2 quick & healthy dinner recipes for the family

October 22, 2018

It’s no secret that I like to try and eat healthy.  I’m certainly not perfect with my eating choices all of the time but I find that the older I get – the healthier I eat, the better I feel.  Healthy though, does not mean boring or tasteless!  Healthy food can be delicious! 

There are a lot of healthy meals that I enjoy but the family not so much and that’s fine, I generally make something different for them when I want to eat one of those meals.  Other times, I cook healthy meals that all the family enjoy.  One person whose recipes we all love is Annette Sym and her Symply Too Good To Be True series of recipe books.  She replaces the ingredients in family favourite meals with healthier choices and her meals are delicious!

There are many, many of Annette’s recipes that we enjoy, but here are just a couple that are very quick and easy to prepare for when you really want something delicious that can be thrown together quickly!

I absolutely LOVE salmon and this is my favourite salmon recipe – so quick, easy and delicious!  The recipe photograph suggests serving with some green salad like rocket or baby spinach.  However, you could roast up some veggies, make a mash, or serve with a salad of your choice.  The options are endless! 

Honey Soy Salmon
Serves 4
Salmon is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. Increasing omega-3 fatty acids is associated with increasing the health of your heart. This is from the Symply Too Good To Be True Book 6.
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Ingredients
  1. 4 x 150g fresh salmon fillets
  2. cooking spray
  3. MARINADE
  4. 1 teaspoon crushed garlic (in jar)
  5. 1 teaspoon crushed ginger (in jar)
  6. 2 tablespoons honey
  7. 1ยฝ tablespoons soy sauce 43% less salt
  8. 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis)
  9. 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  10. 1 teaspoon fresh lemon grass thinly sliced
Instructions
  1. In a flat container (around 15 x 22cm oblong) that has a lid, combine all the marinade ingredients. Place salmon into container and cover well with marinade. Put lid on and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or longer if possible. Turn salmon over once during this time and coat well with marinade.
  2. In a large non-stick frypan that has been generously coated with cooking spray, pan-fry salmon on a medium heat to avoid burning. Cook both sides for 5-6 minutes depending on thickness of salmon pieces and cook to your liking. Remove onto dinner plates then pour the marinade into the pan and boil for 1โ€“2 minutes to reduce the liquid slightly then pour sauce over salmon.
Variation
  1. Replace salmon with 4 x 150g skinless chicken breasts, new fashioned pork steaks or lean lamb leg steaks.
  2. Suitable to be frozen.
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This next ‘chicken’ recipe is delicious and so quick and easy to prepare!  When I’m feeling I need to reduce my carb and gluten intake, I eat it without the rice.  If I do have rice with it, I generally stick to about 1/3 cup.

Curry in a Hurry
Serves 6
A quick, nutritious meal that is high in protein and contains added calcium from the milk with vitamins, minerals and fibre from the vegetables. This is a great choice for people with diabetes and heart disease. It's from the Symply Too Good To Be True Book 5.
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Ingredients
  1. 1 whole BBQ chicken
  2. 1 medium onion diced
  3. 1 x 500g packet frozen Winter Vegetables (McCainยฎ)
  4. 1 cup water
  5. 2 cups skim milk
  6. ยฝ sachet (ยผ cup) Dutch Curry & Rice soup
  7. 1 tablespoon curry powder (Clive of Indiaยฎ)
  8. 2 teaspoons salt-reduced chicken stock powder
Instructions
  1. Remove all skin and bones from chicken then dice or shred flesh.
  2. Microwave onion and frozen vegetables with 1 cup of water on HIGH for 5 minutes.
  3. Combine milk, dried soup mix, curry powder and stock powder in a large saucepan stirring continuously until boiling. Add vegetables and water to mix, combine well.
  4. Fold chicken into mix then bring back to boil, reduce to slow boil and cook a further 2-3 minutes.
Notes
  1. Serve with Basmati rice or noodles (for a lower carb count use glass noodles).
  2. Variation: Replace winter frozen vegetables with any frozen mixed vegetables of your choice.
  3. Suitable to be frozen for 2-3 weeks.
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The Symply Too Good To Be True series of recipe books provides nutritional information with each recipe.  So you’ll be all clued up on exactly how much Fat, Fibre, Protein, Carbs, Sugar, Sodium, Kilojoules/Calories you’ll be getting for each serving from each recipe and you’ll know the GI Rating too!

If you try either of these recipes, let me know what you think! 

Ciao for now,

Linking up with Denyse Whelan for #LifeThisWeek

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14 Comments

  • Reply Natalie October 22, 2018 at 8:41 am

    These two dishes look delicious and easy to make. I’ll give them a try. Thanks, Min, for sharing. #lifethisweek

    • Reply Min October 23, 2018 at 8:03 am

      Very easy to make and yummy too! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Reply Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond October 22, 2018 at 8:44 am

    These both look delicious Min and although I love Salmon we don’t eat it nearly enough. Thanks for the recipes which I will be trying out.

    • Reply Min October 23, 2018 at 8:04 am

      I love Salmon Sue and eat smoked salmon a lot for lunch. Salmon fillets are a wee bit costly so we probably have this meal maybe 1-2 times per month for that reason but it’s a favourite! I hope you enjoy the recipes if you give them a go! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Reply Joanne Tracey October 22, 2018 at 10:05 am

    I’ll definitely be trying that salmon….I do love a good glazed salmon dish!

    • Reply Min October 23, 2018 at 8:05 am

      It’s delicious and so easy! Hope you love it! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Reply Vanessa October 22, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    You know, I have literally never cooked salmon in my life. I might need to give that a go! I do need to increase my fish intake as it got low with some of the temporary changes we had to make in food recently.

    • Reply Min October 23, 2018 at 8:07 am

      Salmon is the easiest and quickest thing to cook and so yummy and all with the added bonus of being good for you! I’m not a huge fish fan but I love Salmon! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Reply Debbie October 22, 2018 at 5:12 pm

    I love the sound of both of these and the recipe book could be worth looking out for too. I’m tying hard to eat healthier and am going quite well so far, but I always like new inspiration, so thanks for the tips Min. I love salmon too, it’s my fave ๐Ÿ™‚ #lifethisweek

    • Reply Min October 23, 2018 at 8:07 am

      Her recipe books are fabulous Deb. I think there are 7 of them now. If you love salmon, you’ll love this salmon recipe – so yum! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Reply Sydney Shop Girl October 22, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    Min! You are a genius. I have been searching high and low for recipes using Dutch Curry and Rice soup mix. Plus yours uses BBQ chicken! I’m in heaven.

    SSG xxx

    • Reply Min October 23, 2018 at 8:10 am

      Yay – finally I’ve reached genius status! Fancy you searching for a recipe using Dutch Curry & Rice Soup mix and me deciding to share one that has that ingredient. The stars aligned and voila! I hope you enjoy the recipe SSG. Let me know what you think! xo

  • Reply Denyse Whelan October 24, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    I had a few of her books ages ago (probably gone with one of the moves) and I agree, her recipes are the best. Now that essentially I cook for one (rarely does my husband eat a main meal the same as mine) I have to think ‘how can I make that and freeze it’. My most recent foray was into mini meatloaves and I have that waiting for me now with mashed sweet and regular potato.

    Thank you for joining #lifethisweek. Next week’s optional prompt is “I Want This”. Denyse

    • Reply Min October 28, 2018 at 8:04 am

      Mini meatloves sound good Denyse and yes I love Annette Syms books – yummy healthy recipes with ingredients you generally have at hand or can easily purchase. ๐Ÿ™‚

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