What to cook, healthy recipes

A healthy diet is not a specific list of food but everything you consume working together to meet your body's needs. You need to look at nutrients of foods you eat and how they fit your whole day. There are a lot of ways to "eat healthy".
https://mynutrition.wsu.edu/nutrition-basics/

A food can be higher calorie but still very nutritious. Calorie count is a side issue from nutritional content of a food. Calories are what is important for weight management. If you are logging your food you can get an idea if you are getting enough protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber. Basic advice would be to just hit your protein goal, eat some fats, eat several servings of vegetables and fruits per day and not stress about it that much. Many people find bulking out their meals with lower calorie vegetables helps them eat smaller portions of higher calorie foods and stick to their calorie goal.

If you are very new to cooking a child's cookbook or a basic cookbook like Better Homes and Gardens, Joy of Cooking or How to Cook Everything could be helpful. If you have a health condition there are cookbooks aimed at specific conditions or diets. The American Heart Association has several cookbooks out with lower sodium recipes for example.

Soup can be easy and forgiving for a beginner cook. Many freeze and reheat well. Some of my family's favorites are minestrone, tomato, chili, beef and noodle, lemon lentil, fassolatha, and ham and bean soup.


I find food ideas on Pinterest a lot or these other sites.
http://www.budgetbytes.com
http://www.skinnytaste.com
http://www.allrecipes.com
http://www.ohsheglows.com
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/
http://www.ayearofslowcooking.com/

There are a lot of great chicken or fish recipes but you could also eat pasta, rice, beef, pork, turkey, eggs, potatoes, beans, lentils, cheese, sandwiches or mixed dishes as part of a healthy diet.

Some easy stuff my family liked:
https://therecipecritic.com/garlic-chicken-stir-fry/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/creamy-pesto-pasta-chicken-broccoli/
https://www.afamilyfeast.com/lentils-with-brown-rice-and-feta/
https://ohsheglows.com/2013/04/08/black-bean-and-potato-nacho-plate/
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/copycat-olive-garden-minestrone-soup-by-todd-wilbur-77585?ref=amp

my two websites for recipe inspiration are BBC Good Food and Allrecipes
I have a cupboard FULL to bursting with recipe books - I love to cook - I wouldn't call it all healthy though (oops)

cooking for one may seem like a faff, it's as easy to cook for 4 as it is for 1. So why not cook for 4, then freeze 3 portions. That's three days another time you don't need to cook at all.

Try making a soup first. Other than cutting things up, it's really easy and virtually impossible to mess up. (Just don't burn the onions or garlic if they tell you to saute them first.) Maybe something hearty with some beans and lots of vegetables? You can even use canned tomatoes as a base if you like tomato-based soups.

Baked chicken and fish are easy and good to learn, but once you get bored of that, you can make them into chicken wraps or fish tacos pretty easily. Or throw the cooked chicken on top of a salad or together with some sauteed veggies. Or change up the spices you use, and they can become a sort of schwarma or other ethnic dish as well.

There are also healthy meals that don't really require cooking. Thinks like Greek yogurt with some healthy toppings, or a big salad with feta or tuna and low-cal dressing. Or a tuna sandwich, or veggies dipped in hummus, or an apple with a small amount of peanut butter. You can also teach yourself to snack on fruits, veggies, rice cakes, things like that. Maybe aim to make one meal a week -- you can eat it for a few days -- but keep the rest simple so that it doesn't seem too overwhelming.

Great suggestions!