By TrueSport
If you’re a busy parent, dump and go meals should be your best friend when it comes to getting nutritious, filling, and even budget-friendly meals ready in minutes. The concept is simple: You dump your ingredients together, hit a few buttons, and come home to a just-about-ready-to-serve gourmet meal. All it takes is a little bit of preparation and a pressure cooker or a slow cooker.
Here, TrueSport Expert Kristen Ziesmer, a registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in sports dietetics, shares a few of her favorite tips and tricks for mastering dump-and-go meals, as well as customizing them for your picky (or hungry) athletes.
5 TIPS TO GET YOU GOING
3 EASY RECIPES TO TRY
Chicken with Salsa
Serves 4
-1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
-Jar of salsa
-Can of black beans
-Fresh or frozen spinach
-Yellow onion, diced
-Can of diced tomatoes
-Rice, corn tortillas, or tortilla chips
-Fresh salsa (diced tomatoes, diced red onion, chopped cilantro, lime juice)
-Avocado slices
-Cheddar cheese
In the pressure cooker, add chicken, salsa, beans, frozen spinach, and chopped onion
Leave on slow cooker setting for eight hours
Using two large forks, shred the chicken into small pieces
Serve over rice, or strain and serve as tacos or nachos
Top with fresh salsa, avocado and cheddar as desired
Chickpea Curry
Serves 4
-2 cans of chickpeas
-1 small chopped onion
-Fresh or frozen spinach
-Can of diced tomatoes
-1 tablespoon minced garlic
-3 tablespoons curry powder
-1 tablespoon ground ginger
-2 tablespoons of lime juice
-1 bay leaf
-1.5 cups of vegetable broth
-Optional protein bonus of chicken (thighs or breasts are fine here) or extra-firm tofu chunks
-Rice
In the pressure cooker, add all ingredients except for the rice
**You can cook the rice in with the curry, but add 2 cups of water for every cup of rice that you add**
Leave on low slow cooker setting for 6-8 hours
Make rice separately if not added in
Italian-Inspired Casserole
Serves 4
-1.5 pounds Italian sausage
-4 to 6 servings of penne pasta
-1 tsp Italian seasoning
-1 tsp minced garlic
-Chopped onion
-Fresh or frozen spinach
-Chopped bell pepper
-Can of diced tomato
-Small jar of pasta sauce
-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
-1 cup vegetable broth
Optional: Sauté onions and sausage together in the bottom of pressure cooker on saute setting, then chop sausage into pieces, or skip to the next step if you’re in a rush.
Combine sausage, onions, peppers, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, spinach, garlic and seasoning in pressure cooker and set on low slow cooker for 8 hours.
With 30-40 minutes left before dinner, add the penne pasta. (If your sauce is looking very thick, add a bit more vegetable broth since the pasta needs to absorb liquid.)
Add in mozzarella cheese and serve!
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