Dinner inspiration

anniee1

Hello. I was hoping some people could give me ideas for quick, healthy dinner recipes.

I live with my boyfriend and I do the majority of the cooking. I’m trying to lose weight. He is very fit and healthy, but not trying to lose or gain, but I’m struggling with dinner ideas.
He’s quite fussy and doesn’t like too much veg or too much sauce on food. Not too adventurous with new flavors or recipient. I’ve been trying to hide veg in food like parsnips in mash, butternut squash in a pasta sauce, but he always spots it!

Does anyone have any healthy and budget friendly go to meals. We usually have jacket potatoes (or sweet potatoes) and he has whatever topping he wants and I have a healthy alternative. We do have stir fries, a lot of chicken and I’m trying to cut pasta to veg for myself.

Any ideas would be amazing as I’d love to have some more go to dinner ideas for the middle of the week.

Thank you. Annie

leggup

You can use the old protein + starch + veg combo and let him add all the veg he does or does not want. You said you do stir fries, that's great. I often bake a tray of food. For me it's vegetarian baked chicken on 1/3 - 1/4 of the pan and frozen mixed veggies on the rest of the pan. We keep sweet potatoes, rice, and ramen noodles in the pantry if we want to add a heavy starch. Because my chicken is vegetarian, i cook it on the same tray-- preheat 430, bake for 18 min. I season the roasted veggies with garlic and lemon juice. If I have the calories, I top with cheese fresh out of the oven. we usually do sauces on the side with me measuring mine.

Extra mega lazy mode:

• a bag of vegetable steamers and a microwaved veggie burger crumbled over top
• a bag of vegetable steamers with microwaved lentils in sauce poured over (i like Tasty Bite Madras Lentils.. it's in a cream sauce, very filling, high protein)
• Madras lentils poured over a sweet potato
• Taco salad: bed of greens, chunky salsa (i like mango peach), sour cream, crumbled black bean veggie burger, rice/grain if the calories permit.
• Soup, dude. Crusty bread or garlic croutons. I go for heavy heavy soups, like ones with quinoa in them. if you do tomato, grilled cheese sandwich strips for dippin'

deannalfisher

what kind of veg does he like?

if he likes sweet potato - this recipe is a standard for me - https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/barley-and-sweet-potato-pilaf/

deannalfisher

or if he's just that fussy - you cook for you and he can forage for himself

dklibert

I recommend sheet pan suppers or sheet pan meals. There are all sort of different recipes out there. You can put protein, veggies and potato all on the same baking pan and put it in the oven at usually 400-450. I think it would work well for you because you can adjust the amount so you have more veggies and he has more meat and potatoes. You can even use foil on the pan so clean up is easy. You can use foil to section off the pan so things don't touch if he is really picky about veggies.

I have done chicken fajitas; fish, zucchini and/or asparagus; steak, tomatoes, onion and potatoes; shrimp and tomatoes; salmon, red pepper, mushrooms and bok choy; chicken, mushrooms, snow peas and red bell pepper; turkey sausage, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts. I have also done just veggies broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, on and on. Bonus the veggies get crisp brown bits and taste kinda nutty? They have a very different flavor not soggy or mushy. The flavor and natural sugar in the veg concentrates and caramelizes.

Here are the videos that started me cooking on a sheet pans.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qp8Tc4ncJgI
https://youtube.com/watch?v=TCsZA4KKbho

I hope this helps.

theabsentmindednurse

ROASTED SWEET POTATO AND QUINOA SALAD

SchweddyGirl

He likes sweet potato but not butternut? Weird.

livingleanlivingclean

Roast everything! Give him more starches, or douse his side of the roasting tray more Liberally in oil. Serve his meal with rice/pasta, turn your roast vegies in to a salad with leaves etc, or add more non starchy vegies to your plate.

Lounmoun

anniee1 wrote: »

Hello. I was hoping some people could give me ideas for quick, healthy dinner recipes.

I live with my boyfriend and I do the majority of the cooking. I’m trying to lose weight. He is very fit and healthy, but not trying to lose or gain, but I’m struggling with dinner ideas.
He’s quite fussy and doesn’t like too much veg or too much sauce on food. Not too adventurous with new flavors or recipient. I’ve been trying to hide veg in food like parsnips in mash, butternut squash in a pasta sauce, but he always spots it!

Does anyone have any healthy and budget friendly go to meals. We usually have jacket potatoes (or sweet potatoes) and he has whatever topping he wants and I have a healthy alternative. We do have stir fries, a lot of chicken and I’m trying to cut pasta to veg for myself.

Any ideas would be amazing as I’d love to have some more go to dinner ideas for the middle of the week.

Thank you. Annie

Healthy food is food that has nutrients and meets your body's needs. That can include meat, beans, pizza, rice, pasta, cheese, potatoes, bread, etc.
Make more things like the potatoes where you can customize with your own choice of sauces or toppings. Tacos, individual pizza, pasta, grilled sandwiches for example.
Don't make mixed dishes so it will be easier for you to each have what you want.
If you want to eat more vegetables just prepare them as a side dish for you. He can choose not to eat them. Don't try to sneak them in. He is an adult.
Since he is a fit, healthy fussy adult he could also make his own food if he doesn't like what you make.

Look on Pinterest for food ideas.
My family has enjoyed recipes from
http://www.budgetbytes.com
http://www.skinnytaste.com
https://kalynskitchen.com