Searching for some fast and wholesome dinner concepts for whenever you don’t really feel like cooking? I’ve received you coated.
You already know the drill – it’s late. You’re drained. You don’t really feel like cooking.
Perhaps this implies you find yourself having cereal for dinner, or hitting the drive by means of on the way in which house, or simply having some toast and calling it an evening.
However I promise when you’ve got only a few issues available, you possibly can throw collectively a very easy, fast, nutritious, and yummy meal with little to no effort. Right here’s methods to make a fast wholesome weeknight dinner!
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Simple & Nutritious Weeknight Dinner Concepts
My favourite solution to construct a fast wholesome dinner bowl is through a mixture of greens, grains, legumes, veggies, wholesome fat, and a sauce to tie all of it collectively!
It’s straightforward and quick, I promise. In case you have pre-cooked grains (or should you use a 90 second microwave model, like I do), throwing collectively dinner shall be even faster.
With out additional ado, right here’s your straightforward system for methods to construct a fast, wholesome dinner:
1. First, your base. Add a mattress of greens to your plate.
It will give your meal some good quantity, which helps with satiety!
For heat meals, you need to use 1 enormous handful contemporary child spinach. Pop it within the microwave for 45 seconds on excessive to wilt it.
For chilly meals, use 1 enormous handful of contemporary salad greens – any sort.
2. Add a serving (about 1/2 cup) of cooked grains to your plate.
For this step, you possibly can both make a giant batch of grains one evening so you could have it available the remainder of the week, or, my favourite choice is just to make use of 90 second microwave brown rice. It’s so quick, really easy, and doesn’t require any planning forward.
(Associated: take a look at my Healthy Pantry Staples List for some gadgets I all the time preserve available, like microwave rice, canned beans, and so on.)
Grain concepts:
- Brown rice
- Barley
- Quinoa
- Complete wheat pasta
- Every other entire grain
3. Add a serving (about 1/2 cup) of cooked legumes to your plate.
It will add fiber and protein to maintain you full!
I like to recommend canned beans – they’re really easy and don’t require any cooking or planning forward. Simply open the can, drain and rinse them!
Alternatively, when you’ve got leftover cooked meat within the fridge (or canned meat/tuna), you might use that as an alternative. Or use each – the extra the merrier!
Some to strive:
- Cannellini beans (nice with pasta)
- Black beans (nice with rice, quinoa, barley)
- Kidney beans
- Chickpeas or lentils (good with something)
- And so forth.!
4. Time so as to add some veggie energy – no matter you could have available!
It will add vitamins and a variety of quantity to your meal, protecting you full longer.
Some to strive:
- Cooked or contemporary broccoli
- Chopped peppers or cucumber
- Steamed zucchini and/or squash (nice with pasta)
- Chopped or cooked carrots or celery
- Cooked string beans (I exploit the microwave model of those, too, for ease)
- And so forth.!
5. High with a serving of fats, to present the meal some endurance!
Listed below are some concepts – select one or a number of!
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of cheese (grated cheddar, feta, goat, and so on.)
- ¼ to 1/2 of an avocado (relying how hungry you might be, and if the avocado is small or huge!)
- A sprinkling of nuts or seeds (slivered or sliced almonds, chopped pecans or walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and so on.)
6. And eventually, add a sauce! Select one relying in your theme:
- Salsa (for Mexican impressed meals)
- Pesto or marinara (pasta) sauce
- French dressing (my favourite is my Lemon Balsamic Dressing)
To get you began, listed below are a number of of my favourite straightforward wholesome dinner combos:
Mexican Mess:
- Base of microwave steamed spinach or contemporary greens
- ½ cup cooked brown rice or quinoa
- ½ cup black beans
- Chopped peppers and tomato
- ¼ to 1/2 an avocado
- 2 Tbsp. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup salsa, any sort
Quinoa Chickpea Salad:
- Base of contemporary greens
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup chickpeas
- Chopped veggies – peppers, carrots, cucumber, and so on.
- ¼ to 1/2 an avocado
- 1 Tbsp. feta cheese
- 2 Tbsp. lemon balsamic vinaigrette
Easy Veggie Pasta:
- Base of steamed spinach
- 1/2 cup cooked entire wheat pasta
- 1/2 cup cannellini beans or chickpeas
- Zucchini, squash, and/or broccoli steamed in microwave
- 1 Tbsp. Grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup marinara or pesto
- Base of arugula
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup cannellini beans
- ¼ an avocado, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. feta cheese
- 2 Tbsp. orange French dressing (see recipe – click on the recipe identify above – for particulars)
Watermelon Fall Harvest Salad:
- Base of child kale
- ½ cup cooked farro
- ½ cup chickpeas
- Butternut squash or candy potato, cooked in microwave
- ¼ cup pecans, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. feta cheese
- 2 Tbsp. apple cider French dressing (see recipe – click on the recipe identify above – for particulars)
- Base of spinach
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ½ cup kidney beans
- 1 Tbsp. feta cheese
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice + olive oil dressing (see recipe – click on the recipe identify above – for particulars)
The bottom line is to incorporate a variety of quantity from veggies to assist preserve you full, some fats for endurance, and to ensure so as to add some type of protein – both beans or a meat/seafood when you’ve got that available.
And now, right here’s a graphic so that you can pin/save together with your straightforward dinner “system” all collectively in a single place!
I hope you discover this publish useful the following time you arrive house with no concept what to make for dinner!
For extra fast wholesome dinner concepts:
(These require a little bit extra cooking, however are nonetheless straightforward to make!)
A couple of extra earlier posts you may also discover useful:
What’s your favourite fast and simple weeknight dinner staple?
