New Year Time Saver

By Lindsey House, RD LD Certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise

Do you find cooking tedious and dread the clean up? Most individuals have a hard time justifying the time it takes to prep and clean up for one little meal. Knowing that time is precious in our hectic lifestyle, it is important to use it wisely when preparing meals. Here are some quick ideas to start your new year off fresh and minimize your time in the kitchen!

Time Saver Idea: One Chicken Yields 3 Different Meals

Take a frozen bag of chicken and put it in a pot to boil, let chicken boil for 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Drain chicken and tear apart pieces with a fork. You will be left with a nice size bowl of shredded chicken. Separate the chicken into three equal portions. Each portion will be used for one of the three meal ideas: Chicken Salad, Asian Lettuce Wraps and Greek Salad. Ready? Here we go!

Chicken Salad Shredded chicken Lite mayonnaise or Greek Yogurt Chopped celery Chopped grapes Curry powder to taste Mix the above ingredients together. Serve in a large leaf lettuce to create a lettuce wrap or mold it into a stack. Chicken Lettuce Wraps  Shredded chicken Diced onions Garlic, minced Diced apple Golden raisins Hoisin sauce Saute onion and garlic until translucent.  Add apple and raisins until softening but still firm.  Add chicken and hoisin sauce.  Continue to toss until well coated and tender.  Serve lettuce wrap.   Greek Salad Romaine lettuce Shredded chicken Low fat feta cheese Greek olives Red pepper strips Lite dressing of choice Take a fancy salad bowl and add all of the above ingredients together except the salad dressing. Keep the salad dressing on the side to dip the ingredients.

When all of the recipes are complete, divide food into containers. Plan to use multiple containers and organize portions to fulfill the week's worth of meals and/or planned snacks.