Easy Quick Healthy Meals

Easy Quick Healthy Meals

Recipe's here:

Being a new mommy I dont always have time to cook a delicious healthy meal for my family. I am not one to want to eat out every night, not to mention how unreasonably expensive that would be.. so I have to come up with ways to make cooking work.  Here are just a couple simple ways i still manage to cook and eat healthy without spending hours (that i dont have) in the kitchen.

Last week I grilled up a slab of Trader Joe's Pollo Asada (its premarinated and its sooo good). I chopped up some leafy greens, avocado, onion, tomato, and cilantro.  Add a dallop of greek yogurt on the side (instead of sour cream) and top with shredded cheese and tortilla chips (or sweet potato or lentil chips to be a tad healthier). You can add some tapatio and squeezed lemon for flavor.  Or traders had a really good cilantro dressing.  Quick, easy, and good!

Lately I have been crazy Salmon in any form.. stuffed, grilled, teriyaki, garlic and lemon, you name it ill eat it.  Two delicious meals i've been making the past couple weeks are from trader joes (again of course). One is Tj's coucous and dill stuffed salmon and the other is TJ's spinach and feta stuffed salmon. OH and actually we've also had TJ's cajun seasoned salmon (a little too salty but REALLY good). I usually cook it in EVOO ( you could use coconut oil for the flavor as well) and I add fresh squeezed lemon while cooking it and after.  Heat up a bag of TJ's brown rice (takes 3 minutes..remember people, we are talkiing QUICK meals ..i know the microwave isnt the best option but I didnt have an hour to wait for rice to cook).  And then choose a veggie..my go to with rice and fish is usually broccoli (top with a little fresh parmesan and you are good to go).

Heres the spinach and feta stuffed salmon (comes with 2 slices of salmon) brown rice and broccoli.

Ready in 3 minutes

A pic of the Salmon stuffed with couscous & dill

Last night we had Linguine with Clam Sauce from Trader Joe's.  This is such an easy meal to make..it was missing vegetables so i added a whole bag of steamed spinach to the mix as well as some grilled chicken with some red pepper flakes, parmesan, and fresh minced garlic.  I grilled the chicken in EVOO.  This meal took less than 15 minutes to make and was delicious if you are crazy pasta (i was in the mood for Fall so something warm sounded good). You could also add sauteed tomatos, onion, red peppers or broccoli to add in some more veggies.  

 Serves 3

Use an entire bag of baby spinach

 YUM!

Quick Healthy Recipes for Pregnant Women Or Those of us that Need Something Easy

Quick Healthy Recipes 

Dinner: MELT IN YOUR MOUTH CHICKEN- you can make this with chicken breasts or tenders.  Ingredients you'll need for the chicken: 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 1 cup plain greek yogurt (I used Oikos), 1/2 cup parmesan cheese - grated, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper. Preheat oven to 375.  Combine in a bowl the greek yogurt, parmesan, and all other ingredients.  Line baking sheet with foil. Coat each breast or tender thickly with the mixture (i used clean fingers and a spoon).  Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.  If they are tenders depending on how big they are, you'll have to cook them for less time, keep an eye on them and cut into one and make sure the chicken is completely cooked through.  Artichoke is easy to make in a big pot with a little water or you can steam them (they are a little time consuming but i was craving them). Delish! A must try recipe.  Make the chicken early in the morning and then just preheat the oven and cook it when you get home from work! Simple!

Dinner: Lemon Rosemary Salmon. I bought fresh salmon from Ralphs, through it on a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a whole lemon juiced on top, a couple shakes of dried rosemary, 1/2 tablespoon of fresh minced garlic, and salt to taste. I used Tj's 3 minute microwavable frozen brown rice and added on olive oil butter spray (ralphs) and fat free parmesean with salt and pepper to taste.  A side spinach salad with fresh feta cheese, fresh peaches (because they are delicious, hubbys favorite fruit, and are in season).  You can use any dressing you'd like but I used a homemade recipe: 

Dressing recipe: 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard (you can always add 1 tablespoon of honey as well if you like a sweeter taste).  Shake in a jar until all ingredients are mixed well and keep refridgerated  

Dinner: Tader Joes does it again! I bought their frozen "Linguine with Pesto and Tomatoes". It comes in a red bag in the frozen section.  All you do is heat and serve! It takes 7 minutes max on the stove with a little added olive oil.  I decided to add in some chicken (shredded off the bone from a rotisserie chicken i bought that week for easy healthy meals) and fresh sun dried tomatos. I cooked them in a separate pot on the stove top (i try not to use the microwave if possible) with Fresh pesto sauce (Trader Joes also sells this over where they keep hummus). The one i buy is called "Trader Giotto's Genova Pesto".  I also added in a little fresh minced garlic and stirred it around until everything was heated.  I then added it into the pesto linguine mix. I purchased this Tomato Olive bread from TJ's as well and heated it for a couple seconds to just keep it warm. I made a simple side salad with fresh green apples, mediterranean feta (from TJ's) with baby spinach and a homemade dressing. 

Dressing recipe: 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard (you can always add 1 tablespoon of honey as well if you like a sweeter taste).  Shake in a jar until all ingredients are mixed well and keep refridgerated  

Dinner or Lunch: I made this for dinner after coming across the recipe one evening while shopping at Traders.  I purchased their roasted frozen corn, organic canned black beans, three cheese mexican blend, fresh tomatos, romaine lettuce, green bell pepper, i added spinach to make it even healtheir, and instead of their cilantro creamy dressing that they sell i used lemon juice and tapatio hot sauce for a kick.  Trader's sells THEE BEST marinated carne asada so all you do is throw it on the grill. Its ready fairely quickly.  This left us with a ton of left overs. You can eat it as a salad or a taco or mix it into a burrito later in the week.  We ate it with a side of corn/wheat mixed small tortillas from Ralphs (They're a corn and whole wheat combination.. theyre really soft and yummy!). Id usually use brown rice tortillas or whole wheat but we wanted to try these out.  Serve with a side of light sour cream or greek yogurt.