This year more than ever, one of the biggest challenges for not only myself but for most of my clients is a consistent flow of healthy dinners.
Whether it be tiredness at the end of a busy day or whether a day of stress and anxiety steers you in the direction of just wanting to relax without chopping, peeling, frying and all that goes with it – one thing is for certain and that is that dinner is most often the meal that can suffer in healthiness and nutrients. If it wasn’t for the fact that inflation has pushed uber eats and restaurant meals to a ridiculous cost, eating out would also be a more regular weekday occurrence.
The simple fact is that when I dig deeply into what my clients feel around what robs them of joy, preparing and making dinner after a long day is certainly right up there at the top of the list.
And this is also a dilemma in my family, and I am a naturopath!
Dinner in my home on a weekday simply must be easy and quick with several meals that are pre prepared. This is for one reason – it has to be! As I run a busy wellness clinic whilst also supporting clients from early to late on many days, I am rarely at home before 7pm from Monday to Friday. My husband is home at a similar time from his workplace.
This may sound familiar or even if you are a full-time parent or carer or have a busy schedule working from home, dinner on a weekday can be challenging to navigate if you aspire to eating healthy & nutritious homemade meals.
So, what is an achievable strategy to get dinner made that is healthy and enjoyable without stealing your joy? Here are my weekday strategies:
Strategy 1: for a month, plan 4 lots of Monday to Sunday meals and eat the same thing. I have one takeaway dinner in there also. Work out in advance what those dinners are. It takes the stress out of things believe me. Then allocate who is in charge of what meals if you live with others. In my home as my husband works from home two days a week, those are his dinner nights. I work from home one day a week and I prepare a dish that can also be frozen in a number of containers that I can bring out for dinner at a later day. The other nights, we share the preparation and when we can on a Sunday afternoon, we cook another dish that can be frozen so we can bring it out on busy days. What could your preparation strategy be?
Strategy 2: A couple of times a week, keep things really simple. A mountain wrap or low carb wrap combining a quality protein such as these rissoles which can be frozen in batches or Thai chicken balls or stir-fried chicken, felafel, tempeh, mince or smoked salmon works well with humus or chilli sauce, avocado and a few handfuls of healthy salad. This is easy, quick, and light which to be honest is really what dinner should be like when all we do is relax at that time if the day. A small dinner is always something I recommend.
Strategy 3: Once a month on a Saturday or Sunday spend the whole day cooking and then freezing meals in dinner sized portions for the amount of people in the home that you are feeding. Don’t take this job on your own – share it with your partner or children if you can! I like to cook a Bolognese sauce or a tofu or chickpea and vegetable curry, minestrone soup, Thai chicken balls or rissoles. This way, you have meals to defrost and simply heat up when time is not on your side.
Strategy 4: Once or twice a week, make a stir-fry but chop up the vegetables and put in a sealed container on the prior Sunday so that all you need to do is throw the ingredients into the wok on arriving home with your good quality protein, herbs and spices. I even finely slice up my garlic and ginger and put them in a snack bag so that everything and I mean everything is ready to go when I get home from work.
Strategy 5: On days at home, use the slow cooker. If you type slow cooker in the search menu on my website, you will see a range of easy and tasty recipes for the time poor and you can freeze leftovers for another busy weeknight.
So, in line with these strategies to make your quality of life better and to ensure that you eat healthy dinners during the working week, this yummy Baked Quick & Easy Chicken & Vege Dinner Bake is here to support this mission.
Before I go on to the ingredients for this recipe, I need to remind you that it is important that you buy organic or free range, hormone & antibiotic free chicken meat. When the meat is full of hormones, you digest those hormones, and this may impact your own hormone health. Be wise in these choices.
Now, you can add whatever veges you like. I often add cauliflower or carrot and my husband loves a potato or sweet potato so you can make your own version of this bake depending on what you enjoy. This version is a low carbohydrate version.
Ingredients for 2 people
- 2 chicken breasts, halved
- 8 -10 brown small mushrooms, kept whole
- 2 zucchinis’, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, in quarters
- 1 large red capsicum, cut in big chunks
- 4 garlic cloves, left whole
- 1 cup of butternut pumpkin, large cubes
- A few handfuls of baby spinach leaves (for serving)
- 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary
- Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil spray
- 1 tsp Italian herbs
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 190°C.
Line a large roasting tray with baking paper.
Spray olive oil on baking paper, covering it.
Combine your vegetables in a bowl and mix and spread the vegetable mix on the large, lined baking tray.
Now evenly distribute onto the tray and put chicken breasts in the middle.
Spray the top with olive oil spray and scatter rosemary and Italian herbs on top.
Bake for 40 minutes, turning halfway until chicken is cooked and the vegetables looked a little caramelized.
Take out of the oven and stir through baby spinach leaves, add pepper.
Serve on plates.
I often steam Brussel sprouts or fresh green beans to have on the side however this is your choice.
This serves 2-4 depending on hunger! I always have leftovers for lunch the next day.
