Ask a Dietitian

a cookbook by Laura Kalina and Cheryl Christian

This cookbook offers busy families great tasting recipes that are easy to prepare. With some advance planning and using their “Quick Prep” method you can have healthy meals ready for the family in a jiffy. Here is how it works:

Choose 2 “Quick Prep Days” –
(say Sunday and Wednesday) to save time
1. Cook 2-4 proteins that you will use in recipes over the next 3-4 days and store in air tight containers in fridge. (boiled chicken breasts, lean ground beef, salmon or beans can be used in soup, corn tortilla wraps, or pasta sauce, on salad or pizza, in tacos, sandwiches, stir-fries.
2. Chop or slice fresh, cleaned vegetables and store in containers for easy snacking or to use in a meal (carrots, peppers, cucumber, celery, broccoli, onion)
3. Prepare a large salad (spinach or mixed greens)
4. Make a fresh fruit salad
5. Make 2 dips or salsas: Consider a big batch of tomato, onion and cilantro salsa to add flavour to foods such as omelets, fish, salads or soups. Use diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, red bell peppers, jalapeno pepper, white vinegar, chili powder, dried oregano and parley, salt and pepper. Fruit salsa with pineapple and mango is delicious on halibut or turkey burgers. Hummus or a bean dip would also make a great spread or filling.
6. Use all the leftover cut veggies at the end of the 3 days in a “clean sweep” soup, stir-fry or salad.
7. Stock your freezer with bags of frozen fruit, berries and vegetables. Keep your pantry stocked with the basics and when you run out add them to your grocery list (keep this on your fridge or by the phone).
Check out www.lowgimeals.com for more info on the book or to order your copy. .