Healthy Quick Food Ideas

If there's one thing nobody has enough of, it's time, but for dieters and the health-conscious, just hitting the drive-through on the way home isn't an option. Fortunately, there are quick, healthy meals you can make whether you have half an hour or only a few minutes to get dinner on the table.

Healthy Sloppy Joes

If you want a family-friendly recipe and have about 30 minutes to make dinner, consider healthy sloppy Joes. Nutritionist and TV chef Ellie Krieger recommends using 96 percent lean ground beef, pinto beans for extra fiber, and carrots for antioxidants. Her cookbook also states that the tomato sauce or paste used in most sloppy Joe recipes contains lycopene, which is good for your eyes. For maximum nutrition, serve on 100 percent whole grain buns.

Tuscan Pasta

Tuscans are known as "bean eaters" in Italy, and their signature pasta topping is a quick tomato sauce with white beans. The beans add protein and cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. To make Tuscan pasta, simply bring some jarred marinara sauce to a simmer, add a can of white beans, such as navy or great northern, and mash slightly with a potato masher. Serve over cooked whole-grain penne or rotini pasta.

Frittata

Frittatas are Italian omelettes, made primarily in the oven rather than the stove-top. The eggs make them quick and convenient, and while the eggs are high in cholesterol, you can mitigate that by replacing some of the eggs with egg whites. To make a healthy frittata, preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, saute half a small onion in nonstick cooking spray or a small amount of oil in an oven-safe nonstick skillet, add four beaten eggs, four egg whites, and cook in the oven until puffy and brown around the edges, about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with a side of vegetables and top with low-fat sour cream.

Rotisserie Chicken

When you're really short on time, consider stopping by the store on the way home and picking up a rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chickens are roasted, not fried, and are a perfectly-cooked, healthy main dish as long as you discard the fatty skin. If you need a side item, try pouring some frozen peas or green beans into a plastic baggie designed for microwave-steaming vegetables. Your veggies will be cooked in the time it takes to carve your chicken.