The Key to Quick Healthy Dinners for Families

Want to make dinner for you family, but it seems like an overwhelming task after working all day? Two things are key:

• Cook in bulk and freeze leftovers for future meals.
• Keep it simple.

Cooking in bulk is a nice way to build up your reserves for easy dinners. Make a big batch of brown rice on the weekend and put the leftovers in freezer bags in meal-sized portions. The idea of freezing grains revolutionized cooking dinner for me. No longer did I need to cook rice for an hour to get dinner ready for my family. If you rotate the types of grains you make in bulk on the weekend you will have a variety of grains to choose from in your freezer. My first thought on freezing the rice was, “Does it taste good when you thaw it?” Yes, it does! You can either set it out in the fridge in the morning to thaw, use the microwave, or the stove top. I usually end up using the microwave because its so quick. If your rice feels a little dry you can put a damp paper towel on top of it in the microwave and it will help with the moisture.

Second, keep it simple. You've got your grain so now you need is a protein and some vegetables. Next choose some protein for your meal such as seitan, tempeh, tofu, or my family's favorite Field Roast sausage. I start by cooking the veggie meat in a pan and cutting up the vegetables while the protein is cooking. Then I add my vegetables to the same pan, cover and cook for 5-10 minutes depending on the vegetable, and voila you have a meal.

You can take this same idea and get a different meal every night by swapping out the type of grain, protein and veggie you choose. It's also easy to make the meal seem fresh by varying the seasonings you use.