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Healthy Quick Meals
Written by: Margherita Miserandino
Is it possible to eat a healthy meal on the go?
Life is busy- we all know that. Unfortunately most quick meal options are not that healthy -- it is difficult to eat well on the go or when you have less than 30 minutes to make dinner. What about last minute company? What do you serve them? We did a little research and came up with some great options.
Let’s start with the beginning -- breakfast. Jenny Craig makes some delicious frozen breakfasts like Silver Dollar Pancakes and Veggie Sausage or French Toast with Fruit Cup. They are ready in about 75 seconds. The only negative is that you can’t buy them at the supermarket. Some of their entrees are available on their website jennycraig.com or if you join their weight loss program. If you are looking to lose weight this might be a program worth checking out just because of the high quality of their food products.
With the warmer weather coming many people enjoy smoothies for breakfast. Many of the ones you buy are full of sugar and might not have a good amount of protein. Oster created the Blend-N-Go Cup which can be used with almost any of their blenders. You place all your healthy smoothie ingredients into the cup and blend. Place its spill proof lid on and you are ready to go- it even comes with its own straw. The smoothies we made all came out very well blended and they stayed cold for quite a while. The cups come in a variety of colors so everyone in your home can have their own.
Vitalicious produces baked goods such as VitaTops and VitaMuffins in a variety of flavors such as AppleBerryBran, BlueBran, and Deep Chocolate. VitaTops are basically the tops of a muffin, about 2oz., the VitaMuffin is a 4oz whole muffin. The 4oz VitaMuffin contains 100% RDA of 10 vitamins and minerals; the 2oz has 50%. One serving is only 100 calories and is 98% fat free but beware one 4 oz serves two. They are kept in the freezer and defrost in 40 seconds- that’s quick. Want quicker than that- Slimfast created Optima Shakes, Smoothies and Bars that have at least 50% less carbs than the original products. The flavors are delicious with no aftertaste. Some of our favorites were the Milk Chocolate and Cappuccino Delight shakes, the mixed berry smoothie and the oatmeal raisin bar.
There are some great healthy and convenient snacks available as well. A great snack that you can put in your child’s lunch or even your own is a Dole Fruit Bowl. It’s a great way to get in an extra serving of fruit. Dole offers a variety such as mandarin orange and diced peaches -- both in light syrup and very good. Our favorites were their Fruit in Gel (gelatin). Their Mixed Fruit in Black Cherry Gel and Mixed Fruit in Peach Gel were delicious. One of our favorite snacks was Stacy’s Pita Chips. The chips are either pita chips or soy chips. We liked every single flavor. The soy BBQ satisfied the craving for fatty BBQ chips. The cinnamon sugar pita chips satisfy a sweet tooth. They are low in carbs relative to other snacks and filling -- a whole bag is a serving.
We sampled some wonderful quick meals as well. Jenny Craig had some delicious entrees such as Florentine Ravioli and Salisbury Steak Champignon. Unfortunately like the breakfast entrees they are not easily available but we felt they were worth mentioning because they tasted so good. Because they are part of a diet program we felt a salad rounded out the meal a bit. Harry’s Fresh Foods makes a variety of entrees made with fresh quality ingredients such as Chicken and Italian Sausage Arrabiata with Penne and Tomato Gorgonzola Soup. We do want to mention that these entrees were also not for the sodium conscious. Some of us are not big gorgonzola fans but the cheese taste was subtle. The soup was rich and thick -- it would probably taste great on pasta as well. Speaking of pasta…Barilla has developed pasta called Barilla Plus which is multigrain pasta rich in protein, fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. The pasta was a slightly different color than the regular barilla pasta but the texture and taste were similar to the original. We found this pasta to be an excellent way to make pasta dishes a little healthier.
The Spice Hunter makes instant soup cups in a variety of unique flavors like chipotle black bean and lentil curry. Overall they are a pretty good tasting and healthy choice with the only exception being their high sodium content. Another one of our favorites was the LightLife vegetarian packs. They are microwaved right in their pouch and come in flavors such as Smart BBQ, TexMex, and Chili. The TexMex was a great taco filling although a bit on the sweet side. Both the Chili and Smart BBQ tasted like they contained meat. Any meat eater would like these soy based products.
Besides quick meals we discovered an array of items that help preparing dinner go much faster. Tastefully Simple has created an entire line of product mixes from appetizers to desserts that are well, tastefully simple. We tried their Dried Tomato and Garlic Pesto on the Barilla Plus pasta and it tasted homemade. All you need to do is add a little water, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. One of our staff members made a dip using the Spinach and Herb Mix and people were asking her for the recipe. I think they are great for unexpected or last minute guests. Nana’s Apple Cake Mix was absolutely moist and delicious when we added applesauce and walnuts to the mix. There are many recipes you can make with the one cake mix -- many without apples such as cranberry or carrot cake. We highly recommend checking out their website TastefullySimple.com.
Another great product to help with dinner is Gourmet Garden’s Herb Blends. They are basically herbs in a tube. They are versatile and can be added to a variety of dishes. We feel these products help make creative dinners because certain spices are at hand like lemon grass and ginger. The Gourmet Garlic Blend makes it very easy to make garlic bread or add to any dish requiring minced garlic -- without the mincing or fine chopping. At GourmetGarden.com you can find many recipes to use these herb blends as well.
There you have it; we started with breakfast and ended up with fabulous and quick dinner ideas. We hope you enjoy these products as much as we have. By the way, don’t hate us for no longer having the excuse that you don’t have time to eat well!
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