Quick & Healthy Dinners For Busy Nights
Unless cooking is your passion, you probably don’t want to spend a bunch of time every night preparing elaborate dinners. You just want something that’s healthy, flavorful, and doesn’t drain your soul to prepare.
Since we can’t afford to send private chefs to all of our readers (sorry), we thought we’d help you out with some ideas. Every day over the next week, we’ll be exploring dinner options that are 40FRESH friendly and can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. These are perfect for weeknights where you want a healthy meal that’s done before it’s bedtime.
Today’s Checklist
If you’re following along with the 40FRESH Challenge, here’s your homework for today:
Read this post
Make Monday’s dinner menu
Add ingredients you need for Monday’s dinner to your shopping list
Chili Lime Chicken
Estimated Time: 30 minutes
There are endless ways to cook chicken. It’s a versatile and healthy meat that’s quick and easy to prepare. One of our favorite recipes is this chili lime chicken from Rasa Malaysia. The jalepeño and chili powder add a bit of heat that’s balanced out by a touch of sweetness from the honey.
For sides, consider pairing a starch like rice or oven roasted potatoes. You can make rice in an Instant Pot in just a few minutes. If you prefer potatoes, try this recipe that’s ready in 35 minutes from Love & Lemons.
Steamed veggies make an excellent (and healthy) addition to this meal as well. These don’t have to be boring, either! Try making this Food & Wine recipe for steamed broccoli with parmesan and lemon. Yum!
Strawberry Chicken Salad
Estimated Time: 30 minutes
Looking for a perfect springtime dish that’s packed with color and full of flavor? We think this strawberry chicken salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette from Plays Well With Butter is the perfect choice. This salad has it all: the smooth creaminess of goat cheese, vibrant berry flavor, a touch of crunch, and a savory herbed chicken for protein. We are salivating just thinking about it!
You’ll probably remember from our grocery store recon on day 4 that most salad dressings fall firmly into the Nope category. Does that mean you’ll be eating dry salad? No way! The homemade balsamic in the recipe above is completely 40FRESH friendly. We’ll explore a few variations of balsamic vinaigrette this week so you can keep your taste buds feeling entertained.
Shrimp Linguini
Estimated Time: 20 minutes
Chicken is wonderful and all, but we’re guessing you might want some other ideas. For a super snappy weeknight meal, give this shrimp linguini from Tastes Better From Scratch a go. This incredible meal only takes 20 minutes to prepare and it’s guaranteed to leave you felling full and satisfied.
Assuming you’re not making your own pasta from scratch, make sure to check the ingredients list for dry pasta you pick from the store. Don’t be fooled by all the “healthy” options made from flour alternatives. You’re looking for pasta made from durum wheat semolina. That’s it. You’ll find a lot of the alternatives include Nope ingredients, including some of those being marketed as 100% whole grain pastas.
Your Dinner Menu
You’ve already had some practice at this from building out your breakfast menu, so you know the drill by now. Every day, you’re going to be figuring out at least one 40FRESH friendly dinner meal. Crack open your food journal and add something to the menu for Monday. We’ll have more ideas throughout the week to help inspire you.
Once you have your menu item picked out, start a grocery list for any ingredients you’re missing around the house. We’ll be taking another shopping trip at the end of the week to get all of your dinner ingredients.
Up Next...
Hopefully you’re not feeling overwhelmed by your breakfast habit. If you are, make sure to go back and review your systems and ensure that you’re set up for success. The good news is you’re truly living out the ethos of your health mantra. Look at the long string of X’s on your accountability calendar. You should have a pretty impressive streak going. You’ve got this!
We’ll continue to seed new dinner ideas tomorrow with a look at three more 40FRESH friendly options. Stay strong and let us know in the comments what you think about the recipes!