Two of the simplest strategies for consistently eating healthy include keeping a variety of minimally processed foods available in your kitchen and collecting simple recipes that can be made quickly and with minimal effort.
Implementing both strategies makes throwing together a nourishing and tasty meal easy even on days when you’re short on time, energy, or both. (Bonus points if you play around with adding different spices to those meals.)
Last week Wednesday was just such a day for me. After a long day at the gym, I skipped my typical Wednesday evening BJJ practice because I needed some extra time to pack and finalize a few other things prior to heading out on Friday for a short hiking and climbing adventure in Colorado. And besides being short on time and energy, I also arrived home hungry.
While I won’t be appearing on an episode of MasterChef for my food presentation skills any time soon, I made use of all the strategies listed and linked above to prepare a meal that not only covered all the important nutritional bases but also cooked on its own with minimal interaction from me until it was finished.
It included baked rockfish (with a tasty topping) for protein, a cheat-baked (i.e. microwaved) sweet potato sprinkled with cinnamon for a carb, and sliced tomatoes covered with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt—basically a Caprese salad without the basil or mozzarella—for the veggie and fat. (I know, tomatoes are technically fruit. But let’s not split hairs here.)
This was actually the first time I had made the rockfish recipe, but it turned out well. I’ll be adding it to my regular rotation and definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of fish.
Of course, flakey, white fish is always good when baked with just a little butter, lemon, and dill. So you can certainly make the recipe even simpler if that’s what you’re in the mood to do.
Alternatively, if you’re in the mood for something extra, consider swapping out half of the Dijon mustard for an equal part (or slightly more) of mashed avocado.
In any case, let me know what you think if you try it!
If you’re new to getting these tips and haven’t previously seen one with a recipe, the ingredient list is written a little differently than what you might be used to seeing. It’s a modified version of a method used to simplify the cooking process.
I was first exposed to the idea when reading Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Chef, which is actually a great book if you currently aren’t very comfortable in the kitchen and want to either level-up your cooking skills or simply refine your process for learning anything new.