There is nothing quite like good hearty and healthy meals, most especially when there is a celebratory mood. Hearty and healthy meal recipes are always handy to have around the kitchen. They are healthy dishes that are guaranteed to satisfy even the meanest appetites, and they are always favorites that appeals to just about any taste palette around. Hearty and healthy meals need not be a chore to prepare, in fact there are many quick hearty and healthy meals that you could choose from. Not only are these easy to do but are cheap hearty meals as well. Have a look at some of these hearty and healthy meals that you can add to your arsenal of dishes the next time you prepare a feast, or if you simply want to prepare a little something extra special.
1. Pot Pie Turkey with Biscuit Cheese Topping
This healthy easy-to-do pot pie turns your turkey leftovers into another delicious and hearty meal. Its cheesy biscuit crust is ideal for soaking-up all the tasty sauce. Make use of frozen peas in addition to pearl onions to cut down on preparation time. This hearty and healthy recipe works with meals like leftover chicken too.
Ingredients:
4 tbsp of butter
1 cup of chopped onion
4 sliced celery stalks
4 peeled carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1/4 cup of flour
4 tablespoons of dry white wine
3 cups of turkey or chicken stock
1 tsp of dried thyme
1/2 tsp of dried sage
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp ground pepper
4 cups of cooked turkey diced into bite sized cubes
1 cup peas, frozen
1 cup pearl onions, frozen
Cheesy Biscuits
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup of extra-sharp grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
3/4 stick of cold unsalted butter cut into little pieces
1 1/4 cup of buttermilk
Directions:
First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Next, melt the butter in a generous skillet using medium low heat. Put in celery, onions and carrots and cook until soft and onions become translucent, or about 10 minutes. Drizzle with flour and cook for another 2 minutes. Now bring the heat to high, add wine, and mix to combine. When it begins to simmer, put in turkey stock, sage, salt and pepper, and thyme. Simmer for 5 minutes until it thickens, then add turkey, peas and onions and simmer.
Simultaneously, prepare the biscuit batter. Blend the dry ingredients and cheese using a large bowl. Mix in butter using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, to the point till coarse crumbs form. Mix in buttermilk using a fork.
Now place turkey mixture into a 3 quart casserole bowl. Dollop this with the biscuit mixture, allowing a little space between each biscuit. Bake for around 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
2. Five Cheeses with Pasta
If you are a pasta fan, you will surely love hearty meals like this one. This is also just the thing for pot-luck get-togethers or to bring to a friend’s home. Bring this hearty dish as a gift to a friend in a disposable foil dish. A bag of salad and some bread would be nice too. This can be one of the meals that you will remember for a long time.
Ingredients:
1 pound of fusilli or small shells Rigatoni, dried
2 cups of heavy cream
1 tsp dried Basil
1 cup of crushed tomatoes in heavy puree
1 package of Italian blend cheese
4 tablespoons of gorgonzola crumbled cheese
Directions:
Initially preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray oil. Prepare pasta, but for two minutes less than the package directions in lots of well-salted water and put aside. Now, in a generous bowl, combine together the crushed tomatoes, cream, basil, 1 1/2 cups of Italian cheese blend, as well as the gorgonzola cheese. Mix the cooked pasta to the cream and cheese mixture. Mix to blend together. Place into a ready casserole dish and top with the left over 1/2 cup of Italian cheese blend. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until it browns slightly on top and the pasta is bubbling hot. Serve and enjoy one of the most scrumptious meals you can have.
3. Classic Corn Chowder
This is the standard and classic one-pot meal. Smoky, sweet, creamy, and healthy, what else could you ask for a hearty meal? This soup can also be delectably without meat. Simply sauté the onion using a knob of butter and follow the recipe as is. A little smoked grated cheddar on it wouldn’t hurt either.
Ingredients:
2 stalks of diced celery and some finely-chopped leaves
5 -6 slices of sliced bacon
1 finely chopped onion
4 cups of peeled diced potatoes
1 quart of chicken stock
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1 pinch of dried thyme
4 cups of corn kernels
1 cup half and half
Some salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Using a medium-sized pot, start cooking the bacon over medium-low heat until it begins to wallow in a lot of its fat. Next, place in the onion as well as celery and cook, mixing frequently, until the onion becomes translucent. At this point the bacon is already quite cooked after around 10 minutes. Add in the potatoes and the canned stock to the pot, along with the pinch of thyme and salt. Bring up the heat to high to the point it boils before bringing the heat back down. Cover the pot to simmer slowly until the potatoes become soft. This portion should take around 15 minutes.
Next, put in the corn and half and half, turning the heat up to boil it and down again to simmer, cooking the soup for about 5 minutes more, until the corn turns soft. Now puree around half of the soup, with a stick blender or in a regular blender or perhaps using a wooden spoon to mash some of the potatoes on the sides of the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste before serving one of the classic meals out there.
Hearty and healthy meals need not be complicated; in fact they could be really simple to do. Try these hearty and healthy meals and watch how your family and friends will be asking for more.