So I know "fast food" usually means a drive thru and a side of fries, but I did a bit of an experiment this week, and I want to share my favorite healthy "fast food" because sometimes a drive thru is Mc-Slow! For example, I went through a drive through for dinner for my family on Wednesday (a rare occasion) because it was a school-fundraising deal. From the time I left my house to the time I was able to put the bags of food on the table was 35 minutes. That got me thinking: I could have totally made a delicious, healthy meal for my kids and hubby in less time then that...ugh. And yesterday, I proved it. I had a crazy day and had exactly 25 minutes to get food on the table before everyone went crazy with hanger (hungry/anger). So I went to my go-to's for fast food. All of my stuff is from Trader Joe's but that doesn't have to be the case for you :)
Thin-sliced fresh chicken breast. I typically like to pound my chicken into thinner versions for even and faster grilling/baking/etc, but when I don't have the extra couple minutes for that...these are perfect. Line a baking sheet with foil, drizzle olive oil and your favorite spices on the chicken and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Perfection.
Meatless Meatballs: If you are going for a vegetarian protein, you microwave these tasty balls for 1 minute. Boom. Done. Love them with BBQ Sauce.
Frozen veggies. My favorite right now are stir fry style veggies because there are so many colors and delicious variety in one bag. Try Trader Joe's Hodgepodge mix...amazing. Just saute this bag of vitamins and minerals in a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper and yummy!! I also like to add some zucchini in there for extra yumminess (and also I like to eat piles of food so this provides MORE without really more calories).
Sweet potatoes. So. Easy. Stab with a fork. Wrap in a paper towel. Microwave for 2 minutes, Flip it. 2 more minutes. Top with paprika, salt and pepper.
Frozen cauliflower rice. Put this in a sauce pan for like 4 minutes and then do what you would normally do with your rice...put the chicken or meatballs over it, throw some soy sauce or spices on it...so easy and healthy.
Apples: These are just amazing. Check out why you might want to
eat one a day. Also, the Jazz variety is sweet, tart and not too big. Perfect on the go snack or to slice up on the side of a meal. They also work to feed to very hungry children if dinner isn't quite ready.
You can make a complete meal with all of the jazz above in 25 minutes (I put some pre-heating and cooling time in there). I bet it's faster than the drive thru :)
