Light dinner recipes to make sure you are on track with your fitness goals

Doesn’t a plate full of delicious dishes look ravishing after a long and busy day? While it seems like a good idea to dig into a plate full of food to ward off the stress, it is not so good for your health! Your dinner should be the lightest meal of the day,topped with healthy foods. The simplest way to let food support your health and let you stay slim and fit is to understand what you eat. Fast but fatty foods are what quick-service restaurants historically offered an array of dietary disasters that fill the stomach with fats, lead to clogged arteries and leave the muscle unfuelled with carbohydrates.

Having said that, here are some things you should keep in mind when it comes to following a healthy diet.

Be mindful of these things when preparing light dinner recipes!

To stay fit, follow these dietary tips:

1. Add healthy nutrients in your diet

Add millet and whole grains to your diet, lean sources of protein, and dairy products. Such food provides proteins, fibre, key vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

2. Include more fruits and vegetables

Add a variety of fruits and vegetables to your diet as they provide antioxidants which help in fighting harmful free radicals.

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3. Avoid certain foods

Avoid foods with saturated fats, sodium, added sugar and refined carbohydrates, red meat, sugar, sweetened beverages, high processed snacks like chips.

4. Exercise daily for 30 minutes

Eating an early and light dinner helps to improve sleep, improve digestion, boost metabolism, reduce blood pressure and also reduce the risk of lifestyle diseases.

Healthy dinner recipes to stay on track with your fitness goals

Here are a few healthy and light dinner recipes that you can try-

Chickpea platter

• 100 grams of boiled chickpeas
• 50 grams of paneer
• 1 Onion
• 1 Green chilli
• 1 tomato
• A handful of coriander leaves
• A handful of spring onion chopped
• 30 grams of barnyard (Sama rice)
• 1 tbsp of grated carrot
• ¼ cup of boiled peas
• ¼ cup of beans
• ¼ cup of broccoli

Recipe:

1. Heat the pan on medium flame. Add olive oil and cumin seeds and let it splutter. Now, add boiled chickpeas, salt and little garam masala.
2. Soak the barnyard for 1/2 hour. Heat pan on gas on medium flame. Add olive oil and all the chopped vegetables. Add double the quantity of water and salt. Let it boil. Once it starts boiling, add a barnyard.
3. Heat the pan on medium flame. Add olive oil and stir-fry all vegetables. Now add salt and crushed black pepper.
4. Now on a platter, arrange chickpeas, paneer cubes, cooked barnyard and cooked vegetables.
5. Squeeze lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves. Your chickpea platter is ready!

Pearl Millet Pizza

• 50 grams of pearl millet (Bajra)
• Half a cup of boiled Rajma
• Salt as per taste
• Chilli flakes
• Oregano
• ¼ cup of paneer cubes
• 1 red capsicum
• 1 green capsicum
• ¼ cup of boiled corn
• Green chutney cheese sauce

Recipe:

1. Knead pearl millet flour with lukewarm water. Leave it aside for some time.
2. Roll out a very thin chapati of 8 to 10 inches of kneaded dough.
3. Heat Tava on gas on medium flame, and cook chapati till half cooked.
4. Remove chapati from tava .Let it cool down.
5. Make a fine paste of Rajma and add salt, and pepper to it.
6. Now spread the boiled Rajma paste on your pizza base and top it with Paneer cubes, corn and capsicum and green chutney cheese sauce.
7. Sprinkle some chilli flakes, and oregano and cook it for 10 minutes on a slow to medium flame after covering it with a lid.

Your delicious Pearl Millet Pizza is ready to eat!

Also Read: 3 tasty millet recipes that are perfect treats for diabetics

Lettuce quinoa wrap

• 3/4 cup of quinoa
• 1/4 cup of Moong Dal
• 1 carrot
• 1 capsicum
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
• 4 florets of broccoli
• Salsa sauce

For garnishing:

• Onion rings
• Finely chopped green Coriander

Recipe:

1. Wash quinoa properly with water and soak it for 2 hours. Wash Moong Dal and soak it for 3 hours.
2. Heat pan, add olive oil, and cumin seeds let it splutters, add all vegetables and saute it for some time. Add salt and black pepper and let it cook partially.
3. In a pan, cook the quinoa and Moong Dal with double the amount of water and salt, and pepper.
4. Add cooked vegetables when the quinoa is half cooked. Cook till the quinoa is fully cooked.
5. Place each lettuce and leave separately. Apply salsa sauce on lettuce leaves, then put cooked quinoa with vegetables on a lettuce leaf.
6. Pour some lemon juice and garnish it with onion rings and coriander.
7. Fold it into a wrap.

Your yummy lettuce wrap is ready to relish!