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Quick Healthy Eats

August 15th, 2012

With all the activity going on around here, there’s not much time for cooking. That doesn’t mean we’re not eating healthfully. Besides our health, one of the main reasons we eat healthfully is because it gives us more energy and helps us accomplish more during the day. I know that when we’re as busy as we are now I can’t afford to slack on the food front.


Over the years, I’ve developed a few ways to eat healthfully without spending tons of time, see this post about maximizing time in the kitchen. The best way I have found to save time is to make double or triple batches of everything to freeze for quick meals. This week we’ve had an abundance of zucchini, so I made a few batches of zucchini noodle lasagne. Luckily I had some canned Roasted Tomato Passatta in the pantry, so it only took minutes to make a few pans for the freezer. (passatta recipe from The River Cottage Preserves Handbook)

The best thing about lasagne is that it only takes a few minutes to prepare and it spends the majority of the time in the oven while you can be doing something else. It’s also fantastic as a leftover, I always think it tastes even better the next day.

A few people have asked about the containers I use. I like the Pyrex Glass Rectangular Storage Containers because I can use them for baking, storage and freezing. I use the 6 cup one to make our lasagne so we don’t end up with a huge tray since there are just 2 of us.

Vegetable fajitas are one of our other quick meals. Generally I make up a big bath of of tortillas and keep them in the freezer. Then we sauté whatever vegetables we’re harvesting from the garden and sprinkle them with cheese and spices. Sometimes there’s meat, sometimes not. If we’re lucky, there will be guacamole for the top!

I’m also planning on making lasagne up to eat during the move. The day we’re moving everything into the house in Maine, it will be handy to have a hearty healthy meal fresh from the oven. This weekend I’ll be making up a few trays to put in the freezer to keep everyone well fed during the move.

What’s your favorite quick healthy meal when you’re busy?

16 Comments to “Quick Healthy Eats”
  1. jennifer fisk on August 15, 2012 at 6:20 am

    I like to cook some whole wheat pasta and steam some kale. When both are done, I stir in some olive oil and top with grated cheese. This is a one pot meal that doesn’t take any fussing.

    Reply to jennifer fisk's comment

    • Susy on August 15, 2012 at 6:33 am

      That sounds GREAT!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  2. K.B. on August 15, 2012 at 8:17 am

    Omlettes/fritattas. They are quick, tasty, healthy, frugal – and you can use up all little bits of food you have hanging around.

    Now that I’ve signed up for an egg CSA (30 eggs every two weeks – yarks!), I’ll be eating a LOT of eggs – good thing I like them!

    Reply to K.B.'s comment

  3. Bethany on August 15, 2012 at 9:21 am

    I have a question about your tortillas. I recently started making my own, and I’ve kept the balls of “dough” in the freezer for rolling out later. Do you cook and freeze or roll and freeze and cook later? I’d love to have a way to make them quicker, right now they’re anything but. Before I made my own burritos were always a quick meal.

    Now For quick meals I usually cook ahead too. I make a meal plan for the week that includes cooking nights and leftovers. It helps when I go to the farmers market too so I don’t worry about needing ingredients from the local grocery store (that I, but not my husband, try to avoid). Recently we’ve made big batches of soups and stews, we had a lot of beets so my husband made borscht. We also have German rotkohl that we’ve been adding as a side to everything. Both took a while to make, but we have plenty of leftovers. Next week I’m trying out the prepared frozen crockpot recipes I found on mamababylove.com

    Reply to Bethany's comment

    • Bethany on August 15, 2012 at 9:24 am

      Oops, sorry, it’s mamaandbabylove.com. Also thought that I’d mention that I don’t endorse her or anything, just wanted to give credit where credit was due.

      Reply to Bethany's comment

    • Susy on August 15, 2012 at 1:20 pm

      I freeze them already cooked. I also always make a quadruple batch. Love making big batches of soup.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. Donna B. on August 15, 2012 at 10:03 am

    I’m the same way, I like to over-make dinner so I have leftovers for me to take as lunches for work… I work at a bank, and it really frustrates me to see people going out for their lunches – easily spending $10.00 a day just on lunch! Such a waste.
    But I love the idea of a zucchini lasagna! Maybe that’s what I’ll do with the remaining zukes from the plants I pull tonight! Thanks Susy!

    Reply to Donna B.'s comment

  5. L. on August 15, 2012 at 11:41 am

    Maybe I missed the post, but does this mean you sold your current house?

    Reply to L.'s comment

    • Susy on August 15, 2012 at 1:19 pm

      Not yet, we haven’t even put it on the market yet. Hopefully that will happen in a week or two.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  6. Maybelline on August 15, 2012 at 11:52 am

    Taco salad.
    Anything Mexican actually.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

  7. Becky on August 15, 2012 at 12:41 pm

    For me, quick meals are a giant pot of soup that gets divided out into individual servings.

    As one of those cooks who is great at following instructions, but still learning to experiment and put things together myself, I’d love it if you post your zucchini lasagna recipe on Eat outside the bag!! I also will have to remember your trick of putting the smaller casserole dish inside a larger one to avoid spills… ok, maybe I lean more towards novice cook.

    Reply to Becky's comment

    • Susy on August 15, 2012 at 1:22 pm

      I love using the smaller casserole dishes. They are actually glass storage containers. It hold enough lasagne for 3 meals for us, which is just perfect. With a big container we’d be eating lasagne for weeks!

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Becky on August 15, 2012 at 3:19 pm

        Very smart. I’m only cooking for one, so as much as I love lasagna leftovers, the traditional sized recipe/dish is a bit much!

        to Becky's comment

      • Susy on August 16, 2012 at 6:32 am

        Should have included the link in the last comment. I really like the Pyrex Glass Rectangular Storage Containers. I use them for baking, freezing & storage.

        to Susy's comment

  8. elizabeth on August 16, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    I’ve been meaning to tell you that I grew “Roxy” lettuce this year and I love it, Thanks for the rec.

    Reply to elizabeth's comment

  9. elizabeth on August 18, 2012 at 11:09 pm

    How do you make your tortillas? Are they sourdough? I would love to make sourdough tortillas.

    Reply to elizabeth's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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