(originally published 09.12.2011)
(10 seconds each to read and are almost that quick to prepare)
By Lisa Messinger
Food and Cooking at Creators Syndicate
Hearty back-to-school meals can be quick and simple, as these split-second specialties prove. Sweet potatoes stuffed with soy cheese and pinto beans will pep up even the most hesitant student to finish homework. Cucumbers filled with goodie-enhanced whipped cream cheese probably will delight picky eaters of all ages. Those tuckered from after-school workouts, like football or basketball, will be well rejuvenated with healthful desserts, such as fresh raspberries and sugar-free whipped cream topped with warmed chocolate bran muffin and raisin crumbles.
Everyone can use a little help planning weeknight meals - and if that only takes seconds, that's even better. The three nights of menus that follow offer a lifeline during a busy week and prove that cooking can be easy, nutritious, inexpensive, fun - and fast - as these menus of family-friendly sensations prove. They take just
10 seconds each to read and are almost that quick to prepare. The meals are delicious proof that everyone has time for tasty home cooking and, more importantly, the healthy family time around the kitchen table that goes along with it! Another benefit: You effortlessly become a better cook, since
there are no right or wrong amounts. These are virtually-can't-go-wrong combinations, so whatever you - or your kidlet helpers - choose to use can't help but draw "wows" at the family dinner table.
QUICK MENU 1 Appetizer Smart Salmon Starters Mix canned salmon with low-fat plain yogurt, chopped fresh dill, mint, celery and lemon pepper and serve on multigrain crackers topped with a half of a pear tomato and sprinkled with paprika.
Entree Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes is Twice as Sweet a Meal Microwave covered sweet potatoes or yams until fully cooked, carefully split open, fluff insides and mix in shredded soy cheese, mashed cooked pinto beans, diced mango and sprinkle with cayenne pepper and diced cilantro. Reheat, covered, in microwave until hot.
Healthy Dessert One A+ Autumn Ice Cream Sauce Dice unpeeled apples and pears and toss with lemon juice, ground cinnamon, ground ginger and pomegranate juice. Heat until gets a bit syrupy and serve over sugar-free vanilla ice cream.
QUICK MENU 2 Appetizer Citrus Starts You Off Right Toss orange slices with dried cranberries, sliced almonds and cubed jicama and serve over mixed greens drizzled with fresh orange and lime juices that have been mixed with stevia natural zero-calorie sweetener and freshly ground black pepper.
Entree Dress Up Ham for Fashionable Results Brush slices of cooked ham with a mixture of maple syrup, ground cloves, cinnamon and curry powder and broil until just bubbling and beginning to caramelize. Serve with fresh store-bought salsa into which you've mixed diced pineapple and a small amount of shredded coconut.
Healthy Dessert No Waffling About These Wafers Make sandwich cookies by filling two store-bought vanilla wafers with a mixture of nonfat ricotta cheese, shavings of dark chocolate, almond extract and raspberry all-fruit spread (usually available in the jam aisles of supermarkets).
QUICK MENU 3 Appetizer Cuckoo for Revved Up Cucumbers Cut unpeeled cucumbers in half lengthwise, scoop out insides and mix with low-fat whipped cream cheese, finely diced red pepper, red wine vinegar and freshly ground black pepper before refilling into cucumber shell. Serve in quarter-length pieces.
Entree Shells Stuffed with Simplicity Cook large whole-wheat or multigrain pasta shells in boiling water according to package directions until al dente. Let cool and preheat oven to 350 F. Stuff shells with shreds of cooked turkey or chicken breasts that have been mixed with undiluted cream of tomato soup, soy cheese and cooked frozen carrots and broccoli. Top with more of the cream of tomato soup and sprinkle with fresh shredded basil and oregano. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.
Healthy Dessert Bran Muffins Served a Brand-New Way Crumble store-bought bran muffins and mix with sugar-free chocolate chips or carob chips, golden raisins and heat in microwave until chocolate or carob softens. Serve over fresh raspberries that have been topped by sugar-free whipped cream.
QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK: Lots of home cooks stock just two flours in their kitchens: All-purpose and whole-wheat. But did you know that there is white whole-wheat flour, too? It is lighter in texture and color than whole-wheat flour and has a mild taste. It is as similar in nutrients, though, as denser whole-wheat flour, and that includes the fiber count that comes from whole grains. It can be substituted in any recipe that calls for all-purpose flour. If a recipe includes whole-wheat flour, but the final result doesn't rely on whole wheat's texture or color, white whole-wheat flour can be substituted there, too, either fully or in part.
Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food and nutrition writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the National Council Against Health Fraud and author of seven food books, including the best-selling The Tofu Book: The New American Cuisine with 150 Recipes (Avery/Penguin Putnam) and Turn Your Supermarket into a Health Food Store: The Brand-Name Guide to Shopping for a Better Diet (Pharos/Scripps Howard). She writes two nationally syndicated food and nutrition columns for Creators Syndicate and had been a longtime newspaper food and health section managing editor, as well as managing editor of Gayot/Gault Millau dining review company. Lisa traveled the globe writing about top chefs for Pulitzer Prize-winning Copley News Service and has written about health and nutrition for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Reader's Digest, Woman's World and Prevention Magazine Health Books. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.
