Easy Father’s Day BBQ Ideas
June 12 2013
MealEasy’s Chef Paul recommends this fabulous heart-healthy meal for Father’s Day:
Grilled Pork Chops with Feta & Tomatoes
Grilled Sweet Potato & Asparagus
Fresh Fruit with Vanilla Sour Cream
It’s Father’s Day this Sunday and what better way to show dad you love him than by letting him relax so you can take over the grill!
Here’s your chance to show dad that the grill can cook more then steaks, burgers and sausages. Yes, you can even grill heart-healthy vegetables!
We’ve assembled a super easy and supremely tasty barbecue feast fit for the King of the household. With a yummy grilled pork chop featuring Mediterranean flavors, grilled asparagus and grilled sweet potato with a dessert featuring fresh fruit. Dad won’t even notice that it’s fewer than 15g of fat!! That’s less than a tablespoon including the desert! Taking care of dad’s heart on Father’s Day – what says I Love You better than that?!
So grab those BBQ tongs and get grillin’! And the best part about grilling – there’s no pots and pans to clean up afterwards!
Enjoy!
Download your own Father’s Day Menu Now
Download Father’s Day Menu Grocery List
Save Money with Meal Planning
June 10 2013
Are you a last minute shopper? Are you adding to your shopping list at the same time as trying to find the shopping cart in the store? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. But there is another way!
Meal planning is the best way to shave off hundreds of dollars from your monthly grocery list and reduce grocery shopping stress. MealEasy can help!
How does meal planning save money? Continue reading
Cooking Fiddleheads
May 28 2013
Fiddleheads are the furled fronds of a young ostrich fern commonly found near rivers and streams. Because they cannot be cultivated, fiddleheads are only available for a few weeks every spring and are harvested before the fern unrolls completely. The ostrich fern grows wild in certain parts of North Eastern North America and is the variety most likely to be on tables here. Fiddleheads are an excellent source of Omega 3 and Omega 6 as well as iron and fibre. Imagine a combination of asparagus, broccoli and green beans and you’ll get the flavour of fiddleheads.
Cleaning Fiddleheads
Fiddleheads can be cleaned by first placing them in a colander and thoroughly rinsing them off with clean cold water. After washing, place the rinsed fiddleheads in a bowl full of clean cool water to remove the remainder of the brown papery coverings, and repeat as needed. They should appear clean at this point.
Short-term storage
Keep fiddleheads refrigerated until you are ready to cook or preserve them. They can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks in a container filled with water. Make sure to change the water in the container every couple of days.
Cooking Fiddleheads
Fiddleheads can be cooked using two different methods, boiling and steaming.
- Boiling
Bring lightly salted water in a pot to a rolling boil and add washed fiddleheads without stopping the boil. If the water stops boiling you added too many fiddleheads. Therefore, make sure to boil them in enough water. If the water loses its boil, don’t worry, simply bring the water back to a steady boil and cook for 15 minutes.
- Steaming
Bring a small amount of water to a boil preferably in steamer. Add cleaned fiddleheads and steam for 10-12 minutes. Continue reading
Memorial Day Menu
May 24 2013
For many in the United States, Memorial Day is the first long weekend of summer and it’s time to get the barbecue going! Chef Paul created a fabulous menu to give you an eat-in or take-out picnic lunch.
Give it a try and post pictures of your meal on the MealEasy Facebook page.
Print Grocery List for this meal (pdf)>>> Download
Print Memorial Day Menu (pdf) >>> Download
Fast, Fresh & Easy Lunch Idea
May 22 2013
Do you think you’re getting the “healthy option” when ordering a salad from a fast food joint? Think again.
While some salads may offer less fat and calories than other menu items, often adding a bit of grilled chicken on your salad will make it as fat filled as a double Quarter Pounder with cheese!
Even if you do choose one of the “healthier” salad options, quite often you’re overwhelmed with sodium that’s three times the suggested meal amount of 480mg.
Do you want to eat a healthy salad for lunch? Then make it at home and brown bag it. That’s the only way you know what’s in your lunch. Don’t have time to make a salad in the morning? Then plan ahead! Last night’s leftover roast chicken will be great on mixed greens. Top the fresh greens with some cherry tomatoes and some toasted walnuts (toasted on the weekend and kept in the fridge for future use).
Add a little homemade balsamic dressing and bring it along to work with you, and you’ve got yourself a tasty and above all else, HEALTHY salad.
Oh…and that was MUCH FASTER than waiting in line at the fast food counter too!
Time to make: under 5 minutes
Cost: Less than $2.50
Calories: under 300
Mother’s Day Brunch Menu
May 06 2013
Download Menu (pdf) here: Mother’s Day Brunch Menu
Download Groceries (pdf) here: Grocery List for this Meal
Burger Makeover
April 30 2013
You CAN take an unhealthy meal and flip it into something low calorie, low fat and super yummy.
Take the traditional burger for example. Loaded with high calorie condiments and red meat, the Chicken Burger with Pineapple Salsa is a great alternative. With only 380 calories per serving!
Chicken Burger with Pineapple Salsa
- Ingredients:
- 1/2 pineapple, fresh, peeled, cored, diced
- 1 mango, peeled, diced (~1 1/4 cups)
- 1/2 onion, red, thinly sliced (~1 1/3 cups)
- 2 tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp canola oil
- 12 oz chicken, ground lean (~1 1/2 cups)
- 1 apple, green, peeled, grated (~1 cup)
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
- 4 rolls, whole wheat, sliced in half
- 4 leaf inner lettuce, green leaf
- 2 oz cheese, cheddar, low sodium, sliced thin (~2 slice (1 oz))
- Instructions:
Prep
- Mix together the pineapple, mango, cilantro, lime juice and oil and set aside.
- Mix the chicken with the apple, panko and cayenne.
- Form mixture into 4 equal sized patties.
- Place the patties on a plate and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the barbecue or grill.
Cooking
- Grill the patties until cooked through, about 15 minutes, turning once.
- Serve the burgers on rolls with lettuce, cheddar cheese and topped with salsa
Sunday Feast Leftovers
April 08 2013
Making lunches throughout the week can be both stressful and time consuming. Quite often you’re left with little choice but to grab something on the go. This often means you’re spending money you shouldn’t and eating something that’s not healthy.
That’s why it is so important to plan your meals ahead of time. And, while planning ahead, plan for leftovers. Leftovers are the easiest lunch there is. What could be more convenient than taking some leftover supper and eating it for lunch?
That’s why at our house I always plan on a big dinner for Sunday evenings even though there are only 3 of us in our family. This week, even with visitors staying with us, we still had plenty of leftovers for lunches. I decided on a whole roast chicken which I cooked on the rotisserie and a quinoa salad with as many vegetables as I could cook. Sure it took a couple hours to cook the chicken but as it roasted away, I leisurely prepped the veggies for the quinoa salad while chatting with our guests while we sipped our wine.
This week’s quinoa salad featured a whole bunch of fresh vegetables such as asparagus, beet greens and spinach. It was great! I highly recommend quinoa salads as a starch for dinner and as a lunch item on its own; so filling and nutritious.
Get the Most from Fresh Garden Goodness
April 03 2013
It’s Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, Fall in the Southern Hemisphere
These next few months are an exciting time worldwide. The northern hemisphere is sorting and planting seeds, while the southern hemisphere kicks harvest into gear.
Planning to Eat: For those of us who enjoy gardening, it’s a wonderful cost saving activity, not to mention an inexpensive stress reliever. Planning your indoor or outdoor garden can be a fun, family activity that teaches young children the important connection between health, the environment and food.
Fall in Love with Better Food: Harvest time is a fun time to experiment with new ingredients and try new dishes. There may be certain ingredients that you’re not fond of, so give MealEasy a try. MealEasy offers a quick and easy feature to select foods to avoid so you never have to see a recipe with ingredients you don’t like. Your taste buds will thank you!
Plant a lifetime of good food
Not sure what to plant? Make it a family project and have fun together! Take a trip to the library and select books on gardening for your climate. It’s never too early to plan a garden – no matter what season it is where you live.
Fresh Picks: Choosing what to grow depends on how much space and light you have for the plants. Always consider which plants you will use for cooking and eating. Most people enjoy adding fresh herbs to salads and soups, and the small amount of space that’s needed for herbs pots, means anyone can grow and enjoy fresh herbs.
Start an indoor herb garden and use them to add flavor to dishes rather than using dried herbs. All you need is a pot, soil, sunlight and water. Instant flavor!
Try it, You might Like it! MealEasy provides recipes that are Chef-designed and family tested. We never promote or profile recipes that we would not prepare and enjoy with our own families. Adding a hint of “fresh” is a great way to try new foods and include healthy eating in your day.
