How do you put a meal together?

ReynaDay01

An easy meal for me would be something like this:

Lettuce with Feta or Blue cheese and a light dressing. Add in some leftover meat cubes. If you like some other great add ins include tomato, carrots, kale, green onion, spinach, just to name a few. This requires no cooking besides the leftover meat.

A really easy breakfast could just be a smoothie with plenty of fruits and berries with some peanut butter or protein powder to keep you satisfied.

WeddedBliss1992

jessicadb2 wrote: »

What does a healthy meal look like and how do you cook it or prepare it? Sounds like a dumb question I know, but I find this so difficult. I don't have a lot of money to prepare meals with a lot of ingredients, so examples of cheap meals with few ingredients would be helpful.

i have 3 children with completely different tastes and ages (20, 18 and 6)
the 6-year-old is so picky. my husband and 20-year-old eat ALOT and that leaves me and my 18-year-old son kind of the "easy" ones to please.

an easy way for me to do dinner is to make a simple salad with lots of toppings on the side that everyone can add what they want: croutons, dried fruits (craisins, raisins), strawberries, blueberries, grated cheeses, sunflower seeds, toasted nuts, granola and any other salad toppings you might like with a variety of different dressings.

for the main portion, i buy 3 rotisserie chickens from the local grocery store (my new fav store is WalMart Market)

i then add veggies. i love green peas, but no one else does, so i open a can of LeSueur peas for myself and then i will put broccoli, carrots & cauliflower on a pan with olive oil in the oven at 400*F for about 30-45 min. this satisfies everyone (they can pick & choose which ones to eat)

this is a very simple and easy meal, doesn't require alot of prep, and everyone is happy. i do this at least once a week, sometimes more.

lemurcat12

urloved33 wrote: »

The more (natural) colorful your food is in your plate the healthier your meal is.

Not necessarily. Halibut, cauliflower, and turnips is quite healthy, even if you add a little greek yogurt and a pear.

It could be a lot more aesthetically pleasing, however, and I'm all for paying some attention to how a plate looks.

Nerruse

I'm really lazy so most of mine are one pot/slow cooker deals. Soups, chicken, pulled pork, etc. Pulled chicken can be made ahead of time and thrown into literally anything. Side salads are easy and don't have to be boring. Fruit can be served with meals. Just stick to the serving sizes and have a good balance of carbs to protein/fat and you'll be fine.

HeidiCooksSupper

Here's a graphic from a good source:

For more information, can't beat http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/