4 Quick Healthy Dinners You Can Make in 20 Minutes!

[00:00] If you need a quick dinner idea, that's doable after a long day. I have 4, 20 minute healthy meals that are made with clean whole food ingredients and are still packed with so much flavor. Our time is precious and while I love cooking

[00:14] for my family, quick meals like these help me get back to what matters most while still putting a delicious home-cooked meal on the table without sacrificing quality of food. This first recipe is the loveliest summer pasta dish and it's perfect for

[00:34] summer not only in its flavor but also because it's a no-cook pasta sauce so besides boiling some noodles you don't have to be slaving over a hot stove top during the hot summer days. It's a creamy lemon pesto pasta and it's seriously so

[00:50] simple to throw together. Boil a package of your favorite pasta make sure to salt your water. I grade it up some Parmesan cheese. I also grabbed some basil from the garden about a tablespoon that I chopped up. You're gonna need one

[01:05] lemon. Now I am going to make this with a lemon artichoke pesto sauce that I got from Thrive Market. You can use any pesto you can find. I did not find any lemon flavored pesto at the store so if you'd like some more lemon flavor in

[01:20] this dish you can use the zest of one lemon. While you wait for the pasta you can prepare your sauce it'll be done before the pasta is. You'll need one and one third kept ever cottage cheese. One and a half tablespoons of olive oil, three

[01:35] tablespoons of a lemon artichoke pesto. You can use a regular pesto you could find a lemon pesto. If you can't then you can just add some of that lemon zest like I said. I need the juice of one lemon, two garlic cloves minced, a half

[01:51] cup of grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and reserve a half cup of your pasta water. Make sure it's still hot. That's gonna help everything incorporate together for this sauce. Once cooked train your pasta and pour it right

[02:12] in to your sauce. I served this pasta with some roast chicken breast that I had made

[02:38] earlier on in the week. I like to do some meal prep on a Sunday. One of the things I like to have prepared is some of the meat for the meals it just saves a whole bunch of time. If you want to you can just go grab a rotisserie

[02:51] chicken as well.

[03:08] Now I need some onions and tomatoes for some coming recipes despite the

[03:30] jungle that the garden is. It is still giving so let's go see what it has to offer.

[05:38] I'm taking some time to enjoy this absolutely glorious day. It is beautiful and is

[06:00] the first day in a long time that actually feels invigorating and not just oppressive. The weather has been so hot and it's still warm today but the humidity isn't so bad and there's a nice cool breeze. The sun is obviously shining. The

[06:14] ladies are singing the song of their people. There are birds chirping. There are butterflies and insects flying all around and it's just lovely. I have my favorite drink right now. In hand, Marmar Colostrum, their watermelon flavor. That has just

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[07:58] This second recipe I will share with you is a crowd-pleaser around these parts. It's a Big Mac smash taco. We're going to use some of the veggies we just harvested. Some of the red onion I'm going to slice thin and we're going to dice up the tomatoes. I have some

[08:13] Roma tomatoes and this Wapsopinikin Peach Tomato. They're my favorite and Wapsopinikin is just a fun word to say. They are the sweetest tomato I have ever grown and they will be one that I will

[08:25] continue to grow. For the burger mixture, I have one pound of ground beef. I'm going to mix into that about a tablespoon of brown sugar. I like just a touch of sweetness in my burgers. That might sound weird. That's how my mom made them growing up and now I do the same thing. I did a half-tea spoon each

[08:42] of garlic powder and onion powder. A splash of Worcestershire probably about a tablespoon. A half-tea spoon of salt to finish it off. Mix that together well and then I pulled out of the freezer some mini tortillas that I had thrown together a while ago. I like to make them in bulk

[08:58] and then keep them in the freezer for quick dinners like this. I will put another video on the screen here where I show you how to make my tortillas. So we're just going to take a bit of that mixture and press it down onto each of these tortillas. Maybe about a quarter cup. Just depends on the size of

[09:14] the tortillas you are using. These are pretty small. We're going to transfer these to a nice hot skillet. I am using two to make the process go faster if you have a grittle that would work amazing

[09:31] as well. I'm just going to fry these up for about four minutes on this side. Give them a flip and then I am going to top them with some cheese. Cover and allow that cheese to melt just for a minute or two.

[09:55] The bottoms of these get super crispy and it's really what sets these apart from just a typical burger. We're going to make some big Mac sauce to go with this now. If I am being completely honest, this recipe changes for me every time I make it. There is a sat recipe and I have it on my condiments

[10:12] video. But I don't always remember what my recipes are and sometimes I'm in a hurry so I just wing it and I did about a quarter cup of mayo, three tablespoons of ketchup, one tablespoon of mustard. I did

[10:26] probably a tablespoon or two, a pickle juice, a sprinkle of garlic powder, a sprinkle of onion powder and a dash of paprika. Very precise of me but I will include all of today's recipes as per usual

[10:41] down in the description, including the actual big Mac sauce recipe and I'll put that video here on the screen for you as well. We also go over how to make our own mayo in that one so it's definitely one to watch. Tap with your favorite burger toppings. I did some shredded lettuce,

[11:01] some red onion, tomatoes, pickles and our big Mac sauce. These are enjoyed thoroughly. By all, this is honestly how we prefer to eat our burgers anymore. It just takes a burger to the next level,

[11:14] really elevates it and you wouldn't think it's anything overly special but they're so delicious. If you've never tried a big Mac smash taco. This is your sign. Put it on the menu for next week.

[12:01] This next recipe is a new favorite. We're going to make a kebab but it's not really a kebab because

[12:18] we're not using skewers but it's the same end result. Absolutely delicious but it saves so much work. I went out to the garden. I grabbed some fresh parsley. You need three tablespoons. I have that

[12:30] chopped up and one shallot diced or you can use a small brown onion. You'll need two pounds

[12:42] of ground beef or you could do ground lamb or you could mix the two whatever you can find near you. Now for lots of flavor. We're doing a tablespoon of minced garlic, a tablespoon each of cumin,

[12:55] coriander and sweet paprika and then it optionally you can add some chili flakes. I just did a little sprinkling of them. If you like things super spicy go ahead and add some more. One and a half teaspoon salt, quarter teaspoon of black pepper. I'm going to add in those three

[13:11] tablespoons of the finely chopped parsley and we're also going to add a half teaspoon of baking soda. You'll want to mix this very thoroughly. There are lots of spices in here that need well

[13:28] incorporated. About one to two minutes of mixing. Don't worry about over mixing. It won't hurt it. This mixture is going to go onto a parchment lined baking sheet. It's not enough that it's going

[13:47] to cover the entire sheet about two thirds of it and you want it to be somewhere between a quarter inch and a half inch thick. Now using a knife or here I'm using a bench scraper. You're going to

[14:01] cut some strips all the way through and then coming back across the opposite way you're going to make some indentations so you have what looks like a bunch of little rectangle. This is just going to create

[14:14] some indentations and some high spots which are going to get nice and golden brown. You're going to brush this with some olive oil and bake it at 475 for about 12 minutes. Now for our toppings I have sliced up another red onion. I am going to put about a quarter teaspoon of salt on there

[14:31] and the juice of a half lemon, one tablespoon of olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika. Mix that up and set it off to the side and then we're going to make a yogurt sauce for this as well. That will be

[14:44] one cup of yogurt, the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of minced garlic.

[15:15] From the garden I have sliced up some more tomato. I wanted some cucumbers however cucumber beetles have demolished all of my cucumber plants except for the cucumber melons so

[15:27] we're going to slice up some cucumber melons to serve on top. I wanted to show you just how juicy this kabob turns out. It is absolutely delicious and not in the least bit dry.

[15:39] I serve this up on some pita bread. If you're looking for a high quality pita go to wild grain. They have an amazing clean pita bread. I can't find anything like that at the store so it's not something

[15:54] that would typically buy and it's not something I have ventured to make on my own yet but perhaps here in the future. This is such an easy one and it's packed full of flavor. My family loves this one

[16:07] and I hope yours will too.

[16:25] This next 20-minute meal I am sharing with you is a creamy sausage pasta. I'm using whatever I can from the garden this time of year. I try to incorporate as much as I can fresh because that's

[16:37] where the nutrients are and all about seasonal eating if possible. We're chopping up some more tomatoes, one of the edge of our ski red peppers and another shallot.

[16:56] Now I am using some Italian chicken sausage today but you can use any flavor you want. You can even use loose sausage if that's what you can find. I like to slice it on an angle just to be a little bit extra. I just like to treat the people

[17:11] I'm cooking for and it may seem silly and very simple but I think when you put a little bit more effort into presenting something a certain way it just makes people feel special so we're cut and

[17:23] sausage on an angle. A sausage is going to get thrown into a piping hot skillet. You want it to get nice and brown and caramelized. Then we're going to remove that from the skillet and we're

[17:37] going to cook up our veggies. Two tablespoons of butter is going to go into that skillet along with all of the drippings that were in there. We're going to put in the peppers and the onions and the tomatoes.

[17:54] These will cook until everything starts to soften up and the onions turn translucent. While the veggies are doing their thing we're going to get some pasta boiling.

[18:06] I have 12 ounces of pasta here. Use whatever pasta you want. Now for two cloves of minced garlic I'm going to go in here and allow that to get fragrant and cook up a bit and then we're going to add in two tablespoons of tomato paste and we're also going to mix

[18:22] that well and allow that to cook for a minute. After that I put in a splash of white wine. It's totally optional. The alcohol will cook off. I just like to do that for the flavor and just

[18:35] scrape up any brown bits. It probably amounted to a quarter cup. Now slowly we'll add in some heavy cream. This is two cups.

[18:53] Before you drain off your noodles grab a half cup of that pasta water. Pour it into your sauce. Mix that together and then I freshly grated some more Parmesan cheese about a half cup and stir

[19:07] that in until it's melted. Then just adjust it to taste with salt and pepper. We also add it in a touch of paprika about a quarter teaspoon. Then we'll just add our cooked pasta in and our sausage

[19:25] and dinner is ready to go.

[19:49] I hope these four quick 20 minute meals help you get a good meal on the table even after a long day. Quick doesn't mean you have to sacrifice good for your food. Meals like these allow you to still serve

[20:05] your family nutritious food packed full of flavor without spending all your precious time on it. Thanks for hanging out with me. I hope you enjoyed. Let me know which one of these recipes you want to try first down in the comments. Many blessings my friend. Until next time, take care.