For me, the hardest part of healthy eating is figuring out what to make for dinner—every single night!
The cooking process can be fun and sometimes I am inspired to make creative, healthy meals that will wow my family, BUT most of the time I stare into the fridge thinking “what the hell am I going to make for dinner!”
Here are four strategies that have helped me in my time of need:
- Pick a theme. Choosing a theme like Mexican, or Indian helps with both meal planning and grocery shopping. I always have wraps, beans, onions and peppers in the house. So tonight it will be Mexican wraps.
- Veggies first. The old school way of thinking about dinner was protein (usually meat), starch and vegetables, but now we need to make veggies the star of dinner. Some of my favourites are roasted cauliflower and yams over a leafy green drizzled in a tahini dressing, or a veggie stir-fry.
- Make a kick-ass salad. It helps to have all the ingredients on hand to whip up a yummy salad—and I don’t mean just leafy greens! Think noodle salad, bean salad, quinoa salad, or a salad of root vegetables. Salad is really just putting things in a bowl and mixing up textures and sauces and dressings.
- Put it all in a casserole. Especially now that it’s winter, turn on the oven and make a one-pot dinner. Vegan mac and cheese, veggie lasagna, or baked beans are all easy to make and allow you to add your own flavours.
I hope these suggestions help, and if you have suggestions on ways to stay creative in the kitchen, please send them along. I’ll share them with other readers and I’m sure I’ll use them myself!
xoxo
Rebecca