Healthy Recipes for Healthy Living: 4 Meals You Can Whip Up in 20 Minutes or Less

It is no longer a daunting task to whip up a healthy meal for you and family. Even if you are always on the go, with very little time to enter the kitchen, you can still eat healthily. There many meals that you cool in about 20 minutes or less. It does not really matter if you are working on a tight budget. You can still enjoy great and nutritious food.

Before you prepare a meal, you need to understand what constitutes a healthy meal. If you want to enjoy a balanced meal, you must throw all the wholesome grains, vegetables and great sources of protein into the equation. You must also ensure that you provide room for at least 4 servings of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.

It is important to have protein in your food at all times. Try to avoid eating large amounts of red meat. If you can avoid eating red meat altogether that would be great. Go with boiled eggs as an alternative. Here are some healthy recipes for healthy living that you can consider.



3 Bean Salad
3 Bean Salads are common during the summer season although they can be eaten all through the year. 3 Bean salads are very easy to prepare. You just require a mish mash of all your favorite salad ingredients in a bowl and then you throw in a can of mixed beans. This is not the same as baked beans. It is important that you use healthy mixed beans.

Home Burgers
Homemade burgers take a little below 30 minutes to prepare. They may not sound exactly healthy because we chomp them most times at fast food restaurants. However, it all depends on the type of meat that you are using. A healthy choice is lean meat, avoid the fatty ingredients and only include red hot peppers and tomatoes.

Lasagna
It is easy to whip up some lasagna if you purchase pre packed sauces. If you want to even save your hard earned money, you can go further and cook in large quantities and freeze for storage. You can serve your lasagna with omelets or salads.

Soup
The great thing about making soup is that you can add all the nutritious veggies on the planet alongside onion or garlic and you are ready to serve. In addition, you can also add stock or serve with wholesome grain rolls.

Eat healthy and live longer. If you stick to only healthy meals, your body will show great signs of wellness and improvement. Avoid sugary drinks and fatty snacks for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Eat only at home and slow the process of aging. Get all the nutrients your body require in one swoop.

Saule Health has been an authority on vitamins and nutrition for over 5 years. Covering topics from diet and weight loss to general health.

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Vegetarian Diets and Recipes

Vegetarianism is not a modern phenomenon. Indeed, as a lifestyle vegetarianism began with the Greek aesthetes and was subsequently adopted by many Romans who thought a frugal lifestyle to be beneficial to themselves and to the state.

However, through much of human history people have relied on a mainly vegetarian diet to survive. The great civilizations of central and south America also had a predominantly vegetarian diet. This actually isn't as easy as it sounds, as the human body needs to source a number of proteins from the diet. Now, one way to ensure that these proteins are gained in adequate quantities is to combine grains and beans.

This is why almost all cultures have their mix of the 'grain and bean' staple either as part of their current cuisines or as parts of their historical cuisines. In Africa, historically this was a millet pap or porridge served with a black eyed pea stew. Today it tends to be a maize-based porridge with the same beans. In Europe it was a grain-based gruel (oats, barley or wheat) with the broad (fava) beans or peas stirred into it. Asian diets had rice and dishes in which beans, if not a direct part of the meal were a condiment (soy sauce, black bean paste, yellow bean paste).

In Central and South America it was a mix of maize and beans. The interesting thing about this diet was the inclusion of chillies. Chillies both act to spice and flavour the food. However, the fresh chilli fruit are also a good source of vitamin C which is critical in a vegetarian diet as it aids in the uptake of non-haeme (ie non-blood) iron into the body.

 This may well explain why chillies spread worldwide so quickly and why they remain very important in countries and regions where meat remains, or historically was, a very small portion of the diet (Asia, the Caribbean, Africa and India).

However, you don't have to have a subsistence diet to be a vegetarian, far from it. But the rules of the subsistence diet remains in terms of eating a healthy vegetarian diet. Mix grains and beans or mushrooms to ensure you get all the necessary dietary proteins. Add nuts for proteins and essential oils and ensure you have plenty of vitamin C in the diet. Beyond these basic rules what you eat is very much limited only by your own imagination and the number of ingredients you have to hand.

Here, however, are some classic vegetarian dishes to get your started.

Chanterelle Risotto

Ingredients: 

1 small red onion, finely chopped 

1 garlic clove, finely chopped 

1 tbsp finely-chopped basil leaves 

250g chanterelle mushrooms 

90g butter 

60g freshly-grated Parmesan cheese 

180g Arborio (or other risotto) rice 

150ml white wine 

450ml vegetable stock

Method:
Add half the butter to a frying pan and use this to gently fry the onion and garlic until soft and golden. Now add the basil and chanterelles and cook for a few minutes before adding the rice. Fry to coat the rice grains in the butter and continue cooking for 4 minutes before adding the wine and half the stock.

Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer then cover and allow to continue cooking. Check every now and then, topping-up the liquid when the risotto becomes too dry. Continue cooking until the rice is creamy and just al dente (about 30 minutes). Add the remainder of the butter and the parmesan cheese at this point.

Cook for a few more minutes, stirring all the while then serve with crusty ciabatta and a green salad.

Chickpea and Lentil Stew

Ingredients: 

4 tbsp olive oil 

2 onions, chopped 

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

60g coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely chopped 

140g lentils, soaked over night and drained 

450g cooked chickpeas 

4 tomatoes, chopped 

1 tsp ground cumin 

1/2 tsp dried thyme, chopped 

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 

1/4 tsp harissa 

750ml water 

60g green olives, sliced 

2 tbsp lemon juice 

salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:
Heat the oil in a pan and use to fry the onions for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and coriander and fry for 3 more minutes. Now stir-in all the remaining ingredients (except the olives and lemon juice). Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 35 minutes, or until the lentils are tender (add more water, as necessary).

Season to taste with salt and black pepper then add the olives and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes more then serve on a bed of couscous.

Dyfed Lloyd Evans is the creator of the Celtnet free recipes site where you will find hundreds of traditional and modern vegetarian recipes as well as a wide range of recipes with wild ingredients, many of which are vegetarian in nature.

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Healthy Recipes for Weight Loss

So do healthy recipes for weight loss really exist? And if so, do they work?

Well, yes and yes.

Healthy recipes mean a nutritious balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat. It's not about banning whole food groups or eating nothing more than lettuce. The weight loss part comes in because the healthy dish should have less fat/sugar/calories than the regular version. And to achieve weight loss we have to give our bodies a bit less fuel so that they can use up some of our battery power (that's our stored fat).

The easiest way to ensure a recipe is healthy is to cook it at home. That way we can see what goes into it - and after all, we really are what we eat! Even non-cooks can put a jacket potato in the oven, or assemble a fruit salad. A good way to eat more healthily is to put as many colours into a meal as possible - red tomatoes, green peppers, yellow eggs, orange carrots, purple aubergines, brown mushrooms, and so on. Variety should be the spice of life...

We can still eat the meals we enjoy, with a few healthy tweaks. Even the British take-away staple of fish and chips can get a slim line makeover. Instead of deep-fried battered fish, sprinkle chopped herbs and breadcrumbs over fish fillets and oven bake. Cut potatoes into wedges (skin on), plunge into boiling water and drain, then mix with a few drops of oil and some paprika and bake on a non-stick tray. Accompany with chopped chives stirred through plain yoghurt instead of fat-laden tartare sauce.

Any recipe that uses minced meat can be made with less fat if the meat is drained after dry frying. Also try replacing one quarter of the meat with cooked red or green lentils.

And a good non-stick wok or frying pan can be used for all kinds of frying with only a few drops of oil rather than lots of fat. Just add a splash of hot water if things start to stick.

As TV chefs are so fond of reminding us the success of a recipe is in the seasoning and taste of a finished dish. Unlike them, we don't have to load our recipes with salt and butter and cream to get wonderful flavours. We can let our culinary friends be herbs, spices, chillies, citrus fruits and yoghurt. Remember that dairy foods will tend to 'deaden' the flavour while lemon juice will pep it up.

Working out healthy recipes for weight loss isn't rocket science, it just means reducing the fat and sugar content of regular recipes. Of course eating fresh seasonal ingredients helps too, as they will be at their most nutritious. Don't be afraid to try something new - it's only food after all.

© Eleanor Knowles 2012

Find out more about healthy recipes and weight loss at http://EatLeanNotMean.com Keeping the excess pounds at bay can be done without 'going on a diet'. I know because I NEVER diet and love eating, but still fit into clothes I've had for more than 20 years. Though what that says about my fashion sense I dread to think...

For a bit more information, check out my blog posts at http://www.eatleannotmean.com/Blog/ AND you could also get a FREE book full of healthy superfood ideas and delicious (but not too sinful) recipes. This offer is only for a limited time, so hurry! Remember, happy and healthy eating is just a crunch away. Enjoy!

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5 Tips for Creating Your Own Healthy Recipes

Most people think that all recipes come from Michelin star chefs or are handed down from some distant ancestor. Not only that but if you were to even consider making your own recipe, you would have to go through years of trial and error or training in the woods with some sort of cooking sensei.

What if I told you that with a little bit of planning and some simple diet knowledge, that you can easily create healthy meals for you and your family? Would you believe me? Read on.

Healthy Recipe Tip 1 - Planning is everything!

The thing that separates average and amazing cooking is simply planning. Taking a few minutes each week to plan meals for the following days can make a huge, and I mean HUGE difference.

Healthy Recipe Tip 2 - Steal!

There are literally thousands of recipe books, websites and blogs full of fantastic recipes. Keep all of these recipes in one place and when it comes to shopping for your next week/month, you can pick out the recipes that grab your attention and add their ingredients to your shopping list.

Healthy Recipe Tip 3 - Trim the fat!

Now it's time for you to get creative. Unless the recipes that you have sourced are super healthy, it is now your mission to take out the unhealthy ingredients, and either swap them with a healthy alternative or change the method in which they are cooked i.e. fried ingredients can be grilled etc. Even if they are already super healthy, don't be afraid to swap things you don't like for things you do!

Healthy Recipe Tip 4 - Be brave!

Now we have a healthy alternative to a recipe that you like, go wild and add any ingredients (healthy ones of course!) that you like and throw them in to the mix. The idea is that you will begin to understand really quickly what works together and what doesn't.

Experimenting with herbs and spices is a great way to start, perhaps add a few spoonful's of chilli in to your next casserole and see how it changes the flavour.

Healthy Recipe Tip 5 - Practice makes perfect!

I know that at the beginning of this article I said that you don't have to suffer years of trial and error to be able to create your recipes. It's true! However, don't expect to get it right all of the time. If you follow the tips above, you will make more winners than failures, all you have to do is stay clear on what you and the people that you will be cooking for like and the sky is the limit!

Good luck!

James Carrington lives in London, UK - and provides nutrition advice for sport and general health.

James help many people achieve their dietary and fitness goals via his website http://healthyeatingand.me.

For your FREE introduction to healthy eating guide please CLICK HERE

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