Cut your cooking time in half with tasty, dietitian approved recipes to get you through your week.
You don’t have to be a slave to the kitchen to have healthy, tasty meals at your fingertips. But you do have to prepare (just once or twice) to have a delicious meal you can serve all week. And you can always make simple change-ups for variety. For example, a hearty stew can be “repurposed” by serving it up over rice or potatoes; a veggie stir-fry entree can be served as a side.
I’ve gathered up some healthy, tasty recipes that will give you more time during the week to do other things besides cooking. Unless of course you’d rather spend your days in the kitchen. And these are all dietitian-approved! So let’s get started with the Round-up, shall we?!
Meatballs and Chicken don’t have to be boring. Check out these simple recipes to lightened your load and bump up the taste.
Eggplant Pesto Meatballs
Tracee Yablon Brenner of Triad to Wellness says her Eggplant Pesto Meatballs are her girl’s favorite! Here, she adds plenty of veggies by serving it up over Zucchini noodles. Want variety?!: These meatballs can also be served up in a roll with some hummus spread, over pasta or rice or even with mashed potatoes. It’s such a bonus that these meatballs have some great veggies packed in! If your serving it up with starch, it’s nice to add in greens like a simple salad or steamed veggies!
Check out another delicious meatball recipe from Brenner: Classic Turkey Meatballs
Low Calorie Chicken Cacciatore
Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN, author of The Protein-Packed Breakfast Club, says that her Low Calorie Chicken Cacciatore can easily be made gluten-free. And its simple to make, with only a few ingredients. You can serve it up over rice, sorghum or quinoa. It serves 6, so double the recipe if you’re serving a family, or enjoy for dinner and have the remaining 5 servings for lunch or dinner throughout the week!
Salads and Stir-fry’s are a great way to get in plenty of veggies, and they are time-saving recipes, too!
Citrus Quinoa Salad with Prunes
This Citrus Quinoa Salad is sure to satisfy, says Amy Gorin, MS, RDN, owner of Amy Gorin Nutrition in the New York City area. Sure it up as a side, or beef it up as an entree by adding in chopped chicken (you can purchase ready-to-eat chicken chunks or use leftovers). It’s already got plenty or greens and whole grain goodness! And to top it off, the prunes add bone-helping nutrition, says Gorin.
And take a look out Gorin’s other time-saving recipes:
Coffee Cake Muffins – They’re great for breakfasts on-the-go!
Creamy Carrot and Cauliflower Soup
One Skillet Sesame Chicken & Broccoli
Andrea Mathis of Beautiful Eats and Things says she’s got you covered if you don’t have much time. Her One Skillet Sesame Chicken & Broccoli takes less than 30 minutes and is simple to prepare. “It’s also great for meal prepping!,” she adds.
Tuna Nicoise Salad
Toby Amidor is no stranger to meal prep. In fact, she wrote the cookbook — The Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook: Easy and Wholesome Meals to Cook, Prep, Grab and Go For her Tuna Nicoise Salad, she’s got you covered with simple ingredients, easy instructions, and tips for storage so you can eat it now and have a proper portion ready to eat for the next three days. Amidor is the owner of Toby Amidor Nutrition and a Best Selling author with over 18 years experience in the food and nutrition industry.
Meal Prep Mediterranean White Bean and Sorghum Salad
If you love a nutrition-packed, satisfying salad, you’ve got to check out Sharon Palmer’s Meal Prep Mediterranean White Bean and Sorghum Salad. And as the title says, it’s perfect for Meal Prep for the week. This Vegan and Gluten-Free salad has 14g of fiber and 19g of protein per serving! And you can easily pack it up to serve 4 meals throughout your week.
Batch cooking is a great way to make it once and serve it twice (or more). Check out the following for options to extend your meals.
Lightened Up Mexican Lasagna
If you love Tex-Mex, this one’s for you! Jennifer Hunt says her Lightened Up Mexican Lasagna provides a slightly spicy, gooey, savory appeal and ‘everything you love about Mexican food’ all combined in an easy to prep dish. And it provides ample leftovers that are “even better the second time around,” Hunt says.
And if you are looking for a simple ready-to-serve breakfast idea that will carry you through the week, try her Berry Vanilla Baked Oatmeal.
Sweet Mashed Cauliflower
This Sweet Mashed Cauliflower by Lane Lieberman can easily take the place of mashed potatoes. And with this tasty full batch recipe, you’ll have something you can easily pair with Pincus’ Low Calorie Chicken Cacciatore or Brenner’s Eggplant Pesto Meat Balls for when you want to add variety to your extended meal. Layne Lieberman, MS, RDN, CDN, LDN is an internationally recognized registered dietitian-nutritionist, culinary travel leader, writer and entrepreneur. She is author of the award-winning lifestyle diet and cookbook: Beyond the Mediterranean Diet: European Secrets of the Super-Healthy.
Roasted Vegetable Stock
And speaking of Batch Cooking, you’ll love Catherine Shamberger Brown’s Roasted Vegetable Stock. “A big batch of stock is great to prep ahead, portion out either in ice cube trays or zip-lock freezer bags and then use as the liquid for rice or other whole grains, soups, sauces or steamed veggies,” says Catherine Brown, plant-based chef & culinary nutritionist at A Seat at My Table
Egg Dishes like Souffles, Frittatas & Bakes are a perfect carry-over meals that can last you days.
Red Pepper Kale and Feta Frittata
Kaleigh McMordie owner of Lively Table shares her Kale and Feta Frittata. “It’s a healthy, delicious brunch dish that also doubles as an easy make-ahead breakfast for the week,” say McMordie. And it’s vegetarian, gluten-free and nut-free!
Easy Egg Soufflés
Diane Norwood, the Wandering RD, created these Easy Egg Soufflés for easy prep and serve. “They heat well from the fridge and freeze well (thaw just before reheating in the microwave or oven until warm),” Norwood says.
Check out her other easy meal prep options:
Spinach,Onion and Salmon Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust
5-Minute Egg Bake
Josten Fish of Muscle and Manna says she didn’t want to spend a lot of time prepping for her morning breakfast. So she came up with this tasty 5-Minute Egg Bake so you don’t have to spend a lot of time at once to prepare for the week. And this dish is a perfect way to get in plenty of protein and a whole serving of veggies.
Check out her other time-saving recipes:
Well-seasoned dishes are often just as good (if not better) the second time around. Check out this deliciously spicy dishes.
Yellow Lentil Vegetable Curry
Judith Scharman Draughton, author of Lean Body, Smart Life brings her Yellow Lentil Vegetable Curry to the Table. She says she saves preparation time by buying pre-chopped veggies. “I often buy my butternut squash pre-cubed at Trader Joe’s to shorten the preparation time, and I love to use cauliflower in all of my curries,” Draughton. She says you can use a variety of veggies to make it but not to tamper with the recipe’s seasoning since it is “critical to its delicious taste”.
Curried Red Lentil Soup
Enjoy this one-pot, vegan lentil curry soup from Melissa Groves owner of Avocado Grove Nutrition and Wellness. Groves says her Curried Red Lentil Soup is hearty enough to be a meal, and this recipe yields 12 cups so there is plenty to serve up throughout the week.
Try Grove’s Spicy Squash Quinoa for another weekly times-saver.
At Nutri Savvy Health, we’ve always got you covered for taste and simplicity. Check out these 3 weekly time-savor dishes.
Seasoned Salmon with Roasted Red Bell Peppers
Try this Seasoned Salmon with Roasted Bell Peppers. This dish need not be limited by the veggies it contains, you can always switch it up with a variety of veggies. Try roasting it with Mushrooms, Fennel and Carrots for a unique savory blend. This simple, one-sheet dish can be divided into portions and served up over quinoa or your favorite whole grain. It would also make a great taco filling and would be well suited mixed into a leafy green salad! And here’s the great news: Cooked fish can last up to 3 days refrigerated!
One Sheet Veggie Fajitas with Squash Fries
These One Sheet Veggie Fajitas are a great base for adding in your favorite protein be it chicken, tofu or leftover grilled fish. This simple toss-and-bake recipe can be even more simplified if you buy pre-chopped veggies. And it serves 4, so you can eat one portion now and save the rest for your lunches. And if you’re serving it up for your family, you can always double the recipe and use 2 casserole dishes.
Zucchini Ribbon Quiche
As mentioned egg dishes such as quiches, are a great option for a “Cook Once, Eat All Week” dish. And the beauty of a quiche is that you can always make more than one. This Zucchini Ribbon Quiche features spiraled zucchini. And a spiralizer is a fun, efficient way to prep your your zucchini.
