dinner

The January issue of Martha Stewart Living has an amazing article on roast chicken. Since roast chicken is one of the most comforting meals, I've been experimenting with the enticing recipes. There's five fabulous variations, but my favorite is the one seen here for garlic-butter rubbed chicken with roasted oranges and red onions.

The technique and ingredients are simple, but the resulting chicken is juicy, succulent, and intensely delicious. Now is the perfect time to make this chicken because oranges are in season, and they're the major flavoring agent. The zest seeps into the chicken and permeates it with orange essence. I served it with white beans, but it would pair nicely with potatoes or rice. Get the recipe, after the break.

For an exceptionally easy meal, I love to roast a whole chicken and bake brown rice. Everything is cooked in the oven and in no time, you have a simple dinner. But, reheating the leftovers for the next couple days isn't appealing, so I livened up leftovers by making a scrumptious stuffed poblano.

While the peppers roast, the filling can be quickly prepared by caramelizing onions and garlic. Cook down the fresh tomatoes and season, then toss in your rice and chicken to warm. Assembling the peppers requires little time in the oven — just enough to melt the cheese. Voilà: spicy and scrumptious leftovers! Get the recipe now.

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Shopping for a few quick dinners? The items in the frozen food aisle are more often bad than good, but that doesn't mean you should avoid the freezer completely. You just need to be sure you're making the smartest choices.

After an extra-long shopping trip (the guy stocking the shelves officially thinks we're totally psycho!), we came up with this list of 4 healthy frozen dinners. They're low in calories and high in nutrition and satisfaction — no cardboard burritos here.

Kashi Chicken Florentine
With grilled chicken, spinach, red peppers and baby portobello mushrooms over orzo pilaf, this meal has 22 grams of fiber to keep you full and satisfied. And it won't cost you much in terms of calories. You're looking at 290 calories, 9 grams of fat (4 saturated grams) and 550 mg sodium. Bonus: The white wine garlic sauce is delicious.

Lean Cuisine Santa Fe-Style Rice & Beans
This meal gives you two servings of veggies — so you're well on your way to the daily 3 to 5 servings recommended by the USDA. Though it feels indulgent and fills up your belly (mmm . . . cheese and sour cream!), this dish only has 290 calories, 5 grams of fat (2 grams saturated fat) and 590 mg sodium.

Read about the other two options after the break.

In need of a healthy vegetarian dinner idea? Tara Sharp has you covered! She shared her recipe for spicy tofu and veggies over quinoa in the Kitchen Goddess group.

This is a dish I've made several different ways, depending on the veggies and type of rice I have on hand. The sauce always has the three main elements — red chili paste, soy sauce, and sesame oil — but the measurements aren't exact, it depends on what you like. This was the first time I put the tofu/vegetables over quinoa (ran out of Calrose rice), and I have to say the grain paired nicely with the spicy dish. Thanks to some of the prepackaged elements, can't-screw-it-up tofu, and rice-cooker-made quinoa, this recipe is about as uncomplicated as it gets.

Here's the recipe!

Mom may not be running a restaurant, but she often feels like it! When faced with a house of picky eaters, sometimes a mama's gotta do what a mama's gotta do. Too often, that means resorting to different meals for each hungry mouth in an effort to maintain some peace around the dinner table. We asked our readers how many meals they make on a nightly basis and the responses varied. See what your fellow moms had to say!

• Sienna is juggling meals these days. "Right now, I'm making two dinners — one for my husband and I, and one for the kids. My daughter (age 5) will eat what we are having sometimes, but my son (age 3) refuses."
• Twitter follower diapersandmore keeps it simple. "One and one only! It makes a difficult night sometimes but when they eat their veggies with no prob I know it's worth it."
• Lickety split has pared it down now that her kids are older. "Now, just one. At the worst I was making four. One for the daughter with autism who would scream until she got what she wanted, one for husband who was on the Atkins diet, one for my youngest daughter and one for my middle who was eating gluten free. All done! Here's dinner: don't like it? Make yourself a pb&j. And clean up the mess!"
• MissSushi hopes to keep things as easy as they are now! "Just one, and it will stay at just one unless there are dietary restrictions. Once they get older, they can start cooking like I did, and we can branch out a bit. But until then it's as little work as possible to cut down on work on my end."
• Starbucks has modified their family menu to keep it to one meal. "Just one. Baby girl is now 13 months and eats pretty much everything I serve her. The hubby is usually the one complaining, cause it's too healthy for his taste. He misses his burgers!"
• An anonymous reader said it varies. "One meal most nights but two on the nights we're eating something they can't (I have two with food allergies, three without food allergies). I don't mind making something extra (in addition to our meal) since I'm the one that plans the meals and I don't always pick meals for all seven of us. I don't, however, make a new meal if they refuse favorite meals. They can grab a bowl of cereal or have a sandwich, etc. instead."

Mama never signed up to be a short-order cook, so why does she feel like one every night? There's no question that kids can be picky eaters — munching on pasta one week and then loathing the carb the next. Or throwing a fit at the first sign of something green on their plate. Some parents are willing to give in to their lil ones' "quirks" and make different meals for each tot in order to maintain some peace. Others serve up one dish and kids can take it or leave it. Which category do you fall into?

Although many people hear the words "fish tacos" and immediately think of the Baja-style fried variation, I prefer fresh fish tacos. Normally I use a firm, flaky white fish, but when I found this recipe that employed salmon, I knew I had to make it. Since the salmon cooks quickly in a saute pan, it's easy enough to serve on a weeknight. Don't skip the toppings, the cabbage adds a wonderful crunch and the apple-cucumber slaw is juicy and cooling. They're both a nice counter balance to the spicy chipotle-rubbed salmon. There's nothing more to say, but this dish is a winner, so make it! Here's the preparation method.