[thefictionalme]

I'm 22, have been married for 1 year and am working and going to college. My husband works full-time, second shift. We don't see eachother much during the week. The only meal we eat together is lunch. I eat dinner by myself when I get home from work or school and he eats it when he gets home from work. I'm definitely not very skilled when it comes to cooking and need simple recipes. What are some easy, quick, healthy recipes you all could recommend?

[jenicra]

3FC has a recipe section (as well as tons of recipe threads in various forums) - most of the recipes are pretty easy and the nutritional info is there for all of them.

[thefictionalme]

Oh okay, I just have this section bookmarked and never check the other parts. So I will have to bookmark recipes!

[barbygirl43]

You can't go wrong with some boneless, skinless chicken breasts, veggies boiled, steamed, or grilled. I've been eating tons of soup in the winter months and will switch to sandwiches and salads in the warmer months for my lunches.

I prepare meals for a family of 5 so we tend to have a lot of hamburger helper and stuff like that. I just load up on veggies and eat one portion of the hamburger helper.

Something else you can do is pick a day when you have an extra couple of hours and cook up meals and then freeze them in portion sizes for you and hubby. That way it's all quick when you need it.

[Gardenwife]

I do a lot of what Dawnyal says. I find it helps to take time to prep my veggies and fruit for the week all at once. If I have readily-accessible ingredients and I don't have to wash, peel, cut, etc. for each item, things go more smoothly. I'm also more likely to choose something good for me if it's all there waiting.

Just saw this page tonight and it has some great ideas for meal planning for non-vegetarians.

Oh, and I really like Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals for quick and good recipes!

I agree with all of the above and would like to add:

Some frozen dinners by lean cuisine or healthy choice are great in a pinch.

Keep salad elements ready to go so you can throw one together quickly.

You can make taco fixings and put it on a bowl of salad or fajita meat/peppers and put it on a little rice to keep calories/carbs down on those meals. They're filling and delicious.

Sometimes I cook up 2 servings of brown rice and add in a can of black beans to make 'beans and rice' You can also sprinkle it with a little cheddar cheese. This is pretty nutricious, filling, and low cal if you pay attention to amounts.

Tuna, tuna, tuna! Tuna on salads, tuna with ff or lf plain yogurt to make a spread for sandwiches or stuffed in a tomato....

hope you like some of these!

[Gardenwife]

I love beans and rice, too! I like to sautee and onion and add a can of kidney beans (with the liquid), a dash of soy sauce, some dried oregano, and a teaspoon or so of brown sugar. I do that while the rice is cooking in the microwave, then just add the bean mixture to the rice. It's so tasty!

Never thought about using plain yogurt to make tuna salad. I always buy the vanilla in large container so I can just grab a little bit to mix with fresh or frozen fruit.

It's sooo much less fat/cals than mayo or cream cheese, and really doesn't sacrifice much flavor. (I sound like a commercial.)