In my book, eating healthy does not mean having to slave away in the kitchen for hours. As much as I like to cook, I dislike having to do dishes and standing in the kitchen after a long day at work as much as the next person. Somehow, I still find ways to cook up healthy and delicious meals all the time. Here are my favorite tips for getting these meals on the table faster and easier:

1. Shop Early
I like to plan my meals ahead for about 5 days at a time so that I only have to shop once or maybe twice during the week. This saves me a tremendous amount of time. If you’re unsure what your significant other or kids might have going on during one of the days, simply keep that dinner open, keeping a simple backup (sandwiches and a tossed salad, for example) in mind. Worried about your bread going stale if you shop in advance? Here are some tips on that: http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/breadtag.asp

2. Cut Ahead
If you have a dish on your weekly menu that you know will require a lot of cutting, save that dish for a Monday or Friday. I prefer Mondays because I’ll simply do my cutting on Sunday evening or afternoon, store the veggies or meats in the fridge, and toss them in a pot or pan the next day. Fridays work as well, though you might be a bit tired or burned out from the week.

3. Freeze Your Herbs
I like to eliminate or reduce the need for fats and oils in my dishes by flavoring them with fresh herbs. But, what to do with those huge piles of thyme and rosemary sprigs? I tend to freeze my leftover herbs. Some say they lose some flavor that way, but I hardly ever notice this and save a ton of money by not throwing out leftover herbs. We used to grow fresh basil by the window sill, which is even more economical. The basil plant died after a while, but we still have a curry leaf plant growing in our kitchen. Hugely popular in Indian cooking!

4. Microwave Your Garlic
This may sound weird, but if you’ve got a recipe with a lot of garlic in it, you can greatly reduce the time you spend peeling the garlic by microwaving the individual garlic cloves on a small plate for about 8-10 seconds. If you microwave them for longer than that, they will start to cook, but if you stick to the 8-10 seconds, the skins will peel off very easily. Voila!

5. Repeat
Need to use up a whole eggplant, but know you won’t be able to use it all up in one dish? Create two! Since buying in bulk is often more economical, I’ll often by more of a veggie or meat and will either freeze or use up the product (if it’s not freezer friendly) by creating two completely different dishes. This way, we don’t get tired of eating the same thing. For example, I’ve made Asian style spicy garlic eggplant and eggplant fajitas (recipe coming soon!) in the same week before. Works out great. And yes, you can still be ambitious and plan to make lamb bourguignon one day. Just plan it for a weekend, holiday, or some time when you really do want to spend time in the kitchen.

Lärabars

Lärabars are delicious fruit and nut bars that make for an excellent snack or breakfast. If you’ve never had them before, here’s why they’re worth a try:

What I love: These bars don’t have more than nine ingredients, which usually include a type of fruit such as dates or apples, nuts, and spices. They truly are all natural and have no added sugars, high fructose corn syrup, or anything artificial. They are pretty filling and with amazing flavors such as cashew cookie and peanut butter chocolate chip, they are extremely tasty as well. They’re also great for people with food allergies and definitely provide sustainable energy throughout the day.

What I don’t like: Lärabars can get pretty pricey since they’re well over a dollar at most stores. I found the lowest prices for them at Trader Joe’s and Target. Some of the bars can be pretty high in fats as well, although the type of fat is generally the good kind since many of the bars contain nuts.

The verdict: Considering how many junk products are on the market today, I absolutely love the Lärabar and think it’s well worth the price. It’s an excellent healthy snack for those times when you don’t have access to fresh fruit or veggies. It’s also great for a quick breakfast on those days when you just need to run out and don’t have time to put something nutritious together. I would love to hear what your favorite flavors are (mine include peanut butter chocolate chip and chocolate chip brownie), so let me know when you try these out!

You might be more familiar with eating fennel in soups, but it’s actually quite amazing when braised or roasted as well. I experimented with fennel this past weekend and decided to go the nice and simple route by simply tossing the fennel with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The house smelled amazing and we devoured this fabulous side dish in less than 15 minutes!

Ingredients (for 2 – 3 people)

2 medium sized fennel bulbs
4 tablespoons of high quality balsamic vinegar
5 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and cut the fennel into small (less than an inch thick) slices / rings and add to a large bowl.

2. Toss the slices with the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper and bake on a large baking sheet for about 40 to 45 minutes on 400 degrees.

3. Serve warm and toss with grated Parmesan cheese, your favorite sauce, or enjoy the fennel just plain out of the oven, as a satisfying side dish.

As my fellow busy girls know, short-cuts are your best friend when you’re short on time. A few weeks ago, I really wanted to make samosas, but had no time to make the dough from scratch and had a ton of farm-fresh kale on hand that I really needed to use up. My solution: puff-pastry sheets and potato-kale filling! Although less authentic than the original version of the Indian samosa, it worked out fantastic. Here’s what I did:

Ingredients (for 16 samosas)

2 puff pastry sheets (found in the freezer section of your grocery store)
2 medium organic Russet potatoes
half a bunch of organic kale
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 teaspoon of whole cumin seeds
2 teaspoons of coriander powder
2 teaspoons of red chili powder
2 teaspoons of ginger-garlic paste
2 tablespoons of olive oil (more as needed)
salt to taste

Directions

1. Take the puff pastry sheets out of the freezer to allow them to defrost. Boil potatoes (you can leave the skin on) and lightly mash them so they form small bite-size chunks. Wash and cut the kale into bite-size pieces as well.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or frying pan and saute the kale for about 10 minutes, or until soft.

3. Take the kale out and set aside. In the same oil, add the cumin seeds and fry for about 3 – 4 minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the rest of the seasonings. Stir and add in the kale and boiled potatoes. Add salt last and saute for about 10 more minutes to allow all flavors to blend.

4. Turn off the heat and move the skillet to allow the filling to cool. Cut the puff pastry sheets into 8 triangles, as shown in the picture below. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

5. Make cone out of each triangle and spoon enough filling in so that the samosa will close without breaking. You can add a tiny bit of water to the edges of the triangles so that edges will stick more easily.

6. Place each samosa on a parchment lined backing sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm with your favorite chutney!

Love the flavor of buffalo chicken, but want to try something healthier? Buffalo tofu wraps might just work out for you then. Many people don’t like the flavor of tofu, but what I love about it is that it’s one of those foods that easily takes on the flavor of whatever you season it with. It’s kind of like eggplant in that sense – the “bread” of veggies. And, it’s quite a bit healthier than fried chicken. Here’s how I put together buffalo tofu wraps for lunch:

Ingredients (for two people)

2 to 3 whole wheat wraps
2 cups of shredded Romaine lettuce
1 container of extra firm tofu, water drained
1 Roma tomato, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 cup (or more) of your favorite buffalo sauce (we like Frank’s red hot buffalo)
1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt (2% or fat free)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Carefully dry the tofu with paper towels and cut into bite sized cubes. Dry again after cutting, so that the tofu is as moisture free as it can be.

2. Toss the tofu with the buffalo sauce and add more sauce if desired. Bake on a baking sheet lightly covered with cooking spray on 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Turn the tofu about halfway through the baking process.

3. Chop the lettuce (unless you bought pre-shredded lettuce) and tomato. Mix the blue cheese crumbles with the Greek yogurt and set aside.

4. With about 5 minutes of baking time left, heat the wraps in a frying pan on low-medium heat.

5. Once the tofu is done, build the wraps by adding tofu first, then the lettuce and tomato, then the yogurt and blue cheese mixture. Eat right away to avoid the wrap getting soggy.

Here’s another recipe that I found online and thought was worth re-posting. It’s delicious for breakfast or as a snack and contains tons of great vitamins, fiber, and nutrients. Instead of using regular flour, I opted for the gluten-free kind since I sometimes cut out all gluten products for a week. I find that going gluten-free for periods of time gives me more energy. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using regular flour. Since I did not have dates on hand (which the recipe requires), I chose to use prunes instead. The results were fantastic, even without the dates. I added some extra cinnamon to the recipe as well. If you don’t have ground cloves or nutmeg on hand, you can use pumpkin pie spice as well, which is an excellent substitute. Here’s the full recipe…let me know what you think!

Infusing olive or canola oil with fresh ginger is one of my favorite ways to add flavor to stir-frys, fried rices, noodles, or other Asian dishes. I learned this trick from my mom, who makes the most amazing food I’ve ever tasted. Though the ginger flavor is subtle, it makes a huge difference in these dishes. Simply cut up a few 1 to 2 inch pieces of fresh ginger and add them to the hot oil. Fry until they start to brown and then be sure to remove them as the ginger pieces will cause a bitter flavor if you leave them in. Once removed, simply add your veggies, meat / chicken, noodles, rice, etc. Enjoy!

Let’s face it. Rice gets boring. Sometimes, you just need a few ingredients to spice things up. Here’s my go-to rice recipe that goes great with Indian food, but works with virtually any dish that could use more than just plain rice on the side. Saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, makes plain old rice instantly exotic.

Ingredients (for 2 – 4 people)

cooked Basmati or just plain white rice
a handful of golden raisins
1/4 teaspoon of saffron threads
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds, toasted
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
a handful of chopped cashews, toasted
2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

Directions

1. Soak the saffron in a little bit of water for at least two hours. When shopping for saffron, look for bright red threads, which generally indicate a higher quality. Do keep in mind that the threads should be lighter orange or yellow at the ends, otherwise they might have been dyed red to look more expensive.

2. Cook the rice according to instructions, adding half the saffron to the rice before it cooks. Soak the raisins in water so they get nice and plump, and toast the cumin seeds in a little bit of heated oil, while toasting the cashews in a small frying pan without any oil.

3. Wash and chop the cilantro and add all ingredients, including the remaining half of the saffron, to the rice. Pan fry for a few minutes and your fragrant and tasty rice is done!

Once in a while I’ll post a recipe by a FoodNetwork star or other celebrity chef that is just really tasty AND unique. This past weekend, we were looking for a creamy, chocolatey, but still moderately healthy dessert. We found just that in Rachael Ray’s Chocolate Silken Tofu Pudding. It’s creamy, full of flavor, and there’s not a drop of dairy in the recipe. We left out the pistachios, but did top the pudding with raspberries. A fantastic find for a vegan or gluten-free person, or anyone looking for great nutrition in dessert. The best part is that it only takes 5 minutes to make! Here’s where you’ll find the recipe: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/fast-recipes/chocolate-silken-tofu-pudding

Anil usually makes fantastic Indian style masala burgers, but last week, it was time to toss something different on the grill. Bring on the chipotle! For those of you who have never had chipotle peppers, they are essentially smoked jalapeños. You can find them canned with Adobo sauce in the grocery store. We added the chipotle, lots of cilantro and some Vidalia onions to the burgers to make them incredibly juicy and with plenty of kick. Summer’s almost over, so give this a try soon!

Ingredients (for 4 – 6 burgers)

About 1 pound ground turkey (we buy natural, hormone and antibiotic free turkey with about 8% fat)
About 3/4 of a cup of breadcrumbs
1 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
1 cup of  shredded 2% Mexican blend cheese
3 -4 tablespoons of light sour cream
1/2 Vidalio onion, finely chopped – cut the other half into thin strips
3 – 4 chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 cup Cremini (baby Bella) mushrooms, sliced
4 -6 slices of 2% Pepper Jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. After chopping the onion, cilantro, chipotle peppers and mushrooms, take the turkey out of the package and mix in the onion, peppers, cilantro, shredded cheese, and sour cream. Add salt and pepper.

2. Slowly add the breadcrumbs, until the turkey mixture is firm enough to form patties.

3. Form patties and place on a foil wrapped cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

4. Grill each patty for about 15 – 20 minutes on low heat (on a gas grill). Add a slice of Pepper Jack cheese to each patty during the last 3 – 5 minutes.

5. While the patties are grilling, spray a small skillet with cooking spray and sauté the mushrooms and onion strips for about 10 minutes.

6. Top the patties with the mushrooms and onions and serve with an ice cold glass of beer. Enjoy summer while it lasts!