Make It healthy - Make It Easy

The task of cooking a big meal after a full day of work might seem kind of daunting. You might be tempted to make a side trip to the closest fast food restaurant or maybe order a pizza. While that might be OK once a month or so, don't make it a habit. Those fast foods are loaded with saturated fats, sodium, sugar and calories.

Does that mean you are doomed to spend an hour and a half in the kitchen every night if you want to feed your family healthy meals? Nope. Not at all. Some tasty and healthy shortcuts can make cooking easy and delicious. All that is required is the right kitchen equipment and a little smart shopping at your grocery store to make healthy choices.

Here are some tips for healthy, quick and tasty meals:

Need dinner now because you are in a big hurry? Don't go the fast food route; stop at your grocery store instead. Most grocery stores have deli sections with lots of dishes that are ready to heat and serve. Be sure to choose foods that aren’t loaded with creamy sauces or gravies, and don't buy the fried chicken and greasy potato wedges. Instead, pick up a hot fresh rotisserie chicken. These chickens are low in fat, often nicely seasoned and all you have to do is carve the bird and serve it with vegetables and a salad.

The freezer section of your store has several varieties of healthy vegetables. There are blends of vegetables with their own sauces (watch for fat and sodium) as well as brands that steam right in your microwave. My favorite is Birds Eye Steamfresh vegetables.

Make your own salad at the grocery store's salad bar or grab some greens and pre-cut vegetables. Wash the greens and fresh vegetables, toss and serve. Serve with low-fat salad dressing on the side.

What if you have a little more time to prepare dinner?

Choose fresh meats that are ready to cook in your oven. Go to the meat department of the grocery store and look for skinless seasoned chicken breasts or healthy salmon fillets. Place them in a baking dish and pop it in the oven. There is virtually no prep time and little clean up so you have plenty of time to make your side dishes.

Use a vegetable steamer/rice cooker that can prepare two healthy side dishes at once. The steamer does the work while you relax or get your other errands done. Get a steamer with a built-in timer so your vegetables will be ready when you get Home.uy a slow cooker. Make your own hearty soup with some low-sodium broth, chunks of lean beef or chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and celery or try an easy slow cooker recipe. You can also buy dinner mixes meant for your crock pot. But read the labels; they usually are high in fat and sodium.

Do you have a bread maker hiding on the back shelf of your pantry? Bring it out and make your own fresh bread. Set a timer so that when you get Home the bread will be warm and ready to serve with a meal or a simple bowl of soup. There are boxes of bread mixes all ready to go; just add a bit of water and some canola oil and press the start button. Have fun with your bread mixes by adding extra ingredients such as a quarter cup of chopped nuts or shredded cheese. You can also substitute a cup of room-temperature beer for the water and maybe some chopped chili peppers for a little kick. My favorite bread mixes are Hodgson Mill’s Nine Grain Bread mix, and Honey Whole Wheat.

What about buying frozen meals?

When you go to the freezer section of your grocery store, you will find lots of frozen meals. Some are small and low in calories, others are huge with lots of calories and fat and high in sodium. Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers and Healthy Choice offer frozen foods that are healthier than most other brands. Make them even healthier by adding some extra vegetables or salad and a slice of whole grain bread.

The best frozen meals are ones you make yourself. If you can devote a whole weekend in your kitchen (and you have a big freezer), you can try once a month cooking. As always, choose healthy recipes that are low in calories and high in nutrition. Look for recipes that use lean meats, poultry or fish and lots of vegetables.

If you don't have a whole weekend to prepare meals, but you do have a few hours, find a meal preparation store such as Let's Dish! These stores offer delicious recipes, high quality ingredients, helpful staff, and best of all, someone else cleans up. Look for a meal preparation store near you.

So you see, with a little preparation and a healthy grocery list, you can enjoy healthy, delicious and easy-to-make meals at Home.

吃起來(lái)健康，做起來(lái)容易

在工作了一整天后來(lái)做一頓大餐的任務(wù)看起來(lái)有點(diǎn)麻煩。你可能想著去最近一家快餐館或者定購(gòu)一個(gè)比薩餅。一個(gè)月一次還可以，但不要讓它成為習(xí)慣。那些快餐含有大量飽和脂肪，鈉，糖和熱量。

這意味著如果你想要給家人做健康食品就必須得每天晚上花一個(gè)半小時(shí)在廚房嗎？當(dāng)然不是。一些速成法可以讓做飯更容易且美味。只需要一些廚房設(shè)備，及到雜貨店購(gòu)買(mǎi)一些物品。這里是一些健康快速美味飲食的小竅門(mén)：

你現(xiàn)在著急要吃飯嗎？不要去買(mǎi)快餐，去雜貨店。多數(shù)雜貨店有好多半成品，只要熱一下就可以吃的。選擇那些不含奶油醬或肉汗的，不要買(mǎi)炸雞和油炸土豆片。拿一些熱的新鮮的rotisserie和雞肉。這些雞含低量脂肪，調(diào)味也很好，你只要切開(kāi)然后將它與蔬菜和沙拉一起上桌就可。冷凍箱你可以貯存幾種健康蔬菜。有溫和的蔬菜及他們各自愿 調(diào)味汗，還有在你的微波爐里的熱時(shí)的牌子。我喜歡的是Birds Eye Steamfresh vegetables。在雜貨店里的沙拉條制作你自己的沙拉或者抓一些蔬菜和切好的蔬菜。洗好溫和然后上桌。和低脂沙拉醬一起上桌。如果你有更多時(shí)間準(zhǔn)備如何做？選擇新鮮的肉，去賣(mài)肉的柜臺(tái)前找一些沒(méi)有皮的用味汗調(diào)好的雞胸或者對(duì)健康有好處的鮭魚(yú)餡。將他們放在一個(gè)烤盤(pán)放在爐子上。絕對(duì)不用時(shí)間清洗所以你有足夠時(shí)間來(lái)做配菜。用一個(gè)蔬菜蒸籠準(zhǔn)備兩個(gè)健康的副菜。當(dāng)你休息時(shí)或者做另外的準(zhǔn)備時(shí)可以蒸東西。設(shè)好時(shí)間這樣你就可以在到家時(shí)就已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好了。買(mǎi)一個(gè)低的廚具。用一些低鈉的肉湯，幾塊瘦牛肉或雞肉，土豆，世界上，蔥頭，蒜，和芹菜或者一個(gè)容易的慢炊具的菜譜做健康湯。你也可以買(mǎi)一些攪拌食物來(lái)讓你的陶制鍋派上用場(chǎng)。但是要讀標(biāo)簽，他們通常 是含脂肪量和鈉較高的。你有一個(gè)制面包機(jī)嗎，藏在你的餐具室后面？拿出來(lái)自己制作新鮮的面包。設(shè)好時(shí)間這樣你到家時(shí)面包就會(huì)溫暖準(zhǔn)備上桌，只要準(zhǔn)備一碗湯就可以了。準(zhǔn)備好幾盒面包溫和物，只要加一點(diǎn)沙一些canola油和按下開(kāi)始鍵。加入一些額外的槽糕如四分之一杯的炒花生或者切碎的奶酪，來(lái)為你的烹調(diào)增加樂(lè)趣。你也能用一杯常溫啤酒來(lái)代替水可能還可以有一些炒辣椒來(lái)增加一點(diǎn)反沖力。我喜歡的面包溫和物是Hodgson Mill’s Nine Grain Bread mix, and Honey Whole Wheat.如何購(gòu)買(mǎi)冷凍餐？當(dāng)你去冷凍部時(shí)，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)許多冷凍食品。一些熱量很低，其他則富含熱量脂肪和鈉。瘦的飲食，減肥者和健康選擇提供更健康的食物。通過(guò)加一些額外的蔬菜或沙沙和一片全麥面包來(lái)讓它們更健康。最好的冷凍食品是你自己制作的。如果你能用一整個(gè)周末在廚房，你可以一個(gè)月只做一次飯。而且選擇健康配方，含熱量低高營(yíng)養(yǎng)的。尋找那些使用瘦肉，禽類(lèi)或者魚(yú)類(lèi)和大量蔬菜的。

如果你沒(méi)有一整個(gè)周末來(lái)準(zhǔn)備，但是有幾個(gè)小時(shí)，找一個(gè)準(zhǔn)備飲食的部門(mén)，這些部門(mén)提供可口的菜譜，高質(zhì)量的槽糕，有幫助的參謀，最好的是，有人給你清洗，找一個(gè)你附近的餐飲準(zhǔn)備商店。這樣你明白了，有一點(diǎn)準(zhǔn)備和一個(gè)健康的雜貨列表，你就能在家中享受健康美味快捷的大餐。