Food & Fitness

Here's some ideas for easy meals and appetizers using the following ingredients:

Grab a bag of combination frozen vegetables and:

• Add to pasta during the last 3 minutes of cooking time. Drain. Toss with reduced-fat salad dressing and cooked diced chicken for an easy salad.
• Cook and pile on cooked pizza crusts. Drizzle with reduced-fat salad dressing and top with low-fat mozzarella cheese. Bake to melt the cheese.
• Stir-fry with cooked chicken or seafood. Add in lite soy sauce. Serve over rice or noodles.

Open some flour tortillas and:

• Cut into wedges and spray generously with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees until crisp. Sprinkle with dried herbs before baking if desired.
• Spread reduced-fat cream cheese onto tortillas. Top with thinly sliced meat or vegetables. Roll up, wrap in plastic wrap and chill. Stick toothpicks into roll 1 inch apart. Cut between the toothpicks for an easy snack or appetizer.
• Do the same as above, except use 4 tortillas and spread with cream cheese. Add on meat or vegetables and stack the tortillas on each other until all ingredients are used. Cut into wedges to serve.

Use a can of tomatoes and:

• Drain and toss with hot pasta, herbs and a dash of Parmesan cheese.
• Add one 14 1/2-ounce can undrained diced tomatoes in place of 1/2 cup water when preparing instant rice.
• Add to a slow cooker with chicken recipes in place of 1 cup water.
• Add drained, diced Italian-style tomatoes on top of turkey meatloaf during the last 15 minutes of baking instead of tomato sauce.
• Add 1/2 up drained, diced tomatoes to a bowl of hot tomato soup for extra flavor.

Select a bag of frozen corn and:

• Make Quick Succotash. Combine 1 box frozen lima beans with 1 cup frozen corn kernels, a thinly sliced onion, 1 cup milk and a pinch of honey in a saucepan. Bring to boil and cook on a simmer for 20 minutes until limas are tender and milk is reduced to a few Tbsps. Increase the heat and stir constantly until milk is just glazed over the vegetables.
• Make Easy Corn Chowder. Combine 1 Tbsp olive oil with 1 medium onion in a medium saucepan and cook until onion is golden. Add 2 diced medium potatoes and toss for a few minutes. Add 2 cups fat-free (skim) milk and fresh ground pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add 2 cups frozen corn and return to a simmer.

Buy a carton of eggs or egg substitute and:

• Make Quick Spanish-Style Eggs. Scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet with diced onion and peppers. Pile into a warmed whole-wheat or corn tortilla. Roll up. Top with bottled salsa.
• Make Indian-Style Eggs. Add hard-boiled eggs to cooked brown rice. Add a few drops of olive oil and raisins or currants and lightly sautéed chopped apple.

Rehydrate a package of dried mushrooms and:

• Toss rehydrated mushrooms with shaped pastas, olive oil and sauted garlic.
• Fill an omelet with rehydrated mushrooms and bean sprouts and top with a little soy sauce.
• Top any homemade pizza with rehydrated mushrooms.
• Rehydrate 1 cup dried mushrooms and saute in a little olive oil. Add a clove of minced garlic and pile high on 4 pieces of toasted French bread (1 oz each) for a delicious appetizer.

Find a jar of roasted red peppers and:

• Puree 2 roasted peppers with 2 tsps olive oil and 1 tsp capers. Spread on 4 slices of toast for a nice appetizer.
• Toss roasted peppers with pasta and rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes.
• Slice into strips and place on homemade pizzas.
• Toss chopped roasted red peppers into chicken soup.

Take a package of reduced-fat cream cheese and:

• Soften 1 cup cream cheese and mix with 2 Tbsps sugar-free strawberry jam. Spread on 6 slices whole-grain toast.
• Mix 3 Tbsps into 1 pound of hot mashed potatoes. Add minced chives for extra flavor.
• Spread 2/3 cup softened cream cheese over 4 slices French bread. Place under the broiler for 2 minutes. Top with slices of ripe tomato and sliced cucumber.

You may be interested in one of our Quick & Easy cookbooks.