Do you want to make a healthy dinner or are you looking for quick recipes for dinner?
I’ll show you how I do it when I want to make a low-carbon dinner easy, fast, and convenient.
I’ll give you several healthy dinner ideas, ideal for weekdays, that will make meal planning super easy at home!
Making a healthy dinner is very important!
Dinner is not only one of the three meals of the day, which should bring you energy and nutrients for your body to function 100%, but it also corresponds to returning home.
After a day’s work, with everything you’ve had to treat and do and run, you need a meal that’s in the spirit of this return to safety, family, and rest.
And this is the purpose of this article and the corresponding video:
To help you simplify the evening meal, so you can relax as you deserve!
I’ll show you exactly how I do it here at home. Since I implemented this system, it has become much easier to make a delicious and also healthy dinner, without having to search the books at the last minute what to do.
As always at Glow Chef, they are simple but cheerful recipes, easy to make and within everyone’s reach, that organize you a week of dinners in a snap.
You get the dinner of the week sorted out!
Watch the video by clicking on the picture (in Portuguese):
Oven dinners: traybake
The cooking method I use most during the week is the traybake oven tray.
I explain: I combine all the ingredients on a tray, which I also season in the same way, and bake for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the ingredients chosen.
While the oven works, I do other things. And you can too!
These meals usually have about 10 minutes of preparation time and then it’s just the oven that works.
And it’s an average of 30 minutes where you can do whatever you want!
How to plan dinner
As in many other areas of life, meal planning is what I call time well spent! It’s minutes that save us a lot of trouble and stress.
I make it this way: target specific ingredients for each day of the week, usually, I start with protein.
Shopping is very easy: just count how many we’ll be at the table, and that’s it.
And then, depending on what’s fresh in the market or according to the season, I choose the side dishes.
I’ll show you exactly how I do it.
- Monday: here at home it’s always #meatfreemonday, which means it will be a vegetarian dish.
- Tuesday: meat
- Wednesday: fish
- Thursday: again meat
- Friday: fish again
The days may vary, but the proportion at dinner is usually this: one vegetarian, two meat and two fish.
The accompaniments can vary with the seasons and what is beautiful in the market, but they are always vegetables.
Before going into the choice of ingredients I want to talk a bit about this low carb theme…
Low carb dinner: what is it?
By low carb, I mean meals made with fewer carbohydrate foods. In other words, in practice, I’m excluding most cereals.
This does not mean that the meal is carbohydrate-free, because all vegetables contain this macronutrient. And vegetarian meals always have a higher carbohydrate proportion, so on Mondays, you do the full meal.
We’re simply not going to include cereal in most of these dinners.
It’s a choice that has two reasons:
The first is my preference: I rarely combine animal protein with cereal, I find the digestion too heavy and even have to swell.
The second is to help you. Because these combinations I’m going to show you bring you the main nutrients you need, while helping you reduce the sugar in your diet. And you already know, if you follow me, that this is a constant goal of my tips:
Reduce excess sugar!
Also,
- you might want a lighter meal;
- you’re following a training program to lose fat;
- or you went to a nutritionist who told you to avoid starches at night and you’re unimaginative…
But then it’s to cut for good? No, not at all!
We’re just balancing the scales. This is the basis of a healthy, balanced dinner.
You also get recipes that are compatible with some fashionable diets, like Cetogenic, Paleo and Atkins, if you want to try them.
The choice of ingredients for a low carb dinner
Now all that remains to be done. For this video I have chosen proteins and accompaniments that are easy to prepare and very affordable – both in purchase and price.
The spices are also simple and practical, all ingredients you buy and last long in the pantry.
Monday: vegetarian dinner
For Monday’s dish, I suggest you watch my video “A SUGAR-FREE DAY”, where I show you how to cook two vegetarian dishes that are also great.
I’ll leave you the link HERE.
You still have great recipes like these here on the blog:
Lentils and Cauliflower Stew.
Cauliflower Steaks in the Oven
Tuesday: Chicken Breast with Broccoli and Radishes
Put the chicken and vegetables on a baking tray.
Season everything with salt, garlic powder and a mixture of herbs (I really like Provence Herbs). Water with a spoonful of olive oil and take it to the oven for 30 minutes.
The roasted radishes will be a surprise, they become less spicy but still contrast interestingly with the smoothness of the chicken and the salty taste of the roasted broccoli.
Wednesday: Hake Fillet with Broccoli and Cauliflower
A very classic combination, I know, but it always works. And the fact that it’s cooked in the oven gives it a different character.
It tempers the fish with a little salt, decorate it with capers and a thin slice of lemon, and water it with little oil – very little.
The vegetables can be seasoned in the same way, adding some dried garlic flakes or garlic powder.
At the end, we add a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.
Thursday: Chicken Legs with Carrot and Parsnip
Carrot and parsnip are two vegetables that complement each other very well. They give you comfort with their sweet taste and are perfect for autumn.
Season the vegetables and the chicken with salt, garlic powder, dried thyme, and smoked paprika. Water with a little olive oil and lemon juice. Take it to the oven for 40 minutes.
In my house, I always add a salad to the meat dishes. You can do the same or not.
Friday: Wild Salmon with Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes
I love the combination of asparagus and cherry tomatoes contrasts, which become sweet little firecrackers after a few minutes in the oven.
I season everything with salt, dill and sesame seeds. I water with a small spoonful of sesame oil that binds beautifully with the salmon.
See the recipes in the video, they can’t be simpler!
Easy and very nutritious low carb dinners!
In fact, all these vegetables bring you many important vitamins and minerals with antioxidant effects and also a lot of fiber, contributing to the health of the intestine.
And if you feel like it, any of these suggestions can be supplemented with either basmati or whole-grain rice, if you think it’s needed.
Dinner planning: DONE!
And that’s it, now you’ll never look in the fridge again, not knowing what to do for dinner.
You know exactly how to assemble a balanced meal quickly and intuitively.
And the best thing is that all these alternatives do so much work for one, as for eight!
