Healthy dinners do not have to be difficult to make!

I use to think that eating healthy would be very hard.  I never had the urge to learn how to cook or bake.  I was lucky to have a wonderful mom who was an amazing cook, as well as my grandmother.  I guess I was a bit spoiled.  As I grew into an adult, I was the typical Lean Cuisine cook or I would just go out and eat. 

It wasn't until I moved to Fargo, ND where we were at home much more due to weather and I had a bit more time on my hands.  I had several family members and friends develop the Big "C"....CANCER and I started to freak out.  I started to read deeper into what was going into what I ate.  I am still learning everyday, but I have also learned that eating healthy does not mean cooking it has to be crazy difficult either. 

I am not quite to the point where I make all my own sauces, but that is my next goal.  In the meantime, I buy all organic meats, dairy, fruits and veggies.  Those are the staples that you should really try to buy organic.  As far as sauces, I still buy BBQ Sauce, regular dressings and so forth.  But I will let you know when I have the knack to make quick sauces that are all organic.  :-)

Ok, so here are some great quick meals.  I love the Four Seasons Italian Dressing mix.  I get the box with several packets in it from Walmart.  Super cheap and it goes a long way.  I have two healthy dishes that I make with it.  One is Italian Chicken.  I defrost my organic chicken, mix the Good Seasons Mix with Olive Oil, Vinegar and water and then marinate it on the chicken.  Simple!  I add salad and a Carb (Pasta, sweet potato, Quinoa (this is a protein)) to it.  Bam!  That is my healthy meal.

Another idea using the Good Seasons Dressing is also thanks to my wonderful Momma, Pat Moravek.  Buy ORGANIC or FRESH Cod.   Defrost the Cod, add the Four Season Dressing and lightly bread it with Pepridge Farm breading.  Again, add salad and a small portion of pasta or a potato, rice or Quinoa.  Bam!  Simple.  You will love it. 

Last night, I was feeling a bit frisky and wanted to be creative,on my terms of course, and I took two gorgeous ORGANIC orange bell peppers, cut the tops off and stuffed them with a tuna salad.  I took 4 cans of tuna, added 2.5 tbs of REAL Mayo (always stick with the real stuff.  Don't be afraid of real fat.  It is actually better for you than the fake/diet stuff) , I cut up 3 small sweet pickles, add diced onions and mixed it all together.  YUM!  You can even add lime juice for a bit of taste, salt and pepper too.  I stuffed the tuna salad in the bell pepper, added pasta on the side and lots of salad.  It was such a spring/summer dish.  Very Festive.  We all loved it. 

I get a lot of my meal ideas from Beachbody's Meal Planner.  They usually are only 15 min. prep time and 20 min. to cook.  Let me know if you are interested in learning more.  :-)  Please share your healthy recipes on here too.  I would love it.