30-Day Heart-Healthy, Anti-Inflammatory Dinner Plan
Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD
Enjoy a delicious dinner every day this month with this 30-day plan. These dishes are heart-healthy, tasty choices that are low in saturated fat and sodium.
Plus, with ingredients like dark leafy greens, legumes, fish, herbs and spices, these dinners can help reduce inflammation and the pesky symptoms that come with it, including joint stiffness, digestive issues and mental fog.
Recipes like our Honey Mustard Salmon with Mango Quinoa and Spiced Grilled Chicken with Cauliflower "Rice" Tabbouleh are delicious and nutritious options for any evening meal this month.
Spiced Grilled Chicken with Cauliflower "Rice" Tabbouleh
Chicken breasts on the grill have a smoky flavor that's enhanced with an easy spice rub. We chose flat-leaf parsley in this salad because it has a stronger herbal taste than its sometimes bitter curly counterpart.
Honey Mustard Salmon with Mango Quinoa
In this 30-minute dinner recipe, grilled, honey mustard-coated salmon is served with a tasty grain salad made with quinoa, mango, jalapeño and almonds.
Chickpea & Potato Curry
This fast Indian-style curry comes together with ingredients you most likely have on hand, like frozen peas and canned tomatoes and chickpeas. Plus, using these spices shows how simple it is to make a curry sauce for an easy vegetarian recipe. Serve with whole-wheat naan to sop it all up.
Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan
This one-pan chicken pasta combines lean chicken breast and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal that's garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. It's a simple dinner the whole family will love.
Baked Fish Tacos with Avocado
Instead of deep-frying, the fish fillets in this quick-and-easy 5-ingredient recipe are coated with a flavorful seasoning blend and baked. Several varieties of flaky white fish can be used for these tacos. When you go to the market to purchase fish, the best strategy is to be flexible and choose the variety that looks freshest that day.
Skillet Lemon Chicken & Potatoes with Kale
This easy one-pan skillet-roasted lemon chicken is perfect for weeknight dinners. Juicy chicken thighs are cooked in the same pan as baby potatoes and kale for a satisfying meal—with the added bonus of minimal cleanup.
Creamy White Chili with Cream Cheese
This rich, yet healthy, white chicken chili recipe comes together in a flash thanks to quick-cooking chicken thighs and canned white beans. Mashing some of the beans acts as a fast thickener when your soups don't have a long time to simmer. Cream cheese adds the final bit of richness and a hint of sweet tang.
Charred Shrimp, Pesto & Quinoa Bowls
These shrimp, pesto and quinoa bowls are delicious, healthy, pretty and take less than 30 minutes to prep. In other words, they're basically the ultimate easy weeknight dinner. Feel free to add additional vegetables and swap the shrimp for chicken, steak, tofu or edamame.
Three-Bean Chili
This rib-sticking bean chili is richly flavored with cumin, chili, paprika, oregano and an assortment of peppers. Use whatever beans you have in your pantry.
Smoked Turkey, Kale & Rice Bake
This hearty one-skillet dinner is loaded with celery, kale, tomatoes and quick-cooking brown rice. It's easy to make the recipe vegetarian by substituting smoked tofu for the turkey.
Provençal Baked Fish with Roasted Potatoes & Mushrooms
This easy healthy meal—which requires just 15 minutes of active time—is typical of southern France. You can use halibut, grouper or cod for this simple Mediterranean baked fish recipe, so just choose what looks best at your market. Look for herbes de Provence, an aromatic spice blend, at most grocery stores.
Three Sisters Stew
This Three Sisters Stew recipe is easy to make, nutritious and delicious. The Three Sisters are corn, beans and squash, which have been planted together for centuries by Native peoples and have spiritual significance for some. In New Mexico, it is often said that a healthy environment means a healthy culture, which leads to healthy people, and the way these vegetables grow in the garden exemplifies this notion of interconnectedness. The beans climb the cornstalks, the squash leaves shade the soil, limiting weed growth, and the beans fix nitrogen into the soil as well as help stabilize the cornstalks. This stew is perfect for a cold winter day, and wonderful as an encore the next day if you have any leftovers.
Easy Pea & Spinach Carbonara
Fresh pasta cooks up faster than dried, making it a must-have for fast weeknight dinners like this luscious yet healthy meal. Eggs are the base of the creamy sauce. They don't get fully cooked, so use pasteurized-in-the-shell eggs if you prefer.
Butternut Squash & Black Bean Enchiladas
Looking for a different take on enchiladas? Filled with black beans and a little heat from the peppers, crisp, citrusy slaw contrasts nicely with these enchiladas' creamy squash filling.
One-Pot Garlicky Shrimp & Spinach
Shrimp, spinach and garlic brown and cook quickly for a simple one-pot weeknight dinner. A fast pan sauce gets life from zesty lemon juice, warm crushed red pepper and herby parsley. Serve with a slice of whole-wheat baguette to swipe up every last drop of sauce.
Chhole (Chickpea Curry)
This healthy Indian recipe is an authentic chickpea curry that you can make in minutes. If you want to add a vegetable, stir in some roasted cauliflower. Serve with brown basmati rice or warm naan.
Roasted Root Veggies & Greens over Spiced Lentils
This earthy bowl of lentils is topped with leftover roasted root veggies from a large batch for an easy weeknight dinner. Keep it vegan or add a drizzle of plain yogurt for extra richness.
Green Goddess Salad with Chickpeas
In this cucumber, tomato, Swiss cheese and chickpea salad recipe, a healthy green goddess dressing is made from avocado, buttermilk and herbs. The extra dressing is delicious served with grilled vegetables.
Chickpea Pasta with Mushrooms & Kale
Loading up your pasta with vegetables—like the kale and mushrooms here—not only adds flavor and nutrition but also makes the meal more satisfying.
Roasted Vegetable & Black Bean Tacos
These hearty vegan tacos are quick and easy to make—perfect for busy weeknights. The beans and sweet potatoes provide a meaty texture so no one will miss the meat or dairy.
Herby Fish with Wilted Greens & Mushrooms
This healthy fish recipe makes a tasty and easy weeknight meal. Serve with wild rice or roasted potatoes to round the meal out.
Red Beans and Rice with Chicken
Fiber-rich red beans, whole-grain brown rice and skillet-cooked chicken breast are ready in just 20 minutes.
Sweet Potato-Black Bean Burgers
These vegan sweet potato-black bean burgers spiced with curry powder are easy to make. To make this recipe gluten-free too, use gluten-free oats and serve the patty in a lettuce wrap, omitting the bun—or use a gluten-free bun.
Baked Halibut with Brussels Sprouts & Quinoa
Fish plus two sides? It seems fancy but this healthy dinner comes together in just 30 minutes. And the quinoa and Brussels sprouts add inflammation-fighting nutrition.
Green Veggie Bowl with Chicken & Lemon-Tahini Dressing
For this healthy 30-minute dinner, treat your veggies like pasta and cook until al dente, or just done. If you have a little extra time, double or triple the lemon-tahini dressing and use it to quickly dress a salad or as a sauce for steak or shrimp.
Loaded Black Bean Nacho Soup
Jazz up a can of black bean soup with your favorite nacho toppings, such as cheese, avocado and fresh tomatoes. A bit of smoked paprika adds a bold flavor kick, but you can swap in any warm spices you prefer, such as cumin or chili powder. Look for a soup that contains no more than 450 mg sodium per serving.
Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Tomato & Avocado Salsa for Two
Lovers of fried fish get the taste without all the calories—and the salsa adds a fresh, clean note. To complete the Baja theme, serve with black beans, some diced mango and a dab of light sour cream.
Sheet-Pan Balsamic-Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas & Vegetables
A tangy, balsamic dressing and nutty Parmesan cheese combine to coat tender roasted vegetables and chickpeas in this springy vegetarian dinner. To keep it vegetarian, serve it over quinoa or, for meat-eaters, serve with roasted chicken or pan-seared fish.
White Turkey Chili
This healthy white turkey chili recipe is gorgeous, with flecks of green from zucchini, oregano and green chiles. To keep the saturated fat low, we use one pound of ground turkey and add whole-grain bulgur to boost the volume and fiber in this chili recipe.
Gochujang-Glazed Salmon with Garlic Spinach
Gochujang, a Korean red chile paste, and honey give this salmon a little bit of sweetness and a whole lot of spice.
Read the original article on Eating Well.
