How To Make Healthy Eating Easy: Simple Recipes You Can Change

It's officially Spring!  The trees are budding.  The weather is warming up (a bit too much).  Every year at this time, I seek lighter foods.  I think I overdid the sourdough breads and banana oat flour muffins this winter.  For now, I'm done with high-carb foods.  

Now, I want more vegetables and fresh fruits.   

The problem is - at the end of a long day, how do you motivate yourself to cook??

There are ways - 

If you can afford it, hire a personal chef. 

A more cost-conscious way is ordering pre-packaged healthy meals or meal-kits. 

Even more inexpensively - go to a grocery store, get a roasted chicken and some pre-made coleslaw or grilled broccoli rabe.  

I plan on Sunday what we're eating Monday through Thursday. 

On work days, I need EASY meals with little to no prep because I won't feel like doing it at 6:30 pm on a Monday night after being on my feet all day. 

How to motivate yourself to cook:  just start chopping garlic.  By then, half the battle is over, which is getting started.  Once you pull out the cutting board, knife, and garlic, you can pick up momentum from there.  

Fridays are more of a free-for-all.  I allow my kids the dinner of their choice Friday nights.  Usually that ends up being Taco Bell or Wing Stop.  I personally don't eat there.  Instead, I'll cook some kale with eggs, warm up leftovers, or something else simple (soup w/ crackers; tuna melt; etc.).  

What do we eat??

For me, a simple meal is one that I've done over and over again.  It's memorized.  It's easy because I know it.  

Here are some of my favorite, easy meals.  The ingredients are interchangeable.  You can modify the recipe depending on what you have at home or what's in season.  

Stir-Fry

1. Make a stir-fry sauce. 

You don't HAVE to do this part, but it tastes WAY better when it's fresh.  Give it a try.  You may find it's not nearly as hard as you thought it would be.   

Pre-packaged sauces are OK in a pinch, or if you hate the idea of making your own.  But packaged sauces don't have that gingery punch that I love.  And they always have too much sugar and other unsavories that I try to avoid.  

You'll need: tamari or soy sauce; garlic; ginger; rice vinegar; sesame oil; broth.  I always keep these on-hand for making sauces.  Once you mix up a batch, you can store it and use it for future recipes.  

2. Make rice.  

I always soak my rice for 30 minutes or longer before cooking.  This removes extra starch (and arsenic! ☠️) from the grain.  It will cook into a better texture this way. 

I cook my rice using bone or vegetable broth instead of water.  This way, you also get the gut-health benefits of collagen.  And it tastes better, too.  I also add a pinch of sea salt.  Other than that, just follow package directions.  

3.  Put it all together.

Pick a protein (ground meat or tofu are perfect).  Pick a vegetable (broccoli; mushrooms; green beans; carrots; peppers; greens; etc.)

When cooking tofu (buy organic so you know it's not full of chemicals and not GMO) - remove from package and drain the water.  Then get out 2 big plates and some kitchen towels.  Put a towel on a plate and the tofu on top of it.  Put another towel on top and the other plate on top of that.  Then, put something heavy on the very top of this tofu stack.  Let it sit for a couple hours to press out the extra water.  

For tofu, use some olive or coconut oil in the pan before frying.  Cut it into 1" chunks.  Roll the tofu on a plate that has a combo of 3 Tablespoons corn starch or flour, salt, and pepper for more even cooking.  Coat the pan with oil or butter, medium or medium-high heat.  Fry it up until golden brown.  

For meat, cook on medium or med-high heat until fully browned.  

Remove the protein from the pan and set aside. 

Cook those vegetables.  I like to cook them in the fat remaining from the meat 😋.  Fat = flavor!  If you used tofu, add butter or oil to the pan.  

The biggest mistake I see people making when cooking vegetables is they don't cook them long enough.  Especially green beans, root vegetables, and mushrooms.  They need TIME.  Mushrooms should shrivel up, look kind of wet, and when you taste-test them (which you should definitely do) they're not crunchy.  Green beans should be blistered.  Taste them before you consider them "done."  Leafy greens take hardly any time at all.  Watch them accordingly.  If I use potatoes, I cook them separately, 1" chunks boiled in water; and add them in at the end.  

Mix the proteins with the vegetables in the pan once both are cooked.  Set heat to low.  Add about 1/4 cup of the sauce.  Simmer for 2-3 minutes until the liquid is mostly absorbed. 

Serve on top of rice. 

Top with diced green onion and cilantro if you want.  I always keep those on hand, too.  They're great toppers for many meals, including omelettes and soup.  They'll set you back about $1 - $2 each, so even if you don't use it all, it's not a financial disaster.  

Souped-Up Salads

I like my salads with lots of little, delicious tid-bits.  

The biggest mistakes people make when doing salads:

• Not using a salad spinner - wet leaves will leave you thinking maybe you don't like salad?  Nope.  Wash them, then spin them dry.  It's a good investment for your kitchen and for healthy living.  
• Not washing the leaves - feeling a crunch in your mouth that is NOT from the crisp leaves?  That could be dirt.  Or a bug.  Especially if you buy organic.  
• Yucky dressing - read those labels.  90% of what I see on the shelf either has canola oil or sugar in the ingredients.  I'm not eating that.  I been using this dressing straight from the Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar people lately.  (It's on the bottom shelf at HEB if you live in Austin.)
• No variety - just leaves and tomatoes.  Yaaawwwn. 🥱 Boring!  Maybe this is why you think you hate eating healthy.  

 When I make a salad, I'm pulling these things out of the fridge: 

• the leaves, preferably organic
• the dressing
• eggs
• bacon
• feta or grated parmesian cheese
• cucumbers, radishes, roasted beets, or kimchi (depending on what I have and what's in season) 
• avocado 
• maybe:  rice/quinoa

1. Start a pot of water boiling.  Cook the eggs in there, 10 minutes.  Then, if you want them to peel easily, IMMEDIATELY plunge them into ICE-cold water for at least 5 minutes.  The icier the water, the better.  This is the only time you'll hear me using ice in cooking, lol.  Well, that and for my "healthy" margarita recipe.  I'll share that soon.  In that, I only use the ice in the shaker, then strain the good stuff out. 😉 

2. If you want bacon bits, get that going. 

3. Rinse and SPIN those leaves.  

4. Chop the veggies.  If using cucumber, peel it first, then slice thin.  I use a grater for the radishes so they're very thin.  You'll hardly notice they're there, other than their light, crisp texture and vaguely spicy taste.  If you're using kimchi, chop it into smaller bites, if necessary. 

Roasted beets should be done in advance - peel and chop into 1/2" pieces.  Coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 20 minutes, 425 degrees, on a cooking pan.  Stir, check for doneness, and maybe cook another 10 minutes or so.  Taste them and make sure they are NOT crunchy.  They should practically melt in your mouth.  I'm pretty sure undercooked beets are why many people think they hate beets.  

5. Put the leaves and veggies (not avocado yet) into a bowl.  Toss with dressing and your preferred amount of cheese.  Top that with chopped eggs and avocado if using.  Salt and pepper those.  Toss again.  Top that with the bacon if you're doing that.  If using grains, I pour all this on top of the grains or put the grains on the side.  

Grain Bowls

Remember when these were trending?  Layers of beans, quinoa, and kale in a mason jar?  Well, they're still great.  But we don't need mason jars.  Any old bowl will work.  

You'll need:

1. Grain:  rice or quinoa are obvious choices. See under the stir-fry section for cooking rice.  Same with quinoa - soak or at least rinse it first, then cook in broth until liquid is absorbed. Let it set with the lid on, away from heat for 5-10 minutes before using. 

2. Vegetables: greens; avocado (chopped small); cucumber (peeled and sliced thin); radishes (sliced thin); green onion (diced); cilantro (roughly chopped); sweet potato (small chunks, pre-cooked, ~10 minutes in boiling water); beets (chopped and pre-baked); zucchini (use a vegetable peeler to slice very thin); pickled vegetables.  Pick 2-3 that you think would mesh well together.  

3. Beans:  Ok, I do NOT make beans from scratch.  Maybe I should, but ... Pick your battles!  Cooking beans from scratch is not a battle I wish to join. Doing it well involves LOTS of time and soaking... So I open a can of organic black beans, chickpeas, or pintos, drain it, rinse it good, drain again.  

4. If I don't use beans, I use meat.  An obvious choice, and a family favorite, is chicken that I cut off a previously-bought and not completely eaten rotisserie chicken.  

5. Cheese?  Your choice.  

6. Dressing:  if you have the time and inclination, make your own in advance so it's ready to pour.  You'll need things like ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, tamari, etc. just like for the stir-fry sauce.  

7. Put it all together.  Top with sesame seeds, green onion, cilantro if desired.