach noodles and a little butter, a veggie or a salad. Also good served with baked potatoes. Let the kids top their own little baked potatoes. We like sesame seeds, lemon juice and sometimes avocado. Sometimes we do sweet potatoes instead of the russet.

Sausages grilled freeze great. They can just be microwaved and then serve with noodles and a veggie or Tortilla wraps with a big salad.

A 2 or 3lb roast in a slow cooker (purchase the slow cooker liners for easy clean up). Just follow the recipe on the box. So easy and smells great when you get home.
Remember to cut up the roast into small pieces and that you will need to brown it before you place it in the crock pot. I purchase a couple or roasts when they are on sale. I cut them up and lightly brown them, I then freeze them so that when I am going to do a crockpot roast, I can just thaw what I need the night before and on the morning I am going to cook it, I can just dump it into the pot.

Purchase large quantities of ground beef or turkey. Spice it like taco meat. Freeze the extra. You can use this for crispy tacos one night. You can make heavy nachos (purchase the freeze dried beans in the canned bean section). Add lettace, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, corn. You can use it as a base for chili.

To make shredded Cuban pork sandwiches...I also purchase large pork roasts when they are on sale. I cut them up and lightly brown them. In a crock pot, slice up a large onion, shred 3 large carrots, and crush 2 garlic pods. Place this in the bottom of the crock pot. Place 2 lbs of the lightly browned salt and peppered, pork roast in the pot, pour 1/2 cup water. cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Drain out the liquid and add BBQ sauce, shred the pork with 2 forks and let simmer 30 minutes. Serve on kaiser rolls or Hamburger buns serve with oven fries (you can mix sweet potatoes with the russet potatoes.

Picky eaters need to be taught to be "Brave Tasters". Encourage the young one to eat 3 bites of food and not spit it out. Also no ugly faces or ugly comments. For each successful brave taste he can be given a sticker. When he reaches an agreed amount, he can be allowed to suggest a meal for the family for another night.

Do not make special foods for him. In our family, if you do not want what is for dinner, you are allowed to make yourself a bowl of cereal (non sugar)and nobody makes a big deal or makes a comment.
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Our staple is Turkey Tacos. We buy the ground turkey and keep in the freezer so we have it on hand in a pinch. Season with simply organic taco seasoning from Whole Foods add some chopped onion and that's it. We make our own taco shells with fresh corn tortilla's but store bought are fine.
Dice some tomatoe, avocado, shredded lettuce, shredded mexican blend cheese, and a good salsa.

Open a can of black beans and heat. Top with a dollop of sour cream

Brown Rice with corn. Saute rice in a little oil until lightly brown, add 3/4 c. of frozen corn, use low sodium chicken broth in place of water and cook according to package direction.

My kids will even eat just the rice, beans and turkery the next day with a little sour cream.

Pretty plain but very tasty and quick to do.

Good luck,
S. M

Go to Kraft.com you will love it.

Try www.e-mealz.com - another mother suggested this in a different post here and I have been using it for a couple of months and love it. It is a meal planning service that has several menus available based on where your family shops (not all stores are covered though.) It costs $5 a month and each week you can log in and print a menu for that week along with a grocery shopping list with everything you will need. Tons of variety, the meals are good, and most of them are relatively easy. Plus, it has saved us money by not buying things we don't need or don't use. My husband thinks I turned into a great cook over night!

I, too, like kraft.com. You can even sign up for a magazine that they mail to your house for free. I also really like allrecipes.com. It's free and you can select recipes and even add them to a grocery list. Another great thing about allrecipes, is that you can search for recipes by entering the ingredients you want and you can add extra key words like "easy" or "healthy" Sparkpeople.com is also great, although I just found out about it, and I either don't understand the website very well yet or they don't have a large number of recipes to pick from.

Around my house, we have a few staples and vary things from that. I always have ground beef or ground turkey on hand and I try to keep some cooked and ready to throw into a recipe. There are a few ways to make relatively quick and easy recipes with ground beef/turkey. You can add some tomato sauce, brown sugar, and worchesteshire sauce to make sloppy joes. You can throw in some beans, salsa, and spices to the meat and layer it with tortillas and cheese then bake it for 20 minutes to make enchiladas. You can throw in some tomato sauce and italian spices with the meat, boil some pasta and have spaghetti. You can add some tomato sauce, beans, and spices, then throw some corn meal on top, bake it and have a casserole. (I can't think of what it is called but allrecipes has a recipe similar that is called mexican shephard's pie.) You can also make tacos or burritos with cooked meat.

I also like to keep chicken on hand and cook a lot at a time. I make burritos, enchiladas, soups, sandwiches with chicken. One of my favorite quick and inexpensive recipes is a soup that uses cooked chicken is at allrecipes.com - slow cooker chicken taco soup.

I also like the roast thrown into a crockpot, and we can use the leftovers for roast beef sandwiches, tacos, burritos, or other new recipes I find on different websites.

I also like to get a lot chicken breast when it is on sale and I will throw it into a freezer bag with stuff to make a marinade and throw it into the freezer. Then when I am ready for a quick and easy meal, I just serve it with rice.

Oh, when I am cooking, don't be afraid to change the recipes from the way they are written. I am always changing things so that they are healthier or leaving out things to make cooking time go more quickly.

I hope that helps a little. Let me know if you want more specific recipes.

I have heaps! A whole book! One of my first ones was to make the ultimate homemade burger. I use beef mince, sesame burger buns, bacon, colby cheese, tomato, lettuce, tomato relish and homemade aoli. What makes them the ultimate is homemade patties and homemade aoli.

To make burger patties: in a bowl put the beef mince with one finely chopped red onion, one finely chopped clove garlic, 2 teaspoons french mustard and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (like parsley, oregano, marjoram - I grow some in pots on my patio, easy and makes your cooking taste great!), one egg and about 1/2 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Mix it up with very clean hands, kids love to help here! Rip squares of greaseproof paper a bit larger than the patty size you will make. Shape patties from the mince mix with clean slightly wet hands (water helps forming patties more easily), set aside on clean paper. Stack them up on a plate as you make them.
To make homemade aoli (this is the second key to making the ultimate homemade burger): take 2 egg yolks in a small bowl, add one very finely chopped clove garlic and one teaspoon french mustard. Using a handheld electric mixer beat it until it changes color to much lighter. You cannot overdo this first beating. Give it heaps! Slowly add a little (2teaspoons about) olive oil, beating all the time. The oil should take, the mix should not be too runny. Slowly drizzle in more oil. You are making homemade mayonnaise, its actually really easy. The oil and egg emulsify together, should be a thick consistency. The more oil you add, the thicker. Add enough oil, beating all the time, to get the amount and consistency you want. If it is too runny, save it by starting again with new egg yolk and adding your runny mix to this instead of straight oil. The trick is to beat it heaps at the start.
To make up burgers: cook patties on BBQ. Turn once, when flipped put sliced cheese on the cooked side and top with BBQ'd bacon. As the bottom cooks the cheese melts.
Toast buns. On the bottom spread some tomato relish or pickle. then place cooked pattie with cheese and bacon. Place a slice or two of tomato, then lettuce. On the inside of the top burger bun spread a good amount of aoli. Put the top on. They are easier to eat if you use a large knife to cut in half.
I serve these with baked potato wedges. Scrub and slice potatoes into wedges (yellow potatoes like agria or victoria varieties are yummmiest). Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh rosemary leaves, drizzle with olive oil, bake at 400 deg F for about 25 minutes)
The first time you do burgers enlist help. Once you get the hang of it, it can be made in half an hour. Once your family has these homemade burgers they will never want to eat commercial ones again! This is an easy way to feed good healthy food to teenagers.
I have many many more recipes. If you would like to e mail me ____@____.com I am happy to share with you :-)

I like to cook but I just do not have the time. I do a lot of easy 30 minute meals or crockpot. Most of my recipes call for very little dicing and slicing. Plus, all my recipes are healthy. A lot of them come straight out of my American Heart Association cookbook.

Here are two crockpot recipes:
Red Beans and Rice
http://myweb.cableone.net/howle/page/REDBEAN.HTM
* I know the recipe says nothing about crockpot but throw all ingredients in crockpot and cook while you are sleeping or at work. Put it on high.
* Substitute sausage for turkey sausage.
* You will have to cook the rice separate. Suggestion: Buy a cheap rice cooker with a vegetable steamer. All you have to do is dump the rice and water and it does the work. No worries on how long you should cook the rice. Also, I use this all of the time for vegetables.
* Another trick: Any time a recipe calls for diced onions and bell peppers, buy them frozen at the grocery store. You will not have to do any of the work.

Chicken Breast with Cream of Mushroom:
*Throw a pound of chicken breast and two cans of cream of mushroom in crockpot. Do not add water.
*Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours and high for 4 hours
* At the end throw in a bag of thawed veggies.
* You can serve this over rice or not.

If you like these, just contact me and I will get you more.

Another good website is Campbells Kitchen.

HI Elizabeth,
I tend to put my own healthy spin on everything we eat. Here are some of my family's favorites.
Healthy Meatloaf
1 pkg ground soy crumbles
1 sm. pkg lean groung turkey or lean ground beef
minced onions or onion powder
italian seasonings
mix together, pat into baking pan, place in oven at 355. in meantime in a pot on stove heat big can of tom. sauce, with 1/2 c. sugar, and 1/2 c. brown sugar, and 1 c. applecider vinegar. once everything is melted together pull meatloaf, poke holes, and pour sauce over. Place back in oven for about another 10-15 min. The whole dish only needs to cook for about 30 min. This dish is great b/c you can add whatever you like to it, or tweak the sauce to your taste, no need to measure anything! Or just try slicing polenta, heating in a "pam" covered pan. Brown on both sides w/ a little salt. Remove to plate, cover with heated soy crumbles, enchilada sauce, and some low fat shredded chz. Another great sorce for me is the cooking light magazine...they put there favorites from every year in a giant book sold at sam's club for 9.99. Hope this helps!
N. P.

deceptively delicious by jessica seignfeild...its a great book full of hidden veggies in your food. my 1 1/2 yr old loves them.

You may want to get a rice/veggie steamer, a George Foreman and rotissierri (probably didn't spell correctly...too early in the a.m.) and that is really fast and healthy cooking.

That would be my suggestion.

Hi Elizabeth,
I recently started cooking and eating healthier at our house too. I have been making a recipe once a week for the past couple of weeks and it is becoming a favorite:

1lb lean ground beef or turkey
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1-2 zucchini/yellow squash
1 small onion
1 cup mushrooms
1 green bell pepper
1 cup minute brown rice

Dice all veggies. Saute onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, and squash in a large pan with olive oil. While veggies are cooking, prepare minute rice. Once veggies become translucent and tender (about 10 min), push to one side of pan and add ground beef. Brown ground beef. When browned, mix beef with veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add in tomatoes and corn and rice. Mix well. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

So yummy! (veggies can be substitued for whatever is in your fridge.) Be creative!

Hi, E.,
Thanks for your request, you've gotten some great ideas - I get in a rut with cooking the same things. Here are two easy things I do...

Buy a bag of "Stir Fry" frozen vegetables and heat it in the skillet as directed along with a bag of already peeled and cooked shrimp.

Take chicken breasts and coat both sides in light or even fat free ranch salad dressing and then dip both sides in plain bread crumbs. Place in a baking dish sprayed with Pam and bake at 375 for 50-55 minutes. Serve with veggies.

Good luck! E. C.

The South Beach Diet cookbooks are my favorites. They actually have one called "Quick & Easy". Most of the recipes in these books are easy and usually do not require hard-to-find or weird ingredients. They are for weight loss and maintenance but also heart healthy! God bless!

One of our family favorites is Italian Dressing Chicken.
I just dice up boneless, skinless chicken breasts (it cooks faster & I don't have to worry about undercooking- I've had food poisoning from chicken twice, so I'm a little paranoid!). Toss the chicken in a baggie with a packet of Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix (dry). Dump it out into a pan sprayed with olive oil or Pam and cook until until browned. Voila! Easy & so tasty! We serve it with Near East Roasted Garlic Whole Grain Blends- you get your protein & whole grains (which are the worst to try to get into my little guy). =o)

Another of our favorites is a Chicken-Stuffing Casserole (we love chicken for quick & easy meals!). Once again.. My favorite diced boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Seasoned with salt & pepper, cooked in a large skillet sprayed with olive oil or Pam. Then, in a large bowl, you toss dry stuffing mix (we use Stove Top), drained canned corn or defrosted frozen corn (same with peas or any other veggies), 1 can fat free cream of chicken soup, 1/4 c milk, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, then toss in the cooked chicken & mix it all up. Spray your pan you've already dirtied and toss all the goodness in there. It only takes about 15-20 minutes for it to heat through. You can either stir it, or let it cook as it is- we like the carmelized part on the bottom. You can also bake it at 350 for about 30-45 minutes if you'd like some down time. =o)

I'm curious to see what other mamas have suggested too! I'm always looking for new recipes!

Try these websites:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search?q=+easy+and+healthy

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-&...=

This is the spaghetti recipe that has kept my family hale and hearty for 5 generations. It is easy.

Ingredients:

1 lb of lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 large can of tomato paste + enough water to fill the can
3 bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic minced

1 lb of spaghetti
Wholewheat spaghetti is healthier
Best though is spaghetti squash bake it and scoop out the flesh.

Directions:

If you do the spaghetti squash start it baking first while the sauce cooks.
Brown the meat in a tablespoon of olive oil
Add garlic and bay leaves and saute with the meat until the garlic is tender. Don't overcook the garlic or it will taste bitter. Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Fill the tomato paste can with water and stir it to get the paste that has stuck to the can. Stir well and cook until it is thickened. Stir it frequently to keep it from sticking. Turn it down to warm. If you are doing spaghetti, cook and drain it. Remove the bay leaves form the sauce and serve. If you are doing squash, cut it open when it is tender. Remove the seeds, then scrape out the squash which will be stringy like spaghetti. Serve the sauce over it. Garnish with shredded or grated Parmesan Cheese. Serves 2 adults and 4 childern or 2 adults and 2 hungry teen aged boys.

You should check out Kraft Foods website. They have very easy and good recipes. Sign up for the free magazines, I get them and they are very helpful. Great ideas.

Good Luck!!

Hi Elizabeth,
You can find many all-natural, delicious, easy recipes on my website at http://melissajackson.mywildtree.com. My company shows busy moms how to prepare healthy, quick and tasty meals using Wildtree items from their pantry and only 3-4 ingredients. My family of 5 LOVES it!! I would LOVE to do a Tasting for you and your friends and help you fill your pantry for FREE!! For the month of June, Hostesses are earning an extra 50% in FREE buying!!
M.