Cooking Healthy Dinner Recipes - Lemon Poached Chicken & Potato Salad

Many people feel that dinner is one of the important meals in the day. Most of the people in the metropolitan cities pursue a very hectic lifestyle. This hectic lifestyle devoid them from maintaining a proper routine for daily breakfast and lunch. It is the most enjoyable meal for some people. You can relax after a hectic day at work and enjoy your dinner with your family in complete peace. On the other hand there are many people that come home and prepare the dinner themselves. It can turn out to be a pretty tedious task. It would be a real blessing if one gets hand on some recipes that are not so time consuming and healthy alike. There are many ways that can make cooking dinner recipes fun, quick, healthy and easy. 

One must consider it as a time to be involved with the family and kids. There are a number of recipes that even kids can contribute with. These recipes can help you strike a chord between fun, cooking, health and taste. Get the kids involved in helping prepare the meal. They can do things like washing and tearing up vegetables and measuring out ingredients. One must add proper dash of fruits and vegetables to the dinner meals. Vegetables and fruits are often regarded as one of the healthiest ingredients while preparing a dinner meals. These fruits and vegetables are easy on stomach and easily digestible. It also helps in providing a sweet and tangy punch to the meal. Try to chop the essential fruits and vegetables days prior to store it in the fridge. You can store them in containers in fridge and use them as per your needs. This would work wonders for the working class people that cook dinner after reaching home drenched in tiredness. Let us discuss a not so time consuming dinner recipe which is tasty and healthy alike. You can involve the kids too in preparation of it.

Lemon Poached Chicken & Potato Salad

Ingredients

4 small chicken breast fillets, trimmed

1 lemon, rind removed (see hint), juiced

750g kipfler or pink fir potatoes, scrubbed

100ml extra-virgin olive oil

150g baby green beans, trimmed, halved

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, cut into thirds crossways

1 tablespoon dill leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped chives

Method

Place chicken in a large, deep frying pan with lemon rind. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 12 minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Cool slightly. Slice across the grain.

Meanwhile, cook potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender. Using tongs, transfer to a chopping board. Stand for 10 minutes or until still warm but cool enough to handle. Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Place in a large bowl.

Using a fork, whisk oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice and salt and pepper in a jug. Drizzle three-quarters of the dressing over potato. Stir gently to coat.

Place beans and asparagus in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water. Stand for 3 minutes. Drain. Add to potato with chicken, dill and chives. Drizzle with remaining dressing. Toss gently to combine. Season with pepper. Serve.

Hint: Use a potato peeler to remove the rind from a lemon, avoiding the white pith which can make the poaching liquid taste bitter.

This recipe would take 20 mins for preparation & 30 mins to cook.

There are many websites and video channels online that provide many such healthy dinner recipes and cooking tips. India Food Network is one such website which you can refer to learn these easy to cook instant healthy recipes. It also provides many nutritional tips and ingredients list for cooking fanatics. Visit the India Food Network website for more information.

Healthy Recipes to keep you Fit – Chicken and Peach Salad

Preparing food the old fashioned way—at home in your own kitchen—doesn’t have to be time consuming or complicated. With some simple guidelines, you can create quick, delicious meals the whole family will enjoy. Many people feel too busy to take 15 minutes for breakfast every day. But this vital first meal of the day gets your metabolism going and gives you energy. People who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight. Breakfast can be quick, easy, and nutritious. If you have a busy schedule, lunch can often be a rushed meal—a takeout eaten at your desk or a quick bite in a diner or restaurant. But with a little planning, it’s easy to prepare a nutritious and tasty lunch yourself. Things like sandwiches or leftovers from a previous dinner can make quick, easy, and healthy lunchtime meals. You must strike a perfect balance in the ingredients that make a pivotal part of your breakfast and lunch recipes. Most of the people nowadays lead a hectic lifestyle. This makes it very hard for them to maintain proper balance in their early morning breakfast and lunch routine. There are many recipes that you can consume to maintain proper balance between enjoying tasty food and eating healthy. Let us discuss one such recipe which is not much time consuming in preparation. Along with that it also helps you to strike a chord between taste and health.

Chicken and Peach Salad

Ingredients:

    7 green onions

    1/4 cup soy sauce

    2 tablespoons red wine

    1 tablespoon honey

    1 tablespoon brown sugar

    1 garlic clove, crushed

    1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    4 small chicken breast fillets, trimmed

    120g mixed lettuce leaves

    30g snow pea sprouts, trimmed

    1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced

    415g can peach slices in natural juice (see note), drained

    1/2 cup pistachio kernels

    1 avocado

Dressing

    1 teaspoon sesame oil

    1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

    1 teaspoon sweet chili sauce

    2cm piece ginger, peeled, grated

Method

Thinly slice 3 onions. Combine soy sauce, red wine, honey, sugar, garlic, cinnamon and sliced onions in a large, shallow ceramic dish. Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight, if time permits.

Make dressing: Place oils, sweet chili sauce and ginger in a screw-top jar. Secure lid and shake until well combined. Set aside until ready to serve.

Preheat a barbecue grill on medium heat. Remove chicken from marinade. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes each side or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate. Cover with foil and stand for 5 minutes. Slice.

Thinly slice remaining onions. Combine onions, lettuce, snow pea sprouts, cucumber, peaches and pistachio kernels in a large bowl. Peel, quarter and thinly slice avocado. Add to salad. Pour over dressing and gently toss. Spoon salad onto plates. Top with chicken and serve.

           

There are many internet sites and channels that provide an array of recipes to make your off day subtle. India Food Network is one such website which is very well known for different types of recipes both vegetarian and no vegetarian. It also provides many health tips and recipe short cuts to make cooking a fun filled hobby. Visit the India Food Network website to check out more.

Top 4 Healthy Foods to Keep you Healthy

Nowadays along with being tech savvy, people have turned very health conscious. There are lots of people that are dumping the junk food to move on to healthier eating habits. Maintaining a healthy diet is not a hard thing to do. Eating healthy just means eating smart. It all depends on an individual to blend in the healthy ingredients to make the cuisine tasty. Maintaining a healthy diet is all about feeling great and energetic all the time. Eating healthy food and maintaining a proper diet can work wonders for an individual over a stipulated time. It is a myth that healthy eating is surrounded by nutrition philosophies. A person doesn't need to follow a strict and rigorous routine to facilitate healthy eating. It can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and using them in a way that works for you. You can expand your range of healthy food choices and learn how to plan ahead to create and maintain a tasty, healthy diet. You don't need to analyze your diet in terms of calories and fats.

A person just needs to rate the food to be consumed in variety of freshness and color. If one follows the way, it will be a lot easier to make healthy choices in the food consumed. One can consume any food that he or she likes, it’s only necessary to incorporate the healthy ingredients in the dish. If you have been gorging on junk for years, switching on to a healthy diet overnight is not a smart choice. Start slowly and start making changes to the eating habits over the time. Having a lot of water also plays a pivotal role in maintaining a healthy diet. Always make sure to have water in good proportions. Water helps in flushing the waste products and maintains proper hydration of the body. You don't need to completely eliminate the food you have always loved in process of maintaining a healthy diet. Just think smart, choose smart, eat smart and live smart. Let us discuss the top 4 healthy food which would help to keep you healthy.

Eggs:

Egg yolks are regarded to have a lot of essential and hard-to-get nutrients, including choline, which is inclined towards lowering the rates of breast cancer (one yolk supplies 25% of your daily need) and antioxidants that may help prevent macular degeneration and cataracts. Though many of us have shunned whole eggs because of their link to heart disease risk, there’s actually substantial evidence that for most of us, eggs are not harmful but healthy. People with heart disease should limit egg yolks to two a week, but the rest of us can have one whole egg daily;

Fat Free Milk:

Studies show that calcium isn’t just a bone booster but a fat fighter too. Recent research from the University of Tennessee found that obese people who went on a low-calorie, calcium-rich diet lost 70% more weight than those who ate the least. Vitamin D not only allows your body to absorb calcium, it’s also a super nutrient in its own right. Research shows that adequate D levels can reduce heart disease risk, ward off certain types of cancer, relieve back pain, and even help prevent depression, but most of us don’t get nearly enough of the 1,000+ IU daily that most experts recommend.

Avocado:

One Ohio State University study found that when avocado was added to salads and salsa, it helped increase the absorption of specific arytenoids, plant compounds linked to lower risk of heart disease and macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. "Avocados are packed with heart-protective compounds, such as soluble fiber, vitamin E, and potassium," says Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet. But they are a bit high in calories. To avoid weight gain, use avocado in place of another high-fat food or condiment, such as cheese or mayo.

Red Peppers:

Citrus fruits get all the credit for vitamin C, but red peppers are actually the best source. Vitamin C may be best known for skin and immunity benefits. Researchers in the United Kingdom looked at vitamin C intake in 4,025 women and found that those who ate more had less wrinkling and dryness. And although getting enough vitamin C won’t prevent you from catching a cold or flu, studies show that it could help you recover faster. Vitamin C has other important credentials too.

There are various sites which dish out lots of healthy recipes which include these essential ingredients for kids and adults. IndiaFood Network is one such site which you can refer to for healthy recipes, ingredients lists and much more. You can also refer to this site for cooking tips, healthy tips, cooking lessons and much more. Just remember the motto - Think smart, choose smart, eat smart and live smart.