2 cups broth (any kind),
1.5 cups water
.75 cups lentils
.25 cups brown rice
1 cup each of chopped carrots, celery, and tomatoes
1 small can of mushrooms (or fresh)
Onion soup mix (Lipton’s is vegan, but most have beef bouillon)
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons dried basil or 0.25 cups fresh
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the water and broth to a boil, toss in everything else, let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Eat it. Serving size is 2 cups, and there are about 4 servings in this. It’s filling, high in protein, extremely low in fat, fast to put together from stuff you probably have in your fridge or can keep in a cabinet, and low maintenance once you’ve got it going. I love this recipe and usually pair it with a salad.

I always keep soup portions in the freezer because not only is it easy to reheat, but it is incredibly healthy. Either make soup or buy fresh soup and throw it in the freezer.

The baked eggs recipe sounds great for weight management, efficiency, and taste, but it wouldn’t be termed “healthy” per current conventional medical dogma. (Personally , I actually think the Atkins diet is perfectly healthy, that it works and lowers serum cholesterol — or at least, it lowered mine –but most cardiologists think it’s suicidal.)

I also like to make soup or chili on Sunday and eat it for dinner for days…

Another fast dinner option for me is the bag of frozen chicken breasts in my freezer. I can defrost in warm water or defrost setting on microwave and add to stir fry or pasta sauce or marinate and grill, taco filling, quesdilla filling… So many options. Also if you are going to add to something like chicken salad where you want a moist meat you can always boil those chicken breasts. Easy as pie.

I like to buy Near East Whole Grain Blends rice/couscous. You can get about 2 and a half meals out of each box, and they’re very straightforward to make. And again, add black beans or sauteed chicken and some kind of veggies to them and there you go. I just try to have some kind of whole grain around always, either regular brown rice or those, you make it once and you have your next few meals.

I love to cook more ambitiously with my friends, but since I’ve been living in a new city/apartment and cooking pretty much on my one, it just needs to be simple, cheap and easy. So the grain/veggies/protein combo just works. Last night I dry roasted slivered almonds (a GREAT thing to have around–any nut is. Add them to stir fries, veggie sautees, big salads, a great protein boost)and sauteed some orange pepper and tomatoes, tossed in some dill and curry powder, added chickpeas and mixed it all up with some sliced raw red onion and had it over brown rice couscous I’d made a couple nights ago–fast, and delish. Once you try a few things, you’ll end up with a short list of staples that are easy to have around, and you can throw things together in a heartbeat.

I’d start with a Rachael Ray cookbook and then look for ways to healthy-fy it. She has great recipes for pumpkin polenta that takes 10 minutes to make & you can tweak it to meet your needs.

I make a recipe for cold sesame noodles from epicurious.com with only 2 oz of whole wheat pasta, and use some sauteed broccoli slaw for the rest.

I’ve said it before, but I had to let go of the idea that a meal wasn’t healthy or worth cooking unless there was a recipe printed off from Cooking Light, with at least six ingredients, that would last me all week, that both me and my kid could eat, etc. It’s not that deep — just throw it together and enjoy.

I’m single too, but 34, so I’ve had some time to work on this same issue. Stir-fry is a huge win for me – I make a huge batch of it on Sunday night, then package it for lunch everyday. I also take a ton of snacks to eat while I’m at work: apples, walnuts, and low-sodium lunch meat with half of a whole wheat wrap. I know a lot of people are terrified of frozen fish, but I’m not, and you’d be surprised how easy and quick it is to cook. It takes 5 minutes to thaw under hot water, then I season and sear it on both sides in a skillet, then slap it in the oven for 15 minutes at 375. Pretty easy. Lately my trainer has been telling me to consume most of my protein early in the day, then just have veggies at night. So now my nighttime meal is a baked sweet potato, and some of those Green Giant steamable veggies. I don’t really vary my food much during the week, because it’s just easier to have a routine, but I get more creative on the weekends. So unless you just have to have variety, I recommend having a set menu that works for you and that you can make with your eyes closed.