What’s for Dinner?

Healthy Recipes in a Hurry

What’s for din­ner? No ques­tion strikes more dread into the hearts of peo­ple every­where than those three sim­ple words. Whether you are cook­ing for a mil­i­tary pla­toon, a fam­i­ly of 5, or your glo­ri­ous self, decid­ing on the evening meal can be a chal­lenge. This time of the year, it can be par­tic­u­lar­ly chal­leng­ing to estab­lish home­work rou­tines, adjust to chang­ing sea­sons, and keep your health and hap­pi­ness at the top of your to-do list.

Nev­er fear, Hatch is here! While serv­ing a well-planned 3 course meal of fresh-from-the-mar­ket delights is always ide­al, some­times (or most of the time), it’s just not real­is­tic. Read on to find some quick and easy ideas for din­ner (that make great left­overs for lunch!). All of these recipes can be made with typ­i­cal pantry and refrig­er­a­tor sta­ples, and take no time at all to throw together.

Baked sweet potato or potato

Wash and wrap sev­er­al potato/sweet pota­toes in foil, and cook on low in the crock­pot. Pre­cooked potatoes/sweet pota­toes last sev­er­al days in the refrig­er­a­tor and can be eas­i­ly reheat­ed. Fill the cooked potato/sweet pota­to with beans and sal­sa — if you are feel­ing extra fan­cy, scoop out the pota­to flesh and mix with the beans and sal­sa before putting it back in the shell. Top with cheese and/or avo­ca­do if desired.

Stir-fry skillet

Cook brown rice or quinoa. While grain is cook­ing, add a lit­tle olive oil and water to a skil­let and sauté frozen or fresh veg­gies until ten­der. Rinse beans well (or sub­sti­tute meat) and add to skil­let. Sea­son with sal­sa, coconut aminos, gar­lic, spices, etc. Add quinoa/rice when fin­ished cook­ing and stir until well combined.

Pasta

End­less pos­si­bil­i­ties! When cre­at­ing, aim to crowd out the whole wheat or brown rice pas­ta with veg­eta­bles, pro­tein and fat

Some ideas

• Diced or sun-dried toma­toes, frozen greens, gar­lic, olive oil, and some­times onion
• Jar of pas­ta sauce con­tain­ing what­ev­er frozen veg­etable you have on hand and some beans, shrimp, or cut up chick­en sausage.
• Make a sauce with peanut but­ter or tahi­ni, lemon juice, and a lit­tle water
• Use black bean pas­ta or spi­ral­ized veg­eta­bles to low­er glycemic load, increase pro­tein, and spice it up!

Greens Wrap

Spread hum­mus or mashed avo­ca­do over the inside of a large green leaf (col­lared green, bib leaf, swiss chard, large kale, etc.). Fill with veg­gies and meat (if desired). Roll up, slice down the mid­dle, and enjoy!

Baked Avocado

Pre­heat oven to 425. Slice avo­ca­do in half and remove pit. Scoop a bit of the avo­ca­do flesh out to make room for an egg. Place avo­ca­do halves in cast iron skil­let or bak­ing pan. Crack one egg into each half, and bake for 20 min­utes. For a run­nier egg, reduce bak­ing time. Top with herbs, salt, pep­per, etc.

“Kitchen Sink” Salad

Use what­ev­er you have! Start with a veg­gie and/or grain base, add fresh or frozen veg­eta­bles, pro­tein (canned salmon/tuna, beans, meat, hard­boiled eggs, poached eggs, etc.) and fat (avo­ca­do, nuts, seeds, hempseeds, flaxseeds, chia seeds).

Sweet Potato Hash

Cut a sweet pota­to (or oth­er root veg­gies) into cubes. Sauté for 8–10 min­utes with coconut oil and spices of choice (and onions if you have them on hand). Add 1–2 cloves of gar­lic and cook for anoth­er 1–2 min­utes, stir­ring con­stant­ly. Add spinach or kale and cook until the greens wilt. Top hash with eggs, or add pre-cooked sausage while sautéing.

Bell Pepper Boats

Cut a bell pep­per ver­ti­cal­ly in half and fill with avo­ca­do and veg­gies or tuna/salmon (with or with­out home­made mayo) and enjoy raw OR crack an egg in each half and bake until the egg is set.

Do you have a favorite quick and easy meal? Snap a pho­to on Insta­gram and tag it with
#Hatch­Healthy­I­nAHur­ry  to share with our grow­ing community.