Dinner: Quick, Easy and Good

Sometimes I just want a meal, without much work.  Nothing fancy. Just really good, tasty food.  I don't want it to take too long to make. And, the easier the better. Tonight's dinner just happened to be one of those meals.

After kicking a nasty headache earlier today, I went for a power walk with my 6'2" husband. I've got him totally hooked on the Endomondo app for his smart phone. I've been using Endo for months after MM Groupie Patty finally got me to try it. Love it. It's great fun following my pace and time;  making a game of trying to go faster each time. It keeps you motivated. However, my husband's taken this up a level. Keep in mind, he has much longer legs. So, today we clocked our fastest time: 46:36 for 3 miles. Remind me to take my inhaler next time. All this to say, I was really hungry for a good dinner...

And it was easy!  Grilled spicy salmon, maple squash puree and mixed greens and pear salad. I used 2 favorite go-to recipes from Ellie Krieger's cookbook collection (all three are bookmarked in my Favorites collection to the left.) Individually frozen salmon fillets had been thawing all day in the refrigerator, so all we had to do was turn on the grill when we got home. John put the Sweet & Spicy Rub (The Food You Crave.) We make the rub ahead and keep it on hand on the spice shelf, which really helps for a meal like this. He popped that on the grill.

I had the hard work of opening two boxes of frozen squash, and putting them in a large white Corelle bowl,  covered it with waxed paper, and microwaved it for about 8 minutes, or until almost cooked through. Then I added the half the maple syrup and butter that Ellie's Maple Squash Puree (So Easy) calls for, and then finished heating that up in the microwave. While that was in the microwave, I started the salad.

The Spinach-Green Apple Salad (So Easy) turned into a Mixed Greens and Pear Salad, since I'm always goofing around with recipes a bit. This one was wonderful, too. I buy the clam shell pre-washed spinach, herb, arugula or mixed greens so they are always ready for a quick salad. That took less than 5 minutes.

What does it take to make a quick, easy, healthy dinner?

• Willingness to try some new healthy recipes
• Bookmarks and notes in your new cookbooks so you'll know where to find your favorites
• Our family has ranked recipes on the 5 star system for years
• Shopping and stocking your refrigerator and freezer with go-to ingredients
• Perseverance!

Bon appetite!